College football fans live for this time of year when the season is at its peak and almost everybody’s dreams of a bowl bid are still alive.

This year is no exception. The Florida Gators are chomping down on opponents, right and left. ‘Bama Tide is rolling through the south while the Longhorns have the Big 12 Conference under control. Seven of the top ten teams on this week’s BCS are undefeated (clearly they haven’t been playing each other) while the other three teams have only one loss apiece.

What are some of the must-watch college football games this weekend?

• Number 3 Texas takes on number 14 Oklahoma State in Stillwater. The Longhorns dominate this rivalry, but the Oklahoma State Cowboys have come close in the past and this could be their year to pull an upset.
• Number 22 South Carolina takes on a weaker than usual University of Tennessee, but the game’s being played in Knoxville, so anything could happen.
• And any other team you care about, follow, or that makes you stand on your sofa and shout, “Go-Go-Go!” when one of their players tucks that football—point into his bicep, fingers wide, covering as much of the ball as possible, locked against his chest—and starts to run. And from someplace deep within him, he finds the capability to weave, dodge, and accelerate on instinct, each step driving him closer and closer until you can throw your arms up in the air and scream, “Touchdown!”

And while standing on your couch is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, perhaps what you really need is a spacious, comfy timeshare rental and tickets to the game:

• Florida timeshare rentals
• Texas timeshare rentals
• Oklahoma timeshare resales
• South Carolina timeshare rentals
• Wyndham Smoky Mountain timeshare rentals
• Westgate Smoky Mountain timeshare rentals
• Tennessee timeshare rentals
• Sell My Timeshare NOW’s large inventory of timeshare rentals

…A happy, safe, and slightly scary Halloween to all; and for all you football fans, “Go Team!”

According to The Nielsen Company, which has now expanded beyond television ratings and teamed up with Facebook, Americans have almost tripled the amount of time they spend involved in social networking and blog sites compared to a year ago.

“This growth suggests a wholesale change in the way the Internet is used. While video and text content remain central to the Web experience—the desire of online consumers to connect, communicate, and share is increasingly driving the medium’s growth,” says Jon Gibs, vice president, media and agency insights, Nielsen’s online division.

And to better understand how this growth impacts marketing outreach to, and for, timeshare owners, timeshare sales, and timeshare rentals, look at these statistics that relate specifically to advertising dollars spent on social sites related to the topics of entertainment and of travel:

The timeshare industry, along with hoteliers, restaurants, travel services and other areas related to entertainment and hospitality has clearly decided to acknowledge the impact of social media and its functionality to engage and build relationships with clients.

Look around on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, in the blogs—you’ll see the timeshare industry well represented on social media sites. And while they are using social media in many ways, here’s three strategies that are being used a lot…

3 Important Ways the Timeshare and Hospitality Industry Is Putting Social Media to Work

1. Timeshare and hospitality jobs are announced and updated via Twitter and other social media sites. Visit @timesharestaff on Twitter for one example of this technique in action.
2. Photo sharing gives consumers and future clients an inside look at what a brand has to offer. Example: “22 photos on Facebook in the album “Bonnet Creek Opens!”: http://bit.ly/14CVmQ” This tweet is from @BonnetCreek, Twitter home for news about Orlando’s new Waldorf=Astoria and Hilton Resort.
3. Blogs, Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms make it easy for timeshare sales companies, timeshare resellers, resorts, and any business related to the industry to educate their followers and virally communicate information that consumers want to know. VacationBetter.org has numerous videos on YouTube, like the one below, that offering helpful facts and improved understand of the resort and hospitality industries, their services, and the roles they play in people’s lives.

Resource: The Nielsen Wire http://blog.nielsen.com

Last week, ARDA’s vacation website, www.vacationbetter.org announced the winners of this year’s “Bring Your Vacation to Life Contest.”

Each year this photo, essay, and video competition is announced in conjunction with the National Travel and Tourism Week in May. Entrants are asked to share a memory of a timeshare vacation that contributed to their enjoyment of life or impacted their family or their health.

This year’s winners received an American Express gift card.

• Sally Lessig received first place for her photo, “Al Relaxing” and the accompanying story, “Thru the Years.”
• Alexis MacDonald received second place for her photo, “Lexie & Dan Love Myrtle Beach.”
• Tracy Dunn received second place for her photo, “For My Next Act.”

Follow this link to read Sally’s story about a lifetime of timeshare vacations at the Beach House Golf and Racket Club in Myrtle Beach.

And remember, you aren’t limited to just reading about the great timeshare vacations other people enjoy. The competitive prices of timeshare resales and timeshare rentals make affordable vacations an option even for travelers on a limited budget.

Sunday, November 1, 2009 in Venice, Florida, the National Timeshare Owners Association will hold their last Owners Seminar of the year.

This is your chance to get important tips on buying or selling timeshare. Learn how to avoid timeshare scams with straight talk from a panel of industry experts on hand to answer all your timeshare questions.

The National Timeshare Owners Association (NTOA) was founded to educate timeshare owners, answering the questions and offering the solutions that are often hard to find. You know what it is like; when you want to buy timeshare, everyone wants to be your friend, with developers and timeshare sales companies bombarding you through calls, mailers, and timeshare sales presentations. But once the ink is dry (or even before), these people often seem to disappear leaving you to scramble for answers to your questions.

Here are some of the timeshare industry experts who will be on hand in Venice, Florida to answer your questions:

• Bill Southworth from Interval International
• Keith Trowbridge from Executive Quest Inc.
• Brian Rogers from Timeshare Users Group

The National Timeshare Owners Association explains the value of attending one of their “Members-Only” educational events:

“You’ll experience all the best features of NTOA membership in those few hours: straightforward answers, ethical guidance, exclusive discounts, and the priceless tips, alerts, hard-won experience, and support of other timeshare owners. With the information you gather in one of these conferences, you’ll recoup your low membership fee many times over.”

To attend a NTOA conference and enjoy all the many timeshare owner benefits of NTOA, click here. For more information, call the office: (410) 536-0064 or email info@nationaltimeshareownersassoc.com

We love to check out the advice real estate guru Barbara Corcoran has to offer for buying or selling a home or vacation property. Besides the fact that Corcoran took a $1000 loan and turned it into a five billion dollar real estate business, she is also the expert who told viewers of The Today Show to turn to online timeshare advertising—and specifically named Sell My Timeshare NOW – as the recommended way to resell timeshare.

Here’s what Barbara Corcoran’s advice about selling your home that’s equally meaningful for anyone who wants to resell timeshare.

• Remember that the most enticing homes on the market are the newest to the listings and the lowest priced.
• Stay ahead of the pricing curve in a down market.
• Be prepared to price your house 15 percent below comparable homes on the market.
• If you have to make a price reduction to get your property sold, don’t make it a tiny one that just causes your property to languish on the market even longer and eventually results in you making a second, third, or even more price drops.

In a good real estate (or timeshare sales and timeshare resales market), price your property aggressively in order to get the sale, pricing it as low as competitive properties. And in a difficult market—if you really want to sell your timeshare or your home—be the most competitively priced property in your market.

More about Barbara Corcoran from The Timeshare Authority:

• The Today Show Recommends SellMyTimeshareNOW.com for Timeshare Resales
• The Today Show’s Real Estate Expert Who Suggests Sell My Timeshare NOW, a Star on Shark Tank

And just for the fun of it, see if you can catch reruns of Barbara Corcoran wheeling and dealing during this season’s Shark Tank on ABC.

Lisa Ann Schreier, author of Timeshare for Dummies authored an excellent article last month in Resort Trades making valid points about what the timeshare sales industry can learn from the travel industry.

Schreier looked at research from Chairman and CEO of Ypartnership, Peter Yesawich, which shows that the two greatest influences on Americans who travel are internet technology and feedback from other consumers.

Prodding the timeshare industry to ‘catch up,’ (or perhaps wake up) author Schreier focuses on the scarcity of timeshare sales information on the internet and lack of feedback from timeshare owners and vacationers about timeshare resorts.

“Hotels and motels and other non-timeshare travel services have been forced to become price transparent…as have just about every other product or service available to consumers. And still, the timeshare industry won’t budge on this because they cling to the concept that timeshares are not a sought-after product.”

Why Timeshare Resale Advertising Works

Strong words, but very perceptive. And they explain a great deal about why timeshare resale advertising is so effective.

• Consumers want the best price possible whether they are shopping for a hotel room or to buy timeshare or rent timeshare. Timeshare resales give buyers and renters the opportunity to shop from a large inventory of timeshares for sale or rent, where prices are clearly posted and resort features are specifically detailed.
• Consumers trust other consumers. Many people who buy timeshare or rent timeshare really like the idea of doing business directly with the property’s current owner.
• And as Schreier points out, “If a consumer can purchase a timeshare from the developer for $20,000 or a similar product on the resale market for $5,000 or $6,000…why wouldn’t they?”

Helpful reading: Surviving a Timeshare Presentation by Lisa Ann Schreier

For the third quarter of 2009, Starwood Hotels and Starwood timeshares has reported EPS at $.22 as compared $.62 for the same quarter in 2008. And while this comes as no surprise to anyone inside or outside the industry, there was at least one important bit of information in the report I found particularly interesting.

Here’s a summary of some of the notable points from their Quarterly Report, especially as related to Starwood timeshares:

• Operating income from Starwood vacation ownership (Starwood timeshare) and residential declined $47 million compared to 2008.
• Frits van Paasschen, CEO of Starwood says referring to both the timeshare and the hotel segments of the company’s business: “Over the past twelve months we have focused on cost containment and debt reduction, which positions us well to ‘Own the Upswing’. Our increasingly fee-based, capital-efficient business model will grow as REVPAR recovers and as our pipeline translates into unit additions. Our owned hotels are skewed towards the high end and have been particularly hard-hit over the past twelve months, implying they are poised for a strong rebound as the world economy recovers. And with half of our hotels outside of the United States, we will benefit from secular growth in international markets …With the $6 billion Sheraton Revitalization Program nearly complete, I can’t think of a better time to aggressively re-launch the brand than into the early stages of an upcycle.”
• Starwood timeshare reported a revenue decrease of 31.7 percent to $125 million as compared to 2008. Starwood also implemented what it calls “significant cost reductions” in its timeshare division, (which most notably came in the form of timeshare sales staff layoffs, one would speculate, not in decreased services to timeshare owners).
• The average sale price of Starwood timeshare dropped by nearly 22 percent, which Starwood notes is primarily due to increased sales of lower value timeshares …

And here is one of the most significant point to be gleaned from Starwood’s report in regards to timeshare sales. In addressing which factors contributed to Starwood timeshare’s drop in average sale price, they reported a higher percentage of biennial sales.

Very noteworthy fact here, don’t miss its significance: Consumers still wanted to become Starwood timeshare owners. They still wanted to buy timeshare and to enjoy the benefits of timeshare vacations. And when the economy makes it challenging, they just change their game plan and opt to enjoy the properties every other year, rather than annually. Bottom line—they didn’t give up their dream of timeshare vacations; they simply adjusted the schedule.
Click here to read the full report.

Click here to read the full report.

Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, which includes Wyndham timeshare, has been ranked among the Top 100 greenest companies in America, according to Newsweek Magazine.

To establish the rankings, Newsweek looks at America’s 500 largest publically traded companies based upon number of employees, revenue, and market capitalization. Wyndham Worldwide and Wyndham timeshare ranked number 81 when evaluating factors such as regulatory compliance, toxic waste emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, environmental issues and policies, and use of natural resources.

Stephen P. Holmes, Wyndham Worldwide chairman and chief executive officer, says, “We are honored to be recognized by Newsweek as a national leader in sustainability. We are committed to conserving our natural resources, preserving our habitats and preventing pollution. With more than 70,000 locations in 100 countries, we can make a tremendous impact in our communities around the globe.”

Wyndham was evaluated in as part of the category: Media, Travel, and Leisure and within this group, ranked among the Top 10.

Congratulations, Wyndham timeshare, on working to achieve greater environmental responsibility and setting important new standards in the timeshare industry.

The magic of Disney Vacation Club timeshares is now on display in Long Island, New York at Disney Doorway to Dreams. Located inside the Roosevelt Field Mall, Disney Doorway to Dreams includes a full size, two-bedroom timeshare model that is based on the Disney Vacation Club Bay Lake Tower in Orlando.

A photo wall, videos, and touch-screen interactives, help give visitors to the timeshare showcase a fuller sense of the magic of becoming a Disney timeshare vacation property owner.

Howard C. Nusbaum, president and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) says, “Disney Vacation Club has always been both a leader and an innovator in the timeshare industry. Offering full-scale model vacation villas in a mall setting is uniquely Disney and this new Disney Doorway to Dreams location makes it fun and exciting for families to learn about new and memorable ways to vacation.”

Click here to learn more about opportunities in Disney timeshare resales and rentals.

Disney already maintains a Doorway to Dreams timeshare showcase property in Chicago, Illinois at the Woodfield Mall, that you preview on this video:

I never give advice on the stock market or investing and I am not changing that position now, but I do want to share some interesting information about stock trends in the hotel and timeshare industry.

Despite most hotels seeing the bad economy drive room bookings down while most timeshare companies are feeling the credit squeeze clamp down on both new timeshare buyers and on the growth and expansion of resorts and properties, hotel and timeshare company stocks are taking a very interesting twist.

As The Money Times, which refers to stock trends by the hotel and timeshare industry as a ‘Bizarro Market,’ says:

“Weirdly enough, despite the terrible economy and relatively poor performances by many in the industry, the market is eating up hotel stocks as if they were the best continental breakfast investors have ever tasted… At a time when much of the market is feeling worse than it did during the Great Depression, all but one of these major hospitality stocks has doubled from their yearly lows. And while not all of them have posted actual losses, none of them has accomplished what you’d expect to see when a stock jumps as much as these have (which is) solid revenue and earnings growth.”

I offer no explanation, and leave you to draw your own interpretations.

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Follow these links to learn more about Wyndham timeshare resales, Starwood timeshare resales and Marriott timeshare resales.