Gordon McClendon, CEO of SPI Software
Timeshare resorts and companies serving them have always required highly specialized software needs. For over four decades, SPI Software has been recognized and respected as the leader in this field. Their depth of industry knowledge has led SPI to offer the most advanced vacation ownership-focused software on the market with SPI’s innovative software solutions installed by resorts and management companies on five continents.
According to Gordon McClendon, CEO of SPI Software, “Today’s resort guests are increasingly comfortable with the use of technology before, during, and after their vacations. This will be standard in the future. We are continuing to remain at the forefront of changing technology, helping clients obtain the maximum value from their software for help with sales, property management, loan servicing, receivables management, integrations, data migration, and strategic data analysis.”
SPI Connect™ – SPI’s cloud-based digital messaging module – is fully integrated into their timeshare-focused advanced application software. “This new technology allows clients to connect with their owners in a meaningful way and is the most effective way to communicate today,” says Gordon. “Our texting and WhatsApp™ global mobile messaging app are also extremely popular client communications tools.”
From large management companies like Grand Pacific Resorts, to servicing companies like Trinity Resort services, SPI Software often becomes the “missing link” that connects companies to their clients. With their companies located from California to Las Vegas to Malta and from the Smokey Mountains to South Carolina and St. Maarten, Resort Trades spoke with them to learn how they have successfully used different SPI Software programs. Read on for their unique stories.
Related: SPI Software Named Best Business Product at GNEX-2023 Conference
Grand Pacific Resorts (GPR) is one of the nation’s most respected resort management companies. Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, during the past three decades they have served over 80,000 owner families and tens of thousands of loyal guests. With 24 properties under full management, GPR customizes its services to preserve the unique experience of each location. They continue to win awards in more than a dozen categories each year for their proven expertise in owner services and engagement, resort management, maintenance, and sustainability. For the 5th consecutive year, GPR has been named Best Management Company and the 2nd year it was honored as the Best Overall Company in the GENX industry awards.
According to Dan O’Donnell, Regional Manager of Resort Technology for Grand Pacific Resort Management, SPI has worked collaboratively with Grand Pacific Resorts for over a decade, using their systems at all 24 managed resorts. “Two years ago, we expanded our offerings by adding Grand Pacific Vacation Services, a new suite of services that enables resorts to remain fully in charge of their properties while selecting from a host of a-la-carte resort management solutions. Vacation Services enables GPR to help resorts monetize unused inventory – HOA owned and delinquent – to keep associations financially healthy.
Additional services may include maintenance fee billing/servicing/collections, one-stop call center services for all reservation inquiries, account loyalty services to increase owner engagement, and a rental program to maximize yield and revenue. This program has been highly successful in providing a unique set of services that help a resort in areas where they may be struggling but still allows the resort to continue to manage in areas where they are strong. To deploy the various services the resort requires, we extend the SPI platform to the resort to maximize the benefits of the services we offer. Combining the strengths of our talented teams within Grand Pacific Resorts, the SPI platform with the various modules, and the resorts onsite staff apply their skills and abilities while the guest is In-house.
SPI’s skills and domain knowledge are unexcelled. We look forward to our continued alliance with them as both our companies continue to expand while serving our industry.”
VCMS-Malta provides daily management services to 5,000 members of three vacation clubs based at their home resort, Radisson Blu Resort & Spa, Golden Sands in the Mediterranean island of Malta. Opened in 2003, the resort features floating and points products and has 203 units in varying sizes, including lock-offs. Club members can use their points for other vacation properties in the Mediterranean Region such as Costa del Sol, in Spain, Greek Islands, Italy and Croatia for short or longer stays, facilitated by SPI. VCMS also operates a rental program welcoming guests from around the world, primarily from Great Britain, Scandinavia, Italy, and Malta, often using four main languages. VCMS handles reservations for members and exchanges, plus annual membership billings and special requests from guests.
Through its Reservations, Contracts and Dues modules, SPI Software provides services for club members utilizing the profile of each member with special booking codes allowing the Members’ Experiences Team to efficiently administer all guests’ bookings. Members also have access to their profiles and other online services through a customized Members’ Portal supported by SPI. After the guest selects their desired vacation, the weeks entitlement or points are automatically deducted from member’s account depending on the Membership owned, eliminating the need to manually deduct weeks entitlement and points. This is a major owner convenience as it requires only a single transaction. With assistance from SPI, reservation confirmation letters have been created by using required languages. Equally efficient, fees are automatically billed to the client’s account.
“Without SPI as our software provider, says Charlene Grima, Head of Operations, Resales and Digital Marketing, “our lives would be far more complicated. We have been using SPI for several years. Now, everything is in one place. Frankly, their system is the glue that holds everything together.”
La Vista and La Vista Beach are two deluxe resorts with a total of 50 units in a spectacular setting in St. Maarten’s Pelican Key. Initially opened as a hotel in 1986, the property was converted to timeshare in1992 and now sells timeshare ownership in fixed, floating, or alternate-year use. Family owned and managed, the two resorts sit across from each other with 32 units facing the Caribbean turquoise sea and 18 directly on the beach. Currently in sales, about 80% of the guests are timeshare owners, some visiting every-other-year.
“Since we are so small,” says Debbie Choisy, Resort Manager for La Vista and La Vista Beach, “many guests come for a quiet, relaxing visit, enjoying the pool or island attractions. Ideal year-round weather, dual exchange memberships and use flexibility results in high occupancy. Previously, we handled many issues manually, but switched to SPI in 2019. SPI’s Marisol Montalvo helped us throughout the conversion to the new software from opening to going live, with countless questions back and forth, constantly providing excellent support.”
Debbie’s resorts now use SPI’s Dues module to digitally send invoices to owners. “Sending them internationally via mail was very costly,” says Debbie. “Now we have the ability to send invoicing directly from the software via email, saving us time and money. This is far more efficient with return payments received much faster.
e also use the Reservations module, which ties directly to our website, enabling potential guests to review available inventory and book online. This is extremely helpful for a small resort because it provides a strong internet presence and helps create faster bookings, most important in a popular vacation location. We plan to implement Owner Connect in the future.”
Trinity Resort Services (TRS) is an award-winning company based in Las Vegas to provide a wide range of services to the vacation ownership industry, including financial, reservations and contact center services with multilingual assistance. Clients are located from the Caribbean to Latin America, Mexico, Canada and beyond.
CEO Odilia Guiant spent 20 years in the timeshare servicing industry prior to establishing TRS. “When I opened this small servicing company in 2018,” she said, “we had to decide whether to create my own software system to the potential cost of millions of dollars, or to leverage a partner with needed systems in place. I researched several timeshare industry companies and found that SPI Software had the most robust and complete software, pricing was a sound investment, and the company had solid leadership. During our first year with SPI in 2020, we used the Dues and Loans components. Since then, we have gradually implemented more of their modules and have been able to help clients using Reservations for fixed, floating and points membership and Sales and Marketing modules. Today, we are using about 90% of all the modules they have to offer and built API’s into other systems. From a partnership perspective, SPI clearly delivers in a timely manner and is always open to new ideas. They are forward thinking, responsive and supportive, exactly what you want in a partner.”
Smoky Mountain Distributors is a Licensed Distributor of Global Discovery Vacations, based out of the Great Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The company offers exclusive access to Global Discovery Vacation’s premium travel club, which proudly services over 300,000 members annually and provides access to over one million vacation experiences worldwide.
Nick Wellman serves as Chief Operating Officer and CFO for Smoky Mountain Distributors, also responsible for technology services. In 2019, Smoky Mountain Distributors began a curated sales experience out of White Oak Resort in Gatlinburg, to ensure members and prospective members had the ability and knowledge to attain everything they want from their membership. They are now one of Global’s largest selling agents.
In sharing his thoughts about SPI Software, Nick added, “We use SPI’s Sales & Marketing module at both of our sales centers as is provides a quick pulse on exactly how our business is doing in real time. Throughout the day, the software tells us how many tours we’ve had, the volume per guest, and performance metrics. Using this exceptional software enables us to make sales decisions on the fly as well be agile in marketing decisions. It also allows us to zero in on any mounting sales weaknesses or strengths so we can make speedy adjustments. For our company, the more we are in tune with the data, the better decisions we can make. SPI Software helps us make this happen.”
Resort Management & Consulting Group (RMCG) manages eight legacy resorts in North and South Carolina, and Massachusetts, founded by longtime timeshare industry leaders, Michael Schraibman and Lanse McColl. Stacy Dounias is Director of Operations, responsible for managing software training and integrations across all properties. The trio has over six decades of timeshare experience.
Some of the most important challenges facing legacy timeshares are the collection of maintenance fees and generating rental revenue. Using SPI has enabled RMCG to provide highly effective inventory management programs that focus on maximizing the rental of delinquent and unused inventory. SPI’s forecasting and inventory management tools enable the company to target areas of opportunity and market inventory in real time.
“We use SPI’s Property Management Software to integrate with a channel manger that broadcasts rental inventory to several outside travel agencies.” Stacy says, “This automation has allowed us to successfully monetize delinquent and unused resort inventory across our managed properties, producing significant growth in rental revenues!”
“Through our partnership with SPI, we were able to introduce a bank payment portal that provides owners flexible maintenance fee payment options while also saving the resorts significant payment processing fees. SPI’s dues reporting and communications features have allowed us to better serve resort owners, resulting in stabilized and improved maintenance fee collections. As SPI continues to facilitate our management services, we look forward to expanding our communication options with their new texting features and further enhancing our Owner and Guest vacation experiences.”
For a live demonstration of SPI’s software, call 1-877-780-9505. Or visit Info@SPISOFTWARE.com
Marge Lennon has been writing about the timeshare industry and its resorts since forever. She can be reached at Marge@LennonCommunications.com
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