SHOWCASE PART 2
© PHIL MCCARTEN/LANDOV
Spotlight Communicator:
Franz S. Hanning, CEO
of Wyndham Vacation Ownership
“We’re proud to offer our
owners this value-added
benefit, which establishes
a precedent for the future
timeshare and hotel
growth opportunities.”
I
n 2001, when Franz Hanning
took over as president and CEO
of Fairfield Resorts, which in
2006 became Wyndham Vacation Ownership, he already had
two decades of management experience with the growing company and
had been instrumental in the creation
of timeshare points program. Since
the launch in 2000 of the company’s
comprehensive web-based vacation
planning site, members have convenient access to the information and
planning flexibility they want.
According to Hanning, members
enjoy the ability to check point bal-
ances and expiration dates online,
24 hours a day, and they consider
the service one of the most valuable
benefits the company offers them.
While personalized telephone
assistance is also available, the
website is the current information
delivery system of choice, with the
majority of the company’s 750,000
owners active online.
The Wyndham Vacation
Ownership (WVO) website enables
members to be their own trip planners. In addition to checking point
balances and expiration dates online,
members can also plan their own
resort reservations and exchanges
online. After a secure log-in to the
members-only section of the site,
owners can access their personal
account data. The site’s interactive
Points Calculator allows members
to obtain instant information on
the number of points they will have
available on a given travel date, even
several years into the future.
Additionally, the Vacation Break
Travel feature offers an online solution for booking travel reservations
that combines the best of e-commerce with the exceptional professional service you expect from a
travel consultant. Members can also
consider owners-only exclusive offers
such as discounted resort condo
rentals and click on links to recommended sites for travel-related goods
and services.
Members can also use the WVO
website to make discounted reservations at participating Wyndham
hotels. “We’re proud to offer our
owners this value-added benefit,
which establishes a precedent for the
future timeshare and hotel growth
opportunities,” says Hanning.
A glimpse of the vast travelplanning information available to
WVO members is viewable at the
public website. Hanning sees the
Vacation Planning website as extending the firm’s commitment to offering diverse marketing channels and
reaching new consumers with more
product choices.
APPLYING WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED:
1. How has the effective communication of information via WVO’s
website empowered members?
2. How does WVO expect to benefit
from the website?
www.wyndhamworldwide.com
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