About RCI
It’s a little-known and impressive fact that more than six million people across the world are timeshare owners. These owners are enjoying access to high-quality, spacious accommodation – stylish and well-located homes away from home – without the expense and maintenance worries of a wholly-owned second home.

More than half the people who own timeshare are RCI members, giving them the opportunity to exchange their Weeks or Points to visit other properties all over the world. Indeed for many buyers, the opportunity to explore a range of holiday experiences using the RCI exchange network is a major factor in their decision to purchase timeshare.

RCI is part of the Wyndham Worldwide Group and is the global leader in the provision of holiday exchange services. The company pioneered timeshare exchange 37 years ago and now has more than 3 million members who have access to a portfolio of over 4,000 affiliated timeshare resorts in more than 100 countries. RCI has nearly twice as many affiliated timeshare resorts as its nearest exchange holiday competitor, together with the largest points-based exchange programme in the world, which it pioneered and launched in 2000.

Hotels and RCI – How it works
An ever increasing number of hotel groups are recognising the potential to maximise their assets based on the natural synergies between shared holiday ownerships and exchange networks, and hotel operation. The business model created by the coming together of the two business arms – timeshare/fractional ownerships and hotel operation – is known as Mixed-Use.

Many leading hotel brands affiliated with RCI as long ago as 1985 and today the company counts The Hilton Group, Butlins, Macdonald Hotels & Resorts, Pestana, Porto Bay Hotels & Resorts, Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts, Grecotel and IFA Hotels & Resorts among its resort affiliates. And 2011 kicked off with the affiliation of the Spanish-based Grupo El Fuerte to the RCI holiday exchange network. This leading Spanish hotelier allocated 10 rooms in each of two hotels – Fuerte Estepona Suites in Malaga and Fuerte El Rompido Suites in Huelva – to timeshare and has plans to extend its timeshare offering in the future.

The strength and resilience of the Mixed-Use model is bringing many hotel groups to work with RCI. The fundamental shape and the benefits of the Mixed-Use business model are:

• Hotel operator can put as many or as few of its rooms, suites or floors into timeshare as it wants to
• It is possible to maximise returns on hotel land parcels by building apartments/small villas in the grounds to be sold as timeshare units with use of hotel facilities
• Accommodations allocated to timeshare are sold in use periods of a week x 52 weeks in the year – though it is accepted that resorts may close for short periods in shoulder seasons for maintenance works
• Fractional ownerships are sold in longer use periods
• Integration of timeshare into hotel operation provides an effective means of raising capital quickly to finance hotel facility expansions or developments ie: swimming pool and bar improvements
• Reduction in marketing costs – hotel guests are warm leads for timeshare sales ie: 80 per cent of Pestana’s sales come through hotel guests and visitors
• Timeshare builds brand loyalty, and loyalty to hotel brands reduces resistance to timeshare sales
• Timeshare guests are passionate travellers who view it as a lifestyle giving rise to a trend showing a high percentage of them looking to holiday year-round increasing occupancy levels in the shoulder seasons.

Susan Duncombe – Business Development Regional Director – UK, Ireland and Malta

Case Study – Mixed Blessings

Independent hotel operator, Barnsdale Hall Hotel in the county of Rutland, has successfully brought timeshare into its product mix, benefiting from high year-round occupancy levels averaging 90 per cent eliminating the seasonal fluctuations and building resilience in times of recession. See the full story – click here

Dubrovnik Sun Gardens Resort Joins the Registry Collection® Programm

World’s largest luxury exchange programme welcomes its first Croatian resort. KETTERING, UK – iO Adria Limited today announced the affiliation of its Dubrovnik Sun Gardens property to The Registry Collection^®, the world’s largest luxury leisure property exchange programme, and part of the Wyndham Worldwide family of brands. See the full story – click here

Timeshare: The untapped revenue generator for smart-thinking hoteliers

Irrespective of the millions of pounds invested in the great facilities and beautiful rooms of your hotel, in these troubled times it is likely your occupancy rates aren’t matching your forecasts or expectations. It’s an all-too familiar scenario today, but a solution is closer at hand than you might imagine. See the full story – click here

UK Tops Timeshare Pops

In these challenging times, an increasing number of hotel groups worldwide are incorporating an element of holiday shared ownership – timeshare or fractional units – into their business model. This is because the shared holiday ownership or timeshare industry, as it is known, has proven itself to be resilient across several economic recessions, retaining an average 86 per cent plus occupancy. See the full story – click here