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Re: How can I rent a timeshare? (by R P.):

Jennie's information below is correct except for one sentence. You cannot request compensation of your maintenance fees when giving a guest certificate to a friend or relative. The only compensation you may request are the exchange fee and guest certificate fee. If you could request compensation for the maintenance fee, then rentals of exchanges would be rampant. See below under RCI's Terms and Conditions:

" It is a violation of RCI's Terms and Conditions of Membership (Section 8) to rent, sell, barter, or auction, a deposited week or confirmed exchange, even if a Guest Certificate is purchased. Violation of this guideline could result in the termination of your RCI membership.

You may give a vacation to a friend or family member via the RCI Guest Certificate; however, you may not receive any compensation beyond the price of the exchange and Guest Certificate fees. Compensation includes anything of value, even another exchange vacation.

Following are a few of the reasons RCI prohibits deposited weeks and exchange vacations from being sold:

1) Accurate representation of Trading Power value -- RCI has contracts with its affiliated resorts and is in a better position to influence information provided about its program.

2) Fair exchange policy - RCI's program strives to provide a vacation that is comparable to the one you own. If members buy a deposited week from a resort they've never visited, RCI has no way to gauge their expectations.

3) Support for timeshare sales and purchases -- Most people who want higher quality vacation exchanges invest in the purchase of higher quality weeks. When these weeks are deposited with RCI, they in turn provide exchange families with a better selection and quality of inventory from which to choose. Travelers would not be incented to upgrade their purchases if they could simply buy the "interest" for a fraction of the purchase price per year.

4) The demand among RCI members for certain areas and times of year is overwhelming (school breaks, holidays, etc.) This is magnified when non-members can compete for the same space.

If you can't use a confimed exchange, cancel it and make the unit available to other RCI members who may be requesting it. When members rent or swap confirmed exchanges, they undermine RCI's program to the detriment of other members. If a member is waiting for a vacation, he would indeed be upset to think that prime exchange units were being offered to the general public or traded among friends instead of being released.

RCI works hard to keep its exchange program viable and to satisfy its subscribing members. Maintaining control of our inventory is crucial to our ability to do this."

jennie wrote:

But as jayjay pointed out, if the renter states that they will be obtaining a guest certificate in your name, this means that they are most likely planning to tell RCI or II that you are a personal friend or family member and that you will be using the unit as their guest.

There is one exception to the above "rule". RCI has gone on record as stating that they would allow a member to rent out the exchanged week if they are unable to use it but they may not charge more than the price of the maintenance fees they paid for the unit they deposited, plus the exchange fee and the guest certificate fee.