Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - (Page 20) 20 Timeshare MARKETING H&MM October 20, 2008 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition Surprise guests by predicting their needs IN THE details Marketing to luxury guests In vacation ownership properties and residence clubs, guests can run the gamut in terms of needs—but they will appreciate the time and effort put into predicting their expectations. Learn to surprise Annual surveys pay off Databases can keep track ON time Marriott Vacation Club International is developing the Marriott Lakeshore Reserve at Grand Lakes in Orlando, Fla. The resort is planned to include 340 villas and townhomes and will be the first vacation club to be located on the same grounds as JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton. By Christine Blank CONTRIBUTING EDITOR arketing to luxury guests in the vacation ownership and residence club industries has gotten more sophisticated—even to the point of predicting customers’ future needs and desires. “One of the unique characteristics about this segment is a balance of not only catering to their needs, but continuing to have their expectations or their aspirations met,” said Ed Kinney, VP of corporate affairs and brand awareness for Marriott Vacation Club International and The Ritz-Carlton Club in Orlando, Fla. As a result, MVC and RCC have taken a cue from the sophisticated data capturing and predictive modeling of guest needs from Marriott’s lodging segment. The highest end of luxury customers—those who may fly their personal jets from one destination to the other, for example—are accustomed to having their needs met, but are not often surprised, according to Kinney. M Quintess uses an intensive annual survey of guests from its homes and residence clubs—like this one pictured in Los Cabos, Mexico—to determine guests’ wants and needs and then customize offerings for future stays. “When [an associate] remembers their child’s birthday or is predictive in their wants and needs by coming up with new ways to surprise them, it becomes aspirational. Most are living a lifestyle that is very high, so we take that as a baseline and add more things to make it aspirational,” Kinney said. Quintess, an operator of custom homes and residence clubs based in Bloomington, Colo., also relies on understanding and predicting its luxury guests’ needs. Services and offerings are then customized to each of its luxury customers—mostly 40- to 55year-olds who are in the top 1 percent of the U.S. income bracket—and to each geographic area of its global properties. “We offer a level of service that is based on each member’s needs. We help that member have the best vacation, from ‘I want to get with a ski instructor’ to ‘I want to know the best place to go fly fishing,’” said Todd Miller, VP of marketing for Quintess. To find out the needs and wants of its luxury customers, Quintess conducts an intensive annual survey of guests along with a survey of each member’s stay and assigns a team of associates to each member. “We build a relationship with each member, so we can interact with them to better meet their needs,” Miller said. MVC and RCC staff members take a similar tack in under- standing and predicting guests’ future needs. The technique can be used on guest programs, such as fruit baskets that are delivered to each owner’s unit before they arrive. “If we notice that everything is eaten except oranges, we keep oranges out the next time,” Kinney said. In another example, if an MVC or RCC associate hears when the guest’s child’s birthday is, they enter that date into the customer database, so they can address it or help celebrate the event during the guest’s future visits. “Capturing data to create intimacy is unique for our industry and is a challenge. It is a long process over a period of time to feed information into that database,” Kinney said. At the same time, this type of predictive and aspirational marketing also helps RCC and MVC’s luxury guests unwind. “They have this team of people looking out for them, so they can relax. They don’t have to figure out what their child is going to do today, for example, or what they are going to do,” Kinney said. The customized, predictive marketing is critical when catering to luxury travelers because a good portion of both Quintess’ and MVC’s growth stem from referrals from within their member bases. “It is very important for us to be able to offer an outstanding product. The ongoing satisfaction of our members is critical to us,” Miller said. hmm@questex.com A non-binding letter of intent was signed by Bluegreen Corp. at a price of $15 per share offered by Diamond Resorts International, which would value the transaction at approximately $500 million, exclusive of Bluegreen’s outstanding debt. Diamond Resorts, based in Las Vegas, owns 110 branded resorts and, in 2007, acquired Sunterra Corp. for approximately $750 million. Starwood Vacation Ownership plans to expand its portfolio of resorts in Hawaii with the development of its third vacation ownership resort in Maui. The new property is expected to open in 2011 and has been designed to achieve certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system. The resort will feature 390 luxury villas and one-, two- and three-bedroom units. QUINTESS Timeshare salary growth continues in 2008 National report–Salaries of executives and staff in the vacation ownership industry rose again in 2008, continuing a trend of 3-percent to 5-percent growth a year, according to a new survey, the 2008 Salary Study for the Timeshare/Vacation Ownership/Fractional/Hospitality Industry from Executive Quest. Keith Trowbridge, president of executive hiring firm Executive Quest, attributes the salary increases to the double-digit annual growth of timeshare sales in recent years. “People are still taking vacations in bigger numbers, and vacation ownership is still an economical way to take a family on vacation,” Trowbridge said. Some of the highest annual salaries in the industry are earned by sales and marketing senior vice presidents and executive vice presidents, who earn a $526,667 mean salary annually. In addition, CEOs, presidents, partners and principals make a mean of $376,654 a year, while developers earn a $306,000 mean salary a year. Sales and marketing executives and staff are highly valued in the industry because, according to Trowbridge, “timeshare sales are based on a tour and sitting down and talking with someone.” Other top earners in the vacation ownership industry include directors and regional directors, who earn a mean salary of $344,694; executive directors, vice presidents and senior vice presidents, who make a mean of $283,977; and marketing vice presidents, regional vice presidents, executive vice presidents and senior vice presidents, who earn a mean of $356,416. hmm@questex.com Chicago-based DCP International expanded its roster of clients with three new clubs in Nantucket, Mass.; Huatulco, Mexico; and Seacrest Beach, Fla. Wyndham Vacation Ownership began construction at the WorldMark Grand Elk resort in Granby, Colo. The property features 44 units and is expected to open in summer 2009. Compiled by Jennifer Kovacs, jkovacs@questex.com http://www.HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 Contents Event Empowers Property-Level Leaders Boutique Bonanza Perspective Legal FAQ Consultant's Corner AAHOA Update Sales Clinic HotelWorld Update On Finance Trends & Stats Surprise Guests by Predicting Their Needs Transactions Worse Than Most Predicted Electronic Safes Housekeeping Services Marketplace Events Ad/Edit Index Classifieds Checking Out Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 (Page Cover1) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 (Page Cover2) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 (Page 1) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 (Page 2) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Boutique Bonanza (Page 4) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Boutique Bonanza (Page 5) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Perspective (Page 6) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Perspective (Page 7) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Consultant's Corner (Page 8) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Consultant's Corner (Page 9) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - AAHOA Update (Page 10) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - AAHOA Update (Page 11) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Sales Clinic (Page 12) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Sales Clinic (Page 13) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - HotelWorld Update (Page 14) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - HotelWorld Update (Page 15) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - On Finance (Page 16) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - On Finance (Page 17) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Trends & Stats (Page 18) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Trends & Stats (Page 19) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Surprise Guests by Predicting Their Needs (Page 20) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Surprise Guests by Predicting Their Needs (Page 21) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Transactions Worse Than Most Predicted (Page 22) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Transactions Worse Than Most Predicted (Page 23) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Transactions Worse Than Most Predicted (Page 24) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Transactions Worse Than Most Predicted (Page 25) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Electronic Safes (Page 26) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Electronic Safes (Page 27) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Electronic Safes (Page 28) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Electronic Safes (Page 29) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 30) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 31) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 32) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 33) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 34) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 35) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 36) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Housekeeping Services (Page 37) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Marketplace (Page 38) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Events (Page 39) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Ad/Edit Index (Page 40) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Classifieds (Page 41) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Classifieds (Page 42) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Classifieds (Page 43) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Classifieds (Page 44) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Classifieds (Page 45) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Checking Out (Page 46) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Checking Out (Page Cover3) Hotel & Motel Management - October 20, 2008 - Checking Out (Page Cover4)
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