If you’re a Wyndham owner, you’ve likely already heard the news — and you also know this is not the first time they’ve tinkered with this policy. The amended policy prohibits owners’ ability to let 3rd parties use their reservations during specific “high demand” windows at certain resorts. While this mandate hopefully creates some opportunities for owners with a pent up desire to travel (and the banked points to do it), it also creates some complications for owners who were hoping to monetize unused points on the back of a challenging year — both financially and otherwise.

For many KOALA Hosts , the impact of Wyndham’s updated guest certificate policy was significant. Owners who had been hoping to cover their maintenance fees had listings deactivated – or worse, bookings cancelled.  

This begs the question: Now what? What is the best way forward for the next generation of vacation ownership products? Democratization or centralization? More control to the owners, or more regulations from the clubs?

More control allows owners to use their timeshare as they see fit. On the other hand, increased regulation can prevent people “gaming” the systems — which ostensibly creates obstacles for owners who just want to take a darn vacation. In my experience with the leadership at Wyndham (current CEO Mike Brown was a very-well-liked leader at HGV during many of my years there), the intention here likely stems from a genuine desire to benefit the owners. That said, new regulations don’t always have this effect.

Whatever Wyndham lands on, we remain dedicated to building an easy and secure rental market for our owner community. We’d love to hear from you, so don’t hesitate to reach out to us at hello@go-koala.com.

Warm Regards,

Mike Kennedy

Cofounder and CEO, KOALA

Disclaimer: As a result of this notice, we’ve updated or removed listings that fell within the dates and resorts affected by Wyndham’s policy update. We’ve also been working with our affected guests to either rebook or refund their stay. We, of course, sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused to owners or guests.