MyHomes’ owners holiday planning

We regularly find that MyHomes potential owners can be concerned about planning holiday weeks and, in particular, whether it’s possible to get the weeks they want to book. Planning is a condition of a sharing concept like MyHomes, and we always advise potential owners to take this into consideration. What does it mean in practice? We’ve gathered the latest statistics and owner stories to help you answer this question.

DIFFERENT HOLIDAY PREFERENCES

The owners in our associations are at many different points in their lives and therefore have different preferences when it comes to their holiday preferences. Some owners can travel as they please all year round, avoiding the more expensive peak season weeks. Whereas families with schoolchildren are often bound by the school holidays and have to prioritise those weeks. The MyHomes concept appeals to many types of owners who have different holiday wishes, both in terms of location and holiday timing. And it is precisely the diversity in the owners’ priorities that means that everything comes together in the booking calendar.

“We’ve managed to get our first priority the last three times we’ve booked. On the one hand, you could say that not everyone can get that, but on the other hand, they can, because everyone has different priorities. It’s different if you have schoolchildren, adult children or no children, and therefore you don’t have the same priorities,” explains Mads, who is an owner in a Comfort association.

HOW IT WORKS

As an owner, you receive a certain number of points (20) each year to book the following year’s holidays. The year is divided into peak, high, mid and low season, and each week represents a point value that reflects how attractive the week is in that particular home.

Points are allocated over multiple weekends, and all owners are allocated the same number of points at the same time. This ensures that everyone gets a fair chance to book the homes in the weeks they want. It also means that each owner can book a maximum of one peak season week per allocation, as all points are not awarded at once. The majority of points are allocated at the beginning of the year, with the last points allocated in late summer, as this leaves room in the booking calendar for owners to make bookings throughout the year.

An owner family answered the following when we asked them if they experience any disadvantages when booking stays:

“You have to plan well in advance and there is limited opportunity to be spontaneous”, say Jesper and Anna Dorthe, owners in a Premium association, and continue:

“But having said that, we’ve always got our first or second priority, so the disadvantages aren’t very big in practice, it’s more in your head that you have to get used to planning”.

ROOM FOR SPONTANEITY?

As an owner, you can book an average nine-week stay in the homes, and up to 20 weeks if you only go for low-season weeks. The booking statistics for 2024 show that owners book an average of six weeks of holiday, which leaves plenty of room in the calendar. In addition, the statistics show that not all owners use their points as soon as they are allocated. This means that the calendar is not fully booked at the beginning of the year, and owners with points left have room for spontaneous holidays.

Currently, we’ve analysed the patterns that form in the booking system after owners have been allocated points for the first four times this year (four Sundays in January). The first chart shows that far from all owners book peak season weeks as their first priority. As many as 32% of owners across the associations do not book the weeks categorised as the most attractive when awarded points in the first round. After the fourth round, the second chart shows that more owners have booked peak season weeks, but not all, as 17% of owners still choose to book other weeks. This is despite the fact that 22% of peak season weeks are still available across the associations.

“You get to know your association and you find out what the others are looking for. You can get plenty of weeks. There’s a bit of spontaneity when swapping or when someone only goes away for the weekend,” says Rikke, who is also an owner in a Premium association.

Planning holiday weeks is thus an important aspect of the concept, but due to different holiday preferences and knowledge of your association, spontaneity is a possibility in practice. In addition, the points allocation and the design of the booking system ensure that all owners have equal opportunities to get their first priorities and that the calendar is never fully booked at once.

A look at the total number of bookings in a year shows that the capacity is typically utilised by around 85%. In addition, there is a lot of rebooking and swapping along the way, so owners often manage to make it work.

The vast majority book 6-8 weeks and typically give away a week or two to friends and family.