Vacation Owner Communications Solutions

THE CHALLENGE

After making several acquisitions, this major vacation ownership company found itself using multiple, disconnected systems for each brand’s core operations including reservations, billing and payments. Rationalizing technology solutions offered the potential for important synergies.

“As vacation ownership has evolved, we’ve become more aligned among our products and brands,” said a vice president of the timeshare company. “It made tremendous sense to align operating platforms too. In fact, the more streamlined, the better. And that’s what we get with single systems across the company.”

It launched a strategic initiative to consolidate its primary operating platforms across all brands and properties. In addition to cost savings from shared systems, the vacation ownership company targeted platforms that would:

provide state-of-the-art capabilities
increase automation
digitally transform processes
make collaboration easier
enable innovation

IT integration is a major determinant of merger and acquisition success, according to Bain & Co. Companies that did the worst job of integrating IT after M&As spent 2X to 3X more on technology as a portion of revenue. The lack of integration makes adding new applications or doing another acquisition or merger 10X more costly than for top IT integrators. These higher costs undercut overall deal benefits.

THE SOLUTION

For owner communications and billing, the company wanted a single, leading cloud omnichannel customer communications platform that gave it the control to compose and deliver print and mail, email and text messages that are customized to each brand’s distinctive design, specialized content and unique owner base.

It didn’t have to look far for the right CCM solution. The vacation ownership company’s original brand was an early adopter of the pioneering Expresso® CCM platform nearly 20 years ago and provided valuable input over the years to enhance the solution’s features and user experience.

When the timeshare leader chose to consolidate on one cloud communications system, it didn’t hesitate to move all business units for consumer finance, owner services and HOA communications onto the patented Expresso platform. With Expresso, all brands and properties can:

Easily develop reusable document templates.
Upload a single data file and merge elements to customize each corporate, resort and HOA letter, statement, email, and other owner communications.
Review documents, generate proofs for sign-off, and make disclosure changes in real time.
Track distribution, run detailed reports for analysis, create audit trails and archive communications.

For simplified management and distribution of the timeshare company’s annual 4.5 million emails and 6 million mailed communications, Expresso integrates with Nordis Technologies’ digital and print production and mailing services, including automated Certified Mail®. Expresso also seamlessly exchanges data with the company’s new advanced systems for owner payments, reservations and other key functions.

“Nordis is a great partner and has great tools for helping us create more engaging communications that help drive vacation reservations and other sales,” says the vice president.

THE RESULTS

Shifting to a digital-first approach was a primary goal in centralizing owner communications on the Expresso platform. Not only do emails cost less to send than mail but they cater to changing owner preferences. With Expresso, the timeshare company also takes advantage of dynamic variable color printing, personalized content and other advances to meet the needs of owners that want modern print and mail communications or a combination of digital and paper.

“We wanted to do more to get our owners excited about their vacation. We wanted a look and feel that inspires them. And Nordis gives us that ability,” said the owner services manager who led the final brand’s transition to Expresso.

Leveraging the original brand’s Expresso implementation across the enterprise accelerated the shift to one system. Doing so also digitally transformed and automated many communications processes, driving important cost efficiencies while improving employee experience and productivity.

With a connected enterprise system in place, this vacation ownership leader is positioned to take further advantage of the solutions’ capabilities to continue enhancing owner experience.

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BENEFITS

Improved owner satisfaction

The previous email system could only send batches of short, generic, copy-only reservation confirmation emails. Now owners receive emailed confirmations right after making reservations. These HTML emails are customized with the resort’s logo, colorful photos, details about the property’s amenities, and information about using points for add-on rentals and other promotions.

Reduced call center costs

The personalized digital and print communications and self-service website options have cut call volume per owner for reservation questions.

Rise in self-service bookings

Emails now highlight self-service options with links to the company’s website, payment portal and other self-service options. After merging all reservation communications on Expresso, website traffic surged, and self-service online reservations jumped for one brand from 55% to 63% and reached 70% of total reservations for another brand.

Increased add-on sales

After using Expresso to add customized information about resort-specific amenities in confirmation emails, record numbers of owners reached out to take advantage of these offers.

Faster communication changes

All resorts can quickly update communications with important guest information such as renovations underway or new amenities. “Having Nordis as our one business technology partner makes it possible to easily make changes across the system,” the owner services manager noted.

Enhanced customer experience

With omnichannel communications options that include print/mail and digital delivery, our client caters to owner delivery preferences while also creating content that’s personalized and dynamic.

Vacation Ownership Communications

Expresso® is an intuitive vacation ownership solution that lets you simplify and automate the process of developing and distributing owner communications. Our cloud-based customer communications management technology seamlessly integrates with our print/mail and digital delivery services to give you unmatched control and flexibility.

Expresso for Vacation Ownership