Orange Lake Timeshare Calls it Operating in the Sweet Spot
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The May issue of Perspective Magazine, carries an excellent article about Orange Lake Timeshares, pointing out that it is a steadily growing resort company despite the economy. This Orlando timeshare is located near Walt Disney World on roughly 2000 scenic acres that include four golf courses (good golf courses!), restaurants, pools, and retail shops.
What is particularly interesting about Orange Lake Country Club timeshare is their financial solidity. Don’t try to tell the management of this successful Orlando timeshare that there’s a recession going on. Not only are they not laying off timeshare employees, but Orange Lake timeshares has been hiring. Since 2004, Orange Lake timeshare’s staff has doubled to 2400 employees. In 2007, Orange Lake experienced a 20 percent increase in sales; in 2008, an additional 20 percent increase. Impressively, sales in the first two months of 2009 have outperformed sales during the same two months of 2008.
This Orlando Timeshare Has the Right Idea
But where does this kind of rock-solid business positioning come from? Here’s how President and CEO Don Harrill explains it, “To date, we’ve not been impacted by the credit freeze. Four years ago, (with) none of us knowing the credit squeeze was going to be at our door; part of the plan at the time was to engage our bankers.”
In a long-term plan that involved extensive due diligence; developing a technology platform; creating the legal structure; recruiting professionals with club experience; and expanding the resort network; Orange Lake Country Club timeshare resort mapped out their plan for growth and acquisition. It was a carefully laid plan with apparently the right balance of conservatism and aggressiveness.
“We laid out the performance metrics in excruciating detail and developed very strong local relationships with SunTrust and Wachovia. Our bankers have been on this journey with us for these four years, and they have seen played out everything we said we were going to do in managing and growing our business,” says Harrill. He adds that their bankers have celebrated with them in their successes and year-over-year increases.
But perhaps one of the most striking statements by Orange Lake Country Club timeshare’s head man is this, “We’re not a huge, billion-dollar company, but we operate in a sweet spot that is financeable by regional bankers.”
In a time when a great deal of public sentiment regarding businesses and corporations in America has shifted from support to suspicion, from respect to resentment, Orange Lake timeshares are sending a timeless business message. They aren’t in trouble now and they haven’t felt the bite of the tight economy simply because they didn’t try to overgrow their business or their market. They did the research and then carefully moved forward—basic business fundamentals that too many companies seem to have forgotten.
Congratulations Orange Lake timeshares on your growth and success! You represent the timeshare industry proudly and serve as a great example of what good business is really supposed to mean in this country.
We’ve looked at only a tiny part of Orange Lake timeshare’s impressive story, including their new branding alliance with Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, which we have discussed several times this past year, here on The Timeshare Authority.
Recent The Timeshare Authority blog posts about Orange Lake Country Club.
- Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals that Make the 2009 HOT 100 List
- Orange Lake Timeshare’s Alliance with Holiday Inn Timeshares is Good for the Economy in Many Ways
- Holiday Inn Timeshares Not Slowing Down in this Economy
- More Timeshare Resort Destinations for Holiday Inn Vacation Club Timeshares
- More Orange Lake Timeshare Resorts Join the Holiday Inn Club Vacations Brand