I recently had the pleasure to sit in on one of our customer presentations at the CRM Evolution Conference in New York. Sean Lowe, the Managing Director of Endless Vacation Rentals and Revenue Management for Wyndham Exchange & Rentals, gave a presentation about how his company manages the demand forecasting process for the RCI operating unit.

Sounds like it might be a dry topic, right? Not at all. It turned out to be a fascinating story about how they were able to focus on solving a business problem, and how they turned it into a strategic advantage that drives customer satisfaction.

RCI stands for Resort Condominiums International, which pioneered vacation ownership exchange in 1974 and strives to create flexibility for two key markets - resort developers and vacation owners. Among the vacation owners, at any given time the property owners may also be property seekers, hence the concept of the exchange. RCI is the industry leader, having facilitated 2 million exchange vacations last year – three times more than its nearest competitor. As Sean proceeded to explain why they engage in demand forecasting, the beautiful symmetry of it all became apparent.

Every time a timeshare owner successfully finds another property they want to try, RCI earns a fee. The property seeker is happy when they get the property they want at the time they need it. The property owner is happy when they get the best exchange value they could get for their property at the time of the transaction. And RCI helps ensure a source of future revenue by making both the property owners and property seekers happy. And with an efficient exchange market, it provides an incentive for resort developers to participate in the RCI network as a key benefit to their customers, who buy into the properties to begin with. So all that happens smoothly as a result of accurately forecasting demand and setting prices accordingly.

When you’re able to make multiple stakeholders happy, while helping to drive future revenues and grow your business, that’s a value proposition that translates to success in any business. Sean started out by jokingly assuring us he would not try to talk us into a timeshare in Marbella or Miami, but after hearing his story, I’ll bet he might have had a few takers by the time he finished.