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Redweek Rentals - Full Service vs Verified vs On Your Own

PamMo

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Just curious about all the changes in Redweek this last year, and would appreciate hearing about other owner's opinions and experiences. I own a few oceanfront weeks at the Westin Ka'anapali, and we rent them when we decide we want to travel elsewhere. This year we're spending a lot of time in the mountains out west, so I'm trying all the different Redweek options as an experiment to see how they work.

I have a Full Service rental, a Verified rental, and a rental that is totally on my own (as I've always done in the past). My Verified rental was booked immediately, the Redweek Full Service rental hasn't had any action, and the on my own listing has had several inquiries.

I was surprised that my Verified listing elicited an email from Redweek that they had someone ready to book, and I just need to sign the contract. Does that sound right? I have not agreed to have them broker the rental and thought this was odd. Is Redweek now surfing through the listings and acting as a broker? Why would you sign a contract to pay them more money to do a Full Service rental if they do this anyway?
 
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PamMo

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Score so far after 10 days listed on Redweek is:

Total self service listings: Rented 1 (out of 2)
Verified listing: Rented 1 (out of 1)
Full Service listing: Rented 0 (out of 1)
 

pchung6

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Thank you for sharing your experience. I have too many weeks to use before 2022. So I'm about to list my 2022 OF WKORVN and OV Ko Olina, and was debating Full Service or not. Glad I see your post. I will list as Verified listing.
 

pacman777

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Score so far after 10 days listed on Redweek is:

Total self service listings: Rented 1 (out of 2)
Verified listing: Rented 1 (out of 1)
Full Service listing: Rented 0 (out of 1)

I wouldn’t leave anything up to RedWeek agents to handle full service listing. Doing it yourself you can respond quicker and be more effective if a potential renter inquires. Why pay a premium for something of minimal or no value (and possibly incompetence). Also they hold your payment until renter checks in. I got screwed out of $3k when the renter cancelled “due to Covid” even though the resort was fully open and accepting guests. And RedWeek didn’t even notify me until a day after the check in date so I could even cancel my reservation to bank or book a different week.
 

PamMo

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Pacman777, I appreciate you sharing your experience. I did this more as an experiment than anything else. I listed four rentals over a two week period. The same type unit for each week, all at the same resort, all oceanfront units, and prices the same for each type unit. I net less with the Verified, and even less with the Full Service listing, but I wanted the test to be fair. I was curious if the Verified label made any difference, and would a Full Service listing be more desirable for renters than dealing with the owner? So far, the Full Service listing is losing. We'll see how it goes in the coming weeks, after the July 4th holiday.

I've been doing this for awhile, so I agree with you that having control of the transaction is a good thing. I don't particularly like that I won't get paid until after the renter checks in with the Full Service Listing, but I'm OK testing it out.
 

grupp

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PamMo
I did a similar test on Redweek with verified and none verified weeks. I actually price the verified weeks at $2,650 vs $2,450 for non verified weeks. I charge more if I am not going to get paid until after check-in. The verified weeks rented first and the non-verified weeks were rented by people I had rented too before, so guess they already trusted me.
 
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simon63

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I rented a week at GM RM, it supose to was verified but it wasn’t, the renter already bought with somebody an Interval exchange and tried to sold it, but could’t change the guest certificate, so Redweek refunded me the money a few days before the check in
 

tborr123

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I am guessing full service gives renters some piece of mind and now that RW makes clear to renters that Covid in no longer an unforeseen circumstance hopefully stiffing owners at the last minute won’t happen.
 

PamMo

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PamMo
I did a similar test on Redweek with verified and none verified weeks. I actually price the verified weeks at $2,650 vs $2,450 for non verified weeks. If charge more if I am not going to get paid until after check-in. The verified weeks rented first and the non-verified weeks were rented by people I had rented too before, so guess they already trusted me.


Thanks for sharing your experience, @grupp. It's interesting that your Verified weeks rented first, too. Maybe Verified gives newbies on Redweek a little added confidence that the rental is legit? :unsure: I don't usually have that problem with renters, but I'm always willing to learn something new.

It's not very good to hear that @simon63 had a rental that was supposedly verified, but was not! What are you supposed to do when your rental is cancelled a few days before checkin???? What a nightmare!
 

sng85

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Thanks for sharing your experience, @grupp. It's interesting that your Verified weeks rented first, too. Maybe Verified gives newbies on Redweek a little added confidence that the rental is legit? :unsure: I don't usually have that problem with renters, but I'm always willing to learn something new.

It's not very good to hear that @simon63 had a rental that was supposedly verified, but was not! What are you supposed to do when your rental is cancelled a few days before checkin???? What a nightmare!

I believe a full service also costs more to the renter since there’s a 5% service fee (see below). So the peace of mind comes at a cost that few might be willing to pay, based on your experiment.

3948952B-DD70-47BA-9C95-EC4447ECF3B0.jpeg
 

PamMo

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I believe a full service also costs more to the renter since there’s a 5% service fee (see below). So the peace of mind comes at a cost that few might be willing to pay, based on your experiment.

View attachment 37248

Yup! You got that right, @sng85. Redweek is taking a bite of that rental pie from the owner and the renter!
 

grupp

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One of the things I like about Redweek is that you have different options on how to list your week. If you use the do it yourself option you can also customize your cancellation policy.
 

northwoodsgal

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It hadn't occurred to me that Redweek would be tacking a service fee on to the rental price. Good to know! Do they do this on verified rentals, also?
 

rickandcindy23

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Of course Redweek gets money on both side of the transaction. They are taking a credit card and they have to pay employees who verify these rentals. I totally get it, and Redweek is out to make a profit.

Thinking of using Verified the next time I rent and see if it makes a difference.

I don't rent fancy places, and that could be the difference. I don't own Westin/ Marriott resorts that are oceanfront. You can see the trends of what has rented via Redweek by looking because you can still see the verified next to listings that are rented (now they are shaded).

Using Koala, renters automatically know the rental is verified and protected, and there is a fee on both ends as well. And Koala offers protection for the timeshare owner, too.
 

grupp

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I have another example from yesterday on a Redweek rental for next February. It was at a resort where Redweek offered free verified listings, so it was verified but I was not using Redweek payments. I noticed that there were several units rented for my check-in date as well as the day before and day after that were listed at higher price than mine. So, about 5 days ago I increased the price by $500 and added the Redweek payment option and yesterday it rented.

I still prefer to get paid by check up front even though some of you think that is so 1990’s. That is getting tougher to do especially after Covid-19. In my option the biggest issue for renters is who is holding the money, not if is is verified or not. But I guess everyone can draw their own conclusions.

As for the Redweek full service rental, I tried to do one with a week for next summer just to see how it would work. It was such a mess that I had them cancel listing and give me a refund, so I would not recommend the full service.

I also had it listed on Koala at a higher price that would have paid me less, but as usually no activity from them. Over the last two months of the weeks I listed on both sites it Redweek 5 and Koala 0.
 
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sng85

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It hadn't occurred to me that Redweek would be tacking a service fee on to the rental price. Good to know! Do they do this on verified rentals, also?
There is no extra service fee to the renter on verified listings (without redweek full service)
 

Marathoner

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I also had it listed on Koala at a higher price that would have paid me less, but as usually no activity from them. Over the last two months of the weeks I listed on both sites it Redweek 5 and Koala 0.

We each have a small sample size and I'm sure the resorts that we specifically list influences the outcome.

For me, over the last 3 months:
Koala 1; Redweek 0; VacationCandy 3; a repeat renter: 1
 

rickandcindy23

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Koala is very new. I expect it to grow.

I added verify to my listing for an upcoming rental in a very popular spot this summer. I may not cancel it within the 30 days I am allowed and just let it sit there until it expires. I don't want to cancel more summer weeks.
 

PamMo

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After two weeks, I'm very happy with RedWeek. Post pandemic travel is definitely up! The Full Service listing probably wasn't needed, but it was super easy.

The final score is:

RedWeek Verified: 1 of 1 RENTED
RedWeek general listing: 2 of 2 RENTED
Redweek Full Service: 1 of 1 RENTED
 

dsmrp

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For those who use Redweek general or verified, how do you have the renter pay you? Do you have a PayPal business account? I only have 1 unit week to rent, most likely every other year. I used Full service early last year, and fortunately didn't have problems.
 

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Just rented a week out last minute on my full service ad(I think. It cost $45. Is that full service?) 12 days before the start date and come to find out Redweek doesn't do full service less than 2 weeks out so we had to resort to Venmo.
 

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I had a couple of WKOVRN listings on Redweek at below market rental prices. They were listed for a few months and I was doubting whether Redweek works. Then all of a sudden I got serious renters who paid upfront in cash via Venmo for the rentals. I had to turn away one serious renter from out of the country because Venmo did not work there but he was sincere and really wanted to rent it. Then the next day another serious renter came along and rented it. These listings were rented in June and were for mid-December so my suspicion is that people are ready to book about 6 months before travel. I used the DIY Redweek and it worked out just fine. This is my first time ever renting any listings.
 

TravelTime

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Pacman777, I appreciate you sharing your experience. I did this more as an experiment than anything else. I listed four rentals over a two week period. The same type unit for each week, all at the same resort, all oceanfront units, and prices the same for each type unit. I net less with the Verified, and even less with the Full Service listing, but I wanted the test to be fair. I was curious if the Verified label made any difference, and would a Full Service listing be more desirable for renters than dealing with the owner? So far, the Full Service listing is losing. We'll see how it goes in the coming weeks, after the July 4th holiday.

I've been doing this for awhile, so I agree with you that having control of the transaction is a good thing. I don't particularly like that I won't get paid until after the renter checks in with the Full Service Listing, but I'm OK testing it out.

Were they all for the same date?
 
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rickandcindy23

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I am going to have to try Craig's List I guess. Verify didn't help my listing. Koala has not rented it, either. I am coming up to the last possible day to rent before cancelling. I don't want to cancel this one. It's been too many this year.
 

PamMo

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Were they all for the same date?

I put them on Redweek just over two weeks ago. Two for the first week of November, two for the second week of November.

@dsrmp - I'm not a big time renter, so payment by check keeps things simple and easy. So far, I've never had a problem, but I've always had plenty of time to make sure the check clears. I've taken PayPal payments twice. I just prefer to save all parties the extra costs/fees.
 
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