# Worldmark rooms avail on VRBO but not owners dashboard



## Keith Nelson (Nov 11, 2019)

Was thinking of a trip to Pinetop AZ in a couple weeks, and just checked for availability thru our owner dashboard. There were *NO* units of any kind avail for the days we considered. In fact, there was nothing for the couple days before or after.

Not easily giving up - decided to see what might be avail on VRBO. We really like the area of Pinetop that's by the Worldmark, so clicked a corresponding dot on the map. The *Worldmark Pinetop* popped up as avail ? I clicked book now, and it guided me all the way thru to where I would put in my credit card.

I haven't used the timeshare in a while - can someone tell me - is this how it works now? VRBO has rooms set aside that are not avail to owners?

Thanks for your thoughts.


----------



## presley (Nov 11, 2019)

People will put their timeshares for rent on VRBO sometimes. Some timeshare owners buy excess points/timeshares with the intention to rent out for a profit.


----------



## geist1223 (Nov 11, 2019)

Megarenters continue to be a problem with WMTC. However each time the WMTC BOD try things to restrict Megarenters it hurts the small Owners even more.


----------



## Keith Nelson (Nov 14, 2019)

Ahhh, I understand what's going on. I don't like it, but I understand. I suppose these landlord style owners are using (abusing) the easy booking and cancellation system to maximize profit and minimize loss. I did notice a couple years ago that the bonus time rules changed, probably because of this. I don't know the rules incredibly well, but I wonder if they actually restricted bookings under non-owner names for dates less than 2 weeks out? 
Probably trite to say, but when random people rent on VRBO or AirBNB, they must be more likely to not care for the property the way owners/family/friends would. Perhaps a fee imposed for bookings under a different last name? Not to make things more complicated, but the focus on the initial intent of timeshares - for owner families to take vacations with friends.


----------



## bizaro86 (Nov 14, 2019)

Keith Nelson said:


> Ahhh, I understand what's going on. I don't like it, but I understand. I suppose these landlord style owners are using (abusing) the easy booking and cancellation system to maximize profit and minimize loss. I did notice a couple years ago that the bonus time rules changed, probably because of this. I don't know the rules incredibly well, but I wonder if they actually restricted bookings under non-owner names for dates less than 2 weeks out?
> Probably trite to say, but when random people rent on VRBO or AirBNB, they must be more likely to not care for the property the way owners/family/friends would. Perhaps a fee imposed for bookings under a different last name? Not to make things more complicated, but the focus on the initial intent of timeshares - for owner families to take vacations with friends.



They do restrict bonus time usage booked at 14 days to the owner only. The system won't change the name to a guest.

Also, there is a guest fee already to change the name on the reservation. Its $99 each time after a nominal amount of free ones - anyone who is doing lots of rentals on vrbo would use out their free ones quickly.


----------

