Once intended to be Westgate Resorts timeshare’s most extravagant venue, PH Towers Westgate at Planet Hollywood is now under the controlling interest of Resort Finance America LLC.

The 1201 timeshare-unit property opened in late 2009, at what was perhaps the timeshare industry’s most uncertain point in the current US economic recession/depression.

Westgate Resorts CEO David Siegel has reiterated in recent days the same message he has delivered throughout the past two years, that the recession has hurt his timeshare company because banks have been so reluctant to loan money.

Changes Planned for this Las Vegas Timeshare Resort

Resort Finance America has set Hilton Grand Vacations (Hilton Timeshare) to become the new brand for the PH Towers Westgate at Planet Hollywood. Lantern Asset Management of Dallas will provide management services while Hilton timeshare will provide the timeshare sales and marketing services.

Rebranding of this Las Vegas timeshare as a Hilton timeshare, means Hilton Grand Vacations will now have four Las Vegas timeshare resorts, including the:

Hilton Grand Vacations at the Flamingo

Hilton Grand Vacations Las Vegas Hilton

Hilton Grand Vacations Las Vegas Strip

Be sure to read The Timeshare Authority blog on Monday, November 28, 2011, when we will look at the changing dynamic at Westgate Resorts.

Last week, popular timeshare company Orange Lake Resorts and its branding partner, Holiday Inn Club Vacations® announced the addition of two new properties to their family of resorts. (See: Holiday Inn Club Vacation Timeshare Expanding)

Here’s a closer look at what each of these resorts has to offer and what they mean for member/owners at Holiday Inn Club Vacations.

New Orange Lake Las Vegas Timeshare Destination

The Las Vegas Desert Club in Las Vegas (formerly a part of Summer Bay Resorts) gives Orange Lake timeshares it first Las Vegas vacation destination and first destination in the western part of the US. Located just off the Las Vegas Strip, the Las Vegas Desert Club features 5 pools, 5 Jacuzzis, premier concierge service and a complimentary shuttle to many of the most popular locations along The Strip.

This three-story resort includes 648 one-and two-bedroom timeshare units. Other on-property amenities include a new, state-of-the-art clubhouse, a convenience store, fitness center, restaurant, bar, putting green and more.

As the folks at Orange Lake Resorts say, they have, “headed west!” with this addition to their resort destinations that already included Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; Panama City, and Orlando, Florida;  Brownsville, Vermont;  Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

New Orange Lake Marco Island, Florida Timeshare Destination

With the acquisition of the Sunset Cove timeshare in Marco Island, Florida, Orange Lake Resorts now has a south Florida resort on the Gulf of Mexico. This beautiful property includes 36 three-bedroom/ 2 bath timeshare villas and is located on the Rio waterway in the City Center, Marco Island’s new entertainment, shopping and dining district.

Each timeshare unit ranges from 1,667 to 1,900 square feet and includes views of either the Gulf of Mexico or the Bay. Amenities include a pool with sundeck, a bar and promenade area, boat dock and a fitness center. This property is part of RCI’s distinguished Registry Collection® program and Orange Lake Resorts will be bringing all Sunset Cove units into its upscale “Signature Collection.”

Any way you look at it, it looks like Orange Lake Resorts and the Holiday Inn Vacation Club just keep getting better and better.

As Harry Potter fans in London rolled out this week to view the final movie in the magical saga, emotions run high with many fans. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,” is movie number eight in a series that has captured hearts, imaginations, and wallets in a way that has been both epic and mind boggling.

The Harry Potter movie series, featuring young Harry, Ron and Hermione, has already translated to more than six billion dollars for Warner Brothers, and billions more in the sale of branded merchandise. J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, has become the first billionaire author in history as a generation of children discovered the joy of reading as they followed the events of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

But in addition to the joys of reading and watching the Harry Potter books and movies again, or visiting Pottermore, the in-development website where fans and fanatics can enjoy an online interactive experience, there is one more way for Harry’s followers to get their wizardly “fix”; they can visit the Harry Potter™ theme park at Universal Studios Orlando.

Harry Potter Theme Park and Your Orlando Timeshare Vacation

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ provides fans and followers a way to “step into” Harry’s world, visiting the shops of Hogsmede, dining at Three Broomsticks and the Hog’s Head, and walking past the gates of Hogwarts castle, or through the classrooms at the academy. With rides, shows, and interactive experiences, park visitors sip their butterbeer and immerse themselves in a park that brings the beloved characters (and their nemeses) to life.

Orlando timeshares offer many great locations for planning a Harry Potter experience but some of the closest timeshares to Universal Studios Orlando include the Westgate Palace timeshare resort and Bluegreen Orlando’s Sunshine Resort timeshare. Pottermaniacs may want to select an Orlando timeshare within walking distance of the Universal Studios theme parks. Another option is to ask if the resort where you buy or rent timeshare is served by a shuttle to the popular parks, as many destinations are.

The beloved Harry Potter movies may be coming to an end. But as long as Universal Studios Orlando offers The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, you are just a timeshare away from the series you and millions of others have come to love.

While the flooding waters that have plagued many areas of the country have raised the water levels in Branson, timeshare resorts there want people to understand that they are most definitely open for business. The biggest concern, it seems, is that people who are apprehensive of the flooding are unnecessarily canceling their vacations and Branson timeshare holidays.

Heavy rains over recent weeks have lakes in the Branson, Missouri area at high levels and in cases of some low-lying residences, evacuations have been necessary. But the popular tourist and resort areas, including Branson timeshares, are not affected by the floodwaters. Lynn Berry with the Branson Chamber of Commerce points out that Branson was planned and built with an eye on the 100-year flood plan and that most shops, restaurants, resorts, and attractions are never in danger. The Army Corps of Engineers is reporting that Branson’s Table Rock Lake has stabilized with the minimum possible disruption. Both Table Rock Dam Tours and much loved, “Ride the Ducks” are operating, although their routes have been changed slightly by the high waters.

Branson Timeshare Always a Popular Family Destination

Known as the Family Friendly Las Vegas and the Live Music Capital of the World, Branson is a popular year-round timeshare destination. Many trusted global hospitality brands have timeshares in Branson, including: Diamond Resorts The Suites At Fall Creek Timeshare; Marriott’s Horizons At Branson Timeshare; WorldMark Branson Timeshare; three Wyndham timeshares; two Westgate timeshare properties, and Silverleaf’s Holiday Hills Resort, to name a few.

Before you plan your Branson timeshare vacation, it is a good idea to contact your resort directly or to call the Branson Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-296-0463 for the latest updates regarding a limited number of road closings. But above all else, the businesses of Branson encourage you to, “Come on down!” so that unnecessary concerns don’t wipe out your timeshare vacation and their spring business season.

Clean the World is a non-profit association with a simple and powerful message we have shared with you before, here on The Timeshare Authority blog. And it all starts with the power of soap.

At one time or another, every one of us has wondered what happens to the partially used soap, body wash, and shampoo we leave behind in hotels and timeshare resorts. Apparently, the founders of the Clean The World Foundation thought about it too.

Recognizing that every day in North America alone, thousand of hotels and timeshares were tossing out millions of pounds of soap and shampoo, Clean The World developed and implemented an amazingly logical and effective idea. Instead of allowing these products to be discarded, adding to our landfills and seeping into fragile groundwater systems, Clean The World collects, sterilizes, repackages and distributes the soap to people who desperately need it.

With the recycled soap, they provide appropriate educational materials, both to third world populations and to homeless shelters in the US and Canada. With the availability of soap to impoverished people, the rate of illness from communicable diseases drops significantly.

What Happens to the Used Soap from Hotels and Timeshares

Working with their hospitality partners, Clean the World provides collection bins to housekeeping staffs at hotels and resorts along with training videos and instruction posters. Each week they collect the bins from the hotel and timeshare properties. Hotels and timeshares are relieved of disposing of the soap and soap products and in many cases, they are eligible to claim part of their contribution as a donation to charity.

At their Soap Recycling plant, Clean the World uses one of two methods for reprocessing the soap. An independent agency, Tri-Tech Laboratories, has tested the soap ensuring that it is sanitary and free from pathogens after processing.

Already creating jobs, Clean the World projects that in the next few years they will create between 400 and 500 more green jobs across the US at their Recycling Operational Centers. They have also partnered with two established organizations, Central Care Mission and Open Homes Regeneration for help in operating Clean The World’s 12,000 square-foot recycling center in Orlando, enabling formerly addicted and homeless men in recovery programs to assist at the soap sterilization plant, where workers process soap, shampoo, conditioner, and bath gel as part of their vocational programs.

In Nevada, Clean The World has partnered with the Las Vegas Rescue Mission where homeless, addicted, and those in need on the road to recovery run the soap recycling center there. And in Canada, Mission Possible has a similar program that provides manpower for the Vancouver soap recycling center.

Participating Hotels and Timeshares

The number of hotels, bed and breakfasts, and timeshares that already participate in Clean The World is extensive, and you can see the full list here: Participating Resorts. You’ll find many of your favorite Disney Vacation Club, Sheraton, Hilton, and Westgate timeshare properties on the list.

You can get involved in this wonderful program by making donations of cash or soap; setting up a soap donation drive at your work or school (the collection area will smell wonderful as the bars of soap accumulate); and encouraging your timeshare and any hotels you frequent to participate in Clean The World.

Past reports from The Timeshare Authority blog on Clean The World:

Timeshares and Resorts, Helping “Clean Up” Haiti

PH Towers Westgate opened this past December and currently says only about 20 percent of its timeshare units have sold. But the rest of this Las Vegas timeshare’s units are not sitting empty; they are being used as hotel inventory by Planet Hollywood resort (which is owned by Harrah’s Entertainment Inc).

The 52-story, 1200-room Las Vegas timeshare is described by Westgate timeshare as both the world’s largest timeshare building (all units contained within a single structure) and the only timeshare in the world that is fully integrated with a casino.

The timeshare’s builder, Tutor-Saliba Corporation, has filed a foreclosure lawsuit in Nevada’s Clark County District Court against Westgate Planet Hollywood Las Vegas LLC. Tutor-Saliba alleges that Westgate owes the company $19.3 million based on the terms of the 2007 Las Vegas timeshare construction contract. According to the Las Vegas Sun, Westgate Resorts timeshare plans to fight the lawsuit against their newest Las Vegas timeshare property and says that liens filed against the resort by Tutor-Saliba and liens filed by subcontractors cover duplicate issues.

Westgate Timeshare Tells Its Side of the Story

Mark Waltrip, chief operating officer of Westgate Resorts, was quoted as saying, “We have exhausted every effort to work cooperatively with Tutor-Saliba to resolve these issues. We have previously provided Tutor-Saliba a well-documented position that has been independently verified by a third-party construction management firm and proves that not only are these claims totally without merit, but in fact Tutor-Saliba owes Westgate in excess of $18 million. In addition, Tutor-Saliba signed an agreement subordinating its claim to the lenders on this project and therefore has no right to pursue this course of action. We not only intend to vigorously defend these claims brought by Tutor-Saliba, but also seek recovery of millions of dollars in claims due to Westgate, including overcharges, credits due for unperformed work, liquidated damages for untimely performance and failure to comply with the plans and specifications of the project.”

So Westgate timeshare and the construction company for this Las Vegas timeshare agree that somebody owes somebody between 18 and 19.3 million dollars. One thing is certain, until this is resolved, only the attorneys involved benefit by the situation.

In March of this year, Westgate timeshare founder and CEO, David Siegel, put a number of the company’s assets up for sale. Knowing that he and his wife Jacqueline have suspended construction on the mansion they were building in Windermere, just outside of Orlando, Florida, many speculated that the home might be the next asset to go.

Listed at 66,800 square feet in size, the Siegel’s uber-mansion was intended to be the largest private residence in the United States. Occupying roughly 10 acres of real estate on pristine Lake Butler, the home was planned to include 13 bedrooms, 10 satellite kitchens, 23 bathrooms (each with spa tub), 7 half-baths, a ballroom, an indoor roller-skating rink, a bowling alley, and a movie theater patterned after the Paris Opera House with a second theater in the children’s wing of the home. On the grounds, which include a quarter mile of private beach, there is a large gatehouse with residence apartment, a baseball field, three swimming pools, two tennis courts, a boathouse, a two-story wine cellar, and a rock grotto with three spas located behind an 80-foot waterfall. The master bedroom alone is planned to be some 8000 square feet in size.

Although the house is not completed, it has been under construction for three years. The Siegels are asking $100 million for the house “as is” or $75 million and they will complete the construction for the buyer, which implies that the house is approximately three-quarters completed.

Yes, I know what you must be thinking. It’s a shame this mindboggling house is located within residential-only zoning, because it sounds like it would make an incredible Westgate Florida timeshare resort!

Click here to see the real estate ad as featured in the Wall Street Journal.

Other Westgate timeshare developer news from The Timeshare Authority:
Westgate Timeshare Lightens the Load, Selling Select Assets
Westgate Timeshare Founder’s Spouse Joins in the Buzz about Elin and Tiger Woods
Orlando Timeshare Developer Played Landlord to Michael Jackson

Travel + Leisure Magazine recently tracked down the top-ten best hamburgers in the US; fortunately, you can plan your timeshare travel to enjoy them all.

Burger Joint in San Francisco took the honors for the numero uno best burger. Burger Joint is a 1950’s-style restaurant that boasts an old-fashion burger made from hormone- and pesticide-free beef.

Recommended San Francisco timeshare to accompany your Burger Joint hamburger is: Shell Vacation Club’s The Suites at Fishermans Wharf timeshare resales and rentals, where you are just a cable car ride away from Chinatown, Ghirardelli Square, The Cannery, and Pier 39.

Dyer’s Burger in Memphis took second place honors with their thin-patty burger, fried in oil in a cast-iron skillet. Once you order this burger, you might as well go all out and add Dyer’s famous chili cheese fries and a deep fried Twinkie for desert.

An ideal destination for a Memphis timeshare vacation is just 30 minutes away in Robinsville, Mississippi. The Westgate Tunica Resort, designed to look like an anti-bellum southern mansion, is centrally located for enjoying the hot jazz and cool blues of Memphis as well as the casinos, golf, and southern charm of Mississippi.

Duchamp’s Burger in Chicago is no greasy diner, yet this restaurant proves it still knows how to cook a burger, serving an eight-ounce ground chuck special on a Czech cottage-cheese-and-dill bun.

You may decide to day trip into the city for your Duchamp’s burger while spending your timeshare vacation in Silverleaf’s Fox River Resort timeshare, located a little over an hour away in Sheridan, Illinois. There you can choose between waterskiing, boating, hiking or picnicking in the peaceful rolling hills, or grab your sightseeing gear and head for Chicago, famous for its museums, shopping, and dining.

Timeshares at Every Top Burger Destination

Here are the next seven (NYC scores two great burger destinations, turning the top ten into an actual count of eleven) destinations for world-famous burgers…and a few of the outstanding timeshare vacation destinations that will get you there:

Lüke in New Orleans, LA., where you can vacation in a Chateau Orleans timeshare resale or rental in heart of the French Quarter.

Quinn’s Pub in Seattle, WA, when you are enjoying a WorldMark Seattle timeshare resale or rental at The Camlin.

Ranch 616 in Austin, Texas, where you can stay in Austin timeshare resales and timeshare rentals in a city known for its live music and western fun.

Kua’Aina Sandwich Shop in Hale’iwa, Hawaii. You know Hawaii timeshares are outstanding, so just pick an island and pack your Hawaiian shirt and your flipflops.

Kemble Park Tavern offers you and excellent dinner spot during your Washington, DC timeshare resale or rental vacation.

Back Forty and Black Iron Burger Shop in NYC. Two great burger destinations only a few blocks apart and both worth visiting during your Big Apple New York City timeshare stay.

Murphy’s on the Green in Hanover, NH, where you can enjoy New Hampshire timeshare resales or rentals, here in our own headquarters home state for Sell My Timeshare NOW.

David Siegel, founder of Westgate timeshare, will reportedly attempt to sell some $350 million in assets. On the “for sale” list is the former Grenelefe Resort, near Haines City, Florida, which includes 432 condominium units, two golf courses, a marina, and 277 acres of undeveloped land.

Grenelefe Golf and Tennis Resort was, not so many years ago, as a popular Florida vacation destination. With a 50,000 square foot conference center, Grenelefe was a favorite site for smaller convention and meeting groups, boasted golf courses of such quality that they were frequently early stage qualifying sites for the PGA and Champions Tour events, and offered a tennis venue where Martina Navratilova and Andrea Jaeger both competed.

But time has not been kind to the resort since it was purchased by Westgate Resorts in a 2002 U.S. Bankruptcy Court proceeding from Sports Shinko, a Japanese company, for $12.75 million. During Westgate timeshare resort’ ownership there have been buyers interested in purchasing the property, but none has been able to gain sufficient backing and close the deal. As if to add insult to injury, Grenelefe Resort was hit by tornado-like winds last week, damaging 28 condo units and leaving 5 uninhabitable.

Westgate Resorts to Focus on Timeshare

Among other properties and assets scheduled to be sold by Westgate timeshares are River Ranch, which is a 1,700-acre dude ranch on the Kissimmee River (south of Orlando); real estate in Nevada, Missouri and Tennessee; a 500-room Ramada hotel in Kissimmee, FL; two private aircraft; and the rights to develop lodging on land near the entrance to Disneyland, Anaheim, California.

David Siegel was quoted by the Orlando Sentinel as saying, “We’re selling our non-time-share assets to raise cash for our time-share operations. We’re selling anything that we don’t currently need for our time-share [business].”

This is the second blog we’ve posted here on The Timeshare Authority in the past year about a timeshare resort’s renovation creating a windfall for a local charity.

With the scheduled renovations of the Wyndham Nashville timeshare resort, located near the Opry Mills in Nashville, Tennessee, the updates will result in nearly a quarter million dollars in appliances, artwork, mattresses, and furniture going to charity. The recipient will be the GEAR Foundation’s Our Thrift Store located in downtown Franklin, Tennessee. The facility provides employment for people with special needs.

GEAR founder, Dave Krikac says, “This is a template that we hope will attract other caring hotel organizations who might find this an attractive option for dealing with room furnishings that must be disposed of after a renovation.”

Wyndham Nashville resort manager Mike Sellge notes that making the donation is both helpful to the community and environmentally responsible.

More about the Wyndham Nashville Timeshare Resort

The Wyndham Nashville timeshare resort is located approximately one mile from the Grand Ole Opry and near the Opry Mills outlet mall. Formerly a Fairfield timeshare property, the Wyndham Nashville timeshare offers one-bedroom timeshare units that sleep up to four and include an efficiency kitchen; one-bedroom deluxe timeshare units that sleep up to four and include a full kitchen; and two-bedroom timeshare units that sleep up to eight people, also including a full kitchen. All deluxe timeshare units at the resort include a full-size refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, dinnerware for eight, and even a margarita blender.

Opportunities are available now in Wyndham Nashville timeshare resales and Wyndham Nashville timeshare rentals.

Related posts on The Timeshare Authority blog:

Westgate Timeshare Developer, David Siegel, Thinks Recycle, Not Rubbish