Berry on Fractions & Shared Ownership: February 2007

Saturday, February 10, 2007

This past week SRG brought to HQ the sales managers for all the fractional projects it is selling: Mt. Superior Residence Club, Snowbird UT, Expedition Lodge, Kirkwood CA, Meriwether Ranch, Melrose MT and Purgatory Lodge/The Pinnacles, Durango CO,

The daylong training meeting headlined Bill Orwig; the most experienced fractional sales exec in the World. Beginning with the Deer Valley Club up through and to the Mt. Superior Residence Club at Snowbird, Bill represents the
The whole history of PRCs and how they are best presented and sold.

Needless to say this was a vastly rewarding experience. Now, the site sales figures need to reflect the investment in taking a day during the selling season to hone skills.

I believe I have failed to spotlight the fact that Ron Frank, RRP joined SRG as its Corporate Vice President of Sales in December. With over 25 years in the shared ownership business Ron has made effective selling his life’s work. SRG is very fortunate to have Ron come aboard after completing stints in Vancouver BC, Breckenridge and with Sunterra.

SRG has always had good sales skills within its core team, but the addition of Ron keeps us head and shoulders above our competition, and most importantly delivers sales to the projects in which we are involved.

Melding marketing to sales in a ski resort has been an extraordinary challenge to SRG these past months as three of the projects we are marketing and selling are in ski locations. The time sensitivity of the diminishing days in a ski season as reflected in the production of project materials and site sales tools cannot be ignored. Honestly, we have been late in our assignments are now racing to catch up, so our sales staffs have the leads in hand to make their sales goals.

This key area of project development has not been focused on enough at industry meetings. Behind all the ‘happy talk’ is reality; the reality that when the lifts close new winter customers will not come for another eight months.

Our team is strong and dedicated to our assignments and to success. Our legs and lungs are burning, but we will finish strong.

Thanks for reading….

About Carl Berry

Carl Berry is CEO of Star Resort Group, which is the nation’s oldest and most respected fractional/private residence club developer and marketer. Star is headquartered in Bozeman, Montana.

Star’s current projects are located in St Simons Island GA, Saratoga Springs NY and Windham Mountain NY. Completed projects are located in Lake Tahoe CA, Snowmass CO, Steamboat Springs CO, Cave Creek AZ, Pinehurst NC, and Stowe VT.

Carl was the founder of The World’s Finest Resorts, the leading luxury exchange company acquired in 2005 by The Registry Collection a unit of RCI.

Shared ownership projects have been the focus of Carl’s development career for 40 years. He brought to market the first, fee ownership timeshare project in the World, in 1973 located at Brockway Springs, Lake Tahoe CA.

The Manhattan Club, New York City is the largest urban timeshare project in the World with 242 luxury apartments. It has completed sales. Other urban timeshare projects developed by Carl are located in San Francisco and New Orleans.

Timeshare projects, in the Western United States, are located in Lake Tahoe CA, Sun Valley ID, Vail CO, Sunriver OR and LaJolla CA.

Holiday Clubs International was the first multi site hotel program, which was a venture with Holiday Inns using company owned properties from Bermuda to Hawaii.

He is a former Chairman of ARDA and a member of its Board for over 18 years. Previously he served a Chair of the ARDA International Foundation Educational Institute, Chair of the Meetings and Membership Committees and Chair of the National Timeshare Council.

Carl is a founder and director of the Meritus College Fund, nonprofit providing four-year college scholarships, a National Board Member of the Lionel Hampton Center Initiative for the University of Idaho, a former president of the University of Idaho Foundation and a former president of the Alumni Association. He was recently named to the University of Idaho Hall of Fame.