Read All About It
That’s not to say that Westgate Resorts doesn’t take the initiative with marketing, though. Waltrip says a subsidiary of CFI publishes a series of magazines aimed at tourists. They serve not only as an outlet for the company to communicate with its villa owners, but also as a way for the company to promote its properties and the various attractions surrounding them.

These magazines, with titles such as I (Heart) Vacations and I (Heart) Orlando, are distributed to Westgate villa owners as well as through the company’s welcome centers and locations where tourists congregate.

“It’s the only tourist magazine that is physically put in the hands of the tourists,” Waltrip says.
Waltrip goes on to say that Westgate was receiving a lot of requests from partners and other companies to create joint marketing programs targeting Westgate villa owners.

The magazines were started to create an unobtrusive way for advertisers to reach out to Westgate’s customers. “We created the magazines as a mechanism for controlling [advertiser] access to our guests and generating revenues,” Waltrip says.

However, the magazines are more than just a vehicle for advertising. They also provide customers with information about the community surrounding their villas, and serve as promotional materials for Westgate Resorts.

“The second thing we do is we use it to communicate info to our owners on-site about Westgate and the market that particular magazine is in,” Waltrip adds.

Each issue of the magazines contains articles about local points of interest, maps and information about Westgate Resorts. Waltrip says the covers change more frequently than the content, but that’s not a big concern because of the target audience. “Keep in mind that your visitor visits once or twice a year,” he says.

On The Strip
The magazines are one way that Westgate Resorts keeps its name fresh in tourists’ minds, but they won’t be the company’s most prominent branding effort for long.

Once it’s completed, Westgate’s Planet Hollywood Towers in Las Vegas will give the company a very noticeable landmark in the midst of one of the world’s most recognizable avenues – the Las Vegas Strip.     

By erecting two huge blue-glass towers among representations of famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and the Great Pyramid, Westgate aims to make its name stand out just as much as some of the biggest in the hospitality industry.

“Westgate is not well-known like Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt, so once we finish our 50-story building in Las Vegas, we will be a brand and that will add a lot more credibility to our company,” Siegel says. “I think it’s going to open up a lot of doors for us.”

Scheduled for completion in August 2009, Planet Hollywood Towers will consist of 1,200 villas and 28 penthouse suites, totaling 3.2 million square feet of living space. “This will be the largest purpose-built timeshare building built anywhere in the world,” Waltrip says.

The villas will range in size from one to four bedrooms. A pool with a real sandy beach, a fitness facility and an onsite casino are included in the amenities, but the resort’s best feature may be its proximity to the Strip.

In addition to being located within walking distance of some of Las Vegas’ most popular casinos and resorts, Planet Hollywood Towers will be connected to the new Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, which opened this month. Located in the middle of the Strip, the resort features 2,600 rooms as well as numerous retail stores, restaurants and nightclubs.

Westgate has another resort in Las Vegas, but it is located three miles from the Strip and is not connected to a major casino. Other timeshares in the Las Vegas area are in similar positions. Waltrip says Planet Hollywood Towers will offer villa owners a piece of the city that no other timeshare can.

“It is the only timeshare resort in Vegas that is connected to a major hotel-casino and a major shopping mall, so it’s very unique in its class,” he says.

Still Climbing
The Planet Hollywood Towers project is an example of the strength of Westgate Resorts, Siegel says. Despite the ups and downs that the vacation industry experiences due to fluctuations in the economy and other factors, timeshares remain relatively untouched and stable.

Construction on Planet Hollywood Towers is proceeding well and sales across the company are up, Siegel says. “We’re up to the 16th floor in Las Vegas already and we’re having a record year; we’re up about 25 percent for the year,” Siegel says.

“The last few months we’ve actually been up around 30 percent.” Such numbers are more impressive considering the challenges faced by the vacation and hotel industries in the last several years. Siegel says the nature of timeshares make it easier for the industry to ride out such challenges.

The biggest challenge facing the industry at the moment is the rising cost of construction, Siegel says. He says the company has tried to tighten its belt, but says there’s no avoiding the crunch in certain situations. “When our cost to build goes up, we have to increase the cost to sell,” Siegel says. However, he adds, the timeshare industry and Westgate Resorts in particular are prepared to ride out any economic problems that might come their way.

The industry as a whole is strong, Siegel continues, because ownership of a vacation property spurs owners into making the most of their investment.

“When people own, they’ll use, and when they don’t own, they’ll put off the vacation until the next year,” he says.

After 9/11, the hotel industry took a notoriously big hit, but Siegel says the timeshare industry was still generating 90 percent of its typical revenues. That was due in part to the nature of timeshare ownership as well as the desirability of vacation property.     

Siegel says these qualities will continue to be the driving factors in the success of Westgate Resorts and the entire timeshare industry.

“We’ve survived through every major catastrophe,” he says, and adds he sees no evidence to suggest that will change. “[We’ll do] more of the same,” he says. “I don’t see any plateau.”
Seigel adds that he intends to stick with the company for as long as he feels like it – and he doesn’t feel like stepping down any time soon. Even though the company’s success has made it possible for Siegel to leave it in someone else’s hands, he says he’s inspired to keep working by his employees.

“I don’t need to work anymore,” he says. “I could be retired on a yacht cruising off the Mediterranean, but what motivates me are the success stories of the people who work for me.”