The first step for this scammer is to steal a person’s credit card information in order to post an advertisement on the internet. Once the card is stolen a legitimate ad on the same or different website is copied, giving details of the unit being advertised. Once the listing is online the scammer then uses another fake identity to open a bank account which they will ask potential renters to deposit money into. When everything is in place the crook waits for an unsuspecting victim to contact them and ask for the rental on given dates, even though the person does not own at the given resort they say the unit is available and send further details, including a rental agreement contract, their fake banking information, and a request for the renter to make a deposit of anywhere from 50% to 70% of the agreed upon amount for the rental. Once the money is wired the amount is immediately withdrawn and the account is closed giving the renter little or no recourse to find the guilty party. There are a couple of signs a renter can use to spot these types of scams and make sure they do not fall victim, the first is most people will not give out their banking details so quickly to a perfect stranger. If they do give out their banking details it should raise a red flag if the name on the account is different than the name of the person you have been corresponding with. Secondly we recommend doing a simple internet search for any information they give you for example, name, phone number, email addresses, etc. Chances are this is not their first time trying this scam and if they try to use the same information more than once maybe someone has already reported the information and has outlined the scam on a website in order to keep others from being scammed.

Vacation Timeshare Rentals never recommends making payment for timeshare rentals via wire transfer, the information given out and the lack of knowledge of the other party exposes a great potential for fraud. If you have had any contact with any of these people we recommend ceasing all communication. We also invite you to post your story if you have been in contact with anyone listed above, all information will be helpful in trying to keep others from being defrauded and hopefully one day catching this criminal.

In theory this really seems like a good idea as many people have a number of unused vacation/sick days every year and instead of them going to waste they can now use them for the future. However, I do not believe that the negative effects in the business place have been thoroughly discussed, or if they were have not been covered in this article. It has been shown through a number of different studies over the years that a relaxed employee will be more productive thus getting more accomplished over the course of their work period. Perhaps the number one method used by employees to relax is taking a vacation, when employees return from vacation many report have a new found vigor for their position and daily duties in their company. I also believe having relaxed co-workers/employees leads to a better work environment for everyone not just the traveler giving the company greater productivity. Travelers always seem to be in a better mood after they get back from vacation, this causes less disputes and arguments throughout the work place creating a better environment for everyone in the company. I always say a good attitude will rub off on others, therefore when an employee returns from vacation hopefully their mood will inspire everyone else to work just as hard with the same positive attitude. Think of the time spent everyday in your company trying to settle arguments and disagreements, if people were more relaxed and in better spirits many of these arguments could be avoided. Many readers may also remember a recent post in this blog describing the findings of study showing that vacations may actually make your children smarter. If you would like to read this previous post please feel free to do so “Timeshare Vacations Can Make You Smarter!”. While encouraging Americans to save their money for the future may be good for the long term the short term productivity loss and general lack of relaxation should be looked at in depth as well.

In the end this initiative at least gives people the option to do something with unused vacation days as oppose to letting them go to waste. I would never encourage people to go against their wishes when it comes to personal finances but I do feel the consequences should be weighed on both sides of every issue, especially when it comes to your well being. If you are ready to take a vacation after reading this article please feel free to begin searching our timeshare rentals.

Timeshares come with a number of different options for example usage time, number of available bedrooms, bathrooms, view, and different amenities just to name a few of the options. One of the main concerns to renters and owners alike is the usage time, a description of the time in the year a week can be used, which can be divided into two main categories fixed week and floating week. Fixed week timeshares must be used during the dates specified on the ownership papers where a floating week can be used all throughout the year depending on availability. If you are the owner of multiple fixed weeks it is unlikely that you will find one person to rent every one of the weeks you own, in this situation we have found that the best results are derived from advertising each week simultaneously on our site by having a separate listing for each week. This will ensure that each of your weeks receives the maximum amount of exposure possible; giving you the best chance to rent out each week. Some owners choose to run only one advertisement to let people know about the multiple fixed weeks they have for rent. This can be accomplished two different ways, the first is to list all other weeks that you have for rent in the description area of a single advertisement, the second and better option is to update your listing each time one of the weeks is rented. When owners place a timeshare for rent on Vacation Timeshare Rentals they are given a large description area used mainly to tell potential renters about the resort and its surroundings in their own words, however you can also place other weeks that you have for rent in this area in the hopes that someone looking for weeks different than the one you are advertising stumbles upon your listing. For example an owner may have week 46 and week 47, they may choose to list their timeshare as week 46, when a user comes to our site and searches this timeshare will only come up in the week 46 results so if the user was looking for week 47 they would not know this owner has both weeks available. The better option is to list the first week, 46 in this example, rent it out then change the listing to display week 47 after the first week has been rented. We allow users to update any aspect of their listing by logging into the “My Timeshare” without incurring any extra cost, even though this option may take a little more work it will most likely give you the best results if you are trying to rent multiple weeks with one listing. Owners with multiple floating weeks at the same resort with no set time really only need one listing, most likely each of the units is the same so the owner can rent a unit and leave the advertisement active until they have secured renters for all of their weeks.

If you are an owner with multiple weeks it is important to begin letting people know that you are trying to rent a timeshare as soon as possible to give you the greatest chance of finding a renter. Please visit the following page to rent your timeshare through Vacation Timeshare Rentals.

The first and maybe fastest/easiest way to tell if a company is trying to defraud you is to do a quick Internet search for the company name, most likely this company has been trying to scam other people for quite some time and others will have reported about the company. Searching for the company name should provide you with a number of results to choose from allowing you to view complaints people have with the company and their general overall experience with this company. The search will probably return a link to the company’s website some where in the results which you can check out. When a company is willing to put information on the web for public viewing it can go a long way in proving their worth. It is important to remember just because a company has a website does not make them necessarily legit, anyone can start up a website and post information on the web, however it does give a company a sense of credibility if they do have a website for an extended period of time. Another way you can check out a company is by searching the Better Business Bureau, if the company is listed in the BBB it will show a list of complaints for customers of the given company along with a rating and how the issue was resolved with the customer who filed the complaint with the BBB. Once you have been in contact with a company I would also recommend to obtain from them as many forms of contact as possible, just a few examples are phone number, mailing address, physical address, email addresses, names of employees, hours of operations, and how long they have been in business. If a company is trying to scam you most likely they will not be willing to provide this information, however if they do provide this information you can make sure it is legitimate once again by searching the Internet. The final suggestion we have regards checking with the state the company claims to conduct their business. Most companies are incorporated, to become a corporation you must register your company with the state where the company is located. Since the company must register with the state the state government will keep a record of this registration, to search for a company’s you can do a quick internet search with the words corporation status in front of the state of operations for the business.

These are a just a few suggestions timeshare owners can use when deciding if a timeshare company is worth using or if they are just trying to scam you. It is important to use one’s instincts and always remember if it sounds too good to be true it most likely is. We always recommended using Vacation Timeshare Rentals to sell a timeshare, the Internet’s largest timeshare marketplace.

The first company I read about used the name “RCI Management”, in the incident I read about they called a timeshare owner asking if they would like to rent or sell their timeshare and demanding around $1,000 up front to advertise the unit for the owner. If you hear from this company either by email or phone it is a good idea to cease all communications as soon as possible. We have discussed companies that call owners in the past like this, however most of them come up with a new company name, this company is using the name of another reputable company RCI to gain owners’ trust. If you do receive contact from this company it is a good idea to at least forward the information they have given you to management at RCI, it is highly likely they are not to happy about this company using their good name to lure unsuspecting people to giving them money and may already by building a legal case against them. The second incident I read about was involving a company named “Westgate Sales Group Inc.”; once again this company is in no way affiliated with Westgate Resorts. This company works a little different instead of preying on the timeshare owner they actually seek out individuals interested in renting a timeshare. When searching for a timeshare it is popular for renters to post timeshare want ads on a number of different sites, this company is contacting these renters stating that they have found an owner with the exact week they are requesting and to send funds to get the ball rolling on the rental. Once the funds have been sent the agency claims the owner is going to have to back out, most likely a ploy to buy time, and this transaction will be canceled but might be able to find another unit for the renter. Upon learning this most people will request to receive their money back, however they are unable to get even a call back or return email from this company. If you are contacting by this company, once again it would be beneficial to cease from any communication with this company and maybe even forward the correspondence directly to Westgate. If you would like to read more about these companies please visit the Timeshare Users Group message boards.

In this day and time it is very difficult for a company to build a good reputation, it is a shame that scammers such as those go around and potentially ruin the reputation of these companies in an effort to make a quick buck. We would encourage anyone who has heard from either of these companies to share your experience or if you have received contact from any other companies using false names please share the names they are using. After all the stories that are shared may help someone else from being scammed in the future.

Many people learn about the concept of timeshares while on vacation, either they run into a person promoting a particular resort or find a flier asking you to visit the resort and you will receive free show tickets or free dinner, attending a sales meeting at a resort in exchange for free lodging or other gifts is known as a timeshare promotion. Hopefully you were not fooled into purchasing a timeshare directly from the resort since a unit can be purchased for a fraction of the resort selling price. There are another group of people who heard about timesharing through word of mouth. Maybe a neighbor or co-worker purchased a unit while on vacation then explained the concept to you. When you hear about something from a family member or friend who is trustworthy, the topic is more likely to peak your interest to do further research on the topic to gain a better understanding. Other people may have simply stumbled upon the concept while searching for lodging accommodations on the Internet. I fall into this category, while searching for a vacation rental home I came across this concept even though vacation rentals and timeshares are different in many ways somehow I found a website that totally explained the concept and I was hooked. I started researching different timeshare resorts and how the concept worked as a whole, of course this was many years ago now I could probably write books on this subject along with an extraordinary amount of common mistakes that first time owners will make, many of which have been covered in this blog at different times. Hopefully pointing out scams and what to look for has helped some of our readers to avoid being taken advantage of.

No matter how long you have been interested in timesharing we would love to hear from you, let us know how you got involved. If you are a newbie to the industry we invite you to read through this blog and our site which contains a wealth of information collected over years and provides you with a good base understanding and brings attention to some of the pitfalls that can be avoided. We would also like to hear from some veterans, what are some of the resources you have used in the past to increase your understanding of this industry and what advice would you give to travelers just beginning to tackle this subject.

The first and easiest payment method is to use paypal to transfer the funds, using this method the person can either use a credit card or transfer funds directly from their bank account, so if the woman needed to pay using her bank account she still could have done this. Paypal has built in protection for the users of their site, if you transfer money to someone and they do not provide the service or product you have paid for Paypal will reimburse your funds until the other party can prove they provided the item paid for. Some owners do not like to use Paypal because they charge a transfer fee for every transaction that is accepted, if you are renter you can always volunteer to pay for the fees, normally around four percent of the transfer amount, which is well worth the piece of mind you will receive. The second method we recommend is to pay with a credit card. Most major credit card companies have a fraud protection plan available that allows you to dispute any charge on your card and makes the party who charged the credit prove the product paid for was delivered. I still recommend using a great amount of caution when giving out a credit card number, directly giving someone your credit card number can create a good amount of trouble if they plan on using it fraudulently. Even though you can most times be reimbursed for any fraudulent activity it will cause undue headaches since you will have to contact the credit card company and probably need to get a new credit card number. The final method we recommend is to use a secure escrow service, which holds the renter’s payment in escrow until the unit has been occupied. Using an escrow service will normally cost around $100, however this is much less expensive then having the full amount of a rental stolen from you.

If you have been taken advantage of you should contact your local authorities, your banking institution, timeshare resort, and timeshare company you found the property with. Also make sure to save all communications you had with the scammer and feel free to post the information on the Internet for everyone to see, after all you could help someone else from being scammed and possible find a way to get your money back if others have been scammed by the same party before.

The first reason that I would not list a timeshare on this site pertains to the number of scammers that will contact you regarding your timeshare. I have heard many stories of owners listing a unit for rent or sale only to be contacted by people who are obviously trying to separate them from their money through one method or another. In addition to scammers your email address might also be captured by someone compiling information for a spam list. Once your email address is placed on spammers list you will receive hundreds if not thousands of unsolicited emails and everyone knows just how annoying that can be. The people who compile these lists have built robots that scour the web for email addresses to add to their databases, since Craigslist receives so much traffic it is a popular site targeted by these individuals. Another reason to list your timeshare elsewhere is this site is not specific to timeshares only; there are multiple sections of the site many of which have nothing to do with timeshares. When you are trying to sell a timeshare or anything of value, on the Internet it is important to make sure the site you are using to advertise is receiving targeted traffic, in this case people who are interested in timeshares. The overwhelming amount of visitors to Craigslist does not have timeshares on their mind or may not even know what they are. When you list a timeshare with Vacation Timeshare Rentals you can rest assured that most of the visitors to our site are in some way interested in timeshares. Along these same lines this site does not have a section specifically for timeshares only, they do have a vacation rentals section but people familiar with timeshares understand the differences between this type of property and a timeshare. If someone did not know they difference and was looking specifically for a timeshare they may have a hard time finding your listing because there is no heading that designates the timeshare industry.

If you do decide to list with Craigslist I recommend being very careful and if something doesn’t feel right to not go through with any transaction. Vacation Timeshare Rentals is a much better option to advertise your timeshare for sale or rent, we have been helping owners in this aspect for a number of years. We have multiple timeshare listing options that will suit everyone’s wants and needs, please visit this page to list a timeshare.

If an owner chooses to list a timeshare rental and is able to secure occupancy of their unit this may indeed lead to sale further down the road. Many people want to try a timeshare and check out the resort before they agree to purchase anything, think back to when you were first interested in purchasing how many different options did you explore before you finally made a decision? The renter may decide to buy your timeshare immediately when they return or wait to visit other properties before making a decision, either way the more people that view your timeshare the better chance you will have of making a sale. The second reason to list a timeshare for sale and rent is timeshare rentals are actually more popular than timeshare sales at this given time. With the state of the economy many families are more willing to pay for a one time expense as oppose to purchasing a timeshare then incurring the yearly maintenance fees as well. For this reason owners actually have a better chance of renting their timeshare within a given period as oppose to selling their ownership. Timeshare rentals will cover most if not all of your maintenance fees for the year or period of usage, virtually making the ownership of the timeshare free to the current owner. In some cases owners can rent a unit for an amount above their yearly fees and many times make a few dollars while trying to sell. The final reason to list a timeshare for both rental and resale is we do not charge anything extra on Vacation Timeshare Rentals to list a timeshare for sale, for rent, or both. Owners have nothing to lose if they choose to rent their timeshare while trying to sell it, actually the upside should convince anyone trying to sell that renting is a good idea.

If you are interested in selling a timeshare or renting a timeshare or both please visit the this page to sell your timeshare.

Many families in the United States will procrastinate until the last possible minute to make their vacation arrangements adding unwanted stress during the reservation process. My first tip to people searching for timeshare rentals is to start looking as early as possible. Many owners are able to secure a timeshare unit up to one year away from the usage dates, and are happy to do so. When renters wait until the last minute they can sometimes find the resort they are wanting to utilize has been booked for months in advance, especially if they plan to travel during a high traffic time during the year. I would also recommend for people trying to make reservations to keep all options open. Many times when a family decides on one resort or city they do not realize there are other options out there. Resorts are often built very close together, if you are unable to find accommodations at your first choice there is most likely another resort or multiple resorts nearby that may have availability. In addition, if you are unable to find a unit in the city you have decided on there may be another option close by, usually within only a few miles. The next tip I have is do not put all of your eggs in one basket, by this I mean contact as many timeshare owners as you can find. Renters will sometimes find a unit they feel is perfect for them and end the search with this timeshare unit; however this does not yield the best chance for securing a unit. The final piece of advice I can give is to stay in touch by frequently checking your email/phone for responses from the owners you have contacted. With the popularity of the Internet many people are finding it easier to communicate through email, if you have contacted someone via email it is important to check your email regularly. Even if you have provided a phone number for the owner to contact you with there are people that would rather send emails. In addition to checking your email, make sure to look in your spam/junk folder for any responses that may have accidentally been marked as spam. Many spam filters will error on the side of caution, for this reason many emails can be marked as spam/junk even though they are legitimate emails.

Although following these methods may not work every time they will give you the best chance of securing a timeshare rental. Please let us know if you have any other suggestions for renters.