We love the news we receive from TATOC Timeshare Association. Here’s what they said in their last news release. It is just so intriguing we want to share it with you in exactly their own words:

“Wednesday 26th May 2010 was an important day for the timeshare industry. There was no scandal, no new legislation nor a consumer television programme about to reveal all. But in a hotel in Manchester (England) there were representatives from every facet of the industry meeting for the first time to discuss the challenges and problems of the industry and more importantly to discuss action to overcome them.”

TATOC (Timeshare Association Timeshare Owners and Committees) is known as the only elected consumers association to represent the interests of timeshare owners in Europe. The topics of their watershed meeting sounded very much in harmony with the issues brought up last week, here in the US at the ARDA New England Regional Meeting. TATOC members addressed, with concern, the fact that the media perception and consequently much of the consumer perception about timeshares is not healthy for the industry. One spTimeshare resales, timeshare news, timeshare blog, timeshare owners, timeshare exchange, RCI timeshare, Interval International, European timeshareecific prevailing topic that the industry is working hard to resolve is that of how to best respond to timeshare owners who wish to resell timeshare.

Harry Taylor, the CEO of TATOC, explains, “Following our very successful Annual conference in March and as an Association who represents the consumer, we felt, that we should keep the impetus going and use this opportunity to move forward as a cohesive body. It is a TATOC initiative and we have been very encouraged as to the companies and interest taken by the industry and also the commitment to address these issues.”

Executives from Worldwide Timeshare, Club la Costa, Diamond Resorts International©, FNTC, RCI, Resort Developers Association, Resort Properties, Resort Solutions, Interval International, and Dial an Exchange participated.

Learn more about TATOC:
www.timeshareassociation.org
Or contact Harry Taylor CEO on +44 (0)845 230 2430

It’s Sunday morning and hopefully you are lingering over a second cup of coffee or perhaps sitting on your patio surveying the flowers in bloom. Summer is in full swing and if you have a Florida timeshare vacation planned, the tourism industry of Florida wants you to know that at this time, suntan oil should be a bigger concern for you than any oil spill on the beach.

As we now near the two-month mark since the tragic oil spill off the Louisiana coast, we have all heard an assortment of reports. Some seem to overplay the severity of the situation, while others brush over it too lightly. It is hard to know what is accurate, yet it is clear that our entire planet will no doubt be impacted by this nearly unfathomable environmental tragedy.

But the beaches of Florida, Florida timeshares, and the tourism industry are all begging you not to stay home and make the economic component of this tragedy worse than it already is. On Thursday, “Visit Florida” held its first industry-wide web­inar to update business owners and others about the organization’s plans to promote tourism in the wake of the spill.

Almost all the Florida beaches are clean and oil-free. If you are worried about whether your Florida timeshare vacation could be compromised by poor beach conditions, here are some resources that may help you.

Florida’s official response to the oil spill: www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/

Florida’s official trajectory and forecast information: visit NOAA’s site.

Real-time images, webcams, Twitter feeds, beach condition updates, and videos from people in the Sunshine State now: Go to Florida Live.

And for one man’s interesting appeal to beach-loving tourists everywhere, play the video below.

Following up on yesterday’s post on The Timeshare Authority, I want to share more with you about this past week’s ARDA New England Regional Meeting held in Providence, Rhode Island.

Howard Nusbaum, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Resort Development Association, was the keynote speaker, discussing ARDA’s key issues for 2010. Point one, along with my thoughts, appeared yesterday in The Timeshare Authority, so you will want to check out that post, if you missed it.

And now here’s a look at the next four important areas of focus for ARDA and the timeshare industry as a whole:

2. Working to foster growth in the secondary marketplace:
This point is part of an overriding and significant theme for the timeshare industry. Timeshare fraud is the exception, but to any degree, it cannot be tolerated. Laws must be adhered to and the timeshare industry on all levels, including timeshare sales and timeshare resales, must be able to show itself to the world with transparency and creditability.

3. Nurturing and supporting timeshare owners:
The timeshare industry is not, and never can be, solely about new timeshare sales and timeshare resale. Instead, we must all be about nurturing and supporting customers and honoring the dream that customers purchased in becoming timeshare owners. Timeshare ownership products must be maintained as strong, vibrant, and fulfilling products.

4. Utilizing social media technology:

It is no longer acceptable for any business or any industry to rely on drawing consumers into the store or onto a webpage. Instead, through the power of social media, the timeshare industry must reach out to timeshare owners, timeshare buyers, timeshare renters, and prospective clients, connecting with them in the online locations they already frequent. Embracing social media marketing is one of the most timely and relevant sales and marketing strategies for spreading the message of what a great product timeshares really are.

5. Changing business models:
ARDA is working to help the timeshare industry explore new business models and evolve old business models. Thought leaders of timesharing and vacation ownership are addressing how products can be revised to better suit consumer buying profiles and vacation patterns. One of many points in question is that of ownership in perpetuity, which may no longer have the desirability factor it once did. In response to that, new products that offer short-term ownership opportunities are being explored.

It’s all good, isn’t it? When the goal of any industry is to work together to make its products more consumer-focused and more desirable, under an umbrella of forthrightness and complete transparency, then only good things can come of that effort. Timeshares are a great product, getting better all the time, and frankly, I am proud to part of an industry that focuses on bringing affordable vacation opportunities to individuals and families in ways that are relevant, timely, and flexible.

This week I had the opportunity to be part of the 2010 ARDA New England Regional Meeting that was held at the Marriott Providence Downtown in Providence, Rhode Island.

First, let’s give well-deserved accolades to all of the sponsors of the event.

Presenting Sponsors: Interval International and RCI.

Event Sponsors: Customer Count, and Gallagher, Callahan and Gartrell.

National Sponsors: ARDA-ROC, Aspen National Collections, Concord Servicing Corporation, MasterCorp Inc., Ski and Sea International, and TimeShareWare.

Regional Sponsors: BiddingForGood, Inc., Centron Data Services, Inc., Colebrook Financial Company, LLC, Continental Central Credit, Inc., Cotapaxi Custom Design & Manufacturing, GScf Furnishings, Lodging Kit Company, Magna Timeshare Software, Meridian Financial Services, Reservation Services International (RSI), TRITON Timeshare Software and VisitNewEngland.com.

2010 Signature Sponsors: American Express, Equiant Financial Services, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Holiday Systems International (HSI), International Cruise & Excursions, Inc., Interval International, RCI, RedWeek.com ResortCom International, Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., and VacationGuard, Inc.

The Timeshare Sales, Timeshare Resales, and Supporting Industries Work Together

The weather in Providence was spectacular (vacation weather!) and it is always great catching up with your colleagues who inevitably wind up becoming your friends. One of the very best parts of meetings and conferences when representatives of the timeshare industry get together is that you’d think it was a family reunion.

There’s a great deal of camaraderie in the business, which is part of the reason timeshares, as a vacation product, are constantly being improved—the industry works to together for change that is beneficial to timeshares and timeshare owners. Working together is a natural process that happens to be becoming a real business model for the timeshare industry—which leads into the points made by the event’s keynote speaker Howard Nusbaum, ARDA’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

Howard Nusbaum stressed five important directions that are the American Resort Development Association’s top priorities for 2010. In summary, here is key point number one:

1. Seeking solutions to help ‘unfreeze’ capital.

In 2008, timeshare sales reached $9.7 billion. In 2009, they slipped to $6.3 billion. Did people suddenly decide timeshares were not a desirable or affordable product? No. Far from it. If anything, consumers, realizing the potential for long-term vacation savings by buying timeshares and timeshare resales, had an increased interest to learn more. But because lenders were simply not lending, and access to capital for timeshare developers and timeshare financing was so locked up, new timeshare development and new timeshare sales took a hit.

Although it would be easy to assume that actual demand in timeshare sales declined, this just isn’t the real issue. Instead, there has been little to no access to capital by developers and limited money available for financing timeshare sales. And as with many aspects of economics, the problem fed other problems. As timeshare sales and development declined, so did the funds available within timeshare companies for maintaining and supporting sales and marketing. As outreach from the timeshare companies weakened, so did response, which led cyclically to smaller staffs that inevitably led back to decreased timeshare sales. The problem is now self-perpetuating, greatly in need of lenders to free up more growth and investment capital.

I’ll publish “ARDA Regional Meeting Emphasizes Timeshare Solutions and the Importance of Timeshare Resales (Part II)” in tomorrow’s edition of The Timeshare Authority. In it, I’ll be sharing ARDA’s Top 5 Priorities for 2010, numbers 2-4, as well as my thoughts and comments.