Last minute rental section proposed change to 65 days vs 45 days

[TUGBrian]

the LMR section has never been intended for commercial renting purposes. be it a business or an individual.

as stated before, it was created specifically as an outlet for owners to offer an interval up for rent to recoup some money that would otherwise be lost should the interval remain unused because they do NOT have the ability to cancel the reservation or otherwise reschedule.

 

[Grammarhero]

the LMR section has never been intended for commercial renting purposes. be it a business or an individual.

as stated before, it was created specifically as an outlet for owners to offer an interval up for rent to recoup some money that would otherwise be lost should the interval remain unused because they do NOT have the ability to cancel the reservation or otherwise reschedule.

Thanks for decision and reasoning, which I respect.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I've been thinking about this in light of the fact that LMR has mostly been a business channel for a handful of TUGgers. One possible change if we collectively think that's not an appropriate use of LMR: It might be reasonable to have some modest limits on how many LMRs an individual TUG Member can post in a given month/quarter/year/whatever.

Of course, a lot of people might think it is perfectly fine to let LMR continue to go the way it is going. If so, that's fine too.

(As an aside, this way of using LMR isn't a new phenomenon. There used to be a few UDI owners at Christmas Mountain Village who churned reservations much the same way back in the day.)

That's how I feel about it. I wouldn't use it for last minute Wyndham, except if I was really getting hard up to rent something, which rarely ever happens. I cancel before 15 days.

 

[VacayKat]

I've been thinking about this in light of the fact that LMR has mostly been a business channel for a handful of TUGgers. One possible change if we collectively think that's not an appropriate use of LMR: It might be reasonable to have some modest limits on how many LMRs an individual TUG Member can post in a given month/quarter/year/whatever.

Of course, a lot of people might think it is perfectly fine to let LMR continue to go the way it is going. If so, that's fine too.

(As an aside, this way of using LMR isn't a new phenomenon. There used to be a few UDI owners at Christmas Mountain Village who churned reservations much the same way back in the day.)

The limit would be hard to enforce, and even then you’d have folks put a list a mile long in the posting. For e.g. a while back there was one posting with at least 20 different listings all with multiple dates for each listing- does that count as one or 20 postings?

 

[am1]

Most owners posting in LMR for less than 800 bucks are already taking a loss. 800 for a week vacation is great deal as it is

Not all. A lot is junk and at $800 a week is expensive but $900 for a 4 bedroom presidential at bonnet creek is not allowed. But it’s not our sandbox.

 

[dioxide45]

Each posted rental is more work for a moderator, who must check that it complies. A simple rule ("one month") might be easier for a poster to follow than a slightly more complex one ("45 days")---if so, the simpler the rule the more posters will be discouraged from posting clearly incorrect rentals.

Then again, it's probably the case that some people just won't read what's written, no matter how simple it is.

I suspect mods go more off reported threads vs moderating every post in the forum. I know that I report threads that are outside the date range.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Maybe TUG needs more mods.

 

[dioxide45]

the LMR section has never been intended for commercial renting purposes. be it a business or an individual.

Perhaps not the intent, but it seems to be the result with the many Wyndham listings that get dropped in the LMR forum. Though looking at how many the owner indicates they have to cancel, it doesn't seem like an overly effective method of renting anyway.

 

[SmithOp]

Maybe TUG needs more mods.

or less Karens

 

[CO skier]

Yes, those wishing to offer rentals outside the LMR restrictions may post them in the Timeshares for Rent section of the Timeshare Marketplace. But, although reachable from the blue navigation bar at the top of the TUGBBS forums this is not part of the TUGBBS forums. It is a traditional classified ad section in a separate part of the TUG Site, just like the Resort Reviews and a few other things. Its existence goes back even further in time than the TUGBBS forums.

The LMR forum was later added to the TUGBBS forums as special purpose, short time window, forums intended to help owners get at least some benefit from owned intervals that are near expiration and are about to be lost. It eventually was split into separate LMR Offered and Wanted forums to avoid confusion in the listings.

To be clear though, in the way most think of "forum", there is no "Rental Forum". There is the TUG Marketplace for rentals that don't fit into the 45 day $800 restrictions of the LMR Forum.

OK, I think maybe I understand. A front page "forum" leads to eyeballs and that leads to rentals. The "Marketplace" is not front page news.

I am always looking for a win-win solution.

Why not create a "Bargain Rentals" sub-forum to the "Buying, Selling, Renting Forum" just like the "Bargain Deals" sales sub-forum?

"Bargain Rentals" would be limited to the same max price as Last Minute Rentals, but there is no time limit. Moderators could move more-than-45-days erroneous ads to the new "Bargain Rentals" instead of the "Deleted - See the rules" message, and inform the poster for the change.

Why is this a win-win for the TUG community? Would this meet what is being requested in this thread (but [bonus] with no limit to the number of days in advance for advertising?) Would this assist any Tugger looking for a bargain rental, just like those looking for a bargain timeshare purchase?

 

[TUGBrian]

the marketplace gets far more traffic than the LMR rentals forum does.

there is also a link to the marketplace within the LMR section.

there is no plan (nor desire) to further commercialize the forums in any way shape or form. The bargain deals section is completely different because it is a 100% giveaway section. If you wish to give away a rental, it can be posted in the bargain deals section =)

 

[Fried_shrimp]

Most owners posting in LMR for less than 800 bucks are already taking a loss. 800 for a week vacation is great deal as it is

Well, obviously that is purely an opinion and not a fact. I'm sure all the sales folk who sell timeshares think their first offer to a prospective owner is a great deal as well.

 

[Fried_shrimp]

Lol does it really matter? Are you starting at the first page then clicking next page 462 times?

It would give a better indication of how many active units are available.

 

[CPNY]

It would give a better indication of how many active units are available.

Just go to the end and work your way back by hitting “previous page”.

 

[SmithOp]

Clearing out old posts would be helpful as well if possible. There are posts all the way back to 2013 and the thread has 462 pages in it.

Use the FILTERS!

 

[dioxide45]

Clearing out old posts would be helpful as well if possible. There are posts all the way back to 2013 and the thread has 462 pages in it.

Given the short nature of these types of posts, looking at perhaps the first and second pages only is what really matters. I don't see why posts from 2013 are really an issue here.

 

[Fried_shrimp]

Given the short nature of these types of posts, looking at perhaps the first and second pages only is what really matters. I don't see why posts from 2013 are really an issue here.

Never said it was an "issue". It was merely a suggestion as to how to make the section look cleaner. Just a suggestion.

 

[chapjim]

I don't think it's broken and don't think it needs fixed. What I find a bit annoying is the LM Wyndham rentals for dirt cheap. You can really cheapen the Wyndham product that way, and it's a great product.

As a fairly frequent offeror of Wyndham reservations on LMR, I suppose I could be one of the causes of your annoyance. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what to do about it. Even offering at "dirt cheap" prices, I end up canceling many of the reservations that I post on LMR. That could lead one to the conclusion that my prices were not low enough!

My choices are rather stark -- lower prices to "dirt cheaper" levels and hope to get a rental or avoid listing on LMR so as to avoid cheapening the Wyndham product line.

To put things in perspective, I do far more rentals on RedWeek.com and eBay than I do on LMR or Marketplace classifieds. I'm not sure I have a Marketplace listing that hasn't expired. I should go look!

As for losing money on $800 (or less) rentals, I don't. I have a "formula price" based on the number of points required that is intended to cover all my costs and put a little in the kitty. If that price is $800 or less, it goes on LMR. I have one reservation that is a few dollars more that $800. That goes on LMR as well. Those are points-based reservations.

I lose money now and then on weeks-based reservations. For those, I try to minimize losses and hope that what I put in the kitty will cover the what I lose.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

I scan the LMR forum regularly.

To date I have not used it for a rental. I have however learned a significant amount of TS usage information from this forum.I would like to thank all who post rentals on the forum and appreciate what this adds to TUG.

 

[chapjim]

The limit would be hard to enforce, and even then you’d have folks put a list a mile long in the posting. For e.g. a while back there was one posting with at least 20 different listings all with multiple dates for each listing- does that count as one or 20 postings?

Easy to enforce! Sell LMR credits!