A Candid Look at the “New Normal”

The timeshare resort business hit a low point in 2020 thanks to COVID-related travel hesitancy and exit companies’ outrageous barrage of negative messaging. Meanwhile, a tsunami of consolidation hit all the existing vacation ownership businesses as the Big Three – Marriott, Wyndham (now Travel + Leisure), and Hilton Grand Vacations – made a huge play to ‘out-big’ one another. What does all this mean for senior and mid-level executives in the business?

For many resort managers and operators, it can very likely mean a job hunt or change of career plans. But the good news is, as Lanie Kane-Hanan of Marriott once said, all the resorts are still there and they all need services and products. Vendors and suppliers who are left to wonder who their market is these days should take heart. Still, many of their previous contacts have disappeared or been reassigned and whoever picked up their responsibilities for decision-making and purchasing might be difficult to find. This might appear to be self-serving, but it’s true: Vendors these days need to advertise with Resort Trades to establish their branding.

There’s an increase in the failure of a number of aging resorts to keep up with their financial obligations. There are consultants and companies that offer assistance in the form of helping work out HOA legal dilemmas, deferred maintenance issues, and diminished financial reserves. Resort Trades has been blessed with hearing from the front-line wave-makers this year.

In February, we were privileged with an online visit from Travis Bary, COO at Capital Vacations, one of the most prestigious timeshare resort management, development, and vacation club companies in North America. In a very informative conversation, he discussed the top five things resorts can do to raise revenue, how to counter rising resort costs, being prepared for the coming high demand in travel, and how resorts can ensure strength and longevity. The Trades’ in-person interview (available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/jWbpdz79RiI) coincided with an article in Resort Trades magazine describing the company’s recent advances in hand. After viewing Bary’s interview, you can find the meat of what he discusses in Locher’s article: https://resorttrades.com/raising-resort-revenue-travis-bary.

Many in the industry are acquainted with Harry Van Sciver and his business partner Dennis Rogers, who together direct the activities of Fairshare Solutions. The two gentlemen also appeared online for an interview in February (https://youtu.be/BgynAVEdso8). They discussed the importance of retaining the customer when seeking to recover delinquencies and described a very hands-on, consumer-centric approach to pursuing collections. In Van Sciver’s article, “Grow Receivables Organically“, he explains how their company, Fairshare is developing multi-faceted programs to do this, under the umbrella of “FairWay”.

Companies specializing in assisting so-called “legacy” resorts can be a vital resource to aging resorts. They are operated by seasoned professionals who have been involved in the industry for decades and understand the many variables that come into play when dealing with HOA boards, state and local jurisdictions, contractors, and the timeshare-savvy labor force.

Lemonjuice, for example, takes a rock-solid positive approach and has trademarked the term “Resorts Reimagined™”. Since 2016, the company has invested more than $20 million in restoring the infrastructure of aging resorts, helped generate and return more than $14.5 million for timeshare owners, and has cleared thousands of defective titles. EVP Scott MacGregor told us that out of the 1550 resorts in the U.S., 75 percent are more than 25 years old. Most resorts were older buildings to begin with, so now many buildings are 60 years old or more. Scott graced the Resort Trades Learning Center in March. The YouTube video is located at https://youtu.be/eHz0DtuP8jU.

Joseph Takacs, President and CEO of TWOB LLC, who was interviewed for an article in our July “Money Issue” whose company assists mature resorts was present at the conference. Joe is a long-time friend of The Trades and we hope to interview him soon during one of our Learning Center events.

The Learning Center had Vacation Innovations President Bryan Rand as a Learning Center guest shortly after the company’s acquisition of Holiday Systems International (https://youtu.be/J0D3xIYINYg). At that time Chad Newbold, CEO of Vacation Innovations told The Trades, “We’re thrilled to add HSI to our family of brands. Our goal is to expand upon their previous success by refining existing products and bringing new services and features to market. HSI has a history of developing best-in-class software for the travel industry that’s a step above the competition, and we are prepared and excited to use our resources and scale to maximize the value of the HSI platform and accelerate our collective growth.”

During his live, online interview, Rand explained how this acquisition will further increase Vacation Innovation’s services to the timeshare market, as well as the broader travel market. The plan is to serve developers more effectively by offering lead generation and customizable technology solutions, while also driving additional tours. Combining HSI’s one-click checkout with the significant traffic—nearly five million visits annually—generated across Vacation Innovations’ strategic web presence will help immediately position the company as a leader in resort rental.

New at ARDA

We understand that many of our readers don’t attend ARDA conventions and may have missed this one. Let’s face it: it ain’t cheap! But to give you a very brief report: This year, the “Timeshare Together ARDA Spring Conference 2021” was held June 6-10, 2021 at the JW Marriott at Grande Lakes Orlando. Gone were the flood of educational sessions, plus there was no exhibit hall. A number of vendors had sponsored lounges, which we understand the association will promote again in future conferences.

We asked ARDA staff a few questions:

1. We noticed there were only a few, select committee meetings at the Timeshare Together conference. Is ARDA rethinking the committee structure? If so, what can members expect in the future?
2. How can members get involved in ARDA initiatives?
3. Since there is no longer an exhibit hall, what are other ways ARDA helps vendors connect with prospective clients?
4. How can Resort Trades and other media companies partner with ARDA to help build membership and conference attendance? We plan to post ARDA’s response online as soon as it’s received.

We were amazed at seeing many old friends we haven’t seen in years. It was great that long-time resort professionals had emerged from their COVID-induced seclusion.

Some New Friends

It was refreshing to see several new entrants into the timeshare resort space, such as KOALA. “KOALA is a new Stay-Sharing Marketplace that connects timeshare owners with travelers looking for great places to vacation,” says KOALA Co-founder and CEO Mike Kennedy. “It offers owners an easy, secure and reliable way to rent their timeshare to anyone in the world. For the industry, we’re introducing a new generation of travelers to timeshare resorts and bolstering retention among current owners with a safe alternative to exiting.”

We were also excited to see I.C.E. in its ‘new and improved’ form – arrivia, as it’s now known. The company’s VP of B2B Marketing & Strategic Development Stacey Sutherland explained that the company’s goal is to operate much like the ‘Travelocity of the resort industry.’ While she is based in the Orlando metropolitan area, CEO Mike Nelson is in the home headquarters in Scottsdale, according to our understanding. Resort Trades hopes to interview CMO Jeff Zotara to discuss arrivia’s plans for the brand and would also like to speak with Chief Product Officer Alan Josephs (who was formerly with Orbitz).

Although the attendance was only around 500, we somehow missed catching up with a number of people, including Ken May (formerly head of RCI) who was listed as founder of Cottonwood Ventures in Bozeman, Montana.

Darden Restaurants sent several representatives from the Gift Cards and Strategic Partnerships Department: Trena Franklin, Rich Matson, and Donnalee Silletti. Another company new on the scene was Digital-Ignite. Representing this Charleston, South Carolina, company were Julian Clanton, Ryan Clark, Rex Danzker, Nathan Rubadou, and Mike Samet.

We knew John D’Annibale (VP, Senior Loan Officer), Brian Petronis (SVP Portfolio Manager), and Jeff Galle (Managing Director) of Pacific Western Bank, whom we recognized from when they were with a previous lending institution. It’s good to see lenders still in the mix.

Vacatia is another company on the move. We met with CEO Caroline Shin and Head of Growth Grant Miller and will be featuring in-depth interviews in a future edition of Resort Trades. We were pleased to see that our old friend Michelle DuChamp (formerly with Interval International) is Vacatia’s head of products and partnership. We look forward to meeting Head of Development Greg Eure, as well.

We missed catching up with Leon Basye, CEO of Vacation Ownership Title Agency, Inc., and owner/manager of White River Financial LLC Daniel Ruda.

End-Note

During a sales and marketing discussion, the consensus drawn when reviewing the industry’s current state of affairs is that, in addition to the Exit company threat, there are two concerns about the future of the industry:

1. in-house sales are the most prevalent source of growth and have sustained the major developers. But somehow there is a need to recruit and interest new owners/members. That’s not easy with the emergence of so many VRBO operations.
2. It’s estimated that of the 1600 or so timeshare resorts in the States, 60 percent are legacy properties. These present a short-term opportunity for companies offering solutions.

But it is expected that a number of the less promising resorts will need to go into foreclosure, resulting in negative publicity for the industry.

Resort Trades would like to welcome the contribution of readers’ thoughts about these and other threats to the industry. We’d also like to hear any positive stories you might like to share.