Planning a vacation in the coronavirus era is tricky, to say the least. You may be ready for a change of scenery, but you don’t want to get yourself or your family sick. The CDC and other public health authorities recommend staying home, but they also recognize that people do need or want to travel. That’s why the CDC has issued guidelines on how to manage the risk when traveling. Driving is safer than flying. Cooking your own meals is safer than eating inside a restaurant. And staying in a vacation rental with people from your own household is less risky than a hotel or resort.

Timeshare rentals occupy a middle ground between private homes (the kind you might rent on Airbnb) and traditional hotels. That makes them an ideal option for people who are trying to figure out how to make a vacation work, whether for right now or in a post-vaccine future.

Here is why booking a timeshare rental on KOALA is a great way to reduce your risk:

It’s like a private home (away from home).

Most timeshare rentals have kitchens, living rooms, separate bedrooms, and laundry facilities. That means you can stay with people from your own household, as the CDC recommends, and you don’t need to leave the unit as often. 

But you’re not completely on your own.

Because the rentals are located within a larger resort, you still have the option to use the amenities — restaurants, pool, beach club, fitness center — at your leisure.

The place is cleaned — by professionals.

You’re not staying in some random person’s home: Timeshare resorts are managed by major brands like Marriott, Wyndham, and Hilton that follow strict protocols for cleaning and sanitizing. Also, most rentals provide housekeeping only before check-in, so it’ll be clean when you arrive, but you won’t have staff traipsing in and out during your stay. (You can always request an additional cleaning.)

You have recourse if something goes wrong.

What happens if you get sick during your vacation? Or need a COVID test before heading home? What if the place needs a more thorough cleaning? Timeshare resorts are fully staffed, so there’s always someone ready to assist. Try that with an Airbnb. 

You don’t have to travel far.

KOALA has listings for timeshare rentals from California to Florida and everywhere in between. So no matter where you live, you can find likely something within driving distance — and avoid having to share airspace with a bunch of strangers.

Flexibility is built in.

Besides health and safety, there’s another kind of risk to planning a vacation: The chance that something will go wrong and you’ll have to cancel. Listings on KOALA are managed by the timeshare owners, and we give them a lot of flexibility to set their own cancellation policies, from Flexible to Strict. They also set their own prices, which is why our rates are surprisingly affordable.

Regardless of when, where, and whether you travel, KOALA wants to help you make informed decisions. That’s why we teamed up with Applied XL to create the KOALA COVID Tracker, which provides live data on virus rates and health preparedness for every location in the U.S. You’ll find this data on all of our domestic listings. 

Ready to get started? Visit our Destinations page and start dreaming about your next getaway!