Employees of Festiva Hospitality Group timeshare have once again held another successful charity fundraiser. The Festiva 8^th Annual Holiday Charity Auction, held Thursday, December 8, at Festiva’s headquarters in Asheville, North Carolina, raised a record-breaking $17,950, all from the proceeds of items collected by or donated by Festiva timeshare employees.

Proceeds from the timeshare company’s auction go to the Asheville-Buncombe Community Christian Ministries (ABCCM) and will benefit the children of struggling military families in the Ashville area.

Sabrina Green, Festiva Resorts Contracts Supervisor and head of the auction committee, said, “We’re so thrilled that we can help more families than ever this year. This event is always heartwarming as it shows how willing our employees are to help those in need, and we are especially blessed that we can do so while the economy is difficult for many.”

With the proceeds of the fundraiser, Festiva timeshare was able to sponsor 11 families and purchase $10,000 in other toys for ABCCM. Festiva employees also handled all the toy shopping and the delivery, providing all the toys and gifts to ABCCM on December 15, ensuring plenty of time for the non-profit agency to handle delivery and play, “Santa” for some parents who no doubt are very appreciative of the help.

Good job Festiva! Your employees have truly demonstrated the real meaning of the holidays.

And to stay on top of Festiva Resorts timeshare news, visit http://blog.festiva.travel/

Festiva Hospitality Group, Inc has announced the selection of the organizations that will benefit from the 2011 Festiva Charitable Fund. This is the fifth year Festiva timeshare has supported select non-profit organizations through a flexible endowment.

The organizations chosen for this year are:

• The Kids’ Ranch in the Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, (home to Festiva’s Mirror Lake & Tamarack resorts), an early intervention and prevention program which connects youth, ages 6 through 10, with community members to build self esteem and self-respect through educational and recreational programs with a focus on literacy.
• Bus-Pass-It-On, in Asheville, North Carolina, a grassroots initiative formed to address the issue of transportation for homeless individuals. The initiative’s mission is to reduce and prevent homelessness in Buncombe County by meeting the transportation needs of residents who are on the verge of, or currently experiencing, homelessness.
• The Grandfather Home for Children, located in Banner Elk, North Carolina, (home to Festiva’s Blue Ridge Village resort) a children’s home established in 1914 that provides love and healing to more than 600 children and youth annually who have experienced deep hurt and trauma from neglect or abuse.
• Preble Street in Portland, Maine, (where Festiva Adventure Club’s primary sales center in the Northeast is located), an organization whose mission is to provide accessible barrier-free services to empower people experiencing problems with homelessness, housing, hunger, or poverty.
• Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, in Rangeley, Maine, (home of Rangeley Lake Resort), and organization dedicated to preserving natural areas, scenic beauty, critical wildlife habitat, including the mountains, lakes, rivers and forests to the moose, eagles, wild trout and salmon as well as the rich historic traditions of logging and fishing.

The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and expanding philanthropy, manages the Festiva Charitable Fund. For more information on Festiva Hospitality Group, Inc., the Charitable Fund or The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, visit www.festiva.travel or www.cfwnc.org.

Follow these links for more information about timeshare resale and timeshare rental opportunities in Festiva Timeshare Resales and the Festiva Resorts Adventure Club.

Festiva Charitable Fund

Related news from The Timeshare Authority blog:
Festiva Timeshare Charity Auction Proves Sometimes Less Can Mean More

Guest post by Brooke Doucha, who manages corporate communications and media relations for Orange Lake Resorts, home to Holiday Inn Club Vacations.

The “Social Media Brass Tactics” session at ARDA’s Northeast Conference in Providence, RI last week was fun, energetic and full of ideas. Though I’d planned to share our Q&A in this post, instead I’m going to share an important concept that came out of that session. In one word, collaboration.

As I mentioned in my previous post here on The Timeshare Authority, our social media session on June 7 offered three breakout workshop from which participants could choose. One focused on customer service and listening / reaching out to owners through social media channels. Another was about using monitoring tools to manage social media monitoring and report back with metrics. Last, my session focused on how to use social media as a PR pitching tool and the idea of creating a “Guest Blogger” program.

As panel presenters, we utilized the space of the room to do something different: converse openly with groups about tactics that have worked for us, and may also work for others in the industry. Each session, whether focused on customer service or marketing and communications, emphasized the importance of the central concept of collaboration when it comes to social media.

When adopting a social media program for your company, it’s important to remember that it’s not just one person’s responsibility, but rather a company-wide decision to welcome communication through new channels and to treat it with just as much respect and dedication as all other channels (phone, e-mail, print and electronic communications).

Here’s how collaboration works, as it applies to the three topics we discussed:

When it comes to customer service, social media can provide opportunities for real-time resolution. Follow me here: Your brand has a Twitter or Facebook account. You receive an inquiry about points usage via tweet or post. Luckily, the “collaborative model” you’ve adopted as an organization has one person in customer service or communications monitoring the mentions of your handle(s) on these two social channels. That person decides to either directly respond to the inquiry, or, because it’s more involved, the workflow dictates they assign the response to the club communications team member who will follow-up with more detail. Voila! Real-time customer service.

Social media “brass tactics” panelist Sara Bader Little, Director of Corporate Communications for Festiva Hospitality Group, advises: “Spend time on social media, but don’t let it overtake any one person’s time. Be sure it can be closely and constantly monitored for immediately responding to customers. It should enhance your existing customer service, not replace it.”

The monitoring of your social mentions may be a task that one person initially handles, but as you grow to expand your brand’s presence to more social media channels, let that number of “official monitors” grow, too. There are great social media monitoring dashboards out there, like Radian6 and Hootsuite that make it easy to assign specific mentions and inquiries to other team members. As panelist Philip Brojan of RCI discussed, it’s important to monitor your mentions daily so that you can be responsive—and it’s equally important to establish workflows that spread that responsibility among team members who can be various subject matter experts on behalf of the organization.

When it comes to public relations outreach via social media channels, it’s about getting teams involved in the execution of special moments and events that create great stories. For a Guest Blogger program, for example, you may want to establish a lead who will create new connections with bloggers, work with the operations to set them up with special activities or experiences available on-site, then have your social media champions create excitement around the blogger’s visit to the property, pre-, during- and post-stay. You can always get more traction when you have more hands on deck.

Say it with me: collaboration. If you find yourself having to do more with less and the idea of adding a social media program is overwhelming, look around you. You have talented experts that can contribute great content and ideas, and social media is the perfect place for that.

If you couldn’t make the ARDA Northeast Conference but want to participate in the post-event discussion in 140 characters or less, tweet your questions to @ARDAOrg and use the hashtag #SMbrasstactics. You can also contact me directly on Twitter via @BrookeDoucha.

Brooke Doucha

Our special guest blogger, Brook Doucha, manager of corporate communications and media relations for Orange Lake Resorts, home to Holiday Inn Club Vacations, has already shared a preview with you of the ARDA Northeast Regional Meeting. (See: ARDA Northeast Social Media Session: Getting Down to Brass Tactics)

This timeshare industry event promises to be extremely beneficial to all who are involved. We will be meeting June 6-7, 2011, at the Marriott Providence Downtown in Providence, Rhode Island.

Monday includes a golf tournament at Swansea Country Club, with late afternoon registration. At 4 PM on Monday, we’ll hear from Mike Hampton, Dean, Florida International University, speaking on: “The next generation, Generation R, is about to enter the work force; are you ready for them?” Then we will go to the product showcase, followed by the reception dinner.

Speakers and Panels Planned for Tuesday at the ARDA Regional Timeshare Conference

Tuesday we’ll start with our breakfast speaker and an AIF update from Darla Zanini RRP, Executive Vice President, ARDA International Foundation. At 9 AM, I will be part of a panel discussing the topic, “HOA Challenges and Solutions: Postcard and Rescue Companies, Resales, and Rentals.” It is my honor to be speaking along with R. Scott MacGregor, Chief Financial Officer, InnSeason Resorts; Rich Muller, Senior VP Resort Operations, Vacation Resorts International and moderator John Funk, attorney, Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell. We will look at issues facing timeshare HOAs in today’s economic environment, including significant challenges and how to solve them.

Then Brooke and others will lead the panel on “Using Social Media to Reach Your Owners/Members.” Included in this session will be moderator Stacey Sutherland, Vice President Corporate Communications, Holiday Inn Club Vacations; and speakers Phil Brojan, Senior Vice President of Marketing, RCI; Brooke Doucha, Senior Manager Corporate Communications, Holiday Inn Club Vacations; Sara Bader Little, Director of Corporate Communications, Festiva Hospitality Group; and David Meier, Vice President Products and Partnership, Interval International.

By afternoon, we’ll be ready to hear about what is currently happening in timeshare legislation and find out about the new ARDA-ROC website and HOA database from Keith Stephenson, Director State Government Affairs at ARDA. And throughout the busy two days, there will be a lot of networking, idea exchange, and camaraderie, which is part of what makes such timeshare industry events so rewarding to attend.

If you want to know more, be sure you follow me on Twitter at: @JasonTremblay_ and @VacationHotDeal. You will also want to follow Brooke at: @BrookeDoucha and @ARDAOrg as well as checking the hash tag #SMbrasstactics.

If you weren’t already daydreaming about the smell of spring in the air and the fresh face of flowers in bloom, this week’s Festiva Resorts Blog – Festiva Hospitality Group post on cycling Cape Cod would have gotten you started.

Festiva’s blog is a favorite of ours because they regularly profile the activities and attractions in the areas of Festiva timeshare resorts and they don’t just give you the typical travelogue; they always fill you in on the off-the-beaten path experiences you really want to see. For example, in “Cycling Cape Cod” they didn’t focus on Cape Cod’s obvious asset—the beach. Instead, the Festiva Resort Blog looked at the wonderful opportunities to explore Cape Cod by bike.

Here is some of the important information they share, sure to help you in planning your Cape Cod timeshare vacation:

Cape Cod offers a variety of biking trails and venues, with opportunities suitable for both avid cyclists and family vacationers. There are 80 miles of trails, 55 miles of which are paved.

There are plenty of bike rental shops in the Cape Cod area.

Trails to explore include The Shining Sea Bikeway and the Nauset Marsh Trail, both perfect for beginners or casual cyclists; the Cape Cod Rail Trail, offering 22 miles through towns and countryside; off-road biking at the Otis Atwood Conservation Area in Barnstable; and the challenging Trail of Tears at the West Barnstable Conservation Area.

To learn more about the possibilities of biking Cape Cod be sure to read the full article on the Festiva Blog and also check out the Cape Cod Bike Guide. And follow this link for opportunities on Southcape Resort & Club Festiva timeshare resales.