"Destinations" - December edition

Check out "A Letter from the President" on Page 5. There's some interesting insight as to the "new direction" (koff, koff) that Trendwest seems to want to be headed.

If there were some current criticisms of Trendwest, they would be, in order:
1. How tough it is to get bonus time (what? You've actually gotten bonus time?? Not us! Not in 5 years!) Unless, of course, you don't work weekdays.
2. How tough it is to get as good of a booking from the WEBSITE as it is from a LIVE PERSON.
3. How long you have to wait on hold to get a LIVE PERSON.
4. How much they've been raising the rates -- let's see, they've raised quarterly dues...they've raised the amount of money per credit...they've raised the housekeeping fees, and now this month, in "Destinations," they've announced an increase in bonus time overnite fees.

See a pattern here? Less customer service for more money.

Exit former President Gene Hensley, the guy considered to be largely responsible for the information mismanagement of Trendwest. Now, there's a new President of the Worldmark Board of Directors, Dave Herrick.

First impressions: He's written a column on page 7 of "Destinations." He's definitely living in reality, and he knows exactly what the problems are, so we're off to a good start. He seems genuinely concerned about how many customers they've lost. (And paying close attention to the competition coming up on their tail as a result of that, no doubt.)

He's got a list of items he's focusing on in 2006.

#1. "Working with our partners in the Information Technology (IT) department to fine-tune the new operating systems that launched earlier in 2005."

Now he's scaring me -- Dave, Microsoft does the operating systems. You run application software, namely, software that runs bookings and management for resorts. You really should get downstairs and have the guys explain this to you. He says "we . . . are 100 percent focused on working with IT to resolve these issues." What does "fixing" mean? Does "fixing" mean more hassles and cost than we're absorbing now? I'd sure like some more detail on what this means.

#2. "Continuing to identify opportunities to enhance service levels for our owners." Is he paying more money to fulfill this vision, or does he have a way to do it with what he's got now? Which brings us to...

#3. "Keeping costs to a minimum on an ongoing basis." How are you going to fix the software and increase customer service without raising rates? Because "to a minimum" sure doesn't sound like an assurance to me as an owner that there aren't going to be any price increases. Is "minimum" a different "minimum" than we have now? Are we at it, or is the "minimum" bar going down?

One possible conflict I see with the new President is that I think if you put it to a vote of the owners, we would MUCH rather see costs be brought under control before new resorts come online. A new resort just means more deficit!

It's up to us as owners to make it known that we want the same or better service before we get another price increase, so be sure to mention that next time you call a Trendwest rep!