Need Rental Advice!!

[Tellmeister]

My wife and I purchased and fully paid for a timeshare at InnSeason Surfside Resort in East Falmouth, MA ( Cape Cod ) just over a year ago. During the transaction the salesman said we could rent it out or exchange for another RCI property if we pay the exchange fee. We were told that InnSeason would be able to rent out our unit for us for a fee. I recently spoke with a rep from the resort that confirmed that they do NOT rent out units for owners. We were also under the impression that even if we do the exchange we could rent out the exchange to anyone. I have come across a lot of misleading information online about renting out timeshares. My question is am I allowed to rent out our designated week / location at Surfside and am I allowed to search and pay for an RCI exchange and then rent out that unit? We are new to this so it's all a little confusing.

 

[theo]

Sales weasels know (and take advantage of the fact) that nothing they say is legally binding. Accordingly, some will say virtually anything to make the sale and collect a commission. Sad, but true. I'd venture to guess that somewhere within your contract you can even find a overt statement that any and all verbal claims are not binding. In the end, only the written contract content matters.

You can rent out a owned unit / week. You could join RCI and "deposit for exchange" your owned week with RCI (there are absolutely no guarantees that you will actually find a week where / when you want in playing that "exchange game", however --- and once deposited, you cannot "retrieve" the owned week that you relinquished to RCI). However, per RCI's own clearly stated written terms and conditions of membership, you cannot rent out any week obtained via exchange. You don't own that week, so it's not yours to rent out. Same rule with Interval International, another exchange company. Yes, some people do (in clear violation of the terms of their exchange company membership) rent out exchanges anyhow (...or try to), but they do so at their own peril. If detected, exchange company membership can be suspended or terminated and an innocent "tenant" potentially denied occupancy, so it is indeed a very real risk.

 

[Tony traveling man]

My wife and I purchased and fully paid for a timeshare at InnSeason Surfside Resort in East Falmouth, MA ( Cape Cod ) just over a year ago. During the transaction the salesman said we could rent it out or exchange for another RCI property if we pay the exchange fee. We were told that InnSeason would be able to rent out our unit for us for a fee. I recently spoke with a rep from the resort that confirmed that they do NOT rent out units for owners. We were also under the impression that even if we do the exchange we could rent out the exchange to anyone. I have come across a lot of misleading information online about renting out timeshares. My question is am I allowed to rent out our designated week / location at Surfside and am I allowed to search and pay for an RCI exchange and then rent out that unit? We are new to this so it's all a little confusing.

Normally you can rent on your own with no fees involved. They would pay you directly and you would let the front desk know who's checking in with all the rules (no pets, smoking and # guests limitations). If you go through the resort generally they get additional fees for renting and if they rent by the day, cleaning fees. They send you balance and you pay income tax on the rental income... You usually have to buy a guest certificate from RCI to transfer a week to another person, but if you own at the resort, sometimes you can get away with it as long as they give the resort a credit card for any additional charges. The resort won't rent an RCI exchange week.

 

[MOXJO7282]

One of the most common lies salesmen make is about the ability to rent out your unit. Most resorts allow it but some make it very difficult but even if it is allowable it is not an automatic that you will find a renter. I think the branded resorts are an easier rent but some others can be rented easily too. Checking Redweek for your resort to see if there is a market there and there are only 4 listings with 1 showing as rented. On the surface it would appear there isn't much of a market because RW is one of the better TS rental sites but its possible that isn't a true indication. Places like that often rent on Craig's List so you can check there as well.

 

[montygz]

My wife and I purchased and fully paid for a timeshare at InnSeason Surfside Resort in East Falmouth, MA ( Cape Cod ) just over a year ago. During the transaction the salesman said we could rent it out or exchange for another RCI property if we pay the exchange fee. We were told that InnSeason would be able to rent out our unit for us for a fee. I recently spoke with a rep from the resort that confirmed that they do NOT rent out units for owners. We were also under the impression that even if we do the exchange we could rent out the exchange to anyone. I have come across a lot of misleading information online about renting out timeshares. My question is am I allowed to rent out our designated week / location at Surfside and am I allowed to search and pay for an RCI exchange and then rent out that unit? We are new to this so it's all a little confusing.

I don't own at your resort, however, I would triple check to make sure they don't rent out units. Many resort reps don't know all the features their resort offers.

In the end, usually it is far more profitable to rent your week yourself, however, you have to do all the work.

As others have said, you can only rent the week you actually own, it can't be an exchange. If you own a week in February, that is the week you can rent.

 

[cbyrne1174]

You can't rent out RCI reservations without the risk of being banned from RCI. People do it, but it's unfair to the renter because their reservation could theoretically be cancelled due to violating the terms of service.

 

[Tellmeister]

Well this is all very frustrating. It's taken me this long to reply to this post simply because I've pretty much walked away from the situation out of anger. This timeshare purchase has to be one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. To listen to a sales rep lie to us just for a quick buck. I'm so annoyed at this point that I might just sell it for nothing to somebody so I won't have to pay the maintenance fee's every year which have already gone up.

 

[Sandy VDH]

Get rid of it or learn and make lemonade from lemons.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Well this is all very frustrating. It's taken me this long to reply to this post simply because I've pretty much walked away from the situation out of anger. This timeshare purchase has to be one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. To listen to a sales rep lie to us just for a quick buck. I'm so annoyed at this point that I might just sell it for nothing to somebody so I won't have to pay the maintenance fee's every year which have already gone up.

Don't feel bad. If it's not a July or early August week then it's worth next to nothing anyways!



.

 

[silentg]

What week do you own? Are you wanting to rent it and exchange it at the same time? I’m not understanding what you want to do. We owned a timeshare week on Cape Cod. We exchanged thru RCI one year. Another year we exchanged with a TUG member and went to Texas. After that we gave our week away to someone who wanted it for exchanges. Have you joined TUG? We have a Marketplace for buying selling renting or exchanging. We have had pretty good luck doing this. PM me if you need more info.
Good Luck!

 

[rrsafety]

If you paid retail at InnSeason (like my in-laws did) then I’m sorry you overpaid and are frustrated. We use their InnSeason points to get a two bedroom at Pollard Brook in NH every summer and we like it very much. If it was just the MFs then it would have been a nice deal, but they got scammed out of so much money on the front end, I’m still mad about it.