The Serenity of a Mountain Cabin Rental: Your Hot Season Alternative
Renting a timeshare is easy, whether a house, apartment, or vacation villa. There are thousands of timeshare owners with weeks to sell all over the world and they’re all vying and fighting for your rental dollar.
Unfortunately, not all timeshare rentals are created equal. For hints and tips on finding a timeshare rental that’s right for you, keep reading.
Call the Resort You Want
Typically, if a timeshare owner has a week that they need to unload, they will often rent it through their home resort. So, if you have a specific resort or location that you want, you’ll likely get results by phoning them directly.
However, renting a timeshare through the resort, rather than the owner, means you’ll be paying the resort rate. You’ll often find you can negotiate a cheaper weekly rental if you can rent owner-direct, saving yourself anywhere from 25-40 percent off your week.
Redweek.com
With millions of timeshare swaps and rentals listed both within the continental US and at international locations, this is one of the busiest timeshare rental websites on the Internet. You can sort and search by location, price, sleeping capacity and dates. You can also read customer and guest reviews of the timeshare and its amenities.
Timeshare Users Group (tug2.net)
Admittedly, this is a site designed for timeshare owners to share information, swap timeshare weeks and offer advice. However, they also happen to have an incredibly extensive ratings and review system maintained by thousands of timeshare owners. So, if you’re worried that a timeshare rental in Costa Rica might be a dud, you can look it up here for an honest opinion.
Ask for More Pictures
If you’re considering renting a timeshare from a private timeshare owner but aren’t sure about the quality, you can always ask the owner for more pictures and details. Before you commit to any timeshare rental, make sure you know what you’re getting into, the quality of the property and generally what you can expect from the rental.
Get a Rental Agreement
Ask your timeshare’s owner to send you a copy of the reservation before you pay any money. To be sure, phone the resort on your own and verify the reservation yourself. Make sure your rental agreement spells out exactly what’s included in the rental and what’s expected of you as a tenant.
If you’re still concerned about possible fraud or misrepresentation, ask the landlord to consider using an escrow company. Your rent will then be kept in escrow until after the check-out date, protecting both the landlord and you, the renter.
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