This month has been tough. I was in a data modeling class and this was a challenging field. I am still continuing to learn in my business intelligence field, but data modeling is something I am very unfamiliar with. I have done charts and graphs on physics or math but not flowcharts. I understand the importance and mechanic but it was still an unfamiliar field.

On another side I am so close to graduation. It has been a really good journey for me learning wise. I have found that I love finding business intelligence issues and marrying my marketing degree with this masters to be. I think its important to always want to increase and grow as a company, but the best way to do that now is by having someone find the right avenues to invest in. Working in my current position, I am already seeing so much potential wasted due to executives simply not knowing the right avenues that are affecting sales and growth. I am so excited to step into my field and help companies grow with the knowledge I have obtained.

This month has been focused on Wyndham’s vacation exchange and rental company RCI. This was started with a market analysis. The market analysis showed that RCI is missing out on emerging and growing markets. Wyndham is successful and the current leader against their competition (Marriott or Hyatt), however, they have siphoned themselves off. The first area suggested to focus on was the newlyweds. There are many opportunities for honeymoons to be packaged by RCI. In doing this, RCI opens a new revenue stream. 

The second suggestion was to expand to London with a Wyndham Destinations headquarters. Wyndham Destinations is so large with resorts in over 110 countries, that it’s time to separate it into regions. The London headquarters will take 55 countries and the Orlando headquarters will take the other. This will create jobs and also increase the data quality. 

Next, there was a Bayesian analysis done on Wyndham Destinations. The suggestion for a lottery for a dream week vacation in Barcelona or the Bahamas. The cost could be expensive depending on the whether a family wins it or a single adult. Next, Wyndham was looked at as a CEO. The company was analyzed as an operation, cash flow, sales, risk, and growth potential. Wyndham needs to expand in certain areas. The programs are not reaching their full potential and the competition is growing. Finding new building projects by creating a team focused on finding and evaluating new and emerging markets will be key here. 

Lastly, the forecast and predictions for Wyndham were suggested in this blog. Relationships and teams need to be built to reach more homebuyers. The current system for Love Home Swap members is making them not want to take part in the program and that is direct money lost.

To summarize the summary, sounds funny to say. Wyndham was looked at as a CEO, analyst, and member. The company is doing well from the CEO level, however, there have been opportunities that are being missed because there aren’t teams put in place for each program to ensure that they are continuing to transform and grow. As the competition grows, Wyndham will need to have a competitive mission to be the leader in the vacation exchange and rental market. 

The process is to take the advice of the current members and shape it to where the program can expand into. The program is missing out on opportunities for growth within the housing market. There isn’t a simple answer to fix this. The way this blog is suggesting to fix the current issue is as follows. 

Start with changing the current member system. Members are complaining about the risks involved and that there isn’t a solid “screening” system to help minimize this. Before bringing in more members who could be turned away by this, change it. Find a cost-effective way to implement background checks, video messaging, whatever to focus on getting the members comfortable to swap. From here, develop leadership teams and train them to use the new system and find new ways for the team to educate members on how to avoid “troublesome swaps.” Have the leadership teams train the staff and members on how to better use the system and open up lines of communication for members that need help or are confused. Implement a feedback and suggestion forum for current members to share thoughts and ideas about the changes throughout this process. Hire a small team to watch and reply to the feedback. Launch a campaign alongside top-notch real estate companies to offer vacation packages for new home buyers. Set the goals and measurements to define how this campaign will be considered a success. After the campaign is done and the data is analyzed, make the necessary changes to areas that need improvement. 

RCI can adopt the six-sigma problem solving approach separately for each program. That way each program can have the highest chance for success. Starting with the mission statement for each program, RCI needs to specifically define the goals that each program has per quarter and year. Then after defining the goals, define the how those goals are measured, how they are going to be monitored, and how they will be analyzed. From here RCI needs to focus on where the data says they can improve and what areas need more control. One of the largest complaints for the LHS (love home swap) program was the member system. There wasn’t a solid system in place to reduce the risk of issues when screening swaps. This can be fixed by a better system, more communication between members and LHS, and training of members and LHS teams. 

Moving into the real estate market and growing those type of relationships is important when creating constancy of purpose for improvement of product and service. To find more markets or grow the program in the current market, LHS (love home swap) has to go where the consumers are. The growth of the program and building a unique campaign for this would help build a new philosophy. In doing this, LHS would grow in a positive and focused direction. Making the new home buyer the focus would help RCI be able to showcase that they aren’t driven by the “cha-ching” of every new home buyer but they are a part of an. Incredible life altering event. The system in place for swapping homes needs to be easier, safer, and better for the users. To reach this LHS needs to have trainings of both employees and members. Find leaders within the program to head the customer satisfaction and service areas. Make sure there is a clear-cut line of communication within the LHS program itself and from the members to the LHS program. This will help root out and dissolve any fear that members new or current from participating in the LHS program. Within the campaign be careful of becoming another niche and using slogans or quotas in press releases. Have a solid training and leadership team that can help build workmanship and implement a vigorous program for education and retraining. The last but not least is to continuously take action to grow LHS and transform it to extend beyond its capabilities. Make sure that at the heart of the program is still the mission to provide members with incredible dream vacations. 

Companies like Accor Hotels which acquired OneFineStay for $170 million, Expedia attempted to acquire Luxury Retreats, and the leader still being AirnBnB which now valued at $31 billion are all moving quickly capture the travel and tourism hospitality scene (Ingrid Lunden, 2017). If Wyndham wants to keep up and not fall behind and lose their revenue, they need to constantly be growing relationships and increasing the awareness for the Love Home Swap and other programs. Due to the competition growing quickly not just within the AirBnB travel market but also other hospitality brands such as Marriott or Hyatt starting vacation exchange programs, now is the time to find companies to package deals with. Companies such as Opendoor, Zillow, and other top real estate companies are perfect platforms to grow the Love Home Swap (LHS) program. By packaging a new home buyer with a discount or free opportunity to try out the LHS program within the first year, it grows the familiarity with the program itself and grows the number of users. There are even opportunities to offer information on timeshares and other things. This way more new and current owners can learn about the niche program. 

According to NerdWallet, thirty six percent of Americans plan to buy a home in the next five years (Elizabeth Renter, 2019). Of the thirty six percent, twenty-four percent plan to buy in the next twelve months (Elizabeth Renter, 2019). To full take part in the Love swap program let’s say it costs $150 for first time swaps because of fees. If there are 100,000 new home buyers this year and RCI offered a deal for $75 they can try out the program and get a small bit off their purchase. With this program there will be a $7,500,000 return just from this small relationship with new home buyers. There are more opportunities within condo’s and other areas to continue to grow the program.   

References:

Lunden, I., & Lunden, I. (2017, July 31). Wyndham buys Love Home Swap for $53M – TechCrunch. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/31/wyndham-hotel-group-buys-love-home-swap-for-53m/

2019 Home Buyer Report. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2019, from https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/2019-home-buyer-report/

The One Equation You Need to Calculate Risk-Reduction ROI. (2018, March 20). Retrieved April 28, 2019, from https://www.cisecurity.org/blog/the-one-equation-you-need-to-calculate-risk-reduction-roi/

Wyndham’s division called RCI acquired a program called “Love Home Swap,” a startup company founded in 2011 based in London for just under $53 million (Ingrid Lunden, 2017). RCI thought this would be another great opportunity and tool to strengthen their position in alternative accommodations (Deanna Ting, 2017). The major issue that Love Home Swap faces is the niche market the program reaches to. LHS (love home swap) requires both parties to own a home. There is also major risk to both parties’ homes such as theft, fire, and destruction of property. There isn’t a very good system in place yet for both parties to “screen” each other before the swap. There also are major opportunities to network this program to new home buyers. LHS needs to network with construction companies and home buying programs to tie the program into a package with a new home. This will make the LHS program continue to gather new customers and grow. 

Forecast Example:

References:

What Factors Keep Driving Wyndham Hotel Group’s Revenues? (2015, December 22). Retrieved April 28, 2019, from https://articles.marketrealist.com/2015/12/factors-keep-driving-wyndham-hotel-groups-revenues/

Lunden, I., & Lunden, I. (2017, July 31). Wyndham buys Love Home Swap for $53M – TechCrunch. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/31/wyndham-hotel-group-buys-love-home-swap-for-53m/

Ting, D., & Ting, D. (2017, August 01). Wyndham Buys Love Home Swap To Bolster Position in Alternative Accommodations. Retrieved April 28, 2019, from https://skift.com/2017/08/01/wyndham-buys-love-home-swap-to-bolster-position-in-alternative-accommodations/

The risk of timeshares is the cost versus the ROI. There are many issues with owners not paying the maintenance fees and other costs and then WD (Wyndham Destinations) having to go after them and potentially losing the money. The other risk is that timeshares are expensive to own versus just traveling and staying in a hotel. As an investment, timeshare are always increasing their fee’s sometimes faster than the rate of inflation and the timeshare doesn’t generate income for the owner (Larry Ludwig, 2019). This means that if WD launches too many projects too quickly that don’t meet their sales goals, WD is deep into the red. On the other hand, if WD doesn’t stay ahead and continue growing their timeshares locations the competition will do it. Marriott and Hyatt have started their own timeshare and rental property programs. WD has the advantage of its reach globally. Continuing to expand will keep their success but only if people continue to use their timeshares. 

References:

“Timeshares & Vacation Ownership.” Wyndham Destinations, http://www.wyndhamdestinations.com/. 

“Why Buying a Timeshare Is a Bad Idea.” Investor Junkie, 5 Feb. 2019, investorjunkie.com/91/why-buying-a-timeshare-is-a-bad-idea/. 

WD (Wyndham Destinations) is a global company already in over 110 countries (Wyndham Destinations, 2019). The way that Wyndham can continue to stay ahead of the competition as I stated before would be to create teams of analysts that find and research upcoming tourism markets to grow and expand the timeshare program. The team works right beside the building planning/expansion team. Together they will target specific markets and launch new timeshare building projects that will grow WD’s reach. 

References:

“Timeshares & Vacation Ownership.” Wyndham Destinations, http://www.wyndhamdestinations.com/. 

According to Sage Advice there are seven ways to avoid cash flow crisis (Alex Jordan, 2017).  The first way is to keep a cash flow forecast. WD (Wyndham Destination) will based on their market research, set 12-month targets (goals) to help keep track and avoid any shortcomings financially (Alex Jordan, 2017). The next area of focus would be to set up a system specifically for the London Offices 55 locations to keep on top of the timeshare payments (Alex Jordan, 2017). The London office will need to have plans to anticipate problems before they happen (Alex Jordan, 2017). To do this WD will need to identify the potential cash flow problems in advance and stay on top of their cash flow forecast, the current marketing conditions, keep an eye on their customers, and finally taking action as soon as you see a problem (Alex Jordan, 2017). 

If WD (Wyndham Destinations) wants to find funding for more timeshare building projects, they need to assess the credit needed based on the business plan and market research for their market. The timeshare market is a $9 Billion-dollar industry as of February 2019 according to ARDA. To get funding there needs to be the data showing how timeshares are growing and the market is growing. To stay ahead of the competition, WD needs to have building projects planned out in key areas of upcoming tourism and travel. 

References:

Huebsch, Russell. “Cash Flow Problems in a Business.” Small Business – Chron.com, Chron.com, 26 Oct. 2016, smallbusiness.chron.com/cash-flow-problems-business-4916.html. 

“Timeshares & Vacation Ownership.” Wyndham Destinations, http://www.wyndhamdestinations.com/. 

“7 Tips to Avoid a Cash Flow Crisis.” Sage Advice UK, 16 Feb. 2019, http://www.sage.com/en-gb/blog/7-tips-to-avoid-a-cash-flow-crisis/.