Experts say they can see a new wave of smart travel links which will help heat up the high end resort real estate market in Vietnam.

In 2010, the US-based RCI Group, the biggest vacation ownership group in the world, came to Vietnam to connect the three resorts of Ninh Van Bay Holiday Club Nha Trang into the global transaction network. 

On September 10, the Hon Tam Bien Nha Trang Joint Stock Company officially signed an agreement with Group RCI, planning to issue vacation ownership membership cards valid for 2-25 years. Experts believe they can see a new wave of smart travel links which will help heat up the high end resort real estate market in Vietnam.

The smart service packages

The model of vacation ownership was born in France in mid 1960s, which has been rapidly spreading out to North America, now connecting more than 6000 resorts and hotels in 100 countries all over the world.

The model of vacation ownership was initiated from the idea of timeshare of real estate for different people's use. The concept has become very popular to international tourists, while this has been a very lucrative business in developed countries.

Adrian Lee, Managing Director of RCI Group in Asia, explained that with the vacation ownership model, instead of making payment for every trip, buyers just have to pay once to obtain the right to use the "second home" for a certain time - one week, one month or several months during 10, 20, 25 or 30 years, depending on the service packages.

In the sea city of Nha Trang, Ninh Van Bay Holiday Club commits not to change the room rates during the vacation ownership time, even though the market fluctuates regularly due to the inflation. Besides, buyers can also enjoy other preferences, including the free use of gymnastics room, swimming pools, tennis court, the 20 percent discounts for meals and spa services, 10 percent discounts for tours and 10 percent discounts for souvenirs.

Chair of the Hon Tam Bien Nha Trang Company, Doan Thanh Trang, said that the members of the club not only can enjoy the preferences in using services of the of the resorts and hotels in the system in Nha Trang, but also can exchange vacations with other resorts and hotels in the global network, which means that buyers have many choices for destinations and types of tourisms.

For example, if wanting to visit Eiffel in France, a client can exchange vacations through the intermediate management unit - the club - and go to France. Meanwhile, the partner who exchange vacations with the client can go to Vietnam to enjoy his holiday. The only requirement here is that both of them join the vacation exchange system. 

Especially, the vacation ownership program also allows to transfer, sell, give as a gift and inherit vacations. Members of the Hon Tam vacation ownership club can save about 70 percent of the expenses for every holiday.

The new wave

According to ARDA (American Resort Development Association), vacation ownership has created a new wave in the tourism industry. It has generated a very high growth rate in the industry and changed the habit of using tourism products of millions of families all over the world.

In 1990, only 1.5 million people had vacation ownership. Meanwhile, by 2008, 6000 resorts and hotels all over the world have been applying the model of vacation ownership, of which 31 percent are in North America, 31 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 6 percent in Latin America, 14 percent in Asia, 5 percent in Caribe and 3 percent in Asia Pacific.

RCI Group, the biggest vacation exchange group in the world with 3.8 million members, proves to be very choosy when admitting resorts and hotels for its network. They must be the 4-5 star hotels which have been operating stably and recognized by the world's tourism magazines.

Vietnam now has five high end resorts in Nha Trang, Da Lat, Ninh Binh and Phan Thiet being the official parts of the RCI network. When joining the "trading floor", the resorts and hotels not only have the opportunities to earn profits, but also can popularize Vietnam's images about the country and people to the 3.8 million clients of RCI.

Source: Lao dong/ VNN