Reporting From The Vacation Ownership Investment Conference
October 19, 2009
Filed under Lisa Ann Schreier
The news from the 11th annual Vacation Ownership Investment Conference (VOIC) in Orlando can be described as “mixed.”
There were lots of data slides presented showing declines in average room rates, consumer confidence, annual leisure travel as well as at least one prediction of a US$2-4 billion decrease in timeshare sales in 2009.
What struck me, however, was the wide discrepancies in those numbers, sometimes within the same session, depending on who was speaking. As an example, one presentation showed a slide that timeshare owners had attended an average of 1.59 timeshare presentations prior to purchasing. Not 15 minutes later, another presenter said it was closer to 3–a number which I believe is closer to the truth.
It was also shown that a full 18% of recent purchasers bought their timeshare on the secondary market.
The obvious question (which was not addressed) is: did the recent purchasers use their 3 presentations to do their research, gather some information, and then go and purchase on the secondary market?
My gut feeling is that the number of purchases on the secondary market will soar in the years to come as more and more consumers discover that there is really no such thing as a “used timeshare,” and that the sales and marketing costs built into the price of a timeshare–25% or more–will continue to climb until the “tipping point” occurs and some price equilibrium is finally reached.
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Lisa Ann Schreier, The Timeshare Crusader is the author of Surviving A Timeshare Presentation, and Timeshare Vacations For Dummies, and blogs for Holiday Group.
