Tips on Renting Out Timeshare

Having trouble renting out my Maui week 52 timeshare. I thought this was the most popular week! Only have a few months left to rent out, any tips on last minute renting of timeshares?

ritat17 wrote:

Having trouble renting out my Maui week 52 timeshare. I thought this was the most popular week! Only have a few months left to rent out, any tips on last minute renting of timeshares?

try Adding post enhancements » city post .. this will help. my take 2 time. but it works. must check email every day.

ritat17 wrote:

Having trouble renting out my Maui week 52 timeshare. I thought this was the most popular week! Only have a few months left to rent out, any tips on last minute renting of timeshares?

Try E-Bay!

I have placed several ads on Redweek. I used to get a lot of email responses, but in the last six months or so-- it seems like no one is replying to ads anymore. Is anyone else having the same trouble?? Or can you offer any advice as to how to get people to notice my ads??? Thanks

buyitrealestate wrote:

ritat17 wrote:

Having trouble renting out my Maui week 52 timeshare. I thought this was the most popular week! Only have a few months left to rent out, any tips on last minute renting of timeshares?

Try E-Bay!

Try lowering your rental fee.

elizabeth363 wrote:

I have placed several ads on Redweek. I used to get a lot of email responses, but in the last six months or so-- it seems like no one is replying to ads anymore. Is anyone else having the same trouble?? Or can you offer any advice as to how to get people to notice my ads??? Thanks

I have sold several weeks at Redweek. The main thing to remember is that most people are looking for a bargain or at least a reasonable price for timeshare resales and/or rentals. Many people list their rentals and their sale prices far too high. If you bought from the developer you can forget getting your money back from what you paid.

Hi Elizabeth,

Are you referring to your regular rental ads or your RedWishes? It looks like most of your 5 rental ads have expired, with just one active during the last six months. You may want to check your Account for those expiration dates. You also have a posting that was purchased through November 5, but the rental period ended March 6, so it was taken down early. You can feel free to reactivate with new rental dates on that posting to take advantage of a couple more weeks of exposure.

I see 15 inquiries on your rental and RedWishes since May. It is possible those inquiries were being blocked by your e-mail filters, so you should check your on-site Message Box for any you might have missed.

I hope this helps.

Kylie

elizabeth363 wrote:

I have placed several ads on Redweek. I used to get a lot of email responses, but in the last six months or so-- it seems like no one is replying to ads anymore. Is anyone else having the same trouble?? Or can you offer any advice as to how to get people to notice my ads??? Thanks

ritat17 wrote:

Having trouble renting out my Maui week 52 timeshare. I thought this was the most popular week! Only have a few months left to rent out, any tips on last minute renting of timeshares?

Hi Rita,

We show you were sent 5 inquiries -- did none of these pan out? If you missed any of them, they should still be available in your Message Box. Perhaps you can still negotiate with some of these potential renters.

Kylie

You are correct that this is top season but you may be asking too much! Don't forget as we move forward in timeshare we have to shift our thinking to understand that people are becoming more educated. They are buying less from the developer and going direct to resale to save money. This also means that they know what the maintenance fees are!!!! Take a look at what you are asking for rent!

ritat17 wrote:

Having trouble renting out my Maui week 52 timeshare. I thought this was the most popular week! Only have a few months left to rent out, any tips on last minute renting of timeshares?

I joined Redweek this past summer and was very excited about being able to conduct transactions with my timeshares on a site such as this, but have since been very disappointed. I had an unsuccessful experience attempting to rent a unit this summer and I now have 2 listings for rent and have received no inquiries. I don't feel that I have them listed too high in regards to others that are also listed. Not only have I not had any inquiries, but I'm noticing that there is very little movement of other units also listed at my resorts. I feel that part of the problem has been communication. Most people do not respond to the Redweek inbox, but rather your personal e-mail. I have had problems with my e-mail not accepting incoming yahoo accounts and cannot figure out how to correct it. I always mention this in my ads and encourage people to contact me through the Redweek box and I leave my phone number. At any rate, any suggestions on what I need to be doing to get more interest in my rentals would be appreciated. I currently have two great weeks to offer at 2 five star resorts. Thank you. Anita

Hi Anita, A couple of things to consider. Though there are some people that book vacations pretty far out... most seem to wait until 3 months before they take them. There are owners here that like to post about six months before the scheduled date of the week.

Even though the last half of the year is a comparatively low time for Internet vacation planning, RedWeek is getting an average of one inquiry per posting per month. This is more than three times the best of other similar sites. These inquiries obviously aren't evenly distributed. There appears to be some seasonality and of course people are more interested in the lowest priced offers.

We show that you have had a few inquiries so your email issue may be causing you the problem. I just tried an email to you. Did you get it? The message box will pick up a copy of anything sent to you through RedWeek. You might need to check often, though.

Randy

You can't really go by what other owners list to rent their weeks at your resort. Are they successful in renting theirs (it will be shown as Rented on Redweek)? If the answer is no then it's a good chance that you and all other owners are listing your rentals too high. Try lowering the rental rate for your week and see what happens. Many people have unrealistic high expectations of what they can rent and what they can sell their weeks for.

anitad10 wrote:

I don't feel that I have them listed too high in regards to others that are also listed. Not only have I not had any inquiries, but I'm noticing that there is very little movement of other units also listed at my resorts. Anita

Hi Randy, I did receive your message in my Redweek inbox, so thank you. I have not received any inquiries regarding my units that I am renting, though. Any messages that I have received so far are regarding other rental units or exchanges through redwishes that I was inquiring about and I have received very few responses from those inquiries, too. It would help if people at least responded to say that they received your message. Thank you, Anita

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. Others seem to be more involved in the bottom price and thats fine for a while until the overall value of your own property drops down because of the attitudes and lack of respect for the property takes its toll. No wonder some of the developers and exchange companies are making policies against rentals for any kind of profit. We'll see how this plays out in future days but I think it is obvious. To those who will exploit a good thing down to nothing, enjoy it while you can. Pretty soon exchanges one on one will be the only safe way to go.

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.

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. Others seem to be more involved in the bottom price and thats fine for a while until the overall value of your own property drops down because of the attitudes and lack of respect for the property takes its toll. No wonder some of the developers and exchange companies are making policies against rentals for any kind of profit. We'll see how this plays out in future days but I think it is obvious. To those who will exploit a good thing down to nothing, enjoy it while you can. Pretty soon exchanges one on one will be the only safe way to go.

Thank you for your reply. I am certainly not trying to take advantage of people to make a huge profit. But, I don't think it's terrible if owners are asking more than their maintenance fees and making some profit. After all, they are the ones who originally spent the money to purchase the timeshares. Also, when you look at what the resorts and hotel chains are charging, even with owners making a small profit, it's still well below what people are paying for a night at a mediocre Holiday Inn room, etc. I agree that if there are owners who are willing to offer their units for next to nothing, the rest of us will not have any other recourse. And, you are correct in saying that ultimately, we are the ones taking on the liability of renting out our units. Even if we have renters sign paperwork with a credit card # attached, as suggested by another person, if they revoke on that, we are the ones have to shell out the time and money for an attorney to collect on it. Anyway, I have been very disappointed still regarding the process of trying to rent through Redweek. Why would I even want to rent out my studio unit for $750 for the week when I can trade it through II for a 3 bedroom Marriott unit. (And, my resort is renting out the same unit for the same week for $1245.00, including tax.) While we as owners have to be realistic about what we can get for rent, I feel that people renting from owners have to also be realistic about what they can pay for a week at a 5 star resort.

Redweek gets thousands of hits a day for people looking for sales and rentals. In the timeshare world the magic words are 'supply and demand'. If your rental week doesn't seem to be getting any inquiries, it could be the supply and demand issue. If your week is in a heavily supplied timeshare area such as Orlando (and the surrounding area) then you're looking at thousands upon thousands of rentals available on the internet alone. In that market you have to be competetive in order to rent. I don't know where your timeshare week is or what season it is, but the above is something to keep in mind concerning rentals.

And no, it's not terrible if owners are asking more than their maintenance fees for rentals, but if you really want to rent your week you may have to consider lowering the fee. And even then, if it's in a heavily supplied area, lowering the fee may not work especially for a studio. You would probably be better off to deposit it.

[anitad10] But, I don't think it's terrible if owners are asking more than their maintenance fees and making some profit. After all, they are the ones who originally spent the money to purchase the timeshares. Also, when you look at what the resorts and hotel chains are charging, even with owners making a small profit, it's still well below what people are paying for a night at a mediocre Holiday Inn room, etc. I agree that if there are owners who are willing to offer their units for next to nothing, the rest of us will not have any other recourse. And, you are correct in saying that ultimately, we are the ones taking on the liability of renting out our units. Even if we have renters sign paperwork with a credit card # attached, as suggested by another person, if they revoke on that, we are the ones have to shell out the time and money for an attorney to collect on it. Anyway, I have been very disappointed still regarding the process of trying to rent through Redweek. Why would I even want to rent out my studio unit for $750 for the week when I can trade it through II for a 3 bedroom Marriott unit. (And, my resort is renting out the same unit for the same week for $1245.00, including tax.) While we as owners have to be realistic about what we can get for rent, I feel that people renting from owners have to also be realistic about what they can pay for a week at a 5 star resort.

kyliec wrote:

ritat17 wrote:

Having trouble renting out my Maui week 52 timeshare. I thought this was the most popular week! Only have a few months left to rent out, any tips on last minute renting of timeshares?

Hi Rita,

We show you were sent 5 inquiries -- did none of these pan out? If you missed any of them, they should still be available in your Message Box. Perhaps you can still negotiate with some of these potential renters.

Kylie

Hi Kylie, I have reduced my price 3x. I am the lowest on the site for the week I have. Of the inquiries I have mentioned heavy reductions in price, but still no luck :(. Rita

Your problem may be that it's a studio unit. Studio units are the least demanded units in timesharing. Why rent a studio when someone can rent a 1, 2 or 3 bedroom for the same (or a little more money) than renting a studio? You may have to lessen your rental fee even more than 3x and still you may have a hard time renting your studio.

I have had success with craigslist (but I am not sure if redweek.com will appreciate it!). I also network with other owners while I am at our unit, and swap weeks with them if they have a week that is better suited to my schedule or the school vacation schedule. I have used redweek to contact these other owners as well but no one has swapped on this website.