As inauguration day dawns cold and clear in Washington DC, the US economy has many timeshare sales employees across the company – even those in sunny Key West – feeling the chill.

Last week The Hyatt Vacation Club in Key West implemented corporate-mandated layoffs in their sales and marketing departments. The resort, known as Windward Pointe, is operated by Hyatt timeshare and owned by the Key West-based Spottswood Companies. Spottswood also owns the Marriot Beachside Hotel, the Coconut Beach Resort, the Holiday Inn, and the Comfort Inn, all in Key West.

Built in 2001, this Key West timeshare has 104 two-bedroom, two-bath timeshare units, that Hyatt sells from just under $10,000; to about $30,000, for the highest demand season, which in Key West is during Christmas and during Fantasy Fest, always scheduled near Halloween.

According to KeysNet.com, Larry Shulman, a senior vice president at Hyatt’s Beverly Hills office said, “We don’t typically comment a lot on these types of things … different than any business across the country … we’ve had to revisit our business model and downsize.” Shulman did mention that cuts were happening across the board at many Hyatt properties, primarily hitting the timeshare sales and marketing departments the hardest.

Sales information at the Monroe County Property Appraiser’s office shows that timeshare sales at Windward Pointe in 2008 were less than half of what they were in 2007, even though the average sale price had increased to $21,551.

Currently there are more than 40 Windward Pointe timeshare resales or timeshare rentals available at Sell My Timeshare NOW, starting at just under $10,000.