Marriott Vacations to Get New CEO as Timeshare Sector Faces Higher Hurdles
Photo Caption: The Waikoloa Ocean Club offers many timeshares. Source: Marriott Vacations Worldwide
Skift Take
You may not personally want to buy a timeshare. But the sales pitch for the timeshare business can still reveal valuable intel about broader trends, such as cross-marketing tactics and the rise of subscription clubs.
Marriott Vacations Worldwide's current president, John Geller, will become CEO of the timeshare giant on January 1, 2023, succeeding Stephen Weisz, who's retiring. Geller will be taking the helm at a time when the company may see how well timeshare sales perform during economically turbulent times.
Geller has been the company's president since 2021 and was its chief financial officer for over a decade. He's helped Marriott Vacations slip off the timeshare sector's reputation for locking customers into convoluted contracts after extensive sales pitches. The company has done this through simplified processes, brand standard processes, and the delivery of better-than-average inventory at "upper-upper-scale" resorts. Since its spinoff from Marriott International in 2011, it has gone from 12 percent to 17 percent market share.
Geller's experience will be handy as the timeshare sector navigates a possible recession. A Bloomberg survey of economists estimates that the
