We are going to let two of our timeshare resorts rent out our weeks in 2017. I have rented weeks myself, but not sure if I would be able to rent these. Have any of you done this? Do they make every effort to rent your weeks? We were going to use them ourselves but DH has a back injury so we are going to have the management rent the weeks for us.
Any input good or bad is appreciated.
I can't speak to the practices of any of the "chains", but will cite my own personal experience and first hand observations at a few different "independent" timeshare facilities where we own which will, if requested,
attempt to rent out owners' interval(s) for them:
1. They may post the available unit / week rental on the management company web site (along with other HOA-owned weeks) and
maybe also in the resort newsletter if they have sufficient advance notice, but that's about it --- no other active advertising or effort is initiated. Bigger management companies (e.g., VRI) will indicate such units /weeks as available for rent within their internal data base, but will
not openly
post them anywhere (including on their own web site).
2. "House" rental prices are generally consistent and non-negotiable and are usually 30-40% higher than a comparable rental offered by a private rental of the exact same unit / week without any middleman involvement. That fact alone may decrease your odds for success if using the resort as your "rental agent".
The "house" is of course going to take a 30 to 40% commission from the gross rental; they are certainly not handling owner rentals as an act of benevolence.
They obviously cannot and will not "guarantee" that they will actually be successful in in renting out your interval(s).
3. The "good" news is that the house can rent out intervals on a nightly basis, if necessary (usually with a 2 night minimum) unless the owner has indicated in advance that they will accept
only "full week" rental of their interval. Also, in "house-conducted" rentals, the house is fully and solely responsible for the actions and / or damages of tenants renting through them, whereas in a private (direct-by-owner) rental, that interval owner is ultimately responsible for their tenant.
To each their own, but it may be worth the time, effort and minimal expense to advertise and attempt to rent out your own interval(s) ---
without the resort.
You can advertise on TUG, RedWeek (if already a paid RW member) and Craigslist for a total collective cost of under thirty dollars. That being said however, if it's a low demand week and / or location, that low demand situation won't be magically improved, regardless of who handles the rental. In any event, good luck!
