On Wednesday, InterContinental Hotel Group released an announcement that they are developing a new timeshare brand under the Holiday Inn corporate umbrella. The company, whose North American headquarters is in Atlanta, Georgia, has formed a licensing and marketing alliance with Orange Lake Resorts, creating Holiday Inn Club Vacations.

Beginning in December of this year, Orange Lake timeshare, with its 1400 acres, will be rebranded as a Holiday Inn property. The popular Florida timeshare resort has 2412 timeshare villas, golf courses, and a water park, and is located in the Disney area of Orlando. The other Orange Lake timeshare resorts (located in Wisconsin, Vermont, and Panama City, Florida) will also assume the Holiday Inn Club Vacations brand at a later date.

Under the terms of the agreement, Orange Lake will retain ownership and operations as a privately held company. According to The Orlando Business Journal, “Under the deal, Holiday Inn will build a hotel at the Orlando resort and Orange Lake villas will be marketed through IHG’s reservation and distribution systems. IHG affinity program members will earn points for staying at Orange Lake resorts.”

The business relationship between Orange Lake timeshare resort and Holiday Inn is not new. Kemmons Wilson, the founder of Holiday Inn, also founded Orange Lake resort in 1952.

Andy Cosslett, CEO of IHG, was quoted in the Orlando Business Journal article as saying, “This deal reinforces the strength of the Holiday Inn brand as we are able to move into the timeshare market with a good partner who knows the business well.”

Developing Timeshare Resorts in this Shaky Economy

At a time when it seems like the economy is highly questionable, what spurs this hotelier to move forward into the timeshare industry? Perhaps the answer lies in the very instability of the economy itself. Many hotel companies are finding that timeshare sales are currently anchoring their business. While business travel is still strong, one can only wonder to what degree the US’s current economic situation will eat away at business travel, or how much more domestic vacation travel will continue to fall off.

At the same time that many Americans are cutting vacation time shorter, they are still committing that they will make room in their family’s budget for the restorative affects of time spent on holiday. And as they start to look for more economical ways to do this, the idea of buying timeshares or timeshare resales is looking more and more like a viable vacation solution than ever before. Buying timeshare today, locks in the price of your vacation accommodations for as long as you own the timeshare. Only fees to maintain the timeshare, or your portion of property taxes on it, (depending upon how your timeshare ownership is structured) are subject to increase as the years go by.

To learn more about vacation ownership at Orange Lake timeshare resales, , explore timeshare resales at these Orange Lake properties:

• Orange Lake at Lake Geneva – Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
• Orange Lake’s East Village – Kissimmee, Florida, United States
• Orange Lake’s North Village – Kissimmee, Florida, United States
• Orange Lake’s River Island – Kissimmee, Florida, United States
• Orange Lake’s West Village – Kissimmee, Florida, United States

Recent Timeshare Authority blog posts related to Orange Lake Timeshare:

• Orange Lake Timeshare Resorts Expanding in Vermont
• Making the Timeshare HOT 100 List is Orange Lake’s East Village Timeshares
• New Look at Orange Lake Country Club Timeshare

On September 9, the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) launched a new website designed to benefit consumers, vacationers, timeshare owners, and everyone who needs a little more vacation time worked into his life.

VacationBetter.org is an online resource created to help you learn more about vacation ownership and educate you on ways to travel better … vacation better … and in general enjoy relaxation and recreation more in your life.

Howard Nusbaum, ARDA president and CEO was quoted in the association’s official press release as saying, “People love to vacation, but don’t always understand that there are great options like timeshare available to them.”

Recognizing that as a society we are over worked and under vacationed, this excellent new website seeks to help people “vacation better.” As satisfied timeshare owners already know, timeshare can afford you some of the easiest solutions out there for planning and enjoying a great vacation. The VacationBetter website tells us that timeshare industry research shows the top stress points related to a vacation are:

1. Planning it.
2. Agreeing on destination.
3. Cost.
4. Having activities to suit all.
5. Uncertainty of what the room will be like.

But for timeshare owners, these 5 problems all go away because timeshare eliminates the stress of planning, gives you great flexibility in your choice of destination, lets you keep the cost of vacation accommodations under control, and offers luxurious resorts that are loaded with amenities to suit every member of the family.

Timeshare … it really is your vacation better solution.

Did you see our Sell My Timeshare NOW press release today? We are celebrating a milestone – 5 years in business. Best of all, our anniversary marks five successful years in business, and that is not always easy to say in this day and age.

Our company currently employs 140 people, which is a long way from the 3 employees who started a home based business 5 years ago. With a 520.9 percent company growth rate, we currently average over $1 million daily in offers to buy timeshares or rent timeshares.

We are a Fast Growing Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rental Advertising Company

What got us to this point?

A Timeshare Sales Company with Genuine Commitment

At Sell My Timeshare NOW, we sat aside a little time to eat some cake and talk about our accomplishments over the past five years. But after we all patted ourselves on the back, we went back to work. You see, we know that staying the best company in the business of advertising timeshare resales and timeshare rentals calls for continued hard work, and for us to never let our guard down.

And to all the many timeshare sellers and timeshare renters who have entrusted us to help them sell or rent timeshare, we owe it to them to keep our nose to the grindstone and our eye on the future.

Click here to read our full timeshare press release about Sell My Timeshare NOW‘s fifth anniversary in business.

Bill Marriott posted a simple, sad blog on Saturday, acknowledging what he described as the, “terrible tragedy at our Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan.”

If you have missed the weekend news, then perhaps you have not heard that more than 50 people were killed (death tolls still unknown) by a horrible act of terrorism, when a truck carrying a bomb approached the security gates at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, on Saturday evening. At the time I am writing this post, no group has claimed responsibility for the act, although some news authorities are reporting that. “Taliban militants based near the Afghan border and their Al Qaeda allies are the most likely suspects.”

This is a heartbreaking and irrational act. It was designed to catch the people of Islamabad, at a time when they were busy and active, many of them preparing for their evening meal, to break their daily fast observed during the holy month of Ramadan. Reports say that a number of national leaders of Pakistan were scheduled to dine together that evening in the Marriott hotel Islamabad, but at the last minute rescheduled the meeting to the home of the Prime Minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani.

Safety in Our Hotels and Timeshare Resorts

While some reporters are calling this tragedy, “Pakistan’s 9-11” it is yet a reminder to all of us that we live in a dangerous world. After 9-11, many US travelers stayed close to home, fearful for their safety and that of their families. I think time has given us all a greater sense of peace of mind about travel. I also think that timeshare resorts have proven to be as safe or safer than any destination you choose.

Travelers occupy hotels. People who come for a night or a week, but share little information with the management other than their credit cards and an address. Owners, by contrast occupy timeshares. The management of a timeshare resort has information and a relationship with the people who own property there … greater accountability. Yes, a timeshare typically will have a percentage of timeshare renters occupying its rooms, but for the most part, the people at a timeshare resort are couples and families who own a stake in that resort or that timeshare chain.

After 9-11 many people turned to timeshares because they felt vacation ownership with its owner accountability and many on-property amenities, is one of the safest choices they can make for vacation accommodations.

The thoughts and prayers of all of us at Sell My Timeshare NOW are with everyone whose life was touched by the bombing of the Islamabad Marriott Hotel.