Olivier Chavy, President, Panorama and Travel + Leisure Clubs
In January 2021, Travel + Leisure became the new global brand identity of former Wyndham Destinations, leveraging its extensive vacation expertise to bring the pages of the world’s most influential travel magazine to life, while also tapping into its global reach and brand recognition. The acquisition marked the establishment of Travel + Leisure Co. as the world’s leading vacation ownership and travel membership company.
The iconic brand amplifies the company’s mission to “put the world on vacation” through its diverse portfolio of leisure travel products and services. This strategic decision enables the company’s ongoing growth and continued expansion of leisure travel products and programs.
While the company’s vacation ownership business continues to drive most of the company’s sales and revenue, Travel + Leisure Co. boasts a growing variety of other travel and membership offerings through its membership and subscription travel club businesses. The company offers a suite of consumer products and services inspired by the iconic Travel + Leisure brand, including a subscription travel club, Travel + Leisure GO. In addition, the Panorama business line is working to diversify and expand far beyond the vacation ownership and exchange businesses, delivering a broader perspective to the world of travel.
While this may seem like an ambitious goal, Olivier Chavy, President of Panorama and Travel + Leisure Clubs, confirmed, “Yes, we do intend to put the world on vacation, beyond our successful vacation ownership brands. As we strive to achieve this objective, we will continue to explore opportunities within the global leisure travel industry. Through our expanded travel and membership offerings, we’re helping serve travelers in every aspect of their vacation needs, from vacation ownership and exchange to discount travel clubs and home swapping.”
Related: Industry Leader for 30 Years: Olivier Chavy
Panorama has three areas of focus: timeshare exchange companies – including RCI, 7Across (formerly DAE), and the Registry Collection – as well as leisure travel businesses, and a travel technology platform. RCI remains the industry’s leading vacation exchange platform with 3.7 million members around the world.
Shares Chavy, “RCI members can now travel with RCI all year, not just during their vacation exchange. Members can choose a traditional timeshare exchange at 4,200+ affiliate resorts, in more than 110 countries. Or they can apply their exchange to a selection of more than 600,000 hotels and resorts around the world. We reported nearly 2 million RCI transactions in our travel and membership business last year, which includes exchange revenue and travel club purchases.”
Within the company’s ecosystem, travelers have access to exclusive discounts at hotels and resorts around the world – including Mexico, Australia, Europe, and beyond. While this type of offering may be a departure from the traditional timeshare stay, this benefits travelers by providing more opportunities and options when planning vacations.
According to Chavy, “The exciting thing about the leisure travel space right now is that there is so much innovation happening. That’s why we’re so enthusiastic about expanding our leisure travel offerings. It broadens our participation in the marketplace and allows us to put people on vacations in new and different ways.”
He adds, “Our Love Home Swap brand, for example, allows members to literally swap homes for an agreed upon time, providing a truly authentic and immersive travel experience you can’t get with an Airbnb or VRBO.”
Love Home Swap has continued to accelerate growth beyond its original European market. Membership costs between $11 and $15 per month, and members can swap with thousands of beautiful and unique homes in over 100 countries.
The company’s membership travel business also includes several community travel clubs like Heroes Vacation Club, a convenient platform that invites front-line heroes to book affordable vacations from start to finish. Club membership is free to essential workers such as first responders, medical providers, police, and firefighters, and provides access to hotel discounts, plus one-stop booking for resorts, car rentals, cruises, flights, and more than 345,000 vacation activities. Members who upgrade to premium membership ($99 annually) are eligible for enhanced benefits including deeper discounts on hotels.
Alliance Reservations Network (ARN) provides Travel + Leisure Co. with private-label travel booking engine technology services that enable the company’s expansion into the subscription travel space. This has created affiliate travel sites to service individual leisure, corporate, association, and group and event clients across the globe.
Chavy shared his vision for the continued growth of the timeshare industry. “Millennials and Gen-Z are taking vacations more than any generation that has come before – and that mentality aligns perfectly with the basic pillars of a timeshare. What makes these generations different is the way they seek out vacations. They want flexibility, experiences, and exciting, new destinations. We’ve already seen timeshare evolve from the fixed week model to points-based systems that allow for flexibility in location, time, and style of accommodation.
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“Today, we’re seeing timeshare leaders invest in experiential opportunities that make their resorts attractive to owners and guests. We’re also seeing timeshares pop up in unique and desirable locations – such as the newest dual-branded Club Wyndham and Margaritaville Vacation Club resort in Atlanta, Georgia, and a Worldmark associate resort in Moab, Utah. In addition to these, I think we’ll also continue to see an evolving sales strategy that is digital-focused, aligning with the way younger generations prefer to be marketed. That evolution is already happening. Nearly 70 percent of the company’s vacation ownership sales last quarter were to GenX and Millennial buyers.”
“Throughout the social and economic challenges of the past few years, the value proposition of timeshare has continued to shine. When air travel was restricted during COVID, owners could still drive to nearby destinations to utilize their ownership, staying in their own suites with homestyle amenities that allowed them to cook meals privately and relax safely. While leisure travel has resumed, many people still have that desire for privacy and personal space, which you just can’t get in a crowded hotel room. With travel demand high and inflation up, the cost of a hotel, home rental or similar accommodation is skyrocketing, creating an even more compelling value proposition for our consumers, knowing that their vacations, and the future vacations of their children’s children, are protected from vacation inflation.”
“In the coming years,” concludes Chavy, “we want to meet people where they are, providing a buffet of leisure travel offerings based on their unique needs. We recognize that these needs continue to change and remain committed to evolving as needed. With that in mind, we’re excited by future opportunities to partner with brands and providers to ensure people are not just going on vacation but making memories to last a lifetime.”
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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