(Jason Tremblay and Jay Bade at ARDA World 2012)

Last night, at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, the timeshare industry honored and celebrated its successes–the best and brightest of the past year.

In a black tie affair, where everyone sparkled, we dined together and shared both the humor of entertainer Tom Papa, as well as  many laughs with “comedians” from the timeshare industry itself.  (Who knew we could be so  funny?)

The awards are numerous and we will be looking more closely at the award winners in upcoming days, but for now, let’s just say that  despite reporters who choose to write stories that mislead the public; despite an economy that challenged all (not just timeshares); and despite the fact that nearly every one of us has more to do in a single day than we can possibly accomplish, the men and women of timeshare still found time to:

• excel to excellence in service, communication, design and innovation
• share of their time, talents, and service with those less fortunate
• and dream new dreams and accomplish new realities.

The sun is coming up over the mountains and Las Vegas is sparkling in the morning rays of lights even more beautifully than she does in the neon of the night.

It is going to be a great day at ARDA World 2012 and we at SellMy Timeshare NOW and Timeshare Broker Services– that is, VacationOwnership.com– are excited to be part of it. We will be blogging, tweeting and on our Facebook page live from ARDA, so look for us here on The Timeshare Authority; on Facebook as SellMyTimeshareNOW and on Twitter as @JasonTremblay_ and @VacationHotDeal using the hashtag #ARDAWorld.

And if you are here at ARDA, look for us at Booth 532, and at other convention events. We will be easy to spot. We are all wearing hot pink badges proclaiming, “Now you can call us VacationOwnership.com”. Come up and ask us to tell you more.

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.

Have you heard? The companies you have known and trusted for nearly a decade, Sell My Timeshare NOW and Timeshare Broker Services, are getting a new name and a new look.

Now you can call us VacationOwnership.com.

We are uniting our brands under one new, strong name that has been carefully and purposefully selected to both communicate well to the timeshare and vacation market and to resonate well with the timeshare and vacation ownership industry.

Under our brand, VacationOwnership.com, we will be bringing you timeshare broker services from licensed real estate agents; timeshare rental; and a variety of customized timeshare resort owner services.  As part of VacationOwnership.com, we will also be offering you by-owner timeshare resales (FSBO) and rentals at TimeshareResales.com

Change doesn’t happen overnight. And our team is going to be busier than ever in upcoming months rolling out our new brand. But along the way, we will still be providing you the same top quality service that timeshare owners, timeshare buyers, renters, and timeshare sellers have valued since 2003.

The Resort Trades March 2012

The following excerpt is from the March 2012 issue of The Resort Trades. It is reprinted here with permission from The Resort Trades. We encourage you to read this timely article  in the print edition of the magazine or online at: http://www.resorttrades.com/articles.php?showMag=Resort&act=view&id=874

Despite over 700 highly visible storefronts, a business presence in each of the 50 states, and a massive online identity, Barnes & Noble Inc. is walking a precarious line. Well aware that after they and other bookselling giants edged out mom and pop bookstores, many of those same companies, including B. Dalton and Borders, fell at the feet of an even greater giant. Barnes & Noble understands it is part of an industry undergoing massive change. As Amazon.com redefines the way consumers shop for books (and many other products), the disruptive technologies behind print-on-demand and e-book readers are concomitantly exploding the foundations of the publishing and bookselling industries.

Barnes & Noble may still be communicating to consumers that it is a chain of bookstores, but CEO William J. Lynch Jr. recognizes the fatal flaw in his company perceiving itself in this way. Instead, he describes Barnes & Noble as a technology company. Operating from much the same mindset as does Barnes & Noble, the Darden Corporation, creator of such iconic restaurant names as Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, The Capital Grille, and Seasons 52, may tell the world it is in the restaurant business, but in fact, communicates internally that it is in the “brand building” business.

Given these insights, regardless of your niche in the timeshare, vacation ownership or fractional industry, you have to pause and question: “What business are we really in?”

In its January 2011 article, “Reinvent Your Business Before It’s Too Late,” The Harvard Business Review explains, “Sooner or later, all businesses, even the most successful, run out of room to grow. Faced with this unpleasant reality, they are compelled to reinvent themselves periodically. The ability to pull off this difficult feat – to jump from the maturity stage of one business to the growth stage of the next – is what separates high performers from those whose time at the top is all too brief.”

Timesharing hasn’t outgrown its market in the traditional sense; in fact, it’s barely even tapped its potential market base. Nevertheless, it has become root bound, attempting to thrive in a container too confining to serve the needs of today’s vacation marketplace. Consider that when a church reaches the point that 70 percent of its pew space is occupied on Sunday morning, the membership of that church stops growing, despite the fact it could still easily accommodate another 30 percent in its congregation without stressing its facilities or infrastructure.

Even scarier is the fact that a business that stalls in its growth faces a 90 percent likelihood it will never fully recover. Of those that partially recover, roughly two-thirds wind up acquired, seized or forced into bankruptcy. Now imagine timeshare confronted with both the need to grow and the need to reinvent its offerings in the face of changing and disruptive technology.

The face in the mirror

Over the years, our industry has tried calling our product timeshare, vacation ownership and variations of names that have included the words interval, club, or holiday. All of this has been an effort to put a fresh face on a misunderstood product. Yet maybe it has never been the consumer who misunderstood the product; maybe it is the timeshare industry wrestling with our own identity crisis.

Right now, we may only be comfortable with the idea of a few well-placed injections to relax the more obvious wrinkles that over time have crept into the timeshare business. But if we are going to see a robust and vital face looking back at us in the mirror, then we are likely to need more significant change.

3 strategies for reinvention

1. Serve emotions first, function second. Vacation products sell and rent primarily because of how consumers anticipate the vacation will make them feel. Apple’s technology products are not the only ones to offer their functions and features; many times, they are not even the best products. But they afford a measure of product confidence and “feel-good cool” that attracts and keeps loyal consumers.

2. Give away as much as you possibly can. Share your knowledge, strategies and ideas, because doing so builds a stronger, more stable industry and in this fast-changing world, knowledge you hoard becomes rapidly outdated and of limited value anyway. To your consumers, giving of your product inasmuch as you can, and your quality customer care boundlessly always grows your business and enhances the perception of timesharing.

3. Open your mind to unexpected resources and partnerships. The next great thing will not come from where the last one did. What did not make sense for your business 15 years, or even 15 minutes ago, may be your ideal solution for the future. Stay open to possibilities.

ARDA World: It’s only the beginning

While the annual ARDA Convention always attracts industry leaders from around the world, this year’s conference was reinvented to more fully embrace global participation. The American Resort Development Association 2012 Convention, ARDA World, opens new doors, bringing with it exciting potential for growth and change.

With the release of ARDA International Foundation’s first global timeshare study in more than a dozen years, the timeshare industry gains timely, informative data to help it adapt, change, rebrand and even reinvent timeshare for today’s marketplace, starting with the way the industry perceives itself.

ARDA has recognized and stepped up to its role in affording timesharing the tools and platforms it needs to facilitate amazing transformation. Now it is up to all of us to put those tools to work building a vibrant growth industry that serves consumers with the products they seek via the channels they are already using.

Barely a week and a half into the month and already March has come roaring in like a lion for the timeshare industry. Here are actions and updates on what State lawmakers are doing across the country to improve timeshare ownership and strengthen the timeshare industry.

Hawaii Timeshare: On March 5, Senator Rosalyn H. Baker (Roz Baker) introduced Hawaii SB 2632 into the Hawaii legislature. The intent of the bill is to expedite the process of moving all timeshare interests into public records by automatically deregistering those timeshare interests that currently reside in Land Court. The bill passed its three assigned Senate committees and will now move to the Senate floor. It is scheduled to be heard by TOU (Committee on Tourism) today, Monday, 3-12-2012. (Read SB 2632)

Florida Timeshare: On March 9, the Florida Timeshare Resale Accountability Act, sponsored by Florida State Senator Andy Gardiner and Florida State Representative Eric Eisnaugle, and supported by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, received final approvals and is now awaiting approval by Governor Rick Scott. This Bill provides greater consumer protection against fraudulent and deceptive business practices and is expected to have substantial influence on the guidelines lawmakers use regarding timeshare sales and timeshare resales in many other states. (Read CS/CS/CS HB 1001)

Virginia Timeshare: On March 6, Virginia HB 233 and HB 234 passed both Houses. HB 233 requires any reseller of a timeshare in Virginia to be registered with the Common Interest Community Board, making the timeshare reseller subject to the regulatory authority of the Board. The bill also requires timeshare resellers to make written disclosures to the timeshare buyer about the timeshare, along with other acknowledgments that must become part of the timeshare resale transaction. HB 234 specifically deals with timeshare resale by HOAs. (Read HB 233 and HB 234)

Arizona Timeshare: On March 7, Arizona HB 219, sponsored by Rep. Jim Weiers,  passed the Senate Commerce and Energy Committee and was approved by the Senate in a 5-0 vote. The bill permits permit timeshare developers to use an expedited filing process for amendments to their Arizona registrations; 15 business days for most amendments and 30 calendar days for adding six or more component sites. This bill was previously amended and passed the House on February 9. (Read HB 2195 and its accompanying clarifying amendment)

Utah Timeshare: On March 7, HB 191, the Utah Timeshare Act, was approved by both the Utah Senate and House and been sent to Governor Gary R. Herbert for his approval. The bill revises the outdated Utah Timeshare and Camp Resort Act, which was originally passed in 1987, but no longer reflects the state of the timeshare industry or address the products now offered. The bill will also improve protection for the personal information of timeshare owners. (Read HB 191)

ARDA and The ARDA-Resort Owners’ Coalition (ARDA-ROC) have been proactively involved in the development and advancement of these Bills. Learn more at:  ARDA Government Affairs

And to learn more about timeshare opportunities in these state go to: Hawaii timeshare; Florida timeshare; Virginia timeshare; Arizona timeshare and Utah timeshare.

Today the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) issued the following media release regarding legislative action that is positive, beneficial and healthy for the timeshare industry. Their release is reprinted below.

Timeshare Industry Supporting Similar Efforts in Other States

ORLANDO, FL – March 9, 2012 – Today, the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) and the American Resort Development Association Resort Owners’ Coalition (ARDA-ROC) celebrated the Florida Legislature’s passage of the Timeshare Resale Accountability Act, sponsored by Florida State Senator Andy Gardiner and Florida State Representative Eric Eisnaugle and supported by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Florida has taken a giant step in providing consumer protection against fraudulent and deceptive business practices utilized by unsavory timeshare resellers,” said Howard Nusbaum, president and CEO of ARDA.  “The timeshare industry plays an increasingly significant role in Florida’s recovering economy as tourism returns and grows in the state.  ARDA and ARDA-ROC salute General Bondi, Senator Andy Gardiner, and Representative Eric Eisnaugle for their hard work that made this a reality,” Nusbaum continued.

The Timeshare Resale Accountability Act protects Florida consumers and helps put an end to deceptive marketing practices conducted by fraudulent timeshare resale companies that have been targeting consumers under the guise of offering a service to help sell their timeshare product.  Specifically, timeshare owners will be given more information to make better decisions about purchasing timeshare resale services.  For example, the legislation seeks greater transparency and will require, among other things, timeshare resale companies to disclose all terms and conditions of their business relationship with a consumer, provide for a right of rescission for consumers to cancel a contract for resale services, and impose penalties on companies who continue these deceptive practices.

Nearly 25 percent of all timeshare resorts in the United States are located in Florida, and these resorts represent a large and growing share of Florida’s tourism market. The Timeshare Resale Accountability Act is proactive legislation that is vital to ensuring the long-term health of a key sector of Florida’s tourism industry by protecting timeshare owners and legitimate businesses alike.

ARDA and ARDA-ROC are also supporting resale legislation in other states such as Colorado and Utah. Aimed at targeting fraudulent resale company practices, the legislation focuses on a different but equally important area of consumer protection related to services offered by timeshare transfer companies.

The timeshare industry continues to work to ensure transparency in both the buying and selling process.  Over the years, ARDA and its members have provided information on the resale process to consumers, monitored resale company practices, held symposiums for its members, and created think tanks with industry leaders to discuss the best solutions to ensure consumer protections and adherence to resale standards.

For further information about the timeshare secondary market including resales, visit the ARDA-ROC Timeshare Resale Resource Center

About ARDA

The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) is the Washington D.C.-based professional association representing the vacation ownership and resort development industries.  Established in 1969, ARDA today has almost 1,000 members ranging from privately held firms to publicly traded companies and international corporations with expertise in shared ownership interests in leisure real estate.  The membership also includes timeshare owner associations (HOAs), resort management companies, and owners through the ARDA Resort Owners Coalition (ARDA-ROC). For more information, visit www.arda.org or ARDA’s consumer website at www.VacationBetter.org.

Search the internet on the topic of timeshare and you will find websites, blogs, and ads promising to share timeshare secrets with you. Whether these sites are offering to let you in on the secrets they say resort developers don’t want you to know, to share timeshare resale secrets, or to expose the secrets of the timeshare industry, they all operate on the assumption that consumers aren’t smart enough to think for themselves.

There is only one timeshare secret and it is: there are no timeshare secrets.

Ethical timeshare developers and timeshare resellers don’t have timeshare secrets. They want their owners and prospective owners to know as much about the timeshare product as possible. They want consumers to be educated on the opportunities of timeshare. They want long-term relationships with their clients and they know you cannot build those based on secrets, smoke and mirrors, or deception.

• Buyers need to understand the vacation product they are buying before they buy timeshare.
• Buyers need to understand the terms of their ownership and the benefits and requirements associated with it.
• And most of all, timeshare buyers need to have this understanding BEFORE they make the decision to buy timeshare.

Like any other industry, there are companies that are ethical, others that are not so ethical, and some that simply should not be in business. But governmental agencies and the industry itself are working hard to strengthen and standardize guidelines for buying and selling timeshare. It is harder than ever for unethical companies to operate and it will continue to get even more difficult as new legislation is implemented and the industry itself raises its standards of accountability.

There are no timeshare secrets, only informed, knowledgeable buyers, sellers, and timeshare owners.

(The Crescent Resort on South Beach in Miami, Island One Resorts)

Island One Resorts timeshare, an Orlando, Florida-based resort developer, has selected Orange Enterprise Suite from SPI Software.

Island One Resorts CEO Sterling Stoudenmire says, “We selected SPI as best-in-class to handle all aspects of existing operations including sales and marketing, central reservations, PMS, resort operations, and web-based access to reservations and account management for our owners. We believe SPI Orange is the platform to support our forthcoming products and services, as it has the flexibility and full range of functionality required to enable our strategy. It was very important to us to purchase enterprise-wide software designed specifically for timeshare resorts, but with the flexibility necessary to drive continuing innovation.”

Island One Resorts operates Club Navigo and manages eight Florida timeshare resorts including:

Miami Timeshare

The Crescent Resort on South Beach

Orlando Timeshare

Barefoot’n Resort

Bryan’s Spanish Cove

Liki Tiki Village

Orbit One Vacation Villas

Parkway International Resort

Ormond Beach Timeshare

The Cove on Ormond Beach

Naples Timeshare

Charter Club Resort of Naples Bay

Matt Brosious, SPI VP of Sales, says, “Island One includes eight resorts throughout Florida, plus relationships with a number of other developments outside the area. SPI’s enterprise suite of software was the clear choice in that it is capable of handling multiple demands and is highly extensible.”