Why Doesn’t The Timeshare Industry . . . ?

I was fortunate to attend the “Online Marketing in Travel 2008″ conference last month in Chicago. This interesting conference was put on by EyeforTravel, based out of London, and covered such topics as “Understand and Optimize Along the Online Marketing Value Spectrum,” “Promote and Protect Your Brand in the Social Media Space,” and “Understanding Today’s Online Traveler.”

Other than myself, guess how many people representing the timeshare industry were in attendance? Two, both from the Dial An Exchange European office.

Now, I can understand why no timeshare sales executives attended . . . not really the right venue for them. But why, with the travel industry facing difficult times (it was reported that 39% of occasional travelers and 31% of frequent travelers will travel less in the next 12 months) was no one there representing the marketing arm of timeshare?

Because a lot of timeshare marketing people have their heads in the sand, and continue to accept the same old “received wisdom” that has permeated the industry for years: “timeshare is not travel,” “timeshare is not a sought-after product,” “nothing is wrong with the way we market,” etc.

As many of you know, I come from a solid marketing background. I have a degree in Marketing and spent 15 very successful years as a top-notch media buyer and advertising manager in Chicago before moving to Florida. And some of you may know that I am putting the finishing touches on the Sales and Marketing chapters of the upcoming college level textbook, An Introduction To Vacation Ownership Marketing.

Many timeshare resorts don’t understand marketing. One of the points I took away from the conference was that Social Media involves a four-step process: People, Objectives, Strategy, and Technology. I feel that old-fashioned timeshare marketing falls short on three of these four facets by choosing to concentrate solely on “Objectives,” yet the objective is itself flawed: entice large numbers of people into your presentations, then be content with less than a 10% closing rate.

Should we be surprised that after the product has been pushed for over 35 years in this country, less than 7% of the population owns timeshare? I don’t know about you, but I’m not surprised in the least.

In working with Holiday Group, I know that they “get it.” They ask the important questions of consumers: “Who are you going on vacation with?” “Why are you going on vacation?” and “What do you want to do on vacation?” They also have a firm grip on the new technology, hosting informative webinars for anyone interested in timeshare, no purchase necessary. Imagine a company that educates consumers about timeshare with no bias.

I take my hat off to Holiday. They understand technology, they understand consumers, and they offer what consumers are looking for at substantially lower prices than developers. Mark my words, they will succeed while those who take the “same old-same old” approach will suffer a significant downturn in the near future.

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Lisa Ann Schreier, a/k/a “The Timeshare Crusader,” is the founder of Timeshare Insights, a consumer information source serving the more than 3 million Americans who attend a timeshare sales presentation or “pitch” annually, as well as the more than 4 million Americans who already own one or more timeshares.  Her first book, Surviving A Timeshare Presentation:  Confessions From The Sales Table, has been a big hit with consumers who are looking for the truth about timeshares.  She followed that success with  Timeshare Vacations For Dummies, and is currently co-authoring a college-level textbook.

Email: lisa@timeshareinsights.com

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