Is Redweek only offering two verified and protected options now?

[rickandcindy23]

@DeniseM If you renew an ad, will it let you still have it as DIY?

 

[dioxide45]

@DeniseM If you renew an ad, will it let you still have it as DIY?

According to @DanCali in post #39, the DIY option isn't there for an ad renewal.

 

[tschwa2]

It looks like for $49 you can still do an unverified DIY IF you say you don't have a confirmed reservation. If I put in an 8 night period and then it lets me advertise for 7 nights at $X without any notification of verification or Redweek payment. I am not sure what they would do if someone wants 7 nights that includes the day you don't have. If it truly were not reserved it could easily just not be available.

I did message asking if they would let you advertise a confirmed Wyndham during the owner priority period? In the past they did but only as the DIY because they would not verify anything during owner priority.

 

[rickandcindy23]

RW is going to make a lot of people angry. There is still Koala and a person could take a second look at My Resort Network, and I know they will reduce the price for listings, if you let them know you will be doing quite a few. Redweek is the big player in the rental business.

There is always TUG Classifieds as well.

 

[DanCali]

RW is going to make a lot of people angry. There is still Koala and a person could take a second look at My Resort Network, and I know they will reduce the price for listings, if you let them know you will be doing quite a few. Redweek is the big player in the rental business.

There is always TUG Classifieds as well.

Has anyone rented anything with Koala in the past 2 years?? I've listed a few things there maybe a couple of years ago and got nothing...

Their fees are 8% and Redweek now costs ~$150 for a successful rental with listing and success fee. So for more expensive rentals Redweek makes more sense. For smaller rentals, Koala makes more sense. I guess the breakeven is about $1900.

Just FYI - Redweek will bill you $99 for a verified listing if you decline it for any reason (e.g., "no longer available")... it's happened to me. So if you list things in multiple places, be careful!

 

[DanCali]

According to @DanCali in post #39, the DIY option isn't there for an ad renewal.

Actually, I may have been mistaken.

If you try to renew an expiring (or expired) ad, it appears that maybe you can still do DIY - for now... It's asking me for $49 at checkout, but it doesn't force you to do online booking.

 

[5finny]

So for a new rental ad:
1) Redweek has to verify the rental ownership with the resort or company
2 Owner has to use Redweek lease and book online
3) Owner has to let Redweek hold renters money until guest checks in and redweek can resolve tenant issues which may mean owner does not get Renters money
4) If a rental is obtained the owner pays an extra $100 and tenant pays extra 10%
5) I assume owner has to disclose owners personal info to Redweek-- Bank Account ,Tax ID # Etc

Missing anything?

 

[dioxide45]

So for a new rental ad:
1) Redweek has to verify the rental ownership with the resort or company
2) Renter has to use Redweek lease and book online
3) Renter has to let Redweek hold renters money until guest checks in and redweek can resolve tenant issues which may mean renter does not get Renters money
4) If a rental is obtained the Renter pays an extra $100 and tenant pays extra 10%
5) I assume renter has to disclose renters personal info to Redweek-- Bank Account ,Tax ID # Etc

Missing anything?

I think a better use of terms is Owner and Renter. You are calling them both renters here.

Otherwise, that is how I understand it.

 

[NTP66]

And what happens if the renter files a dispute for whatever reason? Will it be like eBay/PayPal where the renter generally gets what they want, and the seller gets the shaft? I don’t entirely buy that this is beneficial to both parties equally. And I know that you could probably say the same about a DIY rental with a private contract outside of RW.

 

[5finny]

I think a better use of terms is Owner and Renter. You are calling them both renters here.

Otherwise, that is how I understand it.

Made the Edits

 

[DanCali]

And what happens if the renter files a dispute for whatever reason? Will it be like eBay/PayPal where the renter generally gets what they want, and the seller gets the shaft? I don’t entirely buy that this is beneficial to both parties equally. And I know that you could probably say the same about a DIY rental with a private contract outside of RW.

No it is not beneficial to both equally. But, because of that, renters do trust it a lot more and are probably also willing to pay more than with DIY rentals for the extra "peace of mind". I've had a situation where a renter paid me $500+fees more for a verified listing than for a similar DIY listing. Obviously it could also be due to the systematic "suppression" of the DIY listings, which are much harder to find and probably viewed by much fewer people.

We're probably both experienced enough to rent from an owner with DIY, but which would you prefer if you were less experienced and on the other side of the transaction? Especially with a $2000+ rental where even if you pay with Paypal/Venmo goods and services (and most owners wouldn't accept that) you're not covered because they exclude real estate transactions from their "buyer protection"? WIth a DIY rental, the renter bears a lot more risk - even it is just perception-wise.

Covid was a crazy time, but I am not aware of any situations post-covid complaints/issues where the owner got shafted (or any disputes at all - but I don't follow the rental board as much). They don't allow the renter to do a chargeback (or they risk getting sued and paying attorney fees for both sides), and any disputes have to go through "arbitration" and require "material discrepancies" between the unit received vs the one described.

 

[NTP66]

I'm just thinking worst case scenario here, really. All I know is that with these changes, renters will now be paying all of these new fees, not me. I've had same the person rent my 2BR unit the last two times I put it up, and I didn't use RW at all for the last one, and hope that she wants to return to Maui when it's up the next time around so that I can continue to avoid all of this.

I have no idea how some of you with 5+ units do this every year, honestly. I hate it.

 

[tschwa2]

REdweek got back to me. All confirmed reservations must be verified by Redweek and use their payment system. The only exceptions are if you specify that you are posting without a reservation. They still charge $49 and they say $99 when rented but since it isn't going through there payment system, I am not sure how they track that unless they offer the payment system without any verification. Reservations like owner priority with wyndham will not be verified so can only be listed as a float time.

 

[andre10056]

Just FYI - Redweek will bill you $99 for a verified listing if you decline it for any reason (e.g., "no longer available")... it's happened to me. So if you list things in multiple places, be careful!

When I first read that, my initial reaction was "that's outrageous. If I saw it wasn't renting, I could very well decide to go myself...or bank it...or give it to someone I knew. Why would they feel entitled to the $99 successful renting fee?"

My next thought was that it's really not a problem. Just immediately edit your listing to charge $8000 per the week. And, if you get a taker (at $8000), then renter #1 would have to get a "Sorry. I have to cancel".

But thanks for the heads up so the latter strategy could kick in as soon as one would successfully find a tenant elsewhere.

And if we see $8000 listings, we'll know what happened.

 

[DanCali]

When I first read that, my initial reaction was "that's outrageous. If I saw it wasn't renting, I could very well decide to go myself...or bank it...or give it to someone I knew. Why would they feel entitled to the $99 successful renting fee?"

If you don’t find a renter, you can still cancel the listing and go yourself or bank it.

The $99 applies only if they find a renter and then you subsequently decline to rent it out for some reason. Like say you rented it on TUG and forgot to cancel the Redweek listing and then they find another renter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[andre10056]

If you don’t find a renter, you can still cancel the listing and go yourself or bank it.

The $99 applies only if they find a renter and then you subsequently decline to rent it out for some reason. Like say you rented it on TUG and forgot to cancel the Redweek listing and then they find another renter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh. OK. That's understandable. They've done their job and deserve to be compensated. I thought they were charging you because they they MIGHT have found someone and you were preventing them from doing so...for which they should get paid. Thanks for ckearing that up. I guess you won't see my $8000 listings after all.

 

[rickandcindy23]

REdweek got back to me. All confirmed reservations must be verified by Redweek and use their payment system. The only exceptions are if you specify that you are posting without a reservation. They still charge $49 and they say $99 when rented but since it isn't going through there payment system, I am not sure how they track that unless they offer the payment system without any verification. Reservations like owner priority with wyndham will not be verified so can only be listed as a float time.

I am surprised by this because I was kind of thinking RW was trying to stop exchange rentals, which is understandable.

 

[Norcal5]

I did a renewal ad and it forced me into the Redweek payment plan, as I expected. However, new ads are being posted (that I receive the daily email notification for so I know they're newly posted) with the old DIY option.

 

[Robert D]

I didn't know you can rent timeshares on Facebook. Are there different Facebook groups for different types of rentals? Does anyone have a link to them?

 

[dioxide45]

I didn't know you can rent timeshares on Facebook. Are there different Facebook groups for different types of rentals? Does anyone have a link to them?

It depends. There are a lot of timeshare related Facebook groups. Some for the entire systems (HGVC, Marriott, Vistana, Wyndham), then there are some for individual resorts. There are some groups, like TUG, that don't allow you to post rental listings. Then there are some that do and some others that are only for rental listings. Then there are some that are operated by brokers and such that may not always allow other owners to put up postings for rentals.

Best to search Facebook for the different systems and the resorts you own. Then check the group rules.

 

[bazzap]

I didn't know you can rent timeshares on Facebook. Are there different Facebook groups for different types of rentals? Does anyone have a link to them?

There is at least one ( sometimes more) fb owner groups for every MVC resort we own.
This is likely true for every MVC resort.

 

[mjkkb2]

And what happens if the renter files a dispute for whatever reason? Will it be like eBay/PayPal where the renter generally gets what they want, and the seller gets the shaft? I don’t entirely buy that this is beneficial to both parties equally. And I know that you could probably say the same about a DIY rental with a private contract outside of RW.

The rental agreement that both renter and owner sign has some strong language about not filing a CC dispute or chargebacks. It essentially states that all disputes will go through Redweek and if any CC dispute is filed, the renter agrees to reimburse redweek for all costs, lawyer fees etc. to recoup the money.

 

[dioxide45]

The rental agreement that both renter and owner sign has some strong language about not filing a CC dispute or chargebacks. It essentially states that all disputes will go through Redweek and if any CC dispute is filed, the renter agrees to reimburse redweek for all costs, lawyer fees etc. to recoup the money.

Is such a clause in the contract even legal? Isn't the credit card dispute process protected by the Fair Credit Billing Act? Certainly a dispute doesn't absolve the legal contract but I don't think this is a right that you can sign away. Just like timeshare rescission rights.

 

[mjkkb2]

That I wouldn't know. but this is the language they have:

• 3.4. Renter waives Renter's right to challenge any charges with their credit card company. If Renter submits any dispute, cancellation, or challenge through their bank, credit card company, or other financial institution, rather than following the dispute process as set forth in this Agreement, then RedWeek and/or Owner may (without any notice to Renter) pursue a claim against Renter for any and all damages incurred by RedWeek and/or Owner including, but not limited to, the cost of pursuing those damages (attorneys' and paralegal fees and costs), and any chargeback amounts, any fees, and interest at the highest rate permitted by law.

so not necessarily prohibiting it like I said earlier but more of a gentle threat

 

[NTP66]

Even if it turns out to be a non-issue, the thought of having to wait 6-12 months for payment... woof.