Have you rented your timeshare through VRI?

[kane]

I'm considering renting my week this year through the management company which is VRI. I have their rental authorization paperwork, but one clause that disturbs me is:

VRI will not notify you whether the unit is rented or not rented.

Now, that seems a little "stinky" if you know what I mean. With that clause in place, they could rent the unit and keep the money and never acknowledge whether they rented it or not.

Anyone here with experience in renting through VRI? Opinions?

 

[DeniseM]

Does VRI charge an upfront fee? How much?

What happens if your timeshare doesn't rent after you list it with them?

Most Tuggers rent their own timeshares, because it's easy to do, and then you keep all the profit.

Right now, a lot of people are trying to rent their timeshares, so you want to price your week competitively, market it well, and make sure you have a lot of traffic - because you have a lot of competition. I personally use these cheap or free websites to post my Ads:

TUG Timeshare Marketplace - http://tug2.com/timesharemarketplace/
1 year Membership - $15
Ads - free up to 25

www.craigslist.org (free)

www.redweek.com
Membership - $14.99 for 12 months
Timeshare Rental Ads - $24.99/ea for 6 Months
Timeshare Resale Ads - $59.99/ea for 12 Months

www.myresortnetwork.com
Membership - free
Timeshare Rental Ads - $19.95 ($24.95 - floating weeks)
Timeshare Resale Ads - $34.95

There is also a list of resale websites at the top of the Buying, Selling, Renting, board that you may want to take a look at.

On Craigslist, you need to create a Craigslist Acct., and every 3 days, you can renew your Ads with the click of a button. You don't have to rewrite the Ads - if you create an Acct. they will be saved in your Acct. and you can just use the "renew" function, to renew the oldest Ad every 3 days which will bring it to the top of the listings.

Good luck!

 

[bccash63]

I'm considering renting my week this year through the management company which is VRI. I have their rental authorization paperwork, but one clause that disturbs me is:

VRI will not notify you whether the unit is rented or not rented.

Now, that seems a little "stinky" if you know what I mean. With that clause in place, they could rent the unit and keep the money and never acknowledge whether they rented it or not.

Anyone here with experience in renting through VRI? Opinions?

I placed my Resort on Cocoa Beach in the rental pool 2 wks ago for 4/01-4/08/12 and when I called to check on the status they were able to let me know that so far 6/7 nights are rented out. I also did this 4 yrs ago and they rented out all 7 nights and sent me a check for $1050 which is 60% of what they rent it for, minus cleaning fees etc. The one neg is that it is taxable income--however you are able to subtract the maint fees from what they pay you. Dawn

 

[theo]

Yes...

I'm considering renting my week this year through the management company which is VRI. I have their rental authorization paperwork, but one clause that disturbs me is:

VRI will not notify you whether the unit is rented or not rented.

Now, that seems a little "stinky" if you know what I mean. With that clause in place, they could rent the unit and keep the money and never acknowledge whether they rented it or not.

Anyone here with experience in renting through VRI? Opinions?

I had VRI rent out an owned week for me at a VRI-managed resort once, a few years ago, due to a family situation which left me too little time to advertise a rental on my own on such short notice. VRI easily rented out the week, took a 35+% commission and sent me the balance sometime later.

While it is certainly true that VRI will not notify you if they rent out your week, it is equally true that they will advise you whether or not it is rented if you call and ask. Your concerns about an "under the counter" rental are certainly unfounded at the VRI level, but could still have some merit at the local resort level.
Such unethical behavior at the resort level would likely cost the resort manager his / her continued employment by VRI if discovered and caught however.

Another poster mentioned "taxable income". Any rental involves taxable income for the owner of the week.
Perhaps that poster meant (quite correctly) that VRI will formally issue a 1099 if they handle the rental.
That said, rental income is taxable income with or without a 1099.

P.S. At any and all of the +/- 130 resorts they manage, VRI charges firm rack rates which are considerably more money than the exact same rental ever commands privately. VRI will also charge the renter additional applicable local taxes on the total rental charge (an additional 12% in the FL instances with which I am personally familiar). In short, in the Internet era people can usually find the same week in the same place for considerably less money than the resort or management company charges (VRI included, but in most other cases as well) --- you might want to consider renting your week out on your own, if time permits...

 

[kane]

Renting through VRI

Thanks for the replies. I think I will try this once and see how it goes. I'll post results afterwards. I'm well aware of the IRS rules regarding rentals as I own 50 apartments and do my own taxes every year. I was more concerned about how VRI handles the rentals with the owners.