Timeshare Sales Strong with New Generation of Boomers

Retirees and Baby Boomers are redefining the opportunities of vacation ownership and timeshare sales. According to HotelsMagazine.com, approximately 78 million Baby Boomers will be retiring in the next 15 years, and as the article points out, with their retirement comes a new release of wealth by a strong and financially comfortable demographic.

With all the news about dwindling retirement accounts and a struggling, strangling economy, it is easy enough to forget that some segments of the population are still quite financially sound. John Cottrill, senior vice president for The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences says, “Baby boomers have revolutionized the term ‘retirement’. Many work well into their golden years, while increasing leisure time and activities such as traveling, spending time with their families and seeking new and one-of-a-kind experiences. Their incomes and expectations lead them to seek the lifestyle and amenities that can only be offered by The Ritz-Carlton.”

Ritz-Carlton Club timeshares are among the many timeshare companies today that are aggressively marketing to the 50+ and soon to be 50+ segments of the population. As Hotels Magazine points out, “Once the economy turns around, hopefully in late 2009 or early 2010, companies will be salivating at the chance to pitch Boomers on the benefits of fractional ownership, as well as timeshare and vacation clubs.”

John Burlingame, executive vice president of Hyatt Vacation Ownership (Hyatt timeshare) Inc. explains, “The Baby Boomers are at the age where they’re thinking about how they’re going to spend quality time with extended family, and this product appeals to them because if they own something like a timeshare or a fractional, they’ll have a vacation opportunity that their children or grandchildren would want to experience.”

What do Baby Boomers Want from Timeshare Resorts?

At timeshare resorts, today’s Baby Boomer tends to seek hi-tech entertainment and communication; multi-generational amenities so they can enjoy traveling with their children and grandchildren; and cosmopolitan sophistication so they can enjoy traveling without them!

According to Franz Hanning, CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership, “People are telling us they love to go to the cities. They tell us when they go to these urban areas that they don’t necessarily need a two-bedroom, two-bath condo – they’re more interested in being connected and having high-end electronics.”

For both the economy as well as for the timeshare industry, this is all good news!