Koala fills a niche that others may not see quite yet, but I see it as a great alternative

[Limace]

I don’t think disboards ever required folks to use David’s. I rented points via their rental boards back in 2010 and it was direct from another member.


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[dioxide45]

Disboards seemed to go through a big upheaval in the last year. They changed sponsors to The World of DVC, they also lost a lot of moderators and the boards certainly aren't as busy as they used to be. Many people have migrated over to their Facebook groups.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I don’t think disboards ever required folks to use David’s. I rented points via their rental boards back in 2010 and it was direct from another member.


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For a while they sure did. The moderators told people not to rent on their site and to use only David's for rentals.

 

[TheHolleys87]

For a while they sure did. The moderators told people not to rent on their site and to use only David's for rentals.

I don’t remember that, but now they promote the Rent/Trade board as well as their sponsor. The Rent/Trade board brings in income from DVC owners who pay to list there if they don’t have enough history on DISboards or don’t meet other requirements to list for free. And I think Pete Werner has a financial interest in the real estate company that is now the board sponsor.

 

[SueDonJ]

For a while they sure did. The moderators told people not to rent on their site and to use only David's for rentals.

I remember the same from the earliest days of David's site but don't know at which point things changed on the DIS because I stopped following it.

 

[rickandcindy23]

My post that was specifically for the go-koala.com units that needed fulfilled was taken down. I think this was a good post for those who really need to use their points after last year.

 

[TUGBrian]

that post was in blatant violation of the no advertising rule, as was explained when it was taken down.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I didn't get an explanation.

 

[TUGBrian]

the notification was included when the post was deleted. either way...surely you knew that was not going to be allowed.

I think given this thread as now 12 pages, folks have been made aware of koala as a rental platform and received an abundance of free advertising.

 

[pacman777]

Koala should pay TUG for all the free exposure they got from all these shill like posts. Guarantee they probably increased their listings from owners by 500 to 1000%. Whether any of those end up renting is a whole another story. Only reason I listed on there is it’s free to list and it was very easy so really got nothing to lose. Just another Avenue and option.

 

[chapjim]

This came from Koala. This is a link to guaranteed bookings from Koala. These are dates they need that they call fulfill right away.

KOALA: Timeshare Rental Made Easy. Top Resorts Up To 70% Off

Rent direct from timeshare owners and book vacations at the world's best resorts for less. KOALA makes timeshare rentals easy, safe, and secure.

start.go-koala.com

$7.25/1,000 points -- okay if someone is going to lose points. Otherwise, no way.

 

[rickandcindy23]

$7.25/1,000 points -- okay if someone is going to lose points. Otherwise, no way.

I am not going to advertise Koala, but we discussed in the other thread that was shut down that a Wyndham Platinum could probably book and then rebook at the discounted points and use that reservation for more like $14.50 per 1,000. Even more as Founder's.

Why is everyone being so negative about Koala. We mention Redweek and Airbnb and even Vacation Candy on TUG and this is just another option that doesn't cost upfront. Use it or don't use it, but I am not a shill for the company. I don't own Koala, nor do I work for them. I have been pretty critical at times, actually. Our daughter has had great success but I have had only some success.

 

[chapjim]

I am not going to advertise Koala, but we discussed in the other thread that was shut down that a Wyndham Platinum could probably book and then rebook at the discounted points and use that reservation for more like $14.50 per 1,000. Even more as Founder's.

Why is everyone being so negative about Koala. We mention Redweek and Airbnb and even Vacation Candy on TUG and this is just another option that doesn't cost upfront. Use it or don't use it, but I am not a shill for the company. I don't own Koala, nor do I work for them. I have been pretty critical at times, actually. Our daughter has had great success but I have had only some success.

Not being negative -- I have eight or ten listings there now and one booking pending.

Even Founders-level owners can't book 2022 reservations at a discount.

If there are still January 2022 guaranteed bookings in November 2021, I'll be one of the first to try to fill the requirement but right now, that list of 2022 guaranteed bookings is next to useless.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Not being negative -- I have eight or ten listings there now and one booking pending.

Even Founders-level owners can't book 2022 reservations at a discount.

If there are still January 2022 guaranteed bookings in November 2021, I'll be one of the first to try to fill the requirement but right now, that list of 2022 guaranteed bookings is next to useless.

If you can rebook at 60 days...

 

[dioxide45]

If you can rebook at 60 days...

I think the problem is that if you make the booking now, you are committed to the reservation and payout amount. If you can't get the rebooking at 60 days, the owner may not even be breaking even. If you can get it, then it is great! The problem is that one has to at least commit to the current payout.

 

[PhilD41]

@dioxide45, that is pretty much where I am at. I use Koala and have had one rental there. I have had several great conversations with the Koala team, but I am not going to commit to the prices they are offering for their guarantee payouts. I can make MUCH more with a little more effort elsewhere. On the plus side, they recognize this and are working on "better" options for owners. Time will tell what they are and how well they work. For now, I just get to watch. I am about out of points for this year anyway.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I think the problem is that if you make the booking now, you are committed to the reservation and payout amount. If you can't get the rebooking at 60 days, the owner may not even be breaking even. If you can get it, then it is great! The problem is that one has to at least commit to the current payout.

Yes, absolutely. That would give me pause as well. I am not one to sit online for hours to try and catch a cancelled reservation. That's our daughter's job. She is a determined young lady, but she wouldn't commit to these at those prices. Now if they paid $12/1,000 and she had a possibility of getting something, she would go for it. But not at those prices. I told Jeff Ruiz the payouts were low.

 

[chapjim]

Yes, absolutely. That would give me pause as well. I am not one to sit online for hours to try and catch a cancelled reservation. That's our daughter's job. She is a determined young lady, but she wouldn't commit to these at those prices. Now if they paid $12/1,000 and she had a possibility of getting something, she would go for it. But not at those prices. I told Jeff Ruiz the payouts were low.

The way the page on Koala reads, it's a "points-saver." If the alternative to $7.5/thousand is $0/thousand, then it's a good deal.

For Wyndham owners who have a Jan-Dec Use Year and are some level of VIP, the January 2022 entries will not be of interest until November 2021. For non-VIP owners, they will not be of interest at all.

 

[PhilD41]

For non-VIP owners, they will not be of interest at all.

Unfortunately there are a LOT of owners that don't understand the value of what they have and are willing to rent for cost to just unload points. At least when it comes to Wyndham owners. This is even true for VIPs. I don't expect Koala will have a hard time getting these types of bookings filled. It does mean that I can't / won't compete with them on the platform because I understand the value and know how to get that value out. $12/1K with a option to rebook at a discount... I might jump on that for a few reservations, but I would walk away from even that if more ended up not being able to rebook than could. That would really depend on where the average landed. That said, this is certainly an easier way to rent out points.

 

[chapjim]

Renting for cost to unload points seems to be the objective of Koala's list.

For one thing, I would forget about re-booking, at least in the erstwhile "cancel-and-rebook" sense. I can see booking one unit smaller and wait to see what happens. But, as an example, you need to compare a full price one bedroom unit and a discounted two bedroom unit. You may be better off to just wait until the two month window opens and see if you can match up anything. For one, I will be limited by the policy against overlapping reservations. A lot of weeks from January-April are already doubled up (two is my max).

 

[rickandcindy23]

I just rented my final DVC reservation for this year on Koala. I was able to net $17.50 per point, which is $2.50 more than I usually get through Redweek. I will try for $20 per point next year as a net profit. David's was offering $14 per point, last time I checked. I only own at lowly OKW and SSR.

I am pretty small potatoes with my own personal rentals. Our daughter rents dozens of weeks a year and has found Koala to be easy to use and free to list, so no risk at all. I want to see Koala succeed for all timeshare owners.

I still keep my ads on Redweek. I wish they allowed a full year for a listing, however, because if I list a year out on Redweek, I have very little chance of renting before I have to renew my ad. But I advertise early for the early birds who rent way ahead.

 

[grupp]

In the past month I have rented 4 weeks for next March on Redweek and nothing on Koala. I still have my ads up on Koala, but don't think that I will be adding any addition weeks unless I have something within 90 days of check-in that I have not been able to rent. They just don't seem to fit my business model for several reasons. May look more into Airbnb for some my weeks, but mostly done with Koala unless things change.

Glad to hear they work for some people.

 

[rickandcindy23]

In the past month I have rented 4 weeks for next March on Redweek and nothing on Koala. I still have my ads up on Koala, but don't think that I will be adding any addition weeks unless I have something within 90 days of check-in that I have not been able to rent. They just don't seem to fit my business model for several reasons. May look more into Airbnb for some my weeks, but mostly done with Koala unless things change.

Glad to hear they work for some people.

My DVC OKW was December dates, Sun-Fri, cheap in points, so renting them on Koala was easy and no exchanges to compete with. Redweek has RCI exchanges listed, which is fine for those who want to take the chance of renting exchanges, but they stick out like a sore thumb, so Redweek should be taking care not to allow those rentals. Any 7-night stay in a one bedroom under $2,400 is a good indicator that this is an exchange. I think a lot of people rent exchanges on Redweek. You can make some big bucks on Redweek renting exchanges.

I have some pretty prime exchanges I am going to retrade for next Feb-March because family isn't going to Maui again with us next year. Our son and daughter-in-law are having twins in January, and I don't see them taking newborns on a plane for 7 hours. I grabbed them a couple of weeks before they made the big announcement. I am way more excited for grandkids than having them join us on Maui.

Our daughter and her family went this year, so I don't think they are interested in the spring break weeks I reserved. I only have one kid who might be willing to use a couple of the weeks. His little one will be three next summer, so they are thinking of going, depending on their budget.

 

[dioxide45]

In the past month I have rented 4 weeks for next March on Redweek and nothing on Koala. I still have my ads up on Koala, but don't think that I will be adding any addition weeks unless I have something within 90 days of check-in that I have not been able to rent. They just don't seem to fit my business model for several reasons. May look more into Airbnb for some my weeks, but mostly done with Koala unless things change.

Glad to hear they work for some people.

I think the renter you will be marketing to on AirBnB is similar to KOALA. AirBnB of course does have much more mass scale and reach, but I would think if the business model doesn't work at KOALA it probably won't work with AirBnB either?

 

[grupp]

I think the renter you will be marketing to on AirBnB is similar to KOALA. AirBnB of course does have much more mass scale and reach, but I would think if the business model doesn't work at KOALA it probably won't work with AirBnB either?

Don't necessarily agree as the pricing structure is little different and suspect I could get more per rental on Airbnb because the increased exposure than Koala to make it worth it. Koala to me is just a black hole at this point.