Start-up Myne wants you to buy a share of a holiday home with strangers

Roughly half of the European population dream of owning a holiday home.

The problem, according to Nikolaus Thomale, co-founder of Myne, is that 'typically, less than two per cent can afford what it costs to buy such a place initially and then to operate it.'

Thomale's Berlin-based startup, which launched in the UK last week, seeks to address this disconnect between people's dreams and the reality.

It offers fractional ownership of holiday homes across nine countries in Europe, with properties available in 25 destinations.

Inevitably this has drawn comparisons with timeshares, which in the past saw many part-owners locked in to long contracts with massive fees.

Thomale insists this isn't the case, though - so we asked him more about the model and how it works.

The idea for the business came during the pandemic. 'We saw how many people were looking jealously at their friends or families who had a holiday home somewhere outside of the cities,' says Thomale.

Starting at £99,000, holiday homes can be shared by up to eight individuals, but as little as two.

'Imagine you and a couple of friends come together to buy and co-own a holiday home,' he continues. 'Except you don't have to know these people and we are taking care of the whole process from finding these properties, equipping them down to the teaspoons.

'We take care of the design and the whole servicing and maintenance of these properties.'

We're all familiar with timeshares – property agreements where holidaymakers pay for the right to use a specific holiday home for a period of each year.

Timeshare owners often find themselves paying high maintenance fees that keep increasing while locked into 'in perpetuity' contracts with little hope of resale.

Thomale says Myne doesn't sell timeshares, and that its model 'is addressing the same need in a better way.'

Thomale says: 'The major difference to traditional timeshare is that it would provide you access to the property, typically for fixed weeks every year, but it has nothing to do with real ownership of the property.

It's essentially a prepaid vacation expense, and doesn't include any potential capital appreciation. It simply isn't an investment into the ownership of the property.

According to Myne, property prices in the premium locations where it offers holiday homes have grown by an average of between three and six per cent per year.

Thomale added: 'Our owners become equity stakeholders in this real estate with ownership rights, which also include the right to use the property.'

'Traditional timeshares are typically structured around lots of properties, like a big hotel - hundreds and thousands of properties combined in a in almost a fund like structure. We're really focusing on individual properties… giving the owners real control over the asset.'

The holiday lets are fully serviced and maintained by Myne, which charges an annual management fee as well as the associated maintenance costs which Thomale says depend on the specific property.

He said: 'If you have a big house with a large garden and a pool, it obviously costs more to maintain that property than a smaller apartment.'

Each property has an annual budget, as well as a maintenance reserve fund so that major work can be carried out periodically without hitting the owners' wallets all in one go.

Each property is split into eight shares, entitling the owner to around six and a half weeks at the property per year.

Owners don't need to own just a single share, they can purchase up to four – equivalent to a 50 per cent share in total.

Thomale said: 'What typically happens is that people don't buy multiple shares in one property, but they buy a second share in a second property and a third share in a third property.

'Roughly 25 per cent of our owners own two or more shares.'

Owners can book the time they want to stay in their property between two days and two years in advance, and Thomale says the firm does its best to 'make sure that "putting your towel on the sunbed" doesn't happen and everyone gets a fair right to use the property.'

This is done in a number of ways.

First, the firm pairs owners with those who will mostly use their property during different periods of the year.

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The main distinction, Thomale said, is between families with children bound to school holidays and people who don't have kids or have older children and would rather travel out of school holiday periods.

'I'm a good example,' Thomale added, 'My co-founder Fabian has kids and has to travel during school holidays. I don't have kids, so I don't want to travel then.

Myne also only operates in destinations that allow usage throughout much of the year, so that owners have more options of when to stay.

Thomale said: 'We are very active in Majorca, where they have eight to nine months of main holiday period, and if you equip the houses right with a fireplace and a sauna, for example, they can be used in the winter.

'What we don't do is go to Mykonos, which is an incredible island as well, but primarily for four months of the year and the rest of the time there is less infrastructure: fewer flights, restaurants aren't open and so on.'

Finally, the firm uses what it calls its 'smart stay algorithm'.

Essentially, Thomale says, Myne has a rolling system preventing the same owners from booking peak periods every year, to ensure that each owner has equal opportunity.

He said: 'If I was there on Christmas this year, then other owners would have a first right to use Christmas next year.

'As a result, this allows us to confirm 80 per cent of these stay requests immediately, while the other 20 per cent get on the waiting list.'

Co-owners have the ability to sell their share of the property at any time, either with the help of Myne, or on the open market.

Thomale told This is Money: 'You can sell it pretty much any time you want to anyone you want, you can do it through a real estate agent or put it on a listing site. Or you can ask us to support you with reselling the share.'

'When people sell through us it is generally way faster because we have built waiting lists on the properties. We've sold shares within 48 hours of the seller approaching us.

'Sales typically take between 48 hours and two to three months.'

Thomale adds that shares have a swap right, meaning that owners can exchange their share for another if it doesn't meet their needs.