Vacationers are Unplugging 

By ARDA Staff

May 24, 2013

As summer vacation season kicks off, ARDA finds people are not taking work with them. ARDA, along with research partner The Research Intelligence Group (TRiG), has just conducted an omnibus consumer survey of vacation work habits and technology.  We are sharing it with media today as we head into Memorial Day weekend. 

The survey showed that contrary to popular belief, Americans do know how to unplug, unwind, and rejuvenate on vacation.  Of the 1,000 vacationers surveyed, a whopping 75 percent of respondents do not do any work on their vacation. 

“Our industry has long advocated for taking a true vacation—not just working from a nicer place,” said Howard Nusbaum, president and CEO of ARDA.  “Today’s leading health studies reinforce our message—that there are so many physical and mental health benefits that come with really ‘unplugging.’ And we’re happy to see so many people doing so.”

Only 12 percent of respondents admitted working one or two days while on vacation, and 13 percent said they did some work over three days.  But a full 87 percent said they would prefer to vacation without having to do any work.

Vacationers are bringing their technology on leisure travel; however, in most cases, it is for pleasure and not work.  Fifty-one percent brought their laptop, but only 17 percent of them used it for work.  Thirty-nine percent brought their iPad or tablet device, with only nine percent using either device for work.

Are you one of the 75% who don’t work on vacation? Let us know in the comments! 

What is “Obligatory Travel?” 

By Howard Nusbaum, CEO and President of ARDA

May 8, 2013

It is National Travel and Tourism Week (traditionally the first full week of May and first celebrated in 1984), and therefore it makes sense to blog about the importance of vacation planning. 

But before I go there, I should take a minute to dissect the thought of what constitutes a vacation versus other types of trips. Now I’d admit up front I have a bias—not all time off, and certainly not all travel, equals vacationing. And I don’t just mean business travel (something I do a lot of and have learned to enjoy and value) but I also mean the very important, enjoyable, and family-life affirming “obligatory travel.” 

So what do I mean by “obligatory travel?” I mean family life cycle events. For example, over the next thirty days I will gladly and proudly attend two college graduations (one in Ohio and one in New Hampshire), a Mother’s Day trip to celebrate my 87-year-old mom, and a friend’s wedding to which I was pleased to be invited to attend. This isn’t counting the five business trips I will be taking between now and the end of June.  

So, what is my point? I get a lot of travel and all of it is highly enjoyable and often important to me. However, none of it rejuvenates me the way true leisure travel does.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not “dissing” obligatory travel or business travel. They are both important to the relationships we value most in our lives, and are at the heart of what we do at work and home; however, they should not be mistaken for or “horse-traded” for vacationing. Vacationing is about wanderlust, new adventure, recharging your batteries, spending time with those you love—without an agenda or the emotions (and yes, sometimes baggage) of life cycle events.

We all deserve to get away and truly connect.  Your kids, your spouse, your boss, your co-workers, and your inner guru will all thank you. It matters. So plan a vacation this week—and I don’t mean Cousin Bertha’s 90^th birthday celebration!

By Howard Nusbaum, CEO and President of ARDA 

February 20, 2013 

A recent focus group we conducted confirmed what many of you may have suspected—there is a belief among would-be timeshare purchasers that the product is inflexible. In an effort to help dispel this myth, we recently issued a press release on exchanging.  

As noted in the release, it is the flexibility provided by exchange programs that make owners say timeshare is a better way to vacation. Last year, 38 percent of traditional timeshare owners either banked or exchanged their timeshare, according to ARDA’s AIF 2012 Shared Vacation Ownership Owners Report.  

We also shared stories of owners exchange experiences from companies Interval International and RCI. Both Interval and RCI recommend that owners first develop a list of ideal vacation destinations, be flexible with dates of travel, and understand their product type and exchange program in order to best evaluate and use their trading power.  

We will continue to communicate the flexibility of timeshare and welcome your ideas! 

A Snapshot of Timeshare Ownership

By Alexa Antonuk, Communications Manager

February 5, 2013 

While some of us might love to sift through pages and pages of data, in this time of information overload, most prefer instead to get a quick snapshot. With infographics we can now show data, information, and knowledge in a highly consumable, easy to understand way.

ARDA has developed an infographic based on AIF’s 2012 Shared Vacation Ownership Owners Report. As you can see below, it clearly highlights some of the more important findings in a fun and readable format. It was developed to share with ARDA members, influencers, and consumers through social media.

We are distributing this through our Facebook page, Twitter, and Pinterest account, as well as sending it to our media/blogger contacts for use in their online efforts. The Communications Committee will also help us spread this Infographic through their channels. View the full infographic (PDF).

Please feel free to share it and look for more to come! Our next one will be in February and will “lasso” the Wild, Wild West of Resales.

Work in Travel! It’s a Great Way to Launch a Career

By Howard Nusbaum, CEO and President of ARDA

January 24, 2013 

The latest results of a new study “Travels Means Jobs,” conducted by the U.S. Travel Association, got a lot of play recently in the press...and for good reason. It found that people who start their careers in hospitality and travel end up with better earnings and growth potential—even if they move into other fields.

To provide insight into the benefits of a travel industry job and the career progression of workers who began in travel, the U.S. Travel Association analyzed data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Here are a few key findings:

1. Earning Higher Wages: The average maximum salary for employees who start their career in the travel industry reaches $81,900 (significantly more than the other industries followed).
2. Building the Middle Class: The travel industry is one of the top 10 largest employers of middle-class wage earners in the United States. More than half of all travel industry employees (53 percent) earn a middle class or higher salary.
3. Promotional Educational Opportunities: One-third of the 5.6 million Americans who work part-time while continuing their education work in the largest component of the travel industry—leisure and hospitality (including timeshare).
4. Leading to Rewarding Careers: Two out of five workers who start their careers in travel go on to earn more than $100,000 per year. The travel and hospitality industries offer a diverse workforce the real opportunity to develop a wide variety of life skills.

And I believe that timeshare (although not separated from other travel jobs in this study) has even another advantage over general travel jobs, with more positions in robust sales and marketing, regulatory compliance, and financial services. This job diversity offers timeshare employees the ability to start in resort operations and then move into finance, real estate, sales and marketing, and other disciplines while staying within vacation ownership and often within the same company.

As a board member of U.S. Travel, I am proud of these findings and am excited to have this data available as we recruit the next generation of professionals. And in our industry advocacy work, this critical data will serve us well as we engage local, state, and national leaders about the timeshare industry and its role in travel.  

Note: This blog post is based on a January 2013 Developments magazine article.   

Get Involved With ARDA! 

By Don Harrill, Chairman of ARDA

December 21, 2012 

One of ARDA’s strategic initiatives is to help promote our industry. As we all know, this is a big job. Based on all of the misinformation and negative perceptions about timeshare that exist, it’s also a very important job.

That’s where you come in. Working with the ARDA team to provide user stories, photos, trends, and story ideas benefits all of us. And our fantastic communications committee has done a lot of this over the past year.

For those who may not already be aware, the committee has been pursuing a strategy of “humanizing” vacation ownership through the Faces of Timeshare initiative. Its goal is to bring more of a public face to the caring and compassionate people within our industry.

The program highlights remarkable philanthropic efforts of individuals and developers. The committee is also profiling superior employee service stories that make vacations memorable for our owners. Taken together, these programs enable the public to see the good work taking place through the eyes of everyday people while reinforcing the image of the developers behind them.

VacationBetter.org, the owner-centric arm of ARDA, has also been the driving force behind the Timeshare Fans program. It encourages developers to videotape their owners telling, in their own words, how much they enjoy their timeshare products. The program is targeting a variety of resort brands, demographics, regions, and stories to fully represent the broad choice timeshare offers.

Additionally, this group has launched a Pinterest account to visually pique consumer awareness of the benefits of vacation ownership while driving click-through traffic to participating developers. This site is becoming a very important tool to drive web traffic to key online marketing and educational resources. Such a collaboration could lead to further shared initiatives within our association that will help strengthen the industry overall.

ARDA works hard to advance a positive reputation and image of the timeshare experience as we strive to appeal to a wider public audience—let’s all come together in this great effort! 

Note: This blog post is based on a November/December 2012 Developments magazine article.    

Capturing the Spirit of the Holidays 

By ARDA Staff

December 11, 2012  

In the midst of the annual holiday season, we decided to ask our members how they made this time special for their guests and for their communities. We were pleased to see that nearly everyone had something to share!

For December’s “Faces of Timeshare” we profiled a few unique stories:

This past Thanksgiving, Holiday Inn Club Vacations treated a family of longtime owners to a special day. Chef Josh Moynihan spent part of his holiday creating a wonderful family memory for the Ripple family. Chef Moynihan spent the morning in the Ripples’ villa cooking up a delicious Thanksgiving meal, complete with two 12-pound turkeys and all the trimmings.

Sharon and Tom Grupe used their Wyndham Vacation Ownership (WVO) ownership to bring four generations of their family together for Thanksgiving…all 38 of them! Family members from across the country flew in to Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida for the big event. Their Thanksgiving feast had the whole family pitching in, and members of the Resort staff helped secure space for the large family to eat Thanksgiving dinner together. “They were so wonderful; I feel like they’re part of the family,” Sharon said.

Owners at Christie Lodge, located in Avon, Colorado at the base of Beaver Creek resort, also share their holidays with the staff and employees during their annual vacation. Each year, owner Dr. Jirina Fishman hosts a family-style meal and party for her guests and staff at Christie Lodge who work to make her stay so memorable. The Christie Lodge staff also lends a hand to help set up her dinner party and gathers together extra tables and chairs for her special night.

ARDA members also take time not only to care for their guests, but also to give back to their local communities. Christie Lodge has Salvation Army Drop boxes throughout the resort for owners and employees to donate everything from clothing and furniture to packaged food items left over from their timeshare stay. The Salvation Army ensures that the items go to those less fortunate throughout Vail Valley and the local surrounding communities.

Interval International raises money to fill Thanksgiving gift baskets with non-perishable food items that are distributed to deserving families in the Miami area. In December, Interval’s Annual Holiday Toy Fest benefits deserving children who can visit with Santa Claus and select a holiday gift.

For more details read the full press release and check out our new "Holiday Memories" Pinterest board for some great photos.