Renting weeks - how to do it?

[mauitraveler]

A data point or two, that I'm not quite sure what to make of....and it may be solely for the Hawaii/Maui market.

I only rent my weeks through Vacation Candy at the moment. They said that the trend this past year has been for rentals to occur much later, i.e., closer to check-in than years past. This was also confirmed by a Maui rental agent that moves hundreds of timeshare and full ownership condo weeks each year. He said the market is trending to bookings inside 60 days. He said weeks are booking way out, with a big lull, then inside 60 days.

So that said...

2019...
Week 9 Lahaina OF Studio - Rented last summer (Full rate at $3500 gross)
Week 7 President's Week Lahaina 2BR OF - Rented 30 days out (Discounted into mid $4s)
Week 16 Lahaina 2BR not rented, Locked Off - Studio Rented at 10 days out; 2-days later someone wanted the 2BR; then 1BR rented Friday before check-in...both highly discounted, but still exceeded MP.

2020...
Week 9 Lahaina 2BR - Rented yesterday at over $6K gross.

Hoping 2019 was a very weird year...

3. Once a renter is found, I send contract for signature.

As mentioned above, I'm going to look into Adobe Sign, which is what VC uses. Seems pretty slick and if the first ten are free, would be worthwhile to streamline the process.

TXTortoise, Thanks for sharing your experience with your rentals. I certainly do not have the nerves of steel that are required to wait as long as you did for your rentals to come through! Just out of curiosity, how would you have handled the reservation, if a unit did not get rented? Would you still have been able to deposit it into I.I.? I'm still learning the ins and outs of renting... TIA CJ

 

[Tank]

Are you committed to them only renting it out or can you continue to try yourself?

 

[TXTortoise]

TXTortoise, Thanks for sharing your experience with your rentals. I certainly do not have the nerves of steel that are required to wait as long as you did for your rentals to come through! Just out of curiosity, how would you have handled the reservation, if a unit did not get rented? Would you still have been able to deposit it into I.I.? I'm still learning the ins and outs of renting... TIA CJ

I just went through the whole agony...while on vacation out there.

Was getting inside 30 days and had to decide whether to deposit to Interval, which has a 14 day deadline, and then you can only book weeks inside the 60-day window via manual searching.
I then found out Marriott had never moved any of my 2018 purchased weeks to Interval, so that option aged out anyway. Still sorting that out with MVCI.

Talked a bunch with Vacation Candy and they said they've even rented weeks after the week started, so given not many other options, I just let the listing sit...and watched values on competing listings.

In my case, I just split the week and listed it as a studio, 1BR and 2BR. I hope it doesn't happy again, but would probably not list the Studio until the last few days, since I got a 2BR offer after the studio rented, a week out. The 1BR would have covered MF.

Bottomline, I made it available for free to use for some folks I know on Maui and let a broker friend know, none could use it, but generally all you can do is just let it sit and see what happens...as it did in my case.

While pricing is important, dropping the price when there is no demand or few competing units doesn't make any sense...but sometimes a fire sale price makes the airfare worthwhile for someone in California or Hawaii.

End result I covered my MF and made a $700, so luckily it worked out...kinda.

 

[TXTortoise]

Are you committed to them only renting it out or can you continue to try yourself?

They are just one channel, so can continue to list anywhere else. They prefer you list at the VC price, but I rarely see folks doing that. When a Maui week rents at 'market' rate, I've found the VC net rental is very close or exceeds the Redweek price, without the RedWeek hassles. The downside is there is no way to show the uniqueness of a week on VC while on Redweek I can highlight fixed unit, high floor, open railings, etc., to differentiate the week. If it's a usual floating week, it's not big deal.

Just remember, Redweek gets a certain clientele, VC/StayPC get others, and you can use VC to leverage the monolith HomeAway/VRBO, etc....just multiple different channels, not to mention individual brokers.

 

[VacationForever]

I am not sure if this is a right move, asking the experts here. I reserved 2 weeks in March 2020. My MVCI election date is Oct 31st. I am thinking that if I cannot get them rented by Oct 31st, I will simply elect DC points or ask Marriott to lock off the units and deposit into II, or 1 option for each week. In the meantime, running up to that date, I will drop price to make it attractive while still covering my MF.

 

[TXTortoise]

I am not sure if this is a right move, asking the experts here. I reserved 2 weeks in March 2020. My MVCI election date is Oct 31st. I am thinking that if I cannot get them rented by Oct 31st, I will simply elect DC points or ask Marriott to lock off the units and deposit into II, or 1 option for each week. In the meantime, running up to that date, I will drop price to make it attractive while still covering my MF.

Are we talking Maui?

If you know you are going to rent, you might want to try for a strong summer week, unless both your March weeks are in one of the peak spring break periods. The problem is you would be past your election date for 2020, before you know whether it will really rent. (Heck, you could call and try for Easter week at 12 months)

Depending on the weeks you have, if they don't rent a year out in the next few months, try to call in and reserve a mid-July week this summer for one.(Hard since you can't do it online.) If you get it, let it ride as a rental and turn the other one in for DC Points. Obviously if you can use the Interval weeks, your Maui 1BR and Studio, should get you a lot of choices and is good for two years.

Denise and Mox might have a better sense of what to expect. As you have read, my experiences were from one extreme to the other or renters lead times.

 

[VacationForever]

Are we talking Maui?

If you know you are going to rent, you might want to try for a strong summer week, unless both your March weeks are in one of the peak spring break periods. The problem is you would be past your election date for 2020, before you know whether it will really rent. (Heck, you could call and try for Easter week at 12 months)

Depending on the weeks you have, if they don't rent a year out in the next few months, try to call in and reserve a mid-July week this summer for one.(Hard since you can't do it online.) If you get it, let it ride as a rental and turn the other one in for DC Points. Obviously if you can use the Interval weeks, your Maui 1BR and Studio, should get you a lot of choices and is good for two years.

Denise and Mox might have a better sense of what to expect. As you have read, my experiences were from one extreme to the other or renters lead times.

Thank you. I wish I have a Maui week, but I don't.

 

[dsmrp]

Just remember, Redweek gets a certain clientele, VC/StayPC get others, and you can use VC to leverage the monolith HomeAway/VRBO, etc....just multiple different channels, not to mention individual brokers.

How would you describe the clientele of Redweek?
I've never rented my Hawaii (non-marriott) week before, and trying it for first time for next winter.
Thanks!

 

[suzannesimon]

I list my weeks on Redweek and Vacation Candy 12-13 months out. I start reducing $100/month at 6 months. Last year I also put them on AirBnB at 6 months if they hadn’t rented and 2 of them rented there. VC is excellent but Redweek works most of the time because the price is lower than on VC. Last year my 3 bedroom Christmas week rented at 70 days before check-in on VC. Usually that rents a year in advance. My plan is to deposit them in Interval if not rented at 65 days but thankfully I’ve never had to do that.

 

[TXTortoise]

My experience and practice for 2019 pretty much mimics Suzanne’s, except I haven’t used Redweek yet.

This year, March 2020 has already rented through VC, but no nibbles on Presidents’ Week yet for me or other listings on VC. Go figure...

My sense is Redweek is somewhat of an insiders source, while VC appeals to those that want the perceived security of renting from a known business. Their customer service is also great. VRBO just gets the week in front of the masses. I’m always surprised why some would see a VRBO listing and not go directly to the VC site to save $300-500 on a $5K rental.

In most cases the market is skewed by folks just trying to cover their MF vs renting at market value, which unfortunately is the nature of a commodity where it’s hard to differentiate one week from another. The other thing I see is folks dropping prices even when there is no demand, i.e., no inquires, no other weeks moving, etc.

I do think something like a Maui fixed Week would do better on Redweek since you can more clearly advertise the room location and guaranteed assignment, but the market is smaller.

(Just a reminder, this is all Maui, which can be a totally different rental environment then many other resorts, though I assume similar to HH in summer and Aruba in winter.)

 

[suzannesimon]

I like Redweek because you’re dealing with other timeshare owners most of the time. In fact, I use Redweek to rent weeks for myself rather than trading. I have high season weeks and like to travel shoulder seasons so that leaves enough money leftover for airfare. I get $1,000-3000 over maintenance fees on Redweek and Vacation Candy. VRBO is a pain because the users don’t understand the timeshare weeks. I would get calls and emails all the time asking if they could get another week instead of the one I had available in spite of blocking out all the other days for the year.