Author: Staff Contributor

This is Part II in a three-part report on outstanding Marriott timeshares that have recently received the Florida Green Lodging Program Designation.

Recognizing that Marriott has always been a leader in vacation ownership, and was one of the first branded hotel companies to offer timeshares, it is really no surprise that Marriott timeshare is now a pacesetter in creating environmentally responsible lodging.

This week, three popular Florida timeshares, all Marriott resorts, received the Green Lodging Program Designation, from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Marriott’s Grande Vista (the subject of yesterday’s post on The Timeshare Authority); Marriott’s Cypress Harbour; and Marriott’s Crystal Shores on Marco Island each received this special designation because of their efforts to recycle, reduce, preserve, and educate others about issues of environmental awareness.

In 2008, Marriott Vacation Club International launched the MVCI Green Initiatives, starting at their corporate headquarters and branching out their efforts to include their corporate offices and timeshare resorts worldwide. In so doing, they eliminated over a quarter million pieces of Styrofoam and plastic waste that would have annually wound up in the nation’s landfills.

Deas Bohn, director Florida Department of Environmental Protection Sustainable Initiatives, said, “It is wonderful to see businesses implement green practices such as water conservation, recycling and energy reduction because they are not only good for business, they are good for Florida’s environment.”

Marriott’s Cypress Harbour Timeshares Combine Vacation Comfort with Environmental Consciousness

Marriott’s Cypress Harbour timeshare is an Orlando, Florida timeshare resort, which instantly means vacation fun and a convenient location to all your favorite Central Florida attractions and theme parks. Offering a 15-acre lake for boating and fishing, three sparkling swimming pools, and an 18-hole golf course, Marriott’s Cypress Harbour timeshare is a vacation destination certain to please vacationers of all ages and interests.

With an “Old Florida” ambiance, the resort is a relaxing oasis of green, where stately live oaks and tropical palms create a relaxing atmosphere. The resort is built on both sides of the lake with a walking bridge across the water.

Boats, fishing gear, and bicycle rentals are all available on property, as is a convenience store, the Galley Grill for lakeside lunches, a 24-hour a day fitness center, and enough other amenities that guests and timeshare owners may be tempted to spend their entire vacation without ever leaving the property at this beautiful Florida timeshare resort.

Marriott’s Cypress Harbour timeshare resort… Another very special Marriott timeshare property that is clearly forward thinking and socially aware of what it means to all of us to protect and restore our environment.

Tomorrow’s The Timeshare Authority looks at Marriott’s Crystal Shores on Marco Island, in Part III in this series.

Link to Part I:

Three Marriott Timeshare Resorts Earn Special ‘Green’ Designation as Environmentally Conscious Resorts

This is a three-part report on outstanding Marriott timeshares that have recently received the Florida Green Lodging Program Designation.

Part I:

This week, Marriott Vacation Club International announced that three Marriott timeshare properties have achieved the Florida Green Lodging Program Designation. The resorts, Marriott’s Grande Vista, Marriott’s Cypress Harbour, and Marriott’s Crystal Shores on Marco Island, are the first Marriott timeshare properties to gain this distinctive recognition.

As Troy Asche, regional vice president of operations for the Florida-Caribbean region of Marriott Vacation Club International said (source: Marriott’s media release of June 23, 2009), “Now, more than ever, environmental stewardship is a critical part of delivering unforgettable vacation experiences to our Owners and guests and vital to the future of travel and tourism. By taking strategic steps to ‘green’ our resort operations, our collective efforts can make a huge impact on preserving our beautiful Florida environment.”

Florida Timeshares that Earn the Green Lodging Award

The Green Lodging Program is part of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. This intuitive was launched in 2004, establishing the environmental guidelines for guest lodging facilities to conserve natural resources and prevent pollution. In order to receive the award, a hotel, motel, timeshare resort, or other lodging facility must demonstrate a successful commitment to protecting Florida’s resources, an ecosystem that is totally unique in all of the United States.

Resorts that qualify as Green Lodging properties have taken steps such as: implementing recycling in timeshare villas, commons areas, and food service areas; installing compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL’s) throughout the property; using low flow toilets, showerheads and faucets; asking guests to reuse linens and towels when possible; switching to the use of environmentally friendly cleaning products, and using Energy Star rated electronics and appliances. Other environmentally responsible actions may also contribute to a timeshare resort receiving this award.

Marriott’s Grande Vista Orlando Timeshare

In upcoming The Timeshare Authority blog posts, we will look at all of these three outstanding Marriott timeshare resorts to receive the Green Lodging Designation this year, starting with Marriott’s Grande Vista, an Orlando timeshare.

Grande Vista timeshare is an Interval International Premier rated timeshare resort, offering four sparkling pool complexes, a serene lake for boating and water sports, the Faldo Golf Institute by Marriott, a 9-hole executive course, a 35-acre practice area, and access to Marriott’s Grande Pines Golf Club. Both golf facilities are members of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses.

Located in the heart of the attractions area of Orlando, a Marriott’s Grande Vista timeshare vacation puts you conveniently close to Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, and all the fun of a central Florida vacation. Yet with 164 acres, the Grande Vista timeshare is an oasis of green, amidst pines, oaks and tropical palms, and well deserves recognition as a noteworthy environmentally conscious resort.

Tomorrow’s The Timeshare Authority blog will look at Marriott’s Cypress Harbour and Marriott’s Crystal Shores on Marco Island and how they have also earned the Florida Green Lodging Program Designation.

Guests and timeshare owners at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort timeshare have the opportunity to participate in a very special way with the annual march to the sea of hatchling baby turtles. Sea turtles have been on earth, essentially unchanged, for more than 100 million years. Each summer, in a dramatic demonstration of genetic imprinting, thousands of baby sea turtles of the green and the loggerhead species hatch on the beaches of Florida’s coasts, many on the beaches near Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, a Florida timeshare just south-east of Orlando.

Because as few as 1000 hatchling turtles will make it through the trek from hatching on the beach to returning to the ocean, (that’s one hatchling surviving out of every 1000 eggs) conservationists take extreme measures to protect the baby turtles, attempting to ensure that as many as possible survive. There are very strict laws in many coastal cities regarding lighting that is visible from the beach as it disorients the baby turtles, sometimes causing them to believe they are walking toward moonlight reflecting off the ocean, when in reality they are headed in exactly the wrong direction.

Disney’s Vero Beach Timeshare for Very Special Vacation Memories

To help their timeshare guests and timeshare owners at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort share in the annual turtle migration, Disney Vacation Club offers a program called Adopt-a-Nest. Partnering with the Caribbean Conservation Corporations and the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, timeshare owners and other guests who donate $50 per nest receive a special package of Disney mementos, and the certificate for the nest number and the nest location, of their “adopted” turtles. If their turtle adoptees hatch during the participant’s vacation, then they may get to experience the event firsthand, but if not, they can track online the activities at the turtle nest site by going to this website: Disney Conservation.

Imagine how special it would be to watch the tiny turtles in their moonlit march to the sea; think of the memories your whole family will enjoy. Being part of such a momentous event, takes the magic of a Disney timeshare or Disney timeshare resale vacation to a whole new level.

David Walley’s Hot Springs Resort and Spa timeshare in Genoa, Nevada has plans to construct more than one hundred new timeshare units.

Back in 1997, when this Nevada timeshare was originally permitted, construction plans allowed for up to 150 timeshare units. Originally, 112 timeshare units were constructed at David Walley’s Hot Springs Resort and Spa timeshare, but recently approved plans call for 228 more timeshare units at the resort.

Because the timeshare development will have timeshare units constructed on both sides of a busy highway, a local governmental agency, the Genoa Town Board, has proposed that an underground tunnel for pedestrian traffic be constructed below the highway.

David Walley’s Hot Springs Resort and Spa Nevada timeshare estimates the cost of the tunnel at $300,000, and plan to make the tunnel large enough to permit use by golf carts. The Nevada Community Development Commission has agreed to cover thirty percent of the cost, up to $90,000.

You may not recognize the name “David Walley’s Hot Springs Resort and Spa,” but you probably are familiar with Celebrity Resorts, the company that owns this timeshare. With timeshare resorts located across the US in Florida, Nevada, the Poconos, Colorado, Atlantic City, Hawaii, and California timeshare, Celebrity Resorts offers more than a dozen popular vacation locations.

Nevada Timeshare Offers Unique Ways to Relax

While all the Celebrity Resorts timeshares are outstanding destinations, David Walley’s Hot Springs Resort and Spa Nevada timeshare is a standout, with relaxing mineral hot tubs, heated pools, steam rooms, a sauna, six mineral pools, and a menu of spa treatments.

And if you aren’t too relaxed from your hot mineral soaks to do nothing more than peacefully gaze at the serene mountain vistas, there are three championship golf courses just minutes away; water sports at Lake Tahoe; gaming; and of course winter skiing.

Buy a David Walley’s Hot Springs Resort and Spa Nevada timeshare resale or book a timeshare rental vacation there and you could be soaking your cares away before you know it.