Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to take my wife and kids to LA for a little beach and Disneyland.  With shame, I have to admit that we stayed at a Timeshare Resort.  Many years ago I bought an Annual Timeshare at the Maui Marriott.  So this year we traded the Maui Vacation Club for a week in LA.  Something we learned is that just as some vacation rentals are great and others are not, some timeshares are great and some not.

Even though this LA timeshare was far (like vintage 1984 for the LA Olympics) below the standard of the Marriott Maui, it did not have to be as much of a disappointment as it was.  I spent some time with the general manager of the resort discussing what I thought he could do to improve the experience.  Here is part of our conversation:

Set expectations – be very clear about what it is, and what it is not.  Trying to make it sound and look more than it is will only lead to disappointment.  This is especially true about the information provided after the booking is made.  I understand that a certain amount of ‘marketing/positioning’ needs to happen to get the booking.  But once the booking is made, start setting the expectations and preparing guest for exactly what they will find.  (’a retaining wall 4 feet from your balcony and bedroom window, but you only have to cross the street and you are on the beach, so enjoy the beach live, not through the window’)

Little things – budgets are tight, you cannot replace the carpet in every room every year (although 2 decades next to beach is probably the limit).  Update some pictures, some decorations, the plates/silverware, the outlets that wiggle in the wall and do not hold plugs in them b/c they are so worn, maybe a shower-head, ………you get the idea.  Details make the experience.

Preparedness – we had a planned outage as a transformer was replaced in front of the resort one morning.  Unfortunately the resort staff did not alert any guests about this and most of the emergency lighting and the flashlights (which are ‘plugged’ into the wiggly outlets) did not work.  I understand you cannot control the utility, but you can control your response.  Their response showed me very little respect for myself and other guests.

Welcome Gift – again it is the little things, but this just shows that “we are happy you are here, we are here to serve you, we are here to make your stay great, we appreciate you choosing us over all your other options”.  This can be something inexpensive & small, but it should be thoughtful.  It can make all the difference in creating a collaborative feeling between guests and the host.

We had a great stay.  The pool was awesome, the location next to beach perfect, and the distance to town convenient.  Unfortunately this was overshadowed by some shortcomings, that if addressed proactively would have been overlooked.