What Happened to Myresortnetwork?

[Robert D]

There used to be a lot of ads on myresortnetwork and I used to get quite a few rentals each year from it. Now there's very few listings on there. What happened?

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

I think Redweek may have taken a really big bite of their business.....









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[dioxide45]

It seems that the behemoth of Redweek gobbled up a lot of market share and listings dried up. A number of brokers do continue to list on the site, but there doesn't seem to be as much DIY owner listings as there was 10 to 20 years ago.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Sad to see, and of course the Google searches don't work to pull the site in the top two or three, if typing Timeshare Rentals or similar wording. Glad to see go-koala on the top, but Sell My Timeshare Now is crap and should not even be a consideration for anyone.

 

[TUGBrian]

both of those companies spend HEAVILY on google adwords.... no real surprise they are at the top of search results.

 

[dioxide45]

There used to be a lot of ads on myresortnetwork and I used to get quite a few rentals each year from it. Now there's very few listings on there. What happened?

Did you stop listing rentals on MyResortNetwork? If you used to get quite a few rentals every year, why did you stop listing on MyResortNetwork?

 

[Robert D]

This past ski season I rented 151 weeks and only one came from myresortnetwork. I never got a ton of rentals from there but used to get 5 or 6, enough to make it worth listing there.

 

[dioxide45]

This past ski season I rented 151 weeks and only one came from myresortnetwork. I never got a ton of rentals from there but used to get 5 or 6, enough to make it worth listing there.

Do you list all of your rentals on MyResortNetwork, or just some of them? Are the other rentals mainly coming from Facebook or Redweek?

 

[Robert D]

I listed almost all of them on myresortnetwork. Regarding source of rentals, 51% were repeat customers or referrals, 40% Airbnb, 6% Redweek, and 1% was myresortnetwork, TUG, Vacation Candy, and Craigslist.

 

[Robert D]

My biggest source of new customers by far is Airbnb. After they find me on Airbnb they rent direct in the future and save the Airbnb fees.

 

[OLRi2010]

There used to be a lot of ads on myresortnetwork and I used to get quite a few rentals each year from it. Now there's very few listings on there. What happened?

Could you share more details how listing on AirBnB works particularly regarding what you do as a host when you are renting a room in a resort?

Also, by chance, I spoke to someone who might have more insight into what is happening at My Resort Network. I can share his contact info with you by dm if you want that number.

 

[Robert D]

Could you share more details how listing on AirBnB works particularly regarding what you do as a host when you are renting a room in a resort?

Also, by chance, I spoke to someone who might have more insight into what is happening at My Resort Network. I can share his contact info with you by dm if you want that number.

Please do.

 

[Robert D]

All I've ever rented on Airbnb are timeshares and they work just fine on there.

 

[dioxide45]

All I've ever rented on Airbnb are timeshares and they work just fine on there.

Based on reading past threads about Airbnb, there are certain ways you need to setup the listing so people can't book dates that are outside the week you are listing. They also need to ensure they can't book individual nights or part of the week you are listing. Airbnb is usually intended for people renting their second or vacation home or an actual home bought for vacation rental investement. So Airbnb is setup to cater to that. One needs to be careful when setting up a timeshare rental on Airbnb?

 

[Robert D]

The Airbnb platform is very flexible. When you setup your calendar, set it up as dates are unavailable by default. Then you enter the dates that are available. The worst part is if you reserved multiple condos for the same week at a resort, you have to have multiple listings for the same condo as Airbnb will not let you rent the condo for the same week more than once. You can tell it the minimum stay and days of the week that you cannot check in or check out.

 

[andre10056]

This past ski season I rented 151 weeks and only one came from myresortnetwork. I never got a ton of rentals from there but used to get 5 or 6, enough to make it worth listing there.

I think it's clear that your business operation (whatever it is) is a tad different than most individual timeshare owners. You talk about "reserving multiple condos for the same week at a resort". You talk about renting 151 weeks this past ski season. I don't even know how that's done. Are you somehow the rental agent for the resort who's expected to "do your best" and somehow gets paid on your successes but incurs no expenses if you fail to successfully rent?

But with a single timeshare, an individual timeshare owner may or may not rent it out. An individual timeshare owner may or may not get a single inquiry.

If you've somehow become aware of a certain ski season resort that's a great renter-outer, good for you but such extraordinary rental demand is not a feature of the vast majority of timeshares.

In fact, you may rent it out but then get the reservation canceled (depending on your choice of airbnb cancellation policy). No problem if you're paid for only your successes, but not so good for an individual timeshare owner with a single week.

Airbnb has its pluses and minuses. You've already alluded to one minus: exorbitant airbnb "service" (i.e., middleman) fees. And they also add on every conceivable state, county, local municipality tax. Which necessarily limits what you can ask for and what you will receive. Yes, you might be able to bypass airbnb fees in subsequent years' rentals, but that violation will get you thrown out of airbnb if they find out about your directly renting to those that airbnb "found" for you. And yes, I know that rules along those lines are often ignored, just as rules prohibiting the rental of exchanged timeshares are often ignored.

And then there's the time involved. Not only creating the ads and getting every detail right. But then responding to any number of inquiries.

I'm just concerned that people, after reading this thread, will start buying timeshares as a business since airbnb offers such allegedly extraordinary and easy rental success, when most people won't come close to experiencing what you describe above.

 

[Robert D]

I only rent timeshares I own and built it up over 17 years. It is a lot of work and requires great attention to detail. I use the strict Airbnb policy which means the guest cancel at least 7 days before check-in and get a 50% refund but this rarely happens. Airbnb charges me 3% when it rents which I think is very reasonable. I didn't allude to exorbitant Airbnb fees and don't think this is true. My experience is that Airbnb guests are not as price sensitive as most from other websites and you don't have a large number of owners just trying to rent their weeks for the maintenance fee like you see on Redweek. Also, Airbnb has the largest supply and largest audience on the planet whereas only people who know about timeshares tend to look on Redweek. I never said it was easy but it greatly helps when over half your business is from repeat customers and referrals.

 

[andre10056]

I only rent timeshares I own and built it up over 17 years. It is a lot of work and requires great attention to detail. I use the strict Airbnb policy which means the guest cancel at least 7 days before check-in and get a 50% refund but this rarely happens. Airbnb charges me 3% when it rents which I think is very reasonable. I didn't allude to exorbitant Airbnb fees and don't think this is true. My experience is that Airbnb guests are not as price sensitive as most from other websites and you don't have a large number of owners just trying to rent their weeks for the maintenance fee like you see on Redweek. Also, Airbnb has the largest supply and largest audience on the planet whereas only people who know about timeshares tend to look on Redweek. I never said it was easy but it greatly helps when over half your business is from repeat customers and referrals.The fact that they charge the "host" a small fee

I think you misunderstood what I as saying about "exorbitant" airbnb fees. Yes, you may be right that airbnb charges you as a host a "reasonable" service fee (you said 3%). But that's not what I was referring to.

Airbnb charges 15% service fee to the guest. And let's assume the local area where the resort is located has a 10% lodging tax.

So let's say you want $1500 for your timeshare to cover your $1500 annual maintenance fees. So you set your rent at 1500 for the entire 7 night week (approx. 214 per night). And you hope to get a full week renter (rather than a 5 day partial week renter). The renter (i.e., the "guest) will have to pay 1500 plus a service fee of 225 (15%) plus tax of 150 (10%) for a total of $1875. But you can get the same unit on expedia, taxes and fees included, for $1700. So why would they rent from you? Most people wouldn't. Maybe people from South America who don't look at or know about expedia, etc.

So you, recognizing why you're not getting it rented, have to drop the rent you would otherwise have liked to get. In fact, you realize that expedia has a lot of perks, including last minute cancellation refundable listings (after all, the resort is listing its own weeks via expedia, booking.com, hotels.com, etc. and a cancellation might just mean they rent to another within two hours). So, in order to compete, you realize that you have to beat expedia's price by a good margin. So now, having considered everything relevant, you set your price at 1200 for the full week such that the seven night renter would pay a grand total of 1200 plus 300 taxes and fees for a total of 1500. And that $1200 to which you would be entitled would then be cut down, as you acknowledge, by yet another 3% service fee for the host.

So that's what I meant by exorbitant fees. You have to consider what the GUEST will have to pay, and they do indeed have to pay exorbitant fees. And those fees, and whatever "the competition" charges, will determine what lesser amount YOU can get.

So if you're making money, I can well imagine that you're making it by renting directly from the 2nd year on, airbnb having originally found that person for you, and through referrals and NOT via airbnb. Unless, of course, you've found a super high demand ski season resort that cost you next to nothing to buy and whose annual maintenance fee is laughably inexpensive.

Moreover, you've got a can't miss exit strategy for those 151 (or whatever) weeks you own so there will never come a time when you'll be unable to rent them out.

 

[Robert D]

Not sure where you're getting your numbers. In my situation I'm always renting at a substantial discount from what the resorts rent them for. No one will rent from me if they can rent directly from the resort at the same price, regardless of the channel being used.

 

[andre10056]

Not sure where you're getting your numbers. In my situation I'm always renting at a substantial discount from what the resorts rent them for. No one will rent from me if they can rent directly from the resort at the same price, regardless of the channel being used.

"Renting at a substantial discount from what the resorts rent them for" is precisely what I concluded was absolutely necessary from my hypothetical in my last message. Such that most timeshare owners, especially in light of a prospective "guest" having to pay a 15% Airbnb service fee and a "host" having to pay a 3% Airbnb service fee, might find it difficult to net out much of anything over and above their maintenance fees.

So if you're able to make money with your specific timeshares to make all that work worthwhile, and your resort(s) doesn't/don't complain about your competing with them for a hundred plus weeks, and other things go right for you (I'll leave it at that), you're one lucky sonofagun.

I still don't know how you're planning on the possibility that you might one day be unable to rent due to illness, injury, or simply old age, but I sincerely hope your luck continues always.

 

[brenkay79]

There used to be a lot of ads on myresortnetwork and I used to get quite a few rentals each year from it. Now there's very few listings on there. What happened?

We used to rent ours out on there, but last year "no bites".

 

[rickandcindy23]

We used to rent ours out on there, but last year "no bites".

This post is from last year, but yes, My Resort Network doesn't work.