COVID-19 Related Cancellations

I'm awaiting resolution of a disputed rental as an Owner. I was not contacted by Redweek to cancel the reservation. I'm concerned that Redweek's "Arbitration Board" is in fact committing breach of contract as the units in question (Marriott's Ko Olina) are open and habitable because the excuse Redweek provided the Owner above who stated that his non-refundable full service rental contract was not valid because the units are "not habitable" is a bunch of hogwash. The Renters' bore the risk in the contract and are trying to get out of their liabilities. I'm no lawyer, but I'm certain Owners have a cut and dry breach of contract case if denied their rental fees based upon the rental agreement as the units (MVC in my case) are OPEN.

I hope the above incident did not really happen.

Redweek's arbitration panel - I expect they would contact the owner to get input before making some arbitrary decision based solely on input from the renter. We should expect nothing less from Redweek.

Further, I question a decision being allowed as late as the day before check-in by the arbitration panel. The owner, under this circumstance forfeited any chance pursuit of any other remedy or negotiation.

Another concern - I am wondering if someone could simply not check in, claim the virus was the cause, and cause Redweek to withhold payment to the owner. Without some clearer understanding or firm criteria, it might be better to have checks come to the owner directly from the renter. Perhaps Redweek could comment on this.

Dennis, see Elizabeth and Mark's post above.

I have the same issue. Basically Red Week's policy is they state they have nothing to do with an owner's decision with regards to a rental. An owner can say "too bad I have your money, screw you" . I am banned from traveling to the USA and I have a rental for April 3rd. I have repeatedly asked for action on my rental and have received nothing but platitudes. I have offered to pay the cost to move my rental to a fall booking and have heard zero. Red week is a facilitator and if the owner you rented from has no morals and no heart you are going to be out of pocket.

Redweek, please respond. Given the circumstances I need to cancel my reservation. The owner is trying on his end to cancel my reservation with Marriott Ko Olina, However he had not been able to reach Redweek and I have been trying to reach Redweek with no response. As long as a trip is 60 days prior to arrival there will be no cancellation fees which the owner and renter are trying to do but Redweek is not helping. The owner has receive no correspondence from Redweek requesting a cancellation from me and it has been weeks now. I understand that you are overwhelmed and helping those with the immediate travel days but please help us as we are getting close to the 60 day check in. The owner will not proceed without a formal response from you. Please respond and correspond so that we can close this cancellation.

Susan: I could not find any communication from the owner of your rental in our system. The owner would just need to send us an email (support@redweek.com) stating he will be canceling this rental and has agreed to provide the renter with a full refund. We will handle it from there.

The owner is waiting to hear from Redweek as he is unaware that I opened a dispute through Redweek and wants me to proceed through Redweek first. He is calling Marriott, Marriott website states that they will cancel without penalties to vacation owners prior to the 60 day arrival. I can send you a screenshot of this info. Seeing that Ko Olina is shut down, I should not be penalized with this cancellation and expect a full refund as Marriott is not hitting the owner with any penalties. Please send the dispute to the owner so that this can proceed before the 60 day date. Thank you.

Original Poster:

Just wanted to update everyone that Redweek support instantly took the initiative after reading my post. I didn’t even have to contact them. Phyllis offered to help communication between me and the property owner.

The owner responded to Redweek and then to me. The owner was then completely understanding and helpful. They issued a full refund and the money has been credited to our account.

This is obviously the best case scenario on all ends and I look forward to working with both Redweek and the owner to rent again once we are beyond this. Sometimes a bit of a crisis provides a chance to exceed expectations. Both Redweek and the owner did so here. It was our first experience with Redweek and we are sincerely grateful to all in spite of the circumstances.

Thank you to Phyllis at Redweek and if anyone needs to know a reputable owner to rent an Aruba week from in the future, we have a great recommendation!

I am facing a similar issue. I have heard nothing from RedWeek but know that La Cabana in Aruba is closed until 5/16. My trip is on 5/9 - 5/16. I've tried opening a dispute and have heard nothing. I paid for the timeshare here through RedWeek. Obviously I can't travel through no fault of my own and would think I would be refunded as the owner will be refunded his week through the resort itself because they closed. I need answers.

This seemed like a relevant thread to add my experience. We booked a week at Marriott Ko'Olina for 5/8. I got a call earlier this week from Redweek Customer Service, went to voicemail, and voicemail indicated the owner was asking if I still planned the trip or wanted to cancel and there may be refund options. In the voicemail it was said I would get an email to respond to.

This I think is the important part, I never received the email (checked spam and all that). I opened a COVID-19 dispute yesterday using the online form around 2 pm Pacific and at 7:19pm received an email from Customer Service that the owner fully refunded my trip. In the response, the original email from Redweek (that I didn't receive) was included in the history chain.

Two takeaways. I think the system Redweek is using to manage customer support requests is overwhelmed and some emails their CS reps are sending actually aren't being sent leading to what seems like no response. It would be nice if those messages were included in our online Redweek Inbox to have a history.

Second, the policies are changing on a daily basis and I know with Ko'Olina all resorts except Marriott closed this week. Marriott hasn't updated their cancellation guidance, but I assume the owner of mine was able to cancel in a way where they felt comfortable offering a full refund.

Just wanted to share my experience. For me at least, both the owner and Redweek (kudos to Lorna and Carol in CS!) were very responsive considering the circumstances.

We need help. I asked the owner several times to cancel our reservation for May 10, 2020. The owner of the Marriott Maui Ocean Club condo has refused. He stated that he, "...reached out to the Marriott on multiple occasions. (Marriott told him) "because...less than 60 days away from the check in date...do not have the option to change the date of booking (or to cancel)". Both the Marriott and the owner need to understand that this is an unusual time for the world. The owner uses the word "strict cancellation policy, meaning there are no refunds..." The owner also stated that "Redweek will give us (him) credit for another listing to re-list the week, but it is not likely that we (he) will be able to rent in the little time we (he) have left...". We are caught in the middle of finger pointing between MARRIOTT-OWNER-REDWEEK and around and around it goes. It appears to me that both the Marriott and RedWeek have the ability to step in to help both us and the owner with some sort of grace and understanding during this unusual situation. I am 72 years old and live in California which has been particularly hard hit by the virus and currently under quarantine. This was my first time using RedWeek, I hope it is not my last. I am requesting that Red Week, as well as the Marriott, grant me my request for a refund.

Update: The owner has cancelled my reservation with Marriott. I have notified Redweek with this info and am now waiting for a refund.

Are you saying that the owner has to call the Marriott to cancel to reservation? It's that easy? Did your owner have a "no cancel policy"?

Just an update to my message from yesterday. If you purchased a week and you can't go because the resort is closed, you WILL get a refund if it's Verified and Protected through RedWeek. They are experiencing super high volume but will absolutely work with you!

jamesa960 wrote:

Are you saying that the owner has to call the Marriott to cancel to reservation? It's that easy? Did your owner have a "no cancel policy"?

The owner wanted to proceed with cancellation once he received the dispute I opened through Redweek. I don’t know if he heard from Redweek but Marriott verified the reservation was cancelled and I believe only an owner is able to do this. The Marriott policy is that if the trip is more than 60 days out then they will waive all cancellation fees, thus my rush in trying to get this processed. I am now waiting for Redweek to issue a full refund.

RedWeek cancelled my renter's reservation without as much as notifying me that she had posted a dispute to cancel. As Vistana has not been forthcoming about closing the resort, which is what they should have done, owners like myself are at a complete loss. RedWeek has offered me nothing in return for this debacle. The only option I have left to recoup anything at all is to rent the week in question within the next 120 days. And RedWeek hasn't even offered to take care of that for me. I don't particularly care that you are overwhelmed. The email you sent me was cold and uncaring.

You can view a statement from RedWeek's CEO, Randy Conrads, regarding COVID 19 and RedWeek's response on this page: RedWeek CEO's Statement on COVID 19

I'm with you. Perhaps we could band together as there is power in numbers. We most likely received the same email from RedWeek regarding so-called "arbitration". Anyone else?

andrewl136 wrote:

I'm awaiting resolution of a disputed rental as an Owner. I was not contacted by Redweek to cancel the reservation. I'm concerned that Redweek's "Arbitration Board" is in fact committing breach of contract as the units in question (Marriott's Ko Olina) are open and habitable because the excuse Redweek provided the Owner above who stated that his non-refundable full service rental contract was not valid because the units are "not habitable" is a bunch of hogwash. The Renters' bore the risk in the contract and are trying to get out of their liabilities. I'm no lawyer, but I'm certain Owners have a cut and dry breach of contract case if denied their rental fees based upon the rental agreement as the units (MVC in my case) are OPEN.

Yes!!! This has happened to many owners. Get up-to-date.

James Albano: I want to clarify it is not "easy" to cancel a Marriott reservation. Their policy is NO trades inside of 60 days from check in giving owners no late trade options. They have changed nothing about this policy despite the COVID-19 outbreak which is what is leaving owners panicking. Unlike Westin, who is allowing late trades back into Westin as well as Vistana without penalty, Marriott is doing nothing except offering check-ins through April 23rd to be late deposited into Interval International with the possibility of future usage for a $99 fee. They have not yet offered any clear exceptions after April 24th.