StayPC Vacation Rentals

StayPC is a vacation rental web site based in Utah. Be careful before you agree to rent your timeshare to this company.

Last week they contacted me about one of their clients wanting to rent my timeshare in Aruba that I listed on Redweek.com. We agreed on a price and they sent me their rental contract to sign.

The contract has some very serious issues to someone renting a timeshare to StayPC. First, the contract did not include some provisions that are standard to these kinds of rental deals. 1) It did not include a provision that either party could NOT assign the contract to another person without the other party’s approval 2) It did not include any language that the initial deposit was Non-Refundable. StayPC could miss the final payment and I would have to refund the deposit and have to put the unit back on the market, incurring costs and losing 60 days of time that the unit was off the market. 3) Finally – and most disturbing – there was no cancellation provision in the contract. StayPC could cancel – even at the last minute – and I would have to refund the money and get stuck with the unit with no time to rent it out.

There were other problems with the contract that gave me concern. 1) They demanded that I give them the confirmation number of my timeshare week before receiving any money, even though I told them that I paid Red Week an extra fee to have them verify the reservation, and my rental listing on Red Week’s web site was marked “REDWEEK VERIFIED”. They refused to budge, saying that Red Week only confirms ownership of the unit, not the reservation – which is not true. 2) The payment section of the contract indicated that I would receive an IRS Form 1099 which means that I would have to declare this as rental income on my tax return UNLESS I accepted payment via PAYPAL or a credit card. This is illegal as a vendor cannot choose which transactions get 1099’s. It also makes me wonder if something else is going on with this option.

I offered suggested language to address the three issues I mentioned above, but StayPC refused to make any changes. They suggested that I could write up my suggested wording changes – except for the cancellation provision – as an addendum and send it to them. Of course, I would have to first sign their standard contract which contains a provision stating “This agreement contains the entire understanding of the parties hereto with respect to the transactions and matter contemplated hereby…” StayPC could refuse to sign the addendum, and I would be stuck with their standard contract.

I told them that I would not sign their contract without my changes, but offered to do the deal using Red Week’s escrow service. They said they could not pass on the escrow service fee to their client, so I offered to pick up the whole fee. They refused, saying they don’t do escrow deals – probably because Red Week’s contract includes the provisions I needed!

Be careful and read the whole contract…

Dear Ken, I had a lockout to rent last year and had some concerns like you. I asked my real estate agent if they were ok and he said yes. I then had them send me the rental agreement which as you point out did not have a no refund policy. I called them and they said I could add that language to the agreement and they would accept it. I did that, sent it to them and within an hour got the counter agreement signed with a message they sent me a check for the full amount of my rental. Well, two days later I did in fact get that check cashed it and then put their renter on to the reservation. Everything went perfectly smooth. So, I did have a great experience. They made money and I rented my unit to pay for some of my yearly fee's.

Generally when I rent, they need to sign my contract, not the other way around and if they can't agree to my provisions, then they can look for someone else to rent from.

I'm glad it worked out for you. But your deal with StayPC was different than mine. First, I didn't get a paper contract to sign. The contract sent to me was a PDF file sent electronically. I could not make any changes, and my request to them to add refund language was denied. Second, while you received full payment in one check, my proposed contract had me receiving a down payment when I was supposed to then add the renter to the reservation, and a final payment later on. They changed how they now do business, so I think my concerns are still valid.

I was skeptical when they contacted me about my St. John week so I did some research and found out that people have had very positive experiences with them. They did change the contract per my requests about refunds. We set up payments in 2 installments and they paid the first immediately. The second was due on 12/24 but I received it today. I think my experience has been typical.

Dear Judith, I have had two units a lockout and a villa taken by them and they have been great. Everything I wanted on the agreement was approved and they sent the checks on time. I think they are a great resource.

I had 2 good experiences with STAYPC.

Wow guys, thank you for your informative posts.

I do a few rentals a year with them and things have always went smoothly

Here is a 2017 Update. I am an owner at the Westin Kaanapali in Maui. I had 2 weeks available for March of 2018 and StayPC contacted me indicating they had someone interested in ONE of the weeks. Initially I was a bit skeptical because there are many scams in the Timeshare Marketplace, however I did my research, talked to them (always extremely professional and low pressure) and after feeling more comfortable with things I accepted their terms / agreement and 100% payment. As a matter of fact, I increased my price by about $30/day because their guest was only taking 1 of my 2 weeks. After they confirmed with their guest (took them under 2 hours), we proceeded forward. Staypc paid me faster than they initially said (took only a day), and paid 100% of my fees (I am in Canada, and because they have to do a wire, they sent only one payment vs. the 50/50 arrangement that is more customary). Fact is at NO TIME did I lose control of my timeshare "ownership", and at no time do they imply that I should. OF COURSE you have to change the name on the week to their name / client so people saying it's a scam and completely uninformed. I told Staypc in an email that I will gladly sell future weeks to them, and also that I'd happily post this truthful and very positive review. They are a great business. I think the reason people use them is because of the comfort level of dealing with a business over and over again to book all their vacations, rather than dealing with private individuals who they dont know - making them difficult to trust. Very happy with Staypc, and happy to answer any questions for anyone else. Don (I posted this earlier today on another thread but thought it was more current here... in my single experience with them so far, as you can see I was very happy and think some folks on here are more skeptical than others. There are VERY FEW negative reviews or posts on them, and they are almost entirely people that did NOT actually do business with them that are saying Staypc are not easy to deal with. Those people that saw value and proceeded all had good experiences!)