Developers Embrace Timeshares Only

In the early days of Timeshares Only, developers did not embrace the timeshare resale industry. All that has now changed as a new period of cooperation between developers and resales has begun. To understand why these relationships have grown in this positive direction, you have to look back over the last two decades.

As you may know, Lou Courte is the founder and owner of Timeshares Only. Developers often refer to him as
the “King of Timeshare Resales” for a very good reason. The seeds for his reputation were first planted in 1981 when Lou started selling timeshare weeks at the Ventura Resort in Boca Raton while working his way through college. After hearing about the timeshare boom in Orlando, he headed to the biggest development in the world at that time, Orange Lake Country Club. While there, Lou enjoyed talking with Kemmons Wilson, the founder of the world wide Holiday Inn chain. From these talks, Lou really started to appreciate the true
spirit of entrepreneurship, and continued to sharpen his sales skills, consistently winning top producer awards at the resort. Subsequently, Lou moved on to work at Fairfield Pagosa in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Lou said, “Working at Fairfield was an incredible experience and really fine tuned my marketing skills.”

While working for these resorts, Lou saw the need for developers to generate high quality leads for their sales force. At that time, very few developers had tried direct response television commercials as a means
to generate tours. So Lou packed up his skis from Fairfield Pagosa and headed back to the timeshare capital of the world, Orlando, Florida. In 1990 Lou ended up at Universal Studios and began producing and placing direct response TV commercials for a wide variety of clients, including timeshare developers.

“I was very fortunate to work with some of the very best producers, directors and experts in the TV direct
response field while at Universal Studios” says Courte. Even though he was producing TV commercials for
many industries, the Timeshare group continued to be his favorite. The TV commercials he was producing for the timeshare developers were highly successful for his clients, and the resort sales teams loved his leads.

While contracted to generate leads for some of the most highly prominent worldwide developers, Lou started to see the need for a viable timeshare resale market as the timeshare owner base was maturing, and options were limited for many owners. Lou approached the developers he was working with and asked if they would like to be involved. The developers declined. So, as every true Entrepreneur does, Lou dove in head first and produced the very first timeshare resale commercial.

Lou started his present company in 1996 and never looked back. Beginning with only three employees taking calls generated from the commercial airings, the call volume inundated the office. Lou would often take overflow calls because the consumer response was so massive. Over the next few years, Lou added on to his business, located in an office building in Orlando across from Universal Studios. He began with only 3,000 square feet of office space, and quickly grew, soon accounting for almost 15,000 square feet in the very same building.

As we fast forward to 2003, Lou’s business had grown to almost 100 employees and he realized he would soon outgrow the available space. He decided to build a unique corporate headquarter for his Timeshare Resale Company. For more than two years, he scouted for a very special piece of property. His goal was to find the absolute most perfect location for his new showroom and building. After much deliberation, he decided on the most visible tourist thoroughfare in Orlando, International Drive. He choose a segment of International Drive that is often referred to as the Timeshare corridor, with major developers such as, Hilton Grand Vacations, Marriott, Fairfield and Starwood timeshare developments all nearby neighbors!

After designing, building, and moving into the 30,000 square foot building in 2005, business has only increased. In the prior location across the street from Universal Studios, they saw perhaps a handful of walk
in customers each year. Now in the new headquarters over the past three years, they have progressively seen
an increase in walk in traffic and to date have welcomed over 10,000 guests into their magnificent  showroom.

Nearly 60 percent of these customers are looking to buy a week of timeshare. All of these buyers drive by
and walk in the building, all without being enticed by a free gift or a discounted vacation.

As Timeshares Only matured over the years as an industry and a company, timeshare developers couldn’t
help but notice. Boasting thousands of television ads annually, a domination of the billboard market, and a huge radio presence, developers realized that Timeshares Only had the marketing power to reach the masses. Developers began to see the potential for cooperative programs designed to harness the brand
recognition of Timeshares Only as a means to help grow their own business. By reaching out to a resale
company, developers found they were able to benefit in many ways. Timeshares Only could consistently
generate high quality leads, could sell wholesale developer and HOA controlled inventory, and could rent out excess developer inventory. By becoming the exclusive resale company of the developer, Lou’s teams are able to work with the resorts to create customized programs to help create a stable and reliable resale market, and these developers have only prospered by reaching out to the resale giant. All these relationships
are sustained by a thorough knowledge of the industry, by a business model which delivers consistent
employee training and oversight to maintain both high ethical standards and sales production.

The developers Lou has partnered with have come to understand that the primary and the secondary markets
can complement each other, and that Timeshares Only is not intent on cannibalizing their business, but
rather to help the industry to grow and prosper. During this challenging economic period, these types
of cooperative relationships can help both aspects of the timeshare industry increase profits and reduce overhead.

If you are reading this and you too feel that you can be helped by Timeshares Only’s expertise in timeshare
lead generation, by renting out your excessive inventory, selling wholesale developer inventory or simply
designating Timeshares Only as your preferred resale company please call the Director of New Business
Development at Timeshares Only, Michael Paduano at 1-800-946-1692 x2211. You’d be surprised how
quickly you can start generating quality tours and generate serious dollars back into your company.

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