Tips on Renting Out Timeshare

patrickp56 wrote:

So where can I find the procedure to not deposit my week with RCI seeing as my home resort obviously steered me wrong? Do I just advise them that I'll be using my week so they don't but them in RCI inventory?.

Depositing your week with RCI (or any exchange company) has to be done by YOU, the owner. You don't have to advise RCI of anything if you plan to use or rent your week.

patrickp56 Hi folks,

I'm new here and contemplating renting out my timeshare but I have several questions/concerns.

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1. My TS is a 2-bdrm lock-off. Would it be wiser to rent each unit separately because I fear that if I keep them together, I will not be able to make enough from rent to cover the maintenance fees. Anyone have experience with this type of situation?

That would be completely up to you .... some people may prefer the lockoff together and some may prefer the lockoff separate, however you CAN rent them separately.

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2. My TS is currently in RCI points program. My understanding is that I have to cancel my RCI membership in order to be able to rent it on my own. Is this the case?

I'm not that familiar with points programs, but I would think you could use your points to reserve a certain week and then rent (or use) that week out if you wish. I don't know why you'd have to cancel your RCI membership.

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3. According to my resort management company, if I decide to cancel my RCI membership, my unit falls back into a weeks program so the money I paid to convert it to points is wasted. Is that true?

More than likely, yes.

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4. I am a bit concerned about renting my unit to people I don't know because ultimately I am responsible for the "guests" I rent it to. Has anyone had bad experiences with renting? What are the safeguards?

There have been very few public incidents of renters abusing a rental, but as Lance said you really need a contract in place signed by both you and the renter.

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5. I am a member of Global Resorts Network where I can list my timeshare to rent to other members. Has anyone here used this service? If so, have you been able to rent your unit?

You will be paying a fee to do the above .... GRN is not a free service.

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Thanks for your help! I really want to make the most sensible decision on whether to rent or not but it just seems to be such a big one....

It's really not a big deal to rent out your timeshare (IF you are successful in finding a renter) .... the main problem would be to find a renter .... in this down market not all timeshare weeks can be rented (and even in good economic times) .... it depends on the supply and demand of the resort and the week you choose with your points.

@JayJay

Thanks for your input.

A couple of precisions for you, though.

1. Points units are deposited by the home resort into RCI available inventory UNLESS the owner advises otherwise - it is the opposite of how weeks function.

2. As far as Global Resorts goes, there is a one-time lifetime membership fee but the member-to-member listing service is a free perk to members. I just don't know if anyone has had success with it because you cannot list your unit for rent hight than the $799 which is the cap that members will pay to book vacations in the site....My maintenance fees at Mizner Place in Weston, FL are pretty darn close to that...

Thanks again!

Has anyone here had much success with Craigslist or Kijiji?

patrickp56 wrote:

@JayJay

Has anyone here had much success with Craigslist or Kijiji?

From what I hear, Cragislist is free and effective. The downside, however, is that Craigslist is notorious for having your inbox bombarded with spammers and scammers. It should be easy to recognize these and just delete.

Where is your timeshare? And what week are you renting

I just rented a week. I posted on Airbnb, vrbo and redweek. Someone asked for the weekend so I rented to him on the weekend. After that, I lowered the price and rented Monday to friday. I got a lot of responses from vrbo. The rental was from redweek and vrbo

New to the rental process-help please! I am looking into renting a timeshare from this site, so have been trying to follow the guidelines redweek suggests. One says do some research first, contact the resort to be sure the person renting is an owner at the resort and owns the time they are trying to rent out. Tried that and the timeshare says that violates privacy issues, they can't tell me anything about their owners. So now do I do???

If you use the escrow service they require the owner to submit proof. If there any issues you get your money back from the escrow company. I highly recommend this.

joycea143 wrote:

New to the rental process-help please! I am looking into renting a timeshare from this site, so have been trying to follow the guidelines redweek suggests. One says do some research first, contact the resort to be sure the person renting is an owner at the resort and owns the time they are trying to rent out. Tried that and the timeshare says that violates privacy issues, they can't tell me anything about their owners. So now do I do???

I would ask the owner to submit some type of verification that they own the week .... if they refuse then move on to another rental.

I am an owner of a Marriott timeshare week. I deposited the week with Interval a year ago. I now have to select a week to use somewhere by 2/1/14 or lose that week. I selected a week and now have a confirmation certificate. The week I selected is at the Marriott resort I own. I do not think I will be able to go. Am I allowed to rent this week on this website? I thought I read a posting somewhere that there are some circumstances to where you can't rent out your timeshare?

Interval does not permit you to rent out an exchange. It doesn't matter that you have an exchange into your same resort. Your unit was a Feb 2013 week if it was depositing in Feb 2015. You could have rented that out but instead deposited it. Now you have someone else's late 2014 or early 2015 week that was deposited. If it is more than 60 days from check in you can cancel the week and get a replacement week that would be good for another year to use to exchange again in II. It would cost another exchange fee. If you don't think you will be able to use anything in II for the next year, your options are to gift the week you have reserved to a friend or family member. You would need a guest cert. Or you can cancel and let the replacement week expire. You generally get 2 years from the check in date of the unit you deposited (not one)

How would II know that I am renting the week if I buy a guest certificate? How would that be any different that buying a guest certificate for an friend that gives me some money for letting them use the week?

ginaf108 wrote:

How would II know that I am renting the week if I buy a guest certificate? How would that be any different that buying a guest certificate for an friend that gives me some money for letting them use the week?

I think that II looks for those owners that buy many guest certificates a year or on a regular basis using them as a business.

If you rent to friends or family they will probably never know. The large exchange companies do browse to see if high ticket exchanges appear for rental. There is also the part where you forward the confirmation and it explicitly states that renting the exchange is not allowed. The person that you just rented to may not want to be involved in doing something that is not allowed and may turn you in. They also may do or say something at the resort that could get you in trouble as well. I understand you want to try to make back something for an exchange you can't use. Your best bet is not to involve someone you don't know because it is much more likely that you will be caught and could have the exchange cancelled and even your account suspended. That being said you would probably be able to make more if you advertise it as widely as possible. So you have to decide what risk you are willing to take. You would also have to decide whether you tell the person that you don't know that you are renting to that you aren't quite following the rules or if you decide to just not mention it. That's where it is a lot easier if you deal with someone you know.

In all likelihood if you do it once, you won't get caught. The more you do it the more likely that you will and those that make a business out of it are the ones most likely to be caught.