So, it has been a few months since RCI launched their Platinum Points program.
Among the benefits members receive are unit upgrades, rebates, priority access and various travel related discounts.
Has anyone upgraded to this new level of membership? If so, what are your thoughts? Have you received better service? Is is worth the money?
Speaking of the money, I'm curious to find out if everyone paid the same thing or if resorts are milking this for everything they can and charging more than what RCI charges.
Let us know.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Not "Exactly" Timeshare Related
OK, not at ALL timeshare related. I just felt the need to vent.
I just returned from my local grocery store where I had to show my drivers' license, be entered into a database and sign a release in order to purchase 24 nasal decongestant pills. This is presumably so that the authorities will be able to find me in the event that there is an increase in the amouth of meth that they may find in Clermont in the near future. Of course, the fact that I also purchased cough medicine, diabetes medication for Julian the cat, Honey Nut Cherrios and Earl Grey tea did nothing to indicate that I might NOT be the meth dealer that they are looking for.
I write this three days before I have to endure the TSA screenings at the airport before being allowed to fly home to enjoy Thanksgiving with my friends and family. Yeah, I know, I REALLY fit the profile of people who are likely to do something sinister while flying. Thank goodness that the cough medicine I purchased is in tablet form, or else that would likely be confiscated.
I know that as Americans, we take our freedoms for granted and the minute that anything "interferes" with that, we bristle. I'm not like that. As the child of immigrants whose family was persecuted, no, make that slaughtered by the Nazis, I don't take my freedoms for granted and I thank God that I live in the society that I do.
But this decongestant, 3 ounces of liquid, inappropriate patdowns nonsese is just that...nonsense. It does nothing to make us any safer from anything. All it does is provide good humor for the terrorists and drug dealers out there who are, no doubt, thinking up new ways to go about their dangerous business.
I just returned from my local grocery store where I had to show my drivers' license, be entered into a database and sign a release in order to purchase 24 nasal decongestant pills. This is presumably so that the authorities will be able to find me in the event that there is an increase in the amouth of meth that they may find in Clermont in the near future. Of course, the fact that I also purchased cough medicine, diabetes medication for Julian the cat, Honey Nut Cherrios and Earl Grey tea did nothing to indicate that I might NOT be the meth dealer that they are looking for.
I write this three days before I have to endure the TSA screenings at the airport before being allowed to fly home to enjoy Thanksgiving with my friends and family. Yeah, I know, I REALLY fit the profile of people who are likely to do something sinister while flying. Thank goodness that the cough medicine I purchased is in tablet form, or else that would likely be confiscated.
I know that as Americans, we take our freedoms for granted and the minute that anything "interferes" with that, we bristle. I'm not like that. As the child of immigrants whose family was persecuted, no, make that slaughtered by the Nazis, I don't take my freedoms for granted and I thank God that I live in the society that I do.
But this decongestant, 3 ounces of liquid, inappropriate patdowns nonsese is just that...nonsense. It does nothing to make us any safer from anything. All it does is provide good humor for the terrorists and drug dealers out there who are, no doubt, thinking up new ways to go about their dangerous business.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Anatomy of a Timeshare Tragedy
Start with a nice little resort with great potential. The first mistake is to have RCI allocate this nice little resort a point value far beyond other resorts in the area with far more amenities.
1. Hire people with no timeshare experience and put them in semi-important positions, suh as managing the contracts department when they have no understanding of legal issues and/or managing the front desk when the difference between a hotel and a timeshare escapes them.
2. Assess a special assessment in the midst of one of the country's worst financial crunches.
3. Lie to your owners about what the special assessment will be used for.
4. Spend the special assessment funds on anything and everything BUT what you told your owners you would spend it on.
5. Make it nearly impossible for owners to attend the annual HOA meeting by burying the meeting details in another document, holding the meeting at an inconvenient time and holding the meeting off-site.
6. Lower maintance fees, don't maintain the property properly and allow your sales staff to tell clients; "oh, you buy here so that you can trade, I'd never stay here, it's a dump."
7. Take a hands-off approach, don't be pro-active, listen to people who don't have the resort's best interest at heart multiple times and hide your head in the sand.
8. Allow your "sales force" to sell a vacation club rather than timeshare.
A tragedy for the owners, for the handful of qualified, dedicated personnel still employed trying to make the best of it and a tragedy for the timeshare industry as a whole.
1. Hire people with no timeshare experience and put them in semi-important positions, suh as managing the contracts department when they have no understanding of legal issues and/or managing the front desk when the difference between a hotel and a timeshare escapes them.
2. Assess a special assessment in the midst of one of the country's worst financial crunches.
3. Lie to your owners about what the special assessment will be used for.
4. Spend the special assessment funds on anything and everything BUT what you told your owners you would spend it on.
5. Make it nearly impossible for owners to attend the annual HOA meeting by burying the meeting details in another document, holding the meeting at an inconvenient time and holding the meeting off-site.
6. Lower maintance fees, don't maintain the property properly and allow your sales staff to tell clients; "oh, you buy here so that you can trade, I'd never stay here, it's a dump."
7. Take a hands-off approach, don't be pro-active, listen to people who don't have the resort's best interest at heart multiple times and hide your head in the sand.
8. Allow your "sales force" to sell a vacation club rather than timeshare.
A tragedy for the owners, for the handful of qualified, dedicated personnel still employed trying to make the best of it and a tragedy for the timeshare industry as a whole.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
And Now A Word About Timeshare Consumers
I'll admit it, I carry on about the need for positive change within the timeshare industry. And I'm quite vocal and direct about it. Things need to change and need to change quickly if the industry is to ever get to the level of acceptance that I believe it is capable of.
But there is enough nonsense and shenanigans going on everywhere...today I'd like to point the finger at the consumer. More specifically to timeshare tour junkies and consumers who just like to bitch and complain.
As an unbiased, independent, non-sales oriented consultant, I get e-mails daily from frustrated consumers. Some have legitimate concerns. I'm focused today on the ones that don't have legitimate concerns, don't learn from their mistakes and are crying "foul" when they share the blame.
I have no sympathy for instance for consumers who come crying to me saying that they "bought" two theme park tickets in Orlando for $25 and didn't know it involved a 3-hour high pressure timeshare presentation.
For those of you who don't know, I was a timeshare salesperson for more than 4 years and I came across my fair share of these "crybabies" who cried foul and wanted out before the required 90 minutes. They know full-well what's going on and most of them schedule 2 pitches per day in order to supplement their meager financial allottment for vacation.
I also find it hard to sympathize with the consumers who fall for the "timeshare transfer" schemes, who I gracefully give my time and thoughts at no cost to, but when I suggest that they take a look at my services (MODULE 3 to be specific) or join the National Timeshare Owners Association or subscribe to TimeSharing Today or any number of organizations that I point them to, don't do anything.
More often than not, I hear from these same people again, now telling me that they were taken for another $2,500 yet STILL don't take my advise.
As I said, there is enough nonsense going on on both sides. I sense changes are coming. And all the guilty parties had better watch out. Stay tuned.
But there is enough nonsense and shenanigans going on everywhere...today I'd like to point the finger at the consumer. More specifically to timeshare tour junkies and consumers who just like to bitch and complain.
As an unbiased, independent, non-sales oriented consultant, I get e-mails daily from frustrated consumers. Some have legitimate concerns. I'm focused today on the ones that don't have legitimate concerns, don't learn from their mistakes and are crying "foul" when they share the blame.
I have no sympathy for instance for consumers who come crying to me saying that they "bought" two theme park tickets in Orlando for $25 and didn't know it involved a 3-hour high pressure timeshare presentation.
For those of you who don't know, I was a timeshare salesperson for more than 4 years and I came across my fair share of these "crybabies" who cried foul and wanted out before the required 90 minutes. They know full-well what's going on and most of them schedule 2 pitches per day in order to supplement their meager financial allottment for vacation.
I also find it hard to sympathize with the consumers who fall for the "timeshare transfer" schemes, who I gracefully give my time and thoughts at no cost to, but when I suggest that they take a look at my services (MODULE 3 to be specific) or join the National Timeshare Owners Association or subscribe to TimeSharing Today or any number of organizations that I point them to, don't do anything.
More often than not, I hear from these same people again, now telling me that they were taken for another $2,500 yet STILL don't take my advise.
As I said, there is enough nonsense going on on both sides. I sense changes are coming. And all the guilty parties had better watch out. Stay tuned.
What If Timeshare...
Between the talking at the timeshare conferences and the online chatter these days you would think that the people actually running the timeshare industry would have come to some solid realizations and taken the opportunity to do something radically different...that is radically different in the timeshare world.
There's talk about the so-called "new marketing fundamentals" which any first semester college student could easily grasp. Then there's the chatter about some companies looking to "change the tour qualifications." Again, really basic stuff here. If your product is $25,000, chances are that a couple with 2 kids under the age of 8 making $40,000 shouldn't be buying it and more importantly, you shouldn't wasting your marketing dollars on them.
What if all the time, energies and yes, money...timeshare companies are actually paying "thinkers" to come up with these first semester marketing ideas...were spent on actually making the product better, addressing the very real issues of pricing and the resale market and policeing the small, but vocal dishonest sales persons?
Do something about the lying, do something about the pricing, do something about the over-promising and under-delivering issues, do something about the increasing annual fees, do something about the inability to exchange when rentals are readily available, rather than wasting time on "should we OPC, should we tour single men, should we verify income before touring."
In short, do something that will make a significant, positive difference to timeshare owners and potential timeshare owners. Let people buy timeshare, stop selling it to them.
I believe that timeshare is a great product. Let's hope that it can flourish in spite of itself.
There's talk about the so-called "new marketing fundamentals" which any first semester college student could easily grasp. Then there's the chatter about some companies looking to "change the tour qualifications." Again, really basic stuff here. If your product is $25,000, chances are that a couple with 2 kids under the age of 8 making $40,000 shouldn't be buying it and more importantly, you shouldn't wasting your marketing dollars on them.
What if all the time, energies and yes, money...timeshare companies are actually paying "thinkers" to come up with these first semester marketing ideas...were spent on actually making the product better, addressing the very real issues of pricing and the resale market and policeing the small, but vocal dishonest sales persons?
Do something about the lying, do something about the pricing, do something about the over-promising and under-delivering issues, do something about the increasing annual fees, do something about the inability to exchange when rentals are readily available, rather than wasting time on "should we OPC, should we tour single men, should we verify income before touring."
In short, do something that will make a significant, positive difference to timeshare owners and potential timeshare owners. Let people buy timeshare, stop selling it to them.
I believe that timeshare is a great product. Let's hope that it can flourish in spite of itself.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Communication
When I wrote and conducted the first "Timeshare 101 Training for Non-Sales Employees" at an Orlando area timeshare earlier this year, I stressed the importance of communication to and on all levels.
Sure, it's nice to have a quarterly newsletter going out to all your owners with the resort updates and new information. And it is equally nice to have a monthly newsletter for your employees. But do the two "mesh?"
Communications at and about the resort should be integrated so that the message, or messages are conveyed in an appropriate way to the outside world as well as the internal world.
For example, if the resort is having an increase in the annual fees, this is news that needs to be communicated to everyone. Obviously you don't want to issue a Press Release focusing on the exact numbers, but you should not shy away from a Press Release focusing on the improvements that will be made using the funds. Your employees need to know about the increase so that they feel comfortable discussing it with owners. And don't forget the other employees such as housekeeping, engineering, room service, etc. They need to know about the increase as well although in a bit of a watered down version.
Today, people both inside and outside of your resort are already talking about you. Your only choice is to join in to make sure that your message is getting across or sit back and let everyone else determine your future course.
Communication has never been more important.
Sure, it's nice to have a quarterly newsletter going out to all your owners with the resort updates and new information. And it is equally nice to have a monthly newsletter for your employees. But do the two "mesh?"
Communications at and about the resort should be integrated so that the message, or messages are conveyed in an appropriate way to the outside world as well as the internal world.
For example, if the resort is having an increase in the annual fees, this is news that needs to be communicated to everyone. Obviously you don't want to issue a Press Release focusing on the exact numbers, but you should not shy away from a Press Release focusing on the improvements that will be made using the funds. Your employees need to know about the increase so that they feel comfortable discussing it with owners. And don't forget the other employees such as housekeeping, engineering, room service, etc. They need to know about the increase as well although in a bit of a watered down version.
Today, people both inside and outside of your resort are already talking about you. Your only choice is to join in to make sure that your message is getting across or sit back and let everyone else determine your future course.
Communication has never been more important.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
No Great Ideas Today, But Two Public Services
VOTE...enough said.
Someone you should be following if you aren't already...brilliant insights...
http://www.wordandmouth.com
Enjoy.
Someone you should be following if you aren't already...brilliant insights...
http://www.wordandmouth.com
Enjoy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)