Who or what is Premier Club? Hundreds of Westin Ka'anapali listings on go-koala.com by this company

[rickandcindy23]

My own listings are not even showing with a search for my specific dates in our oceanfront studio and one bedroom.

What is going on at Koala? How does anyone own or manage that many listings at Westin? Is this Westin that is renting directly through Koala?

This is disheartening that Koala would push regular owners' listings to the bottom or not even show our listings. I guess Redweek will get all of my business. I wasn't going to pay for a special membership on Koala because I thought it would be a waste for the few rentals I am doing.

I have no idea how this company could ask such outrageous prices. Is it a volume business model, where some rent, some don't, and so you eventually come out ahead? I ask this because many of these listings are last-minute.

I don't think these are exchanges because there are many lockoff units, so that's not it. Maybe II is renting these?

This was pointed out to me by a fellow TUGger.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I think this is a company like Vacation Candy, where they basically copy listings from Redweek, add a profit for themselves to the asking price, list them on go-koala.com, and when they get a renter, they contact the owner and say they have a renter, pay for it as a company and have the owner add the guest name.

I think it's weird to have RW and Koala both as middleman already, but to add another person making a profit off of timeshares they don't own, it's quite a business. I am not going to call it sleazy, but how many companies could start doing this? Makes me want to increase my prices on my rentals to make it impossible for them to rent mine. But I won't do that. If this company contacts me, I will probably say, "Go for it, I will be happy to take the money I am asking."

 

[tamu_bu]

I'm confused in how that would work on Koala. Whenever I list there, I'm required to provide proof of reservation as the owner including my res #. Has that changed?

 

[emeryjre]

I had no effective rental listings at Koala in 2023
I had effective rentals in 2021 and 2022
I am no longer using Koala
Not sure what has happened, but it has changed
Redweek still works

 

[rickandcindy23]

I'm confused in how that would work on Koala. Whenever I list there, I'm required to provide proof of reservation as the owner including my res #. Has that changed?

I am baffled myself. I had to send my confirmation # to Koala. I don't know what this top level of membership is, exactly, but apparently they don't have to prove their listings. I suppose more listings will be appearing on Koala. Mine are nowhere to be found. I don't understand why I cannot see my listings. Maybe that's normal to not see your own listings. I see them in my account under "my listings."

 

[ljmiii]

I am baffled myself. I had to send my confirmation # to Koala. I don't know what this top level of membership is, exactly, but apparently they don't have to prove their listings. I suppose more listings will be appearing on Koala. Mine are nowhere to be found. I don't understand why I cannot see my listings. Maybe that's normal to not see your own listings. I see them in my account under "my listings."

I'll happily look for them. Are they in Villas, Villas North, or Nanea? And any distinguishing characteristics I should look for?

 

[rickandcindy23]

Thank you for looking for mine. They are February dates in Westin South, oceanfront. Should say Cindy or Cynthia on the listings.

 

[ljmiii]

Thank you for looking for mine. They are February dates in Westin South, oceanfront. Should say Cindy or Cynthia on the listings.

I only see two in Feb that are not a "Pro" listing. One is a 1 Bedroom Premium - Ocean View on Jan 25 - Feb 01, 2025 for $3,630 Hosted by Gordon and the other is a Studio Premium Villa - Oceanfront on Feb 23 - Mar 02, 2025 for $3,960.03 Hosted by Cynthia (which I assume is yours).

 

[rickandcindy23]

Okay, the studio oceanfront on 2/23 is mine. The 2/9 is missing. It's a one bedroom premium. I told Koala I couldn't see my own listings a while back and did get an email back from Mike Kennedy himself with a request for me to call him. I am too nervous to call him.

I have a very difficult time understanding why this company is allowed to list. Doing a Google search, I coudln't find them. Brilliant business model but a bit sleazy.

 

[tamu_bu]

Sent an email to Koala with my 2-cents. Here's the response I got. Specifically mention, "rental brokerages". I like Koala's site. We'll see if regular owner's listings get any love in the future. But right now it's tough to see any listings outside of broker listings.

My email ----
Well, it looks like the site has been paved over with listings from Premier Club Rentals.

No way they own all these properties. Their "spamming" will end up wrecking the experience for real owners and drive listings to Redweek.

That's my 2-cents.

Their response ----
This is Mike Kennedy with KOALA. The team forwarded me your email. Thanks so much taking the time to share your feedback - and I agree with what your concerns are. We’re already in the process of retooling the search results to account for situations like this.
As you have probably noticed, we are launching KOALA PRO which offers software tools for owners or rental brokerages with a lot of inventory. That means there will be even more users with high quantities of inventory, so we’re going to ensure that those listings don’t completely obscure any of the listings from owners with less availability. The good news is that more, high quality inventory will continue to bring more and more travelers to the site, so once we adjust the results — this is a win for all owners.

Please know that timeshare owners, like you, are the cornerstone of the marketplace, and we will always create opportunities to get you booked. I hope this gives you some insight and look for the changes soon.

Mike Kennedy Cofounder & CEO

 

[rickandcindy23]

I am already having a hard time finding my own Westin Ka'anapali oceanfront listings with all of these new ones that are showing up. It's not really a broker that has all of these listings because a broker would be easy to find with a Google search of Premier rentals, something like that.

I believe it's a newish company that decided to make a business out of renting others' listings, like Vacation Candy. The listings mirror a lot of listings on RW. More power to them, I guess, and good for Koala, but it could be bad for Koala when these listings are not really valid anymore. Owners cancel the dates they couldn't rent to get SO's back.

 

[HudsHut]

Thank you for inquiring @tamu_bu.

I found the website:

premierclubrentals.com

www.premierclubrentals.com

Perhaps @RX8 can find the info on when created...

 

[TUGBrian]

saw a press release just a few days ago regarding koala parterning with expedia....would guess that is where all the extra inventory is coming from.

 

[dioxide45]

Here is the PR Newswire press release about the Koala/Expedia partnership. Expedia owns Vrbo.

Announcing a Groundbreaking Software Partnership between Expedia Group and KOALA

/PRNewswire/ -- Today KOALA, a technology-driven marketplace for timeshare rentals, launches an official partnership with Expedia Group. It enables the easy...

www.prnewswire.com

 

[rickandcindy23]

Wouldn't Expedia mostly have inventory from the Westin hotel, a few nights at a time as available? Not the timeshare inventory? VRBO has a lot of inventory for Westin, so it could be. But last-minute inventory? Owners are willing to lose their points by not cancelling in time? I wouldn't be inclined

I see listings that mirror my listings that are on Koala (hard to find but there!), and Redweek. Interesting that Koala partnered with Expedia, and maybe that is why I have gotten some rentals recently. Could be really good for timeshare owners who list on Koala.

 

[daviator]

I tried listing on VRBO several years ago when I had booked a specific in-demand week that I thought people might search for on VRBO.

VRBO is a pain in the butt to use for timeshare rentals. It's really designed for rentals that are available for rent most of the time, or maybe for long periods. To offer a specific timeshare week there you have to very carefully set the calendar up so that your listing is only available to be rented on the starting date and require a rental for the entire length of the reservation, otherwise you risk someone reserving it for just a night or two and leaving you with the unrentable remainder. You have to block off all the weeks and months that you don't want it to rent, and if you forget to turn off the listing, it will start offering the unit to people after time marches past the months you have blocked off. I had someone book my unit when it wasn't actually available because of confusion about how their calendar works, and that was embarrassing for me and probably worse for the person who booked and made other plans around that booking.

I concluded that it was not a great platform for the timeshare owner who occasionally rents out a week here or there.

But if someone created a business around renting out timeshare inventory, they could probably manage to make it work.

I don't know who is offering all the Vistana (Westin) inventory on VRBO as mentioned.