Original Message:
Re: Can the timeshare company rent on the hotel market to non-owners? (by KC):
tm302 wrote:I can't seem to find this particular question anywhere, but wanted to see if anyone has encountered this...I have learned that the timeshare company we are involved with is making timeshare units available on hotel sites and representing the complex as a standard hotel-resort type property with nightly rental available. So, even though timeshare owners have purchased and own the weeks, it is possible for any person off the street to go online, rent a couple of nights, ruin availability for a whole week and thus prevent an owner from using their time.
The company, like most points based timeshares, allows exchanges and trades from other timeshare companies, so I find it hard to believe that between the owners from the originating timeshare company and tens of thousands of owners eligible for the trade / exchange program, there would ever be sufficient unused volume to make nightly room rental even possible (the property is in Hawaii, high demand)
This seems like an unethical double-dipping (sell a timeshare week and then ultimately prevent owners from using it easily by renting out nights here and there for cash to non timeshare owners) or maybe even an illegal act.
Has anyone encountered this situation with their timeshare company? Do you know if this is an OK action?
I claim no first hand knowledge about ANY Hawaii timeshares, but keep in mind that if the account of an owner is currently "in arrears", a resort can very likely (and entirely lawfully) deny occupancy (and / or reservations) to that owner until those unpaid debts are satisfied. Further, until and unless that debt is satisfied, I am inclined to believe that a resort would be on lawful grounds to rent out individual days / nights within weeks that may be already owned, but which are owned by someone whose fees are currently in arrears. I have no idea if that is what is going at the (unidentified and unspecified) timeshare to which you make reference, but it is a viable theory and a very real possibility, no?
Also, there may still be developer-owned (i.e., not yet sold) weeks at the property in question. If so, the developer can do whatever they please with those developer-owned weeks (or individual days within those weeks) -- at least until the weeks actually get sold.