Headlines float around the internet with enticing messages about your personal debt bailout or your credit card relief plan. They imply that the federal government has in some way offered consumers the same type of debt relief that has been made available to big business and the banking industry—but this is simply misleading messaging. You will even find timeshare related articles that suggest that somehow these erroneously named ‘bailouts’ address timeshare mortgages. This is smoke and mirrors talk; no transparency to it.

Here’s what is accurate. Timeshare owners who are struggling to make their timeshare mortgage payment can find some timeshare relief from new governmental programs…indirectly. If you are able to renegotiate your homeowners mortgage (for your residential home, not your timeshare) to a lower interest rate, then you will have more cash flow in your monthly budget to make paying other expenses, including those related to your timeshare, a little easier.

And although credit card companies have always been approachable about payment plans and sometimes about reducing the overall amount of debt if you are in over your head, there is more pressure on them than ever before to work with consumers. If you successfully negotiate a consolidated monthly payment for your credit cards, or even just a lower payment on the ones that give you problems, then again, you may indirectly have more money to use to pay other expenses, including your timeshare mortgage or timeshare annual fees and/or taxes. Additionally, as part of the credit card reform act, your credit card bill should now be easier to read and communicate to you more clearly how much you are actually paying in interest—information that should make it easier for more people to control debt in the future.

Option: Use Your Timeshare as a Vacation Rental

Another alternative for offsetting the cost of your timeshare is to use your timeshare as a rental. Timeshare rental is a vacation accommodations option that is growing in popularity. And as more timeshare companies make renting timeshare easier to do, vacationers are realizing that timeshare rental affords them more space, typically for less money than renting a hotel or motel room.

Timeshare rental can be a win-win because it lets the timeshare owner retain ownership of the timeshare for use in the future while creating some income from it to offset the cost of ownership. If you think timeshare rental is an alternative that can help you, you can learn more here: Rent your timeshare

Do you feel as if this summer is passing you by? That you’ve failed to make vacation plans thus far, and now have little hope of working one in before the kids go back to school and you’ve put away your flip-flops for the season?

Not to worry! You can still work an affordable last-minute vacation into your plans and the opportunities in timeshare rentals have a lot to do with making this possible. Here’s how it works: Every year some timeshare owners find they cannot use their timeshare holiday. Sometimes the reason is illness, sometimes it is a scheduling snafu with their work responsibilities—maybe they are even in the midst of a job relocation, divorce, or other life issue. They wind up not using their timeshare and not banking it to use in the future …But they are glad to rent it!

5 Reasons Timeshare Rentals are Your Vacation Solution

Timeshare rentals are one of the ways you can genuinely benefit from timeshare as a vacation product. Here are 5 reasons why a timeshare rental may be your answer to a 2010 summer vacation:

1. Timeshare rentals can be booked in advance, but are also available on short notice for last-minute vacation scheduling.
2. Timeshare rentals may be available in increments of less than a week, for those times when your schedule only permits a shorter stay.
3. Booking a timeshare rental is as easy (and sometimes easier) than booking a hotel room. The “Book it NOW” feature at Sell My Timeshare NOW, is one option for timeshare rental that lets you book online, with immediate confirmation by email, providing you with your unique booking number.
4. Timeshare rentals are available worldwide. You can travel the globe, but you can also plan a relaxing drive-to vacation, which eliminates the expense and hassle of booking last minute air travel.
5. Timeshare rentals can be negotiable. Oftentimes you may find that the closer it gets to a timeshare’s usage date (in other words, the more last minute it is) the more flexible the timeshare owner may be on pricing.

Let’s face it; “staycations” are nobody’s idea of a real holiday. Before you give up all plans of vacationing this summer, look into the reasonable and easy-to-book opportunities in timeshare rental.

Fans of the ‘Centsable’ money-saving duo, Chrissy Pate and Kristin McKee, know them from their past appearances on Good Morning America (GMA) and their book, Be CentsAble: How to Cut Your Household Budget in Half. Now the two have applied their cost conscious strategies to travel and vacation planning with tips that save you money without compromising your vacation enjoyment… and of course, any discussion of great deals in vacationing always includes timeshare.

So here are Travel Tips #3 and 5 from the gurus of budget-conscious vacationing:

“Rent Vacation Club or Timeshare Points” and as an example, the two recommend Sell My Timeshare NOW by name as an outstanding resource. After Chrissy discovered that she could, for example, rent a $250 a night room at Disney’s Animal Kingdom timeshare for only $90, she described it as, “…like you have a timeshare, without paying all of the fees associated with a timeshare.”

“Rent Vacation Homes Directly” Although Sell My Timeshare NOW wasn’t specifically listed by name, it’s exactly the type of option they recommend. Both Pate and McKee are quick to acknowledge that when it comes to leasing or renting a vacation home, “leasing companies mark up the rental price, often even doubling it.” Sell My Timeshare NOW offers you the option to rent timeshare directly from the current owner.

Do You Rent Timeshare?

If you are not already saving money on your vacation with timeshare rentals, why not?

Many timeshare owners are thrilled to rent their timeshare or timeshare points to you rather than lose them because they cannot personally take advantage of them. Oftentimes, they are looking only to recoup their annual fees. Sometimes you can rent timeshare far in advance, but just as frequently, you will find it comes available as a last-minute deal. Either way renting timeshare or timeshare points is typically a win-win situation. And renting by-owner timeshare from Sell My Timeshare NOW means you are choosing to rent directly for the person who owns the vacation property-leaving out the middleman while keeping more of your hard-earned money in your pocket.

But don’t take our word for it… Pate and McKee have already done the research for you.

When it comes to vacation planning, do we really want to know what the experts say? If you are like most people, apparently the advice of travel ‘experts’ does not rank very high on your list.

Most of us, it seems, put more stock in the opinions of complete strangers when it comes to travel and vacationing. And when viewed in comparison to the combined opinions of our friends, family, and travelers we’ve never met, travel experts fall far to the bottom of the list as influencers.

According to The Social Travel Report prepared by the independent media agency, Total Media, most consumers (based on a sample of 1,375 people) select hotels, timeshare, or other vacation lodging based on the feedback and recommendations of other consumers. The study reveals that nearly 70 percent of consumers use the internet to book vacations and that roughly 25 percent are influenced by the comments voiced online by other travelers and vacationers. In other words, consumers aren’t reading travel magazines, brochures, or consulting travel agents nearly as much as they are reading the online comments and testimonials of other consumers.

Testimonials at Sell My Timeshare NOW

Sell My Timeshare NOW has always appreciated the positive feedback the company receives from consumers who buy timeshare, sell timeshare, or rent timeshare online at www.sellmytimesharenow.com.

Follow this link to read some of the many glowing comments Sell My Timeshare NOW has earned from its timeshare buyers, renters and sellers … but here’s a word of warning, take along a cup of coffee, because this is a very, very long list!

Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find:

“Just wanted to thank you for the wonderful service we received during the process of renting our Aruba timeshare this year. We received a promp phone call with assistance to writing an ad and it was advertised on your web site the next day. We were contacted 2 months later with an offer and received the check by the following week. What great service!!” J. and A. Scialo

“I would not hesitate to recommend your company to friends looking to sell or purchase timeshares.” Arthur Budge Jr (Ad 6954)

“I have used sellmytimesharenow.com the past two years for renting our condos in Cabo San Lucas at the Pueblo Bonito Rose and Sunset Beach. We have 4 weeks that we rent every year and always have a huge amount of inquires and rent them for our asking price. The investment to post these units on sellmytimesharenow.com is well worth the money. The staff is very professional and any website updates are handled immediately and accurately. We have used other websites and received no responses and were unable to rent our units. I highly recommend using Sellmytimesharenow.com for renting your units!” Brenda T. (Ad 204083)

We didn’t really know what to anticipate.

After all, most of our clients and potential clients at Sell My Timeshare NOW —some 2 million plus each month who come to our website — are looking for great deals on vacation ownership and vacation rentals or they are timeshare owners looking to sell or rent timeshare they no longer use. They come to us because they want to take advantage of by-owner ads on Sell My Timeshare NOW’s high-visibility websites but prefer to manage their timeshare sale or timeshare rental themselves.

Some timeshare owners need or prefer turnkey service for their timeshare sales transactions. For this reason, we added timeshare broker services and licensed real estate agents to provide sellers who go this route, the comprehensive services they seek.

We also recognized that if some people preferred turnkey services for selling timeshare, there might be timeshare owners who wanted turnkey services for using their timeshare as a rental, too. With this in mind, late in 2007 we launched Rental Assist. In 2008, it was a small effort and it wasn’t really until 2009 that the program began to get its legs and take off.

A Highly Successful Timeshare Rental Solution

Sell My Timeshare NOW is proud to report that the brokerage team of trained professionals at Rental Assist completed $2.6 million in timeshare rentals in 2009. Lucas Lanigan, Rental Sales Director, says, “With Rental Assist, our team of experienced timeshare real estate professionals match timeshare owners with timeshare renters, handling every detail of the process—turnkey service for the timeshare owner. In 2009, 1,450 timeshare owners rented their timeshare through this program for an average weekly rental rate of $1,808, which is more than triple the average owner’s maintenance fee.”

Lucas goes on to explain, “1,450 families enjoyed timeshare rental vacations last year because our Rental Assist team was able to get them the destination and price they wanted for their vacation during the dates that matched their schedule. Personalized service for the timeshare renter and worry-free, comprehensive service for the timeshare owner, and we are just getting started. In 2010, we expect to see timeshare Rental Assist soar, as timeshare owners recognize its value.”

The results of Rental Assist are very exciting. Imagine getting a weekly rental rate of $1,808 for your timeshare. This is easily more than enough to pay most owners’ annual fees for maintenance and to even let them put some money in their pocket.

Click this link to read Sell My Timeshare NOW’s most recent timeshare media release about our exciting results at Rental Assist. And contact our timeshare rental specialists to learn how you can take advantage of this new and exciting comprehensive timeshare rental service.

Considering that Sell My Timeshare NOW has been blogging since shortly after our company was founded, you’d think we would have included a blog roll as part of The Timeshare Authority blog before now. Well, better now than never, so this week, The Timeshare Authority blog rolled out (pun intended) the first blogs to be listed on our blog roll.

These blogs represent some (but certainly not all) of the best reading out there on travel, tourism, theme parks, timeshares, and the timeshare industry. We’ve included blogs that deal with travel to specific cities, states, regions or countries, including the California Beaches Blog; 1001 Things to Do in NYC; Canadian Tourism Blog; Happy Happens San Diego; Orlando Vacation Blog; and Tourism Central Florida — all popular destinations for timeshare owners or vacationers who rent timeshare.

Some of the excellent blogs we’ve added to The Timeshare Authority blogroll focus on theme parks, either in general or a particular park because almost anywhere you find great theme parks you will also find great timeshares. These blogs include: Disney Parks Blog; Mousekingdom Blog; Sea World San Antonio Blog; The Disney Blog; and Theme Park Rangers.

Timeshare Blogs, Timeshare Industry Blogs, and Travel Blogs

Included on our blog roll you will find Marriott on the Move; The Timeshare Blog; and VacationBetter.org; these are all blogs about timeshares and timesharing. Other blogs we’ve listed are travel and adventure blogs, including: Absurd Adventures; National Geographic Adventure Blog; Intelligent Travel; or travel industry blogs such as: The Tourism Research Blog; and The Travel Mole.

Finally, The Timeshare Authority’s blogroll includes some blogs that just fit into a niche all their own: Cruise@ddicts Blog; Get Outdoors; Hotel Check In; and The Mindful Tourist.

We’ve added this list to our timeshare blog because we want to share with you resources that you may find as helpful as we do. But we’ve only just begun with this travel and timeshare blog list. The internet is rich with fascinating and informative information, much of it brought to you in the form of blogs, so expect the list to grow and change as Sell My Timeshare NOW and The Timeshare Authority continue to expand this list of valuable resources for timeshare buyers, timeshare sellers, renters, and anyone interested in travel and vacation ownership.

By the way, if you haven’t already found it, our new blog roll is located on the lower right hand side of this page.

The Christmas tree is down (or will be soon), a new year beckons, and many people start to think about giving their homes or offices a facelift and a fresher look. Will the same thing be happening at timeshare and vacation ownership resorts that are part of the Interval International network of timeshare exchange?

Robb & Stucky Resorts, a division of the Ft. Myers, Florida-based Robb & Stucky Interiors, has a new alliance with Interval International, making its turnkey design services and one-stop shopping available to Interval International member timeshare resorts.

David Gilbert, Interval International’s executive vice preside of resort sales and marketing says, “The alliance with Robb & Stucky will give our developer clients and homeowners associations access to an exceptional level of service and value.”

What’s the Real Advantage to Timeshare Resort Developers and Timeshare HOA’s?

Co-branded alliances can work in many ways, but in the case of Interval International timeshare exchange and Robb & Stucky Resorts, the benefits look something like this:

Timeshare developers and HOA’s benefit because …

• Dealing with a respected furniture vendor, that offers a quality line, adds instant upgrade appeal when used in timeshare units, timeshare condos, and common areas of timeshare resorts.
• Robb & Stucky is a start-to-finish company, meaning that it manufactures, warehouses, delivers and installs all of its own products. The process of decorating or re-decorating timeshare resort properties is streamlined and simplified because the timeshare or Home Owners Association can deal with one vendor that offers a cohesive plan, décor themes with interchangeable parts, and the simplicity of one-stop shopping.

The furniture manufacturer benefits because its products are exposed to the many people who own timeshare or rent timeshare and make use of the timeshare resort each year. Not only is this a good market for the company’s residential line of furnishings, but as has already been demonstrated, consumers frequently want to add to their homes the same products they enjoyed during luxury resort vacations. (Think of the number of hotels that now retail their mattresses, bed sets, and toiletries to the public, purely in a response to consumer demand for these products.)

This alliance seems to be a win-win for the brands involved, meaning that it should also turn out to be a good thing for the timeshare owners and their guests who visit Interval International timeshare exchange resorts.

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!”

In our last two blog posts, The Timeshare Authority has looked at options for refinancing timeshare or selling timeshare on which you still owe debt. Here in Part 3 of the series, we’ll look at borrowing money against a timeshare you own.

Once upon a time (which is how so many fairy tales begin) timeshare owners with good credit could sometimes borrow money against their timeshare. Opportunities to do so were never abundant but there were a few specialized companies that offered loans under specific circumstances. Two such lenders, Tammac Financial and First Again, were mentioned in Part 1 of the series, but due to the current economic climate neither company is making this type of loan.

Although you will probably not be able to find any lender today who wants to loan money against your timeshare, that doesn’t mean that you are without opportunities to make your timeshare pay off. One option is to use your vacation ownership property as a timeshare rental.

The Value of Renting Timeshare

It always surprises me how many people miss this opportunity, but if you are not using your timeshare for your own vacations and travel, why not take advantage of it as a timeshare rental? Every year timeshare owners let their timeshare weeks or intervals go unused because of illness, schedule conflicts, or any number of other reasons. Yet, if you rent timeshare for an amount of money equal to your annual fees, then you have covered your expense for the year. And if you rent timeshare for more than your annual fees, you have actually recouped money which you can use in any way you choose, including applying to your timeshare loan payment. To learn more about the possibility of turning your unused timeshare week into timeshare rental cash, visit the Sell My Timeshare NOW website or talk to the timeshare rental specialists by calling: (877) 815-4227.

While there presently may not be as many alternatives available in timeshare financing or timeshare refinancing as there have been in the past, you do still have options. And whether you have made good choices in the past about buying or selling timeshare, the important thing is that you make good choices now and in the future. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits all answer to your timeshare concerns, so take the time to ask questions, get information and find the solution that is right for you.

Parts 1 and 2 in this series:

• Can You Refinance Your Timeshare or Timeshare Resale? Part 1 of 3
• Can You Refinance Your Timeshare or Timeshare Resale? Part 2 of 3

I wouldn’t think this is the next new trend in timeshare resorts, but the unusual situation in the US economy has brought about stranger things. Have you heard about the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego – the luxurious resort with spa and championship golf course that was ranked #1 Resort Spa in North America by Condé Nast Traveler?

They’ve been booking rooms for $19 a night.

No kidding.

But there’s a catch. For $19 a night, you get the room, but you don’t get much else. You don’t even get a bed. Here’s how it works: Pay $219 per night through September 17 and you will receive deluxe accommodations and breakfast for two. Skip the breakfast and the rate drops to $199. Leave out the breakfast and the honor bar and it falls to $179.

Now you get to the part where the changes really start to matter. Leave off everything already listed, as well as air conditioning or heat, and the rate is down to $159; omit the pillows and you save another $20; leave off the sheets and you are down to $109.

If you are willing to forgo all of this along with the lights, (expect for a single small light in the bathroom required for safety) you are at $89. Subtract the towels and you drop to $59; no toiletries and you drop to $39, until finally you get to the $19 a night price, which is the absence of all of the above as well as being without the bed.

And did I mention that this deal is completely sold out?

San Diego Timeshare Rentals … And They Come With a Bed

A San Diego vacation offers so much to do, from the famous San Diego Zoo, to the beaches, parks, sporting events, SeaWorld San Diego, and more. And the spacious accommodations of timeshare rentals provide you affordable options, where you don’t have to settle for a room without linens, furnishings, or utilities.

You can choose from a wide variety of San Diego timeshare rentals, some offered at less than $100 a night, often for timeshare units that easily accommodate two families. Invite your favorite relatives or friends, share the cost of a roomy timeshare rental in beautiful San Diego and you could easily be vacationing at under $50 a night. Now throw in the savings of a fully equipped kitchen and dining area, letting you dine as affordably as if you had stayed home, and your overall vacation costs could be just as amazingly low as if you’d opted for a few nights at the Ranchero Bernardo Inn.

… Except your timeshare will come with all the amenities, including a bed, maybe even two or three of them!