Savvy visitors to Orlando have been enjoying the convenience of a service called Owner's Locker that allows them to store their personal items on site between visits rather than hauling them back and forth.

Recent moves by the airlines, including the announcement by American Airlines that it will begin charging for all checked bags, means that using the Owner's Locker service is not just a convenient way to have personal items on hand when visiting Orlando. 

Owner's Locker has become an extremely effective way to avoid the hassle and cost of dealing with luggage on airplanes.

Owner's Locker Members purchase a Locker for their vacation items; it's picked up from their resort when they leave and stored in a climate controlled warehouse until their next trip when it is waiting at the front desk when the Member checks back in to any one of over 200 resorts in Orlando.  There's a one-time fee of $75 for the Locker and the initial delivery and pickup and then it's $99 per year for storage and one free delivery/pickup per year.  And, best of all, there's no weight limit on what you can store in your Locker.

Owner's Locker-the purple place for storing your vacation stuff.

www.ownerslocker.com

Judy Wiley, Fort Worth Texas Star-Telegram Travel Editor wrote an article about what people could do avoid luggage charges and had this to say about Owner's Locker:

- Owner's Locker would probably save money in the long run for frequent travelers to Orlando. The service lets you fill a locker with the items you need on every trip, delivers it to any of more than 200 hotels in Orlando, then picks it up after you leave. While it's wildly convenient, it won't save you money if you don't travel often to Orlando. The initial set-up fee is $75 for the locker and the first delivery and pickup. Then, the basic service starts at $99 a year -- that's for climate-controlled storage and one delivery/pickup a year.
See www.ownerslocker.com for details.

you can read the entire article here.

Did you see that United Airlines has decided to limit passengers to one piece of checked luggage? Today’s Wall Street Journal says that a second checked bag will cost travelers $25.00. The third checked piece of luggage will cost $100.00 beginning May 5. The article points out that it’s those pesky leisure travelers buying cheap tickets that are clogging the planes hauling all of their stuff with them on vacation. Read the entire WSJ article.

That’s funny; at Owner’s Locker, we encourage people to have as much of their stuff with them as they’d like. We don’t have a weight limit on our Lockers and you’re welcome to fill them any way you want. And if you have more than one Locker, we give you a discount instead of charging you extra. It sounds to me that one of us wants you to have your personal items with you while you're at your home away from home and one of us doesn’t.

Whether you fly or drive, we just think it’s easier to keep your stuff here if you’re travelling to Orlando. It’s always been more convenient and cheaper to let Owner’s Locker store your stuff and have it waiting for you at your resort when you arrive. And now United’s move has made us an even better bargain.

As you can imagine, this move has attracted a lot of attention and comment. Here's a sampling of what others are saying:

--Sean O'Neill of Budget Travel Blog says that we can expect other airlines such as Delta, Northwest and Continental to follow suit. Have a look.

--bigpaul of GFN suggests that first class passengers' luggage must weigh less since they can still check two bags for free! Have a look.

--Joe Brancatelli of Conde Nast Portfolio's business travel blog, Seat 2B, discusses alternatives to checking luggage but focuses on luggage shipping services. I thought he needed to hear about Owner's Locker!! Have a look

--Abhisek Garg of The Money Times says the initial public response to United's move hasn't been that bad. Have a look

--Sonja Weick in her live for adventure blog points out that this will hit people who bring bicycles with them on vacation as well. Have a look.

JDVM
www.ownerslocker.com

Did you know that fractional timeshare owners have a storage facility at their resort where they can keep their personal items? That way, their time share seems more like a second home….and they don’t have to haul as much stuff back and forth every time they visit their resort. Great idea, but why is it just for owners of fractional timeshare units?

In the first place, what’s a fractional, anyway? In the old days, timeshares came in one flavor: the fixed week. You bought the second week in October in a specific unit in Gatlinburg to watch the leaves change color. That unit was yours for that fixed week in October and that was that. In the late 1980’s, vacation clubs came on the scene providing much more flexibility. You could come at different times, and in some cases, not come at all and save your time for another year altogether. But here’s the important part. With both fixed week timeshares and vacation clubs, each unit has approximately fifty owners.

The new kid on the block is the fractional timeshare which has a vastly fewer number of owners per unit. Instead of fifty, it’s twelve or ten or, in some cases, only four owners per unit. So an owner of a fractional timeshare that only has four owners can spend roughly three months per year in the unit. Perhaps not all at once but spread out over the year. Now that’s a timeshare. Or more accurately, that’s a second home!

As you might imagine a fractional timeshare costs substantially more that a typical timeshare or vacation club. And the owners not only pay a lot more, they get a lot more. The units are bigger and more glamorous. The locations are very nice, too. But the fractional timeshare owner also gets special parking spaces, concierge services and storage space. A place to put all of the things that make a place seem like it’s really yours. A place to keep all of the things you like to have to make you feel at home

The companies who build fractional timeshares knew that they were creating a premium product that they could sell for a premium price. And, they knew that the buyers would demand an exceptional degree of service and amenities. No small bottles of shampoo/conditioner in these bathrooms. While they knew that storage was a desire of many of their purchasers, they didn’t quite realize just how important it was. In fairness, the purchasers of the fractional timeshares probably didn’t realize how important the ability to store personal items was until they began utilizing the storage space provided…and then asking for more.

A major developer of fractional timeshare resorts has said that the main difference between their first project and their second was the doubling of the storage place provided for each owner; and the difference between the second and the third project was the doubling of storage space for each owner yet again. It seems like the more storage space you have, the more you need.

So why should fractional timeshare owners have all the fun? Why can’t timeshare and vacation club owners have a place to store personal items between visits?

Well, can you imagine a resort building fifty storage areas for each unit? The storage areas would be bigger than the unit! It doesn’t mean that you’re out of luck unless you own a fractional, though. Now there’s a company called Owner’s Locker that will allow you to have the same convenience that owners of high end fractionals have. Even better, actually because we pick up your stuff from your resort when you leave, store it while you're away and have it waiting for you at your resort when you return. And it’s available now in the Orlando area. Let us know what you think of our service that helps make you feel like you own the place!


JDVM
www.ownerslocker.com