Doug and Marie Made $20,000 Last Year
Renting Their Timeshare Weeks
Learn how they managed to successfully earn over $20,000 USD in rental income on their Grand Mayan weeks in 2021
We recently interviewed The Grand Mayan owners, Doug and Marie, from Santa Barbara, California, to learn how they managed to successfully earn over $20,000 USD in rental income on their Grand Mayan weeks in 2021, even amid the pandemic. For those of our readers who aren’t familiar with The Grand Mayan, they are a great multi-destination company with resorts in Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, the Riviera Maya, and several other destinations. Read on to find out how Doug and Marie did it!
Latitude21Resorts: “So, Doug, according to our records, you signed up with us in mid-2020, which was when the pandemic was in full swing, so to speak. Had you ever rented your weeks before?
Doug: “Well, sort-of, but not really. We had listed with a brokerage company once many years ago, when we first purchased with Grand Mayan, but they didn’t seem to really do much for us. Later, we listed with Redweeks.com, and had a few offers, but we really didn’t have much success there either.
Latitude21Resorts: “Okay, so what made you decide to try again in 2020, right in the middle of a pandemic? You must have known it was going to be hard to rent your weeks out.”
Marie: “Well, to tell you the truth, we were skeptical, which is why we only listed at the starter level, just to try it out. We figured it was only $695, and we had already invested over $40,000 with Grand Mayan, so we thought what’s another $695? Our thought was that even if it didn’t rent out, we could use the $695 in Resort Credits to get our listing fee back. That was our worst-case scenario, so it really wasn’t so bad.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Okay, so you figured if you didn’t rent your weeks, you could at least vacation on the Resort Credits, fair enough. Were you concerned that no one was really traveling during the pandemic? Didn’t that make you nervous?”
Marie: “Of course! But the thing is, the listing fee is lifetime, and so we thought that even if we didn’t rent in 2020, eventually things would turn around and we would rent later. We were not in a position where we had to rent weeks, so that helped, sort-of took the pressure off. I think we were mostly curious to see what would happen. Plus, we figured that if we just rented out one week, we’d break-even on the listing fee and a little more, which felt doable. We also sort-of planned on not getting much in 2020 and decided to focus on 2021, instead.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Okay, so that’s pretty smart. It was around June 2020 when you listed, and you decided to not worry much about same year rentals and start working right away on 2021. That’s a good idea because January, February, and March are basically already high season in Mexico.”
Doug: “Well, yeah, we’ve been timeshare owners for a while, and one of the keys to getting your money’s worth with these things is to plan ahead. Even for your own vacations back in your own resort, you really do have to plan ahead. So, starting in June-July for rentals in January, February, March, made a lot of sense to us.”
Latitude21Resorts: “You mentioned that you listed with a broker before. What made you decide to list with Latitude21Resorts to rent your weeks?”
Doug: “I liked your business model, basically. Years ago, when we tried to rent with a broker, we really couldn’t ever see what they were doing for us. So, in the end, I felt like the broker didn’t have much accountability. What I liked about Latitude21Resorts, is that I could at least see the ads, walk through the website, and so on. I also liked that I could answer the ads myself. There was the feature that we could send a link to our own ad out to our own social media networks if we wanted to, which we eventually did. So, basically, I liked that I could be somewhat involved in the rental process, instead of just paying a broker and sitting back, hoping that they would do something for me.
Latitude21Resorts: “I like that. So, you liked that you were involved in the rental process itself and could see what we were doing for you. What about Redweeks.com, though? They’re not a broker, they’re an ad company. Why didn’t you stay with Redweeks?”
Doug: “Well, the opposite was really the problem with Redweeks…basically they weren’t involved at all, so we were totally on our own. We never even spoke to an actual person at Redweeks, it’s all strictly online. We paid a small listing fee to them, created our ad, put any price we wanted on there and then waited to see what happened. What happened in the end with Redweeks, is that we wound up having to compete with all the other Grand Mayan owners on that site, and well, it doesn’t take long for someone to get desperate, and drop the fee down to the maintenance fee, or even less, and then the ruin it for everyone else. There were ads on Redweeks for $1, which just makes the whole thing look like a joke. Obviously, no one is going to be able to rent their week out for $1, but they’re still going to get a bunch of offers from renters. I liked that Latitude21 puts a bottom line for rentals, so that no one can list their rental for a ridiculously low amount. I think it keeps the whole site more honest and more credible.
Latitude21Resorts: “Okay, so on one hand, the brokers didn’t allow you to be involved at all, and on the other, the ads-only companies weren’t involved enough.”
Doug: “That’s right you guys are like the Goldilocks of timeshare rentals…just right.”
Latitude21Resorst: “I like that. We’re the “Goldilocks of timeshare rentals.just right. I’m going to pass that onto management. I think we may have our new slogan [smiling]. Did you have any particular strategy for renting your weeks?”
Marie: “Well, our initial strategy was really just to try it out and see what happened. As we mentioned before, we were most comfortable starting with a starter level ad, so that’s what we did. We made sure to set-up an onboarding call with one of your agents, just to get the ad set-up properly, and also we wanted help with pricing strategies and things like that. We tested the ad, and then were careful to answer renter offers right away. That was the first step.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Okay, seems like a good start. So, you got your ad set-up and then what happened next?”
Doug: “Well, truthfully, not much. We got the ad set-up with you guys and then babysat the offers, which basically just means keeping an eye on our email account. I would log-in every couple weeks just to check on it and noticed the views going up, but still no offers. After about a month, I contacted your agents again, and they recommended that we lower the price just a bit, I think it was about ten dollars lower. As soon as we did that, we received three offers in the same week. I actually thought it was a glitch in your system [laughing].”
Latitude21Resorts: “Nice, so the platform actually does what it’s supposed to do, and you thought it was broken! Thanks, Doug, maybe we should just stop this interview right here [laughter all around]!”
Marie: “[Laughing] Well, we had tried this twice before and nada! So, this was a big deal for us!”
Latitude21Resorts: “Okay, fair enough. I hope you at least answered those offers!?!”
Doug: “I did. Well, I called your guys again, and the Latitude21 agents helped me walk through answering the offers. I have to admit, your agents are actually really great that way. Us old guys need help with all this techy stuff, you know.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Yeah, we know, we got parents your age. We know how it is with you Boomers.”
Doug: “Hey, easy, there, buddy [laughing].”
Latitude21Resorts: “Okay, okay, you win. So, what happened next? How’d you get those weeks rented?”
Marie: “I think we counter-offered the first renter. They were offering a price that would have only given us about $600 in our pocket. It just didn’t seem worth it. So, we countered with a price that would put at least $1500 in our pocket, but they declined. So, the first offer didn’t really work out.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Well, I agree with you, that’s not enough. Grand Mayan is a really great hotel! You should get at least $1500 profit for your weeks.”
Doug: “That’s true, but honestly, we just couldn‘t see parting with that week for any less than $1500 in our pocket. Any less than that, and we’d prefer to just give it to one of our kids to use.”
Latitude21Resorts: “I agree…and also…would you like to adopt a thirty-year old millennial? I could use some free Grand Mayan weeks [sheepish smile].”
Doug: “Well, you upgrade us to the Brokerage Level, and we can talk, young man.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Okay, deal! Gotta talk to the bosses, though, we’ll see. So, what happened on the next offer, you said you received three offers in the same week.”
Doug: “Yes, well the first one didn’t really work out so great. But the second one was much more reasonable. They came in a little low, and we countered with just a little bit higher, and they took the deal. I think we pocketed just under $2000 for that week. They were a nice family from Colorado, wanted to take their kids to Playa del Carmen for a week.”
Marie: “That’s right, they were the sweetest little family. Lots of questions about kid’s activities, but that’s okay. We don’t mind helping people out a bit.”
“We posted a link to our ad on our Facebook account and like that our weeks rented right out.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Awesome, and actually, we love that on our side, those are the renters that tend to come back again.”
Marie: “And that’s good for all of us.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Yes ma’am, and that’s good for all us. So, what about that third offer? What happened with that one?”
Doug: “Well, that one was pretty interesting They wanted to rent several weeks for a family reunion. It took some time to get their reservations figured out, that was the hardest thing. But we rented three weeks at the same time, so it was worth it.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Gotta love the groups.”
Doug: “Well, that group was the reason we decided to upgrade to the professional level.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Oh really, why is that?”
Marie: “It was mostly for the Renter Assistance service, actually.“
Latitude21Resorts: “Yes, we know exactly what you’re talking about. We love renters too, but sometimes they ask a lot of questions! Okay, so, at this point, you’ve rented 4 weeks and then you upgraded to the Professional level. Then what happened?”
Doug: “Well, we had another ad walk-through with your agents. We opted for the “add-to-cart” feature on our ads. I know some people like to receive offers and negotiate, but we just assumed that it’d be easier for renters to see a price, check-out and go. We made sure the price was competitive, and then let the ad run for a while.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Okay, so did you get any offers with the Professional level upgrade?”
Marie: “Absolutely, we were getting about one per month, which was fine, but we wanted to hurry up and get the rest of our weeks rented out. We were now in about early 2021, and we knew we weren’t going to use the weeks ourselves, so we just wanted to get everything rented out. So, we called one of your agents to see what we could do. She was very nice, explained that things were slow because of the pandemic, which we totally understood, and then suggested to try posting a link to our ad on Facebook, so we did, and then just like that [snaps her fingers]! We rented the rest of our weeks out.”
Latitude21Resorts: “I believe it. The best form of marketing for us is a personal recommendation. So, those social media posts are like gold for you and for us. You’re basically recommending both your own resort, The Grand Mayan in this case, and Latitude21. So great job.”
Marie: “Well, I liked that we could simply just make a post and then if friends or family liked it, they could go to the site and check-out there. I didn’t want to have to collect rental payments from people we knew, so it was nice that you guys did that work for us. I don’t think they even realized it was our own ad. I think they thought we just liked the service, so they clicked on it themselves. Also, having you make the reservations was great too. We just simply made a couple of posts, and that seemed to do the trick.
Latitude21Resorts: “That’s super great to hear. It seems like you two were really proactive, working with us, and doing what you could on your side. That’s really nice. So, according to our records, you received just over $20,000 for your Grand Mayan weeks in 2021, is that right?
Doug: “Yup, that’s right.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Congratulations, those are the stories we love to hear. It looks like you’ve pretty much got all of your weeks rented for 2022 now too, right?”
Doug: “Yes, just about. We decided to go on a cruise this year, so we’re not going to use them ourselves, figured we might as well rent them out.”
Latitud21Resorts: “Awesome, if you’re not going to use them, yeah, might as well rent them out, for sure. So…do you mind me asking where are you going on your cruise?
Marie: “We don’t mind at all. We’re going on an Alaskan cruise, just the two of us.
Doug: “Well, that and a trip to Vegas for New Year’s.”
Latitude21Resorts: “Wow! An Alaskan cruise and Vegas all in the same year. You sure you don’t need a bellboy to tag a long? I’m really good at carrying luggage and opening doors [laughing].”
Doug: “Yeah, sorry, Buddy, I think we can manage that bit ourselves [smiling].”
Latitude21Resorts: “Well, gotta at least ask. Great job guys and keep in touch!”
Doug: “We sure will.”