An Interview with Wyndham Vacation Ownership’s CEO

In March, 2011, the timeshare industry online publication, Perspective Magazine, posted an interview by Editor Matt McDaniel of one of the industry's A-List members - Franz S. Hanning, President and CEO, Wyndham Vacation Ownership.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership markets and sells vacation ownership interests through its three primary consumer brands: Wyndham Vacation Resorts, WorldMark by Wyndham, and Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership has developed or acquired more than 160 vacation ownership resorts throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and the South Pacific that represent approximately 20,000 individual vacation ownership units and more than 800,000 owners of vacation ownership interests.

In 2007 Hanning marked his 25th anniversary with the company he originally joined as a sales professional. Today, he leads a worldwide staff of more than 12,500 employees.

Following are excerpts from the McDaniel interview:

PM: You’ve certainly been in the time-share industry long enough to see a lot of change. At its core, has the timeshare product changed much since the industry began?

From a physical-product, the sticks-and-bricks standpoint, yes. When I started at Marco Island there were a lot of motel conversions – timeshare was just a solution for people who had assets that they couldn’t monetize.

But the basic concept of delivering a lifetime of memorable vacations for people, and a way for people to prepay those vacations, that hasn’t changed. Fundamentally, that’s what we do. The reason it’s been so successful for so long is that, for the most part, all of us have delivered on that promise.

I see it every day - I get emails and letters from people because of the fact that the product that we sell changes people’s lives - and that’s a good thing. Everyone’s out there looking to a better timeshare experience and a better product, and that’s evident from the great resort locations that people in the industry build and create for people today.

PM: What’s next for WVO? Where do you see the company in five or 10 years?

We will continue to be the leader in the industry. From a technology standpoint, we’re focused on making it as easy as we can for people to go on vacation.

Our future has never looked brighter. The demand for our product is going to continue to be very strong. For Americans - certainly Western Europeans have known this for a long time- vacations need to be a birthright. Spending quality time, whether it’s with your family or just enjoying life, that’s what it’s about, and that’s what we do. Anytime you have those two things match up you have a great future ahead of you.

(Photo - perspectivemagazine.com)
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