TUG - THE Timeshare Users Group - providing the truth about timeshares!
Contact TUGJoin TUG now!Search All of TUG!
Timeshare
Community Forums
Timeshare Resort
Ratings & Reviews
Timeshare
Marketplace
About
TUG
Free Timeshare
Advice Articles
 Member
Testimonials
Free
Sample Reviews!
Learn to Sell
your Timeshare!
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER ... Sir Francis Bacon         
How to Rent Your Timeshare
This article was written for owners, by owners and provides a step by step  guide on how to rent your timeshare. Most timeshare owners actually dont realize they can rent out their own timeshares to offset the annual maint. fees, you can learn how to do it the right way here for free!

TUG Banner Ads .. click for details on this banner program


How to Rent Your Timeshare
Updated 8/8/06 by Dave M.

Want to rent your timeshare week out? Don’t know where to start? Don’t know how much to ask or where to advertise or whether to pay an up-front listing fee? Check the TUG Advice section (link at the top of this page) for pertinent articles and read the info that follows:

Note that although you can generally rent a week that you own at your own resort (a very few resorts restrict rentals), the rules for most exchange companies prohibit rentals of weeks obtained through the exchange company, whether obtained as an exchange, Bonus week, Getaway, Last Call, One Plus One, etc.

Start by determining how much rent you should ask for your week.

After you have gathered as much evidence as you can on what similar weeks at your resort rent for, consider that you likely don't have the same advertising clout that the resort and some other listings do. If you choose to use any or many of the sources you have searched to advertise your week, you should be able to get as much rent as anyone else on that site. But if you really want to rent it, price it below what others are asking and definitely at least 25%-40% below what your resort asks for similar rentals.

Where should you advertise?

The work you will have done above should provide all of the info you need to determine the best places to advertise.

To enhance your chances for a successful rental experience, here are three additional suggestions:


Some would suggest listing your week for rent for the amount of your maintenance fees. Unfortunately, there is rarely a direct correlation between such fees and the fair rental value of your week. If you really want to rent it, offer it at a price that will get it rented!

Here is some additional advice posted by PerryM in November 2005 on one of the BBS forums:

After making 50+ rentals here is some advice to both parties:

Renter:
  • The most secure way to rent is to use an escrow company that holds the money until AFTER the check-out date. Realistically many landlords will tell you to take a hike – there are so many folks who want to rent and have no problem paying the entire amount up front and without an escrow agent.
  • Ask to get a copy of the reservation BEFORE you pay money. Ask for a phone number to the resort and verify the reservation. Unfortunately the landlord can easily call up and reassign the renters name to someone else. Word processors and ink jet printers can duplicate just about any document and have it looking real. Getting someone to pose as the resort takes just a throw away cell phone. So if someone wanted to scam a bunch of folks out of a lot of money wouldn’t be hard.
  • Get a rental agreement that spells out what’s involved. However, if something goes wrong are you going to hire a lawyer at $200 per hour to fight a $1,000 rental – of course not.
  • Pay with PayPal – no lost checks in the mail and proof of payment. Can use credit card to make time payments.

Landlord:
  • Get 100% of the money up front – there are so many flakey renters out there who change their mind that taking a deposit and finding out 30 days before check-in that the renter is not going forward means a loss of a lot of money.
  • Get a rental agreement and make sure that the person supplies a copy of their driver’s license and prove that they are at least 21 years old. Many resorts require the person checking in to be at least that old.
  • Get a 10% security deposit returnable 14 days after check-out. You would be surprised how folks want that deposit back and don’t trash the place.
  • Call the resort 14 days before check-in and double check the reservation and ask for special handling like no smoking rooms or rooms that face a certain direction, etc.
  • Call the resort 1 day after check-out and confirm that there were no problems. The renter has to put up a credit card when checking in but if they max out and there is damage the resort will come calling on you. Find out before you return the security deposit.
  • Always ask for PayPal payment – the renter thinks he has some protection when paying with PayPal and Credit Card – the truth is he does not; but he feels much better and you get paid instantly. The 4% process fee is small compared with a renter who sends a Cashier’s Check AND the carbon copy and then it gets lost in the mail – what a disaster – you don’t get paid and he thinks you stiffed him and he has NO proof of payment and must go thru a 90 day refund period with the bank and put up a bond.

I’ve never had a renter request escrow and would not go along with it if they did. Folks so scared always turn out to be a pain.

********* this live article is available on the TUGBBS online forums here:  http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43


Why become a TUG member?

There is an extended TUG resort reviews database here on this web site available only to TUG members. There are over 4000 resorts covered by this database now and growing weekly. The reviews also include pictures of the resorts, general resort information and a list of owners' email addresses who are willing to answer additional questions regarding the resorts not covered by the detailed reviews.   This is a quick way to see how our members rate the resorts which they have actually stayed at. It has become a valuable source of information to use when planning for exchanges.
 

JOIN TUG TODAY 

and post Free Timeshare Classified ads in the 

Timeshare Marketplace

-Click to learn more-




Timeshare Users Group

Send comments/feedback by email to: tug@tug2.net
 © Copyright 1993-2008 Timeshare Users Group
PO Box 1442, Orange Park, Fl 32067
Phone: (904) 298-3185

page updated June 4, 2009  by B Rogers - Send email regarding this page to tug@tug2.net