TS rental market seems to be inefficient. Any biz opportunity?

[travelhome]

Not sure whether this post should go to buy/sell/rent forum but since I'm looking at Worldmark program, I will just post the question here and please move it to appropriate forum if necessary.

We are a family of four with a toddler and a baby. We live in SF bay area so Worldmark has been recommended as a good program to buy into. I first came across TUG four years ago after a trip to Hilton Waikola village, without buying of course. In the past four years, I came to TUG once a while to read and learn. We haven't pulled the trigger to buy since Life has other priorities, eg. house #1, baby #1, house #2, baby #2, job changes etc. We are not advanced planners. Travel 60 days out is normal and 90 days out is really advanced planning in our book. We are not bound to school schedule but we still mostly travel around major holidays, even though we can take week off at other time. It's just so that when the holidays come, everyone is in a vacation mode where as normal time, is, normal time.

I'm consistently evaluating rent vs. buy. Also, I'm watching WM credits drop the price all the way from 0.8 to almost 0.4-0.5 now.

Since our first TS exposure at Hilton waikola, everytime before we went on vacation, I told my husband that I'd like to have a suite with more space and a kitchen, not a hotel room. But we've been to Cancun, Monterey, Carmel, Tahoe, and next month HHV, all in hotel rooms. They just seem to be easy and flexible. You can bid on priceline, buy from hotels.com or search and put together itenary more easily.

At the same time, I'm drooling to see many weeks are for rent very cheap, for example $399 thanksgiving week at Mayan Palace Rivera, or other nice places I'd love to stay.

I visit vrbo, redweek, TUG rental, WMowner rental board before we iron the itenary. I'm asking when I'm above to travel why I couldn't find the cheap place I like? I think the reason being most of these are rented at per week bases. We do not always travel in a week and may want to move from place to place. This makes renting from those cheap weeks more difficult. Easier way is to rent directly from retails chain hotels.com or become a Worldmark member and design itenary that way. There is just not an efficient way for me to browse and piece together. And the time spent on looking for the best possible accommodation has its cost. We had to settle for the easy route and an expensive route in the interest of time.

I see a gap here. On the one hand, as a consumer, I'd love to get into these places but got turned away every time I tried due to the inflexibility or market inefficiency. On the other hand, owners have to rent their weeks out for very very cheap, much cheaper than what you can find from those major travel retailer sites.

Anyway these are my observations. Is this also a biz opportunity to bring ends together? What are the approaches? It will be hard I can imagine.

Something for your master minds to think about so that we end user can benefit from that.

Thanks a lot!
Tiff

 

[lprstn]

You poor dear...staying in a hotel with my 4 kids would be a nightmare, not a vacation....especially now after TSing for over 10 years...

Yes there is a lot of disparity in pricing of units up for rent and MFs, but its not an apples to apples scenario for most. Especially for those that understand TSing well and work the system to get the best possible scenario for them.

As for a business opportunity to work the 2 sides of this problem, been there done that...many have tried, but it all boils down to each person's personal travel style.

I personally love owning and only rent out units about 20% of the time, only when I can't use any part of that week myself. Some people only rent theirs out exclusively, while some people try to reap any profit from an unused week. The developers also drop inventory into the market for rentals in order to be able to sale TS to a new unschooled buyer. So where do we go from here? Don't know...but you make a good point and an obvious question.

 

[summervaca]

I think there are some knowledgeable people on this forum who could do a wonderful job of this with Wyndham points.

 

[regatta333]

If you expect to be vacationing around the school calendar and are not advance planners, then owning a timeshare is probably not for you, unless you buy a fixed week and are happy to vacation there every year.

My suggestion would be to go the rental route. You mention that you do not really like to stay in one place for a week, but if the price is right, rent the week and just stay the 3-4 nights. We have done this several times on inexpensive exchanges.

 

[travelhome]

If you expect to be vacationing around the school calendar and are not advance planners, then owning a timeshare is probably not for you, unless you buy a fixed week and are happy to vacation there every year.

My suggestion would be to go the rental route. You mention that you do not really like to stay in one place for a week, but if the price is right, rent the week and just stay the 3-4 nights. We have done this several times on inexpensive exchanges.

I mentioned that we are not bound to school schedules.

It's a good idea that just use partial week if it is cheap enough.

Thanks!!

 

[vacationhopeful]

Another idea:

Buy a very cheap MF resort - one is affilliated with both RCI and II. Then join either or both RCI -II to look at their last minute or last call or extra vacation sections. Even the minisystem VRI resort, as they have a large presence in the Western USA, would be a good one, too. So look for cheap MF belonging to RCI & II & VRI(ORE).

Just being a T/S owner, gets you membership options in these exchange companies. You could also join Redweek, depositing you week each year, and combining the points to get you Asia or Mexico (whereever DAE is strong) with your really cheap & small week. Or just join DAE for free and get their last call stuff (one must be brave, with many of these last call weeks). :ignore:

Wyndham gets you only one exchange membership.

Many owners here on Tugs believe the last call type opportunities are one of the best parts of owning a T/S.

Or JUST rent from us Timeshare Addicts.:rofl:

 

[travelhome]

Another idea:

Buy a very cheap MF resort - one is affilliated with both RCI and II. Then join either or both RCI -II to look at their last minute or last call or extra vacation sections. Even the minisystem VRI resort, as they have a large presence in the Western USA, would be a good one, too. So look for cheap MF belonging to RCI & II & VRI(ORE).

Just being a T/S owner, gets you membership options in these exchange companies. You could also join Redweek, depositing you week each year, and combining the points to get you Asia or Mexico (whereever DAE is strong) with your really cheap & small week. Or just join DAE for free and get their last call stuff (one must be brave, with many of these last call weeks). :ignore:

Wyndham gets you only one exchange membership.

Many owners here on Tugs believe the last call type opportunities are one of the best parts of owning a T/S.

Or JUST rent from us Timeshare Addicts.:rofl:

VRI(ORE) what does ORE stand for?

*****************************
just join DAE for free and get their last call stuff (one must be brave, with many of these last call weeks).
******************************

Why is that? sorry for my ignorance. Have read much on DAE yet.

Thanks for the very good suggesitons!

Yes, one way is to identify the LOWEST point of entry into TS world by whichever means.

 

[vacationhopeful]

VRI - Vacation Resorts International who brought an exchange group call ORE and it expanding ORE internal exchange system to all VRI managed resorts ( whose POA or HOA vote for inclusion). VRI is a large, minisystem and independant resort manager. VRI*ety Exchange.

Any last call vacation can be from the exchange deposits or a HOA/POA resort turn in (time unsold or MF not paid by owner). It could have been on the exchange system for awhile; so if not taken before the start of the vacation week, it is then worthless (like the empty cabin on a cruise ship after it pulls away from the dock). Last call vacations tend to be in the "low" seasons at the resorts - FL in early Dec. as an example.

DAE is an Australia based exchange company, which is helping to supply exchange inventory to REDWEEK. Can join for free. Last calls start at $149 for a week.

Wyndham provides within its UDI Points system a membership in either RCI or II, dependant upon the first contract the owner buys in the Wyndham system (unless Wyndham just decides to give them RCI). Fixed weeks owners can join an exchange system and pay for their memership, as they are not part of UDI or FSP (Fairshare Plus).

As for lowest entry point, MF are the ongoing cost of ownership. MF can be influenced by season, unit size, age of resort, reserves on hand, etc. Another cost of ownership is SA - special assessments which might be due to floods (or other weather caused events), underpayment of reserves, or high foreclosure rate (or nonpayment of MF by other owners).

When you buy a T/S week (or points pkg), you are buying a piece of real estate. If you don't like its location, layout, feel, you might not be alone. That may be why it is unsold on eBay when the listing price is only $1, with free closing.

Yes, many TUGGERS enjoy their vacations and they also enjoy their hobby of the using their timeshares to the maximum by learning the rules for their T/Ss.

 

[alwysonvac]

I visit vrbo, redweek, TUG rental, WMowner rental board before we iron the itenary. I'm asking when I'm above to travel why I couldn't find the cheap place I like? I think the reason being most of these are rented at per week bases. We do not always travel in a week and may want to move from place to place. This makes renting from those cheap weeks more difficult. Easier way is to rent directly from retails chain hotels.com or become a Worldmark member and design itenary that way. There is just not an efficient way for me to browse and piece together. And the time spent on looking for the best possible accommodation has its cost. We had to settle for the easy route and an expensive route in the interest of time.

Hotels/Resorts are setup to handle day by day reservations with daily housekeeping.

Most timeshares are setup for weekly stay (not like a hotel). For example: HGVC has a three night minimum stay requirement except for the last 30 days which is a 2 night minimum.

Most timeshares are not setup to turnover rooms and receive guest during the week. Most don't get daily housekeeping. For example: Worldmark will charge you a housekeeping fee with every resort change. WorldMark's housekeeping fee is determined based on the size of the unit.

Most timeshares don't have hotel amenities such as room services, large resort pools, resort activites, onsite dining options, etc unless they are built on the same property as a hotel/resort such as the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
For example: Not all Worldmark resorts have air conditioning.

There are different types of timeshare systems out there. I suggest reading Timeshare 101 on the TUG advice board.

 

[alwysonvac]

If you expect to be vacationing around the school calendar and are not advance planners, then owning a timeshare is probably not for you, unless you buy a fixed week and are happy to vacation there every year.

My suggestion would be to go the rental route. You mention that you do not really like to stay in one place for a week, but if the price is right, rent the week and just stay the 3-4 nights. We have done this several times on inexpensive exchanges.

I agree since travelhome stated "We are not bound to school schedule but we still mostly travel around major holidays, even though we can take week off at other time."

Most timeshares will be booked around major holidays. Out of the 52 weeks per year, this is where all of the competition is. Experienced owners will know to request these weeks as soon as they becomes available. At popular resorts during peak season there will be nothing left unless you're an advance planner.

 

[Bill4728]

I visit vrbo, redweek, TUG rental, WMowner rental board before we iron the itenary. I'm asking when I'm above to travel why I couldn't find the cheap place I like? I think the reason being most of these are rented at per week bases. We do not always travel in a week and may want to move from place to place. This makes renting from those cheap weeks more difficult. Easier way is to rent directly from retails chain hotels.com or become a Worldmark member and design itenary that way. There is just not an efficient way for me to browse and piece together. And the time spent on looking for the best possible accommodation has its cost. We had to settle for the easy route and an expensive route in the interest of time.

I see a gap here. On the one hand, as a consumer, I'd love to get into these places but got turned away every time I tried due to the inflexibility or market inefficiency. On the other hand, owners have to rent their weeks out for very very cheap, much cheaper than what you can find from those major travel retailer sites.

Anyway these are my observations. Is this also a biz opportunity to bring ends together? What are the approaches? It will be hard I can imagine.

Some people own and rent out a large number of TS weeks, so there are some people who do see this market as a business opportunity. BUT look at this thread to see what can happen if the TS system you're using changes the rules on you link

 

[Jya-Ning]

Owner only owns what his(her) point can give them, and has to call in to get the week. So it can not be efficient. They have to make a reasonable guess at front and hopefully they can find someone that willing to take their reservation(s).

ExtraHoliday is Wyndham's rent branch. Only them have enough point to be able to string line enough weeks over the whole year. And only them have enough money to advertise in every possible internet travel agent. And only them can have a chance to get inventory in a time fashion that can have enough time to exposure to any potential sellers. And only them can split the week in any way (since they don't pay it, you pay if you give them rights to rent out your points inventories).

It will take a lot of efforts and time before they can reach the general public. Only then you will have a chance of any efficiency, or maybe never.

Or you can look at eBay, and hopefully, one day everyone will shopping there.

It probably not worth that much to create an efficient market just for TS along.

On the other hand, it means, if you do educate yourself, you can get some benefits in both side.

Jya-Ning