Europe’s TATOC, The Timeshare Association, (Timeshare Owners and Committees), is a highly respected consumer advocacy and support organization for timeshare owners. This week, TATOC released their comments on a new, comprehensive timeshare owners study by The Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute, at the Business School in the University of Nottingham. The study was commissioned by the Resort Development Organisation.

TATOC endorsed the findings of the timeshare owners study, noting that it marks a changing public perception about the timeshare industry. Harry Taylor, TATOC chief executive, called the survey the most comprehensive and detailed in a decade, and notes that it, “… reflects the widespread recognition of timeshare as a viable and valued holiday product.”

The Remarkable Findings of the New Timeshare Study

Subjects of the study included over 33,000 respondents in 12 countries, all completing a detailed questionnaire. Results showed that 87 percent of timeshare owners are satisfied with their timeshare. (87 percent! When’s the last time 87 percent of any group were unified on any topic?)

With more than a million and a half Europe timeshare owners (as of 2007), the largest numbers are in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where there are roughly 600,000 timeshare owners. Germany and Italy rank next for the greatest number of timeshare owners.

Using the 2007 figures, there are 1,312 Europe timeshare resorts, with over 350 of those resorts being Spain timeshare. The UK, Italy, and Portugal each have more than 100 timeshare resorts. As of 2008, approximately 300,000 timeshare owners are members of TATOC, marking a 20 percent increase in membership for that timeshare organization.

TATOC’s Conclusions about the Timeshare Study

It makes sense that TATOC would see the results of this new timeshare study as a ” …a powerful, credible and ringing endorsement of the growing popularity of holiday ownership,” and that they would point to timeshare ownership as clearly being an integral part of the global travel and tourism industry.

As Harry Taylor explains, “Timeshare is an affordable way of having a shared ownership in a holiday home. I am confident the UK will continue to lead the way in boosting its expansion and popularity in Europe.”

To learn more about TATOC and this growing Timeshare Association, contact:

The Utah Department of Workforce Services has recognized Marriott Vacation Club International Owners Services (Marriott Timeshare) as a 2009 winner of the “Utah’s Best Places to Work™ Work/Life Award.

Good Job Marriott Vacation Club International

This high recognition as one of Utah’s best places to work tells you, as a vacation property owner, that Marriott Vacation Club International values the people on the ‘front lines’ who provide timeshare owners with customer service, reservations, and Marriott Rewards assistance. When you interact with the staff and employees at Marriott Vacation Club, you are dealing with people who have lots of reasons to like their jobs. A positive, supportive workplace environment translates to workers who feel valued and respected, feelings they then share by being friendly, patient, and respectful with the nearly 395,000 Marriott timeshare owners they serve.

Ron Essig, vice president, global owner products and services for Marriott Vacation Club International, was quoted by The FINANCIAL as saying, “Being recognized as one of Utah’s “Best Places to Work” is a great honor for our division and continued affirmation of our outstanding Owner Services Associates. The foundation of Marriott Vacation Club International’s corporate culture and success is and always will be people first.”

The intent of the Utah Work/Life Award is to recognize and honor companies that create exceptional workplaces and businesses while effectively addressing employee work and life needs, and creating and maintaining a workplace culture of equity and opportunity.

Sell My Timeshare NOW, and The Timeshare Authority blog congratulate Marriott Vacation Club International for its exemplary efforts to maintain a great work environment for timeshare owner services employees. And we say “thank you Marriott timeshare” for all you have always done throughout the years to enhance and improve timesharing for timeshare owners, and everyone who is a part of the timeshare industry. Marriott timeshare employs over 450 people worldwide in Owner Services. Sell My Timeshare NOW, and The Timeshare Authority blog congratulate Marriott Vacation Club International for its exemplary efforts to maintain a great work environment for timeshare owner services employees. And we say “thank you Marriott timeshare” for all you have always done throughout the years to enhance and improve timesharing for timeshare owners, and everyone who is a part of the timeshare industry.

Have you noticed headlines about timeshare ownership or vacation resort property that warn you, “Timeshare Owners Can’t Resell Timeshare,” but the next day claim, “Timeshare Sales and Timeshare Resales are Gaining”?

Or how about the news from some timeshare sales companies that business is in a major slump only to follow that news in a few days or a few weeks by news with the same timeshare sales company claiming its business is rebounding and it is opening new resorts?

Mixed messaging is confusing. And frankly, it is sometimes a red flag that a company doesn’t have a firm grasp on what is happening internally. After the year we’ve all been through economically, watching pillars and icons of business crumble and fall, corporate mixed messaging no longer fools anyone.

In today’s business climate, consumers value consistency. A business may not be the biggest, sell the most, or offer the most different types of services in its field, but if it is consistent in what it delivers and honest in the message it sends, then let’s face it; we feel a lot more comfortable spending our money there.

Everyone is tired of the rollercoaster ride. Now consumers are sending their own message: “If your business is good, tell us; and if it is mediocre or even poor, tell us that, too. We are all watching our dollars and cents and any corporation or company that does not shoot straight with us is not likely to earn our trust.”

The Consistent, Reliable Message of Sell My Timeshare NOW

Sell My Timeshare NOW has been telling you the same thing for nearly six years—our timeshare resale and timeshare rental advertising business is good and we are growing. As both the consumer economy and the state of the industry have changed, we’ve made changes too. But our press releases, our advertising, our quarterly financial synopses, and our blog have all delivered a message of timeshare sales, timeshare rentals, new services, new staff, growth, and an ever-increasing level of leadership and participation in shaping our industry. There is no mixed messaging here.

We are not the biggest company in America or even the biggest in the timeshare business. We are not the oldest, the one with the most offices, or with the flashiest advertising. Instead, we are Sell My Timeshare NOW, a fast-growing, forward thinking, reliable, and straight shooting company.

Here are the twelve most recent media announcements Sell My Timeshare NOW has released since January 2009. The headlines tell the story …

1. New Booking Service in Timeshare Rentals Means Huge Vacation Savings Paired With the Ease of Online Reservations
2. Timeshare Resales Offers up 56 Percent on HOT 100 List as Americans Seek Vacation Savings
3. Timeshare Sales Management Expansion Part of Sell My Timeshare NOW’s Critical Growth Plan
4. Sell My Timeshare NOW Reports 95 Percent Growth in Offers During the First Quarter 2009
5. Timeshare Resales Advertising Executive Takes on Role as Myth Buster
6. Timeshare Resales CEO Part of Speakers Panel for National Timeshare Owners Association
7. Timeshare Broker Company Continues Success in a Down Economy
8. Sell My Timeshare NOW CEO to Speak on Timeshare Resales Panel at TATOC Conference
9. Timeshare Resales Company, Sell My Timeshare NOW Announces Hiring of President and COO
10. National Timeshare Owners Association Endorses Sell My Timeshare NOW
11. Timeshare Sales Advertising Leader Hires Jay Bade to Head Business Development
12. Despite the Economy, Consumers Are Buying and Renting Timeshare Resales and Sell My Timeshare NOW Has the Numbers to Prove It

Owners Perspective Magazine is a successful publication directed to the needs and interests of timeshare owners. Launched online in July of 2008 and in print in January of this year, Owners Perspective Magazine provides both an information platform as well as a way for the timeshare industry to showcase services to timeshare owners and prospective owners.

In recent months, the editors of Owners Perspective Magazine have recognized a trend toward higher interest in articles about fractional ownership and an increasing response by readers seeking more information from advertisers about fractional properties. With this in mind, the new Fractional Property Guide from the publishers of Owners Perspective Magazine will officially launch on July 1, with a soft launch already in place. To see the new Fractional Property Guide during its test and evaluation phase go to:

http://www.ownersperspective.com/fractionalpropertyguide/

A Stand Out in the Timeshare Industry

Paul Mattimoe, CEO of Perspective International, (owners and publishers of both publications, as well as other timeshare industry magazines, websites, and directories) says, “Whilst there are several other excellent websites that provide property listings for fractional ownership, we have been compelled to produce ours through demand from our consumer magazine readership which reaches more than 42,000 prospective buyers each month.”

Instead of measuring the magazine’s outreach in terms of “hits” or “clicks”, Mattimoe points out that the publications uses a more targeted approach, providing readers with inquiry forms direct to the advertisers. “It is essential,” Mattimoe adds, “for us to continue to differentiate ourselves from competitors and our offline reach is the key ingredient here.”

Florida Representative Alan Grayson has introduced the Paid Vacation Act of 2009. This proposed legislation provides for the first-ever US law to require businesses to provide all fulltime employees with paid vacation days.

Many Americans are under the impression that such legislation already exists, but if you are one of the 28 million US workers who receive zero paid vacation days, then you already know there is no labor law currently in place to guarantee workers even one day per year of paid vacation time. What may surprise you most is that the US is the only industrialized nation without a minimum annual leave statute and that at least 147 countries have a specific law that addresses and requires employers to provide paid vacation time to workers.

What the Critics Say about the Paid Vacation Act

As good as the new Paid Vacation Act sounds, let’s be fair and look at what critics are saying about the proposed law. While Grayson says the law applies only to fulltime employees, the proposed law’s definition of fulltime includes anyone working a minimum of 25 hours per week or 1250 hours per year, which doesn’t sound like fulltime to most people. The law would apply to companies with as few as 100 employees, which means that some of the employers impacted qualify as small businesses. More importantly, the law, as proposed, would also mandate that three years after its effective date, employers would be required to then begin providing two weeks of paid vacation, while companies with 50 or more employees would begin having to provide one week of paid vacation time.

Critics of the bill say that passing it could motivate some companies to hold employee numbers below the 100- or 50-employee threshold, thereby reducing the number of available jobs. The Society for Human Resource Management points out that, “… a one-size fits all, government-imposed mandate is not the answer.” And of course, with so many struggling businesses, and so many Americans currently unemployed or underemployed, desperately seeking a job (even one with no vacation time), how can legislators justify passing any bill that puts more economic burden on the backs of employers? The timing of this bill, critics say, is just not right.

Why the Critics May be Wrong about the Paid Vacation Act

Now for the other side of the argument … As the ARDA (American Resort Development Association) website, VacationBetter.org points out, the relationship between your health and your vacation days is startling. According to VacationBetter.org, “Studies have firmly established that men who don’t take vacations are 32 percent more likely to die of heart attacks and women are 50 percent more likely. Lack of vacation time doubles the rate of depression for women. Whereas after vacations, workers gain an hour per night of quality sleep and their reaction times are 30 to 40 percent faster, improvements that last for several months.”

The Center for Economic and Policy Research points out that, “… a lack of vacation causes stress and workplace burnout, and that those evil twins cost the economy more than $300 billion each year.”

In Europe, every worker gets at least four weeks of paid vacation time by law (French law requiring the most with 30 days of paid leave), yet despite this, the Euro is rising while the US dollar is falling. According to Mark Rosekind of Alertness Solutions, vacations can result in as much as an 82 percent increase in performance, and studies at Iowa State University show that workers demonstrate a 60 percent increase in productivity in the month or two following a vacation.

Congressman Grayson says, “Why are paid vacations good enough for the Chinese, French, Japanese, and German employees, but not good enough for us? In other countries, it’s a matter of right. Everyone is entitled to it. In our country, it is a matter of class. Over time we are coming to realize that whatever your background, wherever you grew up, wherever you live, there are certain basic elements that people need to have enjoyable lives. They need health care. They need a decent paying job. And for a good life, they need time off.”

Grayson, who represents the Eighth District in Florida (which includes the Orlando-Kissimmee vacation area), believes that passing the bill into law will not only improve work environments for individuals but will substantially jumpstart the economy with tourist dollars. Reuters News shows that the US Tour Operators Association and the Adventure Travel Trade Association both support the bill, while the US Travel Association has yet to speak out on it.

Paid Vacation Time and Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals

As the people at Festiva Resorts pointed out in a recent blog post about the proposed vacation law, “…who deserves a vacation? Everyone does! If you are spending this Memorial Day at a Festiva Resort or any other timeshare or vacation ownership resort, then cheers to you!”

With roughly one quarter of the American workforce potentially affected by the bill, should it pass, some 28 million people could suddenly become the recipient of a week of paid vacation time, a schedule which greatly lends itself to choosing a timeshare vacation. Timeshare vacations reduce or eliminate the time and stress involved in vacation planning and put you on the fast track to vacation enjoyment and relaxation. You know before you go what type of accommodations and amenities your timeshare resort vacation destination provides, and you bypass the hassle of searching for availability and affordability in hotel or motel rooms. When you get only one week of vacation time, you can maximize the benefit of it with an easy-to-enjoy, easy-to-afford timeshare resale or timeshare rental.

For timeshare owners looking to sell timeshare, or use it as a timeshare rental, the idea that 28 million Americans could soon be in the market for affordable vacation lodging might be a great benefit for them, as well.

Yes, there are two sides to every story, but no matter where you stand on the proposed legislation, it is difficult to argue against the proven mental and physical benefits a vacation affords.

Here’s more information on the importance of taking a vacation from VacationBetter.org:

According to an article in Travel News Daily, a new report shows very happy timeshare owners in Europe. The research was compiled by The Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute at the Nottingham University Business School on behalf of the Resort Development Organisation (which was formerly the Organisation for Timeshares in Europe).

The comprehensive study of Europe timeshare and UK timeshare showed there are more than 1.5 million timeshare owners in Europe and that 87 percent of them say they are happy with their holiday ownership. Nearly 75 percent say they believe that timeshare accommodations are superior to other holidays they have taken in the past, and that timeshares provide a quality of accommodations that is important to them.

The study begins with the historic perspective of the impact Europe timeshares have had on the economy for more than 40 years. Results show a thriving industry that has a positive effect on local economies throughout Europe. Generating €3.2 billion in expenditures annually and employing nearly 70,000 people, the UK timeshare and Europe timeshare industry is clearly a strong influencer on the European economy.

“Timeshare is a concept that has truly come of age with many thousands of happy owners across Europe,” said Richard McIntosh, the Chairman of the Resort Development Organisation. “The quality of timeshare resorts is high which is why many owners see it as superior to other self catering holidays. With exchange options available, owners also enjoy the flexibility of being able to try out resorts across Europe and the rest of the world.“

There are 1,312 Europe timeshare resorts, which equals 67 million bed nights. Twenty-six percent of Europe timeshare resorts are Spain timeshares; fifteen percent are Italy timeshares, and UK and Ireland timeshare account for eleven percent.

McIntosh, who points out that Europe timeshares have an annual 72 percent occupancy rate, says, “Timeshare is a year round industry with owners as likely to visit in the winter months as the summer, spending money in the local community and providing jobs where they otherwise might not exist.“

Recognizing that timeshare holidays are enjoyed throughout the year, and that timeshare owners spend an average of 1,588 euros per vacation on goods and services in the area where they vacation, Europe timeshare is clearly a substantial boost to local and regional economies.

Travel New Daily quotes Professor Chris Cooper, Director, Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute as endorsing the report by saying, “This report is essential reading for all involved in the timeshare business, not only does it provide a detailed profile of timeshare owners, but it also examines their future intentions and preferences in the timeshare market place“.

To learn more about Europe timeshare, visit the website for the Resort Development Organisation.

What a great experience I had on Sunday with members of the National Timeshare Owners Association. Approximately 130 members of NTOA took advantage of the opportunity to meet in Baltimore, Maryland for an educational conference on timeshare ownership.

I had an opportunity to speak at the timeshare conference, along with Shep Altshuler, who publishes Timesharing Today, the Independent Voice of Vacation Ownership and Paula diPaola and Woody Cary, both from Platinum Interchange timeshare exchange.

The best part of the meeting was probably the question and answer time, because that’s when timeshare owners had the chance to ask the speakers for explanations and updates. The Q & A time dealt with many different aspects of timesharing that really matter to them as owners, often as owners of multiple timeshare weeks and at multiple resorts.

Timeshare Owners and the Right to Know

One of the challenges of vacation ownership is that sometimes when people buy timeshare they find that after the sale there is no one around to answer their questions or address their concerns. And while the ins and outs of timeshare exchange, timeshare resales, timeshare rentals, and other points about ownership aren’t rocket science, they aren’t self-evident either! Many timeshare owners today miss the full range of perks and benefits that go with vacation ownership simply because they don’t really understand them and unless they are members of a timeshare owners organization such NTOA, they have no one to ask.

An important point brought out in the discussions on Sunday is that, as a timeshare owner, you should know who your board members are. Who sits on your Homeowners Association Board? How can you get in touch with them? If you don’t know the answer to these questions, then push until you find out. You have a right to know who is making decisions concerning property in which you have an ownership. And on that same vein, you have a right to know the names and contact information of the other people who share ownership of a timeshare unit with you.

Good Things are Happening for Timeshare Owners

Thanks to NTOA and other owner-based timeshare organizations, the experience of owning timeshare continues to get better and better. As NTOA founder and president Ed Hastry is fond of saying, “Educated timeshare owners are happy timeshare owners.”

I really support that attitude. Critics of timeshare are often people who simply don’t know all the facts. And this type of misunderstanding and misinformation can be found everywhere from forums and bulletin boards to governmental agencies – a matter we are going to look at more closely in upcoming blog posts.

In tomorrow’s The Timeshare Authority blog, I am going to share with you, some of the same information I gave the National Timeshare Owners Association. I want to first debunk the myth that timeshares don’t resell. I have the statistical data to prove that not only can you resell timeshare, but that advertising your timeshare online is one of the very best ways to do it.

Like the popular TV show on the Discovery Channel, I’m going take on some of the worst and most damaging pieces of misinformation, and I am going to be a “myth buster.”

Enjoy this humorous clip from MythBusters.

The National Timeshare Owners Association’s educational seminar is coming up next week. Scheduled for April 19, in Baltimore, Maryland, this members-only conference provides a change for NTOA members to listen to and talk with timeshare experts including: Woody Cary, president of Platinum Interchange timeshare exchange company; Lisa Ann Schreier, author of Timeshare Vacations for Dummies and Surviving a Timeshare Presentation; and Shep Altshuler, publisher of Timesharing Today, the Independent Voice of Vacation Ownership.

NTOA provides a valuable service for timeshare owners, serving as a clearinghouse for information about buying and selling timeshare and timeshare points; timeshare exchange; timeshare resales; and other topics related to vacation ownership. Without membership in NTOA, you could find that when you buy timeshare, you have questions about your options and opportunities and yet are unsure whom to turn to for answers. This is where the National Timeshare Owners Association steps in; and why their motto reinforces the message that educated timeshare owners are happy timeshare owners.

I will also be joining the dais at the NTOA seminar in Baltimore, and am really looking forward to providing the timeshare owners there more information about timeshare resales and timeshare rentals, as well as all the opportunities to buy, rent, or sell timeshare.

Future Educational Conferences for Timeshare Owners

If you can’t make the conference in Baltimore, I urge you to try to attend one of the upcoming ones either in Cherry Hill, New Jersey on September 27 or San Diego, California on October 18. You have to preregister, and you have to be a member of the National Timeshare Owners Association in order to attend, but these educational opportunities are only one of the many benefits that NTOA membership brings to timeshare owners.

To learn more about NTOA, email hastry@aol.com or call (410) 719-0064. Follow this link to read Sell My Timeshare NOW’s most recent press release on this topic.

Shep Altshuler publishes one of the most influential timeshare owners magazines in the country. He has a unique perspective on owner issues and shares his thoughts on the industry and what is important to today’s owners.

 

 Timesharing Today Magazine publisher Shep Altshuler discusses the state of the timeshare industry. [4:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Lisa Ann Schreier, Director of Timeshare Insights and author of “Timeshare Vacations for Dummies” shares her views about the state of the timeshare industry.

 

 ARDA Interview with author Lisa Ann Schreier [4:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download