Tips on Renting Out Timeshare

What was being stated was if you are renting you can find some cheap deals on Redweek,good fo renters.

The reason for this is so many owners/agents list and as one drops their price others might also have to drop their price to compete.

This gives the renter the upper hand and screws all timeshare owners trying to rent for fair price.

It only takes one owner on a resort site that is either stupid or just doesn't care how much money someone gives them!

Wow, phill12, you certainly describe the unhappy owner scenario! Could U explain a little more about your bad experience trying to exchange to Hawaii thru II? I understand that the supply side of the equation, especially in Maui, is very low, and the demand very, very high, especially for red season, beach front units. Could it be that was the cause of your problem? By contrast, I see many units offered for rent right here on redweek for 2007, some for $100.00/nite, for 7 nites, which I personally favor at a minimum, cause I hate packing and unpacking. Did you also consider the "get-away" feature on II? My neighbor just booked a 1 week get away thru II to some resort in Hawaii that I have seen advertised right here on redweek for $599.00. It's a Studio Unit, sure, and probably little or no view, but a great price for a Maui location, in Ka'anapali or nearby, and he booked it for the 1st full week of January 2007. Hope you post back with your experience. I'll let U know how my neighbor makes out. Wish I could go with him! LOL! Happy Holidays!

I never had a problem exchanging for Hawaii with II.

Only took two months to get one of my three choices!

PHILL12

QUOTE frm daddyd "Bottom line is all the people trying to rent for some reason are hurting timeshare trading." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- First of all, how do you know for sure that your unit has top trading value? I hope it's based upon diligent research, and that you did not take the salesperson's word for it. So many of them swear that if you purchase the unit they are trying to sell you, you will be able to go anywhere in the world with just one phone call to I.I. or RCI. It just ain't true.Orlando, for instance, has a glut of units. No matter how nice the resort is, an owner will not receive high trading power for depositing a week from an Orlando resort.

If you own multiple weeks, you should do your own on-line searches and compare the results for each of your weeks. You will soon find out which ones trade best. It may not be the ones you think.

I greatly fault ARDA for not developing a full disclosure statement (like a bank's "truth in lending" statement) and requiring that it be given to, and signed by, all buyers at the point of sale. So many people purchase from a developer with the expectation of being able to exchange into properties that have a much higher trade value than the unit they are buying.Of course they have no way of knowing that until it's too late to rescind the contract.

We own 15 timeshare weeks, bought gradually over the past 11 years. All were purchased at bargain prices through resale companies and directly from owners who placed ads at web sites such as TUG and Redweek.com.

For years we received fabulous exchanges and stayed in great timeshares all over the world. But after Cendant acquired RCI, there was a significant decrease in the quality and quantity of weeks we were offered. This is a widespread problem complained about by numerous owners at timeshare web site forums, in Timesharing Today Magazine, etc...Many weeks deposited with RCI wound up being rented out or auctioned off to the general (non timeshare owner) public. There is a MAJOR CLASS ACTION lawsuit pending against Cendant and RCI for allegedly engaging in these practices.

As a way of overcoming the problem, I began renting out our top quality weeks during years when we wanted to vacation in a different location. Redweek ads have produced the best results. ( I usually place ads simultaneously at other web sites). I have often times used the money received for our week to rent a week I want directly from another owner, again usually through Redweek ads.

By doing this, I eliminate the hassle of waiting for months or even years to see what RCI will offer us. We do not have to pay the ever-increasing exchange fee, nor a rip-off "guest certificate" fee if a situation arises making us have to cancel our vacation plans, and we want to have a friend or relative go in our place.

When people ask my advice (and many do since I am the President of a timeshare owners group run by volunteers--we have hundreds of members) I suggest that they purchase a resale week at a resort that they would enjoy vacationing at every year. It is just not wise IMHO to buy timeshares with the expectation of using them for exchanges, given the current state of the exchange company practises.

We use six of our weeks every year for our own vacations. We rent out the rest of them when we are unable to use them. We used to travel more but are in a temporary "holding pattern" due to the responsibility of caring for a 90 year old parent who no longer wishes to travel. We intend to resume our frequent travels in the future

We did a lot of research before buying each of our weeks. We ascertained that the resort and timeframe purchased would be easy to rent, and it has worked out exceptionally well for us.

Well getting back to the original topic, I believe that the rental of weeks by owners is not a negative thing. It is a good alternative to dealing with the greedy exchange companies who have developed a pattern of charging more and delivering less. Industry professionals report that despite the sale of over a billion dollars worth of new timeshare weeks (and points) in 2005, RCI is losing more members than it has gained. There is good reason for this. And it is perhaps the only reason that m ay motivate RCI to return to their past practises which provided members with desirable exchanges. (That and the class action lawsuit!). We can only hope. But unless and until that happens, I'd rather take my chances doing my version of a good exchange--namely renting my week and using the rental monies to rent a week from another owner.

There are many overpriced timeshare weeks in the Tug sales forum, other resale sites and here at Redweek. I have tried to stress in this forum that most people list their weeks for sale far too high and many want their developer priced money back when selling when this is not going to happen.

phill12 wrote:

You stated this is good site if your buying/renting but bad if your seller/renter. It has to be bad for sellers when most of the ads on here are just to high! For example on Tug this week there is unit for sale for $2000 and they pay all cost so you can take it for $2000 total and if this was for the unit we wanted we would have jumped on it. As good as this sounds you can still find better deals! On here they want $3400-$3500 then you have closing, mf,transfer fee's. When you get finished buying one of these you will have spent about $5000.

You are right about Tug having prices high!

Tug seems to be one of the worse for people over pricing their units. To be fair there are many timeshare dealers on Tug listing and their prices are a joke!

PHILL12

phill12

jennie wrote:

QUOTE frm daddyd "Bottom line is all the people trying to rent for some reason are hurting timeshare trading." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- First of all, how do you know for sure that your unit has top trading value? I hope it's based upon diligent research, and that you did not take the salesperson's word for it. So many of them swear that if you purchase the unit they are trying to sell you, you will be able to go anywhere in the world with just one phone call to I.I.

Jennie, I'm not sure if your responding to daddyd or myself with this post so I will explain my feeling on this!

AS far as knowing what trading power we have ,we owned timeshares over the years and know Florida and all the problems there but we rebought timeshare we owned years ago for many reasons and one was trading power with II.

Before we bought again I called and talk to a supervisor at II about the timeshare and what kind of power it has now. I know years ago we always received our first choice.

The supervisor who gave us her name and direct phone number so we could by pass the II agents worked well with us. We talked about three different timeshare and it came back to our first choice in Lake Tahoe. This is where we got our information and we were told this was still one of the top trading powers.

As one of other post stated last month II offered us anyone of our three choices in Maui plus bonus week to make a trade.

Next what I 'm stating about hurting trades and the timeshare world is true! Because for what ever reason for you or anyone renting out their units it is causing a shortage for trades.

Many owners with lockouts split the unit and try and rent both sides and this causes a shortage for two bedroom units for trade. The nicer the unit the more money it rents for. So if you work your way down the list from best to worse you will find not enough trades for people wanting to make a fair trade.

Because of this why will people want to buy really nice timeshare if they can't make a equal trade.

This is something that we all may see in few years., timeshares gone. Timeshares had and still have bad name because of all the crap going on with them and this is just another nail in the coffin!

Before all the renting if you didn't want to use your timeshare this year you would book it with II or Rci and take trade later or maybe take two weeks together next year.

Now because people want to rent and make little money the trades aren't there for other owners to trade for. This is why I would only belong to II because I will not give up my unit unless I get trade I want! IMO

Since most of our timeshares trade through RCI, I am not that familiar with I.I.. Almost all of our weeks are 2 bedroom/2 bath units at Gold Crown resorts. Some are lock-offs. Between 1995 and 2002, we did over 60 exchanges through RCI and were very happy with the results. But when Cendant acquired RCI, a lot of timeshare weeks started showing up on web sites as rentals, available to anyone, even if they did not own a timeshare or belong to RCI. The number of weeks and web sites increased every year. At the same time, the number and quality of weeks offered to me and other owners decreased.

There were endless discussions about this problem at the Timeshare Users Group web site. It wasn't just some "fluke" on my end. My resorts and the weeks we own were, and still are, just as "prime" as they were during all the years we would quickly receive almost any week we requested from RCI as an exchange. I would deposit them at the earliest possible date--two years in advance--and submit a list of numerous resorts and dates we wanted. Since around 2002 sometimes 18 months would go by without us being offered a single week we wanted. We were not being too fussy either. We were even willing to accept one bedroom units most of the time. The resorts we were requesting were comparable to what we own, or even lower in quality. Nothing that we didn't deserve.

Meanwhile the weeks we were endlessly waiting for would show up on a particular auction site. So I started bidding on them and "won" many times. I paid between $215. and $475. for the weeks. The confirmation papers had the RCI logo on it and looked exactly the same as the paperwork we would receive if it had been obtained via exchanges. So I stopped depositing our weeks with RCI. I would obtain what I wanted through these auctions and then rent out our weeks. Many other people have been doing the same thing.

A long overdue class action lawsuit has been filed against Cendant/RCI alleging that they are depriving members of fair trades by renting space-banked weeks to the general public. There have been several detailed articles about the problem in Timesharing Today Magazine (http://www.tstoday.com). Subscribers receive a very informative magazine bi-monthly. They also receive a password which allows them to access all of the articles in all past issues, at their web site.

Since the lawsuit was filed, I no longer see prime weeks appearing on the auction site or on the 4 other web sites which regularly posted prime timeshare weeks for rent. If the lawsuit forces RCI to return to giving members fair exchanges, many of us will consider space-banking our weeks instead of renting them. In recent years I have been renting our weeks and then using the money received to rent a comparable week directly from other owners. It takes more time and energy but it provides a better chance of receiving what RCI should be providing, but has failed to do, due to greed. Their behavior is considered to be immoral, probably illegal, and if allowed to continue, will have a very negative long-term impact upon the entire industry. Don't blame the dwindling supply of 2 bedroom units on the small number of people who have been astute enough to figure out a way to get around the problems created by Cendant.

With respect to your specific situation, if my recollection is correct, you are being offered the Maui weeks you want in 2008, but not in 2007. If this is correct, perhaps you did not deposit your week early enough with I.I. ??? The weeks you want may have been readily available at one time but were given to other members who put in their request before you. People planing a trip to Hawaii generally plan way in advance so that they can get reasonable airfare.

Many timeshare owners wishing to trade into Hawaii report excellent results from Trading Places International, a smaller independent exchange company http://www.tradingplaces.com

And also The San Francisco Exchange Company http://www.sfx-resorts.com/

Good luck!

anitad10 wrote:

daddyd wrote:

Kudos to everybody contributing to this thread. A must read for anybody thinking of buying a timeshare with the idea of renting it and profiting on that rental year after year. Happy Holidays.

I think that it is possible to rent out units and makea profit---it is just not happening on Redweek from these comments. After not having success on Redweek, I rented out my unit through the in-house e-mail at my place of employment to a very nice couple and did make a profit. So, I don't think that we should be basing what is possible with our timeshares on just the Redweek site. I am certainly in the process of just learing about timeshares and what I learned from the Redweek experience so far is that it is a great site if you are on the buying end to get a great deal on a rental or resale, but if you are the seller, you will not be able to move anything unless you are willing to give it away. Anita

Hi All,

Thanks for all your inputs. I was thinking about signing up with Redweek to list my timeshare units for rent. I am not any more. Why should I pay for member ship just to give my timeshare unit at very low price (not enough to cover my cost, time and stress). I will just eat it or use it myself.

I think, one problem with Redweek ad. is: Redweek charges membership fee just to respond to an ad. Why should any interested renter pay $9 or $10 to be a member just to inquire on the ad.

Happy Holidays.

Soon

jayjay wrote:

Are you speaking of owners giving their weeks away for nothing or other sources? It is up to the owner what he/she wishes to rent their weeks for. Many owners merely want their maintenance fees in return. The problem with some owners thinking they can make huge profits from rentals is unrealistic (in 99% of cases) no matter what a timeshare salesperson may have told them at a presentation.

As far as the possibility of a renter trashing a unit, I would, as an owner, have the renter sign a written agreement, with their credit credit card number included, in case a trashing event occurs.

Renting a timeshare week means doing your due diligence just as you would before buying a timeshare week.

jeffr92 wrote:

Hi anitad10, I'm new to the website, but it seems that as time goes by it is going to get harder to rent out our weeks because of those who are giving their weeks away for nothing. I know there are those who are making a pretty good income at this and because of the volumn they are doing, they can put a better price than you can. A couple of people are responding to you that you should consider dropping your prices a bit. That's easy for them to say, but the first time some renters tear some unit up that you have offered, we know who has to pay for it. You are the owner and are taking a big risk to offer these fine condominiums to people who do not have a vested interest in them. I for one am not going to take that risk for a couple of lousy hundred bucks. If that is what redweek is coming to, let the high volumn dealers have it and just enjoy your timeshare.

Jayjay, In your response, you mentioned a written agreement that is signed by the renter for possible damages to the unit. Would you happen to have a sample of such an agreement? If not, can you direct me to where I can find such a document? Also, from your experience are renters generally willing to provide their credit card information? Thanks.

soonn wrote:

anitad10 wrote:

daddyd wrote:

Kudos to everybody contributing to this thread. A must read for anybody thinking of buying a timeshare with the idea of renting it and profiting on that rental year after year. Happy Holidays.

I think that it is possible to rent out units and makea profit---it is just not happening on Redweek from these comments. After not having success on Redweek, I rented out my unit through the in-house e-mail at my place of employment to a very nice couple and did make a profit. So, I don't think that we should be basing what is possible with our timeshares on just the Redweek site. I am certainly in the process of just learing about timeshares and what I learned from the Redweek experience so far is that it is a great site if you are on the buying end to get a great deal on a rental or resale, but if you are the seller, you will not be able to move anything unless you are willing to give it away. Anita

Hi All,

Thanks for all your inputs. I was thinking about signing up with Redweek to list my timeshare units for rent. I am not any more. Why should I pay for member ship just to give my timeshare unit at very low price (not enough to cover my cost, time and stress). I will just eat it or use it myself.

I think, one problem with Redweek ad. is: Redweek charges membership fee just to respond to an ad. Why should any interested renter pay $9 or $10 to be a member just to inquire on the ad.

Happy Holidays.

Soon

vlahos wrote:

I WOULD LIKE REDWEEK TO HAVE A REDWISH SESSION FOR HOT DEALS AND/OR LAST MINUTE DEALS. FOR THE ONES THAT HAVE LOWER THERE TIMESHARE TO A BARGIN PRICE AND NEED TO RENT VARY BADLY & VARY FAST.. I HAD TWO UNITES THAT I LOWER TO 1/2 MY MAINTANCES FEE., AND STILL DID NOT RENT. ONLY BECAUSE I FEEL THAT NO ONE SAW THEM!

One other feature. Owner who post ad should be able to view the statistic; like how many hits does the ad get.

I do not post at Redweek because Redweek charges member fee to interested renters or buyers, who wants to contact the owners for more information.

I post my timeshare units at the other propular website, which does not charge me, or charges interested renters who want to contact me. At this website, I am able to view the statistic of all my listings, I know how many hits I get for each of my listings. I have been receiving inquiries. I have not rented any of my units just yet, at least I do know that my postings are getting hits.

Jayjay, Sorry! I do not mean to beat on the dead issue.

Soon

beatricel2 wrote:

Jayjay, In your response, you mentioned a written agreement that is signed by the renter for possible damages to the unit. Would you happen to have a sample of such an agreement? If not, can you direct me to where I can find such a document? Also, from your experience are renters generally willing to provide their credit card information? Thanks.

Beatrice, I have personally never rented a week that we owned. However, if I did I would make sure that the front desk at the resort gets a credit card number from the renter. Most resorts will do this anyway without you having to tell them. However, you can call the resort before your renters check in to make sure they do get a credit card number.

I don't have a sample of a 'possible damage agreement', but I'm sure you could make up a short agreement and fax it to your renters telling them they would be responsible for any damages to the unit while they are renting it.

What I wonder is did all these people having trouble renting buy just to rent. I would hope not because this would be a bad investment. How many people jump on e-bay and buy a unit that is cheap but also not in demand just to rent!

First people should stop being so greedy and list their unit for a good price to start with and not play the game of lowering their prices at the last minute. What I wonder about is why at a point you haven't rented then why not deposit your week and make trade or take two weeks together next year.

Unless your one of these people with many timeshares then what happen to you taking your family on vacation, you know "the reason you should have bought into a timeshare in first place.

Most shoppers will look at your ad once and move on. I know for myself I will go to a site and check new listings because I have already seen all the others. I don't even know if you can drop your price on Redweek if selling/renting because I have never seen price crossed out and new amount entered. To be truthful if Redweek just changes the price then I doubt anyone but a new shopper would even see it.

Another thing and maybe Redweek doesn't want you to do it but when your posting that your having trouble renting why not say what timeshare your talking about. Then if I had interest I could go to listings and check it out. I don't have the time to look at every unit listed just to see what your talking about and I bet many people think the same way.

I feel the counter idea is good and many people have talked about it on here too. Wonder how many owners spend all this money trying to rent just to lose their week for the year. No money,No trade but we will try again next year! LMAO

I have thought about renting before but never have because first you pay mf, then you pay Redweek or some other company, then you might need to pay $50 for holding company to handle all this for you. Now after all this renter gets better deal and leaves you hanging. Even worse is renting then months later get bill for damage.

This doesn't make me want to rent to someone I don't know.

About twelve years ago a friend of ours owned at Blue Tree resort in Flordia and we spent week with them then next year they stayed with us at our timeshare in PV Mexico. They had nice two bedroom unit and it was clean and within 20 min drive to Disney World. Compared to new timeshares Blue Tree was more like a condo you would own and live in, nothing special but nice.

While there the people up stairs aprox eight college kids rented a condo and it was parties every night we were there. Cops showed up at least four nights to shut them down. They did a number on the unit and really messed it up.

I asked our friends about it the next year while we were on vacation in Mexico and they told us the Blue Tree had taken the owners to court because there was over $17000,00 in damage and the owners refused to pay. Our friend said they last heard the timeshare was taken back from these owners and the law suit cost the owners over $26000 in total cost plus bad credit rating.

This probley will never happen to most owners but you have to ask yourself "WELL PUNK DO YOU FEEL LUCKY TODAY" is this worth few hundred dollars profit!

NOT TO ME!

Timesharing Today Magazine sells a rental and also a sale kit at a very reasonable price. The rental lease form is very detailed and spells out clearly the terms and conditions of the rental, including the need for the renter to provide a valid credit card upon check-in, and to be financially responsible for any damage done while he/she and guests are occupying the unit.

The Kits include step-by-step instructions for preparing all documents needed in the transaction. The Rental Document Kit contains: Three complete sets of fill-in-the-blanks lease forms with worksheets, Detailed instructions, and Model letters to the resort, etc..

The cost by mail is $10. for the 3 complete sets.

AND THERE IS A 100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE.

The price is even lower (and instantly available) if you download it from their web site: https://tstoday.com/shop/docKits.aspx

I have used these forms numerous times through the years and have never had any problems.

While at the web site, if you are not already a subscriber to Timesharing Today Magazine, fill out the form on the home page and you will receive a free copy. I have been a subscriber for over 10 years.

Owners can write-up all the rules they want in a contract.

This makes them feel better but I doubt many of these contracts are worth the paper there on!

I might be wrong and have been a couple times in my life but have been told by lawyers I have dealings with that these home made contracts are worthless on timeshare rentals.

PHILL12

soonn

anitad10 wrote:

daddyd wrote:

Kudos to everybody contributing to this thread. A must read for anybody thinking of buying a timeshare with the idea of renting it and profiting on that rental year after year. Happy Holidays.

I think that it is possible to rent out units and make a profit---it is just not happening on Redweek from these comments. you will not be able to move anything unless you are willing to give it away. Thanks for all your inputs. I was thinking about signing up with Redweek to list my timeshare units for rent. I am not any more. Why should I pay for member ship just to give my timeshare unit at very low price (not enough to cover my cost, time and stress). I will just eat it or use it myself.

I think, one problem with Redweek ad. is: Redweek charges membership fee just to respond to an ad. Why should any interested renter pay $9 or $10 to be a member just to inquire on the ad.

Happy Holidays.

Soon

The answer to your questio is simple. Ten dollars is a small price to pay to be able to find and rent timeshare units at a fraction of the price the person would pay for a hotel room. Redweek provides pictures of the resort and lots of uncensored reviews of each property. After one successful rental transaction, most people return to Redweek for their future vacation needs. Why do you think Redweek has 1,000,000 registered users?

As an owner, I am actually glad this policy is in effect. The person paying the $10. membership fee must do so by credit card. Therefore his name and address is known to Redweek. People looking to send spam will not go through this process. I used to post rental ads at other free or low cost web sites and would quickly receive tons of spam. That has not happened with any of the ads placed here at Redweek. I receive less replies but they are serious inquiries and have resulted in dozens of successful rentals for me. Also, some of my renters have been repeat customers, contacting me directly in subsequent years. This saves me the cost of placing some ads.

Sometimes I receive a dozen or more inquiries. Other times I receive only one or two. But I can honestly say that I have never failed to rent any week I have advertised on Redweek. Keep in mind that I did a huge amount of research (mainly at the Timeshare Users Group www.tug2.net) before buying the weeks I own. They are all very desirable, even though most were bought resale at a fraction of the cost I would have paid if bought from the developer.

There is always a market for desirable weeks, if priced properly. It doesn't have to be a "fire sale" price either. I have always received at least my maintenance fees and often times hundreds of dollars more. Some of the disgruntled people complaining on these forums may own off season weeks and/or at a run down resort. If they can't rent their week at Redweek, I sincerely doubt that they will be able to rent it on any other site.

Just my humble opinion from a very satisfied customer.

phill12

jennie wrote:

Timesharing Today Magazine sells a rental and also a sale kit at a very reasonable price. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jennie I'm not a lawyer so until something goes wrong I wonder just how much these forms would work.

I really doubt most people renting a timeshare for a week are going to hand over their credit card number to a owner.

Many owners are hard working honest people but lets face it the timeshares industry is full of crooked low-lifes from the time you buy at a resort until the time you get rid of it.

I really do not understand why this should even be a problem. When we check in the resort always takes your credit card so it is on file. You would think any damage would be taken from their card.

What is the difference how someone came to spend seven days at the timeshare. You rent to me or I get it from II or RCI. Do RCI or II pay for damage if my family break something.

Normally when you check your unit there is a form for you to sign showing the unit and whats in it and the resort has your Visa/Maser Card on file.

I as a owner or guest at another timeshare would be responseable for damage so why is a renter different! PHIL

The rental lease forms do not require the renter to provide their credit card number to the owner. It just informs them that they will be required to provide a valid credit card to the Front Desk staff when they check in. It also requires that they agree to be financially responsible for any damage they or their guests might cause. When they sign the lease, they are agreeing to all of these (and about 20 other) terms set forth in the lease. The owner of Timesharing Today Magazine is a lawyer and he seems to have covered every possible contingency in the lease.

There have been a few (very few!) instances when a renter caused damage and the resort could not collect from the credit card company. Either the person did not have a high enough credit line to cover the cost, or disputed the charge and the credit card company sided with him and did a "charge-back" to the resort. Although it could be a "nightmare scenerio" if the renter lives in another state, the owner would have a better chance of sucessfully suing the renter based upon the terms of the lease that he/she had agreed to, if the resort comes after the owner for the uncollected damage.

If an owner uses his own unit and causes damage, and somehow tries to avoid payment of a lawful charge, the resort has options such as denying the owner future use of the unit until he pays, or even eventually foreclosing on it.

RCI and I.I. have certain contractual obligations when one of their members causes damage to a unit they received as an exchange. And the exchange companies have the resources to pursue collection through civil lawsuits if the exchanger is able to win a credit card dispute. But the credit card companies will seldom do a charge-back when RCI or II files a rebuttal and provides the tons of "fine print" that an owner has signed as part of their membership agreement with RCI or II. If they go after the exchanger, there are heavy court costs added to the bill. Most people who find themselves in that situation would rather settle by paying for the damage. Their chance of winning in court is slim.

If an owner illegally rents a unit he has received as an RCI or II exchange, the resort will come after the owner if they cannot collect from the renter. They really don't care how they get their money. They will take the easiest route. And if it ever gets to court, the fact that you "illegally" rented the unit will not sit well with the judge or arbitrator who has to rule on the case.

I know I keep mentioning the Timeshare Users Group www.tug2.net as a great source of information about timesharing. Issues like this have been discussed several times throughout the 12 years I have been a member. In this, plus many other areas of life, there are laws governing human behaviour. I'm sure we can all cite many laws we think are unfair. But so long as it is the law, that is what will determine the outcome of a litigated matter. We need to deal with "what is" not what we wish it is, or think it is.

As Jennie said, RCI and II will bring a lawsuit against anyone damaging an exchanged unit, and court costs plus cost of damages will be the responsilility of the exchanger who damaged that unit.

Once you deposit your owned week, any liability is now with the exchange companies and the exchanger. RCI and II have a ton of lawyers to carry out damage lawsuits.

I wonder where the resort manager was when the teens destroyed that rented unit and the police had to be called several times. Most resorts will not allow persons under the age of 21 to rent. I'm amazed the resort manager and security didn't evict the teens the first time they learned of the wild parties, even if the teens did rent from an individual owner.

The better quality resorts have quiet hours in place and they also have policies where any party disturbing other guests will be first warned, then evicted. I wouldn't want to own at a resort with less lax rules. This problem should have been taken care of when the first disturbances were heard ..... I have one observation concerning this scenario, bad management and equally bad security.

phill12 wrote:

What is the difference how someone came to spend seven days at the timeshare. You rent to me or I get it from II or RCI. Do RCI or II pay for damage if my family break something.

Bottom line is if renter refuses to pay for damage then the owner will be paying for it.

No resort is going to fight the renter who is gone and credit card is signed off when they checked out!

They will go after owner who rented the unit to these people.

PHILL12

phill12

jayjay wrote:

Most people bought timeshares for only one reason and that is to enjoy your vacations for many years. Not to rent their unit out and then go rent someone else's timeshare. This was set up to trade and no matter what we think of these companies it still is the safer way to do things

I stick with my statement in other post that if you need someone to rent your unit to cover your mf then you shouldn't own a timeshare!

Now greed has set in and every body wants to rent for small profit and some try for large profit...Pick up your phone and bank your unit so other owners can use it. Then next year you may be able to take a very good vacation or two weeks together.

Buying timeshares to make a living is a bad investment and I doubt many people would disagree with me.

You are correct when you state that most people bought their timeshares to enable them to have nice vacations every year. I still advise people to buy a unit at a resort that they would like to return to most every year. Six of the timeshare weeks we own fall into that category. We look forward to spending two weeks in our 2 bedroom lock-off unit in southeast Florida in Febraury each year. We enjoy our week in July at the Jersey shore. And we love our 3 weeks in August on Cape Cod.

We used to space-bank (deposit) our high quality prime season weeks on a frequent basis because we wanted to use them "to see the world." Through exchanges we have stayed at timeshares on the four major Hawaiian islands, and in Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Germany, Paris, London, Rome, Assisi, the south of France, Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Aruba, Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas, Canada, San Francisco, Escondido, Las Vegas, Sedona, Williamsburg and Vrginia Beach and Alexandria, Virginia, the Manhattan Club, Atlantic City, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and all over Florida. And many more places than I can't remember at the moment.

Hubby and I were so happy with the wonderful vacation exchanges we received that we kept buying more weeks to use for exchange purposes, for ourselves and family members.

But over the past 7 years or so, the exchanges we have been offered have become increasingly less desirable, and the amount of time we have had to wait before anything becomes available has grown longer and longer. Meanwhile RCI has been renting weeks we are waiting for to the general, non-timeshare owning public. Experienced owners believe the weeks have been "raided" from the "weeks exchange bank." By this I mean, if I deposit one of our prime two bedroom units, it may never be given to another timeshare owner as an exchange. It will quite possibly go to someone who has rented it from one of the many web sites RCI uses to increase their profit, at our expense! You and I have paid thousands of dollars to acquire the weeks we own. We pay annual maintenance fees, real estate taxes, special assessments, and RCI or I.I. membership fees. RCI turns around and makes our week available to "any Tom, Dick, or Harry" at a fraction of the price an owner pays for the right to use the same week. Since RCI has acquired the week for free, and will make less than $200. in exchange fees if they assign it to another ts owner, they make a better profit it they rent it out or auction it off for an average of $300. to 600. .Thank God a major law firm has finally brought a class action lawsuit against Cendant and RCI attempting to stop this practise.

Until RCI and other exchange companies are better regulated and held accountable for the way in which they have been doing business in recent years, I refuse to be a "sucker"or "victim" and give them my precious weeks. It is they who are greedy, not the timeshare owners who, out of anger and frustration, have to find other ways to get the "exchanges" they desire and are entitled to. And not have to wait an inordinate amount of time (e.g. 12-28 months) to find out which "crumbs" if any RCI will throw our way. I miss out on a lot of airfare sales during the endless wait.

So please do not feel that we are renting our weeks to make money. There is too little profit, if any, to make it worthwhile for the average person. But if I want to vacation this year or next at a different timeshare, I'd rather rent one of our weeks and then use the money to rent directly from another owner who has the same "issues" with RCI. I have done so many times. You have the same opportunity. Why don't you try it? You may like it much better, especially if you own a week that is truly desirable.

Beware of relying upon the opinon of an exchange company employee. There is often times a "incestuous" relationship between the excahnge company and some resorts (especially if they are owned by the same parent company such as Cendant). It's amazing how many mediocre (or worse) Cendant owned timeshares have a "Gold Crown" rating. But that's a whole 'nother story.