PROPOSAL: Forum for Renting/Swapping Accommodations
 

I've mentioned this before but there are many of us FlyerTalkers who either own second properties or would like to rent/stay/swap housing with other Flyertalkers.

But with the T&Cs prohibiting members from soliciting business on the forum, it leaves out this type of activity which is, in fact, travel related as well as potentially adventageous to members.

I'd like to propose a forum for members to post info on their (personally owned) vacation properties or primary properties available for rent or swap.

And if approved, a secondary question would be whether the board would also include time shares in that approval.

The forum could be "Rent from a FlyerTalker"
Rita

Rita,

It sounds like a great idea. I'd love the opportunity to rent from a fellow FTer.

But, I started thinking about it in comparison to CC and also any responsiblity assume by the HOM by simply allowing it on the boards and it didn't start sounding as good ;)

I shudder to think of all the people who would simply use FT as another place to list their rental property.

I know that's not your intent, but unfortunately, I think that's what will happen. Perhaps minimum posting requirements, such as those for CC, would be the way to go if this is approved.

That said, I still would love a place for this on FT as long as the appropriate access controls are instituted.

Mary,
I do think there would need to be controls of some kind. But at the same time now that we have members from the various hotel chains, they, in effect, are advocating for their businesses.

But, for example, I'd love to swap with someone. No money involved. No commercial websites.
I'd also love to rent our condo out if someone wanted to. Someone who knows me from the time I"ve spent on FT. Or if they haven't gotten to know me over the years, well at least they can search and read my previous posts.

Rita
ps, I love your tag line "Life's too short..." My recently departed mother-in-law always said that and I always appreciated her philosophy of life.

Rita, this is a great idea. I have always wanted to participate in a home/second home swap and have been put off by the research necessary to make sure you're getting legit people. I "know" enough people on FT that it would be very comfortable. I agree with Mary that there would need to be some qualifiers, but overall, this would provide a great service! ^ ^ :-: :-:

I would like to see this ... and to include timeshares. Although I don't post much (usually don't have a lot I can contribute) I would think possibly a minimum "join date" may be a type of control. Then even though someone has few posts, they could still participate legitimately.

Has anyone come across a forum that focuses on swapping & the experiences they have had?

I like the idea of a classifieds type system where we can posts or browse through listings of rentals/swaps available by region.

Say I'm going to France, it would be great to have some way to find a house swap or rental deal.

Not so much here but I visit RedWeek.com on occasion and they have an extensive list of properties for exchange as well as a lot of commentary on the experience.

Mhmm, but I think it's a bit different with time shares than properties that are owned outright.

With a time share, if a sofa gets stained, for example, the owner of that week probably doesn't fret the same way, say I would, because I own the property outright.

I'm more interested in screening prospective users because of that fact. And that's where FlyerTalk comes in. I can get a real sense of someone simply by reading his/her posts.

Rita

So based on my posting history, am I likely to stain your couch?? :p

nope, but you won't bring in 14 people to a condo that sleeps 4, i'll bet. My odds are just a bit better with you. And if you do stain the couch, you might just own up to it.

Heck, as a FlyerTalker you might even make it up to me by giving me some of the ff miles you're burning these days :D

R.

I see where you're coming from here. And, initially, I don't have any problems with such a forum.

But I wonder how many other FT'ers own rental properties? And would want to use a forum like you're proposing to try to rent their properties?

Hopefully we'll find out from this thread but this public TB Forum is not well known and is one of the least active forums on FT.

If you know of other FT'ers with rental properties, perhaps you could PM them and encourage them to weigh in on the subject.

I might just start up a thread on OMNI or something.
R.

I don't think this is a good idea.

Introducing an area of FT for personal gain is not what FT is, in my mind at least, all about. There are dozens and dozens of places on the internet that cater for holiday rentals, FT does not need to mimic them. Swap for non-commercial gain would be different, although a new forum just to cater to the likely number of instances of this happening, seems overkill.

Kinda of like a flyertalk.craigslist.org sub-site? Hmmm... maybe.

But I can foresee the need for forum moderator to two at the outset.