timeshare news

Marriott Vacation Club Timeshare wears green about as well as anyone in the timeshare sales business today. It seems that we are always passing along updates about the environmentally responsible actions of Marriott hotels and Marriott Vacation Club (Marriott timeshare).

This week, Marriot Vacation Club announced that Marriott timeshare resorts have begun replacing those plastic door key cards with cards made of 50 percent recycled materials. How much difference will this effort make to our environment? When you go through some 1.2 million key cards a year, as Marriott does, the savings amounts to approximately 4 tons of plastic that doesn’t wind up in landfills.

Additionally, Marriott Vacation Club timeshare has switched from using disposable plastic pens to pens that are made of 74 percent pre-consumer recycled materials and that also last longer before they need to be replaced.

Dirk Schavemaker, senior vice president of resort operations for Marriott Vacation Club says, “Continuing to eliminate more waste from landfills and find innovative ways to ‘green’ our supply chain only strengthens our commitment to being an industry leader in environmental stewardship. We firmly believe that it is our responsibility to demonstrate how responsible resort management can be a positive force for the environment.”

Other Steps Marriott Timeshare is Taking with Our Environment in Mind:

• More than 800,000 pieces of Marriott’s informational literature distributed to timeshare owners and guests are now printed on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper purchased from an FSC certified paper merchant.
• More than 50 Marriott timeshare resorts have installed energy efficient lighting, low-flow showerheads and toilets, and are participating in Marriott’s recycling program.
• Every Marriott Vacation Club timeshare resort has its own green team to oversee environmental efforts at that location.
• A senior level green committee leads division-wide environmental efforts at Marriott Vacation Club International’s corporate headquarters.

To learn more about the role Marriott is playing in Prince Charles’ commitment to Save the Rain Forests, visit this link: http://www.rainforestsos.org/partners/wrapper/marriott

And be sure to check in on Marriott timeshare and Marriott hotel’s other green initiatives through their “green” Twitter account dedicated solely to environmental news: @Marriottgreen.

Recent The Timeshare Authority Blogs on Marriott’s Environmental Conscious Actions

• Three Marriott Timeshare Resorts Earn Special ‘Green’ Designation as Environmentally Conscious Resorts
• Part II: Marriott Timeshare Resorts Earn Special ‘Green’ Designation from State of Florida
• Part III: Marriott Timeshare Resorts Recognized by State of Florida with Green Lodging Program Designation

Some stories are just too interesting to pass up …

An entrepreneurial and environmentally conscious farmer in Congresbury, Somerset, England gave up the business of pig farming, however continues to raise free-range hens, cattle, and miscanthus elephant grass.

And this elephant grass, it seems, can be burned as environmentally friendly fuel. So the farmer, who has a large empty building left over from his pig raising days, has decided to build an indoor swimming pool, (heated by burning the miscanthus elephant grass fuel) and to then adopt the timeshare sales business model of selling pool time on a timeshare basis. According to the Bristol.co.uk news, the idea becomes “swimshare”.

Timesharing, a Very Logical Business Model

Yes, that’s it, the concept is: pigs to pool to timeshare.

And it is really quite ingenious, but shouldn’t come as a surprise. The idea of timesharing anything, whether it is vacation ownership property, luxury automobiles, stadium skyboxes, or designer handbags (all ideas we have talked about here on The Timeshare Authority) works as a successful business model every day. The concept of timeshare really does make sense. Buy only as much or as little as you need. Don’t want the cost and upkeep of a pool in your backyard? Then buy swim time on a timeshare basis.

But of course there will be some critics of the pig to pool to timeshare concept who come out of the woodwork to disparage and say, “Well, it’s not an investment!” And to them one can only say, “That’s right, it’s not. Timeshare was never meant to be an investment. Timeshare is a way to enjoy affordable ownership of something you perhaps could not otherwise own. And in this case, it is swimming pool ownership, without making a pig of yourself …

Related The Timeshare Authority blog posts:

• A Timeshare By Any Other Name … Might be a David Beckham Sports Contract

RCI timeshare exchange (part of the Wyndham Worldwide and Wyndham Timeshare family of companies) has announced affiliation with six new resorts in China. With the addition of these six resorts, RCI timeshare exchange now includes 24 affiliate properties in China.

Geoff Ballotti, president and CEO, Group RCI timeshare exchange says, “Our growing presence in China is a clear indication of the confidence our members and developers have in the concept of vacation ownership and the recognition of RCI as their preferred partner of choice in delivering memorable experiences to more than 3.8 million RCI members around the globe.”

RCI Timeshare Exchange Adds Six Resorts

The six new resorts, all part of the RCI timeshare exchange network, include:

• Beijing BBMG BaDaLing Hot Spring Resort in Beijing.
• Sunshine Water World Resort in Xiaotangshan.
• LuGuHu Holiday Inn in Sichuan.
• Ramada Plaza Hotel Yantai in Yantai, Shandong.
• Ramada Hotel Wuxi in Wuxi.
• Zen International Hotel in Henan province.

Adrian Lee, managing director, RCI Asia explains, “These resorts represent an interesting cross-section of the unique and varied vacation experiences that China resorts have to offer. They will give our members a chance to experience the beauty of the Chinese landscape and culture, while enjoying a whole host of luxurious recreational facilities and services.”

Timeshare Resale Has a Global Market

China timeshare is an exciting concept. Many American’s idea of business in China is defined, at least in part, by the slice of life presented to the world during the Beijing Olympics last summer. According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, China attracted 5.36 billion US$ of actual FDI (foreign direct investment) last month. While it sounds like a staggering number, it represents a 35.7percent drop over the same month in 2008 and marks the tenth consecutive month where foreign direct investment has dropped. (source Wall Street Journal)

This is a good reminder that the global economy needs all its players; no country operates as an island anymore. And in the same way that there are economies eager to embrace US investment dollars, there are also emerging markets for timeshares, timeshare resale, and timeshare rental.

When you get ready to sell timeshare or rent timeshare, don’t gauge your perception of the market by only what is going on with US timeshare. There are thriving economies around the world and enthusiastic timeshare buyers and timeshare renters in places that only a few years ago we would have never expected to find them.

Group RCI media release on China timeshare exchange.

It’s hard to say with certainty that tweeting or ‘twittering’ could resolve issues you are having with travel as you head off to your timeshare, but it seems it might be worth a try. Michelle Higgins recently wrote an article that appeared in both The New York Times and in Hotels Magazine. She pointed out her own newfound respect for the power of twittering as a way to get attention when you are confronted with travel challenges.

Here’s one of the examples Michelle Higgins wrote about:

• Tony Wagner, his wife, and 2-year-old child were flying JetBlue from Washington DC to San Francisco. When he learned that the three family members were not seated together he first contacted JetBlue customer service and was told to take the matter up at the gate.
• So he tweeted. “@jetblue Advice to get both parents and 2 yr old seated next to each other on flight later today? Right now only one parent. Full flight.”
• In less than 20 minutes, Tony had received a direct message from JetBlue asking him to contact them; his ticket problem was soon resolved.

Does this tell us that your voice resonates louder with companies when they know it is being magnified exponentially by the power of social media? Who knows for sure; right now it is a changing business world where even the models for customer service are being redefined dramatically by everything from the economy, to the internet, to our personal perspectives.

So who is tweeting and, more importantly, paying attention to what you tweet?

Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Hyatt, and Starwood, to name a few of the hotel and timeshare resort companies that are now on Twitter. Several airlines, restaurants, and online travel services can be found there as well. And you’ll also find Sell My Timeshare NOW on Twitter: @VacationHotDeal… because we are paying attention to what matters to you.