There are two trustworthy ways to resell timeshare: (1.) by owner or (2) through a licensed Broker.

At our company, VacationOwnership.com, (the companies you formerly knew as SellMyTimeshareNOW.com and Timeshare Broker Services) we offer timeshare owners a dual option—that is, a choice in whether they choose to sell their timeshare through by owner advertising or choose to use a licensed Broker.

Why this choice? Because timeshare owners can have many types of needs and the timeshares they own come in all brands, sizes, venues, and popularity levels. And now more than ever, when the daily news is filled with accounts of timeshare scam and timeshare resale fraud, it is important for owners, sellers and future sellers to understand which choices are reliable and effective.

Timeshare for Sale By Owner

FSBO –for sale by owner—is a term many people have gained familiarity with through the residential real estate market. Homeowners choose to resell their residential homes themselves for a variety of reasons. Some homeowners have limited or no equity in their properties and cannot afford to pay the commission a real estate Broker would require from the sale. Other owners believe they can show off their property’s features and benefits better than anyone else. Still others have different reasons for wanting to be hands-on in the real estate resale process. And timeshare owners are no different; they select the sell-by-owner option for the same reasons that motivate sellers of residential real estate.

For sale by owner timeshare requires that the owner market his or her timeshare property to an audience of prospective timeshare buyers and that he or she then handle inquiries about the timeshare as well as the negotiations and the steps necessary to bring the transaction to closing. Along the way, the timeshare seller may choose to pay a professional to handle some of these steps on an à la carte basis.

For many timeshare owners, the most challenging part of this process is advertising and marketing the timeshare. How do you get your timeshare real estate in front of a large base of interested buyers?

Typically your best option is to turn to a timeshare company that can offer you high visibility on the internet through a site that targets potential timeshare buyers. Our websites receive more than 1.8 million pageviews per month from website visitors who have demonstrated an interest in buying or renting timeshare.

To maintain this level of visibility takes a team of technology professionals who understand how to analyze search patterns and the behavioral intent of consumers and know how to maximize the internet marketing and optimization strategies necessary to keep your timeshare ad in front of people have demonstrated an interest in buying a timeshare just like yours. It’s a constant process of adjustments, updates, and monitoring, and we think our team is the best in the industry at doing this.

When you choose a timeshare for sale by owner service, expect to pay an upfront fee to advertise your timeshare. Note, this is not a fee to sell your timeshare, which is what  consumer protection agencies rightfully warn against. If you bought advertising space in a magazine for the purpose of privately advertising your timeshare resale, you would have to pay for the space before the magazine ran your ad.  In the same way, timeshare owners are charged a fee to advertise their timeshare on a website.

Marketing your timeshare resale on a high visibility timeshare sales website that has targeted web traffic from prospective buyers is probably the best possible way for you to advertise your timeshare by owner and offers the greatest likelihood your timeshare will sell.

But for sale by owner is not the right choice for all timeshare owners who want to sell their timeshare. In tomorrow’s The Timeshare Authority, we will look at our second option for resales: timeshare Broker sales.

Congratulations to Grand Pacific Resort Management (GPRM) for bringing home three Gold Awards, 13 Silver Awards and one ACE Award at ARDA World 2012’s ARDY Award presentations earlier this month in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Grand Pacific Resort Management, based in Carlsbad, is one of the oldest and largest timeshare vacation ownership companies based in California. Each year GPRM serves more than 50,000 timeshare owner families, at the fifteen timeshare resorts the company has developed and now manages.

Nigel Lobo, Vice President of Operations/Grand Pacific Resort Management, says, “These awards are a testament to our passion for excellence and unique service culture. We won Silver awards across the board, representing most of the Resort Operations categories for the ARDYs.  Our Gold Awards were also won in highly competitive areas of resort management and owner services. We are proud to have so many committed team members who have been recognized by the industry.”

Timeshare resorts currently managed by GPRM include, these beautiful resorts:

Grand Pacific Palisades Resort & Hotel

Carlsbad Inn Beach Resort

Carlsbad Seapointe Resort

Coronado Beach Resort

Indian Palms Vacation Club

Red Wolf Lakeside Lodge

Red Wolf Lodge at Squaw Valley

RiverPointe at Napa Valley

San Clemente Cove Resort

Southern California Beach Club

Villa L’Auberge (Del Mar, CA)

Mountain Retreat (Arnold, CA)

Ali’i Kai Resort in Hawaii

Hilton Grand Vacations Club at MarBrisa

and Panorama Vacation Retreat at Horsethief Lodge in British Columbia, Canada.

Follow any of the links above to learn more about timeshare resales and timeshare rentals at these GPRM managed resorts and other top vacation destinations.

Vacation Ownership That Doesn’t Own You

Vacation Ownership means different things depending on who you ask. There’s the kind of vacation ownership that involves sole possession of a beach house, mountain cabin, or other holiday getaway property. When you first buy that vacation retreat, it may seem like the best idea you ever had. You pack up the kids and the dog and head for your “second home” as often as you can. But after a short while, things begin to change.

Your kids realize they don’t like being away from home so often. They want to stick around on weekends and hang out with their friends. Even your spouse starts making excuses for why the family shouldn’t make the drive to the vacation house next weekend.

Still, you aren’t concerned; you planned ahead to use your vacation home as a rental when you aren’t enjoying it yourself. Yet, there’s the hassle of scheduling and confirming the renters. Soon you are looking for a management agent to handle these responsibilities for you, along with that of finding a plumber, repair service, pest control, and endless number of other tasks that befall homeowners. That vacation home you dreamed of owning starts to own you, (rather than you owning it) as the costs and responsibilities mount, outweighing the pleasure you are deriving from it.

Making Vacation Ownership Work for You  

But there is another side to vacation ownership and a brighter picture that is a better fit for millions of vacationers.

The opportunities of vacation ownership through timeshares, especially affordably priced timeshare resales and timeshare rentals, enable you to own vacation property in a way that is customized to your budget and your vacation style.

Timeshares, purchased as deeded ownership or as vacation club points, allow you to pay for only the days and nights of vacation you expect to typically be using each year. Rather than the cost of owning a vacation home 365 days a year, timeshare vacation ownership lets you pay for and “own” the weeks you actually anticipate using your timeshare, typically one, two, or three weeks of vacationing. The cost for maintaining that vacation home the rest of the year is a responsibility you don’t have to bear.

Instead of owning the headaches of a second property; you have taken ownership in a vacation lifestyle. You have made a commitment to your family and yourself to enjoy the vacations that you need, deserve, and have earned. Timeshare means taking ownership in vacationing without letting the costs and responsibilities of a vacation home take ownership of you.

One of our timeshare rental features is a service called “Last Minute Timeshare Rental Deals.”

Last Minute Timeshare Rental Deals afford owners a way to rent their timeshare and recoup some or all of their annual fees and/or taxes. This means even if the timeshare owner didn’t plan on renting his or her timeshare, there’s still a high visibility opportunity to do so through our website and with the assistance of our licensed timeshare brokers.

For vacationers, Last Minute Timeshare Rental Deals mean a chance to vacation, even if you haven’t planned ahead or booked a resort. It also means a chance to explore timeshare resorts across the country (or around the world), and to learn more about a particular resort, brand or about timesharing in general. And best of all, it means vacationing at an extraordinary price for your accommodations.

How Last Minute Timeshare Rentals Work

Taking advantage of a last minute rental is easy. Pick your vacation, reserve your week, pack and go! It’s that simple.

If you don’t have the luxury of enjoying 7 days of vacation, ask about the possibility of renting the timeshare for fewer days and nights. Many timeshare owners are quite receptive to a partial week’s rental, especially if their use date is rapidly approaching.

So go ahead and peruse our last minute timeshare rental deals.

Each and every rental listed as a Last Minute Timeshare Rental Deal has been verified for accuracy of description and terms to ensure that the information provided is 100 percent accurate. And even though the clock is ticking, when you book a Last Minute Rental Deal, your reservation is guaranteed the minute you sign and return to us your rental agreement.

Here’s what Dictionary.com has to say about the word “investment”:

in·vest·ment:

1. The action or process of investing money for profit or material result.
2. A thing that is worth buying because it may be profitable or useful in the future.
3. An act of devoting time, effort, or energy to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result.

A timeshare is not an investment for financial return. In a world that once assumed all real estate purchases yielded  profit when resold, the economic decline of recent years has served as a wakeup call that even some seemingly sound ‘investments’ such as the homes we buy don’t always return us a profit when resold. This simple fact alone  knocks definitions 1 and 2 off the list in terms of timeshares.

But what about definition number 3? Is a timeshare an investment in the sense that it brings you a worthwhile result? 

According to research  conducted by Ernst & Young LLP and published in the State of the Vacation Timeshare Industry Study 2011, there are more than 8 million timeshare owners in the United States, among whom there is a satisfaction rate of 85 percent.

Some of the reasons timeshare owners use and enjoy their timeshares include the facts that they find the accommodations spacious; they know what to expect from their resort (or one they exchange for) so vacation planning is easy; and they know that timeshare resorts typically offer amenities to entertain and engage family members of all ages.

But perhaps one of the most important ways that timeshares yield “worthwhile results” is that they create a pattern of vacation commitment. Both research and our instincts tell us that vacations are good for our mental and physical well-being, they recharge our creativity, help us build stronger bonds with family and friends, and allow us time to restore, recoup, and recharge. And when the commitment is made, and the vacation is paid for in advance, it’s amazing how motivated we become to take that much needed time off.

Vacations are, in fact, an investment in yourself. Whether you stay in a hotel room, a tent, or you buy or rent timeshare, you won’t see a financial return. But the ways in which you will benefit by taking that vacation may turn out to be worth far more than the money you spend.

It’s been nearly a year since Island One Resorts and its Island One Resorts Hospitality Group (IORHG) management affiliate successfully emerged from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring.

During the process, the company retained operations of its eight Florida timeshare resorts, while divesting some inventory and assets, including Chenay Bay Beach Resort in St. Croix. Additionally during this time, Island One Resorts expanded its reach, partnering with Diamond Resorts on a fee-for-service basis in the sales of Club Navigo and Island One memberships.

Island One Timeshare Owners: always the Focus

Perhaps the single most important aspect of this period of restructuring for the thirty-plus year old Florida timeshare company is that Island One timeshare owners and timeshare renters have continued  receiving quality customer service and enjoying outstanding vacation experiences as the company has undergone both reorganization and growth. Of additional importance is that communication and interaction with resort homeowner associations (HOAs) has remained strong and effective.

Island One CEO  Sterling Stoudenmire attributes the company’s success during this past year in part to its commitment to communication with its vacation owners, pointing out, “Nothing has changed with regards to their (Island One timeshare owners) being able to enjoy their vacations and Island One Resorts’ excellent services and amenities.”

Island One Florida Timeshare Resorts

Island One Resorts operates eight Florida timeshare resorts:

• Miami Beach - The Crescent Resort on South Beach
• Naples - Charter Club Resort Of Naples Bay
• Orlando - Bryan’s Spanish Cove
• Ormond Beach - The Cove On Ormond Beach
• Kissimmee - Barefoot’n Resort
• Kissimmee - Liki Tiki Village
• Kissimmee - Orbit One Vacation Villas
• Kissimmee - Parkway International Resort

Last Monday, April 2, on the kick-off day of ARDA World 2012, I sat on a panel called, “Call to Action: The Pay Off for Reputation Building through Social Media.”

Along with Phil Brojan of  RCI;  Lou Ann Burney of ARDA; Wendy Poe, of the Bluegreen Corporation; and Keith Strickland of Holiday Inn Club Vacations, we took a serious look at how the timeshare industry is (and isn’t) making use of social media. As ARDA’s introductory material explained, leading into the forum:

Is the timeshare industry being left behind in social media? Retail, travel, and hospitality brands are mastering the art of using social media to enhance brand perception and awareness, engage consumers with compelling content, and convert that engagement into revenue. Are we missing the boat? Over 85% of timeshare owners consistently give a “thumbs up” on their timeshare experience, so why do all the negative naysayers own the social media waves?

Timeshare Owners and Social Media

For timeshares, naysayers are a serious issue. The voice of a small percentage of unhappy owners—including critics who have never owned timeshare, or even vacationed in one—is louder than the majority of owners who are well satisfied with their vacation product.

At VacationOwnership.com (formerly SellMyTimeshareNOW and Timeshare Broker Services), we are working to expand our social media outreach, to improve our sites and to expand our presence. And although we do build new relationships, provide information, make timeshare sales, and rent properties via social media, we want to do more to engage in more conversations and hear more feedback from timeshare owners, buyers, and renters…

You’ll find us at: Sell My Timeshare NOW: http://www.sellmytimesharenow.com and Timeshare Broker Services : http://www.timesharebrokerservices.com
We’re on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SellMyTimeshareNOW and Twitter at@vacationhotdeal @jasontremblay_ and @renttimeshares

Talk to us… when the word on the street comes only from the critics and complainers, the timeshare you own and love is devaluated by the negative messaging.

SellMyTimeshareNOW.com and Timeshare Broker Services, both owned by Vacation Hotdeal Companies, Inc, announced today that the company is rebranding its timeshare resale and rental services, licensed timeshare brokerage, and resort services as VacationOwnership.com.

Founder and CEO Jason Tremblay says, “The timeshare industry and the vacation ownership product have changed significantly since our company was founded in 2003. As we approach 10 years in timesharing, we recognize how much our services have developed and evolved and that our future includes continued expansion and enhancement of services. With this in mind, we are unifying our products and services under one strong, all-encompassing name: VacationOwnership.com.”

The company sees VacationOwnership.com as a single brand that consolidates its messaging and will increase consumer understanding of its services. As part of VacationOwnership.com the company is launching a recently acquired domain that will be uniquely for its for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) timeshare resale and rental ads: TimeshareResales.com. Jason Tremblay explains, “We have no immediate plans to discontinue use of our existing brands, but we are very excited that going forward we will be representing the timeshare industry, specifically the secondary marketplace as VacationOwnership.com, a name that is compelling, memorable and comprehensively speaks to all aspects of timeshare vacationing.”

Equally as important as the company’s marketing to consumers is its capability to serve the needs of timeshare resorts, developers, and HOAs. “Changing your brand is a big move for a company,” says Tremblay. “We sought to develop a brand that would be more timeshare industry and developer friendly. Our current industry partnerships are numerous, strong, and growing; they are an important part of our business. We offer many customized owner services that resorts can depend on and we are constantly working to present our company and our services in ways that are embraced and accepted by the timeshare and vacation ownership industry.”

VacationOwnership.com is launching the first phase of its new brand rollout in conjunction with the timeshare industry’s premier event, ARDA World 2012, the annual international timeshare and vacation ownership conference hosted by the American Resort Development Association. ARDA World 2012 will be held, April 1-5, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Look for Jason Tremblay and other company representatives at the conference at Booth 532, and at other convention events. They will be easy to spot, as they will all be wearing hot pink badges proclaiming, “Now you can call us VacationOwnership.com”.

Although the company began solely as an online advertising service for by-owner timeshare resales and rentals, in 2006 it added licensed timeshare brokerage to provide vacationers more choice in how they bought, sold, or rented timeshare. In 2008, the company took on $10 Million in growth capital from Edison Venture Fund to expand its services and the following year, began providing customized owner services to resorts HOAS, timeshare developers, and timeshare management companies.

VacationOwnership.com is an industry leader in timeshare resale and rental services, with websites that average more than 1.8 million pageviews per month and yield a proven market of timeshare buyers and renters. Edison Venture Fund, known for its commitment to high-growth, entrepreneurial technology companies, is the company’s sole institutional investor. VacationOwnership.com is headquartered in Dover, New Hampshire with offices in Orlando, Florida.

On March 16, the Spanish government passed the European Timeshare Directive into national law. The law comes into effect this week, and all Spanish timeshare companies are required to be in compliance with it at this time.

Francisco Lizarza, RDO’s Chairman in Spain and head of the Spanish lobby group said, “This new law sweeps away the confusion that has existed in Spain over the past year and timeshare companies can finally make the appropriate adjustments to their operations”. He added, “The law will help boost consumer confidence in Spain, the most popular timeshare market in Europe, where almost half of European owners have chosen to buy.”

Among other initiatives, the Spanish timeshare directive standardizes the following:

• A 14-day cooling off period (a rescission period for the timeshare buyer)
• An absolute ban on deposits
• Contracts of more than one year are within the legislation whereas previously it was three years
• Contracts must be provided in the language of the purchaser as long as it is a language of the EU
• And, detailed information of the product must be provided, again in the language of the purchaser

While these initiatives cannot be changed by individual member countries, the governments of each country can add to the directive for guidelines regarding their country.

Most European countries passed the European Timeshare Directive in 2011. The inclusion of Spain, home to so many popular and beautiful Spanish timeshare resorts, is welcomed by the global timeshare community.

As Harry Taylor, executive chairman of TATOC sums it up, this year’s TATOC Timeshare Conference was, “Simply the best TATOC conference ever.”

Held March 9-11, at the Park Royal Hotel in Warrington, England, the conference, was attended by over 150 delegates from both the vacation ownership industry and timeshare consumers.

Harry summarizes the conference, saying, “It was fantastic to have industry professionals and owners working together in a positive and constructive way. And we had a world first. The industry panel representing developers, exchange, resale and management organisations (organizations) and the timeshare media answered questions posed by owners. This allowed a frank exchange of views, a clear discussion of the challenges facing the industry and suggestions on how these can be tackled.”

Social Media for the Timeshare Industry

The keynote address was delivered by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis from Bournemouth University (Dorsett, United Kingdom) who looked at how new technology is changing hospitality and the timeshare industry.

Calling this an age of transparency, Professor Buhalis urged the industry to step up to the fact that smart phones, tablet computers, laptops and social media are a part of life and make it impossible to hide anything from members and owners. “Professor Buhalis explained to delegates that social media and new technology is a tool and we all need to learn how to use it or it will kill us,” explains Taylor.

Death by social media … now that’s a new reality for the vacation ownership industry.