SirhcATW
TUG Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2025
- Messages
- 29
- Reaction score
- 8
- Location
- Neenah, WI
- Resorts Owned
- Disney Riviera Resort
Marriott Abound Trust Points
Hi everyone,
I recently signed up for Koala's Platinum VIP Membership, hoping for a premium experience to help rent out my timeshare. Unfortunately, from the orientation to the features explained, it hasn't felt very "VIP," and I'm questioning the value.
My orientation call on May 8th started things off on the wrong foot. The scheduling email warned, "We are sooooooo busy we may have to call you up to 15 Minutes before your appointment or 15 Minutes after your scheduled appointment time." They ended up calling me at 12:21 PM, a full 21 minutes past my scheduled start, which was 6 minutes outside their own buffer. Minor, perhaps, but not a great first impression for a premium service.
What's more frustrating is that you must complete this orientation before using any website features. I signed up and paid on April 25th, but the earliest orientation was May 8th. That’s nearly two weeks of a paid service I couldn't access. When I questioned this, the answer was again about them being "soooooooo busy" and that I was essentially out of luck.
After waiting, the orientation itself was a letdown. I learned absolutely nothing I couldn't have figured out by browsing the site. This made the mandatory wait feel even more pointless.
They heavily promoted their "trademarked and patented Hub" as a unique, world-class feature. The salesperson dismissed my suggestion that other platforms might have comparable or better systems. They claimed Hub requests get snapped up "in a flash." However, two days later (it's May 10th, 2025, now), the same requests shown during my orientation are still sitting there. Not quite the rapid action I was led to expect.
Then there's the "expert knowledge" in pricing they advertised. During the orientation, I was advised to check Booking.com, Expedia, and RedWeek for comps. If their experts are just sending me to RedWeek, why pay Koala a premium? The "Suggested Listings" feature, another touted benefit, felt vague. I was told it's updated quarterly, which doesn't suggest it's based on real-time demand from their site. It just looked like a basic webform to me.
Let's talk about the "Featured Listing" benefit. With Platinum, you get 5 "Supercharged Listings
" per year, which they claim boosts your chances of getting booked. The way it was explained to me is that they scroll 5 of these on the website every 15 minutes. However, I also heard there are 5,000+ listings in this "featured" rotation. If that's accurate, the chances of my listing getting meaningful, repeated exposure seem incredibly slim. So, uh yeah... not sure how much of a "benefit" that will truly be.
And the pricing on those Hub listings I saw? Meh. The prices ranged from $0.60 to $0.64 per point. For my MVC points, that looks like I’d be getting roughly 60 cents on the dollar against my maintenance fees. I'll have to wait and see if this actually pans out for any rentals, and I might be okay with those numbers in a pinch, but again, all of those specific ones I saw were in California, which brings back the cancellation risk I mentioned earlier – a huge problem.
On top of those low per-point values, I assume Koala still takes their 8% commission. They also mentioned they charge that 8% on any listings their concierge service (part of Platinum) creates for me. I don't have strong feelings about the commission itself – they have to make money. Oh wait... I also paid $399 for the privilege of accessing all of this. And they will be charging the renter as well. Starting to feel like a bit much for what's been delivered so far.
One last thing that gives me pause is their payment timeline. Koala apparently releases payment to the owner 24 hours after the guest checks in. And if it takes longer, they seemed quick to suggest it’s probably your bank’s fault. This is quite different from my experience with other services; for example, when I rent my DVC points through DVC Rental Store, I receive the majority of my payment as soon as I provide the reservation confirmation number, long before check-in. That provides a much better cash flow and peace of mind.
On a somewhat different note, the actual contract they sent over seemed rather reasonable. There are definitely things in it that annoy me, but on the whole, I think the average TUG user could read through it and understand what they're agreeing to. There wasn't an overwhelming amount of legalese, at least for now. I'm sure as they grow and can afford more lawyers, that part will likely expand.
So, what's my plan? I'm going to give this Koala Platinum VIP service a try for the one-year commitment I've paid for. If it genuinely makes renting out my MVC points more convenient and isn't a major hassle, I might consider continuing. They do include an insurance policy (apparently $1M in host insurance) when renting through them, which is a nice touch. I've never had a renter do anything that resulted in charges back to me, but there's always a first time, so why risk it if the protection is there.
As for my DVC points? Unless Koala can offer some truly great premium or compelling advantage here, I'll likely stick with using DVC Rental Store and direct rentals to friends and family for those.
Overall, my initial experience with the Platinum VIP membership has been underwhelming and has raised more questions about its actual worth than it has answered. I'm very interested to hear if other TUG members have had similar experiences, or perhaps can offer different perspectives on some of these aspects.
I recently signed up for Koala's Platinum VIP Membership, hoping for a premium experience to help rent out my timeshare. Unfortunately, from the orientation to the features explained, it hasn't felt very "VIP," and I'm questioning the value.
My orientation call on May 8th started things off on the wrong foot. The scheduling email warned, "We are sooooooo busy we may have to call you up to 15 Minutes before your appointment or 15 Minutes after your scheduled appointment time." They ended up calling me at 12:21 PM, a full 21 minutes past my scheduled start, which was 6 minutes outside their own buffer. Minor, perhaps, but not a great first impression for a premium service.
What's more frustrating is that you must complete this orientation before using any website features. I signed up and paid on April 25th, but the earliest orientation was May 8th. That’s nearly two weeks of a paid service I couldn't access. When I questioned this, the answer was again about them being "soooooooo busy" and that I was essentially out of luck.
After waiting, the orientation itself was a letdown. I learned absolutely nothing I couldn't have figured out by browsing the site. This made the mandatory wait feel even more pointless.
They heavily promoted their "trademarked and patented Hub" as a unique, world-class feature. The salesperson dismissed my suggestion that other platforms might have comparable or better systems. They claimed Hub requests get snapped up "in a flash." However, two days later (it's May 10th, 2025, now), the same requests shown during my orientation are still sitting there. Not quite the rapid action I was led to expect.
Then there's the "expert knowledge" in pricing they advertised. During the orientation, I was advised to check Booking.com, Expedia, and RedWeek for comps. If their experts are just sending me to RedWeek, why pay Koala a premium? The "Suggested Listings" feature, another touted benefit, felt vague. I was told it's updated quarterly, which doesn't suggest it's based on real-time demand from their site. It just looked like a basic webform to me.
Let's talk about the "Featured Listing" benefit. With Platinum, you get 5 "Supercharged Listings
" per year, which they claim boosts your chances of getting booked. The way it was explained to me is that they scroll 5 of these on the website every 15 minutes. However, I also heard there are 5,000+ listings in this "featured" rotation. If that's accurate, the chances of my listing getting meaningful, repeated exposure seem incredibly slim. So, uh yeah... not sure how much of a "benefit" that will truly be.And the pricing on those Hub listings I saw? Meh. The prices ranged from $0.60 to $0.64 per point. For my MVC points, that looks like I’d be getting roughly 60 cents on the dollar against my maintenance fees. I'll have to wait and see if this actually pans out for any rentals, and I might be okay with those numbers in a pinch, but again, all of those specific ones I saw were in California, which brings back the cancellation risk I mentioned earlier – a huge problem.
On top of those low per-point values, I assume Koala still takes their 8% commission. They also mentioned they charge that 8% on any listings their concierge service (part of Platinum) creates for me. I don't have strong feelings about the commission itself – they have to make money. Oh wait... I also paid $399 for the privilege of accessing all of this. And they will be charging the renter as well. Starting to feel like a bit much for what's been delivered so far.
One last thing that gives me pause is their payment timeline. Koala apparently releases payment to the owner 24 hours after the guest checks in. And if it takes longer, they seemed quick to suggest it’s probably your bank’s fault. This is quite different from my experience with other services; for example, when I rent my DVC points through DVC Rental Store, I receive the majority of my payment as soon as I provide the reservation confirmation number, long before check-in. That provides a much better cash flow and peace of mind.
On a somewhat different note, the actual contract they sent over seemed rather reasonable. There are definitely things in it that annoy me, but on the whole, I think the average TUG user could read through it and understand what they're agreeing to. There wasn't an overwhelming amount of legalese, at least for now. I'm sure as they grow and can afford more lawyers, that part will likely expand.
So, what's my plan? I'm going to give this Koala Platinum VIP service a try for the one-year commitment I've paid for. If it genuinely makes renting out my MVC points more convenient and isn't a major hassle, I might consider continuing. They do include an insurance policy (apparently $1M in host insurance) when renting through them, which is a nice touch. I've never had a renter do anything that resulted in charges back to me, but there's always a first time, so why risk it if the protection is there.
As for my DVC points? Unless Koala can offer some truly great premium or compelling advantage here, I'll likely stick with using DVC Rental Store and direct rentals to friends and family for those.
Overall, my initial experience with the Platinum VIP membership has been underwhelming and has raised more questions about its actual worth than it has answered. I'm very interested to hear if other TUG members have had similar experiences, or perhaps can offer different perspectives on some of these aspects.
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