Redweek allowed cancellation at 11th hour

[FunnyFarm]

I had a rental confirmed for Thanksgiving week in Waikiki with a renter who seemed eager based on 2 way texting.
Renter opted for pay through Redweek.
Cancelled today. Redweek says they can cancel up until all is verified.
It has been two weeks, should have been verified easily by now.
Anybody else have this happen.
Renter took my ad offline for 2 weeks with no penalty to them, seems unfair.
I

 

[rickandcindy23]

Redweek should step up. That's terrible that they didn't verify before two weeks has passed.

 

[mjm1]

That’s terrible. All the more reason to handle the transaction yourself if you are able and willing to do so. Otherwise, it appears the owner is at Redweek’s mercy.

 

[tschwa2]

Unless it was your fault that they couldn't verify the week for some reason, they should have been able to verify it within 2 business day.
I can understand letting the renter back out if it has taken 2 weeks and the renter is being told that their holiday reservation for next month isn't verified.
So my big question would be why wasn't it verified in that time period. Was your resort refusing to verify for redweek and if so did redweek let you know so you could perhaps do a 3 way call with owner services?

 

[Sandy VDH]

One of the reasons I do not like redweek. If you do put a week up on Koala, you set up the cancellation policy. Koala enforces it.

 

[montygz]

That’s terrible. All the more reason to handle the transaction yourself if you are able and willing to do so. Otherwise, it appears the owner is at Redweek’s mercy.

The "renter" may have been a deadbeat or crazy person who kept stalling on payment, then bailed after dragging it out or was trying some kind of scam.
Two weeks seems long, but you don't know what was happening behind the scenes.
A DIY renter may have been stuck with a far worse situation.

 

[echino]

Was it HGVC?

Redweek's process to verify HGVC reservations is notoriously long and unnecessarily complicated. Redweek does not just call the resort, instead Redweek insists on a 3-way call. Arranging that takes time. Then during the call Redweek asks HGVC a lot of stupid questions, which HGVC does not like to answer. Then HGVC only permits rentals of Home Weeks, and strictly enforces that. Sometimes HGVC reps on the call do not realize it's in fact a Home Week, and mistakenly tell Redweek that this reservation cannot be rented, which complicates things. HGVC rentals via Redweek are a huge PITA.

 

[AJCts411]

The red flag is insisting on using Redweek. When I use RW to rent, there are options for the cancellation terms. Did you check the strict cancellation terms or even the one where you would determine the rental terms? Seems to me that your renter knew how to play the game at redweek.

 

[davidvel]

If I was the renter, I'd be concerned it could not be verified in two weeks. If I was the owner I wouldn't want the ad to be live until it had been verified, especially if RW is known to have issues with that resort group.

 

[dioxide45]

If I was the renter, I'd be concerned it could not be verified in two weeks. If I was the owner I wouldn't want the ad to be live until it had been verified, especially if RW is known to have issues with that resort group.

I am puzzled as to how they can list something with the verified flag when it in fact hasn't been verified.

 

[chapjim]

Was it HGVC?

Redweek's process to verify HGVC reservations is notoriously long and unnecessarily complicated. Redweek does not just call the resort, instead Redweek insists on a 3-way call. Arranging that takes time. Then during the call Redweek asks HGVC a lot of stupid questions, which HGVC does not like to answer. Then HGVC only permits rentals of Home Weeks, and strictly enforces that. Sometimes HGVC reps on the call do not realize it's in fact a Home Week, and mistakenly tell Redweek that this reservation cannot be rented, which complicates things. HGVC rentals via Redweek are a huge PITA.

I have an HGVC Home Week listed on RedWeek.com. I forwarded the email confirmation to RW.com and it was verified in two days (edit: actually the next day) with no three-way call. However, I have listed sales on RW.com and completed the sale before verification was complete.

Edit: I don't know how RW.com does things internally but it seems that some of their people are more diligent than others.

I have more trouble with verification of rental listings when it is a fixed week/fixed unit where I have no email confirmation.

 

[SteelerGal]

I have had the rental listed but not verified due to my own error.

 

[echino]

Redweek verifies twice: first when listed, and second when rented and name changed. With my Waikiki HGVC I have to go via three way call process with Redweek at least twice for every rental. Or 3 times if I need to extend the ad beyond 6 months.

After OP accepted the rental, Redweek charged the guest's credit card and started the name change and final verification process. The rental is not confirmed until that process is complete. And if it takes a long time then apparently the guest can back out and get a full refund. I didn't know that - it's a good reason not to list HGVC or other resorts requiring a long verification as Redweek Verified and Protected.

 

[FunnyFarm]

This was not an HGVC,.
I sent the renter and Redweek a copy of the name change and new confirmation from the resort two weeks ago.
Renter seemed to be a newbie to renting.
I sent her a message asking if something went wrong.
We'll see if she responds.
For now I have a last minute rental to go or dump it to II for a last minute exchange.
It is 23 days to chek in.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I am getting tired of RW and the ridiculous amount of time it takes to verify ads. They should be hiring more people. I have a general distaste for RW lately. It is so wrong that they cancelled this rental. I would list it with Koala immediately. Set a reasonable price. No charge to list, and your net payout is clearly presented. Koala keeps 8%.

RW did step up when they took too long to verify, and Koala rented the week in that period of time. I told RW I needed a refund. They did refund the verify/ protect listing fee.

Redweek isn't helping owners at all with their ridiculous rules against renting Wyndham. They are not the boss of me (just saying). I received emails a few times on my rentals of Wyndham-managed resorts, floating weeks that are not in Wyndham. Another TUGger owns a fixed week at Kona Coast, and her ad was taken down by Redweek because it was a holiday week. RW has no right to do that. This is why I am selling and giving away everything I cannot use in Wyndham, and I am selling my floating weeks that are managed by Wyndham. I cannot deal with the lack of consistency in rental venues.

I think a lot of the issues with RW are related to the fact that they don't understand timeshare. Koala has a great understanding of how things work. RCI Points reservations are an example of Koala's knowledge being much greater. I reserve my home weeks 12 months out, two months before anyone else can book anything in RCI points, and I list them on RW and Koala, but RW won't verify because they are RCI confirmations. Koala understands the process of reserving my home weeks. Big difference to me.

Koala has not cancelled any of my ads. There is a stark difference between a company that gets the rules and gets that people who own Wyndham-managed resorts are not subject to the stupid rules Wyndham club owners are having to abide by. My 3 bedrooms at Grand Palms are usually easily rented, mostly on RW, but Koala has rented a few as well. I am selling the last two EOY weeks to get rid of the problem RW is having with my rentals. It's ridiculous. They should allow me to use the verify process, but they do not get it.