The Great Economic Speedbump and the Timeshare Industry

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

It occurs to me that there are people right now who have no choice but to not pay for their timeshares . . . the purchase, the maintenance, exchange fees, any of it.

It seems to me that there is an opportunity for the timeshare industry to generate a mountain of Good Will by doing something to help those owners out, Good Will that would be remembered when times get better.

We all know they could, but most have never even tried.

[katiemack Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close katiemack]

Which part of the TS Industry are you thinking about here?

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Can you provide some ideas that provide help to owners that don't hurt shareholders?

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Which part of the TS Industry are you thinking about here?

The parts that take your money. All I am saying is that if someone absolutely cannot pay, cut em some slack.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Can you provide some ideas that provide help to owners that don't hurt shareholders?

An obvious loaded question.

However . . . do the car companies not have shareholders, and are they not offering payment insurance?

Running a company into the ground by being inflexible and unfriendly would certainly not be in the interest of the shareholders.

There are ways to be innovative/creative/consumer-friendly, if they wannabe.

Hey, I don't expect them too any more than you; I'm just pointing out the opportunity to shine the tarnished image.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

An obvious loaded question.

However . . . do the car companies not have shareholders, and are they not offering payment insurance?

Running a company into the ground by being inflexible and unfriendly would certainly not be in the interest of the shareholders.

There are ways to be innovative/creative/consumer-friendly, if they wannabe.

Hey, I don't expect them too any more than you; I'm just pointing out the opportunity to shine the tarnished image.

It's not a loaded question. It's the central question of your post. All companies are accountable to their shareholders, customers and employees. There must be a balance between all of these stakeholders in order to have a long term sustainable business. Timeshare companies will do things for customers if it helps their shareholders. It's as simple as that.

In Florida, the state legislature just passed a bill that enables timeshare resort developers to offer mortgage payment insurance. If an owner takes one of those policies, their mortgage can be forgiven if they lose their job. This works for the timeshare developer because they collect premiums that should cover the payments with some profit.

I don't see timeshare companies forgiving loans out of the kindness of their hearts. I don't expect any business to do that. When providing such largess results in a higher shareholder value, then timeshare companies will pursue them. For now, they don't see it.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Here is one idea that can help the whole industry. First, the resort developers should stop building new resorts until it can establish a good equilibrium in the resale market. Second, they should simply buy back ownerships and sell them retail as long as the buyback cost is lower than development costs.

I expect this to happen by the end of next year when the current timeshare development projects sell out given the lower sales demand. When they need new inventory to sell, they should just buy it off the resale market.

In addition, they should dramatically cut costs to operate the resorts. Cut back amenities and services to keep a lid on maintenance fees. That would help everyone.

[katiemack Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close katiemack]

Here is one idea that can help the whole industry. First, the resort developers should stop building new resorts until it can establish a good equilibrium in the resale market. Second, they should simply buy back ownerships and sell them retail as long as the buyback cost is lower than development costs.

I expect this to happen by the end of next year when the current timeshare development projects sell out given the lower sales demand. When they need new inventory to sell, they should just buy it off the resale market.

In addition, they should dramatically cut costs to operate the resorts. Cut back amenities and services to keep a lid on maintenance fees. That would help everyone.

Very sound strategy...

[short Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close short]

Bonus time and rental.

Vacation Clubs and developers should allow deedbacks and aggregate these weeks into a rental pool. Bonus time to the owners, discounted retail to the public.

HGVC already has a successful bonus time rental program and an attractive selling point.

Both of my east coast independent timeshares offer bonus time rentals but primarily during the off season.

Marriott would have a huge group of owners that could use bonus time. I would use bonus time in Palm Springs from May to Dec if it were offered as it is driving distance for me. They have to have a system however that owners can pick their own checkin and checkout dates. Splitting weeks Fri to Mon or Mon to Thur. doesn't work for me because I might want to go out their for a meeting and do a Sat to Tue stay so I can slip a golf game in.

There is a huge group of people who cannot make their plans until close in and the timeshare system is designed for long term vacation planning. This would be a great way to introduce more people to larger suite type accomedations for hotel room prices.

Short

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Vacation Clubs and developers should allow deedbacks and aggregate these weeks into a rental pool. Bonus time to the owners, discounted retail to the public.

HGVC already has a successful bonus time rental program and an attractive selling point.

Both of my east coast independent timeshares offer bonus time rentals but primarily during the off season.

Marriott would have a huge group of owners that could use bonus time. I would use bonus time in Palm Springs from May to Dec if it were offered as it is driving distance for me. They have to have a system however that owners can pick their own checkin and checkout dates. Splitting weeks Fri to Mon or Mon to Thur. doesn't work for me because I might want to go out their for a meeting and do a Sat to Tue stay so I can slip a golf game in.

There is a huge group of people who cannot make their plans until close in and the timeshare system is designed for long term vacation planning. This would be a great way to introduce more people to larger suite type accomedations for hotel room prices.

Short

I agree with these ideas. When they couple an internal rental program along with keeping a lid on maintenance fees, that too, will serve to improve resale values.

I would add one other idea which is to allow short sales and mortgages. Often times, they allow the owner to foreclose instead of offering a short sale. They could get back more money that way and help to preserve the credit of the owner.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

That wasn't so hard, was it? Yeah, I know, we always seem to need to detour to get where we're going.

In a lot of cases, I'm afraid, the choice will be between taking some steps to accomodate those who find they have to jettison their timeshares, or chase good money after bad.

I see it as being similar to the California bank that chose to bulldoze that bunch of luxury homes cuz there was less loss doing that than completing them in the depreseed market.

There is at least one major ($100 million-plus) project here that is likely to wind up getting bulldozed.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Here's the deal . . . why I'm thinking what I'm thinking.

There are not too many who have gotten more out of their timeshares, for as little as we've put into them, for the number years we have done that, and are more satisfied at making them work, than us.

I would rank us in the upper few percentiles of getting our money's worth and enjoying our TSs.

Yet I am absolutely dreading paying another round of fees.

If that's the case with me/us, surely there are thousands out there who are much closer to letting them go than me/us, and that would surely screw a lot of stuff up.

I've heard similar thoughts from other longtime TSers, met through these Internet forums, who are about at the end of their willingness to hang in there.

[katiemack Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close katiemack]

Here's the deal . . . why I'm thinking what I'm thinking.

There are not too many who have gotten more out of their timeshares, for as little as we've put into them, for the number years we have done that, and are more satisfied at making them work, than us.

I would rank us in the upper few percentiles of getting our money's worth and enjoying our TSs.

Yet I am absolutely dreading paying another round of fees.

If that's the case with me/us, surely there are thousands out there who are much closer to letting them go than me/us, and that would surely screw a lot of stuff up.

I've heard similar thoughts from other longtime TSers, met through these Internet forums, who are about at the end of their willingness to hang in there.

There is no doubt that many longtimers are cutting their portfolios or just giving away their ownerships. Between tighter budgets and having seen many of the places that we longed to see, our TS's may not be as useful. It takes a management company with some vision to incorporate some of the ideas that have been posted on this thread. In the meantime, many folks either make the mistake of paying MF's and letting their units go unused, or trying to walk away from them with ensuing problems to follow.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

There is no doubt that many longtimers are cutting their portfolios or just giving away their ownerships. Between tighter budgets and having seen many of the places that we longed to see, our TS's may not be as useful. It takes a management company with some vision to incorporate some of the ideas that have been posted on this thread. In the meantime, many folks either make the mistake of paying MF's and letting their units go unused, or trying to walk away from them with ensuing problems to follow.

I think that is where the industry is headed. At this point, the entire industry is in survival mode. The lack of credit is killing sales volume. And, with so much over supply of inventory, they need to do something different. I think they will only because if they don't, they will kill their own industry.

The key habinger will be Wyndham. They have been the single worst timeshare company in terms of destroying value of ownerships. They didn't do it on purpose, they just valued sales at the resort more than keeping value for owners. If they start buying back timeshares, then they have finally figured out that resale values matter. I think they'll get it eventually.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Shifting gears, I've been watching the Missouri Career Center Branson job posting. Recently there was an opening for a timeshare salesweasel.

FWIW, there are officially about 6000 unemployed in Branson and about 150 official job openings, 99.99999999% minimum wage deadend service jobs, if you can call cleaning toilets and so forth a service.

OK, back to the topic . . . .