Vacation Club Sales and Marketing in Mexico

In 2017 the World Tourism Organization reported that Mexico was eighth in the world for international tourist arrivals with approximately 35 million international visitors. 2017 was a record breaking year with a nine percent increase and, so far in 2018, it appears as though it will be another record year. Also, air travel to Mexico saw a ten percent increase The Mexican government reports that approximately nine million Mexican nationals are currently employed within the tourism industry. The World Travel and Tourism Council stated that the travel and tourism industry in Mexico ranks first for GDP with a reportedly $166 billion USD spent on travel and tourism in Mexico, representing 16 percent of Mexico’s GDP.

With these staggering statistics, we took a look at how developers in the vacation ownership industry in Mexico market to these millions of international arrivals and how they are selling them a piece of the dream and memories of Mexico. What we refer to as vacation ownership in the USA is better referred to as vacation club membership in Mexico; vacation ownership is sold as “right to use,” not a wholly owned, deeded property as in the USA.

To get an inside look at the sales and marketing process in Mexico, we spoke to representatives from three Mexican owned and operated resort developers. El Cid Resorts and Sunset World are two of Mexico’s vacation club pioneers who began their operations many years ago in the very early stages of vacation clubs in Mexico. Palladium Resorts began its operations in the 1970s in Ibiza, Spain, before expanding into Mexico and the Caribbean in the early 1990s. Each developer have their own unique strategy when selling and marketing both international travelers and Mexican nationals.

We spoke first with Curtis Knipe, sales and marketing director at El Cid Resorts, who shared many of his insights into the sales and marketing practices in Mexico. He explained that service and quality is an integral part of their core values. As he puts it, members get a lot more for their money in Mexico.

Trades: Do you have sales lines dedicated to just Mexican nationals?

Knipe: “We have a “Spanish” line, which includes Mexican nationals and Spanish-speaking South Americans.”

Trades: How do you market to international travelers and Mexican nationals?

Knipe: “We use airport as well as in-house OPCs (off premises contacts), referrals and lead generation programs with vendors.” Curtis continued by explaining that they have dedicated sales lines based solely on language, and also, lines dedicated solely to international travelers. “Ten years ago we were 90 percent USA, 5 percent Canadian, and five percent Mexican nationals.  Today we are 67 percent USA, 8 percent Canadian, 20 percent Mexican nationals and five percent South American.  The North American market remains the top prospect with higher deposits, higher average sales price and high-quality paper.  However, the Mexican nationals’ market has grown dramatically and is an important part of our current business model.”

Next, we interviewed Jim Wehrle from the Sunset World Group. We asked him essentially the same questions and received surprisingly different answers. For example, we asked if his company had sales lines dedicated to just Mexican Nationals.

Wehrle: “No—we have one sales line in each sales center with people who speak, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.”

Trades: How do you market international travelers?

Wehrle: “We reach out primarily through internet promotions on both internal and third-party sites in Spanish, Portuguese and English. We complement this with Google AdWords campaigns, Facebook promotions and advertising. Also, we have international call centers along with several outbound call centers.”

Trades: What are your primary marketing tools to drive tour generation?

Wehrle: “We use internal and external websites using both SEO, AdWords, and Facebook but also with the old standby of e-blasts to the databases that we have created over the years.”
Jim went on to explain they market to Mexican nationals pretty much the same way they market to international travelers. Lastly, we interviewed David Llibre, a representative of Palladium Resorts.
Trades: Do you have sales lines dedicated to just Mexican Nationals apart from international travelers?

Llibre: “Since we only work with in-house marketing and ours is a small-to-medium property, we do not have a sales line dedicated to Mexican nationals apart from international travelers.  Our sales force is fully multi-lingual which allows us to serve all of our prospective members.”

Trades: what is one example of how you market to international travelers?

Llibre: “We receive clients through the check-in process and invite them to our presentation.  As appreciation for their time we have different gifts that we can offer them that include spa services, excursions, car rental, and promotional souvenirs.”

Trades: What is one example of how you market to Mexican nationals?

Llibre: “For the Mexican nationals, we go through the same process as international by receiving the clients through the check-in process and inviting them to our presentation.  As appreciation for their time we have different gifts that we can offer them from spa services and excursions, to promotional souvenirs. Also, we take into consideration that most of the Mexican nationals arrive to Puerto Vallarta in their own vehicles; so, we offer them gas vouchers for excursions.”

Trades: What are your primary marketing tools to drive tour generation?

Llibre: “Our tours are generated from our in-house customers, only. As we mentioned before, we’ll entice them with promotional gifts.  Besides the check-in process, we also work together with the hotel entertainment team as we try to engage with them while they are on the property in the pool and hotel areas.”

Over the years, Mexico has had tremendous progress and success. Sales and marketing is an integral part of the lifeline and success of Mexican vacation club development programs. As we heard from three of the most successful developers in Mexico, they have progressed and adapted through understanding the evolution of their prospective members, utilizing social media, and understanding the importance of customizing a product that meets the unique criteria of each individual member.