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How can I rent a timeshare? (by Marie M.):

phill12 wrote:

randy wrote:

It is correct that a unit that has been received from an exchange with RCI cannot be rented. Might be true of Interval too. But the TBA designation does NOT mean that the exchange is to be involved in this rental. When an owner has a flexible week rather than a fixed week, or the resort itself only assigns the week on your arrival you will not know which unit you will get. It does put you at some risk in the case of the latter. Some condos will have better locations in the resort than others. So when someone can designate the specific room you have a better chance of getting what you want.

Randy

Randy, I have a question for you! We own at the Ridge Tahoe and have a week May 26,2007 and plan on using it. We have a assigned unit ,floor and building already set up. From what the Ridge told me is that if I decided to rent my unit one year they have the right to change the unit for a renter.

I as a owner am more important then someone renting the unit. I was told they could switch it and give another owner my unit that year. They told me I have my first choice and other owners would have like to had my unit and even though they also have been assigned a unit they still hope to move up to better unit that I now have.

I have a very nice Naegle unit I asked for and they feel if I wasn't going to use it then another owner should get it!

What happens when I list the unit for rent and then they get there and the Ridge gives them a different unit.

I would think other timeshares work the same way because I have to agree that owners should come first!

THANKS, PHIL

If you establish good communication with the potential renter through phone calls and feel you can trust them, you might want to notify your resort that you will be having guests (friends, a cousin) use the unit. Say that you want to be assured that they are given the exact unit you own. If the resort has any problem with this, you might want to say that you will probably be joining them the next day. The resort will then have them check in using a credit card so this should offer the needed protection for you. I have done this many times and there has never been a problem.

Resorts have the right to assign a different unit (and often times a different week) if you are depositing your week with RCI, II, or an exchange company. But when you are using it yourself or doing a private rental, most resorts will assign your exact unit. You do really own it and have the right to use it in anyway you see fit.

P.S. The above applies if you own a fixed week. If you own floating time and have reserved the unit, it is more of a "gray area" situation. But the above strategy should work.

By the way, many renters do not know the difference between units and sections of a resort, especially if they have never stayed there before. They may "love" whatever unit they get. When I went to Club Internacional de Cancun for the first time, on an RCI exchange, I loved the unit I was in, even though I found out later that it was considered to be one of the most "undesirable" units because it had a "lagoon view" instead of a pool or beach view.

If you are trying to rent a unit assigned through ownership of a floating week, to be on the safe side you could advertise it as "to be assigne TBA" in your ad. If the people are very nice, you could then tell them that you will try to get permission for them to stay in the unit you have been assigned.