First of, two disclaimers:
1) I am NOT a millennial, no matter how young I like to think I am. I am a baby-boomer.
2) I have NOT employed a research company and spent a fortune coming up with this.
Now then...there's been a LOT of talk lately about what the timeshare industry needs to do to attract millennials. And while it is true that millennials do want some amenities in a timeshare that some older people might not find all that useful, i.e. Wi-Fi, and more electrical outlets, my contention is that when it comes to timeshares, millennials are no different than baby-boomers, Gen Y, or any other nifty name that researchers like to throw around.
So if timeshare developers want to attract millennials and every other buyer on the face of the earth, here are my suggestions:
* under promise, over deliver on everything
* say what you mean, mean what you say
* understand what true hospitality is
* fire anyone caught lying
* use the product yourself
* be truthful in everything you say
* treat people with dignity
* understand what empathy is and hire people who understand and demonstrate it
* limit the product to those who blessed your organization with their trust and money and became owners
* communicate open, honestly and frequently with your owners
* tout the actual features and benefits of the timeshare product and don't focus so much on the benefits of vacation which can be experienced with or without timeshare
* work on the perceived and actual value of the product both on the primary and the resale market
* stop offering incentives for people to come in and listen to a sales pitch, or at least offer incentives tied to the purchase of the product
That's a start...Now, let's go out there and do our very best to insure that timeshare is a desirable product for many years to come for people of all ages!
#YES2TIMESHARE
6 comments:
They should stop calling it ownership when what you own is near worthless
Perhaps if it was just a lease which expired after 10-15-25 years with variable prices.
It would solve the nightmare of how you dispose of it.
You've got to be kidding. The sales staff would never, never do any of your recommendations. How about locking in the promises made during the presentation. Again, never happen.
No, actually, I'm not kidding.
Until some of these issues are addressed, I don't see mass acceptance, do you?
You are dealing with people and an industry that line their pockets by flim-flammary. That's *what they do*. High pressure sales. Valuable products do not need to be sold that way!
They have no interest in anything except selling a nearly worthless product to people who later on sadly find they can't even *give it away*.
If they would add value, real value, like you really own it and they can't rent your week, you'd have to rent it or it would sit empty, then timeshare owners would be valuable to the resorts.
As it is, owners are a bother! What nerve, wanting to come to the resort you paid for and paid maintenance on with only 6 months notice!
If your unit had to by law sit empty unless you stayed in it, only then would a timeshare owner be valuable to the resort. They'd need you to come to spend other money at the resort!
Interesting point of view. I had never thought of it that way before, but your theory of "owner value" has some validity.
It's having rights to your "property".
If you could just walk away and not pay maintenance anymore and all they could do was take the interval back and sell it to someone else, they couldn't threaten or credit bureau you, like in other types of real estate.
If that were the case they would realize it might be easier to satisfy you than to sell that again.
Wouldn't it be better if like all other businesses cultivating satisfied customers were important to them? As it is, they don't care. They have thousands of bothersome demanding timeshare "owners" demanding things from them, like a place to sleep and nice facilities at reasonable prices. But they have their customers over the barrel.
If that were to stop the whole industry would be changed. As it is, they have no incentive.
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