Europe’s TATOC, The Timeshare Association, (Timeshare Owners and Committees), is a highly respected consumer advocacy and support organization for timeshare owners. This week, TATOC released their comments on a new, comprehensive timeshare owners study by The Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute, at the Business School in the University of Nottingham. The study was commissioned by the Resort Development Organisation.

TATOC endorsed the findings of the timeshare owners study, noting that it marks a changing public perception about the timeshare industry. Harry Taylor, TATOC chief executive, called the survey the most comprehensive and detailed in a decade, and notes that it, “… reflects the widespread recognition of timeshare as a viable and valued holiday product.”

The Remarkable Findings of the New Timeshare Study

Subjects of the study included over 33,000 respondents in 12 countries, all completing a detailed questionnaire. Results showed that 87 percent of timeshare owners are satisfied with their timeshare. (87 percent! When’s the last time 87 percent of any group were unified on any topic?)

With more than a million and a half Europe timeshare owners (as of 2007), the largest numbers are in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where there are roughly 600,000 timeshare owners. Germany and Italy rank next for the greatest number of timeshare owners.

Using the 2007 figures, there are 1,312 Europe timeshare resorts, with over 350 of those resorts being Spain timeshare. The UK, Italy, and Portugal each have more than 100 timeshare resorts. As of 2008, approximately 300,000 timeshare owners are members of TATOC, marking a 20 percent increase in membership for that timeshare organization.

TATOC’s Conclusions about the Timeshare Study

It makes sense that TATOC would see the results of this new timeshare study as a ” …a powerful, credible and ringing endorsement of the growing popularity of holiday ownership,” and that they would point to timeshare ownership as clearly being an integral part of the global travel and tourism industry.

As Harry Taylor explains, “Timeshare is an affordable way of having a shared ownership in a holiday home. I am confident the UK will continue to lead the way in boosting its expansion and popularity in Europe.”

To learn more about TATOC and this growing Timeshare Association, contact:

Have you been on a medical vacation?

In case you are not familiar with the term, a medical vacation is one where you combine vacation travel with medical treatment, typically surgery. Categorized under the broader topic of “medical tourism,” the idea of traveling to another country to have surgery, especially elective procedures, is growing in popularity.

Cost, of course, can be a driving factor in the decision by Americans to travel overseas for medical treatment. A November 2007 report (which appears below) prepared by Healthbase, identifies incredible savings, and cites the example of a hip surgery that costs $12,000 in India, but averages $48,000 in the US.

Other reasons often given for traveling abroad to receive medical treatment include: shorter wait times to schedule procedures; relaxed and private location for recovery; new or experimental procedures available that are not yet offered in the US; and the cost savings means you can bring family members along to enjoy the trip as a vacation while you spend your time recouping.

This week South Korea, a country seeking to cash in on medical tourism, announced the debut of the foreign medical tourist visa, designed to simplify the process of traveling to Korea for medical services. Thailand issued a press release, just this week, identifying that they are targeting Qatar, Japan, and England as sources for medical tourists. The release says that the government of Thailand seeks to become a, “medical tourism hub for high-quality, low cost health and medical services,” and goes on to explain that a breast augmentation, that in the US would cost between $3,000 and $8,000, in Thailand costs approximately $2,000.

CNNHealth.com identifies the following destinations as medical tourism hotspots:

• Brazil
• Singapore
• Central America (specifically Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica)
• South Africa (home to what has been dubbed, the scalpel “safari”)
• Malaysia
• South Korea
• Hungary
• India

Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals Fit in this Picture Perfectly

Since you aren’t likely to want to go directly from the hospital to a plane headed home, you will probably want a place to spend a few days before and after your surgery, as well as the fact that your travel companions will need accommodations during the time you are hospitalized. Where would you rather be, a hotel room or a spacious timeshare with kitchen facilities, perhaps separate bedrooms, internet access, and so many of the comforts of home?

That’s easy to answer. You will want space to quietly relax, and spend some down time before you return home. And since the whole idea of the trip was to save money, timeshare resales and timeshare rentals fit that plan perfectly.

Not only are there amazing options in timeshare resales, but if you decide to return for follow-up treatment or to have additional medical procedures performed in that same city, a timeshare makes the rescheduling of your accommodations especially easy.

Medical Tourism Guide

Spain is always a popular destination for vacationers from the US and the UK, and Spain timeshare is typically some of the most beautiful in the world. This year, Spain timeshare is looking more attractive than ever.

At last week’s Loving Andalucía British Tourist Trade Forum, held in the beautiful port city of Malaga in southern Spain, Spanish Tourist Board Director, Ignacio Vasallo, said that the region, including the Costa del Sol, welcomed nearly half a million British vacationers in the first quarter of 2009. This represents an 18 percent decline over last year and tourism officials think it reflects how the pound is struggling against the Euro. Overall, UK visitors to Spain have declined by 17.7 percent over last year.

During the conference, officials urged some 100 Spanish hoteliers in attendance not to raise prices to compensate for the decline in bookings, but instead to lower them to help balance the challenges of exchange rates. Logical advice, but often hard to follow when hotel management must find a way to pay bills, just like everyone else.

Travel Weekly UK reports that travel and tourism industry experts including the Association of Independent Tour Operators’ Derek Moore says, “Spanish hoteliers had already been too slow to react to the economic crisis, which took off last autumn by refusing to reduce prices then. ‘The damage has already been done’.“

Monarch Group’s overseas director and head of purchasing, Hugh Morgan agreed: “A lot of hoteliers have been really complacent, they take the view that the British will come. They’ve taken us for granted.“

Spain Timeshares are an Obvious Consumer Solution, Especially Spain Timeshare Resales

When the big picture deals with economic recession on a global level and the challenges of exchange rates, you are dealing with problems that are not quickly resolved. As corporations, economists, and political leaders struggle to find solutions, an immediate answer for helping the consumer is already available and waiting.

Spain timeshare resales and Spain timeshare for rent are an attractive, affordable vacation accommodation option. The prices are competitive, the resorts are elegant, and the charm of a vacation to Spain can be too tempting to pass up.

Whether hotel rooms in Spain hold their price or hoteliers are forced to bring prices down in order to continue to fill beds, hotels are not likely to ever be genuinely comparable with the opportunities in Spain timeshare resales and Spain timeshare for rent.

With all the stories in the news about layoffs at timeshare companies and the impact of the declining economy and tight credit market, it is important to remember that not every timeshare company is trending down. The UK timeshare company, Hapimag saw 5 percent growth in 2008, with an operating income of Euro 165.4 million (+5.1 percent).

Founded in 1963, Hapimag is one of the oldest names in timeshare. It is the leading UK timeshare company and today has approximately 140,000 timeshare owner/members. While Europe is the originator of the timesharing concept, and timeshare ownership has quadrupled there since the early 1990’s, European timeshare, as an industry, has previously not grown as fast as timesharing in some other parts of the world. This fact, combined with the down economy, makes Hapimag timeshare’s success in 2008 even more significant news.

Timeshare sales at Hapimag holiday resorts increased by Euro 5.1 million year-over-year for 2008, reaching Euro 64.2 million. The UK timeshare company recorded 3,068,000 overnight stays, or an occupancy rate of 78.5 percent at the 58 Hapimag timeshare resorts, which are located in 18 countries including Europe, Africa timeshare, and US timeshare.

Hapimag, which employees some 1700 people worldwide, spent Euro 4.3 million on maintenance and repair to its timeshare resorts and vacation ownership properties, while they spent Euro 39.0 million on renovations and expansion of timeshare properties. The timeshare company believes operating costs increased primarily because of the rising cost of energy, which means their 2008 profits were especially meaningful.

Congratulations Hapimag, this is good news for European timeshare and good news for the timeshare industry in general!

Europe’s Timeshare Association (TATOC) finds new and beneficial ways to improve timeshare ownership in Europe and the timeshare industry overall.

Last year, TATOC (the Timeshare Association Timeshare Owners and Committees) launched the HelpLine to handle concerns and complaints by timeshare owners. After its first full year, TATOC’s helpline believes it can conservatively say it has saved timeshare owners more than £1million (that’s close to 1.5 million US dollars).

In 2008, the TATOC HelpLine handled over 6,000 calls of which about 60 percent were general inquiries with the other 40 percent being complaints. The service is offered at no charge and in the first two months of 2009, handled more than 1400 calls. With the increase in call volume, The Timeshare Association Timeshare Owners and Committees has already begun enhancing services, opening a new office in central Manchester, (England) and recruiting additional employees.

Harry Taylor, TATOC’s chief executive says, “We have a good team in place, excellent office facilities and the knowledge and expertise of the timeshare industry to focus exclusively on the interests of timeshare owners and prospective owners,” he added.

The number to call in Europe is: 0845 230 2430.

To learn more about how TATOC, the only elected consumers’ association to represent the interests of timeshare owners in Europe, helps protect and enhance services, visit their website at: www.timeshareassociation.org

To learn more about the easiest way to buy, rent, or sell timeshare in the US, Europe, and around the world, visit Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Recent The Timeshare Authority posts about TATOC:

• Sell My Timeshare NOW Says “Thank You” to TATOC for an Outstanding Conference
• An Opportunity to Speak on the Timeshare Resales Panel at TATOC Conference
• Timeshare News Updates about TATOC
• TATOC — The Timeshare Association (Timeshare Owners and Committees)Buying European Timeshare Getting Safer than Ever

What a beneficial three days I spent in England at the TATOC Conference … but there were a few stops I wish I could have made.

If you have been following The Timeshare Authority the last few days, you know that I was in England last weekend at the TATOC Conference, which is an excellent educational and interactive forum for everyone involved in timeshare sales, timeshare resales and rentals, or just about any aspect of the timeshare industry.

But for all the people I met and the knowledge I gained while I was at The Association for Timeshare Owners Committees Conference in Warrington, there is one thing I missed out on doing. I was really hoping to work in the opportunity to spend some time at the British MOSI – the Museum of Science and Industry.

England’s Museum of Science and Industry

I am hugely interested in luxury cars – especially the Rolls-Royce. The MOSI, which is located in Manchester, England, just so happens to be in the town where Frederick Henry Royce teamed up with Charles Rolls, meeting first at the historic Midland Manchester Hotel. By 1904, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars had made its international debut at the Paris Salon exhibiting two, three, and four cylinder automobiles of the highest standards in quality available at the time. (And in my humble opinion, I think the Rolls-Royce still means the finest quality automobile in the world today.)

While the MOSI houses exhibits to the early history of Rolls-Royce, production demand at the growing company soon caused them to outgrow Manchester. Today the Goodwood factory in West Sussex, England is the modern day home to Rolls-Royce.

Goodwood is certainly another destination I would love to visit. As I understand, this unique property will be accepting tours again, sometime later this year.

The Goodwood building is a one of a kind facility in which the roof is planted with thousands of living sedum plants, which change color with the seasons and provide a natural habitat to insects and rare birds. The exterior walls of the building are paneled with cedar louvers that automatically adjust to ambient light levels preventing glare inside the building. No wonder the company describes this facility as a “fitting spiritual and emotional home for the most prestigious car company in the world.”

And the more you learn about Rolls-Royce the more interesting their business model becomes, especially in view of the fact that the company saw their sales increase by 20 percent in 2008. How’s that for amazing in view of the current global economy? Clearly both as a businessperson and as an aficionado of the Rolls-Royce, I am going to have to spend time exploring the company’s history and tradition on my next trip to the UK.

Follow this link to learn more about England timeshare resale opportunities.

Interesting insights discussed at last week’s TATOC Conference.

The European Union has made excellent moves in the past year in refining and strengthening timeshare legislation for European Union member nations. A number of long-needed changes are being put in place and the timeshare industry for timeshare owners, timeshare developers and management companies, and all affiliated will be better for this new legislative effort. HOWEVER, some of the proposed legislative measures could have some unintended and even detrimental results.

The Association for Timeshare Owners Committees

I spoke about these concerns at last week’s TATOC Conference (The Association for Timeshare Owners Committees). In light of the pending EU timeshare legislation, which is now being discussed among the member nations of the EU, there could be unintended consequences for the timeshare resale industry. As I said, I am very much in favor of many of the changes; but the potential for making timeshare advertising illegal on the resale market will do nothing to curb the rogue elements of timeshare sales and will only harm the legitimate timeshare resale companies that provide a proper and successful outlet for owners looking to sell timeshare.

If the upfront fee language in the proposed EU legislation is extended by definition to include timeshare resale advertising, then timeshare resales companies in many European Union member countries could find themselves unable to offer important services needed to help timeshare owners advertise their timeshare on the resale market.

The timeshare industry needs a vibrant and healthy secondary market for timeshare owners. Imagine what would happen to the automobile industry if car owners and car dealers found themselves hamstrung when it came to reselling automobiles.

Legislation of timeshare sales and timeshare resales is necessary. But care must be exercised so new laws are focused on protecting consumers and the industry at large from unscrupulous business people while ensuring that the language of legislation does not overreach its mark, damaging or even shutting out legitimate and beneficial businesses that help people resell timeshare they no longer wish to own.

Follow this link to read the full text of the EU Directive for Timeshare.

DIRECTIVE 2008/122/EC
OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 14 January 2009
on the protection of consumers in respect of certain aspects of timeshare, long-term holiday product, resale and exchange contracts

What a great experience! … Just got back from the TATOC Conference this past weekend.

As you know from last week’s The Timeshare Authority, Steve Luba (Director of Communications, Sell My Timeshare NOW) and I had the opportunity to attend The Association for Timeshare Owners Committees (TATOC) Conference in Warrington, England.

This is an outstanding event for everyone involved in the timeshare and vacation ownership industries. Much of the credit for the success of this timeshare conference goes to Harry Taylor (CEO of TATOC) and to Jennie Thompson (Director Media contact and membership) for running a conference that is informative, well organized, and very friendly.

Harry, Jennie, and all the people who worked so hard to make this event possible, made sure the hospitality was first-class and that everyone felt welcome. In an atmosphere that was relaxed and positive, we found an enthusiastic audience for Sell My Timeshare NOW’s message of how timeshare resales and timeshare rental advertising companies play a vital part in the industry as a whole and how we offer services to benefit timeshare developers and timeshare management as well as timeshare owners.

Perspective Magazine at TATOC Timeshare Conference

Perspective Magazine and Owners Perspective Magazine were well represented at the TATOC conference. Paul Mattimoe and Sharon Mattimoe, founders and publishers of both publications, do a fantastic job with their online and print timeshare industry publications. Through their company, Perspective International, Inc., they provide a valued media resource for timeshare developers, management companies, suppliers, timeshare resales companies, brokers, and overall, everyone connected with the timeshare industry. Owners Perspective Magazine, their newest product, went live online last July, and into print publication this past January, and is quickly becoming a favorite go-to resource for timeshare owners and prospective timeshare buyers.

It was great to spend time with Paul and Sharon during the TATOC conference.

You Need TATOC and TATOC Needs You

This conference is only the tip of the iceberg on the many ways TATOC serves the timeshare industry. TATOC is an effective and important organization and I urge resorts in Europe to join TATOC –they are the real voice of timeshare ownership in Europe.

In these difficult economic times, resorts may feel that such a membership is a luxury, but the timeshare industry needs to take the pulse of owners now more than ever. TATOC is a great vehicle for resorts to exchange information and work proactively with timeshare owners to grow the industry in ways that benefit everyone.

Later this week, I will be updating you more on some of the topics discussed at the TATOC conference and my thoughts in particular on how potential new EU legislation relates to timeshare resales and current timeshare owners.

I am fortunate to be among the timeshare industry specialists who will be attending and participating in the TATOC annual conference this week in Cheshire, England. TATOC, which stands for “The Association for Timeshare Owners Committees,” is the United Kingdom’s leading timeshare association, existing to safeguard and enhance the timeshare holiday experience for existing and prospective users and to be the voice of owners.

This year’s conference theme is, “Achieving Our Goals” and was chosen to acknowledge the tremendous growth and change for TATOC in 2008. As their leadership explains, after the recent change, they are now ready to move forward, achieving their goals.

TATOC puts it well when they say, “We live in ‘interesting times’ and there are challenges that will have to be met by all of us, whether committee member or developer or management company. Working together and exchanging ideas and information is one way of meeting these challenges. Education of the industry is another, and we are delighted to have visiting us members of the industry, media and also government.”

I hope to bring you more news of the TATOC timeshare conference in upcoming days. I am sure it will be an exceptional event for everyone in the timeshare industry, timeshare sales, and timeshare resales alike. Every effort that strengths service for timeshare owners likewise strengthens the industry.

Follow this link to read the Sell My Timeshare NOW press release about the TATOC conference.

Group RCI timeshare exchange has announced an agreement with the Resort Owners Group that will allow member/ owners at Resort Owners Group to participate in RCI’s The Registry Collection (RCI’s luxury exchange program) or in RCI Weeks, the timeshare exchange company’s traditional interval exchange program.

Geoff Ballottii, president and CEO of Group RCI says, “These fine properties (the vacation homes of Resort Owners Group) will be complementary to our global portfolio and owners at Resort Owners Group affiliated resorts will greatly benefit from the services and benefits we provide through our unsurpassed global vacation exchange networks.”

CEO Gary Carter of Resort Owners Group was quoted in Hotel Interactive as saying, “Our affiliation with RCI now provides our owners with even more vacation options and a great value-added selling feature for Resort Owners Group developer partners.”

Group RCI, a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, is the leading timeshare exchange company for vacation exchange and European vacation rentals, and this affiliation clearly expands options for owners with the Resort Owners Group. Based in Canada, Resort Owners Group is known for offering a unique platform approach for independent developers. With destinations in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and the US, Resort Owners Group has created a global brand of professionally managed, rental-ready, resort vacation homes. The company markets their properties as being, “more affordable, more usable, and more exchangeable, with ownership options of fractional, whole, Private Residence Club and the new BuyWithFriends.com model of ownership.”

… A Little More Insight on this Type of Vacation Ownership

If you haven’t run across the concept of buying a vacation property “with friends,” Resort Owners Group is one company marketing a purchasing structure that lets you share ownership of a vacation property with your friends and family on the assumption that this is more desirable than ownership shared with strangers such as a fractional or a timeshare. How correct this theory is, has a lot to do with your friends and your family members and whether you see them as ideal property ownership partners or as contractual partners with whom complexities or problems could arise.