San Juan, Puerto Rico – Shared ownership, mixed use properties and timeshare are increasingly important in the Caribbean tourism industry.
David Callaghan, vice president, resort sales and service at Interval International, said that the sector had not been immune to the global economic slowdown.
“There was an exodus of lenders,” he told attendees at the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference.
“Which made it difficult to maintain sales momentum. But now new lenders are coming into the business.
“And even in the worst stages of the downturn, existing owners continued to use product, to pay management retainers and in fact in 2011 we had more bookings into the Caribbean than any time previously. So sales are picking back up,” Mr. Callaghan said.
He said the Caribbean was the No. 1 destination for the two million members of his company’s timeshare club, but that the most significant impact of the economic conditions had been the lack of consumer financing options.
Sue Nickason, president of Caribbean Resort Consultants, explained that to differentiate in new builds and refurbishments, the Caribbean had to realise that what was successful in North America in terms of facilities would not necessarily work here.
“People are environmentally minded, want a larger outdoor living space, smaller storage, smaller kitchens as they eat out more and authenticity of furnishing and so on which reflects the area,” she said.
As people come to the Caribbean from many different countries, each market has different needs, added Joel Santos of Coral Hospitality.
“An American visitor expects certain familiar elements and someone from Europe expects more cultural differences. Latin Americans tend to travel with larger groups so look more at resort amenities. But all expect an ocean view and most likely good seafood,” Mr. Santos said.
Mixed-use facilities
The viability of condo hotels and the possibility of turning some or all into timeshare may be a good idea, Mr. Callaghan said. But this mixed-use setup sometimes suffered because the expectation of a higher service culture for the timeshare component did not always happen. Boutique properties could find themselves with an edge in this respect as they were more likely to have a higher staff to guest ratio. Packaging a small hotel or timeshare with a set of experiences and activities could make for a unique holiday.
Mr. Callaghan called for a Caribbean-wide legal framework, the lack of which was the biggest limitation to increasing the industry of the region.
This would give confidence that the business model was sustainable. Creation of a self-regulating association could help in this regard.
The panellists all felt that timeshare and fractional ownership was a relatively underdeveloped market in the region but that the lack of consistency in legislation presented a challenge.
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