Redweek listings are just sitting online, not many are renting, a new phenomena and a waste of money for owners at $59 for verify/ protect

[rickandcindy23]

Now I have rented six on DVC Rental Store for $20 per point. I rented the first two at $18 per point.

I am determined to get all 1,500 points rented this way. No upfront cost, get 75% immediately via regular mail, the check arrives within a few days. Then 25% after the guest checks into the resort.

Rented the Westin Desert Willow on RW, which is good. It was my own ad.

I still look at the ads for DVC rentals and see almost nothing renting from the hundreds of listings, EXCEPT the DVC exchanges from II of one and two bedrooms. This is something RW should be controlling.

My telling the renters that it's against the rules to rent these weeks and that owners cannot rent because of these unfair rentals of exchanges doesn't phase them. I gave up. I sent some messages, maybe to some TUG members who know who I am because my email address.

 

[dioxide45]

No upfront cost, get 75% immediately via regular mail, the check arrives within a few days.

I'm surprised they don't use eCheck. It emails you a link to go and print out your check. Or you can opt to direct deposit it for a small fee.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I'm surprised they don't use eCheck. It emails you a link to go and print out your check. Or you can opt to direct deposit it for a small fee.

I think they gave me a choice. I chose a paper check for each rental and that is how it continues to be. I wonder if I can change it.

 

[rickandcindy23]

The $20 per point was all I ever asked for rentals. Redweek let me down completely. $30 for my own ads, so much money down the drain, as I have cancelled those ads without renting anything. I also did full service on two, which cost me $59.

Mine were cheapest on RW, cheapest on go-koala.com and now I am renting for my price on DVC Rental Store. Go figure.

But like I said before, nothing on RW is renting DVC-wise. Yes, there are rentals of exchanges that have been grayed out (not verified), but nothing is renting, except a few choice listings. If you have to rent cheaply to use points, you might be able to get $16 PP on RW.

We need a new rental venue that works. Go-koala.com works sometimes, not always. I did rent Peacock Suites through go-koala.com recently, which was nice. I hope Wyndham lets the guest check in.

 

[dioxide45]

We need a new rental venue that works.

It seems that DVC Rental Store works. It doesn't seem that Redweek is a go to for DVC rentals. Probably not the first place people think of when they want a DVC rental. The others that specialize in DVC seem to market themselves more.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I still look at the ads for DVC rentals and see almost nothing renting from the hundreds of listings, EXCEPT the DVC exchanges from II of one and two bedrooms. This is something RW should be controlling.

At it's core it's an advertising problem. People in the "Disney" world who know enough to rent DVC points get inundated with advertisements for DVC rental store from every piece of media in the disney ecosystem. I guarantee 99 percent of that pool of likely renters have never even heard of Redweek. I'm glad to hear you're having success.

If you google any youtube videos about anything having anything to do with Disney World, every single blogger is "sponsored" by DVC rental store, shouts them out, and there are commercials for them. Ditto for every website in existence that has anything to do with Disney. That's why their model is so successful. A decent chunk of what they're collecting from you for the listing is being shelled back out in advertising.

There is of course a danger here. They're so damned successful, and they are advertising so much, that there's no way Disney hasn't taken notice. And Disney doesn't mess around when it detects a threat to it's business model (in this case their own rack rate rentals of hotel rooms).

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I think they gave me a choice. I chose a paper check for each rental and that is how it continues to be. I wonder if I can change it.

When I used David's I was paid through electronic funds transfer.

 

[dioxide45]

At it's core it's an advertising problem. People in the "Disney" world who know enough to rent DVC points get inundated with advertisements for DVC rental store from every piece of media in the disney ecosystem. I guarantee 99 percent of that pool of likely renters have never even heard of Redweek. I'm glad to hear you're having success.

If you google any youtube videos about anything having anything to do with Disney World, every single blogger is "sponsored" by DVC rental store, shouts them out, and there are commercials for them. Ditto for every website in existence that has anything to do with Disney. That's why their model is so successful. A decent chunk of what they're collecting from you for the listing is being shelled back out in advertising.

There is of course a danger here. They're so damned successful, and they are advertising so much, that there's no way Disney hasn't taken notice. And Disney doesn't mess around when it detects a threat to it's business model (in this case their own rack rate rentals of hotel rooms).

I'm surprised that the Arrivia (company that owns Redweek) hasn't tried to make a play to acquire one of the DVC rental businesses that are out there.

 

[rickandcindy23]

When I used David's I was paid through electronic funds transfer.

I think David's paid me through Paypal but no fees that I had to pay on my end. Still, that was not the best rental venue because they won't pay $20 PP.

The December dates all rented. I had six, 4 rented by DVC Rental Store, plus two for Riviera in Feb and Mar. I thought I was going to have to cancel those December studios by 9/30 to bank the points.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I'm surprised that the Arrivia (company that owns Redweek) hasn't tried to make a play to acquire one of the DVC rental businesses that are out there.

That's probably in their future. Redweek is such a disappointment over the last year.

I am hoping to get two more Westin and some Sheraton Broadway rented through RW. I may have to start using ebay. I hate to do it.

 

[jwalk03]

I'm surprised they don't use eCheck. It emails you a link to go and print out your check. Or you can opt to direct deposit it for a small fee.

eChecks are fantastic! I love when a broker wants to pay me that way for a rental. I just print the check and then deposit it with the Chase app by taking a picture of it. Never even have to get up from my desk to complete the whole process. And the funds are typically available in my account the next morning.

 

[grupp]

I think they gave me a choice. I chose a paper check for each rental and that is how it continues to be. I wonder if I can change it.

You can set it up for direct deposit to your bank account with no additional fees. I have always recieved my payments from them through ACH without any problems.

 

[frank808]

Now I have rented six on DVC Rental Store for $20 per point. I rented the first two at $18 per point.

These are spec bookings you are renting through DVC Rental Store for $20 a point? I thought DVCRS only paid $14 per point for rentals within 7 months?

 

[rickandcindy23]

These are spec bookings you are renting through DVC Rental Store for $20 a point? I thought DVCRS only paid $14 per point for rentals within 7 months?

I reserve some good dates, all studios, for Riviera, Polynesian, Copper Creek, etc., also early December at OKW and rented confirmed reservations for $20 per point net. Easy-breezy. Nothing Saratoga Springs seems to rent. I have Beach Club for spring break weeks for some parts of the country as well. I think those will rent. But I only have three consecutive nights.

My Riviera for 3/15-3/20 rented in less than 2 hours, preferred view.

My goal is to get some money coming in to pay maintenance fees for January.

 

[exyeh]

I wonder if redweek can have a count of visiting the rental ad, say 10 people viewed your ad, ... like we have it here, ten views of this thread.
It should be easy to do, even we have it here. And redweek is collecting fees.

 

[J.Ramaj]

I've noticed the rental thing too. I listed on Koala and RW and got zero bites. I acquired a lot of weeks at the same time and planned on using them all but life happened plus extra work commitments etc so I figured hey let me throw my Harborside online along with a couple of other ones. No bites. I guess I will list on AirBNB, Expedia etc as well to try and get more eyes on it. The harborside listing surprised me because I actually listed it way below MF at around $200 a night (figured something was better than nothing instead of letting it go completely to waste)

Hopefully things pick back up as I probably won't be able to use all of my weeks every year so it would be good to be able to rent them out for at least MF cost.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I am now at nine rentals with DVC Rental Store.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Still nothing is renting on Redweek. I had an inquiry for a 2 bedroom at Peacock Suites for December, sent a contract, no news on that one. I have to cancel it early October or lose the points entirely.

December is a wonderful time to be at Disneyland. Maybe we will go and use Peacock Suites ourselves.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I have someone who is interested in renting a week at Peacock Suites over Christmas via my Redweek ad. She sent me a message saying she wants to rent through RW. I said they would be renting from me, explained the fees involved in using RW verify/ protect, and I told her if she wants a verify/protect option, she can book the week on go-koala.com. I told her that's my listing. She comes back and tells me that the Koala ad is $220 more than my ad on RW. Of course. There are fees involved in using a verify/ protect option.

I then go into this explanation about RW cost to her and to me. If I didn't need to rent my Shell points so cheaply, at my cost!, I could afford to use RW with a higher price. It's very difficult to rent Peacock Suites lately.

I would have to charge $130 more on my end to use RW verify/ protect, then RW charges about 10% additional. I am giving this lady a deal. As soon as I pay the verify/ protect, and she sees the high cost of renting through RW, she will not end up renting that week, and I would have wasted a lot of money on the ad. Redweek sucks.

 

[brick2112]

We have a week at Kingsland in November on RW and haven't had any interest. We dropped the price once. It almost seems that HGV is renting some of their unused rooms because there are a lot of rooms without the seller being listed. Makes me wonder.

 

[rickandcindy23]

November is probably not the best month for most people to travel to the Big Island.

 

[Traveling Suitcase]

First, I have no sympathy for the people who are renting Disney exchanges. I can tell which ones are exchange rentals. Those summer weeks are sitting online, and I am sure people think it's a sure thing to grab and rent a 2 bedroom for $3,500. I don't like the competition with my own studio DVC rentals, but I digress.

I have weeks listed at Sheraton Broadway, Westin Ka'anapali, and a few other odd weeks, really just SDO and Westin Desert Willow, and some Bonnet Creek and Wyndham Shearwater during times of year that are not blocked for guests. Nothing is renting. This is a year similar to 2020. I can honestly say that my Sheratons are going to be deposited in large numbers for 2024 use year, and I cannot even use this many as exchange, unless I can get the kids to go on more vacations (their names are on a lot of our ownerships).

When weeks rent on Redweek, they are grayed out. Not many are grayed out. Rentals are down this year, is my conclusion. I realize inflation is playing a part. High gas prices, food prices going up, while wages remain stagnant. Vacation or food/ gas/ utilities, people choose what they can afford.

Part of the problem is the outrageous additional money Redweek makes on the back-end of the listing. RW recently put the total amount of the rental with their profit included. If I list my week for $5,000, and Redweek adds $475 that makes a total of $5,475. Redweek is not even paying taxes in Hawaii. I had no idea until recently when a TUG member pointed that out.

They also get the $59 listing fee and $99 out of the total when it rents. Let's just say that I have paid a lot of $59 listing fees lately, and as the rental date gets close, I will have to cancel to get my points or weeks back to use however I can use them. I am losing money at $59 a listing There are no guarantees by RW that your week will rent, I realize that, but what a waste, when the week doesn't rent.

I don't want to be in competition with other owners by reducing my price, and they then have to reduce their price (which you can do anytime on RW or Koala). I see one other listing that is the same as mine, same view, but it's a little lower in price.

Koala also makes money on rentals, but at least I am not out $59 for each one that doesn't rent.

I will probably stop using the RW verified/ protected service. My conclusion is that I can rent myself and save renters money (and me as well).

Too bad Koala is not working better for me. I have two rentals for fall on Koala, however, but not a single DVC rental with RW. I am sure hoping for better results as my dates get near. I can always use David's Rentals as the dates get closer. That is almost a guarantee.

It sounds like you have too many units. If you're trying to rent that many, you must have more weeks than you can use yourself? I've only listed 2 units on Red Week, not at the same time. The one I listed for July of this year rented; but it got right down to the wire of when I was going to pull the ad. The one I've listed for next January hasn't moved yet, so I'm keeping an eye on it. I don't know that inflation is the problem. When we travel we see very crowded airports and restaurants so people are definitely traveling. I think the problem is too many people are trying to make a business out of renting their timeshares, sadly that's the business model Marriott has been pushing the last couple of years. It's backfiring, owners are complaining because they can't book a resort because the available inventory is less while the inventory on Red Week grows.

 

[rickandcindy23]

It sounds like you have too many units. If you're trying to rent that many, you must have more weeks than you can use yourself? I've only listed 2 units on Red Week, not at the same time. The one I listed for July of this year rented; but it got right down to the wire of when I was going to pull the ad. The one I've listed for next January hasn't moved yet, so I'm keeping an eye on it. I don't know that inflation is the problem. When we travel we see very crowded airports and restaurants so people are definitely traveling. I think the problem is too many people are trying to make a business out of renting their timeshares, sadly that's the business model Marriott has been pushing the last couple of years. It's backfiring, owners are complaining because they can't book a resort because the available inventory is less while the inventory on Red Week grows.

Yeah, I have too many, definitely.

 

[Eric B]

Koala just came through on a listing I had for rent for Christmas week. I had forgotten I listed that one with them and figured I'd be stuck banking it this year. Listed a few more with them since that one worked....

 

[rickandcindy23]

Koala just came through on a listing I had for rent for Christmas week. I had forgotten I listed that one with them and figured I'd be stuck banking it this year. Listed a few more with them since that one worked....

I hope you listed it as no refunds because I have had two renters who backed out. I still rented the weeks, but it was an eye-opening experience, and I decided to choose no refunds for cancellation. People shouldn't have that much flexibility that they cancel outside the deadline. Both were Disney, both rented on DVC Rental Store within a few days.

I love Koala. I love that it's free to list, I have everything listed there. If only renters were more aware of another venue besides RW.

There is always My Resort Network. I don't know how that website became so obsolete. There are sitll ads on the site, but TUG members never mention it.