Expanding Bandwidth: How AI and flexible expertise are giving resort teams more time for the work only they can do

Somewhere in your organization right now, someone who should be solving a real problem is doing something a system could do instead. That’s not a staffing issue. It’s a bandwidth issue — and it exists at every scale, from a 200-unit HOA resort to a portfolio of 50 properties.

AI is genuinely good at giving time back. Not by replacing judgment calls or leading the strategic conversations that require someone who’s been in this industry long enough to know what the data says.

ut the structured, repeatable work that needs to happen and doesn’t need a person to make it happen? Routing communications, triggering follow-ups, compiling reports, processing data across systems — AI handles that at a scale and consistency no team can match. When those tasks run themselves, useful bandwidth opens up.

That same logic — put the right work in the right hands — applies beyond technology. It applies to how resorts and hospitality companies buy expertise.

For years, the default was the bundle. Need marketing expertise? Here’s the full-service agency — done for you, owned by them. Need management support? Sign the all-inclusive contract. There’s a certain comfort in comprehensive coverage — if you have everything, you can’t be missing anything. But comprehensive and right-sized aren’t the same thing, and the difference shows up in your budget, your team’s focus and what actually gets solved.

What Happens When the Work Sorts Itself

Decisions (https://decisions.com/), an intelligent decision and workflow automation platform, recently published The Enterprise AI Shift,* an ebook examining how companies are navigating a second phase of AI adoption. The first phase was about discovery — what could it do? The second requires organizational judgment about where AI should operate and where human expertise needs to stay in the loop. The capability that separates organizations getting real results from those still experimenting, the ebook argues, is orchestration — coordinating models, workflows, data and human decisions into a system that stays aligned with business intent as conditions change. The infrastructure that makes orchestration work isn’t just technical — it’s the governance layer: defined rules about where AI operates, compliance standards, and human checkpoints that ensure automation scales without introducing risk.

Grand Pacific Resorts has exactly that kind of operating model. Rather than allowing departments to experiment with AI tools in isolation, the California-based resort management company established a centralized framework for AI adoption. The initiative includes dedicated leadership oversight, a company-wide AI Pulse newsletter that shares insights and use cases, and an internal “IDEA Drop Box” that allows associates across the organization to propose automation opportunities and workflow improvements.

“We’re not implementing AI to replace hospitality — we’re implementing it to protect it,” said Nigel Lobo, RRP, Chief Operating Officer Grand Pacific Resorts. “When automation handles the repetitive work behind the scenes, our teams gain more time to focus on the conversations, relationships and service experiences that owners and guests actually remember.”

They view AI as a practical tool for operational clarity rather than a replacement for human expertise. Structured processes — reporting, routing requests, compiling data, and coordinating communications — are where automation can create the most value. When those tasks run in the background, the people responsible for delivering the vacation experience have more time to focus on guests and owners directly.

A useful starting point for any operation is your SOPs. If a task has a written procedure — a defined series of steps someone follows the same way every time — that task is worth examining for automation. How many of those steps actually require human judgment, and how many are just execution? Pre-arrival communications, maintenance routing, owner statement processing — structured, high-volume work that currently consumes the people best deployed elsewhere. When it runs itself, the staff member who was triaging emails is available for the guest at the front desk. The data that was buried in a manual report is in front of the GM in time to act on it.

Breckenridge Grand Vacations applied this directly — an AI-driven chatbot on its owner website now handles common questions on reservations, billing and policy, while an internal AI application supports communication and problem-solving across all employees.

“We view AI not as a replacement of human connection, but as a tool that elevates these interactions,” said Rick Tramontana, senior director of owner relations. “AI eliminates administrative burden and allows our team to focus on what matters most — empathy, critical thinking and the high-touch experience that defines the BGV brand.”

At Resort Management & Consulting Group, VP of Operations Stacy Dounias draws the same line. Her team applies AI to structured processes first — owner communications, report compilation, data reconciliation, draft board materials.

“It’s less about automation replacing work and more about removing friction so experienced operators can operate,” she said. That efficiency extends to board presentations, where tools like Gamma accelerate preparation and sharpen delivery. “The tool speeds up the build,” Dounias said, “but the value is still in the context and experience behind the presentation.”

Between the Board and the Floor

The same logic that applies to AI — use what fits, where it fits — applies to how resorts buy outside expertise. And for independent properties especially, the gap that needs filling is rarely the whole operation.
Dana Myers has spent enough years in this industry working with resort operators, developers and lenders to recognize that some independent resorts don’t need someone to run their property. They have the staff. They have the systems. They have the board. What they don’t always have is a clear, functioning line between what the board decides and what management actually executes.

Myers founded Nexus Resort Solutions to work at that level, not as a replacement for a resort’s existing team, but as the connective tissue between strategic vision and operational reality. She maps the systems and structures a resort needs, helps build them and then facilitates their execution — not outsourcing the work, but orchestrating it. Nexus brings genuine breadth from strategic management, revenue optimization, rental program development, owner experience and financial oversight. The engagement is built around what a specific resort actually needs not delivered as a predetermined bundle.

According to Myers, “In this ever changing landscape of the timeshare industry, it is important to recognize that not all resorts require the same boiler plate management services. We work with each individual resort to determine the best operational and financial solutions for now and for the future. Our goal is to have the resort be able to strategically self invest its revenue streams in order to continue to maintain current operations while working out a strategic blueprint for their future needs,”
Blue Tree Resort, an independent property in Orlando, made the decision to move to self-managed operations and brought Myers in to fill a specific gap — alignment between the board’s direction and management’s execution.

“With Nexus Resort Solutions’ communication, guidance and assistance, we have been able to adjust and modify procedures in an incredibly positive way,” said a representative of Blue Tree’s board of directors. “We were able to eliminate many charges built into management contracts — many we never realized — contributing to cost savings in a sometimes difficult market. Policies and procedures are much more streamlined and adjusted to our specific requirements.”

If Blue Tree’s needs expand, so does the engagement. The relationship grows with them — which is a fundamentally different value proposition than a contract that locks in scope at signing.

The Model Is Out There

The infrastructure to support this model exists. Qualified consultants, fractional operators and specialized agencies are accessible in ways they weren’t a decade ago and the data backs that up.

ARDA’s 2025 State of the Vacation Timeshare Industry report shows that more than half of the approximately 1,497 U.S. timeshare resorts are not in active sales — legacy, independent, HOA-controlled properties each navigating their own set of challenges. About a third are fully self-managed. A study by Stringam, Mandabach and VanLeeuwen published in the Journal of Tourism & Hospitality found these properties post strong financial performance — solid maintenance fee collection, healthy reserves, competitive occupancy. The gaps tend to appear in specific areas — rental programs, exchange relationships, marketing, strategic alignment, IT — targeted enough that targeted support can address them without requiring a full operational overhaul.

The fractional and advisory model has deep roots outside hospitality and the numbers reflect growing adoption. Across industries, fractional executives now number more than 120,000 — up from 60,000 just two years ago. The economics are straightforward — 40 to 70% less than a full-time executive hire, with results in weeks rather than the months a traditional placement requires. The HSMAI Foundation has identified fractional staffing as a transformative trend in hotel talent sourcing specifically — a signal that the model is finding a real foothold in this industry.

Start With the Problem. Build From There.

The Enterprise AI Shift details that as organizations mature in their AI use, their applications expand — starting where the need is clearest, building confidence, adding more. The platforms that serve them best aren’t the ones that forced them into a tier. They’re the ones that made it easy to grow into more capability over time.

That pattern runs through every strong vendor relationship in this industry. A resort that starts with strategic consulting adds owner services program support when the time is right. A management company brings in a marketing partner for one campaign and builds from there as results warrant.

The vendors worth those long-term relationships have genuine breadth and let you access it based on what’s actually needed today. If you’re running an independent resort or managing a portfolio and something isn’t working, something’s missing or something needs more efficiency or improved results — the conversation doesn’t have to start with a contract or pre-packaged quote. Start with the problem. The right engagement builds from there. Expanding your bandwidth in the most meaningful ways.

*https://decisions.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Decisions_eBook_The_Enterprise_AI_Shift.pdf

Kelley Ellert is the founder of Waterwheel Marketing, a hybrid consultancy and agency that builds custom marketing programs for hospitality operators, management companies, and B2B organizations across the vacation ownership and resort industry.