Holiday Inn Club Vacations continues to expand their timeshare resorts and destinations.

Did we tell you Holiday Inn Club Vacations timeshares now includes a ski destination? Not long after Holiday Inn timeshare announced their new resorts in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; Panama City, Florida; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Gatlinburg, Tennessee (More Timeshare Resort Destinations for Holiday Inn Vacation Club Timeshares) they followed it with the announcement of a ski-in, ski-out resort at the foot of Vermont’s Ascutney Mountain.

“We’re excited to include Ascutney Mountain Resort as the fourth Holiday Inn Club Vacations property as part of our alliance with Orange Lake, with our fifth and sixth resorts joining the brand in April,” Christian Hempell, vice president, Holiday Inn Club Vacations.

While the new Holiday Inn Club Vacations timeshare at Ascutney Mountain Resort is the only timeshare ski resort in the Holiday Inn US portfolio, the resort itself is truly a year-round destination. On site or nearby, the timeshare resort offers indoor and outdoor pools, a fitness center and spa, an arcade, convenience store, a café and a full service restaurant.

Don Harrill, president and CEO of Orange Lake Resorts timeshare, describes the property as a popular drive-to destination for thousands of timeshare owner/members living in the New England area. Clearly the Holiday Inn timeshare company sees a great future in timeshare development as they continue to seek properties in North America and to finalize plans to build a new flagship timeshare resort in Orlando, increasing their Orlando timeshare units by as many as 2500.

As part of the timeshare brand’s portfolio, Holiday Inn Club Vacations timeshare at Ascutney Mountain Resort will be owned and operated by Orange Lake, a privately held company. For an overview of how the Orange Lake Resorts/Holiday Inn timeshare arrangement works, you may want to revisit this past The Timeshare Authority post: Another Major Hotelier Entering the Timeshare Resort Industry.

Sell My Timeshare NOW offers flexibility in timeshare sales services, with options to suit the need of every timeshare seller or buyer.

Some timeshare owners sell timeshare themselves, advertising it on our Sell My Timeshare NOW website. Other timeshare owners prefer to let a licensed real estate broker handle the process for them from start to finish. For those timeshare owners, we offer Timeshare Broker Services.

As a division of Sell My Timeshare NOW, Timeshare Broker Services is a successful fee-based timeshare brokerage that continues to demonstrate that timeshares are selling on the resale market despite the downturn in the economy. In 2008, Timeshare Broker Services closed sales on more than $12 million in timeshare resales. And this year, the number of timeshares sold has increased by 10 percent over this same time last year.

Don Nadeau is a licensed real estate broker and the managing director of Timeshare Broker Services. Don says, “Last year we sold over 900 timeshare resales at Timeshare Broker Services, and we took our commissions after the sale on each one of them. This attests to the strength, integrity, and customer-centric services of our company, and bears out the fact that we provide a much-needed service in the timeshare industry today.”

What Makes Timeshare Brokerage Services Stand Out

Timeshare Broker Services has built its success on a single strategic axiom. As Don reminds people, “We actually sell timeshare!”

Follow this link to read the full Sell My Timeshare NOW press release about the continuing success of Timeshare Broker Services. Or visit their website at www.timesharebrokerservices.com

And if you are planning on attending the ARDA Convention next week in Orlando, be sure you look for representatives of Timeshare Broker Services there.

What a beneficial three days I spent in England at the TATOC Conference … but there were a few stops I wish I could have made.

If you have been following The Timeshare Authority the last few days, you know that I was in England last weekend at the TATOC Conference, which is an excellent educational and interactive forum for everyone involved in timeshare sales, timeshare resales and rentals, or just about any aspect of the timeshare industry.

But for all the people I met and the knowledge I gained while I was at The Association for Timeshare Owners Committees Conference in Warrington, there is one thing I missed out on doing. I was really hoping to work in the opportunity to spend some time at the British MOSI – the Museum of Science and Industry.

England’s Museum of Science and Industry

I am hugely interested in luxury cars – especially the Rolls-Royce. The MOSI, which is located in Manchester, England, just so happens to be in the town where Frederick Henry Royce teamed up with Charles Rolls, meeting first at the historic Midland Manchester Hotel. By 1904, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars had made its international debut at the Paris Salon exhibiting two, three, and four cylinder automobiles of the highest standards in quality available at the time. (And in my humble opinion, I think the Rolls-Royce still means the finest quality automobile in the world today.)

While the MOSI houses exhibits to the early history of Rolls-Royce, production demand at the growing company soon caused them to outgrow Manchester. Today the Goodwood factory in West Sussex, England is the modern day home to Rolls-Royce.

Goodwood is certainly another destination I would love to visit. As I understand, this unique property will be accepting tours again, sometime later this year.

The Goodwood building is a one of a kind facility in which the roof is planted with thousands of living sedum plants, which change color with the seasons and provide a natural habitat to insects and rare birds. The exterior walls of the building are paneled with cedar louvers that automatically adjust to ambient light levels preventing glare inside the building. No wonder the company describes this facility as a “fitting spiritual and emotional home for the most prestigious car company in the world.”

And the more you learn about Rolls-Royce the more interesting their business model becomes, especially in view of the fact that the company saw their sales increase by 20 percent in 2008. How’s that for amazing in view of the current global economy? Clearly both as a businessperson and as an aficionado of the Rolls-Royce, I am going to have to spend time exploring the company’s history and tradition on my next trip to the UK.

Follow this link to learn more about England timeshare resale opportunities.

Interesting insights discussed at last week’s TATOC Conference.

The European Union has made excellent moves in the past year in refining and strengthening timeshare legislation for European Union member nations. A number of long-needed changes are being put in place and the timeshare industry for timeshare owners, timeshare developers and management companies, and all affiliated will be better for this new legislative effort. HOWEVER, some of the proposed legislative measures could have some unintended and even detrimental results.

The Association for Timeshare Owners Committees

I spoke about these concerns at last week’s TATOC Conference (The Association for Timeshare Owners Committees). In light of the pending EU timeshare legislation, which is now being discussed among the member nations of the EU, there could be unintended consequences for the timeshare resale industry. As I said, I am very much in favor of many of the changes; but the potential for making timeshare advertising illegal on the resale market will do nothing to curb the rogue elements of timeshare sales and will only harm the legitimate timeshare resale companies that provide a proper and successful outlet for owners looking to sell timeshare.

If the upfront fee language in the proposed EU legislation is extended by definition to include timeshare resale advertising, then timeshare resales companies in many European Union member countries could find themselves unable to offer important services needed to help timeshare owners advertise their timeshare on the resale market.

The timeshare industry needs a vibrant and healthy secondary market for timeshare owners. Imagine what would happen to the automobile industry if car owners and car dealers found themselves hamstrung when it came to reselling automobiles.

Legislation of timeshare sales and timeshare resales is necessary. But care must be exercised so new laws are focused on protecting consumers and the industry at large from unscrupulous business people while ensuring that the language of legislation does not overreach its mark, damaging or even shutting out legitimate and beneficial businesses that help people resell timeshare they no longer wish to own.

Follow this link to read the full text of the EU Directive for Timeshare.

DIRECTIVE 2008/122/EC
OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 14 January 2009
on the protection of consumers in respect of certain aspects of timeshare, long-term holiday product, resale and exchange contracts