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Why now is the right time for action at this year’s conference RDO9

RDO / Events  / Why now is the right time for action at this year’s conference RDO9
19 Feb 2018

Why now is the right time for action at this year’s conference RDO9

“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life”.

This famous quote by Samuel Johnson, the celebrated 18th Century writer seems as relevant today as when Johnson originally coined it. While there is certainly a huge amount of celebrated and protected historical architecture, London is a city that is constantly changing and developing. Thus we will be returning to the Pestana Chelsea Bridge Hotel and Spa (12th & 13th September) for this year’s conference RDO9.

A willingness to change is one of the keys for success, not just for modern metropolises such as London, but also businesses and industries that want to survive in today’s fast moving economy. This is why for this year’s theme we have decided to focus on ACT:

  • Action
  • Changes
  • Things

It is absolutely imperative for companies to take action and change things, in the same way that destinations such as London have been doing for centuries, otherwise they risk becoming obsolete. Just as the once economically vital city of Detroit went bankrupt and lost a huge proportion of its population after not adapting sooner to changing economic times, many companies and businesses have also fallen from prominence in recent decades. Some of these were global icons that once seemed too big to ever fail such as Blackberry, Blockbuster or Kodak. None of these brands moved with the times and any action they took proved to be too little, too late.

As many speakers at previous RDO conferences have emphasised, technological change is only set to become more disruptive in the world for every possible industry, including, most importantly for us, Travel & Tourism.

This doesn’t mean that the travel sector is shrinking; in fact the opposite is true. Travel & Tourism continues to grow in importance as part of the global economy, as increasing numbers of people can afford to travel and discover the joys of exploring the world. However, the way people choose to travel, which destinations they are travelling to, and how they are booking their vacations are all changing.

This means that now, more than ever, it is time for the Timeshare and Vacation Ownership industry to take action and change things. This is not change simply for the sake of change, but rather alterations that are vitally needed in order to adapt, survive and thrive within today’s reality.

Like last year’s conference, RDO9 will once again be fitted into a slightly shorter time frame, but we are very much taking a quality over quantity approach, as RDO9 will continue to offer maximum value. In line with the theme of the conference we have also decided to shake things up in terms of the format.

We are aiming to take delegates on a journey by opening the morning sessions with a brief look at what timeshare promised to deliver to consumers (20+ years ago) and how it stands today which will “ACT” as a backdrop to the afternoon sessions. Within these afternoon sessions, speakers will focus on specific ways in which we can actually ACT i.e. what action will change things.

There will also be some focus given to “who are we, what do we do/offer” and what the role of the RDO is; to support resort developers in whatever way is appropriate, whether developers are offering Timeshare/ rental/ mixed use/ fractional or other options.

The conference will also be an excellent opportunity to explore how the industry can evolve to provide resort holidays into the future, and what steps need to be taken to ensure resort developers’ success in being able to do this. Having reviewed feedback from delegates after RDO8 this year’s conference will focus on specific business issues relevant to our industry.

The proposed schedule for RDO9 will be:

  • Day 1: RDO AGM, then a welcome lunch, followed by break-out sessions and then an evening welcome reception with drinks and finger food.
  • Day 2: A full day of focussed business sessions. The conference will end with a social event that will be jointly sponsored by RCI, Interval International and RDO.

While it is too early at this stage for details on specific speakers or session details, we feel that RDO9 will be an extremely focussed and insightful conference, and should offer even more valuable insights to take away to help you enact positive change within your organisation!

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