Americans are eager to travel this summer, but they’ll be doing things differently in the era of COVID-19. Many are second-guessing home rentals due to uncertain cleaning standards as well as state-by-state restrictions on lengths of stay. Others are focusing on wide-open spaces in natural settings in place of major cities. After time apart, extended families and groups of friends want to be together.

These trends position renting a timeshare as an almost unbeatable option for summer travel, so how do you position your property above all the rest?

Positioning Your Timeshare Ahead of the Pack 

After travelers pick a date and destination (and a price range), the feature that tips the scale toward securing bookings this season will be cancellation flexibility. Given the ways in which we are all working to manage health and safety, travelers want to be able to change their plans if needed. And they are making booking decisions accordingly. 

How Your Policy Helps Your Listing Perform  

At KOALA, our owner community sets their own Pricing and Cancellation Policy, meaning you maintain control over how your timeshare is positioned in relation to other listings. We recently polled KOALA travelers and found they are keeping cancellation policies in mind when choosing which listing to book.

While creating your KOALA listing, you can set one of three cancellation policies:

1.  STRICT:  Booking is Non-Refundable
2. FIRM: 100% refundable if booking is cancelled up to 62 days prior to check-in date
3. MODERATE: 100% refundable if booking is cancelled up to 32 days prior to check-in
4. RELAXED: 100% refundable if booking is cancelled up to 16 days prior to check-in 
5. FLEXIBLE: 100% refundable if booking is cancelled up to 72 hours prior to check-in date

Overall, flexible cancellation policies were most appealing to KOALA travelers. Listings with moderate cancellation policies were also of interest to travelers, with more than 30% of respondents indicating they would pay more for greater flexibility. While travelers ranked listings with strict policies 3rd, there was a key caveat: travelers were eager to book “strict” listings that competed on price (more on this below).

The Magic Number 

Naturally, travelers were more attracted to a flexible cancellation policy and were willing to pay more to book a listing that accommodated last minute changes in their plans. That said, listings that featured a strict policy but were competitive on price also caught the eyes of the vacationing public. “Strict” listings that were priced near 15% less than comparable listings with flexible policies were as competitive as more flexible listings.

This summer, make sure your listing takes the lead by offering a flexible cancellation strategy or a price that’s hard to beat, and reap the rewards on KOALA! 

As always we are here, with real people at the ready, to help you maximize your exposure on KOALA. You can reach a KOALA team member at  contact@go-koala.com or call us (we’d love to hear from you!) at (833) KOALA-CO.