“I stayed at a resort in Hilton Head, S.C., with my family a few years ago, and when we decided to go biking, we went to rent bikes and they were 30 bucks an hour,” Siegel recalls.

“At our resorts, everything is free. We don’t nickel and dime [villa owners].”

When there is a charge – at one of Westgate’s on-site restaurants, for example – villa owners receive a discount. For practically all other activities, such as fishing, Westgate’s villa owners can participate for nothing. “We’ll even give you the bait,” Siegel says.

Many Luxuries
Westgate’s villas come equipped with many luxury appointments, including fireplaces, balconies and marble whirlpool tubs. They are also fully functioning homes, with full kitchens, washer/dryer combos and plenty of space for families to stretch out. Siegel says Westgate’s private ownership makes it easier for the company to cater to its villa owners.

“We can make quick decisions, which definitely benefits us,” he says. “It’s a family type atmosphere vs. a corporate-type atmosphere.”

Employees’ Safety Net
A family atmosphere keeps Westgate’s employees with the company for long stretches, Siegel says. “We treat our employees exceptionally well,” he says.

For example, the company’s David Dollars Foundation functions as a safety net for employees who encounter sudden hardships such as a death in the family, Siegel says.

The foundation will pay for employee’s funeral arrangements, plane tickets and other expenses that stem from the tragedy so that they have one less thing to worry about. “If they’re not covered by insurance or some agency, we take care of them,” Siegel says. “So we have a good, loyal employee base.”

Siegel says he spends a lot of time visiting Westgate’s various resorts, getting to know his employees. He says many of them tell him they are happy to work for Westgate because of the attention and care it shows them. This ensures that Westgate gets the most out of its employees, he says. “I guess they like me, and you usually tend to work harder for someone that you like.”

In The Thick Of It
Westgate’s private ownership also gives it an edge in acquiring the most desirable properties in the best vacation spots, Siegel says. The company spends a lot of time reviewing popular vacation areas and tries to find properties that are located close to popular attractions.

For example, many of Westgate’s central Florida resorts are close to Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando and SeaWorld. The Westgate Myrtle Beach Oceanfront Resort is located in the heart of Myrtle Beach, S.C., and is on the Atlantic Ocean.

“The advantage we have is we know how to do our homework,” Siegel says. This is because Westgate can take its time and perform its due diligence without having to meet deadlines from shareholders, he adds. “We’re not under pressure like a public company to show increases in earning every quarter,” he says. “We do, but we don’t have to spend a third of our time on Sarbanes-Oxley and then a third on stockholder communication ... we concentrate 100 percent on making our business better.”

COO Mark Waltrip says that once a suitable property is found, Westgate is able to make the deal quickly thanks to its private ownership.

Making a Name
Even though Westgate Resorts has experienced “a record year” in 2007, according to Siegel, with revenue increases each month averaging 25 percent, he says the industry as a whole could be doing more to promote itself.

“One of the negatives about my industry is that the industry itself doesn’t do enough to toot its own horn,” he says.

He points to the dairy industry’s successful “Got Milk?” campaign as something the timeshare industry could emulate. Such a campaign could finally wipe away the last vestiges of the negative reputation timeshares used to be known for.

“It’s getting better, but timesharing started out with a stigma attached to it where the old swamp salesmen got into it early,” he adds. “That’s been cleaned up, but people have long memories.
If you go to the average person on the street who’s never been to a timeshare they’ll think that it’s some kind of flim-flam.”

Siegel says that only about 5 percent of people who can afford timeshare properties actually own them, and only about 50 percent fully understand the concept of timeshares.

He says, however, that once potential buyers actually see a timeshare in person, many are willing to buy. “We always have to give them gifts to come take a tour,” he says. “Once they find out about the product, a large amount of those people end up buying the product.”

The upside is that those satisfied customers often turn into advertisers themselves. Siegel says a lot of its business comes from referrals from current villa owners who are happy with their experience.