Five Must-Have Technologies for Timeshare Resorts
Is your resort due for a systems renovation?
Vacatia Partner Services has a program that allows legacy resorts to finance much-needed renovations to common areas and units. These updates create excitement and allow legacy resorts to compete with the big brands. Much less visible, but no less important, are a resort’s technology systems. By updating technology, resorts can elevate the owner and guest experience, drive cost efficiencies, and create new revenue streams. At VPS, we have combined our proprietary technology with best-of-breed solutions from the broader hospitality industry to create an integrated platform that meets the aforementioned goals, allowing legacy resorts to rapidly reach the leading-edge. In our research, we identified five key technologies that should be part of any resort’s systems’ renovation:
1. Real-time Revenue and Inventory Management. Are you renting your unused weeks? Is your inventory visible to all the major online booking sites where potential guests are shopping? Are you dynamically pricing your inventory and pushing out updated pricing and availability real-time, versus typing them in manually? If not, significant dollars are falling through the cracks, and it’s harder than it should be for your operations to eliminate double bookings. Considering that the average lead time to booking has now shortened to 24 days to check-in, it’s imperative to update your inventory and pricing in real-time. By installing channel-manager software and configuring your property management system to ensure this critical functionality is in place, you’ll boost revenues and increase operational efficiencies.
2. Payment Flexibility. Because timeshare resorts have higher rates, you’ll want a website that allows you to create payment plans that enable a guest to flexibly break up charges prior to the actual stay. By adding the capability for guests to pay in two to four interest-free installments or to be approved instantly for online credit to pay for their trip over time, you’ll ease sticker-shock and boost bookings. Adding online chat and phone support will help guests with payment-related or other questions.
3. Online Reputation Management. This technology scrapes guest reviews across multiple sites and combines them into one place that can be analyzed to determine trends and inform decision-making. Your team also can use this platform to respond to all the reviews in one place, saving them significant time. When an association is trying to determine budgets, it’s important to have data — through the aggregation of all guest and owner feedback — that tells you about tangible opportunities to positively impact the owner and guest experience, versus one-off or isolated issues that need not take up as much time and attention. Your association thus can spend its dollars more effectively to enhance the hospitality experience for all owners and guests.
4. Housekeeping and Maintenance Management. What if your house-keepers had a mobile phone app to direct them to the units they need to clean next? Wouldn’t your owners love to text your concierge team with any special requests? Imagine this software alerting your maintenance team on their smartphone if something is broken, or better yet, reminding them to follow-up on preventative work. There’s no reason that legacy resorts can’t use the same technologies in place at leading hotels like Marriott and Fairmont to increase efficiency, save costs, and wow owners and guests.
5. Resales Platform. It is imperative to offer owners an efficient and effective exit strategy when they require it. An online platform where owners can post their intervals and get exposure to a wider audience will only enhance their experience by providing a safe environment for transactions to occur outside the reach of unscrupulous exit companies.Implementing a technology renovation is an investment that can bring a huge return and drive new revenue channels for legacy resorts. With these technology upgrades, VPS has helped resorts increase their rental revenue on average by 160%. Some resorts have seen dramatic increases: one legacy resort in the Poconos saw revenue shoot up 3000%. If your resort’s technology hasn’t been refreshed in a while, start your renovation today.