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.

Do you recall being in elementary school, sitting in your desk, doing your work, while the teacher focused all of his or her attention on a few disruptive students? If you were one of the kids who followed the rules, doing your work, and trying to master long division and the names of capital cities in Europe, you must have wondered why the loudmouth in the third row could get away with interrupting the educational process for you and others who were in school to learn.

Sometimes in the timeshare industry it seems as if all the attention goes to a limited group of unscrupulous business people. Over 80 percent of all timeshare owners use and enjoy their timeshares. Some timeshare owners choose (or need) to resell timeshare. And although you hear over and over that it is impossible to resell timeshare, each month, at Sell My Timeshare NOW alone, nearly 150,000 offers to buy timeshare or rent timeshare are made for the vacation ownership properties we market and advertise.

For all the timeshare owning families that enjoy great vacations in their timeshare, and all the timeshare owners who successfully sell or rent their timeshares through reliable timeshare resales avenues including by-owner advertising and timeshare broker sales-well, I suspect they get really tired of being treated as if they made a foolish decision to buy timeshare.

…and then again, maybe they are just busy enjoying their vacation ownership property.

Sell My Timeshare NOW has announced new business expansion being funded by $1.6 million in growth funding from partner Edison Venture Fund and existing investment partners. The company is moving forward with some exciting plans that include expansion of marketing and sales, new services, and enhanced customer support services. What was very, very good in timeshare resales and timeshare rental is about to be even better.

With over 2 million page views monthly, the websites for Sell My Timeshare NOW deliver 61,000 offers valued at $338 million for timeshare resales and 86,000 offers valued at $88 million for timeshare rentals to timeshare owners and developers.

Michael Kopelman, Principal of the Edison Venture Fund, hints at some of Sell My Timeshare NOW’s expansion plans, when he says, “The company is currently in negotiations with many of the timeshare industry’s most prominent brands.”

Sell My Timeshare NOW is appreciative of the strategic counsel and commitment of its investors and deeply appreciative of the ongoing customer support that continues to make this company one of the best places possible to buy, rent, or sell timeshare on the secondary market.

Follow this link to read the media release in entirety: Timeshare Resale Leader, Sell My Timeshare NOW, Receives Growth Funding of $1.6 Million

Posted on the Disney Vacation Club website you will find a warning to everyone who may have received a letter saying that they have won a “Travel Passport Cash Giveaway. The letter, according to Disney Vacation Club timeshare, is fraudulent.

Not only are some people receiving letters, but many are receiving telephone calls as well from an individual who represents him or herself to be a Disney Vacation Club Cast Member (Cast Member being the term the Disney Parks use for all of their employees).

The Disney Vacation Club advises those who receive the letter or the phone call to report it to their State Attorney General and to the Federal Trade Commission. As an added control measure, Disney Vacation Club timeshare is recommending that any timeshare owner or vacationer who receives a phone call from a Disney employee to validate the authenticity of the call and to refrain from giving out any personal or financial information until the caller’s identity is confirmed. The number to call to verify an employee of Disney is 888-727-4880.

Difficult times seem to give rise to more scammers in every industry. Be smart, play it safe and be wary about the information you share with anyone, whether it is by phone, email, or postal mail.
The link for more information on the Disney Vacation Club timeshare website is located near the bottom of the page and asks you to click-through to a pop-up page. You must have pop-ups enabled in order to read the full text of the warning. http://dvc.disney.go.com/dvc

And to learn more about safe, reliable opportunities to buy Disney Vacation Club timeshare resales or rent Disney Vacation Club timeshare, visit Sell My Timeshare NOW.