I have a timeshare in a popular Florida resort near Disney that I can't use this year and have been trying to rent but no luck. In a typical year (except for Covid) that was not an issue but this year it is. I've seen multiple listings like mine on Redweek and even here trying to rent similar units with very little luck. Also have been hearing on the news international leisure travel to the USA is "weak" which I believe may be impacting demand. Anyone else experiencing issues with renting?
Usually during past years, I've gotten response after response to my rental listings. With the benefit of multiple years of experience, I've learned at what prices each listing can reasonably be expected to rent.
This year, after week after week and even month after month with ZERO inquiries or bookings, with check-in dates approaching, and with my not wanting to build up big exchange balances, I lowered my prices significantly (ballpark 30 to 40%). And they rented.
So I really don't care why. Could be international travel is down. Could be people are more fearful about the economy and therefore more cautious about spending. It makes no difference why. All I need to know is that this year is an outlier during which timeshares won't rent unless they're priced even below rockbottom low.
There is a trend towards Micro-cations and reduced travel to resorts to manage costs.
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Managing costs
According to Ferrara, “people are prioritizing trips, they’re maybe just doing them differently,” noting that Americans appear to be managing costs by taking smaller, more frequent trips.
Though travelers plan to take an average of 3.1 summer trips this year, up from 2.3 in 2024, a higher percentage this year (41%) plan to take a trip of three nights or fewer, Deloitte found.
Allianz Partners’ Summer 2025 Vacation Confidence Index
also found a rise in “micro-cations,” defined as leisure trips more than 100 miles from home for four nights or fewer.
Of travelers who told Deloitte in April that they plan to reduce their travel spend this year, the most common method is by taking shorter trips (43%), followed by staying at budget hotels (33%) and staying with family and friends (30%).
Additionally, fewer travelers this summer will stay at destination resorts, down 2 percentage points year on year, per the report."
Your cited article makes it appear that shorter stays are a new occurrence.
But that's something I've noticed for years. It makes a big difference in rental demand if you can offer a short stay rather than only a seven night stay. But that often depends upon the resort as some resorts insist that they will not be involved in splitting a week up for multiple guests. At those resorts, it doesn't matter if you're willing to pay for a "midweek cleaning" each time as appropriate. And those are the resorts that I sold such that I'm now down to four total timeshares. I don't always get to travel myself, so it's nice (actually necessary) to have an alternative option.
And even for those guests who take advantage of a big "7 night" discount, oftentimes the parents need to work remotely, so their seven night vacation is really a matter of allowing their kids to enjoy the pool, planned activities, etc. during daytime when they're working.
So why is THIS YEAR different?
We can speculate all day but, suffice to say, it IS different. But for one more possible reason, I just watched a Youtube video about a Hispanic couple and two older kids that stayed at Hyatt Windward Pointe in Key West for Fantasy Fest (posted in a Hyatt thread). If you're Hispanic and you're undocumented, you're not even going to church, much less a vacation resort. If you're a Hispanic business owner and your bustling "main street" shopping strip, during recent years filled with families shopping, is now a Ghost Town, or a Nicaraguan who had been on Temporary Protected Status for a decade plus who's now been told he needs to self-deport, are you making expensive vacation plans for your family?
In the past, I often had Hispanic guests. This year, zero.
If you look at this on a strict supply/demand basis, supply may be marginally up as Dioxide speculated by Canadians seeking to rent out their timeshares. And it seems that demand is way down, for whatever the reasons. Therefore, prices have to come down to attain a balance between supply and demand, i.e., equilibrium. So statistics may indicate that domestic travel is unchanged from prior years, but what were the prices paid for lodging as compared to prior years?
