anyone deal with vacation homes only?

[EvelynK72 Member Find all posts View Profile Close EvelynK72]

I received an email from Ashley Richardson at 310-827-2648 asking me for a phone number in order to reach me right away about renting my unit. I didn't know if this was an individual or a rental company. I returned the call and got an answering machine letting me know this was the company vacation homes only. Two days later, Ashley left me a phone message and I returned the call.

I didn't get a clear picture of how this company works, although Ashley did send me a sample contract. At first, I balked at the idea of renting my unit through a company, but since I still hadn't rented my unit I thought Why Not - as long as they give me the rental fee I want under my conditions. But without a clear idea of how they work, I don't know if that's how it is going to work - at least just yet.

My only concern would be liability. What if the renter trashed the place - who would be liable - the renter, the rental company or me? The resort does take a credit card number from the renter at check-in for just that sort of thing, but could any liability be placed on me? Monday I'll be calling the resort to find out about that.

This company also prefers to deal with an individual on the phone, rather than email. Ashley said something about having to act quickly on their rentals. Seemed like odd behavior to me. My only thoughts were that an email leaves a paper trail and a phone conversation does not - NOT a good sign in my opinion.

Any thoughts from INDIVIDUALS who have successfully rented their units through Vacation Homes Only?

Evelyn

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

Have no experience.

Sounds like they are renting to individual. A lot of on-line listing company doing that.

Ask for a contract sample. Read it through. They usually give you much less than the market rate because they are getting more revenue that way.

I received an email from Ashley Richardson at 310-827-2648 asking me for a phone number in order to reach me right away about renting my unit. I didn't know if this was an individual or a rental company. I returned the call and got an answering machine letting me know this was the company vacation homes only. Two days later, Ashley left me a phone message and I returned the call.

Do you like talk to a machine, and someone decided when to return your call at the date they decided?

They have no control if they want your inventory or not.

Read their contract sample.

Jya-Ning

[Theo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Theo]

Search on the name "Preston Green"...

Unless I am mistaken (...always a possibility, I will readily admit), Vacation Homes Only is actually the business name of a (California based) fellow named Preston Green. He contacted me once a few years ago, but I declined to do business with him. On other timeshare related sites you can readily find his name in multiple posts and draw your own conclusions.

As nearly as I could determine, Green's company acts as "middleman" for rentals, negotiating one price with the renter and another price with the owner and pocketing the difference --- and /or getting a commission from the owner. I believe they may be engaged in sales as well.

Since the fellow contacted me in response to an ad I had placed, I assume that he "found" me by trolling around posted Internet ads to find "contacts". Since he turned out to have nothing even remotely resembling what I had actually (and very specifically) identified in my ad, I promptly bid him adieu. In addition to the contact being irrelevant to my ad details, I also didn't much like his "attitude". However, since the contact from him was both unwelcome and unsolicited in the first place, I was not exactly prepared to like him anyhow, so that's just a subjective, personal opinion / observation...