Did Redweek just increase DIY rental ads from $30 to $40? [ + a link to COMPLAIN ]

[echino]

Did Redweek just increase DIY rental ads from $30 to $40?

 

[DeniseM]

Yep: ridiculous!

 

[rickandcindy23]

Yep, I paid the increase today. Not happy about the increase.

 

[DeniseM]

If you have ever used Redweek - please complain! https://www.redweek.com/contact-us

Type a word in the box, and a "send us a message," link will open up right below the box:

 

[chapjim]

There's no labor involved in a DIY listing, so I doubt RW's costs went up 33%.

Okay, a webmaster but still.

 

[Venter]

Seeing that we are dissing Redweek I will chip in too. I had a week listed on multiple sites. It got confirmed on Vacation Candy Sunday night late. Before I could take it of Redweek, I got a hit there. I had another week for the same time and contacted them asking if they can just contact the prospective renter and to arrange the rental of the other week(Same time and unit). Basically I was told I have to refuse the rental myself and pay them $100. I let them know I will be happy to pay the $100 but can they please arrange rental of the other unit with the renter. Crickets.... I just got the same message.

I ended up not refusing but letting the request lapse and taking the other week of and used the self rental feature. Got a hit and rented it myself for even more bucks that covered the $100, rental fees for the old add and the new with some money to spare.

From now on I will not give them anything extra and will just use the option to do all the legwork myself. It feels like they are just sitting on their hands and not working for the fees.

 

[Venter]

There's no labor involved in a DIY listing, so I doubt RW's costs went up 33%.

Okay, a webmaster but still.

Seems like they try and do as little as possible anyway no matter what option you choose.

 

[chapjim]

Seeing that we are dissing Redweek I will chip in too. I had a week listed on multiple sites. It got confirmed on Vacation Candy Sunday night late. Before I could take it of Redweek, I got a hit there. I had another week for the same time and contacted them asking if they can just contact the prospective renter and to arrange the rental of the other week(Same time and unit). Basically I was told I have to refuse the rental myself and pay them $100. I let them know I will be happy to pay the $100 but can they please arrange rental of the other unit with the renter. Crickets.... I just got the same message.

I ended up not refusing but letting the request lapse and taking the other week of and used the self rental feature. Got a hit and rented it myself for even more bucks that covered the $100, rental fees for the old add and the new with some money to spare.

From now on I will not give them anything extra and will just use the option to do all the legwork myself. It feels like they are just sitting on their hands and not working for the fees.

I have traditionally used DIY listings on RedWeek.com but they have one feature that is attractive. For $14.99, RW will file and remit Florida's Sales and Use Tax on short-term rentals. Florida's S&U tax is really obnoxious.

 

[TUGBrian]

TUG marketplace listings still the same low cost of $0 =)

actually heck TUG prices have gone down, I'm pretty sure they used to be $5 dollars each way back in the day when we had to actually physically create the listings in html to post!

 

[dioxide45]

There's no labor involved in a DIY listing, so I doubt RW's costs went up 33%.

Okay, a webmaster but still.

It depends if they support their own infrastructure. Still, if they host somewhere, I am sure their hosting costs have gone up too. I suspect there is far more involved in running the technology at Redweek than just a webmaster, which really isn't a term that is even used so much these days. There is also a reason that Redweek shows up at the top of Google search results.

 

[dioxide45]

Yep: ridiculous!

View attachment 83166

How long had the fee been $29?

 

[dioxide45]

Yep: ridiculous!

Okay. I looked through Wayback Machine to answer my own question. Here are the prices over time. The last time it went up was between July 2016 and October 2016. So it has been $29.99 for seven, count them SEVEN, years. Has anyone here not raised the rental rates in their rental prices in their commercial timeshare rental operations in the past SEVEN years? I would say a $10 increase in seven years is not "ridiculous". Certainly a company that is giving you the reach of Redweek is worth an extra $10?

August 2010 - 19.99
November 2011 - 24.99
Feb 2013 - 24.99
Feb 2015 - 24.99
March 2016 - 24.99
April 2016 - 24.99
June 2016 - 24.99
July 2016 - 24.99
October 2016 - 29.99
September 2017 - $29.99
October 2020 - 29.99

 

[TUGBrian]

Has anyone here not raised the rental rates in their commercial timeshare rental operations in the past SEVEN years?

 

[dioxide45]

View attachment 83199

I updated my post to clarify a little. I was referring to the prices that owners are renting their timeshares out for on Redweek. I am sure rental prices have increased in the past seven years.

 

[DeniseM]

25% is an unreasonable increase in one jump.

 

[dioxide45]

25% is an unreasonable increase in one jump.

It was actually 33% increase, but at prices this small it's hard to do any increase without there being double digit percentages. In the end it is $10, you can't afford $10?

 

[echino]

That's DIY. For the Verified and Protected, the increase to post the ad is smaller, but they doubled their fee they charge the guest from 5% when they first started doing it, gradually to about 10% today.

 

[DeniseM]

It was actually 33% increase, but at prices this small it's hard to do any increase without there being double digit percentages. In the end it is $10, you can't afford $10?

That is not a logical question - what I can afford has no bearing on whether a large increase is reasonable or not.

 

[dioxide45]

That is not a logical question - what I can afford has no bearing on whether a large increase is reasonable or not.

I guess an alternative could have been them increasing their fee by $5 in say 2019 or 2020 and then again by another $5 now. This would have resulted in owners paying more over time to list their weeks. The way I see it, from a business perspective, they have kept their rates too low for too long.

 

[pchung6]

I just posted a rental list on Koala for free. But it seems Koala will be charging me 8% fee, so I have to set the price 8% higher than Redweek. I don't like Redweek raises the listing price, but Redweek doesn't charge me fee. So I don't know yet which one is better, I will list in both places and see how it goes.

 

[sponger76]

I just posted a rental list on Koala for free. But it seems Koala will be charging me 8% fee, so I have to set the price 8% higher than Redweek. I don't like Redweek raises the listing price, but Redweek doesn't charge me fee. So I don't know yet which one is better, I will list in both places and see how it goes.

In terms of charging your credit card or taking money from your bank account, Koala doesn't charge you. They do take their cut out of the proceeds the rentee pays directly to Koala, prior to depositing the remainder in your account. Redweek does something similar if you use their payment system, such as with "Verified and Protected" listings. The difference is that Koala doesn't have the option for renters to facilitate payments themselves directly with the rentee.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Redweek charges an additional $99, $100??? out of the proceeds. It's not a huge amount on a listing of $3,200, but if you are renting for $1,200, it's a lot of money out of your pocket. The verify and protect is costing around $159 with that $100 fee taken out.

The collection of taxes is really quite a chore to do on one's own. It's a relatively new thing and it almost feels like a loud warning on RW when you choose to do your own rental. I haven't set up collection of taxes for every county I rent, so I feel kind of stuck with using the verify/ protect feature.

My rentals of DVC are only renting through David's at $16 per point or less to me. I hope he is collecting taxes. I don't like the three-way call with RW for verify and protect, and basically nothing has rented, even with that added.

I have a lot of problems with RW's still allowing rentals of DVC exchanges, but it's really not their fault that people are cheating. There is a box to check that basically says that this is not an II or RCI exchange rental on the DIY listing. They won't verify exchanges. People are lying to check that box and list the exchanges for rent.

 

[pchung6]

Redweek charges an additional $99, $100??? out of the proceeds. It's not a huge amount on a listing of $3,200, but if you are renting for $1,200, it's a lot of money out of your pocket. The verify and protect is costing around $159 with that $100 fee taken out.

The collection of taxes is really quite a chore to do on one's own. It's a relatively new thing and it almost feels like a loud warning on RW when you choose to do your own rental. I haven't set up collection of taxes for every county I rent, so I feel kind of stuck with using the verify/ protect feature.

My rentals of DVC are only renting through David's at $16 per point or less to me. I hope he is collecting taxes. I don't like the three-way call with RW for verify and protect, and basically nothing has rented, even with that added.

I have a lot of problems with RW's still allowing rentals of DVC exchanges, but it's really not their fault that people are cheating. There is a box to check that basically says that this is not an II or RCI exchange rental on the DIY listing. They won't verify exchanges. People are lying to check that box and list the exchanges for rent.

I just posted on Redweek. Redweek only charges me $49 on $3200 rental upfront. I will receive $3200 if rented.

I also posted the same unit at Koala, they will charge me $300 if rented. So I listed $3500 in order to net myself $3200. However, this unit is listed at $3850 by Koala now as they will charge $350 from renter. I am not too happy about Koala and might take the listing down. I don't like they charge me 8% and will charge another 10% from renter.

 

[dioxide45]

I just posted on Redweek. Redweek only charges me $49 on $3200 rental upfront. I will receive $3200 if rented.

I also posted the same unit at Koala, they will charge me $300 if rented. So I listed $3500 in order to net myself $3200. However, this unit is listed at $3850 by Koala now as they will charge $350 from renter. I am not too happy about Koala and might take the listing down. I don't like they charge me 8% and will charge another 10% from renter.

Koala is more like Airbnb and have a similar pricing structure. Based on the price you paid, it seems like you selected "Verified & Protect", doesn't that also mean that Redweek charges the guest 10% booking fee as the payment is going through Redweek.

 

[pchung6]

Koala is more like Airbnb and have a similar pricing structure. Based on the price you paid, it seems like you selected "Verified & Protect", doesn't that also mean that Redweek charges the guest 10% booking fee as the payment is going through Redweek.

With Redweek, guest can choose to pay 10% for protection. Guest can also choose to make the deal with me directly without the 10%, which I did few times. It's up to the guest. I'm not too sure about Koala's structure, I just gave Koala a chance to gain my future business. So far, I don't like it.