		Estudios de la Propiedad Vacacional en México

		Estudios Diversos de la Propiedad Vacacional

Revista Notitur
Jul - Sep 2008

Inicio / Estudios:Estudios Diversos

Estudios Diversos de la Propiedad Vacacional

Industry Insight

Prepared by:
Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell

2006

Prospective Purchasers: Who The y Are

Fourteen percent of pleasure travelers familiar with the concept of vacation ownership, or approximately 9.2 million U.S. households, are interested in acquiring a timesharing interest
during the next two years. Of those adults interested in purchasing timeshare, nearly one out of every five is also a present vacation owner.

The profile of the future timeshare buyer has remained consistent over the past several years, where interest in vacation ownership is virtually equal among both men and women. Most prospective timeshare buyers are white (71%), married (64%), aged between 28 and 60 years (72%), and have annual household incomes of $50,000 or more (64%). Due to growing markets, new opportunities have emerged among pleasure travelers interested in purchasing timeshare, including African-Americans, and both Generation Xers (aged 28 to 41 years old) and the echo-boomer generation (aged younger than 27 years). Future Timeshare Buyers: Market Profile 2006 is designed to provide timeshare developers and marketers with unique insights into the vacation habits, preferences, and intentions of pleasure travelers who are interested in purchasing some form of vacation ownership within the next two years. The topics covered include, but are not limited to, target market demography, travel patterns and preferences, desired attributes for a pleasure travel experience, destinations of interest for future vacations, and specific preferences related to timesharing. This report synthesizes the most relevant trends in the changing social climate and pleasure travel preferences to serve as a basis for more insightful product development and marketing strategy. Developed exclusively for Interval International, Future Timeshare Buyers: Market Profile 2006 was prepared from data collected for the YPB&R/Yankelovich, Inc. 2006 National Leisure Travel MONITORSM, a strategic marketing tool for travel and leisure industry product and service suppliers. This widely acclaimed survey of pleasure travel habits and preferences is in its fifteenth year.

Timeshare/Vacation Ownership Issues: When compared to pleasure travelers who are not interested in purchasing timeshare, prospective timeshare buyers are significantly more interested in staying at a condominium resort during the next two years (82% vs. 56%). Focusing upon the same spaciousness that resort timesharing typically provides, condominium-style vacationing represents a clear preference among
prospective timeshare buyers.

Nearly one out of every two pleasure travelers consider themselves to be knowledgeable about the main features of timesharing. Prospective timeshare purchasers, however, clearly have a more positive opinion of the concept (49% vs. 21%) and are more likely to report an intention to stay at a vacation ownership resort in the future (61% vs. 28%).

Prospective timeshare buyers acknowledge that with timesharing, one may purchase a fixed week of vacation time and use it each year (88%); or own a floating week of vacation time during a specific season and use that week during the same season annually (86%). In addition, fully eight out of every 10 prospective purchasers believe that they may purchase points that may be redeemed for vacation time or other types of travel and travel services through vacation ownership.
Representing a statistically significant finding, 82 percent of pleasure travelers interested in purchasing timeshare report an interest in attending a sales presentation or taking a two- to three-day mini-vacation that includes a sales presentation.
Social Climate: Pleasure travelers interested in purchasing timeshare are not complacent individuals. They long to be in control of their lives, are decidedly more experiential, and veer to things that are new and exciting. They are much more inclined to spend their money on products and services that they believe will enrich their lives – especially through travel, vacation,
theater, and good restaurants, and sharing these experiences with family and friends.

Prospective timeshare purchasers are prone to discard what is offered and elect to take the time to devise options and solutions that are customized for
them. They remain more willing to permit companies to access their personal information with the expectation that suppliers will customize solutions to fit their lifestyle preferences. Products and brands that acknowledge their wishes and make it easier for them to get several things done simultaneously are certain to win favor with this consumer group.
Pleasure Travel Patterns And Preferences: On average, pleasure travelers interested in purchasing timeshare report having taken four pleasure trips of
75 miles or more away from home and requiring vernight accommodations in the past 12 months, and plan to travel at a slightly higher rate in the upcoming year. Weekend trips remain the most popular among this group, as nearly seven in 10 (69%) have taken one or more of these trips in the last 12 months. About one-third (35%) has taken an extended trip of five nights or
more and almost four in 10 (38%) have taken a weekday pleasure trip.

Other noteworthy travel pattern and preference findings include:

Transportation preferences – More than eight in 10 (83% of) pleasure travelers interested in purchasing timeshare drove a personal automobile to their vacation destination in the last year. In contrast, slightly less than half (45%) report that they flew to their desired vacation area using a scheduled airline.

Hotel accommodation preferences – The majority of prospective timeshare buyers continue to prefer chain-affiliated hotels to independent properties (81% vs. 19%) when traveling for pleasure. In addition, nearly six in 10 prefer moderately priced and traditional accommodations to all-suite hotels, while approximately 80 percent prefer full-service accommodations. When compared to their non-interested counterparts, prospective timeshare buyers continue to exhibit a greater penchant for luxury, all-suite, and full-service accommodations, which continues to support integration and development of shared ownership facilities.

Cruise interest – Reinforcing their penchant for travel and adventure, more than three-quarters (76%) of pleasure travelers interested in purchasing timeshare intend to take a cruise in the next two years. Types of pleasure trips taken – Family oriented vacationing continues to be the most popular among prospective timeshare purchasers, as nearly six in 10 (58%) of all pleasure trips reported involved visiting friends or family in the last 12 months. Nearly as popular are naturalistic trips – cited by fully 60 percent – such as trips to a beach/lake, camping/hiking/climbing, or fishing, followed by vacations to a theme park or for the purpose of general
sightseeing.

Travel party composition – Spouses or other adults without children continue to be the most frequently cited traveling companions of choice among prospective timeshare purchasers – as they relate to past vacations (67%) as well as for future pleasure trips (68%).
Future Pleasure Travel Patterns And Preferences: When considering future pleasure trips within the upcoming two years, prospective timeshare buyers express a continued interest in visiting the Western region of the United States (76%). When asked about specific U.S. states they would like to visit during the next two years, Florida (45%) and California (36%) continue to top the list of specific states of interest, followed by Hawaii (23%) and Nevada (17%).

Regarding specific domestic destinations, prospective timeshare buyers are significantly more likely than their non-interested counterparts to cite a desire to visit the Hawaiian Neighbor Islands (80% vs. 75%), Honolulu (79% vs. 71%), the Florida Keys (65% vs. 56%), and Las Vegas (63% vs. 47%). Europe (57%) remains the preferred international destination of choice among pleasure travelers interested in purchasing timeshare, followed by the Caribbean (27%) and Australia (21%).

Other notable findings include:

Information sources – When selecting potential vacation destinations and travel suppliers, more than eight in 10 prospective timeshare buyers (82%) report placing the greatest degree of confidence in the recommendations of a friend or family member, reinforcing the importance of word-of-mouth advertising.

Travel-related use of the Internet – The Internet continues to represent a major part of the planning process – used by nearly three-quarters (74%) of all prospective timeshare buyers to obtain travel information and prices. Of those making travel reservations online, almost nine in 10 make hotel reservations (86%) and nearly two-thirds make airline reservations (63%).

When planning future pleasure trips online, three out of every four prospective timeshare buyers (75%) report that they are likely to first visit a general travel Web site that features multiple brands and prices.

Approximately half (45%) of all prospective timeshare buyers have obtained information and prices online for pleasure travel by going to a Web site that they had seen in an offline advertisement, while almost one in five (16%) took advantage of a call-to-action message associated with an online banner advertisement.