Koala.com Renting Experience

[Sandy VDH]

If you want some specific renting experiences, using go-koala.com, I am more than happy to share, I am just not willing to post in a public forum that Wyndham or other TS companies could be monitoring, but please start a PM Conversation with me.

I am using Koala as it is easy, I don't have to write ads, I just have to fill existing requests. I don't have to worry about getting scammed, collecting payments, dealing with the rate (if I use a Hub service like Wyndham or Hilton) or the renters. All those things that are time consuming and often frustrating, can be avoided with Koala. I look at what requests are on the hub, and I look to see if I wish to accept the rate and dates and take that booking for them. As a VIP they are ok with me attempting to rebook and get a discount in points if that is available, which is great for me. I also don't need to add the GC until it gets to the cancellation period, so I am not paying for a GC that could be cancelled.

As I am the manager of our family account, It does make it hard to recover your extended family's unused points in a particular year, if you feel like your account is going to get a cease and desist at any moment. I am going to change my whole account to a family trust just to deal with all the extended family usage ( and associated last names, there is currently about 8 different last names in our family trust because of marriages) that it needs to cover, without that usage being seen rentals.

But the few that I may do to burn through the extra points may be overshawdowed by the whole lot of them that are family bookings. Just wanting to keep things a bit on the down low.

 

[Tacoma]

If you have interest inyour booking do they contact you by email?

 

[rickandcindy23]

I love Koala for all of my rentals. I still use Redweek for some, but I have been very successful with Koala. I am getting $20 per point for my Disney reservations I book and list. I also list Shell reservations on that site (also WorldMark). It's about time for Redweek to get some competition, and not having to pay upfront makes it no risk at all.

@Tacoma The renter only deals with Koala with the Wyndham rentals. As the owner, you secure the reservation. There is a list of what they need (I get a list every week but cannot advertise it here on TUG).

Koala would love to have even half of the number of Westin and Marriott rentals that are on Redweek. I would love to see TUG members using Koala for those rentals. No cost to list, no risk at all, and you might make a bit more than you have in the past.

 

[echino]

I'm listing everything both on Redweek and on Koala, so far it has been about 90% rented via Redweek, 5% via Koala, 5% other.

 

[emeryjre]

I have had success with some of my listings on Koala, Other listings seem to languish and get no activity at all. I am around 50-50

I put everything on Koala since there is no upfront cost and the time required to place a listing is minimal. I also place the ones that have been languishing on other sites, but I am hoping that the listings that languish will eventually draw renters interested in out of the US resorts. With travel restrictions easing, I think out of the US listings will recover.

Koala came into business and had to face pandemic issues at a crucial time in their growth. The fact that they made it through is a testament to the strength of their business model.

 

[SteelerGal]

I am listing more on Koala these days but will utilize Redweek if it languishes.

 

[chapjim]

I have not found that filling the existing requests is economically feasible. Almost all of the requests for Wyndham pay $7.25/thousand points, just about my break-even, and the cost of a guest confirmation would put me in the hole. It doesn't matter since I don't rent Wyndham reservations. I used to.

I do have a couple of non-Wyndham reservations listed on Koala. No nibbles yet through Koala but they are very late in the year.

 

[Jethro37]

I notice the list of wyndham requests to be fulfilled that Koala posts has drastically reduced. It's 9 listing all 6 months out.

In the past they've had pages and pages of requests spanning a large range of dates. Is this a seasonal thing or has the well dried up for some reason?

Did some high volume renters catch on? Is Wyndham fulfilling them now?

 

[chapjim]

But would that reduce the number of requests that KOALA gets from people wanting to rent? I could see it reducing owner rental listings, but not necessarily decreasing requests. I would actually expect the opposite, an increase in requests since there should be a reduction in the number of available listings. Perhaps word is out to renters/guests that renting Wyndham weeks isn't what it used to be.

That's why I deleted that post!

 

[dioxide45]

That's why I deleted that post!

Then I'll delete mine too.

 

[rickandcindy23]

@dioxide, I think you are right!

Could be that Koala has stopped taking requests because of the cancellations of Wyndham reservations.

Wyndham has been creepy to owners. We know all about it. Believe me. I am trying to figure out if I want to keep anything Wyndham. I am THAT angry, and even the Platinum Founder's level of ownership is probably not worth keeping.

 

[chapjim]

@dioxide, I think you are right!

Could be that Koala has stopped taking requests because of the cancellations of Wyndham reservations.

Wyndham has been creepy to owners. We know all about it. Believe me. I am trying to figure out if I want to keep anything Wyndham. I am THAT angry, and even the Platinum Founder's level of ownership is probably not worth keeping.

I think a lot of that evaluation turns on what other resorts one has access to. We are using our Wyndham ownership much more than we used to, prior to being fingered by Wyndham for "commercial use." The non-Wyndham resorts we own are now almost entirely devoted to renting. Your non-Wyndham holdings are way more extensive than ours and probably way more extensive than most timeshare owners.

 

[Jethro37]

I am trying to figure out if I want to keep anything Wyndham. I am THAT angry, and even the Platinum Founder's level of ownership is probably not worth keeping.

We are using our Wyndham ownership much more than we used to, prior to being fingered by Wyndham for "commercial use." The non-Wyndham resorts we own are now almost entirely devoted to renting. Y

What percentage of your personal stays are being reserved in the 2 month window and/or upgraded? Using those vastly improves your $/1k points MF expenses, but also limits your options.

Is founders status a grandfathered status that no longer available?

 

[Ty1on]

What percentage of your personal stays are being reserved in the 2 month window and/or upgraded? Using those vastly improves your $/1k points MF expenses, but also limits your options.

Is founders status a grandfathered status that no longer available?

Founders is a the new highest status, introduced last time they changed the VIP points structure. 1.4M VIP eligible points.

 

[ocdb8r]

I'm listing everything both on Redweek and on Koala, so far it has been about 90% rented via Redweek, 5% via Koala, 5% other.

My experience as well...

I have not found that filling the existing requests is economically feasible. Almost all of the requests for Wyndham pay $7.25/thousand points, just about my break-even, and the cost of a guest confirmation would put me in the hole. It doesn't matter since I don't rent Wyndham reservations. I used to.

This has also been the biggest problem I have. Many of the requests I have seen I wouldn't even break-even.

 

[chapjim]

What percentage of your personal stays are being reserved in the 2 month window and/or upgraded? Using those vastly improves your $/1k points MF expenses, but also limits your options.

Is founders status a grandfathered status that no longer available?

I'm well aware of the benefits of discounted and sometimes upgraded reservations. There was a time when almost every reservation I made was discounted and likely upgraded as well. That's why I booked them.

Right now, very few of my reservations are booked in the two month discount window but not because I don't know about discounting/upgrading. To get reservations I want, I'm booking quite a bit ahead of check-in. I look every day for opportunities to book, re-book, or upgrade inside the discount window. Success has been spotty for a couple of reasons, I think. One, I'm booking popular resorts at busy times. Two, this year seems to have been especially busy as people are using banked points or weeks left over from 2020/2021 from all the Covid restrictions.

I'm not sure I understand the comment about limiting options.

 

[Jethro37]

I'm not sure I understand the comment about limiting options.

Just meant you're limited to what' still has inventory available 2 months out.

I wasn't intending to educate you, just making an observation. Low mf is my strategy and was curious how much 2 month window bookings get used as those are effectively some really nice maintenance fee rates.

Makes sense that a lot more is getting booked due to pent up demand from Covid. Maybe that's part of what's cleaned out these Koala requests.

Thanks.

 

[grupp]

I find Koala very easy work work with, but have only have few weeks that have rented through them.

 

[gprince]

I may give Kaola a try. I am struggling getting my Disney reservations rented. Currently, I have a labor day weekend studio at SS available.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I may give Kaola a try. I am struggling getting my Disney reservations rented. Currently, I have a labor day weekend studio at SS available.

It doesn't cost anything to try, but did you advertise with Redweek? I had one short reservation at Animal Kingdom at Jambo House and rented it within 12 hours with Redweek. The date was coming up quickly, so I panicked and advertised in both places. Redweek came through.

But Koala is great, and I love it, but I mostly love it because I don't have to pay anything upfront.

Definitely reduce your price, if you are asking more than $18 per point to get it rented. I think DVC owners have some unrealistic expectations of what they can get especially based on what Disney gets.

 

[Sandy VDH]

Koala has said they are making some change to the hub, and the lack of requests is a short term situation. I really don't know more, but I expect some word from Koala on this at some point.

 

[gprince]

It doesn't cost anything to try, but did you advertise with Redweek? I had one short reservation at Animal Kingdom at Jambo House and rented it within 12 hours with Redweek. The date was coming up quickly, so I panicked and advertised in both places. Redweek came through.

But Koala is great, and I love it, but I mostly love it because I don't have to pay anything upfront.

Definitely reduce your price, if you are asking more than $18 per point to get it rented. I think DVC owners have some unrealistic expectations of what they can get especially based on what Disney gets.

I have it listed for rent in RedWeek and on Tugs. I even put it on Craigslist. Desparation.

I am at $18.75 per point. I would think that labor day weekend would be worth an extra .75. The last 3 rentals I have listed on RedWeek all failed to rent. The first 2 times, they rented quickly and I thought I was on to something really good. I will definitely look into koala.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Gary

 

[tschwa2]

I have it listed for rent in RedWeek and on Tugs. I even put it on Craigslist. Desparation.

I am at $18.75 per point. I would think that labor day weekend would be worth an extra .75. The last 3 rentals I have listed on RedWeek all failed to rent. The first 2 times, they rented quickly and I thought I was on to something really good. I will definitely look into koala.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Gary

I think the inventory from RCI and II, throughout the summer and into September may have diverted some of the demand.