This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.
From Vacation Ownership to Experience Access
Experiences have become common currency across travel, from hotels and credit cards to loyalty programs and vacation rentals. For hospitality companies, the question is how to make those experiences meaningful enough to strengthen customer relationships, rather than simply adding more activities for travelers.
That was the focus of a session at Skift Global Forum in New York, where Jason Gamel, president and CEO of ARDA, and Gordon Gurnik, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV), discussed how vacation ownership companies are using live events and exclusive access to build loyalty.
Why the Relationship Comes First
For Gamel, the starting point is the nature of the ownership relationship itself.
“Once someone’s an owner, and they think of it as their second home, they have a different loyalty to the brand and to the resort,” he said.
That long-term relationship creates more opportunities to understand what travelers care about and build around those interests. It also reflects how much vacation ownership has changed. Gamel said the old model of returning to the same resort at the same time each year has given way to customized lengths of stay, greater flexibility, and access to a wider range of destinations.
The audience is changing, too. Gamel said more than 75% of vacation ownership purchasers now come from Millennial and Gen Z travelers, bringing different expectations about how they want to spend their money.
“They’re willing to invest in their vacation future,” Gamel said.
Building Around the Owner
For hospitality companies, experiences are more effective when they’re based on a clear understanding of what customers actually value.
“The journey for an owner is not just the stay,” Gamel said. “It’s, ‘What do I do while I’m there?’”
That has become a major focus for Hilton Grand Vacations, which has about 720,000 members and operates its HGV Ultimate Access platform for owner experiences. Gurnik said HGV stages roughly 3,800 events a year across its portfolio, ranging from private concerts and culinary experiences to major events such as Formula 1 in Las Vegas and the LPGA Tournament of Champions in Orlando.
“We needed to bring something more to that,” Gurnik said, referring to the traditional vacation ownership experience. The goal was to give owners access to something that felt special and difficult to replicate elsewhere.
HGV reports that 94% of its members believe that access to experiences adds value to their membership, and that more than 137,000 members attended an HGV Ultimate Access event last year.
Making Access Feel Different
Scale alone is not what makes an experience valuable. Gurnik emphasized that it can be a large signature event or something far smaller and more personal.
He pointed to a baseball outing at Yankee Stadium as an example. Instead of simply providing a ticket, HGV might place owners in a suite and arrange for a player to stop by.
“You need to bring that little bit of nuance to it,” Gurnik said. “You can’t just buy a ticket and get the same experience.”
HGV applies the same approach to some of its largest events. At Formula 1 in Las Vegas, for example, owners can stay at the company’s Elara property and access a three-story viewing platform on the Strip, along with food and beverage and private concerts. Gurnik described it as a “very bespoke event” designed to feel different from a standard race ticket or viewing package.
Private concerts have also proved especially popular. HGV has paired them with dinners, transportation, and meet-and-greets, sometimes featuring artists before they become household names.
“People really like that because they get a chance to talk to some of these very up-and-coming stars,” Gurnik said.
Keeping Experiences Fresh
Gamel pointed to similar efforts across the vacation ownership industry, including music, sporting events, culinary programming, resort-based experiences, and partnerships with major entertainment companies. The common thread, he said, is the need to keep pace with what travelers want and how they want to access it.
“Creativity is really key here,” Gamel said. “It’s about staying ahead of what people want and how they want to experience it.”
What Hospitality Can Learn
For hospitality brands looking at experiential programming, one takeaway is that more choice is not automatically better. HGV’s experience suggests that relevance, freshness, and exclusivity can carry more weight than sheer volume.
“Early on, there was a lot of learning about what really mattered,” Gurnik said. “The key is listening to our owners.”
HGV surveys members to understand what they are interested in and continually adjusts its programming. Even with thousands of events each year, Gurnik said the company works to keep the mix changing.
“Constantly changing it up and doing something slightly different every year and giving people new opportunities is key,” he said.
Engaging Customers Beyond the Stay
Vacation ownership also offers a useful reminder that loyalty can become more powerful when travel companies connect the stay to a wider set of benefits. Gamel noted that owners may have access to their vacation ownership benefits alongside hotel loyalty programs, creating more ways to use points, book travel, and access experiences.
For brands beyond timeshare, the opportunity is less about copying a specific event platform and more about applying the underlying principles: know the customer, use feedback, offer access that feels distinctive, and give people a reason to keep engaging after the trip is booked.
A Large and Loyal Customer Base
Gamel closed by highlighting the scale of the vacation ownership audience and the opportunity it presents for travel companies and potential partners. There are roughly 10 million timeshare-owning families in the U.S., he said, and annual owner surveys show satisfaction above 92%.
With both scale and loyalty, owners can be an attractive audience for products, services, and experiences that complement the way they already travel.
“Look to that group of people, because there’s a real opportunity to keep growing the services they’re getting and their satisfaction,” Gamel said.
Visit ARDA.org to learn more about the vacation ownership industry today. Visit HiltonGrandVacations.com to explore HGV Ultimate Access experiences and events.
This sponsored content was created collaboratively by ARDA and Skift Studio.