ILX Resorts Inc., a developer and operator of timeshares in the Western part of the US, has released their corporate financial report showing a net loss for the third quarter. Currently ILX timeshares include locations in Arizona, Indiana, Colorado, and San Carlos, Mexico. The company also owns land in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico and Sedona, Arizona, which are in the final planning stages for timeshare development. ILX has acquired, and continues to acquire, inventory at the Carriage House in Las Vegas and at the Scottsdale Camelback Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona through Premiere Vacation Club.

According to the ILX Resorts report, “Third quarter results include the write off of consumer notes receivable in excess of 90 days delinquent and the increase in the allowance for doubtful accounts as a percentage of performing notes receivable and performing notes sold with recourse to reflect a reduction in expectations of collectability of delinquent and performing loans based on recent economic, financial and credit conditions … Revenue from operations exclusive of the increased allowance and write off for the three months ended September 30, 2008 was $10.4 million as compared to $12.1 million for the comparable period in 2007.”

It’s Still a Good Time to Sell Timeshare

This is just one more timeshare developer story in a downturn economy. Surprisingly, some of today’s worst economic news may be the fact that the price of consumer goods have dropped. Decline in the core index (goods other than fuel and food) signals a deflationary economy. While a downturn in the price of goods seems, on the surface, to be positive, deflation can actually make matters worse, because it counters the impact of Federal cuts of the interest rate and it can make debts harder to pay off.

If you want to sell timeshare or rent timeshare, remember that despite the tough US market, you can advertise your timeshare resale or timeshare rental in an active and interested global marketplace by going to www.sellmytimesharenow.com

Last spring we started the countdown here on The Timeshare Authority for Sell My Timeshare NOW’s top 100 timeshare resales and timeshare rentals, based on the number of offers to buy or rent. Today we look at HOT 100 property, number 51, the multi-destination Palace Resorts timeshares in Cancun, Mexico.

Mexico timeshares are always in demand; they offer luxurious destinations and a climate that is pleasurable any time of the year. But the Palace Resorts timeshares adds one more element that you don’t always find at a timeshare - they are all inclusive resorts.

Mexico Timeshares Where One Price Pays it All

When you buy timeshare at a Palace Resort, you make vacation planning the simplest it can possibly be. Buy timeshare, and your vacation accommodations are covered, except for annual maintenance fees. All inclusive timeshares take the convenience one step further. You pay one price for your food, beverages, and many types of entertainment. You can almost leave your wallet at home. Your all-inclusive price covers meals, snacks, feasts, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, paddleboats, kayaks, snorkeling, banana boating, windsailing, windsurfing, and water biking.

Amenities will vary from one Palace Resort timeshare to the next, but most include beach access, swimming pools (often multiple pools on a property), activities for your children and child care, live entertainment, medical facilities, nearby shopping, restaurants and lounges. Typically, you will also find a sauna, exercise equipment, conference facilities, onsite auto rental, and tennis courts.

The Timing Is Right for Mexico Timeshares at the Palace Resorts

Considering that watching their dollars and cents is high on everyone’s priority list right now, wouldn’t it be nice to pay one price for a lifetimes of great vacation accommodations and then pay only one price for all the food and drink you wanted, with lots of entertainment options thrown in as well?

All inclusive timeshares are a unique opportunity to spend a few glorious vacation days, where you are not only getting away from your routine, but you can be on vacation from all those nagging thoughts about how much you are spending. For a change, forget about the economy and the state of the world. Head to Mexico where you can relax on the beach and eat, drink, and be merry - it’s an all inclusive timeshare!

Sell My Timeshare NOW released its third quarter Financial Synopsis this week. We were pleased to have good news to report, especially in light of the quarterly reports many timeshare developers have recently issued. The contrast just serves to reinforce the difference in the whole business model of buying new timeshare (and financing new timeshare) from a developer compared to buying timeshare on the resale market or renting timeshare directly from its owner.

Although we are not a publicly traded company, and as such are not required to release quarterly financial information, we do publish a synopsis of our business four times annually for the benefit of informing and updating all who are interested in buying, renting or selling timeshare with Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Year to date, as of the end of the third quarter, offers to rent or buy timeshares through Sell My Timeshare NOW have reached record highs of 101,124 offers, totaling $368,365,250. Timeshare rental offers have shown a 251 percent increase in the third quarter 2008 over the third quarter 2007. Clearly people recognize the value and economy timeshare resales provide as vacation accommodations. The dollar amount of timeshare rental offers received through the third quarter is $47,526,930, which marks an increase of 196 percent over year-to-date offers in 2007.

This is an interesting and disconcerting time in America’s growth and development. Sell My Timeshare NOW is working hard to help people sell timeshares they no longer wish to own, and at the same time make vacation accommodations available at affordable prices. If ever most of us needed a family vacation, we need it during these stressful times. Our position is to be fiscally conservative but at the same time aggressive about growth, service, and our vision for the future.

You can read our press release on third quarter growth here:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008SellMyTimeshareNOW/TimeshareResales/prweb1507304.htm

Or, we invite you to download the full report, at this link:
http://www.sellmytimesharenow.com/media/pdf/3rd-Q-2008-financial-report.pdf

Are you considering selling your timeshare? Owning timeshare is a great idea, but time, lifestyle changes, health, and even economic ups and downs can lead you to the decision to sell your timeshare. Selling timeshare often means that you get out from under annual fees and taxes, and as great an idea as timeshare vacations can be for millions of people, if you are not using your timeshare…then it is time to sell.

Timeshare Valuation from Sell My Timeshare NOW

You know what you paid for your timeshare, and perhaps you even know what your timeshare cost you in interest and financing fees if you borrowed money to make your timeshare purchase. You can also look at what you have paid in annual fees and taxes during the time you have owned your vacation ownership property. But clearly, if you have looked around at the timeshare resale market at all, you already understand that you will not be able to recoup these expenditures in total when you resell your timeshare.

Instead, think of buying timeshare as being very much like the money you spend buying a new car. Your new car comes with a purchase price, for most of us it comes with financing fees and interest, and for as long as you own that car, you also pay for taxes, maintenance, insurance, and fuel. Yet when you get ready to sell it, you will not be able to regain the money you have spent on your vehicle.

Okay, so if you cannot resell timeshare for your purchase price, what is the right price to ask for your timeshare on the resale market?

Don’t guess. Don’t pick a number out of the air. Let Sell My Timeshare NOW, the leading online timeshare resale and timeshare rental advertising company help you. Follow this link to Sell My Timeshare NOW, and receive a free Sellers Market Survey to find out the timeshare resale value of your property.

Sell My Timeshare NOW, eliminating the guesswork.

Did you see our Sell My Timeshare NOW press release today? We are celebrating a milestone - 5 years in business. Best of all, our anniversary marks five successful years in business, and that is not always easy to say in this day and age.

Our company currently employs 140 people, which is a long way from the 3 employees who started a home based business 5 years ago. With a 520.9 percent company growth rate, we currently average over $1 million daily in offers to buy timeshares or rent timeshares.

We are a Fast Growing Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rental Advertising Company

What got us to this point?

A Timeshare Sales Company with Genuine Commitment

At Sell My Timeshare NOW, we sat aside a little time to eat some cake and talk about our accomplishments over the past five years. But after we all patted ourselves on the back, we went back to work. You see, we know that staying the best company in the business of advertising timeshare resales and timeshare rentals calls for continued hard work, and for us to never let our guard down.

And to all the many timeshare sellers and timeshare renters who have entrusted us to help them sell or rent timeshare, we owe it to them to keep our nose to the grindstone and our eye on the future.

Click here to read our full timeshare press release about Sell My Timeshare NOW’s fifth anniversary in business.

At Sell My Timeshare NOW, we market to timeshare resale buyers…the right way.

How can I say this with such certainty? Because both our own research and a third party website traffic tracking system verifies that 80 percent of the people that come to our website, www.sellmytimesharenow.com, are prospective timeshare buyers and renters.

When you advertise your timeshare resale or timeshare rental through Sell My Timeshare NOW, you are putting it in front of a widespread and highly interested marketplace of people who have already decided that buying timeshare or renting timeshare is right for them.

Yes, we want to help you sell your timeshare resale, or rent it as a timeshare rental. We are honored to have your business, and we work hard at Sell My Timeshare NOW LLC, to give you the best service possible with personalized attention to all the details that make your timeshare sales transaction unique. But we also recognize the importance of the timeshare buyer and the timeshare renter. Attracting and maintaining a steady influx of interested timeshare buyers and renters is one of the most meaningful things we can do to benefit timeshare sellers and timeshare owners who want to use their property as a timeshare rental.

Your Best Choice for Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals

Let’s face it, you can advertise your timeshare resale on any timeshare resales website, but unless that timeshare sales website can promise you an incredible amount of traffic and that the traffic will genuinely be interested in buying or renting timeshare, then your timeshare may never move at all. Sell My Timeshare NOW uses the best and most effective strategies in internet marketing today, translating to maximum exposure.

Here’s what you want to do: Contact Sell My Timeshare NOW at 877-815-4227. Ask us to prove to you just how much website traffic we receive. Then move forward, advertising your timeshare resale on www.sellmytimesharenow.com. You will have full confidence that your timeshare is highly visible on the World Wide Web, to a market that specifically targets timeshare buyers and renters.

This short video (also found on YouTube) tells you more about how Sell My Timeshare NOW will market your timeshare resale or timeshare rental in the most effective way possible.

Timeshares Daily carried an article earlier this week titled, “Real Estate Industry’s Odd Duck is a Golden Goose Called Timeshare Resales.” The article looked at a recent The Today Show segment with Natalie Morales and real estate expert Barbara Corcoran, as well as included an interview with us, here at Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Corcoran is a knowledgeable resource for information on real estate, having turned a $1000 loan from a friend into the real estate industry powerhouse, known as the Corcoran Group. In 1971, Corcoran sold her company for $70 million. The article notes that Corcoran refers to timeshares as, “…the odd duck of the real estate business.” But as the author points out, “…she wasn’t calling them an ugly duckling; Corcoran was simply pointing out that in the world of real estate, timeshares are different.“

Timeshare Sales are Different than Other Types of Real Estate Transactions

Sell My Timeshare NOW elaborated on Corcoran’s point, explaining that timeshare sales are unique in the real estate industry. Here’s an example to further explain what I was referring to in the Timeshares Daily article: imagine trying to sell your home by luring prospective buyers with promises of discounted vacations, tickets to theme parks and free dinners. If you did pass out these freebies to everyone who toured your home, you’d have a substantial out-of-pocket expenditure and you’d be looking to recoup this cost by marking-up the asking price of your home. The person who ultimately bought your home would bear the costs of all the free giveaways you handed out in hopes of attracting that one person who was ready to buy. And as odd as this sounds in terms of residential real estate, this is exactly how timeshare developers sell timeshare.

The person who buys timeshare new from the developer pays to cover the developer’s upfront marketing costs. But when timeshares reach the resale market, the playing field gets level. Timeshare owners looking to resell their vacation ownership property aren’t trying to make back what they initially spent to buy the timeshare; they are simply trying to sell timeshare at the price the resale market will bear.

When you read the Timeshares Daily article, you’ll see that on the subject of selling timeshare, Corcoran’s advice from a real estate perspective is for timeshare owners to use an online timeshare resales company. You will also see that it is exactly the same advice I gave in the article.

Timeshare resales sell at market value - the price the buying market is willing to pay for the product. But pricing your timeshare resale at fair market value is only half of what it takes to sell your timeshare. You must also get your timeshare resale advertised in front of as many prospective timeshare buyers as possible.

… And that, of course, is where Sell My Timeshare NOW comes in.

To watch the full clip from The Today Show interview, click here to play the video.

I just spent a couple of outstanding days in Breckenridge, Colorado, at the ARDA (American Resort Development Association) Rockies Regional Meeting. The meeting was excellent in several ways, the first being the location. The Beaver Run Resort & Conference Center that hosted the event is a classic Colorado condo-hotel ski resort with ski-in/ski-out access condos.

And of course, there is nothing any better than the chance to spend a few days in the mountains of Colorado. The skies were incredibly blue and the air had that crisp edge of freshness. Sell My Timeshare NOW was proud to be a Gold Sponsor of this very informative meeting, one of a series of ARDA regional meetings in which we have participated as a Gold Sponsor.

If you are not familiar with ARDA, they are the Washington D.C. based professional association that represents the vacation ownership and resort development industries. In 2009, ARDA celebrates 40 years of service to timeshare owners and the timeshare industry. Their membership is nearly 1,000 strong including privately held companies, publicly traded companies, and international corporations involved in the vacation ownership industry. ARDA’s membership also includes resort management companies, timeshare owner associations (HOAs), and owners through the ARDA Resort Owners Coalition (ARDA-ROC).

The Changing Face of Timeshare Ownership

ARDA Regional Meetings are an important time of learning, exchanging ideas, networking, problem solving, and generally getting things done. One of many topics that was addressed was a very interesting trend in timeshare ownership demographics.

Many people think of timeshare owners as typically falling into the Baby Boomer generation, and in many ways that is still true, although the profile of the new timeshare buyer and timeshare resale buyer includes more and more young couples and individuals all the time. However, there is also another way younger couples are becoming timeshare owners these days and that is through passing down deeded timeshare ownership within families.

This makes for an interesting new dynamic in timeshare ownership and ARDA, as well as the timeshare industry as a whole, is on top of it. Today’s timeshare owner may be a Boomer, a Gen X, Gen Y, Millennium, or Gen Me, meaning that vacation ownership resorts are learning to respond to a variety of generational and cultural issues. It also means that it is an interesting and exciting time to become a timeshare owner.

Be sure you visit The Timeshare Authority next week, when I will be sharing updates about ARDA’s new website www.vacationbetter.org

In 2007, Sell My Timeshare NOW LLC had a record setting year with offers to buy timeshare or rent timeshare reaching $274,272,859 by year-end. And in our typically enthusiastic approach to business and life in general here at Sell My Timeshare NOW, we set a target to surpass that total in 2008, despite the struggling economy, high gas prices, and other issues that impact the travel and timeshare industries.

Well, we did it … and it didn’t take us a year.

As Sell My Timeshare NOW entered the Labor Day weekend, offers to buy timeshare and to rent timeshare reached $332,701,702 - that’s a 21 percent gain over year-end figures from ‘07, and there were still 4 months yet to go.

What an amazing year, taking us from record setting to record breaking.

But it’s not about us … it’s all about you.

Five years ago, when our Internet based company was founded, we did so because we knew timeshares offered an excellent opportunity for people to enjoy vacation ownership and to lock-in the price of accommodations, creating a hedge against vacation inflation. But we didn’t see any truly accessible, affordable, easy-to-use ways for timeshare sellers to interact with timeshare buyers and timeshare renters. Thus Sell My Timeshare NOW was born.

Today our outreach is worldwide. Our marketplace is as vast as cyberspace. Anywhere in the world, any time of the day, you can be buying, renting, or selling timeshare that is advertised on Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Timeshare resales and timeshare rentals help you and your family continue to enjoy time spent together, days away from the routine grind … the relaxation, recreation, and fun you have earned.

Follow this link to read Sell My Timeshare NOW’s complete media release.

Here are some updates about hotels and timeshare resorts that may have been affected by Hurricane Ike. The list is not complete and is constantly being updated by officials as more information becomes available in the aftermath of this terrible storm.

Remember that damages from Ike have not been limited to Texas, Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast states; this storm has left downed trees, damaged roofs, flooding and power outages in Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and continues its path of devastation across the US, as well as the damage and fatalities the storm wrought nearly a week ago in the Caribbean, Haiti, Cuba, and the Turks and Cacaos.

Update from Sheraton, Westin, and Starwood (information updated as of 3PM Sunday, September 14, 2008):

Update from Marriott Hotels and Marriott Timeshare Resorts (as of Saturday, September 13, 2008)

“Many hotels are open, and efforts are underway to fully restore operations in those affected by the hurricane … Most of the hotels that housed guests through the storm have essential utilities or are using generator power, if needed. Early reports indicate damage to some rooftops and windows, as well as the landscaping …

… Guests with confirmed reservations for an arrival date of Saturday, September 13, and beyond should contact the hotel directly or our toll-free reservations number at (888) 236-2427 …

… Generally, cancellation fees are being waived for guests holding confirmed reservations at the hotels that are or will be affected by the storm. However, hotels reserve the right to make this decision on a case-by-case basis … the Galveston and Houston area hotels are not accepting new reservations until further notice … We are accepting reservations and have rooms available in Dallas and other areas of Texas.”

Marriott will post updates at: www.MarriottNewsroom.com

Update from Hilton Hotels (as of 5 PM Saturday, September 13, 2008)

The Hilton Americas Houston and Hilton Post Oak are open and accepting reservations.

The Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown has sustained damage to its elevators and has been temporarily closed. The guests staying at the Doubletree were relocated to the Hilton Americas Houston. The Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown will remain closed until Tuesday, September 16 at the earliest.

Homewood Suites in Clear Lake remains closed in compliance with the directive of the local authorities.

The Hilton Hotel in Clear Lake sustained damages when a large section of the hotel’s front wall fell on a FOX 26 live truck.

Executives for Hilton state that, “Generally, cancellation fees are being waived for guests holding confirmed reservations at the Hilton Family of Hotels that have been affected by the storm. However, hotels reserve the right to make this decision on a case-by-case basis.”

Galveston Timeshare Resorts

No reports on whether the following timeshare resorts survived the winds and water of Hurricane Ike. As of now, no one is being allowed on Galveston Island except rescue workers, who have been unable to reach large portions of the island. Much of Galveston Island is still underwater and city services such as water and electricity are not available.

• Escapes! to the Gulf at Galveston
• Four Seasons on the Gulf
• Inverness by the Sea
• Silverleaf’s Seaside Resort - Galveston, TX

Willis, Texas Timeshares

The Landing at Seven Coves Timeshares is closed due to power outages. No report on damages.

Other Updates on Damage from Hurricane Ike:

Continental Airlines

According to Fox News, “Continental Airlines is currently assessing the impact of Hurricane Ike at its facilities, including its Houston hub at Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), its headquarters building in downtown Houston and other Houston facilities such as maintenance and reservations.

Customers scheduled to travel to, from or through the Houston hub are encouraged to postpone or reroute their trip without penalty to avoid possible inconvenience. The fastest and most convenient way to change travel plans is via www.continental.com.”

Other airlines may resume service from Bush Intercontinental Airport starting Monday, September 15.

Grocery stores in Huston are beginning to reopen as of Sunday, September 14, 2008.

The Caribbean and the Turks and Caicos

The Timeshare Authority will keep you updated as further information becomes available regarding the resorts and related conditions following Hurricane Ike. The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Sell My Timeshare NOW are with the millions of people who are directly and indirectly affected by this storm.