Renting an RCI Exchanged Week

[tlthies]

Hi - I'm a newby but can't understand why I can't rent an exchanged RCI week. If I purchase the "gift certificate" what is the difference if I gift or rent it? Seems a little strange. I have a number of weeks coming due and I would like to rent some if I could. Suggestions? Thanks! -Terry

 

[DeniseM]

Hi Terry - RCI forbids members to rent exchanges in their terms of use. If you get caught, you can lose your RCI Acct., deposits, exchanges, and any fees paid.

The Guest Certificates are intended for gifting weeks to people - not renting. Some people try to make a cottage industry out of renting exchanges - thus the rule.

 

[Talent312]

You would not be the first person to break the rules by renting an exchange, and you might even get away with it, as long as your tenant doesn't tell someone at the front desk, "I paid ... a lot of money for this..."

But how is risking of your RCI membership a better deal than renting what you already own? It seems to me that renting what you own would be a better practice.

 

[ronparise]

I for one agree that it dosent seem fair that I can rent the week I own, but I cant rent a week I exchange for. It probably has to do with the fact RCI wants to make some money on rentals themselves.

My understanding is that you cant rent for commercial purposes, but you can give it away. You just cant make money on it. So I think you could rent it at your cost, but Im not sure how that might be calculated..just your maintenance fee, or your maintenance fee and your purchase price amortized over 5 years?10 years? 20 years?

Bottom line, you can probably get away with renting the week, but if RCI catches it, your tenant might be turned away, and you might lose other reservations you have made as well as your RCI membership

Is there an RCI rental "police"? I doubt it. I suspect the issue might be raised however, if your tenant causes problems for other guests or damages the place

Ive read about owners that reserve the unit for themselves, but add the "guests" name on the reservation and alert the resort that the guest will arrive first and check in. This to avoid the expense of a guest certificate. But Ive thought of doing the same thing for rentals

Im sure that there are other things you could do to try and beat the system, but I think the real answer is to buy weeks at resorts that are good rental weeks, and rent what you own...leave rci out of it

Thats why I just contracted to purchase weeks 17 and 18 at a New Orleans resort. French Quarter for both weeks of the Jazz Festival, ought to be a good renter. Now if I could just find a Mardi Gras week

 

[DeniseM]

Ron - People who advertise exchanges for rent often get turned into the "rental police" by other owners.

Here is RCI's policy -

You may give a vacation to a friend or family member via the RCI Guest Certificate; however, you may not receive any compensation beyond the price of the exchange and Guest Certificate fees. Compensation includes anything of value, even another exchange vacation.

More info. from and RCI Rep. - http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15626

 

[timeos2]

Im sure that there are other things you could do to try and beat the system, but I think the real answer is to buy weeks at resorts that are good rental weeks, and rent what you own...leave rci out of it

Especially when you consider the rather depressed market values for rentals AND the horrendous RCI exchange fees you'd need to recover. As you say, buy a great resort/location/time and use what you own to rightfully trade or rent. No possible repercussions from RCI then.

 

[jlwquilter]

The bottom line is that we don't have to understand it or agree with it. It's RCI's sandbox and if we want to play in it, we have to follow the rules they set out, not matter if they are fair, unfair, or whatever rules, as long as they are not illegal rules.

From a different perspective, it's hard enough to get the best weeks in the best locations as it is. Imagine if lots more people were trying to grab them for rental use on top of 'regular people' wanting to use it themselves. OMG!

 

[ambrosij]

So Dont Rent It....Gift with the purchase of something else

Too easy, want to sell it on ebay...exchanged for a resort in Hawaii? Sell a houla skirt on ebay, and as a free gift include the certificate for the week. Make it very clear that they are bidding on the houla skirt and not the certificate, the certificate is simply a gift from you to them...people know the deal and you have stepped through the legal loop hole.

 

[sfwilshire]

Too easy, want to sell it on ebay...exchanged for a resort in Hawaii? Sell a houla skirt on ebay, and as a free gift include the certificate for the week. Make it very clear that they are bidding on the houla skirt and not the certificate, the certificate is simply a gift from you to them...people know the deal and you have stepped through the legal loop hole.

But RCI probably has much better lawyers than you do if they decide to take action against you. I'm sure they could find something in their terms and conditions to keep this from happening.

Sheila

 

[DeniseM]

Too easy, want to sell it on ebay...exchanged for a resort in Hawaii? Sell a houla skirt on ebay, and as a free gift include the certificate for the week. Make it very clear that they are bidding on the houla skirt and not the certificate, the certificate is simply a gift from you to them...people know the deal and you have stepped through the legal loop hole.

This would be a good way to get reported to RCI - other owners will spot the Ad and turn you in - not a good idea.

Plus - how are you going to advertise a Hula skirt in the vacation rental section?

 

[e.bram]

ambrosij:
Under what heading in Ebay would you advertise? Hula hoops? How would a customer know to look there?

 

[sjuhawk_jd]

Too easy, want to sell it on ebay...exchanged for a resort in Hawaii? Sell a houla skirt on ebay, and as a free gift include the certificate for the week. Make it very clear that they are bidding on the houla skirt and not the certificate, the certificate is simply a gift from you to them...people know the deal and you have stepped through the legal loop hole.

This type of nonsense used to be there on ebay for selling prohibited airline vouchers and upgrade certificates etc.

ambrosij, Ebay put an end to this long time ago.

 

[Mel]

Beyond the fact that it is against RCI's membership terms, there are other reasons RCI, II and the other exchange companies don't allow rental of exchanges. You don't own the property, and you don't have the permission of the owner of the property to rent it out.

This would be no different than leasing a summer home, and then subleasing it to someone else. When I deposit my weeks to RCI, I give them permission to use those weeks in any way they choose, but I do not give them permission to give you permission to sublet.

If you exchange into my property and damage it, you have signed a contract with RCI, and by extension with Me, to cover the cost of any repairs. If you rent that exchange out, your renter only has a contract with you (and perhaps with the resort when he places a security deposit on file when he checks in), not with RCI or with me. If something hapens to my property, are you prepared to face the liability? At least if RCI's renter causes problems, RCI has deep pockets.

 

[ambrosij]

But....

Yeah but you can give it away, you just cant sell it...so Im not sure that analogy makes much sense. The ebay comment was more meant to spur discussion than anything else.

Beyond the fact that it is against RCI's membership terms, there are other reasons RCI, II and the other exchange companies don't allow rental of exchanges. You don't own the property, and you don't have the permission of the owner of the property to rent it out.

This would be no different than leasing a summer home, and then subleasing it to someone else. When I deposit my weeks to RCI, I give them permission to use those weeks in any way they choose, but I do not give them permission to give you permission to sublet.

If you exchange into my property and damage it, you have signed a contract with RCI, and by extension with Me, to cover the cost of any repairs. If you rent that exchange out, your renter only has a contract with you (and perhaps with the resort when he places a security deposit on file when he checks in), not with RCI or with me. If something hapens to my property, are you prepared to face the liability? At least if RCI's renter causes problems, RCI has deep pockets.

 

[wof45]

Thats why I just contracted to purchase weeks 17 and 18 at a New Orleans resort. French Quarter for both weeks of the Jazz Festival, ought to be a good renter. Now if I could just find a Mardi Gras week

I'm sure you know that Mardi Gras is a floating time, so there is no week that contains it. It is even worse than 4th of July or Labor Day where you get a east a 50% chance of it falling in a fixed week.

 

[wof45]

Yeah but you can give it away, you just cant sell it...so Im not sure that analogy makes much sense. The ebay comment was more meant to spur discussion than anything else.

Mel's comment is still true.
If you exchanged for the week or bought the getaway, you are responsible for any damages done by the people who use it.

It is also against the rules, as I found out years ago when I first started renting TS. RCI was nice about it -- they just canceled the reservations, gave back my exchange fees and referred me to the documents. I'm sure they wouldn't have been so nice if I did it again.

 

[ETHall]

Reply to Rental question

Hi - I'm a newby but can't understand why I can't rent an exchanged RCI week. If I purchase the "gift certificate" what is the difference if I gift or rent it? Seems a little strange. I have a number of weeks coming due and I would like to rent some if I could. Suggestions? Thanks! -Terry

To me, this concept is easily explained Timeshare owners deposit their weeks so they can trade into other resorts through RCI. By exchanging a week and then advertising the exchanged week for rent for money to non-owners, you are reducing the inventory of resort trades that can be used by other owners. You are also financially benefitting from someone else's asset. It defeats the whole purpose of timeshare owners depositing their week.

 

[tlthies]

Thanks All!

Boy, I didn't know I was opening such a can of worms. Thanks to all of you for valuable input. I'll do what I can to get these banked units used up quickly. I guess there is always the extension route now also. I really haven't noticed a big change in availability of units with implementation of RCI's new policy??? Are we really getting first crack at banked units? Thanks again. -Terry

 

[Mel]

I think we're seing inventory move a bit more quicly through RCI. Those who don't have enough TPU to get the better trades are no longer holding out for that better trade they won't get, and are making more moderate exchanges. Also, for those with "better" week who have change left over after their exchanges, they are probably taking some of the lower value leftovers, using their excess TPU, rather than spending more money on an extra vacation.

Much of the change is similar to the changes we saw in availability when RCI introduced online exchanging. It opens up possibilities for each of us - but also opens those same possibilities to everyone else. I would expect somewhat better availability for some of the larger units, as people are less likely to take a larger unit they don't need if it costs more. But when that happens, it also means less availability in the smaller/cheaper units.

 

[PortableTech]

To me, this concept is easily explained Timeshare owners deposit their weeks so they can trade into other resorts through RCI. By exchanging a week and then advertising the exchanged week for rent for money to non-owners, you are reducing the inventory of resort trades that can be used by other owners. You are also financially benefitting from someone else's asset. It defeats the whole purpose of timeshare owners depositing their week.

Isn't that the whole concept behind RCI's rental program. To reduce the inventory of resort trades that can be used by other owners, and to benifit from someone else's asset? Kinda defeats the whole point of depositing doesn't it.