Change to Redweek process and all those extra fees... And not in a good way.... [MERGED]

[BingoBangoBongo]

I posted a rental on Redweek on 10/26 and it is still showing Pending Verification. What a cluster!

 

[jeffox]

I posted a rental on Redweek on 10/26 and it is still showing Pending Verification. What a cluster!

So, certainly worth all the extra money they charge.

 

[BingoBangoBongo]

I posted a rental on Redweek on 10/26 and it is still showing Pending Verification. What a cluster!

So this one is a bit on me...I posted the rental on 10/26 and I had used an email for my Redweek account that I lightly monitor, especially when I am traveling (+this is only my 3rd RW listing in 5 years). I realized I was about to leave on a two week trip and changed the email on my Redweek account to my main email on 10/29. On 11/6, they sent me an email on the old address (apparently still tied to the listing) that I needed to participate on a conference call with the resort to confirm the reservation. I saw that email early this am and sent them a response that I could be reached any day, any time. They called me about an hour later and we completed the call in about 10 minutes and the listing was live less than an hour after that. I guess I was the cluster.

The RW rep I confirmed the reservation with sent me an email that he was unable to change the email on the reservation, and suggested I call Customer Service. Did that and it took this new rep about 10 minutes to tko it. I have also added the old email to my mail reader as a temp backup just in case.

 

[cinematic]

I remember checking the site you now recommend many months ago when someone with near zero lifetime posts raved about it. And I was very much unimpressed and theorized that the recommender must be the site creator.

And yet again a person with three lifetime posts recommends it.

So I'm skeptical. I'd like to see someone with several hundred lifetime posts say good things about that site.

Did you mean to quote me, Andre? I’m a bit confused, your reply feels a bit misdirected.

I clearly stated I’m new to timeshare renting (I’m not an owner). I found the Meili site because other long-time owner posters here mentioned it as a way to avoid some of redweek’s growing fees. I tried it based on those suggestions, had a smooth experience, and simply shared that from a renter’s perspective.

I’m not sure what “three lifetime posts” is supposed to imply. I mentioned earlier I've only recently started exploring timeshare rentals to avoid the Airbnb/VRBO fee structure, which is exactly why I’m here learning from the seasoned owners in this forum. If I'm not mistaken, that’s the whole point of TUGBBS, for owners and renters to share timeshare info.

And for context: one of the earlier TUG owners post, who also recommended Meili in this thread had 900+ posts and joined TUGBS in 2015, so I’m not sure how that fits into your theory skepticism or why that was directed at me.

Either way, nobody is forcing anyone to use any platform. It seems my comment struck a nerve, but your reply didn’t really help answer my original question or offer anything educational about timeshare renting.

I was simply showing appreciation to the owner who suggested an alternative platform, this owner's post helped us rent directly with the Meili owner without redweek’s $1,000+ in added fees. As a renter, it would be nice to see more inventory centralized rather than having to check 3–4 different sites that each operate differently.

Just sharing my two cents as a renter.

 

[sponger76]

As a renter, it would be nice to see more inventory centralized rather than having to check 3–4 different sites that each operate differently.

This shows a complete misunderstanding about how markets work. If all the timeshare rental inventory is centralized in one place rather than 3-4 different places, that means one company has a monopoly. And as happened with Redweek, once a company has a monopoly or even just something close to it, they end up raising prices because they can, because you then have no real alternatives. The more realistic choices people have, the more companies have to compete for that business, so there is more moderation on fees, etc. Which means people should hope for MORE viable places to market their rentals.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

This shows

True, but to be fair, cinematic is short of describing kayak.com, isn't he?
I just read some of the thread. This one says roughly the same thing, but it does mention "aggregate" rather than "own".
"It would be helpful if there was site that can aggregate from across all the different platforms and show the best price for a particular week. The users would then likely choose the weeks with the lower intermediary costs. I’m surprised more AI tools haven been developed to do comparison shopping like this."

The thing about "AI tools" is interesting. People seem to think chatbots are a type of super-search-engine. They are vvery limmited in what they "search". I can list a bunch of HUGE, highly useful DBs on teh www that chatbots (at least the ones I use) refuse to search and seemingly have never even been taught exist. chatbots reply "This is not publicly available info. Pls check sources." Pure BS.

Is the real-time pricing on e-commerce sites something a chatbot searches without having a written contract with the owner of the site allowing them to?

 

[cinematic]

This shows a complete misunderstanding about how markets work. If all the timeshare rental inventory is centralized in one place rather than 3-4 different places, that means one company has a monopoly. And as happened with Redweek, once a company has a monopoly or even just something close to it, they end up raising prices because they can, because you then have no real alternatives. The more realistic choices people have, the more companies have to compete for that business, so there is more moderation on fees, etc. Which means people should hope for MORE viable places to market their rentals.

Ironically, your comment actually supports the point I was making:
redweek has accumulated so much market share that its fees have steadily increased as noted by this thread , something many owners here have been vocal about, clearly.
That’s precisely why renters (like me) start looking for alternatives. That’s not a misunderstanding of markets; that’s a textbook example of how market dominance leads to higher consumer costs.

So I actually don’t disagree with your point, however, I think you may have misread mine.

I never suggested that one company should have a monopoly.
I simply said that, as a renter, it would be helpful to find more inventory in one place instead of having to search multiple sites that all have different fee structures, messaging limitations, or inflated add-ons.

That’s not asking for a monopoly.
It’s acknowledging that renters naturally gravitate toward convenience, transparency, and lower fees.

More viable options = good.
More high-fee options = not helpful.

In my case, the Finding Meili platform, which several owners here recommended, ended up being the most transparent and least fee-heavy option for the week I needed.

So when owners diversify into platforms that don’t pile on fees, renters absolutely notice.

example is-I’m currently looking for a week in Florida for next year. An owner listed a week I'd be interested in on redweek, but I refuse to pay an extra $800–$1000 in RW fees when I know there’s an owner out there who simply wants to rent their week at a fair flat rate.
If that same week had been posted on a platform that allows direct booking without the heavy add-ons, (like Meili), I would have scooped it up immediately.
This is exactly what I mean by renters noticing where owners choose to list.

That’s all I was saying, nothing ideological, just my actual experience as a renter trying to navigate all of this.

 

[sponger76]

True, but to be fair, cinematic is short of describing kayak.com, isn't he?

Perhaps, but kayak is basically a search engine that usually then sends you to the actual service provider to book, which is where you once again are subject to their different fee structures, etc. And then in instances where you do booking directly through kayak, they do charge their own booking fee on top of whatever the underlying providers charge.

Ironically, your comment actually supports the point I was making:
redweek has accumulated so much market share that its fees have steadily increased as noted by this thread , something many owners here have been vocal about, clearly.
That’s precisely why renters (like me) start looking for alternatives. That’s not a misunderstanding of markets; that’s a textbook example of how market dominance leads to higher consumer costs.

So I actually don’t disagree with your point, however, I think you may have misread mine.

I never suggested that one company should have a monopoly.
I simply said that, as a renter, it would be helpful to find more inventory in one place instead of having to search multiple sites that all have different fee structures, messaging limitations, or inflated add-ons.

That’s not asking for a monopoly.
It’s acknowledging that renters naturally gravitate toward convenience, transparency, and lower fees.

More viable options = good.
More high-fee options = not helpful.

In my case, the Finding Meili platform, which several owners here recommended, ended up being the most transparent and least fee-heavy option for the week I needed.

So when owners diversify into platforms that don’t pile on fees, renters absolutely notice.

That’s all I was saying, nothing ideological, just my actual experience as a renter trying to navigate all of this.

Now you're contradicting yourself. First you say you want to find inventory in one place, now you say you want more options? Which is it, it's kind of one or the other.

 

[BigDawgTUG]

One promising update from Koala. Still 0 for 100+ listings. The one encouraging thing, however, is that a broker contacted me regarding one of my listings. So, where the brokers used to reach out directly via Redweek, they may now be exploring alternatives such as Koala looking for inventory for their guests.

 

[cinematic]

Perhaps, but kayak is basically a search engine that usually then sends you to the actual service provider to book, which is where you once again are subject to their different fee structures, etc. And then in instances where you do booking directly through kayak, they do charge their own booking fee on top of whatever the underlying providers charge.

Now you're contradicting yourself. First you say you want to find inventory in one place, now you say you want more options? Which is it, it's kind of one or the other.

Sponger, you keep arguing against a point I never made, and I’m genuinely not sure why my words are being reframed that way.

To restate the distinction plainly:

• Market competition (multiple viable platforms)
• Centralized consumer visibility (one interface for convenience)

These can-and often do-exist simultaneously.
They are not mutually exclusive, and they’re not in conflict. This is the same dynamic used in flight, hotel, and rental-car markets: aggregation does not equate to monopoly.

My comments were strictly from my renting perspective:
As a renter, redweek’s high fees create incentives to look for lower-fee alternatives, and renters respond to where owners choose to list. Long-time posters here have said the same if you read through this TUG thread.

Nothing in what I wrote contradicts basic market structure. The contradiction you’re perceiving comes from a misreading, not from anything I actually stated.
Trying to force contradictions into my comments doesn’t advance the discussion, and it doesn’t change the experience I (and many others) have had when comparing redweek’s fees to lower-fee alternatives

 

[WaikikiFirst]

take "https://www.google.com/travel/flights/deals", replace "flights" with "timeshares".
Then owners would have good reason to put inventory elsewhere then redrumweek

 

[jp10558]

Sponger, you keep arguing against a point I never made, and I’m genuinely not sure why my words are being reframed that way.

To restate the distinction plainly:

• Market competition (multiple viable platforms)
• Centralized consumer visibility (one interface for convenience)

The problem here is of course that the platforms allow aggregation. I would bet RedWeek would have no reason to do so. I guess the smaller platforms might, but what is their incentive?

These can-and often do-exist simultaneously.
They are not mutually exclusive, and they’re not in conflict. This is the same dynamic used in flight, hotel, and rental-car markets: aggregation does not equate to monopoly.

Note that it's not really the same thing though IMO. Those three markets mostly have supported travel agents and wholesale selling that then the aggregators can resell. It's also the case that each company is relatively big, so can and does re-list in all aggregators or otherwise provides APIs and contracts to try and drive sales.

In this case though, Redweek IS THE AGGREGATOR. The actual renter isn't redweek or meli or whatever, it's individual owners. Those owners can (and some do) list across different aggregators, but many don't.

It's not that someone couldn't build a site that searches multiple rental sites, it's that the rental sites generally have no benefit letting that person do that. Redweek clearly feels like they're getting enough traffic such that they can raise their rates.

 

[cinematic]

The problem here is of course that the platforms allow aggregation. I would bet RedWeek would have no reason to do so. I guess the smaller platforms might, but what is their incentive?

Note that it's not really the same thing though IMO. Those three markets mostly have supported travel agents and wholesale selling that then the aggregators can resell. It's also the case that each company is relatively big, so can and does re-list in all aggregators or otherwise provides APIs and contracts to try and drive sales.

In this case though, Redweek IS THE AGGREGATOR. The actual renter isn't redweek or meli or whatever, it's individual owners. Those owners can (and some do) list across different aggregators, but many don't.

It's not that someone couldn't build a site that searches multiple rental sites, it's that the rental sites generally have no benefit letting that person do that. Redweek clearly feels like they're getting enough traffic such that they can raise their rates.

Fair point, and that’s exactly why my comment was focused on owner choice.

Redweek became dominant because owners listed there; owners can just as easily list on lower-fee platforms and shift renter behavior the same way.

As a renter, I personally follow where there is availability and fair pricing, it’s a win-win when fees are lower for both the owner and myself as a guest of the owner. In my case, renting directly through Meili with the owner was a better solution for me than paying Airbnb-level fees.

The backend structure doesn’t change the basic outcome when listing concentration determines visibility, and visibility determines fee pressure.

 

[rickandcindy23]

One promising update from Koala. Still 0 for 100+ listings. The one encouraging thing, however, is that a broker contacted me regarding one of my listings. So, where the brokers used to reach out directly via Redweek, they may now be exploring alternatives such as Koala looking for inventory for their guests.

This is such a great point. Brokers can reach out to you, but be careful in responding to them, as Koala might not be happy about transactions on the back-end of their platform. Be upfront and keep the deal through Koala.

 

[jabberwocky]

True, but to be fair, cinematic is short of describing kayak.com, isn't he?
I just read some of the thread. This one says roughly the same thing, but it does mention "aggregate" rather than "own".
"It would be helpful if there was site that can aggregate from across all the different platforms and show the best price for a particular week. The users would then likely choose the weeks with the lower intermediary costs. I’m surprised more AI tools haven been developed to do comparison shopping like this."

The thing about "AI tools" is interesting. People seem to think chatbots are a type of super-search-engine. They are vvery limmited in what they "search". I can list a bunch of HUGE, highly useful DBs on teh www that chatbots (at least the ones I use) refuse to search and seemingly have never even been taught exist. chatbots reply "This is not publicly available info. Pls check sources." Pure BS.

Is the real-time pricing on e-commerce sites something a chatbot searches without having a written contract with the owner of the site allowing them to?

AI is much more than chatbots (or even LLMs) - and I'm saying this as someone who has created chatbots.

Unfortunately, no one really has an incentive to set up useful tools that allow comparison shopping, grabbing an airfare when it goes on sale etc. These are some really basic things any competent Executive Assistant could do, but unless you build an AI tool yourself, you'll run into roadblocks, since many sites will go after you if you use basic commercial scraping methods. If each person had an AI agent, they could set themselves up to automate their search process, which would have more potential since a site owner can't legally block you from using information that they themselves make publicly available (unless they password-protect it).

 

[WaikikiFirst]

AI is much more than chatbots (or even LLMs)

Yes, that was my 1st point. I refrained from diving into "agents". decent brief on-line article came out about that today, maybe WSJ?

unless you build an AI tool yourself, you'll run into roadblocks, since many sites will go after you if you use basic commercial scraping

and that was my 2nd, maybe 3rd, point. I read AMZN is suing Perplexity about a shopping "agent"?

on those DBs that chatbots refuse to know about, is it that they were never fed them and there is no mechanism for the chatbot to find them, or are they specifically "off-limits" to the chatbots? It seems to me that many of the chats combine some type of "search" with the LLM stuff, but definitely not near an exhaustive search.
It seems to me that the LLMs can't handle anything on the www tht isn't originally presented as sentences, but I have no expertise to see what causes the failure.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

no one really has an incentive to set up useful tools that allow comparison shopping, grabbing an airfare when it goes on sale etc.

there has always been a clear distinction between software that does things like DB lookups vs transactional software.
Is it lack of incentive or fear of actually letting it loose to TRANSACT and also fear of "prompt injection"? OpenAI has something called Operator that can go out and buy stuff. Your comment and mine reminded me that there was a great article in the August edition of MIT's Tech Review about AI Agents. That is the only place I have ever read about prompt injection.
Quote on such tools from a prof in Philosophy & AI Ethics
"When would we trust one of these models (given access to a transactional tool) enough to put your credit card in its hands? You'd have to be a lunatic to do that right now."
Prior to that there was mentioned the experience of a WaPo reporter who was using Operator to prepare for a story. He told it to find the lowest cost eggs for delivery. Operator went ahead and paid $31 for Instacart to deliver a dozen eggs. Next thing WaPo knew, he had a $31 charge and a dozen eggs on his doorstep.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

basic things any competent Executive Assistant could do,

Hours after my comment about LLMs not being able to handle DBs, prob because LLMs want a sentence / text, it occurred to me. I'm no expert, but LLMs have never presented as being able to bump into a DB empty-handed and, <snap>, figure out its schema. I figured that is the issue, so I asked:
"results for do you understand database schema to find results for me?
AI Overview: Yes, a large language model can understand database schemas to find results by using the schema's rules to query the data, but it does not have direct access to a specific database's schema or data. You would need to provide the model with the schema's structure (tables, columns, relationships) and your specific request, at which point the model can construct a query to get the information."

so basically, we have to give it an Englsh language version of a sql query and it will build the query and send it to the DB.
I'm not sure what naming convention it uses for us to point it at the right DB?

 

[NTP66]

My biggest gripe with Finding Meili is that I only ever received the initial notification from my renter. Every other message they sent, I received absolutely nothing. Had to check the site multiple times daily just to make sure that I didn't miss out on anything. That's a huge issue even for just renting out a single unit. Multiple units? Insanity.

 

[smileyface]

When I did a search for timeshare rentals, Koala did come out on top of RW this time. I am impressed. TUG was on the first page. Some scam companies are listed, like Sell My Timeshare Now. RCI and some upfront-fee companies come out ahead of TUG.

Not knowing much about how the searches work, I would say that my using/ browsing RW, TUG and Koala probably determines what I will see in a Google search.

The way Redweek is organized is really so ideal. I said something to Koala about their listing organization needing to mirror RW, but of course they should not do that. I find Koala hard to navigate but probably because I am used to RW. I have been a member since 2008.

TUG seems to be a place for owners to rent for less money, just in general. The communication between owner and renter is awkward. I think it would be nice for the entire email from the renter to go directly to my inbox, so I can respond that way. That is one improvement I think is probably something you can do. Getting notification, then going to TUG Marketplace to check messages, clicking on the email address, having that open into a new window on Outlook, it's a lot of steps.

I am having trouble communicating with people asking to rent my timeshare. I copy their email and send it right from my own email address but they don't respond. I have spent time sending them requested photos of the resort and still no response. I assumed they were not interested but I really don't know how the communication breaks down.
One guy has been talking to me since last February but can't commit to a specific week. I am so frustrated that I'm ready to give up.
I've owned my timeshare for 20 years and have rented it thru TUG but it's getting harder to rent.
Any advice or comments are much appreciated.
The timeshare is in Grand Cayman.
I'm asking for the maintenance fees only which is 1700 for a 2 bedroom lock-off.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

I am having trouble communicating with people asking to rent my timeshare. I copy their email and send it right from my own email address but they don't respond. I have spent time sending them requested photos of the resort and still no response. I assumed they were not interested but I really don't know how the communication breaks down.
One guy has been talking to me since last February but can't commit to a specific week. I am so frustrated that I'm ready to give up.
I've owned my timeshare for 20 years and have rented it thru TUG but it's getting harder to rent.
Any advice or comments are much appreciated.
The timeshare is in Grand Cayman.
I'm asking for the maintenance fees only which is 1700 for a 2 bedroom lock-off.

Sounds like it may be time to sell and get away from the annual responsibility of it.










.

 

[Wolfgheist]

There is a lot here, but it goes all over the place, so hard to follow.

I am renting out my unit and on Koala they charge me $600 when it rents with a no fee listing, and on Redweek it seems that they only charge me $99 when it rents, but also with a $59 listing fee. It still seems way cheaper to use Redweek, but are there other considerations?

 

[dioxide45]

There is a lot here, but it goes all over the place, so hard to follow.

I am renting out my unit and on Koala they charge me $600 when it rents with a no fee listing, and on Redweek it seems that they only charge me $99 when it rents, but also with a $59 listing fee. It still seems way cheaper to use Redweek, but are there other considerations?

For high end rentals, Redweek is going to be cheaper. It doesn't hurt to list it in both places and build that commission into your listing price on Koala. Sure, the Koala listing will be priced higher but there are people who find the listing on Koala and never look at Redweek. There is zero risk on Koala but you could be out the $59 if it never rents on Redweek.

 

[andre10056]

There is a lot here, but it goes all over the place, so hard to follow.

I am renting out my unit and on Koala they charge me $600 when it rents with a no fee listing, and on Redweek it seems that they only charge me $99 when it rents, but also with a $59 listing fee. It still seems way cheaper to use Redweek, but are there other considerations?

Both Redweek and Koala charge the person who rents out your unit (1) their commission and (2) state and/or whatever municipality lodging taxes. In effect, both are charging YOU if your definition is "forcing you to select a lower rental rate in recognition of the HUGE amount of money that will have to be paid by the tenant including everything".

Koala and Redweek are pretty much the same in that regard. At any level of tenant payment, you'll net out approximately the same.

If it appears to be different to you, I suggest you enter Redweek as a prospective tenant and see what your "all in" price will be after you click on your interest in any particular rental.

That being said, I have never gotten even an inquiry on Koala despite numerous past years' listings. On the other hand, Redweek has generally worked out well for me.

 

[dioxide45]

Both Redweek and Koala charge the person who rents out your unit (1) their commission and (2) state and/or whatever municipality lodging taxes. In effect, both are charging YOU if your definition is "forcing you to select a lower rental rate in recognition of the HUGE amount of money that will have to be paid by the tenant including everything".

Koala and Redweek are pretty much the same in that regard.

If it appears to be different to you, I suggest you enter Redweek as a prospective tenant and see what your "all in" price will be after you click on your interest in any particular rental.

That being said, I have never gotten even an inquiry on Koala despite numerous past years' listings. On the other hand, Redweek has generally worked out well for me.

The difference is that Koala charges a 8% commission to the owner where Redweek charges $59+$99.