Hilton Vilamoura Continues Club’s Success With Mixed Use Resorts

When the elegant and inspiring Hilton Vilamoura as Cascatas Golf Resort & Spa opened for business in the Algarve last year, it not only became the first hotel resort to fly the Hilton International flag in Portugal, it also marked another significant step in rolling out the Group’s successful strategy of combining
timeshare with luxury hotels.

It is said to be a strategy which flies high even though hotel operators have often seen timeshare as a competitor to be kept at arm’s length, says Richard McIntosh, managing director of the Hilton International Grand Vacations Company (HIGVC) and the man now charged alongside his US colleagues in expanding the timeshare operation around the world.

The Portugal mixed-use venture is the first Hilton Grand Vacations Club resort to open in mainland Europe in addition to its three existing resorts in Craigendarroch, Dunkeld and Coylumbridge, all in Scotland.

HIGVC, which also has a franchised operation in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh, is a Group RCI affiliate and operates as part of the larger Hilton Grand Vacations Club business – which has 46 resorts primarily in the US.

As guests and club owners alike luxuriate under the Algarve sun in the cascading waterways, grottos and pavilions which characterise the Vilamoura resort, they are, perhaps, proof of how well the challenging combined hotel and timeshare operation works in practice. Indeed, the guests are potential vacation ownership candidates because they have an opportunity, during their stay, to attend informative sales
presentations and see, firsthand, the superbly fitted apartments which are on offer.

Richard McIntosh, who started his career as country club manager at the Craigendarroch timeshare in Scotland back in 1985, reckons it’s a winning combination. “The biggest challenge is the fact that hotel operators often view timeshare as competition,” he said. “But we have research to show that when somebody purchases a timeshare they go on to stay in the company’s sister hotels more than previously because their loyalty to the Group brand increases.

“On average, occupancy at our timeshare properties runs at 95 per cent-plus all year round, so timeshare brings clients to the Group’s hotels throughout the year. In this way, the captive audience using our combined site facilities automatically increases the spend into our hotels.”

It’s a view which has to be heard. Mr McIntosh has years of unrivalled experience behind him, in a career which has seen many changes and takeovers during HIGVC’s development. It was following the latest takeover last autumn, when Hilton Hotels Corporation was acquired by Blackstone Private Equity, that he was asked to undertake a new mission to help expand and develop the timeshare business.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to grow our business now I have been given a clear remit to go out and do so,” continued Mr McIntosh, who is clearly thrilled at the prospect before him as he develops a business and a concept which he is proud to champion. “It’s a big challenge, but it’s what I have wanted to do for a long time.”

He explained that Hilton Grand Vacations was researching how best to achieve the expansion and he was considering various options, working alongside his US colleagues as the European and US businesses, previously separate companies, now operated as one. They were already looking at possible new projects in Japan and Asia.

Although the way forward may not necessarily follow the Portugal and Scotland models, a tour of the new Five Star Hilton Vilamoura as Cascatas Golf Resort & Spa does reveal the innovatory style and high quality standards which have been established by Hilton in the pursuit of a memorable timeshare experience for both existing and potentially new owners.

Created around a massive, cascading water feature with magnificent pools and relaxation areas, plus the outstanding range of Hilton signature restaurants and bars, all reflecting the best cuisine which Portugal and the rest of the world has to offer, the architecture allows for the maximum exposure to the Algarve’s famous clear sunlight and blue skies.

The Vacation Club apartments are an integral part of the hotel and resort design and they offer a standard of décor and fixtures to satisfy the most fastidious of tastes, with fully fitted kitchens, luxury bathrooms and beautifully furnished lounges and bedrooms. It is the integration factor which makes the spacious 69 one and two-bedroom apartments even more attractive, both in terms of their immediate surroundings and the never-ending array of facilities which are shared with the hotel’s guests.

Many of the amenities can be seen from the timeshare balconies. And for those that don’t offer views over the immediate central water feature and its opulent environs, there is another vista which takes in the immediately adjacent golf course – the Algarve is famed around the world for its golf – which itself is a major attraction at the Vilamoura resort.

It is the first Hilton hotel in Europe to have dedicated golf facilities, including a pro shop, simulator and even a club-making service. Many fine golf courses are within easy reach of the resort.

Add to this a beach club, an exquisite state-of-the-art 2,800m2 spa which lays claim to being the biggest in Portugal, and exceptional facilities for children, including their own pool and Paradise Island Club, and the entire resort comes into focus as a fine example of what Hilton Grand Vacations is all about.

On the other hand, Hotel residents can see for themselves just how Club owners benefit from sharing the joint facilities and can be encouraged to investigate further. It certainly puts the ‘Hilton family’ concept into a wider perspective. The Hilton Grand Vacations business at the resort is managed by Project Director, Tony Pue, who joined the business in July 2008, following almost a decade with Pestana, with experience of working both in the Algarve and Madeira. Richard McIntosh commented “we have been very fortunate to capture Tony, as he brings with him a wealth of experience, which is already translating into business success. “

The Hilton name and identity is, of course, recognised throughout the world and is an icon for the hotel industry, with a remarkable history which began back in 1919 when Conrad Hilton went out to buy a bank in Texas and came back with a hotel!

It was in 1964 that Hilton International was spun-off from the Hilton Hotels Corporation with an agreement that gave HHC the exclusive right to use the Hilton name in the US and HI the exclusive right to control the use of the name throughout the rest of the world.

Hilton Grand Vacations Company began as a joint venture between HHC and Hilton Grand Vacations Limited in 1992 and the first vacation club-developed property opened in LasVegas next to the Flamingo Hotel in 1994. Two years after that, Hilton Grand Vacations became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hilton Hotels Corporation.

Over the years since 1919, the Hilton story has been one of developments, achievements, ‘firsts’ and organisational and ownership changes sufficient to fill a book.

Perhaps it is this ability to both create and react so favourably to change that is reflected in the current push now being overseen by Richard McIntosh for HIGVC. His career has been very much about change.

After becoming country club manager at the Craigendarroch resort, he went on to join the timeshare sales and marketing team before his appointment as general manager, overseeing both the timeshare and hotel operations.

The Stakis Group took over the resort in 1996 and brought with them the two other Scottish timeshare resorts at Dunkeld and Coylumbridge. Then, three years later, the Hilton Group bought out Stakis and the timeshare and hotel elements at the three resorts were again separated, with Mr McIntosh being given responsibility for the Group’s timeshare operation, or HIGVC.

Faced with so many changes, how did he react? “The biggest challenge with each takeover was pushing to expand the timeshare side of the business,” he said. “The Scottish timeshare resorts brought across with Stakis were given a very low priority.”

At that time, Mr McIntosh recalls, he was working for an operation in which the hotel side accounted for 99 per cent of the business.

Throughout the years, he has had to work hard to ensure the timeshare element of the businesses received the support and the attention he felt they deserved. It was this dedication to the cause that allowed him to prove conclusively that placing timeshare accommodation next to luxury hotels on a shared amenity basis was a plausible and potentially highly successful option.

As well as all the obvious advantages which are on offer to Vacations Club owners at mixed use resorts, the Club is a points-based programme so they can also enjoy the many vacation options associated with that set-up.

So, what of the future, for both Hilton Grand Vacations and Richard McIntosh? The two strands are, inexorably, linked.

For the business strand, he sees a number of options to be considered in the quest for expansion and development.

“We will be looking at business opportunities along various business models for the Vacation Club,” he said. “It might be that Hilton is the primary developer or we might look at things such as licence agreements and franchises similar to the model we operate in Egypt, or even affiliations.”

For Mr McIntosh there is an additional opportunity opening in his career. He is also taking on the two-year Chairmanship of OTE, the Organisation for Timeshare in Europe, which, it is considered, will be good for both Hilton and the Organisation itself.

The OTE was established to improve representation for reputable companies in the timeshare sector and promote fair trading, quality within, and growth of, the timeshare industry. According to its own website, its members “lead the industry in their commitment to strong ethical standards with the aim of raising the standards of the industry as a whole” to ensure fair trading and satisfaction of timeshare owners.

With more than 130 members from all sectors of the industry across Europe, the OTE works with governments at a national level to help create fair legislation that safeguards the interests of the consumer and “encourages the positive development of the industry”.

So, Richard McIntosh has a full agenda in the weeks, months and years ahead. Experience counts for everything in a changing world and his will be a vital element in taking Hilton Grand Vacations forward into the next, exciting phase, of its unique development.

T: 00 351 289 300 840
E: vacations.vilamoura@hilton.com
www.higvc.co.uk/vilamoura

Reproduction of articles and images on this website is strictly prohibited. Small excerpts may be reproduced only if accompanied by a clearly visible link to the original source page. All rights reserved.