In the past 12 months, internet patterns have changed dramatically in China. Where travel destinations were once only researched online, a growing percentage of today’s residents of mainland China both research and buy travel online.

Until recently, Chinese internet technology made e-commerce for travel difficult for Chinese web surfers, plus cultural traditions lingered, creating a preference for face-to-face interactions. But China is presently experiencing the same phenomena that has occurred in North America and Europe… once people begin to gain even the slightest comfort level with booking hotels, timeshare rentals, and air travel online, use escalates rapidly.

The Chinese Powder Keg for Buying Travel, Timeshares, and Timeshare Rentals Online

China already has over 400 million internet users, and many believe the numbers are far higher claiming that young adults relying solely on cell phones (and one of the strongest demographics for internet use) are overlooked in this headcount. With this in mind, the numbers quickly begin to add up to a powdered keg ready for explosion:

1. The Chinese yuan has recent seen substantial appreciation again the US dollar.
2. Chinese travel visas are becoming easier and easier to obtain worldwide.
3. Online search and ecommerce technology in China are quickly catching up with other parts of the world.
4. The Beijing Olympics exposed many Chinese to the global face of travel in a new and exciting way.
5. The China National Tourism Administration expects year-over-year to see an increase in outbound travel of not less than 7 percent.
6. Between January and May of 2010, China’s number of tourists for outbound travel already has increased by 19 percent over the same period in 2009.
7. iResearch estimates that revenue from the online travel service market (in China) will more than triple between 2009 and 2013.

We’ve seen it happen here in the US. As a culture of people become internet savvy and internet confident to book travel services online, comfort spreads by osmosis to buying timeshare resales and booking of timeshare rentals from a web-based resource. And for timeshare owners looking to resell timeshare, these changes ultimately add up to a larger—vastly larger—pool of potential timeshare buyers and renters.

More insight on travel in China from the National Tourism Administration of the People’s Republic of China.

One size never fits all (a point we made here on The Timeshare Authority just last week in a discussion of timeshare points programs Getting to the Point of Timeshare Points). Your need to find the best individual solution for you is equally as important when it comes to the right way to for you to buy timeshare or sell timeshare as it is in selecting a points system that fits your vacation style.

Sell-by-owner timeshare resale is an excellent option for many timeshare owners who want to manage details of the timeshare transaction themselves. However, working with a timeshare broker, such as the experts at Timeshare Brokers Services, may be the best choice for your situation. Here are five reasons you might want a timeshare broker to help you buy or sell timeshare.

Reason Number One to Choose a Timeshare Broker:

1. Your time matters. If you are too busy to use your timeshare for vacationing, it is very possible you are too busy to take on the project of selling your timeshare yourself. Using a timeshare broker can be a turnkey approach when it comes to selling timeshare. Likewise, a timeshare broker is a great help to consumers looking to buy timeshare who don’t have either the time or interest for micromanaging the process themselves.

Reason Number Two to Choose a Timeshare Broker:

2. An experienced timeshare real estate professional is a great safety net for both the timeshare seller and the timeshare buyer. You can sell timeshare or buy timeshare with total peace of mind that a professional is handling the details. Most of us have enough on our minds already that it makes sense from a life-management perspective not to add one more item to the list of things that already occupy our thoughts.

Reason Number Three to Choose a Timeshare Broker:

3. A timeshare broker is a trained negotiator. Not only is a timeshare broker a skilled negotiator with your best interest at heart, but he or she serves as a liaison between the buyer and the timeshare seller, providing a “cushion” between the two to smooth the waters over any points of disagreement that may occur during the timeshare resale transaction.

Reason Number Four to Choose a Timeshare Broker:
4. The timeshare real estate market, just like the residential real estate market, is always changing. If you don’t feel confident that your personal knowledge of real estate matters, timeshare laws, or timeshare sales closing and transfer requisites is accurate and current, you could find yourself in over your head trying to handle the timeshare resales process on your own.

Reason Number Five to Choose a Timeshare Broker:
5. Buying or selling timeshare by owner may not save you a penny, first because an experienced timeshare broker—representing either the buyer or the seller— potentially can negotiate his or her client the best deal. Secondly, if you have any problems along the way in buying or selling timeshare without broker assistance, you could wind up not only losing money, but spending money you hadn’t planned to spend in the process.

Is a timeshare broker the best choice for you when it comes to buying timeshare or selling timeshare? Maybe, but you will never know for sure unless you contact one, ask questions, and evaluate what is best for you and your busy schedule.

When the phone rings during your dinner, it won’t be Sell My Timeshare NOW. After reading the News Channel 7 (Spartanburg; Greenville; Anderson, SC; Asheville, NC) news report, it seems like a good time to remind people: Sell My Timeshare NOW won’t be calling you unless you have asked us to call.

We do not make cold calls. We don’t interrupt your dinner, your evening at home with your family, or that extra hour of sleep you were getting on a Saturday morning with a ringing telephone and an unrequested call. Unsolicited phone calls are not respectful, not good business, and in many cases, not legal.

When you want to sell timeshare you no longer use, by-owner advertising may be a great choice for you. But Sell My Timeshare NOW reminds you to base your decision on a clear cut understanding of hat the timeshare company will be doing—and won’t be doing to help you sell your property.

Some less-than-reputable companies take money to advertise your timeshare resale or timeshare rental, imply they will be out knocking on doors trying to help you sell your timeshare, and then do absolutely nothing from that point forward. That seems to have been the type of service (or lack of service) that News Channel 7 was reporting.

Sell My Timeshare NOW offers different types of services to help you buy, rent, or sell timeshare. You can work with a timeshare broker through our Timeshare Broker Services or advertise your timeshare resale as a by-owner property while Sell My Timeshare NOW works to keep your timeshare ad in front of the largest audience of prospective timeshare buyers possible. Our websites average over 25 million visitors each year from more than 176 countries around the world. With our menu of services, you can even choose the level of timeshare resale support that is right for you, customizing how much of the resale process you want to handle yourself and how much you want to turn over to a timeshare resale professional.

But through it all, here’s our promise … unless you ask us to, Sell My Timeshare NOW won’t be cold calling your number. And we won’t be trying to bait you with unrealistic promises or timelines we can’t guarantee. But when you are ready for honest, effective, and reliable help to buy, rent, or sell timeshare, we’re there when you need us.

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

For timeshare developers, and certainly for timeshare buyers, regulating the ways in which timeshares are marketed and sold is one of the best things that has happened to the industry – but it has also created one of the industry’s biggest challenges. Yes, tougher regulations were desperately needed in 1977 when only three states in the United States had any type of timeshare regulatory laws on their books. And during the decade that followed, when thirty-eight states implemented new laws and the other twelve designated existing laws to include timeshares, industry standards and practices improved significantly.

But the downside to the tougher legislation is that timeshare developers and timeshare resellers now face the challenge of operating global businesses while complying with regulations that vary greatly from country to country, state to state, and sometimes municipality to municipality. For consumers, it means that one-size does not fit all when it comes to timeshare laws and practices.

Overview of Timeshare Rescission Practices in the US

In the United States, most states have sets of laws specifically to regulate timeshare sales and the timeshare industry while a few states apply the same laws to timeshares that they apply to other types of real estate. Almost all states now have a rule that specifically requires buyers be given a period of time during which they can legally change their mind about the purchase of a timeshare and during which they will forfeit no payments or deposits already made. This is the rescission period, and it was created to protect buyers. But buyer beware; the rescission period means different things in different places.

The length of time and the specifics of the cancellation period for the purchase of a timeshare varies greatly from state to state. Hawaii, Florida, Nevada, and South Carolina are top timeshare sales states in the US, but all have different laws regarding the rescission of a timeshare sales contract. In Hawaii, for example, current state law gives a timeshare buyer seven days to cancel a timeshare sales contract. In Florida, the Florida Vacation Plan and Timeshare Act affords buyers ten calendar days of rescission from the date the buyer signs the purchase contract. In contrast, Nevada gives buyers only until midnight of the fifth calendar day following the date of execution of the contract to back out, while South Carolina allows only four days, not including Sunday.

In nearly every US state, and in most countries, your cooling off or rescission period cannot be waived. Someone who asks you to sign such a waiver is acting illegally and is most assuredly trying to dupe you into believing you have no period in which to reconsider your purchase. And timeshare rescission laws only get more varied when you look at them on an international level.

Looking at the Big Picture of Timeshare Sales Laws and Rescission

In blog posts later this week, The Timeshare Authority will be looking at timeshare laws in other countries and particularly the very positive changes made by Members of European Parliament last month to make British vacationers (and anyone who buys European timeshare) better informed and less at risk when buying or renting timeshare or timeshare resales.

Watch for more on this in The Timeshare Authority on Friday and Saturday.

We have a new division at Sell My Timeshare NOW – it’s called Vacation Property Solutions. This is a revolutionary new business-to-business resale solution for timeshare resorts and timeshare developers. Vacation Property Solutions is a one-stop solution for the types of timeshare resale needs facing developers and resorts and it will utilize the services of both our brokerage arm: Timeshare Broker Services, and our closing company: Transfer My Timeshare.

Vacation Property Solutions expands our services at Sell My Timeshare NOW, to include brokers, resorts, travel clubs, and wholesalers, helping them solve the timeshare inventory problems of their customers. Working directly with timeshare developers and with resorts, we can offer them discounted rates for bulk business.

Vacation Property Solutions lets us take the same types of great services and expansive internet visibility that we already offer consumers, and offer them to timeshare developers and timeshare resorts. Developers looking to rent out timeshare weeks or Home Owners Associations needing to liquidate their delinquent inventory, have access to the more than 2 million monthly visitors to the Sell My Timeshare NOW website. Vacation Property Solutions offers a way for developers to buy back inventory, helping to stabilize prices on the resale market, and to solve the ownership dilemmas of buyers who already own intervals but are looking to buy into a new timeshare resort.

Vacation Property Solutions, an Important Part of Sell My Timeshare NOW

Freda Stemick, at Vacation Property Solutions, is the timeshare industry’s point of contact. Freda says, “Vacation Property Solutions is both developer-friendly and resort-friendly, building a bridge between the retail and secondary markets of the timeshare industry.”

Freda brings over 20 years of experience in timeshare sales, starting with her first timeshare industry job at Virginia’s Massanutten Resort.

Click here to read the press release for Vacation Property Solutions.

Part II in a two-part series.

In Saturday’s The Timeshare Authority blog, we profiled the women behind WIN, a new professional organization for Women in the Industry that supports and cultivates women as the leaders of tomorrow in the vacation industry.

We had the opportunity to interview several members of WIN’s Board of Directors, and their comments give you a great insight into the current and future role of their organization.

Q. Who founded Women in the Industry (WIN) and when did you launch?

A. Cathy Backus and Lani Kane-Hanan founded WIN. (See Saturday’s The Timeshare Authority to learn more about Backus and Kane-Hanan). Our first official meeting was held at last year’s spring ARDA convention. Cathy Backus had been working on Women in Timesharing; ARDA’s Lani Kane-Hanan had been working on Women in the Industry. They were in concert so they joined forces to found WIN-a stronger organization.

Q. What are WIN’s objectives and goals?

A. WIN is a non-profit group that advocates, educates, and connects women in the vacation industry. The primary purpose of WIN is to foster the growth of women by recognizing their accomplishments and creating a strong networking environment. In addition to providing a forum for women in the vacation industry to unite and leverage best practices, WIN will also support industry research particularly as it pertains to women.

Q. Who benefits from joining WIN and how?

A. Both individuals and corporations benefit; there is a place in WIN for women and also for men who support women. Individual members of WIN will receive newsletters, educational sessions and information, networking opportunities and access to the membership directory. Corporate memberships receive a number of other benefits as well as their membership serving to show their commitment to support the causes of this not-for-profit group.

Q. What do you hope to see WIN accomplish in the next year? The next 5 years?

A. WIN is a grassroots, volunteer-based organization. What we hope to accomplish in the next few years is to complete the foundation of our organization. We have selected our Advisory Board and with their help, we will grow the member base, finalize local and regional chapters, hold several local and national networking sessions, launch our website and job search tool, and hold educational sessions for women and those who support women in our industry.

Q. What do you see as the greatest challenges the timeshare and vacation ownership industry currently faces?

A. Developing a strong core of new blood, fresh energy, and skilled professionals. Women bring this to the table.

Q. What do you see as the greatest challenges for women working in the timeshare /vacation ownership industry?

A. The industry has long been dominated by men, but this is evolving. Women are in a unique position to understand their fellow women’s needs and to support and nurture professionalism. With women in leadership positions, women’s desires to improve their lifestyle, support their families, and improve their community will be better met.

Wise words.

Women drive many of the buying decisions in the timeshare sales and timeshare resales industry. It makes a great deal of sense to build and grow the timeshare industry to better match the owner base. If you are part of the timeshare and vacation ownership industry in any way, look into what WIN has to offer you and what you have to offer WIN. The organization already includes individuals, resorts, vacation clubs, recreational real estate developers, and funding and lending institutions. The community of support services to the timeshare industry is also getting involved in WIN, including architects, legal advisors, and suppliers.

If you want to learn more about WIN and their vision, contact them at 760-755-0356, or visit www.WomenInTheIndustry.com

RCI (Resort Condominiums International) released a recent study on the British traveler’s monetary impact on the vacation, tourism, and timeshare industries. The research was commissioned by RCI in conjunction with Mintel, and it showed that Brits spend an average of 840 days in a lifetime holidaying abroad. In 2007, the average Briton went on two holidays a year, each lasting one week, spending about $1053 (US) or £665 on accommodations. This translates to £39,900 in a lifetime, or over $63,000 (US).

According to Perspective Magazine, Brett Archibald, senior vice president of business development at Group RCI in the UK, said, “During the credit crunch, timeshare represents increasingly good holiday value and although many Brits may be forced to cut back, Group RCI members can rest assured that they have budgeted in advance for a well-earned holiday. In addition, our members can choose breaks from a wide portfolio of holiday properties, such as lakeside retreats in Finland, a spa hotel in the UK, or perhaps a beach resort in Florida.”

RCI Timeshare Exchange Makes Dollars and Sense

RCI estimates that by taking advantage of timeshares and timeshare exchange, the British vacationer who predictably would have spent nearly £40,000, could save £23,000 or more (about $36,500 US) on average, per person. And buying timeshare would not restrict vacationers in their choice of resorts and destinations. With RCI Points or RCI Weeks, travelers have their pick of over 4,000 RCI affiliated timeshare resorts worldwide.

Timeshares are Good … Timeshare Resales are Better

Timeshare vacations can yield a substantial savings over comparable hotel accommodations. But with the excellent values in timeshare resales, the lifetime savings moves up to a whole other level. You can buy a resale timeshare for a 50 percent savings (sometimes more) over the price of new timeshare. Using only ballpark estimates, that indicates that the vacationer who would save $36,500 over a lifetime by switching from hotel accommodations to timeshares, could up the savings to perhaps $50,000 — $70,000 or more, by purchasing that timeshare on the resale market.

These days, I don’t know anyone with money to burn, whether they live in the US, the UK, or anywhere else on this planet. But I do know a lot of people who want, need, and deserve a little vacation time in order to maintain their health, their spirits, and their sanity. Timeshare resales have never made more sense than they do right now; timeshare resales and timeshare rentals are still an affordable vacation solution.

Are you considering selling your timeshare? Owning timeshare is a great idea, but time, lifestyle changes, health, and even economic ups and downs can lead you to the decision to sell your timeshare. Selling timeshare often means that you get out from under annual fees and taxes, and as great an idea as timeshare vacations can be for millions of people, if you are not using your timeshare…then it is time to sell.

Timeshare Valuation from Sell My Timeshare NOW

You know what you paid for your timeshare, and perhaps you even know what your timeshare cost you in interest and financing fees if you borrowed money to make your timeshare purchase. You can also look at what you have paid in annual fees and taxes during the time you have owned your vacation ownership property. But clearly, if you have looked around at the timeshare resale market at all, you already understand that you will not be able to recoup these expenditures in total when you resell your timeshare.

Instead, think of buying timeshare as being very much like the money you spend buying a new car. Your new car comes with a purchase price, for most of us it comes with financing fees and interest, and for as long as you own that car, you also pay for taxes, maintenance, insurance, and fuel. Yet when you get ready to sell it, you will not be able to regain the money you have spent on your vehicle.

Okay, so if you cannot resell timeshare for your purchase price, what is the right price to ask for your timeshare on the resale market?

Don’t guess. Don’t pick a number out of the air. Let Sell My Timeshare NOW, the leading online timeshare resale and timeshare rental advertising company help you. Follow this link to Sell My Timeshare NOW, and receive a free Sellers Market Survey to find out the timeshare resale value of your property.

Sell My Timeshare NOW, eliminating the guesswork.

Did you see our Sell My Timeshare NOW press release today? We are celebrating a milestone – 5 years in business. Best of all, our anniversary marks five successful years in business, and that is not always easy to say in this day and age.

Our company currently employs 140 people, which is a long way from the 3 employees who started a home based business 5 years ago. With a 520.9 percent company growth rate, we currently average over $1 million daily in offers to buy timeshares or rent timeshares.

We are a Fast Growing Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rental Advertising Company

What got us to this point?

A Timeshare Sales Company with Genuine Commitment

At Sell My Timeshare NOW, we sat aside a little time to eat some cake and talk about our accomplishments over the past five years. But after we all patted ourselves on the back, we went back to work. You see, we know that staying the best company in the business of advertising timeshare resales and timeshare rentals calls for continued hard work, and for us to never let our guard down.

And to all the many timeshare sellers and timeshare renters who have entrusted us to help them sell or rent timeshare, we owe it to them to keep our nose to the grindstone and our eye on the future.

Click here to read our full timeshare press release about Sell My Timeshare NOW’s fifth anniversary in business.