First time renter on Redweek

We are looking at renting a week in Mexico at Pueblo Bonito Rose'. I thought you rented from a middle man such as Redweek. From reading this forum I see you rent directly from the owner. How does a renter make sure that everything is above board and you are sure to get what you pay for?

farrellt has asked, in pertinent part: >> How does a renter make sure that everything is above board and you are sure to get what you pay for? << ==================================================

Some resorts DO rent out weeks directly on behalf of unit/week owners, but you will always pay considerably more money renting through that avenue. Peace of mind in renting directly from the resort comes at a cost.

As in any Internet transaction, you must exert some effort to exercise due diligence to ensure the veracity of the advertiser and his/her claims. In the case of a timeshare rental, there are several things you can and should do:

1. Ask for documentary proof that the advertiser actually owns the advertised week in the first place. This could be just a copy of a maintenance fee bill bearing the letterhead of the resort or its management company (and the unit / week owner name and address), for example.

2. You should next also verify that owner name, address (and the specific reserved week and unit) by a phone call directly to the resort involved, after having obtained that owner information directly from the advertiser. No respectable resort will actually PROVIDE any owner info to you (for obvious privacy protection reasons), but they WILL certainly VERIFY owner information which you have already independently acquired on your own.

3. Make sure that the advertiser is not trying to rent out a week which they don't even actually own in the first place, but have actually instead acquired through an "exchange" with RCI or II. Neither exchange company allows exchanges to be rented out for profit (even though both companies, in a hypocritical double standard, do just exactly that themselves). The advertiser risks losing his/her exchange company membership by renting out an exchange for profit and and the renter risks being flat out turned away from occupancy at check-in if the practice is discovered (the resort doesn't much care that you may have paid someone to rent something which they actually had no right to rent out for profit in the first place). Protection from this particular development is actually covered by following the procedures in item number 2 above, where you have verified owner identity in advance of this step.

4. You should ALWAYS have a written, signed rental agreement, specifying all costs, owner identification details, specific dates, times and unit, and cancellation policy. Any advertiser who does not want everything about a rental put down in writing and under signature likely has something to hide. Be suspicious of any entity expressing reluctance to participate in full, open disclosure of ownership details and /or shys away from signed rental agreements.

5. You can also choose to utilize an escrow service to handle all rental funds involved, thereby ensuring that you don't get burned. In this option, your money goes only to the escrow company, never directly to the advertiser. There is a cost for this service (generally $100-$150) and it must be initiated WELL in advance of the actual rental period. However, be aware that many completely legitimate owners don't really want to deal with escrow services in the first place, since such owners won't actually get paid until a few weeks AFTER the rental is actually completed. Understandably, that "after the fact" payment process seems unreasonable and is unacceptable to many owners (who already had to pay their annual maintenance fees well in advance of the renter's use).

In the end, some effort is required on your part to conclusively establish a comfort level that the advertiser is honest, actually owns the week and unit being advertised, and fully intends to conduct an honest and open transaction. There are scammers all over the Internet and no timeshare web site is immune to their presence. RedWeek is no exception. However, there are also honest people looking to rent weeks they own. You have to exert some effort to distinguish between the scammers and the honest folks; I believe that the above will help you to easily do so.

Good luck. CAVEAT EMPTOR (Buyer Beware)......

ken1193 wrote:

farrellt has asked, in pertinent part: >> How does a renter make sure that everything is above board and you are sure to get what you pay for? << ==================================================

Some resorts DO rent out weeks directly on behalf of unit/week owners, but you will always pay considerably more money renting through that avenue. Peace of mind in renting directly from the resort comes at a cost.

As in any Internet transaction, you must exert some effort to exercise due diligence to ensure the veracity of the advertiser and his/her claims. In the case of a timeshare rental, there are several things you can and should do:

1. Ask for documentary proof that the advertiser actually owns the advertised week in the first place. This could be just a copy of a maintenance fee bill bearing the letterhead of the resort or its management company (and the unit / week owner name and address), for example.

2. You should next also verify that owner name, address (and the specific reserved week and unit) by a phone call directly to the resort involved, after having obtained that owner information directly from the advertiser. No respectable resort will actually PROVIDE any owner info to you (for obvious privacy protection reasons), but they WILL certainly VERIFY owner information which you have already independently acquired on your own.

3. Make sure that the advertiser is not trying to rent out a week which they don't even actually own in the first place, but have actually instead acquired through an "exchange" with RCI or II. Neither exchange company allows exchanges to be rented out for profit (even though both companies, in a hypocritical double standard, do just exactly that themselves). The advertiser risks losing his/her exchange company membership by renting out an exchange for profit and and the renter risks being flat out turned away from occupancy at check-in if the practice is discovered (the resort doesn't much care that you may have paid someone to rent something which they actually had no right to rent out for profit in the first place). Protection from this particular development is actually covered by following the procedures in item number 2 above, where you have verified owner identity in advance of this step.

4. You should ALWAYS have a written, signed rental agreement, specifying all costs, owner identification details, specific dates, times and unit, and cancellation policy. Any advertiser who does not want everything about a rental put down in writing and under signature likely has something to hide. Be suspicious of any entity expressing reluctance to participate in full, open disclosure of ownership details and /or shys away from signed rental agreements.

5. You can also choose to utilize an escrow service to handle all rental funds involved, thereby ensuring that you don't get burned. In this option, your money goes only to the escrow company, never directly to the advertiser. There is a cost for this service (generally $100-$150) and it must be initiated WELL in advance of the actual rental period. However, be aware that many completely legitimate owners don't really want to deal with escrow services in the first place, since such owners won't actually get paid until a few weeks AFTER the rental is actually completed. Understandably, that "after the fact" payment process seems unreasonable and is unacceptable to many owners (who already had to pay their annual maintenance fees well in advance of the renter's use).

In the end, some effort is required on your part to conclusively establish a comfort level that the advertiser is honest, actually owns the week and unit being advertised, and fully intends to conduct an honest and open transaction. There are scammers all over the Internet and no timeshare web site is immune to their presence. RedWeek is no exception. However, there are also honest people looking to rent weeks they own. You have to exert some effort to distinguish between the scammers and the honest folks; I believe that the above will help you to easily do so.

Good luck. CAVEAT EMPTOR (Buyer Beware)......

Thank you for the excellent advice! I was considering utilizing an Escrow company and I do understand an owners concern to when funds would be dispersed. I will obviously proceed with caution.