What Do Timeshare Owners Teach Us about Environmental Responsibility?
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
The Resort Trades recently featured an article written by The Timeshare Authority blog’s author, Jason Tremblay. Here is a portion of that article, republished with permission of The Resort Trades.
The Green Challenge for Timeshare, 5 Strategies that Will Work
…Within the timeshare industry, thinking green, conserving resources, and preserving the planet is one topic that typically draws unity and agreement. Left, right, liberal, conservative, developer, reseller, broker, or exchange company, most recognize the need to protect the environment. But timeshare companies, like many other businesses, are finding that satisfying consumers, putting the environment first, and still keeping costs down is not always an easy combination to achieve.
…Last September, The Green Gauge Global ranked the United States as number 24 in environmental cynicism on a list of 25 countries—only one country in the survey ranked worse than America ranked. While some consumers care passionately about environmental issues, others are unsure how they feel, and many question whether corporate efforts are authentic or even effective in protecting or preserving the environment. Across the board, most consumers agree that they don’t want to pay more money for green products or services. Moreover, we can be sure the mainstream press, the blogosphere, and the social media networks would light up with boycotts and disapproval should any timeshare company or business be found environmentally irresponsible.
Remember, it’s always about the consumer…
- Focus your green initiatives on timeshare owners. Continue to tell them how many gallons of water or trees in the forest an action is saving, but don’t forget to translate that to personal terms: the planned increase on their annual fee that is reduced by this saving on the resort’s utility bill or cost of supplies. Share information with HOAs so that they understand how resort savings translate to owner benefits and they share it with their member-owners.
- Educate your staff and employees. Employees who interact with consumers need to be able to speak knowledgably about efforts your company is making. (Follow this link to read more: The Green Challenge for Timeshare, 5 Strategies that Will Work)
The Customer is Always Right, which means the Timeshare Owner is Always Right
We hope you will read this article in entirety on The Resort Trades website. You’ll find all five strategies for making the timeshare industry greener interesting and relevant.
Consumers may not be willing to pay more for green lodging and other green services, but they will be a lot more eager to embrace environmentally conscious actions when you should them how money is saved… and how that savings translates to them too. While environmental awareness becomes more and more critical in business today, and the rules of how to accomplish it are ever changing, other rules of business seem written in stone.
The axiom that reminds us, “The customer is always right,” holds steadfast. No one can tell the vacation ownership industry how to please timeshare buyers, timeshare sellers, and timeshare renters, better than does the timeshare consumer himself.
