Your Success Rate at Renting Your Timeshare

[NWL]

Hello all! As you can see, I'm new to TUG. I found this site while searching for ways to rent my timeshare week. I'm curious about members' success rates at renting their weeks. Is it a pain, or do you have reasonable success? I have [a popular week reserved], thinking that it would be easier to rent than a week with nothing going on. Do you find this to be true? I've sent information to people that I know who may be interested or know someone who is. I figured this would be better than renting to a complete stranger. I'm also considering placing an ad in the LA Times since it is close to Palm Desert and someone may want to go to the Golf tournament. I'm offering it at a lower price than the resort is charging. I have read the various threads concerning renting your unit, but would like feedback on peoples' success rates and what works for them.

Any advice you folks have would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to help a newbie!

[Welcome to TUG Even though your intention is not to post an Ad, you are not allowed to post rental Info. in the forums. - General questions are fine.-DeniseM Moderator]

 

[sernow]

Hello all! As you can see, I'm new to TUG. I found this site while searching for ways to rent my timeshare week. I'm curious about members' success rates at renting their weeks. Is it a pain, or do you have reasonable success? I have [a popular week reserved], thinking that it would be easier to rent than a week with nothing going on. Do you find this to be true? I've sent information to people that I know who may be interested or know someone who is. I figured this would be better than renting to a complete stranger. I'm also considering placing an ad in the LA Times since it is close to Palm Desert and someone may want to go to the Golf tournament. I'm offering it at a lower price than the resort is charging. I have read the various threads concerning renting your unit, but would like feedback on peoples' success rates and what works for them.


Any advice you folks have would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to help a newbie!

You should advertise the week in the TUG classified section, it's free. I've had good success renting out weeks using myresortnetwork.com, but the cost for the listing is $19.99

 

[Denise L]

You could also place a free craigslist ad in that area. Craigslist works great!

 

[DeniseM]

The economy is in bad shape, some owners can't afford to use their week, and the market has really been flooded with vacation rentals. Many people can't afford to travel right now, so it's a tough time to rent. To have the best chance of renting, check out the competition on the main rental sites, and then price yours lower. You should also have a back-up plan, in case it doesn't rent.

 

[Sandy VDH]

If it is a high demand week, in a high demand location, at a high demand resort you may have luck.

E.g. March Break at the Beach, Daytona 500 week, New Years Vegas, East Coast beaches any time during the summer, it will rent. Other places might not be as easy to rent.

I rent higher demand Hawaii time where the price different between Hotel and TS make it so much more appealing to rent a TS then book a hotel.

I use Redweek, Craig's List and TUG Marketplace. I have the most success with Redweek, Medium success with Craig's list, and have a lower success with TUG Marketplace.

 

[vacationtime1]

I just rented a week using MyResortNetwork.com. I have done this in the past and renting this year did not go too differently than renting in prior years. I listed it two months ago and completed the transaction ten weeks in advance of the use week.

I would not use the L.A.Times -- too expensive and not your target audience. Craigslist in Palm Springs would be a better bet.

I agree with the above posts that pricing is key. Anyone looking to rent who is searching a website for a rental will gravitate to the least expensive listing for what they want. You want that to be your listing.

 

[NWL]

Thanks for your ideas! I do have a back-up plan: we have 3 weeks in a row, but only want to use 2 of the weeks (kennel fees for 3 dogs and a cat can be expensive )

Any tips on depositing weeks? I get a little peeved at all of the fees involved (yearly membership, deposit fee, etc.) and would like to avoid incurring any more, but if is a better way to use the week, then so be it.

Would trading in for Marriott points (yet another fee ) be better?

We bought 2 weeks in a 2 bedroom with the idea of splitting them up, using the full 1 bedroom 2 weeks back-to-back, then renting the deluxe lock-out during 2 popular weeks (have secured them) to help offset our MF. Good idea or bad?

To DeniseM: Sorry for the faux pas in my orignial post.

 

[NWL]

I just rented a week using MyResortNetwork.com. I have done this in the past and renting this year did not go too differently than renting in prior years. I listed it two months ago and completed the transaction ten weeks in advance of the use week.

I would not use the L.A.Times -- too expensive and not your target audience. Craigslist in Palm Springs would be a better bet.

I agree with the above posts that pricing is key. Anyone looking to rent who is searching a website for a rental will gravitate to the least expensive listing for what they want. You want that to be your listing.

Thanks for the thought on the LA Times. I just finished my listing on Cragslist. Looking into Myresortnetwork.

 

[Jennie]

I've had great results from ads placed at www.redweek.com

If you set up an ad there, and for some reason it does not rent, if you can cancel your reservation and reserve other weeks at a later date, you can easily go back into your redweek ad and edit it to reflect the new dates, wihout incurring any additional expenses.

Also when I place a redweek ad, in the "additional info" section I start out by saying that we have reserved this desirable week but may be able to reserve a different week, based upon availability. I encourage the reader to feel free to send an Email specifying alternate dates desired, and I will be glad to check with the resort to see if it's available. I'd estimate that about 25% of my rentals were to people who wanted alternate dates.

Timesharing Today magazine sells a Rental Document Kit which contains a Fill-in-the-blanks timeshare Lease form, with Worksheet, detailed Instructions, and model Letters. You can order it to be sent by regular mail for $10. or for $7.95 you can download it instantly from the website. https://tstoday.com/shop/dockitsonline.aspx

Since you are new to the process, it will probably be very helpful to you to start out this way.

It's true that rentals have slowed down because of the economic problems but still, if you advertise prime weeks, you may still have good results.

Good luck!

 

[Egret1986]

I have had good success with timeshare rentals

Craigslist in the area where the rental is located has had great success for me. Also www.vacationtimesharerentals.com has also produced renters and the first 5 ads are free. You've got nothing to lose with free ads. I have found that in the last year that I get more interest at 90 days or less before the rental dates. Welcome to TUG!!!!

 

[radmoo]

We, too, purchased 2BR lock-off w/intent of using 1BR and renting studio portion to cover MF.
I listed our unit (Canyon Villa In AZ) on all the previous mentioned sites and I ended up renting through TUG classifieds. We ALMOST covered MF which I guess is ok.
I agree that it's best to see what others are renting for and price accordingly. A veteran tugger suggested I find out directly via Marriott website what the unit would rent for and then divide by 3 which turned out to be a good formula.

Good Luck!!!

 

[NWL]

Thanks again to all who responded Since I do have the option of using the week I want to rent, and because this is my first attempt at renting, I've decided to place ads on sites that are free (Craiglist, Vacationtimesharerental.com & TUG). I'm willing to see what happens, plus I'm painfully aware of the fact that folks won't be spending money to travel anytime in the near future.

It's currently 17 degrees outside - making that 3 weeks in Plam Desert look very good right now :whoopie:

Nancy

 

[Egret1986]

I loved Montana when we visited in 2006 for a couple of weeks

My family anticipates our next visit. It was truly an incredible experience to the point we were thinking wouldn't it be a wonderful place to live. However, we all knew that we couldn't handle the cold weather. May your thoughts and anticipation of your Palm Desert vacation keep you warm on the inside. Burrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

[NWL]

My family anticipates our next visit. It was truly an incredible experience to the point we were thinking wouldn't it be a wonderful place to live. However, we all knew that we couldn't handle the cold weather. May your thoughts and anticipation of your Palm Desert vacation keep you warm on the inside. Burrrrrrrrrrrrr!

You know the weird part Egret1986? I grew up in Virginia. My family still lives there, but my husband and I could not take the traffic and people anymore in northern VA. This will be our 14th winter in MT and it's not too bad. So far we've had no snow and this is the first day it's been that cold. The Palm Desert TS came about when we got tired of being socked in all the time in winter (can't see our beautiful view!). A couple of weeks in the desert helps adjust our attitudes :whoopie:

Thanks for your help and advice!
Nancy

 

[Egret1986]

That's the first thing that struck me when we were driving home from the airport

You know the weird part Egret1986? I grew up in Virginia. My family still lives there, but my husband and I could not take the traffic and people anymore in northern VA. This will be our 14th winter in MT and it's not too bad. So far we've had no snow and this is the first day it's been that cold. The Palm Desert TS came about when we got tired of being socked in all the time in winter (can't see our beautiful view!). A couple of weeks in the desert helps adjust our attitudes :whoopie:

Thanks for your help and advice!
Nancy

I felt a sense of claustophobia after spending two weeks in the wide open spaces of Montana. They were shocked at the car rental place when we turned in the mini-van at how many miles we put on it in two weeks. We saw a lot and did a lot, but it wasn't nearly enough time. We have been to many wonderful places in the United States having visited many of the National Parks with our sons. It's hard to believe places like Montana still exist when you've lived in extremely populated areas all your life. This is definitely a place that we are planning to visit again. I guess what made me stop to pause about the winters were the road markers and the height of the reflectors indicating deep snow. Here in Hampton Roads, two inches cripples everything. What area of Montana do you call home?