• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

What would you do? [Marriott] trade/rent/deposit?

jdunn1

TUG Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
1,517
Reaction score
11
Points
248
Location
NE Ohio
Hi Everyone. When have you thrown in the towel and just given your prime summer beach week to Interval?

I am new to owning my [Marriott] week but I can’t seem to find anyone to trade with or rent my 2012 week. I joined ownertrades this past weekend with the hopes of swapping my 2012 week with another owner. No luck! At first glance it looks like lots of people trying to trade for [my timeshare], but the few weeks that interest me are either not as advertised or that owner is already using their 2012 and/or 2013 week. I have one good lead for next summer, but that is it and no prospects. To make matters worse, ownertrades.com is undergoing a database change so you can view the old inventory but nothing new can be added. You have to add your new exchange request to the new database and that process is slow. Currently, there are maybe three weeks currently registered in the new database.

I’ve had my week listed on TUG for about a month and no response. I’ve even lowered my price to make it the cheapest one and no response. I would try redweek but I am afraid of more of the same and to be honest, I do not feel like paying $15 to join and another $50 or so to list my week and then not get any response. Right now, there are nearly 100 other[timeshare] listings and prices for the summer weeks are all over the place and none of them have rented recently, not even the ones price almost 1k lower than all the rest.

I can’t imagine I am the only one who hasn’t been able to move their summer beach week this year. I think the weeks that are going to rent have already rented. But, I am new to this so maybe this is all normal and those summer weeks don’t start to get rented until March or April (tax rebate time) or more likely, I have missed the prime rental listing time.

I just do not want to be stuck with my week and I want to get the best value I can for it. If depositing my week into II right now will net me a successful trade back into [my timeshare] for July of 2013, by all means, that is what I will do. If I should hang in there and try to rent it because these weeks don’t really start to rent until closer to summer, then that’s what I will do. If you think ownertrades will come through, then I will stay there. Just since I got my week signed-up last Thursday on ownertrades, no one has contacted me about an exchange; I have done all the contacting.

I’d just like to get some guidance from the more seasoned summer beach week owners. I must be telling a very familiar story and would like your opinions. Thanks.

-Jim
 
Last edited by a moderator:

m61376

Tug Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2006
Messages
7,200
Reaction score
269
Points
518
Location
NY
Resorts Owned
Marriott Aruba Surf Club 2 & 3BRs
Jim-
A few things to keep in mind- a lot of people who rent on Redweek never bother taking their ad down once rented, so you may be seeing a lot of ads that have really rented.

Another suggestion is to place a classified for a direct exchange here on Tug. The advantage is that you may get an exchange with non-Marriott owners, if something elsewhere interests you.

Good luck!
 

disneymom1

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2011
Messages
387
Reaction score
42
Points
238
Location
NJ
Resorts Owned
Marriott Grande Ocean, Marriott Surfwatch, Marriott Manor Club Sequel
[Buying/selling/renting/trading are not permitted in the discussion forums. - DeniseM]
 
Last edited by a moderator:

DeniseM

Moderator
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
57,672
Reaction score
9,091
Points
1,849
Resorts Owned
WKORV, WKV, 2-SDO, 4-Kauai Beach Villas, Island Park Village (Yellowstone), Hyatt High Sierra, Dolphin's Cove (Anaheim)
It is way too early to panic over a summer rental. The Christmas/New Years holidays are always slow for rentals, and people are just now starting to thing about summer rentals - July is still 6 mos. away!

I highly recommend Redweek - I get about half my renters there, and it will only cost you $15 + $25, not $15 + $50. If you are serious about renting - then you need to get your Ads out there where they will be seen by the most people. Assuming that your original price was competitive in the first place, you would have been better off to spend $40 on Redweek, instead of lowering the price.

Right now, a lot of people are trying to rent their timeshares, so you want to price your week competitively, market it well, and make sure you have a lot of traffic - because you have a lot of competition. I personally use these cheap or free websites to post my Ads:

TUG Timeshare Marketplace - http://tug2.com/timesharemarketplace/
1 year Membership - $15
Ads - free up to 25

www.craigslist.org (free)

www.redweek.com
Membership - $14.99 for 12 months
Timeshare Rental Ads - $24.99/ea for 6 Months
Timeshare Resale Ads - $59.99/ea for 12 Months

www.myresortnetwork.com
Membership - free
Timeshare Rental Ads - $19.95 ($24.95 - floating weeks)
Timeshare Resale Ads - $34.95

There is also a list of resale websites at the top of the Buying, Selling, Renting, board that you may want to take a look at.

Some people don't like Craigslist, because you get a lot of scammers who respond, but they are painfully obvious, and I just ignore them. Another tool I use to eliminate the scammers is that I only accept payment by Paypal which requires a verified bank account or credit card to be registered.

On Craigslist, you need to create a Craigslist Acct., create 3 different Ads with different titles and wording, and rotate them every 3 days. You don't have to rewrite the Ads - if you create an Acct. they will be saved in your Acct. and you can just use the "renew" function, to renew the oldest Ad every 3 days which will bring it to the top of the listings.
 
Last edited:

gblotter

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2008
Messages
904
Reaction score
54
Points
238
Resorts Owned
Mountainside x 2
Maui Ocean Club x 2
Ko Olina Beach Club x 1
From my experience, redweek is a great venue for finding a renter. As others have said, don't be afraid to try redweek.

You have doubtless heard this before, but it is all about price and timing. The key is to post your rental listing early and price it aggressively. Echoing DeniseM, there is still a lot of time to find a renter so don't panic (yet).

Recently I was successful in renting out my Maui Ocean Club unit. The reservation is for a desirable summer week and I priced it at the low end of all listings for 2BR units. Even though it is a 2BR Ocean View unit, I priced it lower than the asking price for most 2BR Mountain View units. With this strategy I found a renter within 24 hours after I posted the listing on redweek. Sure I probably could have held out for a higher price, but I still got $500 more than maintenance fees so why be greedy?

One thing that helped me: It seems to be common for owners to split their week and rent the 1BR unit and studio unit separately with the goal of maximizing rental income. This approach results in a lot of rental listings for 1BR units and studio units, but comparatively few rental listings for 2BR units. As it turned out, I didn't have a lot of competing listings for my 2BR unit during that particular week.
 
Last edited:

suzannesimon

TUG Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2010
Messages
1,874
Reaction score
144
Points
274
Location
Destin, FL & Bethany Beach, DE
Resorts Owned
Marriott Frenchman's Cove, Hyatt Sunset Harbor, Harborside at Atlantis, Marriott Aruba Surf Club, Marriott Grande Ocean, Westin Kierland Villas, Westin Lagunamar
I have 2 beach properties that I rent weekly every summer. I've only had 2 weeks rent so far. This is a case of the longer you wait, the more $$ you're likely to get. There isn't the same urgency if you are in a drive-to location because renters don't have to worry about airfare. I've found there are a lot of procrastinators who wait until a month or 2 before their vacation to book and they can't find anything. I had a last-minute cancellation last August and there was a bidding war to get it. Another thing I 've noticed is a snow storm really gets the inquiries rolling. People are snowed in and all they can think about is a summer vacation and they start shopping online for rentals.
 

Smooth Air

TUG Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2005
Messages
1,335
Reaction score
2
Points
36
Hi, Jim: It's only January!! Still lots of time to find a Summer renter for your week.

I have had great success renting on Redweek. Try running an ad there.

If you own a 2BR w/ a lockoff try locking off & renting both separately.

You can also run a "Last Minute rental" ad on TUG 45 days b/f the check-in date.

Good luck!

Smooth Air:cool:
 

jdunn1

TUG Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
1,517
Reaction score
11
Points
248
Location
NE Ohio
Thank you, everyone. Very encouraging. I hate not being able to use my week this year. Can't tell you how long I have wanted to stay at OceanWatch and now I finally own there and this summer, I am all booked up. Going to Ocean Pointe for 4th of July and my family is VERY excited.

All I want to do is be able to trade or make enough renting my week this year to rent a similar week for next summer. I'll post on Redweek. I can handle the $40 in upfront costs, especially since that site comes with such great endorsements.

Too bad ownertrades.com isn't more widely used. I love that concept, but they just don't have a lot of weeks.

-Jim
 

Smooth Air

TUG Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2005
Messages
1,335
Reaction score
2
Points
36
Sounds good. I think you will be happy with Redweek.

Ocean Pointe is our home resort. Lucky you going there for 4th of July!
PM me if you have any questions about Ocean Pointe.

Smooth Air :cool:
 

jont

TUG Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Messages
1,724
Reaction score
473
Points
294
Location
The Garden State
Resorts Owned
Enrolled in Marriott DC/
MOW /MGC /MCV/MGO / Trust Points
Jim
Redweek should get you results. Maybe you should contact a few other OW rentals to see if they have been rented and just not deleted.
As far as depositing into II, I would wait until the last minute that you could deposit without any restrictions. I think it might be 60 or 90 days. At that point you can make he decision whether to deposit or not. Even if you deposit in march and request a 2013 week you will still be ahead of a lot of people who will not deposit their 2103 week until the summer months. Good luck and hang in there.:cool:
 

puckmanfl

TUG Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2010
Messages
2,062
Reaction score
1
Points
0
good morning...

This is the disadvantage to owning a Plat Plus week anywhere. When you have to trade, it usually is a downtrade. Doubt you will be able to trade for a July 4th week in2013 in II, as these owners paid a hefty price and usually occupy!!!! OW is non lock off so you can't convert to 2 units!!!

Perhaps DC points can help. If eligible, you will get a boat load of points for a 2012 July4th week. You can use these for summer occupancy at OW or perhaps HHI and have some points as "change"...

This is the advantage of the DC....If you can enroll, convert your unit to DC points and get 2 weeks somewhere or a nice week and keep the change!!!!

p.s just checked the charts 7/4 week will give 800 more points than any other summer week.. Cash in, get another summer week and keep the 800 pts...
 

jont

TUG Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Messages
1,724
Reaction score
473
Points
294
Location
The Garden State
Resorts Owned
Enrolled in Marriott DC/
MOW /MGC /MCV/MGO / Trust Points
good morning...

This is the disadvantage to owning a Plat Plus week anywhere. When you have to trade, it usually is a downtrade. Doubt you will be able to trade for a July 4th week in2013 in II, as these owners paid a hefty price and usually occupy!!!! OW is non lock off so you can't convert to 2 units!!!

Perhaps DC points can help. If eligible, you will get a boat load of points for a 2012 July4th week. You can use these for summer occupancy at OW or perhaps HHI and have some points as "change"...

This is the advantage of the DC....If you can enroll, convert your unit to DC points and get 2 weeks somewhere or a nice week and keep the change!!!!

p.s just checked the charts 7/4 week will give 800 more points than any other summer week.. Cash in, get another summer week and keep the 800 pts...

Puck
Sounds like good advice but I think the OP already has a res and would not be able to convert to points even if he was eligible. It sounds like a good strategy in years to come tho.

I just remembered that the OP bought the week after the DC rollout and it is therefor not elegible to be enrolled in the DC at this time. Maybe sometime in the future?
 
Last edited:

Twinkstarr

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2007
Messages
7,269
Reaction score
0
Points
36
Location
Ohio
jdunn1, :wave: from your fellow Buckeye!

It's way too early to throw in the towel yet. You forget that the "non-TS" types do not plan vacations that far out. I know people who are just now thinking about spring break which is for our district, 1st week of April.

For summer, most people with kids need to see when the summer sports schedule for leagues/camps. I usually see those starting to show up around spring break time(end of March-mid April).

We have a weekly local newspaper for our suburb, give it about a month I'll start seeing vacation rental ads for the Marriott's in HHI for our spring break.
 

elaine

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
5,175
Reaction score
2,093
Points
648
Location
DC
Resorts Owned
HGVC Eagles Nest, DVC-AKV, HHI
If you have a Plat+ week at MOW, you should list on redweek and it should definitely rent. I really think redweek is where most non-TS owners looking to rent. 2 different sets of friends rent Marriotts every year from redweek (Surf Club and MOW). Most do not even start looking until Feb/march. good luck--you should be fine. Elaine
 

puckmanfl

TUG Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2010
Messages
2,062
Reaction score
1
Points
0
good afternoon...

The post 6/20/10 puts the kibosh on DC club, but the fact that the OP has a ressie at his/her home resort does not. You can make a ressie at your home resort, then convert to points later if you choose.. I know it doesn't help the OP but could help someone else...

I only bring this up because the DC gets mostly neg press here, there are some real advantages, especially for high end week legacy owners!!!

Just this week, due to illness I had to skip the ski trip..The cash drains and all others went. Dropped 1 of my 3 units on 1 day notice. Points went in penalty box but who cares!!!! With II or direct MVCD reservation I would have been left holding bag with nada/zilch. Have already made new ski ressie in March with Penalty box points...

Might even due the puck power play again within 14 days!!!!

p.s to get back on point...the 7/4/2012 week at OW is a stunner...try to trade for another summer week at OW or HHI... ownerstrade/redweek good place to start...
You can also do a REQUEST first with II...You can leave the week in request first with II while you are trying to privately rent/trade..if you get something good..pull the week back from II...I believe there are some date restrictions with request first however... Other Tuggers can chime in...
 

jont

TUG Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Messages
1,724
Reaction score
473
Points
294
Location
The Garden State
Resorts Owned
Enrolled in Marriott DC/
MOW /MGC /MCV/MGO / Trust Points
good afternoon...

The post 6/20/10 puts the kibosh on DC club, but the fact that the OP has a ressie at his/her home resort does not. You can make a ressie at your home resort, then convert to points later if you choose.. I know it doesn't help the OP but could help someone else...

Good to know, I didn't know that. Learn something new here everyday. Thanks Puck:eek:
 

puckmanfl

TUG Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2010
Messages
2,062
Reaction score
1
Points
0
good afternoon...

Jont..it is even better than that.... Make a high quality ressie at your home joint... Call your VOA and see if your points ressie is open. Idf so, they will convert your unit to points on the spot and make a points ressie...

However, you cannot WAIT LIST until you convert to points... IOW, you can't do a "request first" for a DC points ressie with your reserved legacy week...

Lots of good sneaky info here..

GregT has it down to a science,I am merely a young jedi padoin trying not to become a "sith"...GregT is my "yoda" although I doubt he can use the light sabre and is probably not 900 years old!!!
 
Top