renting timeshare

Thanks so much. Very helpful.

Any Marriott Surf Club owners out there who are renting? We've been renting through Redweek for about 5 years and this is the first year that I'm noticing inquiries from people asking if my price is the lowest or that they are looking to stay for a shorter time than the week that is posted. And several inquiries have been from people from realty agencies. Also noticed when I booked our week that there was not much left to choose from. Are the points people messing up availability? Just curious.

New to renting on RedWeek and for that matter new to renting a time share. I rented a higher price "identical" unit because it was a RedWeek verified posting and had the pay now option that was very easy to use. I didn't want the hassle of verifying that someone actually owned a unit and writing them a large check. Just my two cents. Maybe as I rent more I will feel more comfortable working directly with owners.

timd116 wrote:

New to renting on RedWeek and for that matter new to renting a time share. I rented a higher price "identical" unit because it was a RedWeek verified posting and had the pay now option that was very easy to use. I didn't want the hassle of verifying that someone actually owned a unit and writing them a large check. Just my two cents. Maybe as I rent more I will feel more comfortable working directly with owners.

Personally, I think that people advertising timeshare rentals on RedWeek should pony up the mere $14.99 extra to get their ad "RedWeek verified", if only to help assuage the concerns of folks like you who may be inexperienced or nervous (or both) regarding timeshare rentals.

That being said however, anyone placing an ad on RedWeek must first become a member and, in order to do so, must provide a credit card or other form of payment which discloses their identity and a means to contact them (and trace them later, if necessary). In short, I think it's unlikely (not impossible, but certainly highly unlikely) to find "scammers" trying to conduct their scams on RedWeek. There are simply much easier (and free) sites for scammers to operate, Craigslist perhaps being the very best example, since scammers can easily operate in complete anonymity there --- at zero cost or risk to themselves where there is no route by which to easily identify or trace them. No such "it’s easy to hide and operate in the shadows" situation exists for advertisers here on RedWeek, so I personally believe this to be a very safe site for timeshare rentals.

Fwiw, it's really not a moon launch for a prospective renter to verify the legitimacy of an ownership. It's frankly much more of a hassle for the owner than for the renter. Owner might be willing to provide a copy of a (redacted) maintenance fee bill, for example (although many don't want to), or an owner can give you his / her name and phone number and unit info and invite you to just make a single phone call to the resort yourself to verify their legitimacy. No resort will ever actually release any owner info that an inquirer does not already have, due to privacy protection laws, but many resorts are willing to at least VERIFY information that you ALREADY possess (i.e., already having been provided to you by the owner).

SPEAKING of pricing. I find it most misleading when a lessor must (per Redweek) list all weeks together in one listing lump sum. It appears to make this listing an instant guaranteed failure! It would be more logical & much better and fair to all parties to list each week separately. The reason is very simple: when a prospective renter goes over the available weeks he looks at the price first before reading anything else. With a three week listing the price is high which means the prospective renter moves on to a lower price rather than realizing that this posted price is for let's say three weeks when most others are priced only as one week. It would be preferable and more fair to list each week separately which will reflect the true price. One must always compare apples to apples and not mix the fruit because it gives a wrong, incorrect & false comparison price picture. Maybe Redweek would think this over and consider giving us Owners the chance to list each week separately. It would make a huge difference in the search comparison and a better chance for a rental success. It appears there really is no logical reason for having to list more than one week (like three or four) together in one lump sum when everyone around you is listing just one week, showing of course a much lower sum versus the three week showing a much higher sum which of course must be off-putting to a lot of possible tenants.

I have no affiliation with RedWeek other than as a paid member for the past 12+ years and a regular forum participant. I certainly have no say regarding any RedWeek practices. That being clearly stated, I will offer you a suggestion that you can implement immediately, whether or not RedWeek ever changes its' listing practices.

If your multiple weeks are at the same resort, pick the best week of the bunch and advertise that one week by itself with the rental cost for that week. This obviously creates an "apples to apples" presentation for anyone viewing listings for a single week at that same resort. In the body of your "details" section, specifically mention and clearly identify the other weeks that you have available for rent there and clearly state whether you offer a discount for multiple week rentals to the same party (I do not offer that, since our weeks are very high demand and relatively low availability).

This is precisely what I have done in RedWeek ads since 2020 with several consecutive weeks that we own at the same resort. In every instance for the past 3 years, the advertised week (always competitively priced compared to all others listed) was successfully rented within a week or so, with numerous other "too late" inquiries coming in before I could deactivate the listing. In 2 of the 3 years, both weeks identified in my ad were rented together by the same party.

What I describe above has worked for us. It may not be a perfect solution to your concerns, but it's an approach that is available to you today, right now, regardless of any potential future RedWeek changes regarding ad listings. This is not just a hypothetical theory; it is our actual practice that has successfully worked for us for the past three years now. Then again, this practice may only be appropriate if your weeks are consecutive and / or all at the same resort. Otherwise, RedWeek might reasonably expect you to place (and pay for) separate ads.

P.S. If you want to make a suggestion or complaint to RedWeek regarding their listing practices, I would respectfully suggest contacting RedWeek staff directly (there is a "Contact Us" button on the bottom of this page). Thoughts or input offered in these discussion forums may not end up being seen by the RedWeek "powers that be". Just a thought.

Helga: You have a do-it-yourself posting and can certainly choose to list each week separately if you would like to. Each DIY rental posting is a separate charge of $29.99, so if owners have consecutive weeks at the same resort, they can choose to list them all together as one package or individually. If you would like to change your current posting, please contact support@redweek.com for instructions on how to do that.