Your Vacation Planning Authority

When planning a vacation, you’ll find yourself needing to pick between two camps – those that believe in timeshares and those that do not.

That presents an interesting question, Can you rent a timeshare even if you don’t own one?

Yes! You can rent a timeshare if you don’t own it.

There are a number of companies that will allow timeshare owners to rent their timeshare to people looking to stay at the owner’s timeshare property for a vacation. It works very much like Air BnB. The difference is that you will have access to all the amenities of the resort including multiple bedrooms & bathrooms, full kitchens, dining and living areas, washer and dryer in the unit, access to the resort pool along with any activities and amenities on the property.

Those are the advantages of staying at a timeshare that you don’t own.

However, before you settle on staying at a timeshare you don’t own, you need to know how timeshare rentals work.

In most cases, you’ll pay the same price or less to stay at someone’s timeshare than you would pay to stay at a similar hotel.

You might be thinking that this sounds too good to be true. After all, timeshare presentations promise the world. But you’re probably all too familiar with how disappointed people are after purchasing a timeshare.

So this begs the logical question….

How Do Timeshare Rentals Work?

How timeshare rentals work:

• Select a timeshare from the list
• Owner has usually 24 hours to confirm request
• Prices are set by timeshare owners. Not by the resort
• Because timeshare owners only own specific weeks (if not going by the points system), there will probably be an opening at a resort you like when you want to travel

Timeshare rentals work very much like renting someone’s house on Airbnb. The timeshare owner lists their timeshare through the management company. People select their desired destination, the property, then choose the number of days they would like to stay. Payment is processed by the management company.

That’s the high-level version. Let’s get into the details. Because, as the saying goes, the devil is in the details.

When booking a hotel, the prices are set by the hotel. This is not the case when renting timeshares.

Let’s say you wanted to stay at a Disney property and the timeshare owner was a member of the Disney Vacation Club. The timeshare owner sets the price that he or she wants to rent the weeks out for. Not Disney.

But wait. There’s more.

Even though just about every week in the year is available to rent at many of these properties, that doesn’t mean the rental will give you enough days to enjoy your stay.

That’s because there are different types of timeshares. And they can work on work on weeks or points. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll only focus on weeks.

When someone purchases a timeshare, they have to decide how many weeks they want to use the property. That can range from a few days per year to a few weeks. The longer they want to stay at the timeshare, the more it costs them.

Therefore, when you look at what is available for the dates you want to vacation, it is very likely you’ll find durations of two days up to seven days to stay at that property.

This might mean you have to alter your vacation plans. Either you’ll want to stay longer or rent a timeshare with a shorter duration.

Either way, when you compare it to the cost of keeping your family in a hotel and factor in attractions and entertainment (such as on a Disney property), you could still come out ahead. You don’t have the expense of owning a timeshare. Yet you got to enjoy it that year the same as an owner would have.

Biggest Timeshare Rental Companies

Redweek

Top Timeshare Companies	Popular Destinations	Operating In
Disney Vacation Club	Aruba	Africa
Hilton	California	Asia
Hyatt	Florida	Australia and South Pacific
Marriott Vacation Club	Hawaii	Caribbean
RCI	Mexico	Central America
Vistana	South Carolina	Europe
WorldMark by Wyndham		Middle East
Wyndham Vacation Ownership		North America
		South America

Koala

Top Timeshare Companies	Popular Destinations	Operating In
Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort at Disney World	Caribbean	Aruba
Club Wyndham Clearwater Beach Resort	Disney World	Bahamas
Club Wyndham Nashville	Florida	Bali
Club Wyndham Ocean Boulevard	Hawaii	Canada
Club Wyndham Ocean Walk		Dubai
Club Wyndham Palm-Aire		Thailand
Club Wyndham Panama City Beach		United States (including Hawaii)
Club Wyndham Park City
Club Wyndham Santa Barbara
Club Wyndham Sea Gardens
Club Wyndham SeaWatch Resort
Club Wyndham Smugglers’ Notch Vermont
Club Wyndham Towers on the Grove
Club Wyndham Westwinds
Marriott’s Arube Surf Club
Marriott’s Beach Place Towers
Marriott’s Canyon Villas
The Grand Luxxe at Neuvo Vallarta

Tug2

Popular Destinations

• Africa
• Asia
• Australia South Pacific
• Canada
• Caribbean
• Central America
• Europe
• Florida
• Mexico
• South America
• United States

Sell My Timeshare Now

This site is like a middle-man for timeshare owners. Think of it like Airbnb for timeshares.

Last Minute Timeshare Rental Companies

If you want to get away at the last minute, renting a timeshare can be a good option. And because of the things that come with a timeshare that you won’t get at a hotel, renting a timeshare at the last minute might translate into sizable savings.

Here are direct links to last minute timeshare rental companies to make your search easier:

• Redweek
• Sell My Timeshare Now
• Koala
• Tug2
• My Resort Network
• Tug BBS
• Owner Direct Vacation Rentals
• Florida Rental by Owners
• FloridaRentals.com

Renting Timeshares – The Owner’s View

Let’s get into the mechanics of renting a timeshare. We’ll look at it from the standpoint of a person renting. We’ll also view it from the perspective of a timeshare owner.

I want to take this approach because understanding what’s happening on the backend will help you make better, more informed choices.

And if you are a timeshare owner and you’d like to rent your weeks but don’t know how, this will help you too.

So, what does it take for a timeshare owner to rent out the weeks they’ve purchased?

The details differ between companies (for the specifics, jump down to the section Timeshare Rental Companies). But the basics are:

• Register with the site
• List your timeshare

It’s really that simple.

Now, the website will need to collect it’s fee. Some do a percentage of what the renter is charged. Others have a set fee to use the service.

In most cases, there are levels for the listings. Basically, the more help the rental company provides, the more the timeshare owner will have to pay.

But remember: The timeshare owner sets the price. So it’s simply a matter of setting a price that will cover your financial obligations to the timeshare, cover the rental website fees, and make a profit.

Why Do People Rent Out Their Timeshare?

In another post, I talk about why some feel purchasing a timeshare is worth the money. But for now, I’ll give you the cheat-sheet version.

Timeshares offer people the ability to vacation with the whole family without having to book multiple hotel rooms.

Additionally, timeshares usually come equipped with a full kitchen stocked with all the dining utensils you’d need. That includes a refrigerator, stove, and microwave.

You’ll even be able to wash and dry your clothes with the machines in the timeshare unit.

If someone gets all this, why would people rent timeshares?

People rent timeshares because, as an owner, they have to pay for their share of the property whether they use it or not. Additionally, even if the timeshare is paid off, the owner will still be responsible for maintenance fees which get very high. By renting the timeshare when they aren’t using it, the owner can get someone else to cover these costs.

This makes renting a timeshare an attractive offer depending on where the timeshare is located. If it’s in a tropical setting or a Disney property, the renter can enjoy all that owning a timeshare on that property comes with without the financial obligations.

Renting Timeshares – The Renter’s View

We’ve discussed some of the reasons that one might choose to rent a timeshare. In this section, we’ll go deeper. This way you can decide if renting a timeshare is right for you.

One of the things we touched on is that, from a financial standpoint, it almost doesn’t make sense to own a timeshare when you can rent one.

When you rent a timeshare, you have access to all the amenities that the owner has.

What you don’t have are monthly or annual maintenance fees trailing you for the indefinite future.

There’s also the advantage of renting a timeshare if you have a large family.

The average hotel room will have one bed and maybe one pull-out couch. When selecting which timeshare to rent, you can go up to (in many cases) a 3-bedroom unit.

This makes the cost of getting the entire family and possibly friends in the same until much more realistic than booking a hotel room.

Let’s move on to a very important part of vacationing…. Eating.

Depending on the hotel, it is possible that a restaurant is onsite. If so, at the very least, you’ll get breakfast. If you’re fortunate enough to have a restaurant in the hotel, it expands your options for dining.

Unfortunately, it also increases the cost of dining exponentially if you have a lot of people with you.

Here’s where renting a timeshare really becomes attractive.

Almost every timeshare comes with a full kitchen. Make a stop at one of the big box stores, anoint someone as the chef, and your costs for dining drops dramatically.

There are likely more reasons you can think of for renting a timeshare based on your personal circumstances. But in case this is the first time you’re considering renting a timeshare, I wanted to give you some things to reflect on.

Hopefully I’ve given you enough information to help you make an informed decision.

If you want to consider staying a resort, I invite you to sign up to our newsletter. As soon as you do, you’ll get a special link to save up to 65% off a stay at Sandals resort and one night free.

We’ll also notify you of sales happening at different properties when they become available along with activities you can enjoy near the properties.

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