Against RCI/II Rules to Rent out Exchanges

Hi All,

It is a violation of RCI and II rules to rent a unit that was obtained via exhange. If caught RCI/II will cancel your account and you lose all deposited weeks too.

Some resorts (especially Disney) have taken to question people with guest certificates upon checkin. If the renter admits it was a rental, they are turned away homeless fro the week.

Read the rules, they are on both websites.

And don't attack me, I do not like these rules but share them only so that potential renters do not get burned.

Don't believe me? Just call RCI or II and ask for yourself.

John

PS. They catch people every day, read some of the postings on TUG2.NET for war stories.

john1671 wrote:

Hi All,

It is a violation of RCI and II rules to rent a unit that was obtained via exhange. If caught RCI/II will cancel your account and you lose all deposited weeks too.

Some resorts (especially Disney) have taken to question people with guest certificates upon checkin. If the renter admits it was a rental, they are turned away homeless fro the week.

Read the rules, they are on both websites.

And don't attack me, I do not like these rules but share them only so that potential renters do not get burned.

Don't believe me? Just call RCI or II and ask for yourself.

John

PS. They catch people every day, read some of the postings on TUG2.NET for war stories.

--------------------- I realize Interval International and RCI prohibit people from renting exchanges (they hate to see someone profit from their service), however, I have I.I. bonus certificates that I probably won't use. I'd be willing to let people use them for the cost of the exchange fees, guest certificates, etc. Is this still considered "renting" an exchange? Also why would anyone admit to it being a rental as opposed to them being a guest?

I think the question pertaining to bonus certificates is addressed on II's website. Bonus certificates are not exchanges, so you wouldn't pay an exchange fee. You do have to pay whatever the fee is to buy a bonus week (they are not free).

As far as guest certificates, I'm not sure if you have to buy one or not for II bonus certificates, but the reservation would have to be in the name of the person using the unit, so you may have to purchase a guest certificate afterall. Check out II's website in their FAQs for the answer to this question.

As far as anyone admitting to renting an exchange, you'd be surprised at the number of people who will advertise that they are renting an exchange, which throws up a bright red flag to the exchange companies. Also, some resorts will question a guest certificate (Disney resorts do), so there are ways and means for the exchange companies to find out.

There was a person just the other day on another timeshare forum who had previously advertised renting an exchange. The exchange company saw it and cancelled the member's account. It's just not worth it to even try to rent an exchange. The consequences far outweigh any positives by losing exchange company privileges.

A few years ago you would see sales of spacebanked weeks all the time on Ebay. The exchange companies immediately stopped that practice in it's tracks.

mike1536 wrote:

I realize Interval International and RCI prohibit people from renting exchanges (they hate to see someone profit from their service), however, I have I.I. bonus certificates that I probably won't use. I'd be willing to let people use them for the cost of the exchange fees, guest certificates, etc. Is this still considered "renting" an exchange? Also why would anyone admit to it being a rental as opposed to them being a guest?

Actually I contacted RCI directly referring to this policy and an RCI rep. stated that you couldn’t rent the week at your home resort once you deposit it with RCI. I asked him directly about people being compensated for using the time they book at a resort through RCI and they said it was legal. You have to figure if you are booking a week RCI charges $164 and a guest pass is $59 so for them to assume you won’t be compensated for your expenses is ridiculous.

On a side note, has anyone else been monitoring the Law suite against RCI? www.rciclassaction.com

john1671 wrote:

Hi All,

It is a violation of RCI and II rules to rent a unit that was obtained via exhange. If caught RCI/II will cancel your account and you lose all deposited weeks too.

Some resorts (especially Disney) have taken to question people with guest certificates upon checkin. If the renter admits it was a rental, they are turned away homeless fro the week.

Read the rules, they are on both websites.

And don't attack me, I do not like these rules but share them only so that potential renters do not get burned.

Don't believe me? Just call RCI or II and ask for yourself.

John

PS. They catch people every day, read some of the postings on TUG2.NET for war stories.

Renting/Selling/Bartering/Trading of exchanged weeks is against RCI Terms and Conditions (II also), however with RCI you can "give" or "gift" an exchanged week to family or friends and request the exchange and guest certificate fees only. You cannot recoup your maintenance fees OR make any profit by giving or gifting an exchanged week.

I wonder why the rep would tell me something different? In the Terms and Conditions page it says: Guest Certificates are non-transferable, and may not be used for any commercial purpose, including auction, rental or sale. But it doesn't mention any private agreement for compensation. Maybe there is something about this in the lawsuit.

jayjay wrote:

Renting/Selling/Bartering/Trading of exchanged weeks is against RCI Terms and Conditions (II also), however with RCI you can "give" or "gift" an exchanged week to family or friends and request the exchange and guest certificate fees only. You cannot recoup your maintenance fees OR make any profit by giving or gifting an exchanged week.

I'm not sure, from your post, exactly what the RCI guide told you, but there have been RCI and II members that have had their accounts suspended for renting exchanged weeks or selling banked weeks. There are also many resorts that question guest certificates and how they were acquired. Disney is one such entity.

Not being allowed to rent exchanged weeks is common knowledge among timeshare educated people.

eric, you have so much to learn about timesharing.

eric572 wrote:

I wonder why the rep would tell me something different?

Isn't it just a little hypocritical for RCI, which is itself setting up a wide network of outlets to rent out our spacebank deposits to the general public, to prohibit their dues paying members who have deposited a week and paid an exchange fee from doing exactly the same thing.

If RCI really wants to stop rentals of spacebank deposits, the very first thing they should do is to look in a mirror!

john1671 wrote:

Hi All,

It is a violation of RCI and II rules to rent a unit that was obtained via exhange. If caught RCI/II will cancel your account and you lose all deposited weeks too.

Some resorts (especially Disney) have taken to question people with guest certificates upon checkin. If the renter admits it was a rental, they are turned away homeless fro the week.

Read the rules, they are on both websites.

And don't attack me, I do not like these rules but share them only so that potential renters do not get burned.

Don't believe me? Just call RCI or II and ask for yourself.

John

PS. They catch people every day, read some of the postings on TUG2.NET for war stories.

I undetstand the point here, but why do sales people at many resorts tell potential buyers that "you can even rent your week to family and friends as a way to pay maintenance fee, etc?

delorise2 wrote:

I undetstand the point here, but why do sales people at many resorts tell potential buyers that "you can even rent your week to family and friends as a way to pay maintenance fee, etc?

You can rent your OWNED week, but you can't rent an exchange made via an exchange company.

ovr wrote:

Isn't it just a little hypocritical for RCI, which is itself setting up a wide network of outlets to rent out our spacebank deposits to the general public, to prohibit their dues paying members who have deposited a week and paid an exchange fee from doing exactly the same thing.

If RCI really wants to stop rentals of spacebank deposits, the very first thing they should do is to look in a mirror!

While I'm sure I don't know all the details, it is my understanding that timeshares often deposit some of their unsold inventory with exchange companies to bring in "new blood"--potential buyers. And, of course, it is to the advantage of current owners to have inventory sold and bringing in its share of upkeep costs. This may account for some of the offered rentals. Weeks which are about to expire are also available.

The logic behind not allowing us to rent out our exchanges is to preserve as much inventory as possible for the use of actual exchange company members. We have all read complaints about how hard it sometimes is to get exchanges into prime properties at busy seasons. Can you imagine how much harder it would be if some of us were gobbling up prime weeks solely for the purpose of renting them out? There are also additional security considerations when the persons using the timeshares are neither owners nor exchange company members.

Yes, the rule in annoying sometimes, but it is not new and has its reasons.

Re allowing compensation for the exchange fee and gift confirmation: Yes.

http://www.rciclassaction.com/ says: "A class action lawsuit has been filed against RCI on behalf of all members of RCI’s Weeks Program.

The lawsuit alleges that RCI improperly skims a large percentage of the timeshares from the RCI exchange bank system, including many prime timeshares, and rents those timeshares out to the general public for profit and also uses them for promotional purposes and as fringe benefits for its employees. The lawsuit further alleges that as a result of these practices, the actual experience of many RCI Weeks Program members is that they simply cannot find any comparable exchanges.

If you believe that you may be a member of the class action and would like more information, or if you have information that can help the investigation, please contact us."

Do you think there is a downside of joining this class action suit?

I just tried to get a summer beach location in DE, MD, NJ and could not find any. All I can find is winter. And this is with me checking 2 years in advance! The only thing RCI said is I can put in a 'search'. I wouldn't mind doing that if I didn't have to put something upfront first but I don't want to pay or to take my week out of the spacebank when I am not guaranteed that they will find anything with their search. Joan

Also, I don't feel like anyone has answered the question Mike posed about if I want to let me daughter, my neighbor, whoever be my guest by using my exchanged week, can I ask them to reimburse me the $164. exchange fee + the $59. guest cert. fee?

If I was charging them rent, I would be charging them hundreds of dollars. This is not the same as charging rent to me.

Say you even asked your daughter to pay you the $59. you had to pay to put it in her name, is that still against the rules? I don't know if you would get a different answer depending on which RCI rep you got.

joanp60]has asked, quoted in pertinent part:

>> Do you think there is a downside of joining this class action suit? << =======================================

At this late juncture, I personally don't see any potential benefit OR downside to your joining. In fact, I'm not sure that you even have an option at all to join in at this particular time. The web site which you've cited has not been updated or changed to reflect any of the more recent court developments in the case.

I posted specific update info (quoted directly from the court) in a RedWeek forum thread a few weeks ago, but RedWeek has no search function by which to now easily locate that posting. In short summary, however, case progress is currently stayed (i.e., halted) right now, pending a class certification decision. Specific dates (all of them in this summer) have already been identified by the court for each party to submit / respond to class certification arguments. Meanwhile, some people speculate that RCI may be busily "sanitizing" its internal records in order to look better in court. I don't claim to know whether or not that speculation has any merit (but if true, it certainly wouldn't surprise me). If the class certification is not granted by the court, the "class action" case essentially goes down the drain, leaving any and all discontented RCI members to then have to sue RCI on their own, individually. Personally, however, I'd be willing to bet that the class certification WILL be granted by the court --- and relatively soon (within a few weeks). However, I readily admit to having no crystal ball to consult for any guarantees....

joanp60; I don't think there is any problem with giving your exchanged week (actually making a gift of it) to your daughter, neighbor, friend, and them offering to reimburse you for the exchange fee and the guest certificate in thanks for your generosity. After all, you have paid the annual maintenance fee, (likely many hundreds of dollars), as well as a fee to belong to the exchange company in the first place. So getting reimbursed for the exchange fee and the guest fee is not making you any money - you're still out a considerable sum of money - so you're not renting this week to make money. And for heavens sake you have to tell the person who you're allowing to use your week that if anyone asks them, they need to say that no they are not renters, you gave them the week. If the people staying in your resort in your week deny they are renting, there is no way for the resort to know anything else.

According to the rules, you can ask your daughter, friend or neighbor to reimburse you for the exchange fee and the guest certificate fee (if you choose to do so), but no more. It is not against the rules for you to put the reservation in her name using a guest certificate. That is perfectly legal.

Personally, I don't understand how RCI or II could know what (if anything) you were reimbursed or if it was a rental or not. I find the rule kind of silly myself. It's not like they have a crystal ball. You can also, with RCI, buy a yearly guest certificate, but how do they know you're not using the yearly guest certicate to rent out exchanges? This baffles me.

joanp60 wrote:

Also, I don't feel like anyone has answered the question Mike posed about if I want to let me daughter, my neighbor, whoever be my guest by using my exchanged week, can I ask them to reimburse me the $164. exchange fee + the $59. guest cert. fee?

If I was charging them rent, I would be charging them hundreds of dollars. This is not the same as charging rent to me.

Say you even asked your daughter to pay you the $59. you had to pay to put it in her name, is that still against the rules? I don't know if you would get a different answer depending on which RCI rep you got.

joanp60 wrote:

Also, I don't feel like anyone has answered the question Mike posed about if I want to let me daughter, my neighbor, whoever be my guest by using my exchanged week, can I ask them to reimburse me the $164. exchange fee + the $59. guest cert. fee?

If I was charging them rent, I would be charging them hundreds of dollars. This is not the same as charging rent to me.

Say you even asked your daughter to pay you the $59. you had to pay to put it in her name, is that still against the rules? I don't know if you would get a different answer depending on which RCI rep you got.

Hi. Yes you can be reimbursed for the $164 and the $59, but according to RCI rules that is all. How they monitor this I do not know. Stan.

I agree with Jayay - I think this whole idea is kind of silly.

Surely if it's true that some resorts ask the people checking into a resort on a guest certificate (for a week which was exchanged for), then for heavens sakes why would the person renting, gifting or whatever the week not warn those using it that they might be asked if they rented and if so, deny it or they might not be allowed to occupy the unit? That seems only a sensible thing to do.

I can't see any way that the resort would know or could find out the relationship of the occupier with the person who got the exchange unless they ask, and frankly, I don't think it's their business anyway.

People pay annual maintenance fees to their resorts for their weeks, and they pay fees to the exchange company to belong so they're qualified to make an exchange, and then they pay fees to actually make the exchange, and if they're going to let someone else use the week, then they pay for a guest certificate.

To the best of my knowledge, this questioning of 'guests' did not happen in the two instances where I exchanged for a week somewhere other than my home resort, and ended up having someone else use the reservation. I asked for and got (and paid for) guest certificates in both cases, and of course then the name on the reservation was changed to the guest's name. Neither guest reported any such type of questioning to me. But these were Marriott resorts in both cases - maybe Marriott is an anomoly and doesn't ask and everywhere else they do?

However, if in the future I ever have an exchange week I can't use for some reason, and someone else (my guest) is using it, I'll be sure to tell them if they're asked they should deny they rented it, or they might not get to stay. And I suggest others do likewise. That warning would seem to take care of any potential problems.

I didn't think of this before but I hope the following is not against the rules.

Can you donate your exchanged week to a non-profit organizations silent auction so that the winner of the auction goes to the resort?

Nothing is rented or sold per se but a donation is being made to the organization but being the highest bidder. the checks are made out to the non-profit organization.

I have done this in the past and never thought about it. I pay all the fees from maintenance, exchange company dues, guest cert fee, exchange fee.

Do you see a problem with this?

To clarify:

If I pay all fees and donate my exchanged week to a non-profit org. for their fund-raising auction, and the auction winner pays the non-profit org. the amount they bid is there a problem? The guest cert would be put in the winner's name.