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Renting out an Interval exchange week

Mahou

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I have a Marriott week booked that we now cannot use. It is an exchange week with II
If I rent it, do I have to get a guest cert from II ?? Or can I just change the name on the booking??
Thanks
 

bazzap

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You are not allowed to rent out an II exchange. If II finds out, your reservation will be cancelled and your account will be suspended. You will have an irate renter without a reservation when they show up at the resort, presumably after a flight.
II membership has indeed been terminated when this has happened previously.
It is not worth even trying to do it.
 
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kds4

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I have a Marriott week booked that we now cannot use. It is an exchange week with II
If I rent it, do I have to get a guest cert from II ?? Or can I just change the name on the booking??
Thanks
As others have posted, renting an II exchange is prohibited. However, you can gift your stay to anyone (with a guest certificate). If they choose to give you a gift in return (such as allowing you to stay in one of their II exchanges next year - if they were time share owners), that would be between the two of you.

What is definitely now allowed, is a 'cash for (room) keys' situation.
 

Eli Mairs

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Do the same rules apply to bonus weeks and getaways?
If you book one of these weeks for friends and family with a guest certificate, can you use their own credit card for payment?
 

dioxide45

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As others have posted, renting an II exchange is prohibited. However, you can gift your stay to anyone (with a guest certificate). If they choose to give you a gift in return (such as allowing you to stay in one of their II exchanges next year - if they were time share owners), that would be between the two of you.

What is definitely now allowed, is a 'cash for (room) keys' situation.
Still best to keep any kind of transaction on the down low. "Renting" a week to friends perhaps could get through, but advertising an II exchange on Redweek for rent could get you in trouble.
 

tschwa2

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Do the same rules apply to bonus weeks and getaways?
If you book one of these weeks for friends and family with a guest certificate, can you use their own credit card for payment?
Yes, they can pay II directly, they just can't pay you (even if it is paying you back) and most importantly you can't advertise on a rental site that you are renting II inventory.
 

Saintsfanfl

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What tschwa2 said. The number 1 thing is you cannot place a rental ad. You can enter anyone’s credit card on the payment screen. No ads and no profit.
 

Eli Mairs

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That’s good to know.
I’ve been doing this for years for friends and family.
Was worried I was doing something wrong.
 

turkel

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I have done this multiple times with my mother or brother's cc. My mother is an II member, my brother isn't. No money changes hands with me as the recipient. They just have paid for a getaway on my account. I currently have a platinum membership which includes free guest certificates and a $50.00 discount on getaways.
My mother recently called Interval regarding a getaway purchased under my membership, no mention was made by the Interval rep that she should have only purchased under her account. The getaway was in St Martin at Dawn Beach at a fantastic price, thank goodness mom choose the insurance, this resort will not reopen until 2019. She would have lost the whole $800 for the week without the insurance.
Do the same rules apply to bonus weeks and getaways?
If you book one of these weeks for friends and family with a guest certificate, can you use their own credit card for payment?
 

AlmostRetired

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About A year ago, I posted a thread about exchanging an II week directly with a Marriott Owner. At that point in my 20 years of II membership I only used my weeks, rented my weeks or used the II exchanged week so I had no clue of the membership rules. The Tug discussion pointed out the rules , I read the rules to validate it but I called customer service to understand all my options. Every customer service rep told me I could do the exchange and I got it in writing on more than one occasion.

Using speeding as an example, some people go the 55 limit, some go over the limit believing if they go 9 miles or less they won't be stopped and some believe a limit doesn't apply to them. I fit into the 9 or less category but I understand I could get a ticket. I decided to call II legal to get better understand of the rules. I spoke with a senior attorney. I sent her the emails. We actually had an interesting conversation. To be clear, what I was looking to do is against the rules but I was also told that while the II rules for trading/renting applies to everyone, they are really looking for people who are turning this into a commercial business. I was told they could cancel your membership or cancel the week on first offense as opposed to they will. I didn't get a lot of details on what they monitor but one sign of commercial use is someone who frequently takes out eplus, often changes multiple times at the same resort and uses guest certificates often. After speaking with legal, I used the Aruba week with my family.
 

bazzap

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As you say, the rules are clear.
The application of those rules is less clear.
They could cancel bookings and suspend/cancel your subscription, they probably wouldn’t for non blatant commercial use, but they might.
 

AlmostRetired

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As you say, the rules are clear.
The application of those rules is less clear.
They could cancel bookings and suspend/cancel your subscription, they probably wouldn’t for non blatant commercial use, but they might.

Can I make it less clear.... I was actually given permission to do the exchange though I decided not too.

I was never given permission to share the mail but the Senior Corporate Counsel at Interval International has since retired and so maybe I can go 55 plus 9 and cut and paste from a part of the email.

"As we discussed, Guest Certificates are available for the purpose of allowing family and friends to use your confirmed accommodations. In an individual case like this where there is a separate transaction involving your use of a week belonging to your friend, we would not consider that to be a prohibited barter. Yes, there is a “quid pro quo”, but on a friendly, non-commercial basis. You did not put your confirmation up online to commercially offer it to the highest bidder."

In 22 years of II membership this has come up once for me and I can't think of circumstances it might happen again but I did keep the email just in case. Also, who ever replaced her may take a different stance but sometimes it is as simple as just asking.

Here is the original thread
https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index...-week-and-marriott-owner.246376/#post-1931102
 
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bazzap

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I agree, in your case on that occasion it was clear - you asked and got permission in writing, a very good idea.
For others on another occasion, as you say, it may be different.
 

Saintsfanfl

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They still take the same stance. I know everyone on this forum recites the strict application of the T&C but II does not care if your friends and family reimburses you for a getaway or exchange. To be honest they welcome it because it provides additional revenue. What they do care about and will enforce is the advertising rentals of II confirmations. They scan for these by flagging high activity II accounts. I know from experience because my account is generally watched by II on a regular basis (Hi Mark ;)). I have a very large number of ownerships and exchange confirmations although very few even have guest certificates attached.

One time my online account was locked until I removed a rental listing. I just so happened to have a rental listing of an ownership week for the same resort, unit type, and date of an II exchange. They kindly unlocked my account without needing proof of my owned reservation (I offered).

II is very easy to deal with on these matters but if they detect business rental activity of II confirmations they will obviously act. They must protect the inventory against mass renters otherwise none of us as personal exchangers would be able to get anything remotely of value. The business model would crumble.
 
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Tokapeba

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Does anyone know anyone who has gotten it trouble with II?
 

bazzap

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As others have said, Interval are really just concerned with those who clearly advertise and rent their exchanges, getaways... for commercial purposes through public websites.
So one off or even occasional arrangements between family members or even friends are unlikely to be of concern to them, but it is their decision.

You can find examples of them taking action with a simple google search, e.g.
"Interval International Getaways and how they suspended my account ....."
"I own several properties with interval international. As an extension of my membership, I am allowed to purchase 12 Getaways per year per property. The Getaways are last minute leftover inventory that Interval purchases from the hotels. Interval claims that you are not allowed to use these properties for commercial use, even though it never defines commercial use. Moreover, Interval claims that I engaged in commercial use, suspended my account for one year, and cancelled my properties and REFUSES to offer me a refund”

The specific wording in their Ts & Cs though states
“Membership in II may be used only for personal and noncommercial purposes. Any other use of membership benefits may result in the suspension or termination of a Member’s membership and/or exchange privileges, as well as cancellation of any existing Confirmations and loss of fees associated with all II memberships and Confirmations held by such Member.”
 

Saintsfanfl

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Does anyone know anyone who has gotten it trouble with II?

As you can see from my post my account was frozen, and I was not even a commercial renter. You can be assured that they look for people that aspire to be mass renters using cheap getaways and high value traders.

There is a TUG member that had a load of units that became to be known as high value during flex. This was before the studio tweaks and long before the charge for trading up in size. All of a sudden they were selling the units in mass on ebay touting exchanges they had performed. I might be stepping over the line but these exchanges to me seemed like rentals. With that assumption I am betting they were forced to discontinue by II.
 
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dioxide45

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Can I make it less clear.... I was actually given permission to do the exchange though I decided not too.
I wouldn't necessarily take or rely on the word of a low level telephone rep, or perhaps even their supervisor. Those monitoring for rentals are a different department than those answering the phones.
 

sb2313

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There is a TUG member that had a load of units that became to be known as high value during flex. This was before the studio tweaks and long before the charge for trading up in size. All of a sudden they were selling the units in mass on ebay touting exchanges they had performed. I might be stepping over the line but these exchanges to me seemed like rentals. With that assumption I am betting they were forced to discontinue by II.
Don’t forget the large number of distressed exchange posts from the same member. They’re now rarely, if ever, heard from so i don’t think your assumption is off base in the least.
 

AlmostRetired

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I wouldn't necessarily take or rely on the word of a low level telephone rep, or perhaps even their supervisor. Those monitoring for rentals are a different department than those answering the phones.

If you read the full post, the permission given and the cut and paste I included was from the senior corporate counsel for II. I spoke with her and the conversation was followed by the email from her.
 

dioxide45

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If you read the full post, the permission given and the cut and paste I included was from the senior corporate counsel for II. I spoke with her and the conversation was followed by the email from her.
Got it, really should have read that in more detail :oops:
 

AlmostRetired

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deleted

 
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Dean

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I wasn't being condescending so if it came across that way, sorry. I agree with you 100% about what one is told from customer service and the reason I reached out to legal to begin with. I am not a lawyer but if customer services tells me something it may be considered an individual practice but if legal tells me something it is a policy. In any case, here is the full text of the email. The person has since retired so I guess she won't care. I believe it is a valid guideline of what can one can do but everyone should decide for themselves.

As we discussed earlier today, you may proceed to purchase a Guest Certificate for your friend to use the Confirmation you have obtained for the vacation week in Aruba, which you and your family are no longer interested in using. I understand that you wanted to be certain that your friend’s use of the Aruba week and your use of your friend’s use of the week he owns at Newport Beach would be not collectively be deemed a “barter”, which is prohibited by the Interval International Terms and Conditions of Individual Membership and Exchange. You were advised that it would be OK by an Interval advisor and/or Customer Services representative, but you wanted that confirmation in writing. To date, you have not received a response to the email you sent to the Customer Service email address.

As we discussed, Guest Certificates are available for the purpose of allowing family and friends to use your confirmed accommodations. In an individual case like this where there is a separate transaction involving your use of a week belonging to your friend, we would not consider that to be a prohibited barter. Yes, there is a “quid pro quo”, but on a friendly, non-commercial basis. You did not put your confirmation up online to commercially offer it to the highest bidder.

Thanks for checking with us. Get your friend the Guest Certificate and tell him we hope he enjoys it.
I know of several who have gotten in trouble and I know of specific info from II where even repaying the exchange and guest certificate fee was deemed as renting (unlike RCI who semi officially allows this type of reimbursement). As posted I think this was protective of the individual situation but not a guide map for future actions. That said, done low key with personal friends/relatives, the risk should be very low.
 

Saintsfanfl

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I know of several who have gotten in trouble and I know of specific info from II where even repaying the exchange and guest certificate fee was deemed as renting (unlike RCI who semi officially allows this type of reimbursement).

The huge difference that is not being disputed is RCI allows non-commercial but public listings but II does not. No, you cannot advertise to get reimbursed for anything. What II does “unofficially” allow is friends and family, whatever that means to whoever cares.

RCI and II are still primarily after the same thing. The protection of valuable inventory against a commercial renter.
 
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