SHARING VIEW |
Time Share - arrived to stay here!
By the Eitor - August 2005 |
There are as many opinions about time-share as there are people in the world! However something important that has to be distinguished in Puerto Vallarta and the entire Bay of Banderas at present is that time-share arrived a long time ago in order to stay.
Since 1985 and for approximately ten years I personally participated in different areas of time-share sales in three of the most successful companies of those days. The experience in these developments allowed me to understand in detail what time-share is all about from the perspective of the developer, the commercialization, the salesperson, the verifier, the prospect or the potential client, as well as of the member or the owner of time-share. During that time I was in direct contact every day with the processes of the presentation of the development and the closing of the negotiations in bustling sales rooms. It was an intense period and one of the most enriching experiences of my life.
 Each year the number of developments offering time-share as a vacation option is increasing. Apparently the possibility that this tendency might change soon does not exist. Each new development is an indication that for the developer as well as for the commercialization, the time-share industry is simply sound and very profitable. This confidence is reflected in the whole world especially nowadays when it can be observed that new types of time-share are emerging offering the market the opportunity to share the cost and the use of luxury cars or luxury yachts and even of private business jets. For many people time-share definitely makes a lot of sense, especially amongst Americans from the United States.
One thing that has not changed since I was working in this field is the negative comments towards time-share. Some of them are based on true and unpleasant experiences, while others are just hearsay stories heard from people that never decided to be owners of their own vacation property.
The purpose of this column is to talk openly about this world-wide vacation phenomenon which here - just as in other world-wide destinations - definitely has reached high levels of influence and impact on the community and its visitors. Through this open conversation based on my own experience and the contributions of some main characters of the industry, I will transmit truthful information which hopefully will contribute so that our readers and future visitors may be well informed about what time-share really is in our destination, what it represents and how it works.
In the first place I consider it of vital importance to distinguish and to establish that independently from what any person may think negatively or positively about that matter, selling time-share is a business in Mexico involving a great number of people from different nationalities and cultures, contributing on one hand to generating jobs while on the other hand contributing to increasing the number of repetitive visitors of our destination.
Since its beginnings the time-share developers and the commercialization staff have argued that for those who purchase time-share one of the most relevant benefits is the opportunity to travel to different places world-wide for the fraction of the cost that you normally would pay if you would rent the hotel room you are staying in. I have never agreed fully with this concept and during our conversations I will share the reasons of my position. However being a time-share owner has other advantages that many people do not know about and even more though than saving money, these advantages apparently are the ones that have caused today's time-share industry to be a giant and important contributor of the growth of tourist destinations like our own.
 Henceforth please remember that independently from what you may feel, believe, think or imagine, time-share is a business! This will help you a lot to open up to the possibility that time-share might be a real alternativehelping you and your family to fulfill your most yearned for vacation dreams.
What is time-share?
It is simply the opportunity to purchase the right to use a vacation property for the time that you desire or need to use it and paying a fraction of the total cost of the property for it.
Example:
Let's say that the average cost of a two bedroom oceanfront condominium is USD $300 000.00 divided by 52 weeks means that each week would have a cost of USD $5,769.23 and for this price, plus an annual maintenance fee you have the opportunity to purchase those weeks that you wish to use during the year.
This is an example which has the purpose to explain the basic concept of this vacation system. It does not represent the real price of a time-share unit in the present market: It is just an example!
The different "basic" types or forms of purchasing time-share are buying:
- Fixed weeks
- Floating weeks
- Months [fractional-ownership]
- Points
- Multi-destinations
According to the characteristics of each development variations or innovations can be found between these basic types.
The selling process of time-share is divided into the phases of prospecting, presentation of the development and/or club, closing the sale, verification, collection of fees and usage of the time-share. In this process the following characters participate directly:
- Prospecting: Promoter [OPC]
- Presentation: Hostess and/or receptionist & liner[*]
- Closing the sale: Closer[*], Asst. sales manager and/or sales manager
- Verification: VLO
- Collection of fees: VLO/ Department of collection of fees
- Time-share usage Department of reservations / exchange company
[*] In some developments measures have been approved so that the job of the liner and the closer is done by the same person who is known as a front-to-back salesperson
Each stage of the sales process is subdivided into its own process distinguished by specific characteristics and precisely due to some very special ones of those, prospecting and closing are the two stages which generate most of the controversy and dissatisfaction amongst those who assist a presentation of some development.
In our next conversation we will tackle the topic of the stage of prospecting potential clients or "qualified couples" so that they may assist a time-share presentation. We will revise the strategies used by the developer and its promoters better known as OPC´s in order to capture the attention of the prospect as well as the strategies used by the same prospect in some cases in order to take advantage of and to enjoy his vacation to the maximum.
In the meantime I invite you to contact me directly through editor@pvmirror.com in case you have any questions, comments, complaints or suggestions concerning this article, this column or the time-share industry in the Bay of Banderas. With pleasure I will attend to them as soon as possible.
The Editor E-mail: editor@pvmirror.com
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