Barry Robinson serves as President and Managing Director of International Operations, overseeing Travel + Leisure Co’s international timeshare business - Wyndham Destinations. This encompasses all timeshare operations outside of North America and the Americas and the oversight of three vacation clubs, Club Wyndham South Pacific, Club Wyndham Asia and Innovative Holiday Club. He oversees a club asset portfolio in excess of AU$1 billion comprising some 70 hotel and vacation club properties.

It’s been an exceptionally challenging two years for the hotel industry globally, and we are seeing widespread inflation and interest rate rises. How are these factors impacting the vacation ownership industry?

While the global economy is facing challenges, we actually see inflation as a positive for our business model. Rising hotel and holiday home rental rates create a more compelling value proposition for our customers.

Club owners pre-pay for their future holidays and can make great savings doing so. While hotel room rates continue to soar, and many families are finding they can no longer afford to take holidays, the exchange values at our club resorts will remain the same for the life of the club, and occupancy is generally unaffected by economic conditions.

There is great value in always having holidays to look forward to, no matter what the economy is doing. For our business globally, that value has seen our revenue per guest increase by 40% above 2019 levels.

How has the vacation ownership concept changed? what does timeshare look like in 2022?

Our clubs have evolved far beyond the traditional timeshare model to offer vacation owners substantially more in terms of benefits, flexibility, resort experience and diversity of destinations. Thanks to our vacation credit system, owners can access a network of resorts. There are over 50 properties in the Club Wyndham South Pacific collection across Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Europe, and Hawaii. In addition to this, there are thousands of exchange options and exclusive club benefits.

All Club Wyndham South Pacific owners benefit from our Lifestyle Offers program. This provides them with up to 60% discounts on thousands of big brand purchases, which they can use while on holiday or at home, for dining, attractions, car hire, fashion, homewares and much more.

What is the comparison like between vacation club accommodation and hotel rooms?

When you consider a 7-night stay in 2 hotel rooms on Denarau Island in Fiji this September will cost a family around $6,000, and contrast that with our flagship resort Club Wyndham Denarau Island, the value is clear. For our club owners, a six to eight-person family can stay in a stylish 2-bedroom apartment for 7 nights for just 12,000 credits.

Our club resort in Fiji offers one, two, and three-bedroom apartments, plus a host of facilities — two restaurants, two swimming pools, swim-up bars, a kid’s club and more. While hotel rates are going up, vacation club apartment exchange rates do not. Families paid the same credit rate for that apartment in 2015 as they do today, and they will pay the same in 2030. They have their annual maintenance levies (similar to a body corporate fee), but that is all.

Having the choice of large apartments also means club owners can bring family and friends on holiday with them. There is room to move, with living rooms, separate bedrooms, fully equipped kitchens and laundries — there is no comparison to the confines of tiny hotel rooms.

Across your Club Wyndham South Pacific resorts, you’ve rolled-out a fantastic activities program, can you tell us about it and how important is the ‘club experience’ to vacation owners?

Creating treasured holiday memories is a key focus and we have rolled out over 100 free activities across our resorts to enhance the club holiday experience. Most have e-bikes, pushbikes and e-scooters. Coastal resorts have stand-up paddleboards, kayaks and boogie boards. We have history tours and a gold panning sluice at Club Wyndham Ballarat. Club Wyndham Seven Mile Beach in Hobart has a hobby farm, a vegetable garden for owners to harvest their own food, plus billy tea and damper nights around the fire pit. In Fiji, there are kayak and stand-up paddle board safaris, and BULA Bingo just to name a few. These are in addition to the traditional fire dancing and cultural shows we offer, which are all completely free for our club owners.

The club experience is extremely important. Our vacation owners share a passion for travel and adventure, and we strive to foster that sense of a club community as much as possible through the experiences we deliver.