Wishes
“Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting
difficulties, passing from
one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified.”
- Samuel
Johnson -
Back in February of this year (2005) this column was titled With
Regard to Our Future and began by acknowledging that I have been somewhat guilty of attempting to predict
it. In that column I referenced the renowned Michel de Nostradamus who began making predictions over 450
years ago and MacArthur Fellowship award winning author Octavia E. Butler who provided some rules
for predicting in 2000. One of those rules provided was: • Be Aware of Your Perspective. In her attempt to explain
that rule Ms. Butler indicated; “Wishful thinking is no more help in predicting the future than fear, superstition
or depression. Where we stand determines what we're able to see.”
About my perspective I acknowledged that: “My perspective is very limited. My primary interest lies with
existing individual owners, the effective management of the resorts they own, those owners collectively as members
of their Owners Associations and those associates working to exceed the expectations of those who are guests at
the resorts where they are employed.”
Beginning from that perspective and attempting to question our future, I asked this question: “Will our shortsighted
perspective that the timeshare / vacation ownership industry is only about development, sales & marketing,
consolidation, affiliations, branding, and expansion via new niches continue to push aside other segments such
as customer/ member services, owner associations, resales, and ethics?”
Predicting the future or at least looking at it and speculating is not new to this column. Back in the middle
of 2004 we presented a two part series titled With
Regard to 2010 (Part 1&2). Prior to that we quoted industry leaders about the past and the future
in With Regard to the Vision.
Almost all the times when I looked at or attempted to predict the future, I referenced my wish for greater involvement
within our industry for those segments of it that existed or came into play ‘after the sale’. In most of those
times I acknowledged that the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) was (as stated) a development
entity and proposed that, it would be in the best interest of those ‘developers’ to enhance the involvement (within
the industry) of those other ‘after-the-sale’ entities within ARDA.
Those who know me know that it is not my way to use this column to just take ‘pot shots’ at subjects, I also
work virtuously within the industry and within ARDA to effect change. To that extent, this statement was
used to justify the awarding of the 2002 ACE: “Jerry Sikes, is a dynamic activist and advocate
for the industry, working in several formal capacities to better it. Sikes is particularly dedicated to the resort
management facet of the timeshare industry. In the past year, he was the driving force behind a new category of
ARDA membership: Home Owners Associations.”
To that extent and as a member of the ARDA Resort Management Committee, I became involved with Lynn
McCrory (Committee Chairperson), David Fries (Committee Vice-Chairperson, Randy Goodhope (ARDA
Staff) and several others, in an effort to modify the ARDA governance to include a new Council which would
encompass many of those industry stakeholders previously described as ‘after-the-sale’ entities. As a result of
that effort, as it specifically addresses the owners of any timeshare or vacation ownership plan, I authored With Regard to Our Order in October of this
year. As a refresher the following is the Final Thought of that article:
- “It is not my real nature to be a cynic, naysayer or malcontent however, at times I may come off as one.
Rather, I would like to think of myself as an advocate for those millions of individuals and/or families who have
become (by hook or crook) owners of some type of timeshare plan over the last 35+ years. It's not that difficult
to see that those 4+million timeshare plan owners are in need of some advocacy and it's no stretch to think that
the development segment of the timeshare / vacation ownership industry should allow ARDA to truly become that advocate.
After all they (the development segment) created the TVO Order and have been the primary benefactor of most of
the (now) nearly $6 billion (simply add up 1-10 above) in annual output.
New enlightenment, awareness and other factors such as DNA has proven that these TVO Order folks are really valuable
members of the timeshare 'lineage' and real opportunity is at hand for ARDA (if allowed) to step forward and be
the facilitator of bringing this long lost and almost forgotten relative into the fold.”
In order for ARDA to become that ‘facilitator/advocate’ it must act within the framework of its membership,
a membership totally dominated by Developers and those who serve or service the Developer interests. In order for
those of us in the ‘after the sale’ segment to have an increased voice within ARDA and the Industry,
we must grow our segments membership within ARDA. The vehicles for effective membership growth are; (1)
via the Resort Owners Associations, Property Owners Associations or Home Owner Association to which the individual
timeshare / vacation ownership (T/VO) plan holders belongs and/or (2) as contributors to the ARDA Resort Owners
Collation (ARDA-ROC). Current research indicates that there are almost 1,700 T/VO resorts in the U.S. and less
than 200 Owners Associations hold membership in ARDA. Currently research indicates that there are almost 4 million
U.S. households that own a T/VO plan and just over 600,000 of those households make contributions to ARDA-ROC.
Research numbers clearly indicate the opportunity for the ‘after- the-sale’ segments to grow expediently.
ARDA has already done much to facilitate membership growth within these ‘after-the-sale’ segments. It
has created the membership classes, kept most such memberships at a reasonable cost, and provided tangible benefits
to encourage new member activity. I believe that the missing ingredient within ARDA has been a real place
that these segments could identify as their own and the vehicle for their (individual and collective) voices to
be heard and have often wished that such a place and circumstance existed.
ARDA's governance structure divides the Association into five Councils: Communications, Education, Legislative,
Meetings and Member Services. Committees and Task Forces report through their designated Council to the ARDA Board
of Directors. At the meeting of the ARDA Board of Directors during the ARDA Fall Conference in early
November of this year, that board voted to change its existent governance by creating a sixth Council; Resort Operations.
The ‘White Paper’ presented to the ARDA Board at that time contained the following:
- This Council is proposed as a body to act as a liaison between the current ARDA Board of Directors and Executive
Committee and the various entities which make up the operations
side of the vacation ownership industry and to act as an oversight body for the various subgroups within resort
operations.
The proposed structure is that the Resort Operations Council will be made of individual representatives of
resort management, HOA Board Members, smaller, independent sold-out resorts, human resources and hospitality school
faculty with an interest in the vacation ownership industry, a representative from ARDA-ROC, and all operations
focused vendor.
For all practical purposes, this council is intended to encompass all those afore mentioned ‘after-the-sale’
industry segments.
FINAL THOUGHT
There is an old adage that goes something like: “Be careful what you wish for, because that wish may come true.”
With its action, ARDA placed the ball back in the court of those (such as myself) that have voiced the opinion
that such an opportunity would be well received within the Resort Operations segments of our industry. It
is anticipated that the first meeting of the Resort Operations Council will occur at ARDA’s 2006 Conference
and Exposition to be convened March 26-30 in Las Vegas. A lot of work must take place within the next 90 days.
If you fit in any of the following categories: Timeshare / Vacation Ownership plan Owner, Resort Manager or
Management Staff, ARDA Advantage Member, Director or Officer of a HOA-POA-or other form of Resort Owners
Association, Independent Management Firm, Corporate Senior Staff assigned to Resort Operations or HOA affairs,
T/VO Resort HR Professional, Vendor providing Operational products or services to T/VO Resorts regionally or nationally,
and University, College or School offering a T/VO Resort Operations curriculum… and would like some more
information concerning this new ARDA Council please contact:
- Lynn McCrory – Chairman Resort Management Committee lmccrory@pahio.com
David Fries – Vice-Chairman Resort Management Committee dfries@sunhospitality.com
Randy Goodhope – ARDA Director Seminars & Awards rgoodhope@arda.org
Kris Jamtaas - RCI Western Region kris.jamtaas@rci.com
Or myself jsikes@scrstaff.com or boyjerry@cox.net
