September 22, 2022
KOALA representative Myles
By Sherida Nett, Minnesota
If you don’t know about KOALA, you should! We were not sure where to turn after we had based our timeshare purchase on being able to easily rent out The Colonies Vacation Village bonus week and easily sell our Westgate week to be able to afford to buy at The Colonies. We took the bait, but our sales agent’s claim that we could easily rent out weeks to cover costs turned out to not be true. However, we made lemonade out of lemons when we discovered KOALA, an innovative new rental platform.
KOALA offers its services to timeshare owners to rent out weeks and points without any upfront costs! That caught my eye because we needed help, but we could not afford to gamble any more on listing companies that wanted large amounts of money up front.
The first thing a member or owner should do is check with their resort to make sure renting is allowed. The Colonies does allow renting, so we found the help we needed, and because many others have found help with KOALA, the team is starting a new tier membership program to accommodate the timeshare owners who need varying degrees of rental help. While we appreciate the help KOALA provides, we would have never bought at The Colonies had we known renting to cover costs is not feasible.
KOALA TIERS
SILVER TIER – no charge or hidden fees
The Silver membership tier offers free listings, tech support, secured bookings and payments, and comprehensive rental guides. This is the tier I used. The process was self-explanatory. When I had questions about my listings, the KOALA staff quickly returned phone calls. With Silver, I have so far been able to rent one week, and fulfill a request from the HGV Hub.
GOLD VIP TIER
The Gold VIP tier has a nominal yearly fee and offers all of the Silver benefits plus an owner’s insurance policy for each booking, full service listing support, a VIP Profile Badge, much like a “super host” rating, Hub access for HGV and Club Wyndham owners, and verified listings.
PLATINUM VIP TIER
The Platinum VIP tier offers all of the above and, most importantly, education about what the owner actually owns. KOALA co-founder Mike Kennedy says that many people own $50-100,000 worth of timeshare, but have little knowledge of what they actually have or how to use it. This tier gives owners a real orientation of their timeshare that a resort “owners update” is supposed to give – without the dreaded up-sale attempt.
The Platinum tier includes the Concierge service for those who want a hands-off approach when renting their units. These members can hire KOALA to do it all, listings, bookings, and payouts. Other perks include Timeshare Master Classes, Cash-For-Points, Exclusive Travel Deals and more. This tier can guarantee bookings for owners of qualifying brands. If owners have a lot of points or weeks, this is the way to go.
KOALA PRO
The last tier, KOALA Pro, is by invitation only, and is steered toward small timeshare rental businesses to “enterprise solutions looking for technological integrations”. All of the benefits of the other tiers are included, along with bulk listing uploads, early payouts, and flexible date listings.
My Journey to Koala
In 2019, my husband and I were convinced that we should buy a timeshare week at The Colonies at Williamsburg in Virginia. Concerned about the cost, we were told we could easily sell our Westgate week to be able to afford to buy at the Colonies. Our sales agent even gave us the name of her “personal friend” who was a real estate agent that she said could easily sell our timeshare. He suggested we list our Westgate week at what I know now to be a ridiculous listing price – $39,000. Our agent also said we could rent out our Colonies bonus weeks. We paid $299 for a listing to sell Westgate and $199 to rent our Colonies bonus week. Nothing happened.
Months later, we realized we had lost tens of thousands of dollars buying at The Colonies with little hope of recovery. My angst and frustration ran high. During that year we received cold calls from two timeshare rental companies, Resort Accessand Uber Destinations, promising to rent or sell our timeshare in a very short time and at amazing prices. Both companies asked for large amounts of money up front. In desperation, believing the sweet, honest sounding sales woman on the phone, again we took the bait. With absolutely no results, my frustration was compounded.
I started scouring the internet to find a way out. I eventually stumbled on KOALA. I read that this timeshare rental platform required nothing upfront, and charged only 8% when the property is confirmed rented. The representative also had a sweet, honest sounding voice. The difference – they really are honest!
I took my weeks that had been accumulating and with the help of a KOALA associate, I created a listing. I then took some of our Hilton Grand Vacation points and fulfilled a vacationer’s request posted on KOALA’s HGV Hub.
The HGV Hub is a service where people interested in vacationing at a specific time and location with Hilton can place a request for that vacation. Those who own points with HGV can, in turn, book the trip with their points. KOALA does the rest! The booked trip is sold to the interested party and the owner of the points is paid.
KOALA TODAY
An interview with KOALA co-founders Mike Kennedy and James Burbridge:
https://tarda.org/blog/41-experts/202-koala-a-timeshare-rental-platform
Over the last three years, Mike Kennedy, the cofounder of KOALA has seen his creation become a preeminent player in the timeshare industry. It has taken time though to convince resorts that he and his team are working to maximize owners’ product rather than pirate owners away from the resorts.
KOALA’s company mission is to provide a rental service to members and owners that allow renting, without charging an upfront fee. And that is the primary reason I listed my timeshare with KOALA. I felt safe knowing I would not be putting out more money without results.
KOALA employs a team of technological experts and former senior people from RCI and AirBnB. Over the last two years, they learned that many owners needed guidance and services when listing properties and also needed more education about the properties they sought to rent. This demand inspired KOALA tiered memberships designed to accommodate varying needs.
We asked Mike how industry executives feel about timeshare resales and rentals. According to Mike, “Currently, it is difficult to come across as a secondary market and a friend to the industry because many in the industry assume that if the secondary market is trying to help owners, they are hurting the industry.”
Think what would happen if there was no secondary market for our primary residences. Timeshares are sold as being your second home away from home, so the industry should understand the need for a viable secondary market. Similarly, most of us can rent our homes if we need to. Covid created a lot of unused timeshares, and conversely, pent-up demand created a need for inventory. It’s a win-win when those with unused points can provide vacations for families that need one.
Mike expects though, that they will over time develop good relationships with all or most timeshare brands explaining, “Developing relationships with timeshare companies is a good thing. We can create advocacy for owners and timeshare companies alike.”
We feel that as KOALA gains traction in the market, more people will find a way to alleviate their frustrations sometimes associated with timeshare ownership or membership. They will discover that there is a way to use weeks and points to their advantage when they themselves cannot use them. Owners who take the advice of KOALA experts are almost always going to get a booking for their listing. And, resorts that develop a working relationship with KOALA will soon see that there will be less complaints against them and happier owners.
It’s a win-win for all.
Go-Koala!