Red Week now offers full service Rentals

[theo]

How about Redweek's Escrow Service. Their Escrow advertisements have cost me two rentals so far. I'll be darned if I'll wait until my renter's check-in date to get my money. But since Redweek touts this service, newbies think it's a necessity!

I believe it's even worse than that. Payment only gets released to the owner by First American Title nearly two weeks after completion of the rental.

 

[DeniseM]

Not to mention that the renter can dispute the payment if they are unhappy with something.

 

[theo]

Not to mention that the renter can dispute the payment if they are unhappy with something.

...Or if they just attempt to contrive some alleged "dissatisfaction", manufacturing some bogus "not as advertised" complaint. Although probably infrequent, there are surely chiselers out there who might see a potential angle and attempt to take advantage and seek free vacation lodging. Even if / when the owner ultimately prevails in any such dispute, it's still time and aggravation. To each their own, but a "no thank you" vote for those escrow terms from this owner.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Reasonable acceptance is not common today. Spell the terms of the sale out in as much detail as possible ... and realize, some fights are not worth it.

 

[herbivore]

As someone who recently tried to rent from a Redweek Full Service rental, I recommend against using this service as an owner or as a renter.

My experience was horrible.

The agent does not have answers to the questions. So they only add an unnecessary layer between the renter and the owner. They slow down the process. Further, they increase opaqueness and, as a result, reduce the ability for both parties to establish trust.

In my specific case, I had the misfortune of working with an agent who refused to call me even though over the course of 3 weeks I emailed her to call. I wanted to speak to her live because 1) she usually does not answer all my emailed questions and 2) her answers triggered additional questions. And she was slow - 2 days to reply and usually at 11pm at night. The emails went back and forth for 3 weeks. Couple of live phone calls would have compressed the 3 weeks down to 3 to 4 days. In the end, the owner was not comfortable with the language in the agreement and decided to remove the listing from Redweek Full Service rental. I wasted hours on this.

Redweek uses DepositGuard and their template agreement. Reading it, I can see how as an owner I would not feel comfortable with the languages. There is a way for the renter to dispute and hold up the money for whatever reason. As long as the dispute, whether genuine or out of malicious intent, is unresolved, the money is locked up. Thats a risk for the owners.

 

[MuranoJo]

^^^^ And to think we get to pay for all these great benefits as owners who want to rent!
Thanks for sharing your experiences, herbivore.

 

[WackyLucy]

Redweek doesn't do any research on the info for the Ads - they only use what the owner provides. Garbage in = garbage out.

Agreed. I learned last week that even some so-called "RedWeek verified" ads actually have incomplete and / or inaccurate information.
I looked at a Maine resale timeshare ad in which the unit number was identified, but not the building number. Having stayed at that place previously, I know that this same "unit number" actually exists in each one of (3) separate buildings at that property. Why does it matter? I know (even if RedWeek didn't bother to learn) that different buildings there have differently defined weeks (either Friday to Friday or Sat-Sat, depending on the building); the distinction clearly matters for travel planning. Initial inquiry to RedWeek for clarification on the missing information yielded the reply "that's what the owner provided to us". O.K., but that reply begs the question --- what exactly is it that RedWeek is "verifying"? This is also a "full service" listing, btw.

In another instance involving a place where we own an interval, RedWeek listing (again allegedly "RedWeek verified") indicates "pool view" for a floating week ownership. Well, floating week reservations get assigned whatever is actually available at the time and at least nine out of thirty unit possibilities do not have a pool view. So once again, what exactly got "RedWeek verified"? This is a "full service" listing, as well as being "RedWeek verified" and the misleading information still remains posted today, a week plus after RedWeek was informed of that listing misrepresentation.

Seems to me that RedWeek might be "verifying" ownership legitimacy, but perhaps not bothering to "verify" much else?

 

[dioxide45]

Seems to me that RedWeek might be "verifying" ownership legitimacy, but perhaps not bothering with actually "verifying" much else?

I think this is exactly it. Many of the ads also show as Redweek Verified. It would seem that the unverified ads scare away newbie purchasers. Seems like just another way for Redweek to make more money for not really providing much more of a service?

 

[MuranoJo]

As I mentioned back in this thread, yes, they just verify ownership via calling the resort. You can do a better job yourself by just furnishing your potential renter with a copy of your reservation paperwork.

 

[theo]

...they just verify ownership via calling the resort. You can do a better job yourself by just furnishing your potential renter with a copy of your reservation paperwork.

Note that fixed week / non-points owners (like us) at independent resorts don't actually receive or have any "reservation paperwork" to copy.

I suppose a photocopy of a current maintenance fee bill might suffice instead (although I personally don't think it's any of a tenant's business what an owner pays for maintenance fees). A copy of a paid maintenance fee bill (along with a copy of recorded deed) is exactly what RedWeek requires for "RedWeek verified" for sale ads, but I don't know what they would require for "RedWeek verified" rentals of fixed weeks which do not actually generate any "reservation paperwork" in the first place.

Personally, I don't think that "RedWeek verified" has much value or meaning, except perhaps to provide some measure of comfort and reassurance to skittish or newbie prospective tenants. In an industry so grossly overpopulated with scammers and other assorted parasites, maybe that "reassurance" has value to some people, I dunno.