A Simple Solution

Maybe I've been putting too much thought into how to "fix" the timeshare industry. Simple is good. Here is my new "fix":

Make every resort developer, resort owner and Director of Sales attend a timeshare presentation at another resort as "Mr. or Ms. Average Consumer."

Make every high ranking exchange company employee get on the phone and try to make an exchange.

Make every Director of Marketing (as they call it) attempt to check-in at a resort only to be sent to a few other desks in an attempt to get them in for a "resort update."

The problem is simple...the vast majority of the people in the industry who have the power to change it, don't own the product or certainly don't have to put up with the issues that the consumer does. Do you think that they have to try to exchange when they want a week in Hawaii? Of course not. And when they check-in, they're listed as "VIP" so that they bypass the entire "resort overview" crap. And of course they never have to sit through a 3-hour high pressure sales presentation.

See, the problem is simple...and so is the solution. Again, the first big-shot who actually DOES any of this and truly puts themselves in the consumers' shoes will immediately see the need for a change. And that change will gain them HUGE amounts of great PR and consumer loyalty.

Who is up for this change?