AUGUST 2010 |
www.opp.org.uk
BUSINESS
OPP INDUSTRY AWARDS PROFILE 2009 | 57
Flexibility is key to success
The Resort Owners Group won last year’s OPP Award for Best Fractional Product with a highly adaptable approach to fractional ownership at its Castle Pines property, located in the 3,000-acre PGA Village resort of Port St. Lucie, Florida. Geoff Hadwick reports.
both in and off resort, the company would say by being as fl exible as possible. It tries hard to cover as many different options as it can for its clients and to give them a menu of different offerings.
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Its overall approach, says ROG, is to “take a revolutionary new approach to the Resort Home Industry, combining fractional and whole ownership in one more usable and fl exible platform.” As is often the case, necessity is
the mother of invention, and ROG’s desire to move mountains for its clients is very much a reaction to the state of the property economy it has to deal with today.
“Soft markets have affected 8.1 million North American resort homes,” says the company referring to the worst downturn in decades for the property sector, “leaving them unoccupied for an astounding 86% of the year or 44 weeks (according to a National Association of Realtors Study).”
Determined not to panic or turn to despair in the face of such statistics,
f you asked the Resort Owners Group (ROG) how it adds value to the fractional buyers that it targets
ROG decided to see if it could turn the problem into an opportunity. We set out to “affordably repurpose this idle time,” says ROG, and “optimise the idle weeks to the benefi t of new owners.” Taking the example of its 3,000- acre PGA Village resort of Port St. Lucie, Florida, ROG decided to offer buyers there “more usage and exchange features than in any other fractional offer in Florida including the ability to: • Use multiple homes at once via a
“Stack Weeks” feature; • Extend stays to use multiple weeks via a “Rack Weeks” feature; • Exchange weeks via ROG’s
internal network and partner’s network scheme.”
ROG also thought that it should offer “multiple rental partnerships driving rentals to the owner’s homes when they were unable to use it.”
But what does this really mean on the ground? What services does ROG provide to improve the experience of ownership, belonging and enjoyment? “For us,” says ROG, “the two biggest issues in resort real estate are: • Poor optimization of usage in the resort home industry;
• Lack of fl exibility to combine whole ownership and fractional ownership.” To overcome these stumbling
blocks and delight its clients ROG offers a “Buy With Friends” fractional ownership option that tries to address these concerns. ROG argues that its system has been designed from the ground up to “offer owners the ability to maximize usage of their home in a way that makes the most sense for them. Owners can decide to have more or less usage and can change their ownership from fractional
“ We set out to affordably optimise the idle weeks to the benefi t of new owners”
to whole or whole to fractional whenever they want.” This fl exible liquidity option does not exist in the traditional timeshare, whole ownership or fractional ownership sectors says the company. Calling the three options “stack, rack and exchange” ROG believes that it
has created a menu of options for the market that really add to a client’s sense of “experience, ownership, belonging and enjoyment.”
For example, says ROG, “stacking allows owners to use multiple homes at once, perfect for family reunions, corporate retreats and guys/gals weeks away. Racking allows owners to use multiple weeks, extending their stay and enhancing their enjoyment of the asset. Exchange allows owners to experience other parts of the world at a fraction of the normal cost.” ROG is not prepared to rest there though. It is continually adding new resorts to its network and it has also developed what it believes is a new form of ownership, exclusive to ROG, called “Buy With Friends.” It differentiates its offerings as follows: Fractional Ownership • Each 1/8th interest receives fi ve weeks annually. • Purchase multiple 1/8ths of increments for greater annual usage. Whole Ownership • Ownership of all eight fractional interests. • Whole owners have the ability to
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