The Peabody Orlando is site of the 13th annual Shared Ownership Investment Conference.

While the financial meltdown may have humbled the vacation ownership industry, it didn’t bring it to it knees. In fact, timeshare company presidents speaking at an industry panel this week in Orlando agreed the industry may actually be healthier now than it was during the heady days from 2000 to 2008.

“The industry has gone through a 1000-day transformation, and our organization is much healthier than it was previously,” said Sergio Rivera, CEO of Starwood Vacation Ownership, during a Meet the Leaders panel at this week’s Shared Ownership Investment Conference at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando. “Today, many of the companies in this industry have smaller organizations that are more efficient than they were a few years ago. We’re doing more with technology. We’re leaving our silos, and we’re focusing on our customers.”

Since late 2008, when most financing to the industry dried up, many vacation ownership developers had to switch their focus from sales-oriented organizations to ones that stress more efficient marketing, as well as an emphasis on bottom-line efficiencies. As panel moderator, Howard Nusbaum of ARDA, said, “Velocity of sales is no longer our matrix; our matrix is margins.”

Sheldon Ginsburg, chairman & CEO of Shell Vacations, put it another way: “Timeshare is no longer a sales and marketing business; it’s a hospitality business.”

David Siegel, founder, president & CEO of large independent developer Westgate Resorts, saw his company’s sales tumble from about $1 billion annually before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 to about half that today. “It’s what the lack of financing will do to a company in this business,” he said candidly, adding that 2011 is the first year in the company’s 31-year history it has no projects under construction. Three years ago, Westgate had $3 billion of projects in development and has spent the time since completing those projects and selling the inventory. “For better or worse, the three most important words in the timeshare industry are financing, financing and financing.”

While the executives agreed virtually no financing is available for acquisition and development of vacation ownership properties, money is plentiful for receivables financing and securitization. Even that comes with a caveat.

“In 2009, financing went away in every way,” said Craig Nash, chairman, president & CEO of Interval Leisure Group, “but today securitization is back but only for strong, well-run companies.”

The travel habits of timeshare owners and prospects have also changed. As Nash noted, following the financial meltdown, “We saw less demand for long-haul destinations but because of the prepaid nature of the product owners still traveled but more often to drive-to-destinations. Today, demand is returning to more normal patterns but the booking windows remain shorter.”

Despite changes and challenges in the business, the leaders expressed unabashed confidence in the future of the industry. Siegel called timeshare the “greatest of all industries,” in part because of the effect it has on its customers.

“Our customer is the Walmart customer,” said Siegel. “We make middle Americans feel like they’re Rockefeller when they vacation with us.”

Related Stories
Financing Still a Challenge for Timeshare Industry
Are Golden Days Ahead for Timeshare Industry?
Vacation Ownership May Be Option for Distressed Condo Projects