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Timeshare: where is the industry headed?
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A reader, in the industry, recently sent me a very interesting question.
"Mark, do you have a sense of where the timeshare industry is headed in general?....."
Rather than answer myself ( or more likely in addition to adding my own opinion), I thought I would submit the question to the assorted experts it has been my pleasure to speak with over the years. The first response from Sean Austin, Retired US Navy, former timeshare salesman (I have taken the liberty to do some mild editing, for readability):
That is a very intriguing question considering we are in a period that overall timeshare sales are down.
Many timeshare companies have cut back their front line tour divisions and their aggressive marketing campaigns. The timeshare industry as a whole asked congress for a bailout, and there are developers starting to file for bankruptcy protection.
With all that being said, we are receiving more requests for assistance due to fraud, misrepresentation, coercion, and misinformation than ever before.
It reminds me of military recruiting. During a good economy recruiting was tough and you find more recruiters taking shortcuts to get recruits. In a bad economy, it is the opposite. Recruiters have too many applicants and not enough positions available.
Well, I think a bad economy brings out the worst in sales representatives because they are trying to feed their families. In a thriving economy, people are looking to buy and sales reps don’t have to deal with as many NO’s.
As far as the future goes, I believe that this is cyclical and at some point this industry will recover. It may not be the booming industry that it was a couple of years ago, but people with money like to travel and spend. As a society, we seem to have bad memories.
Sean Austin, USN, retired
Founder/CEO of Timeshare Advocacy International, LLC
Where Knowledge Gets RESULTS!
www.timeshareaide.com
Next we will get a perspective from Piers Brown, editor of Fractional Life, in England; with a Euro-centric perspective.
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