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Re: Successful Resales & Rental Feedback Wanted (by Mary D.):

If you are trying to get a rental through RedWeek or similar sites, it is indeed a renter/owner contact and transaction. Only the owner can request and confirm a reservation, but once it is confirmed you should get a copy in order to access the resort.

The person trying to secure a unit needs to know that the other party truly has it to rent out. Sometimes on RedWeek etc. Float time is listed and the unit is not yet booked. The "owner" just has the right to book it if it is available at the needed time. In other cases, a reserved unit is being offered with the dates and size stated. In the "float" case, you can choose exactly the dates and types of unit you would like--if they can be had. In the second instance, you know what is available but may wish it were slightly different because you have (foolishly) booked your air before knowing when or where you should land.

In either case, when I am renting out timeshares, I send the prospective renter a copy of the resort confirmation in MY name so they know it is truly available. They also get a copy of the Rental Agreement stating their obligations and mine. Depending on how far in advance of use the unit is rented, either a partial down payment or payment in full may be required. Part of this may be non-refundable, since the owner will likely have losses of one kind or another should the reserved unit need to be cancelled.

As soon as full payment is received, I put the unit in the renters' names and send them the revised confirmation which they will use when checking in at the resort.

I have seen recommendations that you call a resort to see if the person offering the rental owns there. This may work if you are dealing with someone who owns a specific week at a specific resort location. However, many of us own with resort GROUPS that have many locations among which we can travel. These usually have an internal point system. For example, we are Wyndham and Bluegreen points owners. Our contracts happen to be at 3 specific locations, but we can reserve at over 80. Reservations are made at a central office, not at the individual resorts. Once the reservation has been put into your name, I suppose you can call the resort and ask if they have received it. Before that, I don't think they would be allowed to say if the reservation exists in the owner's name.