WorldMark resorts can be developed just about anywhere enough owners want to go (within some limits, of course). So how does WorldMark by Wyndham decide where? 

First, it’s important to understand how the club grows. It is the selling of credits through the developer that fuels the growth of new resorts. New WorldMark owners—and your own purchase of additional credits from WorldMark by Wyndham—enable the club to expand. New resorts create additional credits which, when sold, contribute to funding new resorts. Although you purchased access to resorts that existed in the club at your time of purchase, you also enjoy access to resorts that are built and registered into the club in the future.

Top locations for new inventory are determined through extensive research of new and existing regions, as well as analysis of resort occupancy. We scrutinize regions where WorldMark already has one or more resorts, new areas that appeal to existing owners, and also new regions that will support an expansion of the owner base.

When a WorldMark resort in a region is consistently full, we’ll strongly consider adding inventory in the same general area. Some properties may have room for growth; other areas require finding new buildable land, or an existing resort that can be converted to WorldMark standards.

To learn where you most want new resorts, we conduct cost-effective e-mail surveys with random samplings of owners instead of the entire 250,000+ owner base. This survey method ensures an unbiased sample and statistically valid data, and provides respondents the opportunity to reply thoughtfully. The most recent survey asked owners to indicate the locations—out of more than 200—they would most likely use. It also allowed them to note any areas we may have overlooked.

Sometimes our objective is to fulfill two goals at once:  providing a destination of interest to many existing owners, and opening a region to owner growth. For example, newly acquired WorldMark resorts in Taos and Red River represent world-class locations for all owners to enjoy, while supporting owner growth in nearby Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Though this process of prioritizing new locations is effective, there are a few practicalities to consider:

• Cost: While we attempt to keep credit values as low as possible, high real estate costs in some areas make development a challenge. In addition, construction costs have risen significantly over the last five years, in part due to huge economic growth in China driving up the cost of steel and concrete.
• In a few resort areas, site availability is a determining issue. Developable sites may not exist—at almost any cost—in areas such as Whistler, B.C. 
• Regulatory issues can be a major factor. The California coast and Lake Tahoe are examples of areas where it has become increasingly difficult to develop.
• Seasonality can be very important. For example, many great ski resort areas are popular in winter, but demand falls off in spring, summer, and fall. We need to be cautious when building in such locations, so as not to increase demand on other WorldMark resorts during most of the year.
• Efficiency of management:  We always seek to avoid high operating expenses, which affect your annual club maintenance dues. We might look more favorably at a location that’s a thousand feet lower in elevation than the nearby ski area if, for example, that lower elevation receives significantly less snowfall—which could mean substantially reduced operating expenses. We also seek to develop resorts with enough units to allow for efficiency in management.

Despite these challenges, to date we have managed to acquire WorldMark inventory in a majority of the resort areas you tell us you most want—with a lot of careful investigation, a little creativity, and a good measure of patience.

So what can you do to help get your desired resorts? Simple. Be sure to have your correct e-mail address registered with WorldMark, as that allows us to survey you by e-mail. And if you receive an e-mail with a link to a survey, take the time to respond. It will be well worth the 10 or 15 minutes of your time!