Timeshare with a Human Touch

It’s often the little things that matter most … and too often it’s the little things that slip through the cracks in business, ignored as companies focus on regulations, margins, and profitability.

So when Marriott Vacation Club timeshare asked its headquarters for a clever way for guests and timeshare owners to say, “Do Not Disturb,” they were giving attention to a little detail, that turned out to matter a lot. Their request yielded a series of door tags with twenty unique, appealing designs. The design shown in the photo here, complete with sheep, is “Still Counting,” which when you think about it, is a lot warmer and friendlier message than the traditional: Do Not Disturb.

Currently in use at 27 of Marriott Vacation Club’s North American timeshare resorts, the door tags are proving to be highly popular with vacationers. Marriott timeshare spokesperson James Woelbern says, “We found that our owners and rental guests like the signs so much, we end up replacing them often. We take it as a compliment.”

And it’s a well earned compliment, because for a miniscule cost difference between using a standardized door tag or creating charming customized tags, Marriott timeshare has created a way to differentiate itself  in a large, competitive marketplace.

If the tags make a guest smile then they are effective and beneficial. If they go home with guests and Marriott timeshare owners then they serve as a small bond between that person or family and a positive timeshare vacation experience. And if visitors see the tags in homes of Marriott owners, then the most powerful type of peer-to-peer marketing endorsement is inevitable as one friend shares with another, “Isn’t that cute? We brought it back from our last Marriott timeshare vacation. Did I tell you what a great time we had…”