Renting a Timeshare without getting scammed?

I am new to this site. I never rented a timeshare before, i have been staying at hotels in Aruba since 1976. I am considering renting a timeshare. But the whole process makes me nervous partly because of my unfamiliarity with the process, and partly because of all the scams out there.

If i rent thru this site, is there any real protection from shelling out money and getting nothing in return/showing up at the resort and finding that they are looking at me like i have two heads? I read about the escrow service - is that foolproof? How does it work? Do most people use it?

You can never know who you are dealing with. I own two time shares, 1 in Aruba and 1 in Park City, Utah. I have rented out the one in Park City through Redweek. We did not use the escrow service. I sent a contract to the renter and they signed it and returned it with a check. Once the check cleared, I contacted my resort and informed them who the person was that was going to use my unit and sent a letter to them as well in addition to returning the signed contract. At that point they could call the resort and confirm they were listed to check in. Using the escrow does allow for some level of protection. I have not heard of any problems through Redweek, but that does not mean there are not people who were ripped off.

I am new to this as well. Has anyone had any successes in renting or selling. I want to do both. I have four weeks right now available, but have decided to sell since it costing us too much to keep and we can't afford. If I sell, will I lose the weeks I've already paid for? My T.S. is Marriott.

pamelat108 wrote:

I am new to this as well. Has anyone had any successes in renting or selling. I want to do both. I have four weeks right now available, but have decided to sell since it costing us too much to keep and we can't afford. If I sell, will I lose the weeks I've already paid for? My T.S. is Marriott.

When renting your timeshare you should always have a rental agreement stipulating your terms of the rental and signed by both you and the renter. You can find a sample rental agreement by 'searching forums', however you can word it anyway you wish.

As far as selling a timeshare in this economy, it all depends on the supply and demand of the resort and the time owned. In this economy many timeshares can't even be given away.

Renting our Timeshare is new for us. I put an ad on Redweek for our double unit at Disney, Florida and got a bite from South America but when I wrote back that I would be using an interim escrow company, I didn't get any reply. Was this perhaps a scam looking for a gullible sucker? How would I find out and protect myself from a foreign thief?

barbaras427 wrote:

Renting our Timeshare is new for us. I put an ad on Redweek for our double unit at Disney, Florida and got a bite from South America but when I wrote back that I would be using an interim escrow company, I didn't get any reply. Was this perhaps a scam looking for a gullible sucker? How would I find out and protect myself from a foreign thief?

This smells like a scam by the fact they didn't get back to you. Do you actually own a Disney timeshare or just a timeshare in the vicinity of Disney World? If you own an actual Disney timeshare then you should not have a problem renting it out if you price it right.

As stated in a post above you should implement a contract stating all criteria involving the rental and signed by both you and the renter. Don't waste your time worrying about people not getting back to you.