Vacation Ownership Loyalty vs Hotel Loyalty: What’s Different

Glenn: [00:00:00] Everybody. It’s your hospitality friend Glen, here at the Spring Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. And I got my new friend Scott Weisz, EVP, Strategic Business Operations, Marriott Vacations Worldwide. Yes, I got that right on the first shot. How are you doing?

Scott: [00:00:16] I’m doing great, Glenn. How are you doing?

Glenn: [00:00:17] I’m doing pretty good. So I wanted to talk to you a little bit about loyalty today. Right. I come from the mainstream hospitality industry. Right. And your Marriott friends over there are all about loyalty, loyalty, loyalty Bonvoy. But it strikes me as it must be a little bit different for you because your folks, your owners have already bought in. So there’s got to be some inherent sense of loyalty there already. So what does loyalty mean to you in this particular context?

Scott: [00:00:42] Sure. So, you know, loyalty takes on a couple of forms. Yes. It obviously starts when customers and owners choose to buy with us. And a lot of times that comes from our two licensed brands that we we operate between the Marriott organization and Hyatt organization. But when it comes to staying loyal to our brand going forward, I think it really comes down to great hospitality experiences that our teams provide day in and day out every day at our resorts, we have families that come and vacation with us year after year after year. I’m one of those. I was a timeshare kid. I grew up literally vacationing at resorts in this business, and now I get to work with the teams that deliver those experiences day in and day out. And it’s those experiences, those memories that keep our owners coming back again and again and again.

Glenn: [00:01:26] Okay, so my brother in law has a timeshare and he goes the last two weeks every year to Aruba. And he’s been doing that for way longer than I’ve known him. So isn’t that loyalty enough? Right? I mean, how do you like. But I know you want to make emotional connections with the customers. So that loyalty to me, I think, says more about what their expectations are during their on site experience and maybe the booking process and all that. Am I kind of headed down the right path?

Scott: [00:01:51] 100%. It starts with the booking process. Yeah. I have an opportunity in my role to work with that team. That team helps get our owners on vacation. It helps them understand the product they own, make it easy for them to book, help them walk through that journey of, hey, this is where I think I want to go with my family. Is that a good fit? Is this a good product?

Glenn: [00:02:09] Right. So the customer journey, what we’re talking about now, we’ve kind of segued into that. We talked about that a lot. It’s more about that particular instance. On how they want to enjoy that next vacation rather than the overarching loyalty the Marriott brand. Would that make sense?

Scott: [00:02:27] You know, I think it’s a little bit of both.

Glenn: [00:02:29] Yeah. Okay, cool.

Scott: [00:02:29] We have to deliver on our brand promise. Yeah. Our brand promise has lots of different forms. It is an outstanding quality experience when you’re on site, but it’s an outstanding service experience through your entire customer journey, right? So when you go to book your vacation, you’re expecting great service from our teams to help you get on vacation. You’re expecting great service from our teams when you get on vacation. Yeah.

Glenn: [00:02:52] Of course. Yeah. And technology really helps enable that to make it a lot easier. Absolutely. So in an ideal world, how are your owner clients enjoying vacations differently? And where do you see the best opportunity for them focused on loyalty and the customer journey and making emotional connections with them.

Scott: [00:03:11] So, you know, we have we have some families like ours. My family, we go back to the same resort every year. Same destination. Hilton head Island. We know what to expect when we get to that resort. We’re very loyal to that destination. And that happens to be a family choice of ours. We have lots of other owners who want to travel the entire system. They want to experience different geographies, different communities, different resort experiences and everything that comes with it. So our teams, what they get excited about and what they do really well, is delivering an authentic and unique experience at every resort that our owners travel to. And I think that that builds great loyalty.

Glenn: [00:03:51] And how does that differ between both of the brands that you’re operating now? There are different points of view that you try to take. Is there a different psychographic and therefore loyalty is perceived a little bit different, or is it just kind of different sides of the same personality?

Scott: [00:04:05] You know what? At the end of the day, I’m a firm believer that great service. Yeah. Genuine service. That’s what builds loyalty. Yeah. And regardless of what brand, regardless of what resort you may be staying at with us, that’s our charge. And we need to deliver that consistently. And our teams do an outstanding job with that.

Glenn: [00:04:22] And my guess is loyalty to you translate to them buying more points or weeks or whatever it is, telling friends and family that they’ve got to get involved too. And then you just have a bigger group every single year coming with you to Hilton Head, right?

Scott: [00:04:34] Sure. 100%. I mean, it’s always great when we can either help owners go on more vacations by buying more points with us, or introduce their family and friends to our product.

Glenn: [00:04:43] Right. So the biggest thing that I’m taking away from this conference right now is that as much as we love the baby boomers, they’re not the ones actively purchasing the product anymore. It seems to be millennials and Gen Z. And Jason Gammel, the president and CEO of ATA, said that number is somewhere around 73%, give or take a couple of points. So how are you thinking about the differences in loyalty for for Gen Xers and baby boomers versus millennials and Gen Z? Because different generations kind of see things a little bit differently.

Scott: [00:05:10] Yeah. So I’m kind of right on the cusp of those generations there.

Glenn: [00:05:13] So you got the best of both worlds.

Scott: [00:05:14] I got the best of both worlds. But when I, when I think about my family, and I think the demographics that I’m in right now and my friends are in, we’re very much I believe in that generation that’s still, you know, getting introduced and getting into this industry. And what I know that I love to have for my family is a variety of experiences, right? A lot of different vacation destinations to choose from. I have an active family. I have active kids. You know, they want to try something new each and every year. That’s amazing. So we like to have that flexibility in the product that we own. We I also know that the younger generations really want opportunities to get out and explore that, that destination that they’re in. And, you know, there’s great opportunities that our teams set up each and every day with our owners to, hey, don’t just come and, you know, come to the resort, enjoy the beach, enjoy the pool, but go out and enjoy and learn about and really become immersed in this community that you’re in. You know, they live and work in that community and they love to bring that to the owners each and every day. I think that that is when you talk about experiential travel, which is a big part of hospitality right now.

Glenn: [00:06:19] Well, we know my audience knows. We talk about the experience all the time. In fact, I recently did a panel and on stage I told them not to use the word experience. We were silent for 45 minutes.

Scott: [00:06:30] I can see why. Yeah, I could see why. I could see why, but I, I think that timeshare has really been at the forefront of bringing experiences to owners because they own. And that’s a different that’s a different psychographic. When you show up at a resort than when you’re renting.

Glenn: [00:06:45] Also, being a neophyte to the timeshare side, I’ve stated a number of times, share places more recently, and it seems compared to your typical hotel, there’s always a lot of stuff going on. I’m in the elevator ride looking at the calendar going, oh my gosh, I wish I could do any of this.

Scott: [00:06:59] That’s right. I mean, again, going back to my example personally, I have a 15 year old, a 12 year old and a nine year old, vastly different things that they want to do when they’re on vacation. And our resorts and the timeshare industry as a whole does an incredible job of providing diverse experiences for all age groups.

Glenn: [00:07:17] See, Scott, this is where you made a mistake. I just had twins, and then I was done. And I didn’t have to worry about activities for different age groups. But when you get older, like me, you’ll know that. Anything else that you want to say? Scott.

Scott: [00:07:29] No, I just appreciate the time to be with you today. Glenn. This is an exciting industry. Yeah, there is such great growth ahead and I’m glad you’re here to enjoy.

Glenn: [00:07:37] Great. I’m sorry in advance, but I really appreciate all your wise commentary. He’s Scott. I’m Glenn like share subscribe. We’ll see you next time. Bye.