Renting weeks in Spain.

[MALC9990]

Owners of Weeks in Europe have today received this email from Owner Services.

Dear XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

There has been significant commentary in the press regarding restrictions on tourist rentals in Spain (especially in the Balearic Islands and Catalonia) in 2017. We would like to advise you that MVCI Management, S.L. is the licensed and only entity permitted to rent property at Marriott Vacation Club® resorts in Spain on behalf of itself or Owners. Owners who list their week for rent on their own, or through third parties, are at risk of incurring fines up to the value of EUR 400,000. Due to the complex nature of the relevant legislation in Spain, we encourage you to obtain legal advice regarding your individual circumstances prior to renting your weeks outside of the MVCI Rental Programme.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by phone or you may email us at Europe.services@vacationclub.com.

Warmest regards,

Marriott Vacation Club

Since the MVC rental programme is rubbish and not worth using, this has significant impact on any owner looking to rent their weeks either through a third party agent or privately via any other route.

 

[bazzap]

Yes indeed and as we know the MVC rental programme is not financially appealing anyway, but here in Europe it barely exists at all.
Unlike for US and Caribbean resorts (as below), MVC will not decide whether they want it or not and pay if they do.
Here, if you offer your week(s) to them, they will “try” to rent it out, but they may or may not actually rent out all, some or none of your days.
So potentially you could give up your week and get nothing at all for it.

Make Your Villa Available for Rent
The Marriott Vacation Club rental program may offer a convenient option for Owners of U.S. and Caribbean resorts who can’t use their vacation weeks and don’t want to rent their weeks themselves.

https://owners.marriottvacationclub...tions/enrolled-makeYourVillaAvailableForRent/

Marriott Vacation Club Rental Program
The Marriott Rental Vacation Club Rental Program is currently available only U.S or Caribbean resorts. If you own outside of the U.S and caribbean, Contact Usfor rental options for your international properties.

 

[MALC9990]

As you say Barry, the rental options in Europe from MVC are about as useful as a chocolate teapot. They have the arrogance to state that only they can rent your week but actually do not offer a viable rental option. With the current climate of litigation going against timeshare operators in Europe and especially in Spain and the Spanish Islands, you would think that MVC would want to stay on good terms with owners. With ANFI losing time and time again when challenged in the Spanish Courts and having to pay back all the original price to owners, it takes only one MVC owner using a “No Win No Fee” lawyer to make a claim and win and the whole edifice could tumbling down in Europe. When you read the legislation, floating weeks would seem to be considered illegal in Spain.

 

[dima]

And I just rented my summer week in Marbella...
So, our option is to elect DC points and rent them out or just to book other property with elected points for rental purposes?

 

[PamMo]

I've traded my Marbella week with another Tugger in the past, and assume that would still be OK?

 

[MALC9990]

General consensus seems to be that this email from owner services is just a try on. basically the HOPA we all have allows us to rent our weeks if we decide to do so. The recent laws passed in Mallorca and Catalonia by their regional governments do not impact timeshare resorts and so this would seem to be MVC attempting to spread Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) amongst the owner community. Shame on you MVC.

 

[tk666]

As you say Barry, the rental options in Europe from MVC are about as useful as a chocolate teapot. They have the arrogance to state that only they can rent your week but actually do not offer a viable rental option. With the current climate of litigation going against timeshare operators in Europe and especially in Spain and the Spanish Islands, you would think that MVC would want to stay on good terms with owners. With ANFI losing time and time again when challenged in the Spanish Courts and having to pay back all the original price to owners, it takes only one MVC owner using a “No Win No Fee” lawyer to make a claim and win and the whole edifice could tumbling down in Europe. When you read the legislation, floating weeks would seem to be considered illegal in Spain.

I fully agree with your comments.
Do you have any Lawyer for that subject and spanish law?
I would like, ti go that way to claim, but whom do I have to sue?
Is it only the spanish Holding with the contract partner from MVCI?
May it be a claim in the US against MVW?
Could it be a claim against the Cork organization?

I would appreciate, to handle that issue bilateral with you.

 

[ACP]

This was posted on Facebook, where the story is also running:

There have been some press about the changes in regulations with regards to renting of privately owned properties in Spain, and as stated in the email from MVCI specifically the Balearic Islands (where Marriott’s Cub Son Antem is located) and Catalonia.

The main concerns have been the compliance with health and safety regulations in privately owned properties, and transparency of the guest renting (registration of ID with the local authorities), clearly these do not apply to the Marriott Vacation Club resorts, as all of this is fully compliant and check in and registration handled by the hotel management company.

It is our understanding that the regulations do not apply to Tourist Apartments ‘blocks of properties situated on Tourism land, under one sole management company’.

In order to offer all of our clients a safe and secure service we are at this time consulting with our legal advisors to ensure we are fully compliant with any new regulations.

At this stage we do not believe that there is any issue with our current practices, and will continue to offer our rental services, and we believe that the email sent from MVCI is somewhat alarmist.