Clean the World is a non-profit association with a simple and powerful message we have shared with you before, here on The Timeshare Authority blog. And it all starts with the power of soap.

At one time or another, every one of us has wondered what happens to the partially used soap, body wash, and shampoo we leave behind in hotels and timeshare resorts. Apparently, the founders of the Clean The World Foundation thought about it too.

Recognizing that every day in North America alone, thousand of hotels and timeshares were tossing out millions of pounds of soap and shampoo, Clean The World developed and implemented an amazingly logical and effective idea. Instead of allowing these products to be discarded, adding to our landfills and seeping into fragile groundwater systems, Clean The World collects, sterilizes, repackages and distributes the soap to people who desperately need it.

With the recycled soap, they provide appropriate educational materials, both to third world populations and to homeless shelters in the US and Canada. With the availability of soap to impoverished people, the rate of illness from communicable diseases drops significantly.

What Happens to the Used Soap from Hotels and Timeshares

Working with their hospitality partners, Clean the World provides collection bins to housekeeping staffs at hotels and resorts along with training videos and instruction posters. Each week they collect the bins from the hotel and timeshare properties. Hotels and timeshares are relieved of disposing of the soap and soap products and in many cases, they are eligible to claim part of their contribution as a donation to charity.

At their Soap Recycling plant, Clean the World uses one of two methods for reprocessing the soap. An independent agency, Tri-Tech Laboratories, has tested the soap ensuring that it is sanitary and free from pathogens after processing.

Already creating jobs, Clean the World projects that in the next few years they will create between 400 and 500 more green jobs across the US at their Recycling Operational Centers. They have also partnered with two established organizations, Central Care Mission and Open Homes Regeneration for help in operating Clean The World’s 12,000 square-foot recycling center in Orlando, enabling formerly addicted and homeless men in recovery programs to assist at the soap sterilization plant, where workers process soap, shampoo, conditioner, and bath gel as part of their vocational programs.

In Nevada, Clean The World has partnered with the Las Vegas Rescue Mission where homeless, addicted, and those in need on the road to recovery run the soap recycling center there. And in Canada, Mission Possible has a similar program that provides manpower for the Vancouver soap recycling center.

Participating Hotels and Timeshares

The number of hotels, bed and breakfasts, and timeshares that already participate in Clean The World is extensive, and you can see the full list here: Participating Resorts. You’ll find many of your favorite Disney Vacation Club, Sheraton, Hilton, and Westgate timeshare properties on the list.

You can get involved in this wonderful program by making donations of cash or soap; setting up a soap donation drive at your work or school (the collection area will smell wonderful as the bars of soap accumulate); and encouraging your timeshare and any hotels you frequent to participate in Clean The World.

Past reports from The Timeshare Authority blog on Clean The World:

Timeshares and Resorts, Helping “Clean Up” Haiti

The marketplace becomes increasingly more interesting in a world where the ‘rules’ of business are evolving before our very eyes. In an interesting move in brand building, Westin Hotels & Resorts (which includes Westin timeshare), launched the website (www.westin-hotelsathome.com) dedicated to selling their signature products. Their guests can continue the Westin Resort luxury experience long after they have checked out of the hotel or come to the end of their Westin timeshare vacation. Westin has even aligned with Nordstrom’s so you can purchase their famous bed sheets and other signature Westin items at your local mall.

Now the branding wizards at Westin Hotels & Resorts are taking the magic of their signature “10-layer Heavenly Bed®” to a new venue, making it available to the mainstream marketplace in a way no hotelier previous has done with its branded products—they are setting up shop on Amazon.com.

A New Marketing Avenue for Westin Resorts and Westin Timeshare

Westin’s innovative direction makes them the first hotelier to launch a branded storefront on Amazon.com. They will be using the Selling on Amazon program, a part of Amazon Services, which companies of all sizes, including solo-entrepreneurs, utilize for retailing their products.

Planned as a tool for expanding the company’s ‘wellness’ message, the Westin on Amazon storefront will sell Westin’s own Heavenly Bath collection and signature line of White Tea fragrance candles and diffusers along with compatible lines including: Tea Forté, Riedel, Kate’s Paperie, and Gaiam.

The branded Amazon store launches March 1, with an introductory gift of a $100 Amazon.com gift card to all hotel guests who stay twice mid-week from February 22 to May 13 and have preregistered on westin.com/balance.

Over the years, Westin Resorts have sold roughly 40,000 Heavenly Beds, more than 32,000 sheets, 100,000 pillows, and over 10,000 Heavenly spa bath products. When you think about it, what better way to nurture brand loyalty than by appealing to your market with a relaxing sensory experience that they can enjoy on a daily (and nightly) basis?

Starwood is the parent company of Westin timeshare and of Sheraton timeshare.

Sheraton Hotels and Resorts are rolling out a new $20 million marketing campaign created to help recharge the company’s brand. Called, “Rediscover Sheraton,” the marketing campaign is intended to inspire vacationers and travelers to take a fresh look at Sheraton properties.

Sheraton’s refreshed face includes 300 new lobbies; the new wifi wired lobby lounges called Link@Sheraton; some 70 thousand new guestrooms and 100,000 new beds.

With the intent of attracting both leisure travelers, vacationers, and the millions of people who combine the two, Sheraton Resort’s rebranding includes defining themselves as the brand that:

• “Brings business suits and bathing suits together…”
• “Brings power walks and power talks together…”
• “Brings bottom lines and bottom ups together…”

The marketing effort even makes use of the word: “bleisure” a blending of the words business and leisure.

Sheraton timeshares are part of the family of Starwood resorts, which also includes Westin timeshare and other popular properties worldwide. To find out more about outstanding opportunities in Sheraton timeshare resales, click on any of the links below:

• Sheraton Broadway Plantation (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina)
• Sheraton Desert Oasis (Scottsdale, Arizona)
• Sheraton Mountain Vista (Avon, Colorado)
• Sheraton PGA Vacation Resort (Port St. Lucie, Florida)
• Sheraton Vistana Resort (Orlando, Florida)
• Sheraton Vistana Villages (Orlando, Florida)

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.

Starwood Capital CEO Barry Sternlicht offers some interesting insights about the commercial real estate market as an investment during the down economy. You can watch the interview in this clip from the Fox Business Channel.

And before you view the clip, here’s a little perspective on how Starwood Capital fits into the bigger picture with Starwood hotels and Starwood timeshares. Historically, Starwood Capital is known as an aggressive and successful acquirers of individual hotels, hotel companies, and timeshare resorts worldwide. From their website: “Starwood Capital is well known for its 1995 acquisition and subsequent recapitalization, reorganization and expansion of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT “Starwood Hotels”), a Fortune 500 company, with ownership of brands such as Westin, Sheraton, W Hotels, The St. Regis, Le Meridien, The Luxury Collection and Four Points by Sheraton. Mr. Sternlicht, as Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels between 1995 and May of 2005, led the transformation of Starwood Hotels from an overleveraged, liquidating REIT into a thriving global enterprise of more than 115,000 employees, with a total enterprise value in excess of $18 billion, including more than 800 hotels system-wide in 80 countries.”

Is it possible that the city with the most timeshares could soon gain another 1400 timeshare units?

A new Orlando timeshare certainly seems to be in the works. A Flushing, New York-based company has been given the go-ahead on a proposed plan to develop 19.2 acres of land along Orlando’s busy International Drive tourist area. This new Orlando timeshare project includes two currently undeveloped parcels, and an existing 94-room hotel (the Monumental Hotel) which is scheduled to be destroyed.

Last year, developer Show-Lain Cheng received approval for the project from Orange County (Orlando, Florida) for zoning and conceptual plans. On August 4, the project authorized the development team to start on storm water and architectural design, plans that should be ready for submission for county review by mid-September.

The Orlando Business Journal says this is a $500 million timeshare project to be known as Zena based on the property’s Buddhist Zen theme. Construction is planned in phases, but upon completion will include a fitness center, tennis courts, bowling alley, Wii rooms, and retail space. Developer Cheng says, “We will offer comfort, relaxation, and tranquility.” She also told the Tampa Bay Business Journal, that timing of the project will be influenced by the economy and that construction could begin as early as next year or be delayed for several years.

Orlando Timeshare along International Drive

Geographically, all of International Drive is a tourist hub, home to hotels, shops, restaurants, and themed entertainment. This particular location is especially convenient to SeaWorld Orlando. Two outstanding Orlando timeshare resorts already in the popular International Drive area include the Hilton Grand Vacation Club at SeaWorld and Sheraton’s Vistana Resort timeshare.

The Sell My Timeshare NOW HOT 100 List, published earlier this spring, revealed an interesting trend in Florida timeshares. Even though timeshare buyers and timeshare owners frequently identify a beachside location or beach access as a favorite feature, the top five Florida timeshares on the HOT 100 List, are all Orlando timeshare destinations—not Florida timeshare resorts at the beach. In fact, HOT timeshare property number 22, Marriott’s Ocean Pointe in Palm Beach Shores, Florida, is the highest-ranking beachside Florida timeshare on the list of timeshare properties receiving the greatest number of offers to buy or rent.

Florida Timeshare are Popular, but Orlando Timeshare Tops the List

The popularity of Orlando timeshare is easy to understand. Orlando timeshare resorts have so much to offer while still being only a short drive to both the Atlantic coast beaches at Cocoa Beach and Daytona, and the Gulf of Mexico beaches in the Tampa – St Petersburg area. When you vacation in Orlando timeshares, you enjoy a Florida timeshare resort at its best. The theme park fun starts with Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, Universal Studios, along with many other parks and themed attractions. There are lakes for water sports of every type and swimming pools, water slides, and water parks all inviting you to splash, swim, or float way a sunny afternoon in the sparkling cool blue water. And if golf is your game, play a different championship course every day of the week when you vacation in an Orlando, Florida timeshare.

Top Five Orlando, Florida Timeshares on the HOT 100 Timeshare List

1. Orange Lake’s West Village timeshares.
2. Marriott’s Grande Vista timeshares.
3. Hilton Grand Vacations Club at SeaWorld International Center timeshares.
4. Sheraton Vistana Resort timeshares.
5. Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort timeshares.

Whether the economy is up or down, the best value in vacation accommodations is always timeshare resales and timeshare rentals. And year in, year out, Orlando, Florida timeshares are always on the list of favorite resort destinations.

Related information from The Timeshare Authority:

• Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals that Make the 2009 HOT 100 List
• A Closer Look at the HOT 100 List for Sell My Timeshare NOW, Timeshare Resales

Sell My Timeshare NOW’s wrap up of our last HOT 100 timeshare resorts for offers to buy timeshare or rent timeshare includes three favorite Orlando timeshare resorts near the top of the list.

The Sheraton Vistana Resort is HOT 100 timeshare number 14; Marriott’s Grande Vista timeshare resort is HOT 100 timeshare number 13; and the Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort is timeshare resort favorite number 12.

Orlando Timeshares are Perennial Vacation Favorites

You may think of Orlando timeshares for the family vacation, especially when your children are young and still oooh and ahhh over Mickey Mouse and Cinderella. In fact, Orlando timeshares are perfect as a vacation destination that offers entertainment and relaxations to suit all ages. Your family’s interests may change but the attractions of Central Florida are so diverse that everyone from your preschooler to Grandma and Grandpa can find activities to enjoy.

When you’ve been to the theme parks and ridden the rides, don’t count out Orlando. There’s shopping from the upscale shops at Millennia Mall to the discounts at the factory outlet. You can take in the world famous Cirque du Soleil, the lush flowers of the Harry P. Leu Gardens, or golf on any of hundreds of area courses, (including numerous championship courses). Maybe your tastes lean more toward dinner theaters, a performance by the Orlando Ballet, relaxing at a luxurious spa, dining at the signature restaurants of Universal’s CityWalk, or exploring the Orlando Art Museum. For kicks, try a bungee jump, a visit to M&M’s World at The Florida Mall, or International Drive’s shops, restaurants, and entertainment such as Ripley’s Believe it or Not. You get the idea; the entertainment opportunities in Orlando form a list that goes on and on.

But you will need a great place to stay to do it all …

Sheraton Vistana Resort Timeshare

The Sheraton Vistana Resort timeshares are spacious villas in a park-like setting. Despite the tranquility they afford, the Sheraton Vistana timeshare, a Starwood resort, is convenient to all of your favorite Orlando attractions. You will enjoy having a fully equipped kitchen or kitchenette (depending on the size of your timeshare unit), free wireless internet, an in-unit washer and dryer, no add-on resort or additional person fees, and the value and convenience of free transportation to four of the Disney parks.

Marriott Grande Vista Resort Timeshare

Marriott’s Grande Vista timeshare is an elegant resort offering one, two, or three-bedroom timeshare villas, with spacious living and dining areas, a full kitchen and a luxurious soaking tub in the master bedroom. Marriott timeshare owners at Grande Vista enjoy access to the Faldo Golf Institute® by Marriott, the biking trails and the four sparkling swimming pools.

Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort

Adjacent to Walt Disney World is the beautiful Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort timeshare. Featuring one and two-bedroom timeshare condos, all with a complete kitchen, washer and dryer, in-suite Jacuzzi tub, and a private balcony or patio. The refreshing swimming pool and the peaceful lazy river are perfect spots for cooling off after a long day in the nearby theme parks or shopping malls.

While there are more Orlando timeshares than in any other city in the world, you’ve just read about three of the “hottest” resorts. The timeshare resales professionals at Sell My Timeshare NOW can help you learn more.

Colorado ranked, again this past year, as the number one ski vacation destination in America, and resorts like the Sheraton Mountain Vista timeshare are the reason why.

Located 8 miles west of Vail, on interstate highway 70, the city of Avon, Colorado acts as a gateway to all the amenities and attractions of the Beaver Creek Resort area. This is the place to enjoy both your favorite winter sports and the fresh mountain air for summer hiking, biking, horseback riding, and other outdoor sports. Sheraton Mountain Vista timeshare is perfectly situated in Vail Valley, at the base of Beaver Creek
Mountain, making it easy for you to experience all the area has to offer.

Amenities at Sheraton Mountain Vista Timeshare

At this resort you can enjoy the:

• Fitness Center
• Swimming Pool
• Sauna
• Outdoor Whirlpool

You can choose from one and two-bedroom timeshare units including larger timeshare lockouts that add to your vacation flexibility. A two-bedroom timeshare lockout at Sheraton Mountain Vista, for example, includes: one side of the unit that is over 700 square feet, with a living room, dining area for six people, breakfast bar that seats two more, and a full kitchen, including washer and dryer. This side of the timeshare also includes a queen sleeper sofa, a private bedroom, 2 gas fireplaces, 2 televisions, and a screened patio. The smaller side of the two-bedroom timeshare lockout is over 500 square feet in size, also offering both a private bedroom and a queen sleeper sofa, with an efficiency kitchen, and another fireplace. Up to eight people could vacation in a two-bedroom lockout, or you could enjoy one side of this type of unit yourself and use the other side as a rental unit, offsetting your own vacation costs.

Overall, Colorado timeshares are some of the most desired resorts in the world, and owning a timeshare resale there gives you a multitude of possibilities for vacationing, timeshare exchange, and timeshare rental. To learn more about opportunities in Colorado timeshare resales and Colorado timeshare rentals, and all the timeshare deals available at Sheraton Mountain Vista Timeshare, visit www.sellmytimesharenow.com.

In yesterday’s Timeshare Owners Blog, we looked at an ABC 20/20 investigation of Royal Holiday vacation club. Here is Part II of that post:

The hidden camera videotape made by ABC’s 20/20 investigators reveals that Royal Holiday breaks a lot of rules when it comes to selling timeshare. People who attend the Royal Holiday sales presentation are promised an incentive if they sit through a 90-minute sales pitch, which actually lasts 3 or more hours. They are told that they can only take advantage of special pricing if they buy today…on the spot, and if they prove reticent to buy, that price may mysteriously be cut in half in hopes of getting them to sign up now, as first one and then another salesperson tries to break down their resistance.

Royal Holiday also serves alcoholic drinks to their prospects. It is poor business ethics to do this, and it is an absolute no-no for you, as a prospective buyer, to make the mistake of clouding your good judgment with alcohol. Never, I repeat never, mix alcohol with the decision to buy timeshare.

Other criticisms of Royal Holiday’s sales tactics include promises made by salespeople that a buyer’s money is invested in a foreign bank account and will be returned to them in 30 years; that rooms shown as examples of what you are buying are far nicer than the rooms you actually can book; and that availability in busy seasons is scarce.

How to Avoid High Pressure Timeshare Sales Tactics

All in all, 20/20′s report was extremely negative. There is however, one foolproof way to avoid the heavy hand of a timeshare company salesperson. Buy resale timeshare. Deal only with the person who already owns the timeshare or vacation club membership. Bypass that salesperson who works for the timeshare company yet counts on you to pay his or her salary through commission.

When you shop for timeshare resales or timeshare rentals online, you can take your time. You can ask questions, you can compare products. You can sleep on your decision and consult your attorney or your financial planner. Money doesn’t come easily these days; take your time deciding how you will spend it.

Royal Holiday Vacation Club Timeshare Resales

Currently Sell My Timeshare NOW timeshare resales and timeshare rental advertising company has more than a hundred different listings for Royal Holiday vacations. Some start at under $1000.

The Royal Holiday vacation club affords you the opportunity to travel the United States and Mexico without joining an exchange company. Royal Holiday Club has occupancy rights at Sheraton Cancun Resort and Towers in Cancun; Sol Caribe in Cozumel; Sheraton Ixtapa, Mexico; the Raddison Xanadu in Freeport, Bahamas; Wave Crest in Del Mar, California; Powell Place, San Francisco; Marriott’s Streamside at Vail; Tropicana Golf Estates in Las Vegas; High Point in Orlando; and Brigantine Beach, NJ.

Sell My Timeshare NOW can help you buy, rent, or sell Royal Holiday vacation club timeshares, without the hassle.