Successful Resales & Rental Feedback Wanted

chads68 wrote:

How many timeshare rental owners here use RCI like I do, probably a few, I am assuming? If you are familiar with it, you know that once you rent it out, you need to issue a guest certificate in the name of the renter. Chad

It's against RCI and II rules and regulations to rent an exchange .... if you're caught your account can be suspended for doing so and your renters turned away at check-in .... the need for a guest certificate is if you give or gift a week to a friend or relative with the only compensation to you being the guest certificate fee and the exchange fee, you cannot make a profit ...... beware renting out RCI and II exchanges.

I'm very interesteed in joining Redbook but I would like to hear feedback from Marriott Newport Coast Villa owners who have posted their units for sale and have listed their units for rent on this site. Good or bad, did you get a reasonable response to your ad and what price were you able to obtain?

We were 'renters' of two units last year for properties found on Redweeks and they were perfect transactions...stayed first week at Marriott Ocean Club in Maui and second week at Westin Maui and everything was legitimate and perfect. We saved several thousand dollars versus direct renting (ex. paid $2,600/wk for Westin vs. the $7,000/wk direct charge...it was THE best 2 bed/2 bath on the property; top floor ocean front...perfect!). Just came back to rent for Costa Linda in Aruba (we own there also) and hope this transaction goes as smoothly as the the other two. Thanks Redweeks! (also RCI members, but they can become frustrating to deal with).

I have week 27 at the Beach Quarters and can not go this week. I decided to put it on Red Week for last year late (not until May) and was contacted by a company within 1 day of posting who ended up hooking me up with a renter. It was great as they did all the work and it didn't cost me a cent. It was so great I have it on this year as well.

As others have already indicated, it is against RCI and also II rules to profit by renting a week you secure with an exchange. What has always puzzed me is that anyone would want to try!

There would automatically be an exchange fee plus a guest fee to cover in additon to your own normal costs for the unit you gave the exchange company. This means you must ask for a substantially higher rental fee than someone who actually owns the same week would need just to come out even. How can you compete? In all but the rarest of circumstances, this does not really make much sense.

Use, rent, or gift your own timeshare. MD

adahiscout wrote:

As others have already indicated, it is against RCI and also II rules to profit by renting a week you secure with an exchange. What has always puzzed me is that anyone would want to try!

There would automatically be an exchange free plus a guest fee to cover in additon to your own normal costs for the unit you gave the exchange company. This means you must ask for a substantially higher rental fee than someone who actually owns the same week would need just to come out even. How can you compete? In all but the rarest of circumstances, this does not really make much sense.

Use, rent, or gift your own timeshare. MD

I'll give you a simple example. An II Member with a non Westin Kaanapali unit breaks their 2BR LO unit in half. With the 1BR deposit they manage to get a Westin KORV 1BR. Let's say they are paying $1,000 maint for their 2BR LO. They then rent the exchange unit at Westin for a paltry $1,300 (even now most 1BR Westin KORV rent for $1,200-$1,800 for an island view or without a guaranteed view). Technically they just covered their entire annual maint as well as the exchange and guest fee. Then they secure another 1BR unit using their studio deposit (It happens when people spend a good amount of time watching the last minute deposits in the sub 45 day window) at either a location they want to go to or a resort which is popular like the Westin and rent it out for a good price again.

Especially in the case of splitting your lockout, but also in other times when you secure a favorable exchange, people can do quite well renting out the exchanged units. This is hurting owners right now because their annual costs (at Westin KORV for example) are pretty high for the 2BR LO at about $3,000.

gregg326 wrote:

I'm very interesteed in joining Redbook but I would like to hear feedback from Marriott Newport Coast Villa owners who have posted their units for sale and have listed their units for rent on this site. Good or bad, did you get a reasonable response to your ad and what price were you able to obtain?

The April and May rentals were terrible. I listed units for $799 to $1,400. No inquiries when the price was at $1,400. While I rented the $799 unit for $799, people offered as low as $500 for the week. I currently have a late May unit listed for $1,299 and three inquiries are as such: One offered $600 because I have the dates they want but they claim if they change their schedule they found someone who will charge $600 so I should agree to $600. Another person offered $800. The third person also offered $800 if I could provide different dates in June and refused to pay $1,500 when I said June was higher demand and higher price.

I still feel strongly if owners wouldn't discount at the last minute then guests would pay the higher prices. There must be a lot of owners who ask too much at first, then slash their price and guests are willing to out wait the owners.

I had two Aruba 2BR for April where I received only one offer for $1,200. I had severely discounted the unit to $1,800. I said no way and took the trip to use the two units. Both resorts were 97%-99% occupied and Marriott Newport is also a fully booked resort. How is it we're having difficulty renting units if the resorts are full? Someone is paying more. While I was in Aruba about half the people were owners, a quarter had secured huge discounts, and a quarter had paid a lot but they weren't interested in renting from an owner to get the discount... Maybe I just don't look trustworthy!

You said "Use, rent, or gift your own timeshare."

I am planning to RENT MY OWNED TIMESHARE WEEK in week 33 at the Grandview in Las Vegas for 2010 (before people jump the gun on making assumptions :-)).

Even if it is a timeshare week that I own (NOT EXCHANGED) that I find a renter for, don't I still have to use an RCI guest certificate? That was the basis of my question.

Thanks to everyone for their responses, it was informative, at least most of them.

Chad

Chad, If you are planning to rent your owned timeshare week at the Grandview, what is the connection with RCI?? Is this an RCI Points resort? If so, you can't, as I understand it, rent out an internal RCI Points exchange but you probably can rent out your own personal week. In that case, you should ask Grandview how to go about putting the guest's name on the reservation and whether RCI has any involvement whatsoever. (RedWeek will not exchange RCI Points related resort weeks--or didn't. Maybe things have changed.)

If Grandview exchanges through RCI Weeks but is otherwise independent, you should be able to arrange the reservation and Guest confirmation entirely through Grandview. If I want to rent out our Westgate, Wyndham, or Bluegreen weeks, I certainly do so and get Confirmations from Westgate, Wyndham, or Bluegreen. RCI is in no way involved.

For this reason, your question about how guest confirmations are received needs to be addressed to Grandview or its parent resort chain if any.

Regarding some of your other questions, I know some folks successfully use PayPal to quicky confirm and receive payments. So far, I have not.(Too chicken) I use a rental contract under which the renters agree to a 25% down payment (unrefundable) as soon as I can show them a confirmation with MY name on it. (By mail or e-mail) When they make full payment, (60 days out or sooner) the reservation is put into their name and the final gift confirmation is sent to them. You'll notice that I have plenty of time to be sure their payment clears. I'm sure others on this site will chime in with their own variations. MD

Peter, I'd love to find those rich renters! Seems like most are looking for 5 Star places at Super 8 prices. Adding about $200 in RCI fees to your base rental rate does not improve your competitive edge against actual owners who want to rent out the same resorts and your client is subject to possible eviction. Can you imagine paying big bucks for a timeshare rental, flying your family across the country for this once in a lifetime vacation, and then...........? MD

That turned out to be right, I just had to make arrangements with Grandview in Las Vegas directly to put my renter's name on the reservation for my owned week if I found a renter.

Hey, how do I get a copy of the rental contract you talked about? I checked into PayPal, they charge close to 3% of the transaction amount, so on every $100, I lose $3 since I would not want to pass on the fees or would not like the fees to be passed to me if I were a buyer.

I heard about www.tstoday.com but I guess you pay for that as well, huh, to sign up and download a rental contract from them?

One more thing, if I place a rental on redweek for 6 months, and after 2 months, I decide to deposit the week with RCI (since I can), can I easily remove my ad from redweek without a charge?

Let me know if you get a chance, thank you everyone for all the help.

Chad

adahiscout wrote:

Peter, I'd love to find those rich renters! Seems like most are looking for 5 Star places at Super 8 prices. Adding about $200 in RCI fees to your base rental rate does not improve your competitive edge against actual owners who want to rent out the same resorts and your client is subject to possible eviction. Can you imagine paying big bucks for a timeshare rental, flying your family across the country for this once in a lifetime vacation, and then...........? MD

I'd like to find those rich renters also, but as I said I was unable to make that a reality.

I don't follow your comment though about the $200 exchange costs and cancellation of exchange reservations.

First, you make it sound like every unit reserved thru RCI and then rented is discovered and the reservation is cancelled. I'm pretty certain, from what I read on the rentals here at RW and other sites, there are a large number of exchange units being offered for rent. That is a very strong sign people have learned by experience they are able to rent out their exchanged units without being discovered. And customers pay for those units because I strongly believe those are amonng the lowest price units for rent. Customers are either willing to take the risk, find a way to believe they don't have risk, or don't realize there is a risk because the "owner" gives them a legitimate reservation.

Second, I think you are focusing on the $200 exchange costs too much and forgetting my example. Look back at my Westin Kaanapali example. Owners pay $3,000 for a 2BR unit. Allocate $1,800 to the 1BR half and $1,200 to the Studio half. Without exchange their cost is higher than a non SVO owner with a 2BR LO who uses each side of their LO to secure a 1BR or 2BR unit, either thru patiently waiting and using the search features for exchange or waiting for a last minute deposit. This non SVO owner might have annual fees of $800-$1,500 for their 2BR LO. Even with two $200 exchange fees, their cost is lower than the Wesin Kaanapali owner and thus they can offer the unit they secure thru exchange for less than the direct owner.

And in 2008-2009 it was my experience that the guaranteed OV and Ocean Front owners were not realizing much of a premium for their view guarantee units over a non view guarantee unit. To make matters worse, the island view owners and even the exchangers make statements that they requested an OV unit, creating the impression the renter stands a chance they might get or will certainly get the OV unit rather than IV unit.

Until there is clear evidence the exchange companies actually cancel large blocks of reservations after a guest certificate is issued (the first sign the unit might be rented out), there is very little in your argument which appears to hold true to life. Exchange units are being rented, a lot of them cost the "owner" less than a direct owner pays for maintenance, people are paying the lower prices, and the exchange companies might have a policy against renting but they are not enforcing it.

After all, how can the exchange companies determine which units are for guests of owners vs the ones being rented between strangers?

chads68 wrote:

I heard about www.tstoday.com but I guess you pay for that as well, huh, to sign up and download a rental contract from them?

One more thing, if I place a rental on redweek for 6 months, and after 2 months, I decide to deposit the week with RCI (since I can), can I easily remove my ad from redweek without a charge? Chad

You can find a rental contract here on Redweek .... just enter 'rental contract' in search.

You can delete your Redweek ad anytime you wish with no extra charge to you.

peterp151 wrote:

I don't follow your comment though about the $200 exchange costs and cancellation of exchange reservations.

First, you make it sound like every unit reserved thru RCI and then rented is discovered and the reservation is cancelled. I'm pretty certain, from what I read on the rentals here at RW and other sites, there are a large number of exchange units being offered for rent.

There have been testimonials on TUG from TUG members that rented out RCI and II exchanges and their membership's were cancelled and their renters turned away at check-in .... it DOES and CAN happen. Redweek is the only exchange company that allows rentals of exchanges. If you want to take the chance of renting an II or RCI exchange, then be my guest, however it's NOT legal.

peterp151 wrote:

.... there are a large number of exchange units being offered for rent.

And just HOW do you KNOW that ??? Anybody would be stupid to post their rental is an exchange via RCI or II.

Peter, you asked about what I meant by "$200 or so" in additional fees if one exchange through RCI and then "gifts" it to another. Finding the exact current exchange fee is not easy if you are not trying to actually make a reservation! However, my most recent notes say the US/Canada/International exchange fee for exchanges made on line is $164 and exchanges made by phone are $189. The guest confirmation is $59. Over $200 any way you slice it.

RCI attempts to balance our deposits with reasonably equal exchanges. A converted motel in Podunk is not going to "pull" the Manhattan Club. An exchange can get us to places we could not otherwise go, but there is no reason to expect that the accommodations will be better than those we offer in exchange.

So, again, why would I try to illicitly rent out an exchange if what I get is normally of no higher value than what I give and I am paying an additional $223 or more for the privilege? If I own a lock-off, nothing prevents me from separating them into two 1BR rentals. Some resorts will charge for each Guest Confirmation, but one at least saves the exchange fee and we can make a profit renting what we own at a relatively low mark-up. MD

jayjay wrote:

... would be stupid to post their rental is an exchange via RCI or II.

...People do it anyhow (check eBay rentals for specific examples). But improper rentals of exchanges are easily identified and "outed".

All a smart prospective renter has to do is call the resort directly to ask them to verify that the name of the actual owner of the unit / week is the same as the name of the person attempting to rent out the week. If the names are not the same, guess what? Something is obviously rotten in Denmark...

Don't take the "big two" exchange companies for complete fools. They look after their own business interests very well indeed...

I don't see a search feature on the home page. I wish it was in some obvious place with an obvious search box. Maybe I am missing something, I am new to this website, so bear with me.

Again, where is that search feature?

EDIT: Never mind, I found it. It is search forums after you get to the forums. It is not on the main page.

I have successfully rented my timeshare at the Mauna Loa Resort on the Big Island several times and my Westgate Branson Woods once. All transactions went very smoothly, once using the escrow service and others dealing directly with a rental agreement. RedWeek has been the only resource that has worked for us. We've never had any response to resale offers, however. Shirley

jayjay wrote:

peterp151 wrote:

.... there are a large number of exchange units being offered for rent.

And just HOW do you KNOW that ??? Anybody would be stupid to post their rental is an exchange via RCI or II.

I don't believe anyone posts their rentals as exchange units.

But usually when I ask if the reservation they have is directly owned by them or via exchange they admit it is exchange (when I ask, I usually can tell by the wording it might be an excheange). Also when there is a view type at the resort, anyone unwilling to clarify their view ownership is either the lowest view owner or secured their reservation via exchange. A lot of times when they are the lowest priced ad and will not specify view type, there is a high probability the reservation is thru exchange. To be certain there are many lowest view type owners who attempt to avoid the view specification by saying the last time they were there they received an OV unit, or they requested an OV unit, and they are indeed direct owners at the resort. But even direct owners have broken their 2BR LO and then reserved two 1BR units or a 1BR and a 2BR via exchange. So even though they are direct owners the reservation is thru exchange.

Finally, even if they don't admit it up front, when I secure the reservation the unit has an RCI or II guest certificate.

Someone else insisted exchange companies only provide "like for like". Generally this is true. However, Last minute deposits and off season deposits can and have been secured where I used a studio to get a 1BR and a 1BR to get a 2BR. Technically I traded up but what I received was deposited (or available) less than 30-60 days before checkin or was off season. Those are at least two exceptions to the "like for like" rules.