RedWeek is a popular online marketplace for timeshare rentals and resales. It also provides resort reviews for companies like Marriott Vacation Club and Hilton Grand Vacations. RedWeek caters to customers who are curious about vacation rentals and ownership but don’t want to get cornered into a timeshare sales pitch.
RedWeek prides itself on providing earnest and helpful information for those interested in buying timeshares. Instead of the act-now approach that in-person timeshare sales take, RedWeek encourages its web visitors to learn about resorts before buying timeshares. They offer ratings and reviews of different timeshare developers to help buyers make informed decisions about their purchases. RedWeek’s timeshare resale market also gives current timeshare owners a place to put their units up for sale.
RedWeek touts itself as a resource for people who want to rent or sell their timeshares. But is RedWeek as reputable as they say they are? Let’s explore how RedWeek navigates rental services for timeshare owners and whether listing your timeshare on the RedWeek resale market is worth it.
How RedWeek Timeshare Rentals Work
Timeshare rentals make up a large part of RedWeek’s business. Timeshare owners use RedWeek to rent out weeks at their timeshare property. Similar to Airbnb, RedWeek acts as a middleman between renters and timeshare owners, providing a place for timeshare owners to make a little extra money by renting out their properties.
In the earlier days of RedWeek, the company essentially provided a verification service for timeshare rental properties. RedWeek would authenticate the details of a timeshare unit, like the number of rooms, views, and basic amenities that the property offered, so that prospective renters could get a good idea of what the timeshare actually looks like.
RedWeek would also help arrange check-in and check-out dates for renters and suggest a pricing ballpark for timeshare owners. However, RedWeek would not get involved in whether the owner accepts the booking requests that are made, the contracts that are drawn up, or the extent of communication between timeshare owner and renter.
Eventually this hands-off approach started to cause problems for people who used RedWeek to rent timeshare units. Just because someone owns a timeshare and pays their annual maintenance fees doesn’t mean they know how to properly navigate the rental process. Timeshare owners have been known to do any of the following things:
- Dramatically over- or undercharge their renters
- Have too lenient of rules for renters
- Neglect to relay all the required policies of the resort
- Suddenly cancel on their renters without proper explanation
Because these kinds of situations frequently occur, you’d think that RedWeek would develop a way to step in and resolve them. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
RedWeek’s Renting Issues
Customer complaints on RedWeek’s Better Business Bureau page exemplify how leaving it up to independent timeshare owners to make their own rules can cause complications for renters. One customer complaint explains that after requesting to rent a property in Maui, Hawaii, they were shortly told that their request was rejected because the owner realized they could rent the unit for more money.
Like with Airbnb and other vacation rental websites, requesting a vacation slot on RedWeek doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be approved for the dates you want. But RedWeek’s lack of professionalism when revealing that the timeshare owner could simply get more money is where they went wrong. Exposing this kind of information to rental customers makes RedWeek look sneaky and deceitful or, as the customer in this situation put it, like they are pulling a “bait and switch” on the renter.
RedWeek’s lack of regulation between timeshare owner and renter showed itself again in a customer complaint from last year. The reservation the customer booked was not refunded after they had to cancel their vacation in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. When the customer made an insurance claim over the matter, RedWeek still refused to offer any sort of compensation or alternate travel option.
RedWeek’s response to the situation was that the original rental agreement between timeshare owner and renter included nothing about refunds due to pandemic travel issues. RedWeek also pointed out that the resort where the renter had booked was actually open the day the customer was supposed to check in.
It’s an understatement to say that no one in the timeshare industry could have anticipated the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. But RedWeek’s insensitivity to this customer’s unwillingness to travel at the beginning of a deadly global pandemic shows a major lack of compassion.
RedWeek seems to have a pattern of deflecting accountability when problems arise between renters and timeshare owners. When renters bring up complications they experience, RedWeek often refers back to the rental agreement made between both parties and says they can’t be held responsible for anything beyond it.
However, many of the conflicts that come about are ones that the timeshare owner doing the renting is not experienced enough to handle. If RedWeek claims to be an expert on providing information about timeshares, shouldn’t they be equipped to manage such disputes?
Selling Timeshares on RedWeek
If you have a timeshare that you are considering selling on RedWeek, take into account that posting your property isn’t free. You will be charged a listing fee for putting your property up and will also have to pay a yearly RedWeek membership. And though listing your property on RedWeek may establish credibility, all the costs you have to pay to do it won’t ensure you a sale.
The seemingly endless search through timeshare resales on RedWeek will show you a wide range of timeshares for potential buyers to choose from. From Aruba to Arizona, they have timeshare properties popping up in all kinds of locations. And they offer price points from $0 to over $100,000. Keep in mind that many listings means a lot of competition — and that’s just within the RedWeek marketplace.
Investing in a membership with RedWeek may not be worth it when you consider how easy it is for people to find low-cost (or no-cost) timeshares. A quick visit to eBay or Craigslist will show you a much wider variety of extremely low-cost properties than RedWeek provides. And regardless of where you list your timeshare resale, there is no surefire way to sell. Many people who want out of their timeshare spend years watching their property collect dust on the resale market.
A Better Way to Get Out of Your Timeshare
Unless you are an expert at drawing up timeshare contracts for renters, tread with caution when using RedWeek to rent your timeshare. They’ve been caught dodging responsibility for customer conflicts and have been prone to deflecting attention onto inexperienced timeshare owners who aren’t equipped to handle various issues.
RedWeek’s resale marketplace requires a listing and membership fee that won’t guarantee your property will sell. With so much competition from other listings and cheaper online timeshare marketplaces, working with RedWeek might not be the best solution for your timeshare ownership troubles.
If your timeshare is becoming a burden, you deserve to get out of it. Rather than attempting to do so on RedWeek’s resale market, reach out to the timeshare relief experts at Centerstone Group. With our time-tested resolution process and team of industry experts, Centerstone Group delivers quicker resolutions than any other timeshare exit company. Contact us for a free consultation.
