I think for us, I do think you’re going to see occupancies like I talked about my remarks early next year, remember we typically at our VO resorts in Maui run a 95%, 96% occupancy. So, I do expect as we get through this year into early next, we’re probably going to see that where — and Jason touched on it in his comments, we’ve got to look at our marketing and sales staff. We have seen some people there potentially, leave the island. We’re not sure if they’ll come back as we ramp back up sales here. So, we got to rebuild the marketing and sales team a little bit here. But we’ve got a little bit of time and the team’s working hard to do that. So that’s the impact. I think we’ll get back to all the previous numbers and then some going forward.
I haven’t heard or seen anything that gives me any pause that, that Maui won’t go back. and Waikiki in Hawaii in general, we are this year a little bit here since the Maui, not surprisingly, you’re seeing some pickup in the other islands, just because people have traded out of going to Maui maybe to go to some of the islands here in the fourth quarter. So, we’re excited about that launch. It’s our first sales center in Waikiki and obviously, gives us a flag on the map in Waikiki, which we don’t have. We we’re out in Colina on O’ahu there. So, we’re super-excited for that property open up and really believe long term and the demand for people to travel to Hawaii overall.
Ryan Lambert: Great. thank you. And just wondering on your kind of forecast for impact in the 4Q, if that kind of builds in any sort of unknown-unknowns or if you feel fairly comfortable in forecasting the impact there. Thanks.
John Geller: When you say unknown-unknowns, not sure exactly what that means. But it’s, based on what we know today, obviously Maui you know, we’ve talked here about sales reserves and the fact that this reserve we took here, we feel gets us adequately reserved going forward based on everything we’re seeing in the numbers today. Yes. And as I talked about, I mean, we’re off to a good start here in October in terms of contract sales. If you adjust for the Maui impact in October, would be up year-over-year, right. So, the trends continue pretty good and we’re hoping to continue to make progress on the rental side, which has been a bit of thorn in those side this year in terms of just our expectations on rate and occupancy. So, the setup here as we go into November and December, people want to travel.
It’s — I don’t want to, notwithstanding some of the broader macro, we are seeing great demand, what’s on our books for the first half of the year for our resort occupancies is higher than this time last year, right. So that’s the key, 85% of our sales come from people staying at our property. So, all that bodes well. And we do see improvements on to a small extent, our exchange business. we’re seeing good sequential terms of tightening and exchange transactions. And we expect that hopefully as we go not through — as we go through the fourth quarter into next year, continue to build and get growth going forward on our exchange business. So, we were optimistic about the outlook here, notwithstanding some of the broader macro.
Operator: Thank you. ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question-and-answer session. I’ll turn the floor back to Mr. Geller for any final comments.
John Geller: Thank you, everyone and for joining our call today. Despite the mixed economic environment, we ran 90% resort occupancy in the third quarter, excluding Maui, and we have more reservations on our books for the first half of next year than we had at the same time a year ago, illustrating our customers’ desire to go on vacation. we’re making good progress educating consumers about the benefits of Abound while our salespeople are getting more experience selling it. That was evident this quarter, where VPG at our sales centers that have transitioned, increased more than 15% sequentially and the enhancements we’ve made to our core product offering will provide growth for years to come. our international business continues to be a bright spot with sales growing more than 40% year-over-year.
We expect to generate around $450 million in adjusted free cash flow this year and have already returned nearly $330 million to shareholders. We’ve announced two new development projects this year, Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, each of which will provide us with a new sales center when open. And we’re looking forward to opening our new Waikiki resort late next year, which will also come with a new sales center. On behalf of our associates, owners, members and customers around the world, I want to thank you for your continued interest in our company, and hope to see you soon on vacation. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
