I have been renting our timeshare weeks for the past 4 years or so without major problems... until yesterday. My weeks are floating, so what I usually do is reserve my weeks then advertise that those weeks can be changed for a nominal fee. A few weeks ago while we were on vacation, a person emailed me about renting a week. The only week I had available was a holiday week (New Year's eve), but I decided to move that to the date the renter wanted and decrease the rental fee a bit so it was closer to the rent for my non-holiday week. Normally, I don't ask for money before I make a reservation date change because the inventory at this resort can change quickly. Instead, I make sure the person is definitely committed, make the change, then send a rental contract asking for all fees up front (I used to ask for half of the rental fee as deposit up front and the remainder later, but I changed that after I got burned last year).
To make this story short - this person and I agreed upon a rental rate, I made the changes and we agreed to exchange the rental agreement and fee at a later date, since I was still on vacation and she was heading out of town. I had not yet forwarded the rental agreement when the renter emailed me yesterday and indicated that perhaps their plans were changing, may not want the week after all, and would repay me the $25 fee for changing the date.
What is my recourse at this point -
For the future, I will have the renter immediately transfer at least half the rental fee into a PayPal account BEFORE I make any changes to a reservation.
Any advice on this situation would be appreciated.
Evelyn
To make this story short - this person and I agreed upon a rental rate, I made the changes and we agreed to exchange the rental agreement and fee at a later date, since I was still on vacation and she was heading out of town. I had not yet forwarded the rental agreement when the renter emailed me yesterday and indicated that perhaps their plans were changing, may not want the week after all, and would repay me the $25 fee for changing the date.
What is my recourse at this point -
- take the $25 and learn from this experience?
- ask for the $25 plus the amount of rent I lost by moving the date from a holiday to non-holiday week?
- or hold the renter to the full amount because we had a contract (all documented in emails)?
For the future, I will have the renter immediately transfer at least half the rental fee into a PayPal account BEFORE I make any changes to a reservation.
Any advice on this situation would be appreciated.
Evelyn
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