This growth has put the sector back on the agenda.

Holiday ownership in the US rose 30 per cent to $10.5 billion from 2022 to 2023, and Club Wyndham Asia has experienced a 93 per cent increase in membership over the same period. Those increases prove that the new model of holiday ownership has strong appeal for today’s traveller.

In Australia, the industry is strongest on Queensland’s Gold Coast, which has 22 per cent of the country’s timeshare inventory. The sector, through corporate offices, is estimated to directly or indirectly employ about 1500 people.

In one of the largest deals in the sector, the New York Stock Exchange-listed Travel + Leisure Co. last month bought the Accor Vacation Club for $US48.4 million ($A73.7 million).

Accor’s holiday ownership business covers 24 resorts across Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia under the Peppers, MGallery, Grand Mercure, Sebel, Novotel, Mantra and Mercure brands.

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Barry Robinson, the Travel + Leisure Co. president and managing director of international operations, is based in the company’s Singapore office and said the group was looking for developers to partner to expand operations across Australia.

“We see Millennials, Gen Zs and digital nomads as the drivers for growth in vacation ownership because they value holidays and travel over property ownership,” Robinson said.

“Our intention is to grow the brand in the various markets where we are licensed and expand in the markets Accor Vacation Club is already operating in. We are continually looking for developments where we can add value through expansion of the asset.”

Travel and Leisure Co. oversees the development of Club Wyndham South Pacific and Club Wyndham Asia from its Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. Club Wyndham South Pacific and Accor Vacation Club were both launched on the Gold Coast in 2000, and are two of the largest holiday clubs in Australia and New Zealand.

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Members pay a one-off fee to become part of Club Wyndham South Pacific, a leading holiday club with assets in 52 properties across Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Hawaii and Europe.

The philosophy behind the club is for people to own their holidays, similar to owning a holiday home or vehicle. Club owners pay an annual levy for the upkeep of the properties and operations such as reservations and owner services.

Holiday owners use a flexible, points-based system to choose their destination, apartment type, and when and how long they want to travel. Additional memberships allow them to exchange points for stays in thousands of other properties in the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts portfolio.

The club is operated by Wyndham Vacation Clubs South Pacific and the properties are held in trust for club members. After the club term, the properties are sold and club members receive a beneficial interest in the net proceeds of the sale, which are distributed proportionally to the number of points held.

Under the exclusive licensing agreement, Accor will receive a percentage of vacation ownership sales revenue as a licensing fee. “The acquisition will reshape the timeshare industry in this region, and is a vote of confidence in the concept,” Robinson said.

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