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at 376 square feet (35 square meters) and are
spaced one to three suites per floor, giving
guests the feeling they are in their own Buenos
Aires apartment.
Adding a timeshare component was a logi-
cal move, right in step with a trend toward
urban vacation ownership in iconic cities
around the world.
Courting Regional Markets
Still, Bonta is a hotelier first. Alejandro Mercado
came on board, bringing 20 years of sales and
marketing experience in the timeshare industry,
along with key contacts, including Interval International.
“Buenos Aires welcomes 4.5 million visitors every year, mainly from
the region,” Mercado says. “They really enjoy Buenos Aires as a year-
round destination.”
In 2013, 65 percent of visitors to the Argentinean capital were
from Latin America, according to the Buenos Aires Tourism Authority.
And 64 percent of all vacationers stayed only in Buenos Aires. Leading
the pack, Brazilians account for 31 percent of total visitors (more than
U.S., Canadian, and European visitors combined). Mercado is ready to
greet them at five off-site sales centers with Portuguese-speaking staff
in areas tourists frequent such as the mile-long pedestrianized shop-
ping street, Calle Florida. Tourists schedule presentations in exchange
for a bottle of wine, a free dinner, or tickets to a tango show. Thanks to
beneficial exchange rates, a new tide of Chilean and Uruguayan tourists
are also ripe regional targets.
“What makes our operation different is that
we're selling to tourists and not to nationals,”
says Mercado. Another difference is that he tar-
gets couples age 30 to 65, not families. “When
families go on vacation, they go to the beach or
on a ski vacation,” Mercado says. “Couples who
come here leave the kids at home.” The broad
age range includes everyone from millennials to
empty-nesters, who are happy to trade full
kitchens for an en-suite mini wine bar in a prime
location with hotel-style amenities, including a
24-hour front desk and daily housekeeping.
Exclusive Meets Flexible
Global vacation exchange through Interval
International often seals the deal. Says
Mercado, “The Interval product is very impor-
tant for us, because it gives customers flexibil-
ity and the possibility to travel all around the
world. So we push vacation exchange in our
sales presentations.” Purchasers at Own
Vacation Club will become Interval Gold
®
members, and enjoy a number of upgraded
benefits, such as discounts and special offers.
In time, fly-and-buys and social media will
round out the sales and marketing for Own
Vacation Club. “The trouble with the fly-and-
buys is that our hotels have very high occupan-
cy rates, so we don't have too many rooms to
do those programs,” says Mercado.
While Own Grand Palermo Soho is the
largest boutique property in the neighboring
Palermo neighborhoods with 63 suites, its plum
location and premium amenities — including a
restaurant, spa with a sauna, hot tub and
high-tech gym, and a pool on the ninth-floor
roof deck with sunset views — have already
made it a hotspot.
More inventory is on the way in another
popular Buenos Aires venue. Own Puerto
Madero (scheduled to open in the last quar-
ter of 2015) will add 36 suites in the Puerto
Madero waterfont complex, a mixed-use
development renowned for its contempo-
rary architecture on the riverbank of the Río
de la Plata.
Moving Into Montevideo
And, true to the tango, Own Vacation Club added a sleek side-step into
Uruguay with the summer 2015 debut of a 44-room hotel in
Montevideo’s fashionable Punta Carretas district, already home to
global brands such as Hyatt and Hilton.
Opening Own Montevideo is a strategic move designed to embrace
both Argentinean and Uruguayan markets in the near term and lure
international tourists as Montevideo transforms into a destination in its
own right.
“Montevideo is like an extra neighborhood of Buenos Aires and
starting to get to that point with Brazilians,” Mercado says. For
Argentineans, the city is on the way to the world-famed beaches of
Punta del Este, an international tourist hub during the summer. World
events such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics
in Brazil are also putting Uruguay on the radar for international tourists,
who discover Montevideo as part of a broad-
er tour of the region.
A small, vibrant city that preserves the
tradition and the characteristics of the old
cities of South America, Montevideo is
becoming an all-season venue. Corporate
tourism grew 48 percent between 2007 and
2012. In 2013, Uruguay welcomed 2.8 million
tourists who spent US$1.87 billion. Mercado
is hoping for a piece of the pie.
Punta Carretas is the city’s most popular
dining and shopping quarter, where the corre-
spondingly high cost of land has limited new
construction to a few luxury hotels and high-
rise condominiums. The large chains are fully
booked year-round, Mercado says, leaving a
gap in the market for Own's alternative to the
impersonal character of larger hotels: innova-
tive design, luxury amenities, and highly per-
sonalized service. “It will be a good point of
sale for us,” he says.
From Tango to Samba
The next step for Own Vacation Club? The
company anticipates adding the samba to
its repertoire of smooth moves, as it eyes
opportunities in Brazil.
“When we consolidate our operations
here in Buenos Aires, we'll start moving for-
ward to Brazil,” Mercado says. “Our cus-
tomers are mainly from Brazil, so that's our
natural expansion.”
See page 2 for currency conversions.
35
Developer:
Own Group, Pierre Metrailler and
Nicolás Bonta, partners
Headquarters:
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Product:
Right-to-use for 30 years
Price:
US$7,000 to US$12,000
Resorts:
Own Palermo Hollywood and Own
Grand Palermo Soho, Buenos Aires, Argentina;
Own Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay; Own
Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires: expected
completion fourth quarter, 2015
Website:
ownhotels.com
Social Media:
facebook.com/ownhotels
twitter.com/OwnGroup
Own Vacation Club
fast
facts
OWN GRAND PALERMO SOHO, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA