Defining Hospitality

DH - Derek De Salvia
===

Speaker: [00:00:00] What I do is inconsequential. Why I do what I do is I get to shorten people's journeys every day. What I love about our hospitality industry is that it's our mission to make people feel cared for while on their journeys. Together we'll explore what hospitality means in the built environment, in business, and in our daily lives.

I'm Dan Ryan, and this is Defining Hospitality.

This podcast is sponsored by Berman Fall Hospitality Group, a design-driven furniture manufacturer who specializes in custom case goods and seating for hotel guest rooms.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Today's guest brings a background of sales and marketing and a history of management experience. He's a regular at travel, hospitality and tourism events where he speaks about creating more than just experiences for his customers. He's the executive Vice President and chief customer Officer at Hilton Grand Vacations, which is. to be a great place to work certified company, and has recently been honored as one of Newsweek's [00:01:00] top most loved workplaces. Ladies and gentlemen, Derek de Salvia. Welcome, Derek.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Hey, good afternoon, Dan. How are you?

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: I'm pretty good. I'm really excited to talk to you because I'm not sure. Over the years, if I've spoken to anyone from, um, vacation, a vacation from, with a vacation ownership point of view. And what's timely about this, I was just hanging out with my son's, uh, football team parents, and they were all talking about these, well, not all of them, but like three or four of 'em were about these incredible experiences and they've been long time timeshare owners. And it's something that I've never done as a, as. person or as a family because we always like pick up and go and try new different things. And so I was just very intrigued, but like to see them light up as they talk about these memories that they've had over the past 10 to 20 years, um, it made me a little jealous too to have that same spot all the time. [00:02:00] Um, and I'm excited to dig into that with you, but before we get into it, I just wanted to ask you. What does hospitality mean to you?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: You know, hospitality is personal for me. Um, it's something that I think as, as team members and as an organization, we have to lead with every day. And it is from the heart. Uh, a lot of companies, a lot of organizations, not just in this business, just in general, really talk about service, but for me, service is a, it's just a basic table stake, right?

What's, what's expected? Hospitality is what we can overdeliver on and really make people feel special and. Often when I talk about to my teams that, you know, it has its root in the Latin word hospice, which is guests, stranger taking care of people. That's where you get the derivatives of, uh, hospitals, uh, hospitality and, you know, unfortunately for some individuals hospice, right?

But it's all rooted in taking care of people. And so that, that is a, a real, real big thing for our teams.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Vacation ownership is like, [00:03:00] it's a, it's a unique model within commercial real estate and hospitality. Um, it's part real estate, it's part legacy. Um, how do you, I don't know, educate customers on what makes HGV different from a traditional hotel stay? 'cause that's really where. I, where I saw my friends kind of lighting up talking about these. How, because you hear all different kinds of stories of you, you get pitched for a timeshare. Um, sometimes not great experiences, but I've never heard from like the bigger players like the, the Hiltons and the Marriotts out there. I've not heard a bad experience. So how do you educate your customers and kind of differentiate.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah. You know, look, we, our brand is powerful, right? With our ties to Hilton Worldwide and our relationship with them, and, and it's, it's about travel. It's about travel and people enjoying travel and leisure. I. Uh, and we really wanna make sure we provide people that next level of travel elevation in their life.

So I think vacation ownership takes that step. It's, it's [00:04:00] bigger units, bigger accommodations. We have dots all over the world and maps of, you know, our resorts, uh, globally now. So it's really great 'cause it provides such a great scale for our vacation ownership owners to experience those things with their family.

I mean, you made the comment, right? You have a little bit of envy hearing them talk about their vacations. Um, and we are really proud to let people know that you don't have to come back here every year to the same place. There's so many different destinations and so many additional benefits and experiences we offer.

So it's just a step for people to commit to having those experiences with their family.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: And I think with Hilton, as they were talking as well, the idea of being able to transfer and be, not just be locked into the one place, but at certain times of years there's a, there seemed like a lot of flexibility to whether you wanted to go to the beach, to the mountains, um, Is it difficult to educate your users or your members about, or your owners how to get the maximum benefit from it?

And what are some like incredible [00:05:00] stories that you could share from your experience?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah, sure. So it, it's, there's a lot of great benefits and experiences, so to get that all into, you know, one, uh, specific period of timeframe is pretty difficult. But we have a lot of resources. A lot of stuff on our website and behind the scenes on their, their login pages. They have a lot of information and access.

We do a lot of tutorials. Uh, we recently started seminars just to con continue to update our members and our owners to make sure they understand what's at their fingertips. Uh, and you know, you, you made a, a comment about stories. I often meet with members. Uh, for coffee. 'cause look, I could sit behind this desk and, and send emails and talk to people on the phone, but really what's important to me is getting out and putting faces to the stories.

And so many members have told me it is just so different, right? I have members I've met that are younger members with no kids traveling all over the world and experiencing different things, doing short stays multiple times a year. But I've also met families and grandparents that have raised their children and their grandchildren.

This industry and [00:06:00] in our brand, and that is pretty powerful when you think about it.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Hmm. And then as we go through the cycles of real estate, um, how, from a legacy perspective, how have you seen an investment in a, in a vacation ownership that. Kind of can weather the storm of real estate cycles, but also, you know, even when they're, I would imagine that when you're, when you're, when we're in a recession, let's just say that still having that place that you could still go on a vacation, even if things are pretty tight and you know it's taken care of, it must be a great way to get people and families through more difficult economic times.

Do you have any stories that you can share on that side?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah, I'll actually add on to the economic cycle and talk about some milestones in history that weathered the storm as well too. When you think about the pandemic, right, or [00:07:00] nine 11, many, many years ago, it, it was an opportunity for us to really see our members come back first and our members to really come, get, get away and use the vacation as a time to decompress and spend time with their families and, and forget about those things.

And the economic cycle is a great point because. Our members made that commitment most of the time, many, many years ago, and they already had their vacations paid for and committed to. So for them it's just routine of being able to go and travel and, and take those vacations and, you know, listen, there's been many articles that have come out over the decades and years about how vacation time and getting away and taking a break from work and life is so healthy for you.

So. I hope people realize that, right. It's a great opportunity to rebalance their life and, and get away from things for a while and focus on their family and the ones they love.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Um. At the beginning, we said, I think it was Newsweek's, um, one of the most loved places to work was Hilton Grand Vacations. Correct.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Sure. Sure.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: So, one of the, one of the people I really look up to in our industry, [00:08:00] Danny Meyer, you know, he had the, you know, the five stakeholders in a hospitality experience. And I think that how, how you put it there, that the act of service is really just table stakes because you're. you've attracted these great people. You're retaining these great, great people on your teams, but what do you do outside of the service thing to really make H-H-G-V-A memorable experience for all of your owners and their families that they bring?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Well listen, we. We couldn't talk about hospitality and what that means to people if we didn't share that love and warmth of hospitality to our team members. So it'd be a little naive to say, Hey, we want you to go out and really create great experiences and, and feel that passion and that desire to really impact people when they arrive for their vacation.

If we're not doing that with our team members. So how do we come one of the greatest places to work and, um, you know, really bond our culture? It's by sharing hospitality amongst ourselves as well too, and. We talk about it [00:09:00] openly, right? We want you to be hospitable to each other and really show each other that care and concern.

So that becomes a natural way of living when you're here on property and working and you deliver that and transcend that into our members and our guests, so their experiences are even amplified even more. I.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: And now as the EVP of customer experience, um, how did you get your first ex? Like did you, is, is hospitality something that you always knew you wanted to get into or like when was your first experience working within hospitality and what was, what were the hooks that set into you that that kept you in it?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: I always tell, it's a great question. I always tell the story. Uh, I might, when I think about my first hospitality experience. At 10 years old, I was a paper boy in Staten Island, New York, and I loved it. Right? And it was servicing people, right? It was bringing their paper, it was building relationships with those individuals on my paper route, having to go collect dues, you know, having conversations and just being different.

And then as I, got a little bit older in life. I started working in restaurants and, uh, you know, I have a [00:10:00] food and beverage background and I just, I don't know, I just, I fell in love with. Just serving people. Right. And um, you know, in my personal life as well too, I try to share that hospitality with people.

always say, look, hospitality isn't about the food and beverage or vacation industry. I believe hospitality is a way of living. Right. And so, um, you know, people are hospitable to each other. And so I just gravitated to it. And, probably several years ago really had the awakening of. It's in my heart.

It's what I like to do, and it's what I like to share with people. And as a team, we work together to think about every day how we get better at it, right? We're not complacent. We don't sit on our laurels and we don't say, Hey, we're good with where we are. No, we're, we're really proud of where we've gotten to, but where are we gonna go next.

I.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Hmm. Let's pretend there's a family. Let's just pick a place, a suburb of Chicago. You know, they got their, the, the lovely Chicago winters they deal with and they, they're considering. A vacation ownership play for their [00:11:00] family and their recharging and their recreation. Um, how do you, when you approach that family, what Hilton Grand Vacations about from the others that are out there and what can. expect from, as far as options I'm, 'cause I know there's a spectrum of choices that, um, that kind of fit every family, every need. But how do you educate and walk them through that process and what, what is, what are the options?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Well, the first thing I'll say is this industry is not for everybody, right? If, if that were the case, everybody would become a member and we'd, you know, the whole country would be, um, sharing in the timeshare model. But, you know, one, you gotta make sure you, you wanna spend time together and travel and, and you're committed to that.

Uh, it, it's, it's gotta be something you're, you're focused on as a family and you want those experiences, and I hope everybody does. And, uh, then second I would say, come see us, right? Come see what we're about. Come [00:12:00] stay in one of our units. Come experience one of our properties. Come engage with our team members and make sure that's where you feel comfortable.

And then when you get past, you know, those kind of milestones, um, then you should really let us take the opportunity to educate you on our product and our brand and share with you what that's all about. And the, you know, we really want the consumer to determine if they feel HEV is a right fit for them.

Uh, and there's many different companies out there, right? So they may think another company is a better fit for them, and that's okay. We wanna make sure we can meet their expectations, deliver on their expectations, and oftentimes exceed their expectations.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: I misstated your title as far as it's Chief Customer Officer,

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: It is, yeah. I wanna jump in there. You were on a roll, so I was like, let's go with it, Dan.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: no, but I, in my mind, like we're bringing on a, a VP of who's a chief of customer experience, and I think it's a very similar idea, right? It's like putting those customers first and really figuring out how to continue to delight them in some kind of a frictionless way. Um, [00:13:00] so. When you think of being a chief customer officer, how does, how did that role to be? Ha Has it, has that role always been part of Hilton Grand Vacations? Where did it come from and like, what does it mean to you?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah, it's definitely been around a few years before I started. Uh, and my predecessor was really great in the role and, uh, taught me a lot individually, personally, and had a really strong hospitality background. But, you know, chief customer Officer, I would say is two things. It's the, you know, you are the face of the customer, right?

So when we want somebody to reach out to the customers, engage with the customers, like I mentioned earlier about meeting some of our members who are on property, you know, you've really gotta understand you are the face of the customer experience.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: To me, those two things are interchangeable, but I think chief customer officer is really viewed as the point person to be the liaison between the company and the customer.

The, the experiences, the customer experience has come on, the responsibility to think about every touch point a customer has in our organization, but also how we're developing things to further enrich their value [00:14:00] proposition with us.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: how do you measure that? How do you know that Hilton Grand Vacations is, is delivering on all of those things that you just said?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: So we have many different ways, and I, I often, I speak of these too, right? There's, there's listening posts, me getting out in the area, talking to our customers, talking to our members, talking to our team members too. What are they hearing? What are they seeing? Where can we be better? What can we do better?

What do they need to be successful? Uh, and then of course we use the survey methods, right? We have several different, uh, surveys throughout the organization, post call surveys, when our members call in to get serviced. And book their vacations. Uh, we have on property surveys and I'm proud to say we rank amongst the highest in some of the Hilton brands.

Um, and then we have, uh, other focus groups and member surveys on service and availability as well. So, you know, we use a lot of different data points. I always, always caution and guard against just using one sole source of data because you want to get different slices and different perspectives of. You know where those customers are in their journey, whether they're being serviced in a call center, whether they're on property, [00:15:00] how their experience was when they left, when they went back home, how they're, you know, how they feel about managing their membership, whatever it may be.

We wanna look at the 360 view of that customer engagement across our platforms.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Hmm. And then what year was the first year that you entered into the vacation ownership game?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Oh, it's been a long time. I don't wanna date myself, but I've been doing this for, no, I don't wanna date myself. Uh, it's been, uh, it's been close to 20 years now, so, um, or over 20 years actually. And, um, I've worked with some really strong brands and it's been great. And, um, I think what, you know, Hilton Grand Vacations is doing is amazing with adding more properties and.

Extra benefits for our membership and really transforming our go-to market strategies.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: So. Going back 20 years to when you were first, when you had your first, um, experiences in vacation ownership. Walk us through how you've seen them evolve over those 20 years and [00:16:00] then what, what separates, um, Hilton from the pack hack.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: You know, I wanna, I'll go back actually before my 20 years and say this industry was founded on you, like what you had mentioned earlier, right? That people come back pretty much to the same destination every year, or they may every once in a while, uh, what we call exchange to a different property. But fast forward now to 2025, what we're seeing is a lot of individuals joining the organization.

For a small percentage of the time to come back to that property that we, we met them at, or we saw them at most of the time, use all of our properties in the system and even more so now use the benefits and experiences that the, the companies are providing. So like here at Hilton Grand Vacations, you know, we have service and opportunities where our members can go on cruises, they can stay in Hilton hotels, they can do guided travel experiences.

Uh, there's so many different things they can do now with their membership and stay at some of our partner hotels. Um, so it's really, really evolved. To give just that, you know, I said it earlier, right? That [00:17:00] wide spectrum of vacation opportunities.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Um, I didn't actually know that you could take, actually walk us through. the different channels that you can do. You mentioned cruise, hotels, partner hotels. So how does that, like, again, taking that family from a suburb of Chicago, they're like, Hey, you know what, let's consider this. How, like, do you onboard them and educate them to all the different options and, and kind of just walk us through so that we can better understand how that works.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah, the one thing I always encourage people to think about is the diversity and the vacation experiences, right? So don't think of it as linear. Like there's just so many different ways and verticals in this business where you can, in our company, where you can experience different things. So, you know, and it's, it's, it's very important to demystify that belief of, well, I've gotta come back to Orlando every year for the rest of my life.

No, that's not true. Matter of fact, a very small percentage of our members come back every year to that specific destination. They use our portfolio. They'll use, you know, some of our partner [00:18:00] hotels or companies that we, we, uh, leverage. We have the Hilton Hotel franchise and chains that we, we leverage for room nights.

Uh, we have relationship with cruise companies. We have travel companies at other different experiences they can do, I mentioned earlier, right? We have, um, excursions and guided trips they can go on. Um, we have partnerships with, uh, many great companies like Great Wolf Lodge. We, you know, recently announced in 2024 with the acquisition of Blue Green Vacations, our partnership with Bass Pro.

Which has some great properties across, um, the Midwest. So there, there's just so much they can do, right? We even have, um, events and events platform where our members can, you know, book vacations come down, sparing some of our events. I.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: So I want to go back to me sitting around with my friends and them glowing about these experiences that they've had over the past 20 years and how they look forward to it every year, um, as their kids are getting older, you know, they're bringing their kids. And having these great [00:19:00] memories and creating these great memories. How From like a, from like a, design. Or even product availability perspective as those kids who are now in high school get older college and start having kids after college or whenever. Um, and so they become multi-generational. How can the o the ownership track, or how does the ownership track with someone like Hilton Grand Vacation evolve with families as they become multi-generational?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Uh, it's, uh, it's really important. I, I'll use a personal story. You know, my kids, I've had the privilege to experience some of the great destinations here at Hilton Grand Vacations, and, uh, sometimes though we have to stay in a hotel and. They'll walk in and go, wait, we're not staying at Hilton Grand Vacations.

It's just a regular hotel room. And listen, those hotels are great and they're, they do a great job. But it's that, you know, that's, that's a good reminder of experiences these kids have had growing up in this, this product. But, you know, for our families, you know, when, when parents have a younger children that grow up in this [00:20:00] product and then become older and, and then their vacation lifestyle changes, we see that they often come see us and wanna make a.

Change in their portfolio, maybe add on some more product and do different types of vacations, smaller stays, better destinations across the world. I often say I see their scope increase, right? So they go from these family vacation destinations, Orlando, Myrtle Beach, Hawaii, uh, many other destinations, and they start going broader when the kids are up and older and outta the house and may go to Europe or may go to Mexico more often.

Cabo St. Lucas, St. Martin, et cetera, right? And then when the kids started having kids. They come back to those family destinations and they relive the memories they had with their children. So I often say we don't talk about that enough, right? We don't talk about that cycle like your friends, right? Their anticipation to go every year and have those experiences, uh, with their children and that's gonna transcend with their children to their children.

And, you know, look, we have to face the reality at some point. Even me as a father won't, won't be here with my children, but they'll have those memories [00:21:00] and those lifestyles hold onto and ultimately the product. To use that reminds them of their parents and share their experiences now with their children and their children.

So I, I, I like to educate people and say, you know, you, you, we get tied up on, you know, the financials and the front, the commitment upfront to, to become a member. But you're not looking at the long term, 20, 30, 40 years from now, which people are experiencing today, all the memories they have, which is really the most important thing.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: And then on the financial side. So if I wanted to buy a timeshare, there's basically that upfront cost of what it, of what it costs. And you can, I'm sure you can finance that or just buy it. Um, and then there's the annual, um. Or resort charges. I don't know what you call them, but walk, walk us through what, what that looks like.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah, there's an upfront purchase and that varies by member, right, or, or guest that comes in depending on how much they wanna travel or how little they wanna travel.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Okay.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: so they get to customize their package for their needs and their financial needs as well too. [00:22:00] And then there is the annual maintenance fees, but the maintenance fees go through a myriad of things, right?

They go for operating expense reserves for the resorts. That's why we maintain such high levels of standards for our resorts and our brand. We also have, you know, QA inspections on our resorts regularly to make sure they're at that standard and that they're maintained the way that people expect 'em to be maintained.

Listen, nobody wants to visit a resort or check into a room that is not a certain level or above. So we take on that obligation on behalf of the, uh, HOA associations. So each resort has a homeowner's association, so to say, and those board members review the budgets annually and go through the approval process, and we make sure we're meeting our commitments to those, those boards.

I.

Speaker 2: Hey, everybody. We've been doing this podcast for over three years now, and one of the themes that consistently comes up is sustainability, and I'm just really proud to announce that our sponsor, Berman Fall Hospitality Group is the first within our hospitality industry to switch to sustainable and recyclable packaging, eliminating the use of [00:23:00] styrofoam.

Please check out their impact page in the show notes for more info.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: I go and back to my family. Like we, my wife and I bought a house in Fire Island, I don't know, a couple of real estate cycles ago. I. And through those real estate cycles as a family, like there's been some hard

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Times, right? And we're like, know what? At all costs, we need to keep this house.

Because our kids grow, whether they, we joking, well, we jokingly say like, whether they like us or not, they're still gonna have a draw. They're gonna still want to come and have vacations with us as they get older and have boyfriends and girlfriends and kids. And it's, it's a. It's this, the shared family memory that, that, that's magnetic, right?

They're always gonna want to come

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Sure.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: this sense of place. Um, if you were to kind of a bell curve of a, of the [00:24:00] distribution of like your average owner Hilton Grand Vacations. Does it mirror that like a young family starting or is it more grandparents that are, that are like, Hey, I want to create this thing for my kids, or how, what's the life cycle and legacy that is, that is typical, and what are some other life cycles and legacies that owners may not have thought about?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Well, I think you nailed one of 'em, right? You, you, you're so passionate about keeping that house on Fire Island because it's the memories that you guys hold and cherish dearly as a family, right? And your kids probably remember that house and all the vacation experiences you've had so far, but oftentimes can't remember their birthday gift from two years ago.

So that tells you the impact, right? Of, of something like that. Um, for us on the, you know, when you look at the distribution. You know, I gotta be honest with you, Dan, it's all over the place now, and it, it's great to see. We, uh, we recently held a GM summit this year and we brought in some, um, [00:25:00] some of our members and we purposely brought in.

You know, a, a baby boomer member who uses it a very specific way and gets many vacations out of it every year because, you know, he was retired and he loves the product. And then we brought in, uh, a, a Gen X and you know, just coming into the product and, you know, not married with kids yet and just really thinking about it and doing some vacations.

And then we had a millennial come in who no kids work from home travels, works from all the resorts, goes a couple days here, so. It's just, it's so unique by member. I can't even express it enough that that's what I love about this industry. You get to empower, and I, you know, I say vacation ownership in the sense of you take ownership over your vacation of how much you wanna travel and what you wanna do.

So when you look at, uh, a bell curve, I would say the only thing I would like say is there's outliers, right? There may be, you know, members that are just buying it now to hold onto it for life and use it. And then there's other members that are just retiring and. Looking [00:26:00] forward to another 10, 15, 20 year run of vacation.

So, but in the, in the middle there's just such a mix of diversity, of membership and, and, and people using it, and I love that.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: And then let's just say it was, it was a, let's go to that Boomer example, the baby boomer. So they're in their seventies or eighties, right.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Mm-hmm.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Let's say they pa, if they pass away, they can take that ownership and make their children beneficiaries, multiple children, one child.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: some sort of, how does that chain of custody evolve as the family evolves?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: It just depends on the member. A lot of members will, will put in their, their will and their trust to, to, you know, take X amount of ownership and split it amongst their kids. Or maybe if that one kid give it to a kid, you know, look, and sometimes, um, the next generation doesn't want the membership. And we'll work with those families to, to make sure we take care of them and that they, they're not, you know, having to, uh, inherit or be obligated to something they're not gonna use or they don't want.

But oftentimes we find, you know, to the discussions we had a few minutes ago [00:27:00] that, you know, families grew up with this and it's important and it's a way to remember those relatives. And, you know, for me, like I went to a lot of vacation destinations. I went to as a kid, Virginia Beach for example, and took my kids there and shown 'em where I rode bikes on the beach with, with my parents and their grandparents who have now passed where we went to get ice cream and different things like that.

And so a lot of our members wanna relive that with their families. And it's nostalgic and uh, you can't really put a price on that.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: And then let's say again that family or the, the matriarch or patriarch of the family who's a, a baby boomer. Maybe 10, 15 years ago, they bought a two or three bedroom timeshare that. Their family could come stay at. And as the family grows, um, is it easy, I guess easy is relative, is it possible to, for other family members to get a unit next to where they are as, as their families expand and contract and well hopefully expand. Um, but do you [00:28:00] have any stories that you can share that are, that highlight that.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah, that, and you just nailed the true member story, right? So a member might start off with a small purchase for enough points to book a studio or one bedroom. Then they have kids, and what do you think happens next? They go to the two bedroom and then they may have more kids and they'll go to a three bedroom or.

They may have that two bedroom and then later on in life upgrade to a three bedroom 'cause they have grandkids. So there's those stories. And then we also have unique unit types that you can connect and, you know, put the kids in one unit. You'll be in the other unit and you can open the doors and have a large unit.

So it just again, goes back to how families want to use it and shared stories. Right. I mean, I think of the Watson family who I, I meet, uh, often every year at Christmas and they come down and just in the four years I've been meeting 'em, they went from. A couple of different properties and products. So now they have like five or six, and they use it differently in each market.

And you know, I remember saying, bill, like, what, what's, how much do you want? He is like, well, just how many kids wanna travel with us? How many grandkids wanna travel with us? Nobody's saying no to a free vacation. thought that was a [00:29:00] great statement because I was like, well, I mean, listen, if you're asking me to go for free, I, I wouldn't mind going with you.

But, uh, look, they've had some really, really great, um, great experiences and you know, they often talk about. Getting up there in age, and this is the most important thing to do. Look, it's a common thread, right? Kids get older, they get busy. I'm going through now as a father, my son's off at college. I see him a couple times a year.

He comes home when he can. So when we're together, we wanna spend really meaningful, enriching time with our kids and go do something, uh, and have great experiences. And for me, it's been really great to rely on Hilton Grand Vacations to provide that for my family.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Um, if a family is not able to use their unit in a year, can that enter into a rental pool or are there other economics that people who might be considering this should consider?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah. Very rarely do we see members wanna rent it, right? They don't want to give away, um, what they can use so they can, they can bank their points into the next year.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: roll it forward, so to say, right? So they can get more vacations or [00:30:00] do something different. Uh, they can exchange it into the Hilton system to, to have points for, for hotel stays in the future.

Uh, there's a lot of different options they have as members. I.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Mm-hmm. Um. Interesting. So, but when you said earlier, it's like, hey, if the, the thing I could say is just come down and check it out. If, if you're not an owner of a Hilton Grand Vacation Club, you can still find it on an OTA or through a website and,

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Mm-hmm.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: and rent a unit and try it out, and then kind of experience it firsthand.

Is that what you meant by the, that's the best way to experience it.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: There's a couple different ways. A lot of our business is through people who, who rent, um, availability that we have. When we do have availability to our resorts. Then when there's open product or we have unsold inventory, we're still going through when we open up for rental or, um, we sell packages as well too.

And, you know, I'll give some information towards the end of the. Podcast where people can reach out to us or myself and, and inquire about that. But we have lots of different channels which [00:31:00] individuals can engage with us on.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Going back, I wanna go back to that bell curve of properties. Like what is the best performing property in your portfolio

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Well, there's over 200 of 'em. So off the top of my head, I, I, I don't have the exact one and I don't wanna pick a favorite, but, um, you know, look, all of our resorts do really well with, with our stay scores financially. We have some really great resorts that, um, we've sold some really great inventory in.

And the HOA financials are solid. We do a really good, um, job of providing some good retail opportunities for our members on property. So it, you know, all of our resorts are very, very, very well.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: And then if you were to think about a one bedroom. One week, one bedroom, I on location that, that's probably directly correlated to the amount that you would pay.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Sure.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Highest end, what's the most premium that you have out there? Out of your 200?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Well, I mean obviously we have, [00:32:00] uh, like a three bedroom penthouse in Hawaii and Y Kiki overlooking the ocean.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Hmm.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: I. We've got, uh, one bedroom penthouses at, uh, in New York City at the Historical Quinn, which is one of our, our greatest properties. All of our properties in New York are fantastic. We've got some exceptional product in Charleston, Las Vegas.

I mean, I can keep going on and on. Cabo San Lucas, um, Orlando, it's just, it's, it's all over the map, so. It just really depends where people you look. I always say if you're gonna go to Hawaii every other year, every three years, or on a regular enough basis to want to own in Hawaii and buy in Hawaii, you should do that.

If you're not concerned about that and you wanna just travel around, you should buy the best package that gets you the most points for what you can afford. Because that's the difference between the vacation lifestyles. And we do listen, we do have members that go back to Hawaii every single year. Hawaii for sure is, um, probably the most demanded destination in our portfolio, but a lot of other destinations right behind it.

So people have to make that decision, right? Whether they [00:33:00] want to go on a regular basis, these destinations, or they wanna just travel through our system, and many of our members do both.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: And so those were like some city and beach experiences that you were sharing. What about

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Mm-hmm.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Were like sports families?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: We've got great product. We've got Park City, uh, we've got, uh, Breckenridge, we've got, uh, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, uh, Vermont, um, you know, Canada. We've got some amazing properties in Canada. I. If you wanna travel through the Midwest, we've got some great properties in Branson, Springfield, Missouri, Williamsburg, Virginia.

Look, I was a kid. I went to Williamsburg all the time. I took my family there and showed 'em Historic Williamsburg, and they were like, this is amazing. We had a great time. So there's just so much to do.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: And then on the winter side of things, um, I know you mentioned Park City, Breckenridge, Canada. Um.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Lake Tahoe's, another one. Forgot about that one.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: What's the overall, well, actually not limited [00:34:00] to, to winter sports, but as far as new product coming into your portfolio, what does the pipeline look like currently or, and or over the next five years, how are you adding a lot of spots? Where are you guys focusing?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: So we don't share what's on the horizon until we, we know for sure we're, uh, we're at that point. But, uh, yeah, we just, uh, announced not too long ago that we have some new product coming in, um, Hawaii and Waikiki, some of our by Hilton Club product, which is our upscale product. Uh, we also went international and announced new project in Kyoto, Japan, really recognizing the historical feel of Kyoto, and it's gonna be an amazing property.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Cool.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: So right now those are the two main ones on the horizon. Uh, and look, we always, we want to know where our members want to go. So as new markets emerge, new markets open up, or we identify markets were underserved, we wanna provide that experience to our members. So.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Hmm. Um, in your role, you mentioned you get really good feedback from just being on [00:35:00] property and talking to people like the Watson family you just shared and also surveys, and I think there was a third channel. But if you were to go back over the past, let's say 60 days, 60 or 90 days. What's, what are one or two great examples of the best possible feedback you've gotten through the survey channel?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah, so our third one was our team members, um, through the, yeah, through the survey channel. You know, we, we monitor it heavily and, you know, look, we gotta, we gotta take both sides of it. And what we're, we hear a lot of great things about our unit conditions, our unit quality, our accommodations, our resort experiences, our team member interaction, our team member engagement.

And on the service side, our members need a little bit of help servicing their membership right where to go on the webpage. So coming off two acquisitions, we're consolidating technology systems. So sometimes some of our members get lost in between those systems and we reach out to them immediately and educate them and try to help them navigate their membership.

So, uh, that's, that's great feedback. [00:36:00] 'cause we don't want anyone to be out there and not know what's going on and or if there's something in our systems that we're not aware of that needs to be tweaked. So that's such rich and important feedback for our organization.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Hmm. Um, I'm so sorry. I forgot the third, which is and may probably the most important one because

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: It sure is.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Right. The mo being newsweek's most loved workplaces that we talked about earlier. Um, how does. Because I know like Hilton in general and in Hilton Grand Vacation, it's always there. It's ranked as a top place to work by many different metrics, and I always find it amazing how large companies can continually get those accolades. Um, what does that do? How does that improve the quality of team member? That comes inbound to you when they see things like that. Does that, how do you use that for, I guess, recruiting and retention as well for your employees?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: You know, look, we're so lucky to have such a great team member base. I, I can't say that enough. And it, it, [00:37:00] you're right, right? It is the most important. Channel for feedback, but it, it also, it's a really proud moment when our team members bring in their friends and family and loved ones to come work here.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Hmm.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: And what a better way to start off your first day or enter the organization with that excitement to work for a company with such accolades that we have. And the other thing I tell people too, Dan Candidly, is you gotta be pretty excited to show up to a place that puts people on vacation, right? And helps people experience what they experience with us.

We're really blessed and lucky to be able to do what we do every day and change people's lives, so we want team members that wanna come here and be part of that too.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: And I know it's Hilton Grand Vacations and I also, I. I just have a hard time separating that from an actual hotel. Right.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: I know we deal with it all the time. I get it.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: it's awesome to hear like everyone's there on vacation. It must be a totally different mindset. 'cause I'm thinking someone's in town for a conference or whatever. I'm sure you do have some business travel, but

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: small.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: but it's like, what percent of that,

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: I mean, [00:38:00] think about this. I would say low single digits, four to 5% of our, of our rental businesses is business travel. Not very small. Percentage of our membership travel is probably business travel, but I. I, I do wanna twist that a little bit. What our, our members do like is having a larger unit accommodations with the work from home model now that look, they can come on vacation and still work from home, technically in the unit, and shut down whenever they want and go enjoy the resort with their family.

Be in the pool by noon or one o'clock or two o'clock and, you know, go explore whatever destination they're in. So that, that's been really, really powerful for us in the last several years.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Oh yeah. That is interesting. And then is there a, like a, a a me, like what would the measurable increase be in, in that distribution of type of client or type of owner who, uh, post COVID, like what kind of growth did you see in that segment? Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: we don't really measure it directly from a percentage standpoint. We just rely on our members to share that feedback with us. And, you know, it goes back [00:39:00] to one of the team member, uh, feedback, uh, opportunities is coming right outta COVID. I would say probably late. 20, early 2021, we heard a lot of team members saying, Hey, you know, this is a kind of funny story.

We need to increase our bandwidth on the wifi, the resorts. 'cause a lot of people are logging on and working from home, right. Working in the units. Um, and so that's been really great. Or people may need like, you know, uh, a little small desk or something to put their device on, they didn't want to use it or whatever it may be.

So it just depends, whatever they were planning to do. But again, that's what. The benefit of the larger units is, you know, if you're in a, in a one bedroom unit, you can go in the one bedroom side or the family room side and work from home, or the two bedroom, you could split it, or three bedroom, in some cases, four bedrooms.

So it's worked out really well for us.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Hmm. Um, I wanna circle back to the most loved workplaces. Accolade again, if you. If you were to think about is there, is there any type of practice or, or something [00:40:00] culturally that you do at Hilton Grand Vacations that you think would be, be an outsized or overweight contributor to winning that most loved workplaces or being awarded that most loved workplaces, uh, accolade from Newsweek. there any kind of a practice, a habit, a um. I don't know, something. Is there something

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Sure, sure.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: That you guys are doing that really contribute heavily to that?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Well, I would say this, it's uh, it's not a strategy or a tactic. It's a core tenant of who we are, and it's called put people first.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Hmm.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: And we take, we take care of our people. Um, again, it goes back to a really powerful mix of some ingredients, which is obviously we're in the hospitality business. We want to be genuine and authentic, um, as a leadership team and as an organization.

And we really wanna understand the, the breadth and scope in which we operate. And there's a lot of team members across the globe now, so we have to understand all their needs and challenges at times and realize there's unique individuals [00:41:00] that work for us every day. And we have the obligation to them to take care of them 'cause they're taking care of our people.

So, um, you know, obviously you could see for me it's, it's a, it's, it's a passion for us and it's, it's really important. Um, and we're all, you know, all very approachable to our team members. Uh, and that's important. That's why I like to get on the areas and talk to 'em. 'cause they're gonna tell me what they need or what people need.

And that's, um, it's important to act on that too. So, you know, it's putting the people first, taking care of our people and acting on it.

Not easy to do. Sometimes it's simple formula.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: yeah, sometimes it, it, well, that's one of the things I found with Hilton in particular is, you know, I. It's not like you can put a Hilton Grand vacation. You could say put people first on the wall in the conference room or in the lunch room, it, it, it's so much more than just a poster in a break room, right?

And like how

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Well.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: calls all the back of, like everyone else calls it back of house, they call it heart of house. And I think that, that it really is putting the people first and it's, it's [00:42:00] changing your language and your culture be able to do that. Um. You mentioned Kyoto and Waikiki, so some new product coming on, um, for the existing product that's out there. Uh, what kind of a, to keep things fresh. So you buy, you buy a, an apartment or a unit, and then, um, you know, after 20 years of lots of people using it and things degrade, how do you keep, is there a certain renovation cycle or how do you address like keeping everything fresh and new?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah. And that goes back to your question earlier about the maintenance fees, right? So they're, they're, um, it's like run like an HOA and so they're on renovation cycles. And the renovation cycles include soft goods and hard goods every certain amount of years. Uh, and so mix that with our brand standards and I.

Our expectations we wanna deliver on for our member base. It's very important, very important piece of the business that we operate under. Uh, so we take sincere interest in understanding the materials, the design, [00:43:00] what we're trying to bring to life in the region as well too, like for our product coming online.

And y Kiki, you'll see it's called Kaku. You'll see it's a really great blend and mix of, you know, the, the, the soul of the islands mixed with some traditional Japanese elements. Uh, obviously Kyoto is tied to. The city, which is extremely, uh, rich in history with Japan. Uh, and then you go like to, you know, New York City, you'll see some of those elements pulled in Chicago, Sedona, Scottsdale.

We really try to create the ambiance of the region that we operate in.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Hmm. And then as far as when a new product comes on, is it an expectation for a new owner that you'd get a, a renovation after CA certain number of years, or does it vary from property to property?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: You know, all the properties are on a cycle or renovation cycle. So, um, you know, the new products just start on that renovation cycle. When they hit that x amount of years, they're up for their soft good or hard good, uh, [00:44:00] renovation. And, um, existing properties have been around for 15, 20 years. I've already probably been through two or three cycles, so just depends on each property.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Hmm. Hmm. Interesting. Um, is there anything else You would like to share to someone who maybe hasn't considered or would be maybe considering a Hilton Grand Vacations or timeshare option in their life for their family and their legacy.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah, I would share it not just for that individual, but just for everybody, right? And, and I share it with my teams as well too. Uh, you know, look, life is short. We all know that. We, we were talking earlier about how we can't believe we're already in July in 2025 and soon we'll be anticipating the arrival of 2026.

So I think we should all take a lesson from how fast time goes by and prioritize spending time together and really experiencing great things in life. And we provide incredible product and vehicle to do that. So I think it's something everybody should consider, whether it's with us or someone else, and [00:45:00] put those as a top priority in life.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah. Love that. And then if you could think of like the changing customer needs that you've seen over the past 20 years, um, what are some trends, and I know we talked about it from the multi-generational perspective, but are there any other trends that you're seeing for the new timeshare, um, customer.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Absolutely. I mean, I would say not just a new timeshare customer, but the ones that have owned for a long time or become members for a long time. Look, they have a lot of resources and a lot of education at their fingertips, and I think people, the world has shrunk, meaning it's easier to access and get to.

So is information. People want more, they want variety. And I, you know, I am very proud to say Hilton Grand Vacations has been at the top of that curve to provide that experience and variety to our customers and our guests. And so it's really exciting to see where we are today, but more exciting to see where we're going in the [00:46:00] future.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Hmm. Well this has been really awesome for me because I really know nothing or knew nothing about timeshares and vacation ownership. So now I'm like very, I'm intrigued. I'm like making a list of all these places I wanna look at.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Well, I want you to come down to Orlando 'cause I'm here and then experience it and I'll meet you for a cup of coffee and um, we'll chat.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: I'd love that. That would be super cool. Um, if any of our listeners or watchers. to learn more. What's a good way for them to learn more about Hilton Grand Vacations and timeshares in general?

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Yeah, listen. First thing I'll say is anyone can reach out to me and look me up on LinkedIn and ask me any question or anything they want, and I'm happy to, to help them. And, uh, always go to hilton Grand vacations.com. You get a lot of information there. You see our destinations. Learn some, uh, educational tools about membership and, uh, just really how great of a company we are.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Awesome. Um. I just wanna thank you for your time and expertise and experience in sharing it with all of our listeners. [00:47:00] Uh, I really appreciate it, Derek. Very much so. Thank you.

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Well, listen, I gotta thank you for the opportunity to share our story that's, that's more important. So you do a great job and I'm really proud to be here today.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Thank you. And also, I'd be remiss without thanking all of our listeners, because without you,

squadcaster-9ha9_1_07-02-2025_141609: Oh, for sure.

dan-ryan--he-him-_4_07-02-2025_141609: Talking to awesome people and learning, um, uh, so much about an element of hospitality. In our industry that I hadn't really considered. So now I feel more informed and I don't know, it just helps me be a better fan of all the different channels of experiences that are available out there.

So thank you to the listeners and if this changed your idea of what hospitality is all about, please pass it along. We grow by word of mouth. Um, and thank you, and we'll check you next time.

[00:48:00]