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Need Advice -- BOD looking for On Line Reservation System

SBK

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I am on the Board of Directors of a small (42 units), independent timeshare. We are self managed and currently intend to stay that way, but we would like to explore a cost effective way to implement an on line reservation system. We have quite a few resort owned units and we would like to enhance the rental income. Some of our owners also prefer to rent out their weeks rather than deposit them with RCI.

Is there anyone out there is TUG land who has had experience with this? we do not want to reinvent the wheel.

Thanks in advance.
 

Talent312

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I'm no IT expert, but it seems to me that at a minimum, your BOD will need to create a website which someone (a unit owner?) would maintain.

A real-time reservation application could be added as a plug-in, but a cheaper alternative would be to have a page with a master-calendar that listed available units by week (or dates) with a brief description (BR's, baths, occupancy) and an e-mail address for the owner.

Owners could then input data directly as an "administrator" or by notice to the webmaster.
<just my 2 cents>
 
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clsmit

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The vacation rentals by owner website (vbro.com) people might have something that would work for you. I've never used them to rent anything I own, but I've looked at the site a bunch of times to see what's out there.
 

Mel7706

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Whatever you do

should be fair and transparent. I think the Kamaloe Club in Maui now goes by email time and date of request.
They had a lot of complaints from owners under previous manager.
 

AwayWeGo

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[triennial - points]
More Difficult Than 1 Might Think ?

I am on the Board of Directors of a small (42 units), independent timeshare. We are self managed and currently intend to stay that way, but we would like to explore a cost effective way to implement an on line reservation system. We have quite a few resort owned units and we would like to enhance the rental income. Some of our owners also prefer to rent out their weeks rather than deposit them with RCI.

Is there anyone out there is TUG land who has had experience with this? we do not want to reinvent the wheel.

Thanks in advance.
I can make RCI reservations via Internet, but that's about it.

I never reserve at my far-off foreign timeshare. That's strictly for RCI deposit. Plus, it's a fixed week anyway so reserving my time there is mox nix.

I also never reserve at my USA heartland timeshare. That 1 gets me my annual injection of timeshare points -- automatically as long as I'm all paid up.

My Orlando timeshares are floating weeks, but the management company (VRI) does not offer on-line reservations. That's despite rumors a year or so back that VRI was taking over some other timeshare company or chain which does have such a system that theoretically could be expanded to cover the rest of the VRI-managed timeshares.

We're still waiting.

Meanwhile, we call up VRI & lock in our floating-week reservations the old fashioned way -- not that there's anything wrong with that.

So if on-line reservations are beyond the capability of VRI at the moment, it's hard to see how an independent 42-unit timeshare is going to swing an on-line reservation system of its own.

Good luck in your endeavors.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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I am on the Board of Directors of a small (42 units), independent timeshare. We are self managed and currently intend to stay that way, but we would like to explore a cost effective way to implement an on line reservation system. We have quite a few resort owned units and we would like to enhance the rental income. Some of our owners also prefer to rent out their weeks rather than deposit them with RCI.

Is there anyone out there is TUG land who has had experience with this? we do not want to reinvent the wheel.

Thanks in advance.

Given that description, you are clearly not going to hire a programmer to write a system for you.

As I see it, that means you have two options:

  • Buy some off the shelf reservations software. I don't even know if such software is available for your situation. But if you go that route you're probably still going to need someone with some skills to be responsible for getting that system up and running on your web site. You will need someone who knows how to set up a website, and then someone - probably the same person - will need to do whatever else is needed to get the software to interface with the website and serve up pages.

    If you're going to handle making payments with the software, you will need to configure the web site for that. Do you want the software to check to be sure that an owner is current on fees and assessments before allowing a reservation to be made? That's another interface that will need to be set up; even if the software is configured to check with that someone on your end will still need to set up the interface for the software to query the resort records as to payment status.

    Seems to me that's a pretty significant effort for a 42-unit resort to undertake on it's own, even if off-the-shelf software does happen to be available at a reasonable price.

  • Set up a relationship with an outfit who provides reservation services for resorts such as yours. That outfit, of course, is going to take a cut. But they will be set up to handle most of the processes involved and they will be responsible for keeping the system running.

If it were me, I know which direction I would be looking.
 

short

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Try resortime.com

I have rented timeshare units a few times from resortime.com. I don't know how resorts sign up or imput inventory but you might check them out. The have online reservations or a phone number to call and book rooms.

Short
 

theo

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My $0.02 worth...


My Orlando timeshares are floating weeks, but the management company (VRI) does not offer on-line reservations. That's despite rumors a year or so back that VRI was taking over some other timeshare company or chain which does have such a system that theoretically could be expanded to cover the rest of the VRI-managed timeshares. We're still waiting.

Meanwhile, we call up VRI & lock in our floating-week reservations the old fashioned way -- not that there's anything wrong with that.

So if on-line reservations are beyond the capability of VRI at the moment, it's hard to see how an independent 42-unit timeshare is going to swing an on-line reservation system of its own.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Alan:
I own several weeks at VRI managed resorts. My bet is that no such on-line reservation system will actually be forthcoming at any time from VRI. Their phone reservation process is well established, tried and true and successful. Why then would they choose to adopt the practices of the troubled entity (ORE) which they bought out? I don't think that online reservation is a matter of being "beyond the capacity" of VRI; I think they've instead made the conscious, overt decision that it would be both risky and unnecessary to even attempt or bother do so. Just my bet...

Then again, VRI does not actually consult with me on these matters...;)
 
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Lee B

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One That I Know About

I have a vacation rental handled by a licensed broker. They just started using an online service that I know very little about, such as cost, terms etc.

The url is these words without the spaces followed by the usual dot com:

rent one online

Lee
 

caribbeansun

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Google "availability calendar" and/or "online reservation system" and you'll get a number of options depending on your needs.
 

SBK

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Thanks

Please keep the tips and advice coming.

We are considering whether the expense would be justified.

Thanks!
 

PA-

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Sounds to me as though you need to hire a competent management company. Self-management is fine if you have 5 or 6 units, but 42???
 
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