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Examiner Bio Timeshare: Where is the industry headed? The Timeshare Examiner weighs in (Conclusion)
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We've been looking at the state of timeshare today, and what it's likely to look like as the industry follows the country out of the ecomomic crisis we've been mired in for the past year or so.
Earlier entries have dealt with responses from industry experts, and I've weighed in with my thoughts. We've looked at sales, and we've touched on trends in fractionals.
One area where traditional timeshare can take lessons from fractional is the secondary market. Although younger, and therefore less of a track record, fractionals show every indication of being more robustly successful in the resale market.
That's certainly in part due to the fact that the original selling price includes a smaller percentage attributed to marketing costs. Also, the resale transaction on fractional is more likely to look like a home or vacation home sale, with real estate salespeople involved, and the buyer is comparing to other options, including to full time homes, enhancing the value in the buyers mind.
Traditional timeshare resales have been battered by a number of things over the years, from considerable lack of industry attention, to over eagerness of frustrated owners to get out, whatever the cost. And lets not forget the impact on companies collecting huge amounts of money from unsophisticated sellers "to take the timeshare off their hands"; and then dumping the deeds on the market for pennies.
Perhaps during this rare period of little to no industry growth the powers that be can look at ways to work together to improve timeshare's image, lowering marketing costs, making timeshare more of a "sought after" commodity.
Fractional's will probably take a page from timeshare's history, and you will see more flags entering the market. I don't think that will mean fewer independents in the fractional and residential club world, just more brand names, and more product appealing aimed to different economic levels.
Certainly timeshare and her cousins are not going anywhere. What emerges after the crisis passes? It could be a leaner, more efficient, customer friendly timeshare world.
Certainly, each of the views that we've shared so far have gotten it wrong. And right, too.
