Thinking about a trip to Florida? Many Central Florida tourist attractions are offering special prices, discount coupons, and other incentives to help vacationers offset the cost of travel this year.

For timeshare owners, or vacationers who want to take advantage of timeshare rentals, Orlando offers more timeshare resorts than anywhere in the world. Since our timeshare blog often writes about the brand name properties, (Hilton timeshare, Marriott timeshare, Disney Vacation Club, etc.) I thought I would share with you some information on a timeshare property you may not be familiar with, but that is consistently a popular destination.

Vacation at Calypso Cay Timeshare Resort

Calypso Cay Vacation Villas timeshare resort is located in Kissimmee, Florida, which means it is just south of Orlando and only 7 miles from the Walt Disney World theme parks. This timeshare resort is within minutes of Universal Studios, SeaWorld, and all the other Central Florida attractions you and your family enjoy. If you plan beach time in addition to relaxing by the pool, you’ll be roughly an hour from the Atlantic beaches and only slightly over an hour to the Gulf of Mexico.

True to its name, the design and furnishings of the Calypso Cay timeshare resort reflect the balmy breezes and sun-soaked feel of a lazy Florida afternoon. Calypso Cay offers one, two, and three-bedroom timeshare units, themed in cheerful, island decor. There are laundry facilities on property, entertainment centers in each timeshare unit, and an in-suite web access portal, making it easy for you to book travel arrangements online, plan details of your daily outings, or simply surf the Internet.

While the location of Calypso Cay Vacation Villas is convenient to all you want to do and explore, you may find yourself satisfied to never leave this timeshare resort. You can enjoy the pool and Tiki bar, nightly entertainment at the bandstand, or play mini golf at the resort’s own putt-putt course.

Calypso Cay was designed to be an island retreat in the heart of this family vacation destination. The opportunities available in Calypso Cay timeshare resales and Calypso Cay timeshare rentals will amaze you. Contact Sell My Timeshare NOW to learn more, and then pack your flip-flops and your straw hat, because a Calypso Cay vacation is waiting for you.

While tourism may be taking a hit in some parts of the US, Central Florida (the Orlando-Kissimmee vacation area) saw a 3.4 percent increase in tourism in the first four months of 2008, over the same period last year. So for everyone who plans on enjoying a holiday in Orlando or an Orlando timeshare vacation, here’s an important word of caution.

Residents of Orlando (and other similar high-tourism destinations) know that restaurants, gas stations, and other goods and services often are priced higher, the closer you get to the tourist attractions. Gas has always been a few pennies higher near the theme parks in Orlando than it is in other parts of the town. And for the small difference, it rarely made sense for timeshare owners or other vacationers to drive the extra miles to fill up their tank with the more competitively priced fuel they could buy at stations further away from the tourist centers. But with the price of gasoline soaring, sadly some proprietors of gas stations in Orlando have decided to hit their customers where it hurts, with a double whammy.

This Could End Your Timeshare Vacation on a Sour Note

A few gas stations near the Orlando International Airport are taking the painfully high $3.65 a gallon (a price that will probably be even higher by the time you read this) current rate for gas in Central Florida, and hiking it up to over $5.00 a gallon. According to WFTV News, Suncoast Energy near Orlando International Airport, for example, is charging $5.19 a gallon for premium gas. If you have a 15-gallon tank on your vehicle it would cost almost $78 to fill up at that price and over $93 for a full tank in a car with an 18-gallon tank.

The owners of Suncoast Energy and other stations that are charging the high prices realize that people coming back from timeshare vacations and other holidays, who need to return a rental car before they rush off to the airport, usually need to refill the tank in order to return the car “full”. After zipping out to the airport on the toll road, planning to fill up the tank, turn in the car, and rush off to catch a flight, vacationers find themselves trapped, with little choice but to pump gas into the rental car at the tune of $75 to $100 to fill an empty tank.

It’s greedy on the part of these gas station owners, but it isn’t illegal. Let’s hope that local and state governments are able to stop this kind of price gouging. Let’s also hope that our federal officials come up with ways to help get the price of gas down for all of us.

Until then, be wary. Don’t let your Orlando timeshare vacation end on a sour note.

This week, Sol Meliá Vacation Club and Timeshare Resort announced the realization of a business milestone. The timeshare company developed three properties in 2004, and today the internationally branded club has 13 international locations.

As part of Spain-based Sol Meliá Hotels and Resorts, the vacation club has properties in Mexico, Europe, the Caribbean, and Central America, with more than 20,000 members worldwide. Alain Grangé, Chief Executive of Sol Meliá Vacation Club and Leisure Real Estate Division, says, “We have been profitable since our first quarter of business from vacation club sales, member and network operations, rental and Club portfolio.”

The vacation club and timeshare credits its success in part to the fact that its projects are fully integrated with those of the company’s hotel and resort divisions. The timeshare company feels this creates a beneficial synergy of marketing, sales, products, operations, financial strength, and customer loyalty.

But here is the single most important reason the company gave for its success and rapid growth. Alain Grangé described loyalty as a two-way street and said, “We couldn’t expect our customers to be loyal to us if we weren’t loyal to them first.”

Applause! The word loyalty is thrown about a lot in the business world, but it is rarely used to talk about a company being loyal to its customers. Loyalty is all too often forgotten in business today, and the few companies that demonstrate it deserve to profit because of it.

You can read the Sol Meliá Vacation Club and Timeshare press release here.

And you can learn more about the opportunity to become a member of Sol Meliá Vacation Club and Timeshare. Go to Sell My Timeshare NOW and look for the outstanding opportunities in Sol Meliá Vacation Club and Timeshare resales and timeshare rentals.

• Sol Melia Vacation Club at Gran Melia Puerto Rico
• Sol Melia Vacation Club Dominican Republic

If you read our timeshare blog regularly, you have already figured out that there are easier places to build a timeshare resort than in Aspen. Yes, there are already beautiful, luxurious timeshare resorts and fractionals in Aspen, Colorado, but the city leaders don’t necessarily welcome timeshare properties with open arms.

So it is a big step that the Aspen Club and Spa timeshare has received preliminary approval from the Aspen Planning and Zoning Commission to build 20 timeshare units as part of an addition to an existing health club. The timeshare resort is planned to include three and four bedroom timeshare units to be sold in intervals that are approximately 3 weeks in length. The resort will include a 35,000 square foot addition to the current athletic club facilities, a 53-space underground parking garage and 45 surface parking spaces, as well as 12 two-bedroom units of affordable housing.

A Timeshare Resort with an Interesting Twist

The timeshare resort component of the property will be sold as Aspen Club Living, marketing the health and wellness aspect of the resort. When the timeshare units are not occupied, they will be rented like hotel rooms.

Perhaps it took the spin of the additional affordable living units, and the health and wellness center, to move this timeshare resort project ahead against the historically critical city officials of Aspen. But don’t book your airfare just yet to vacation at the Aspen Club and Spa, because the plan still has to pass the Aspen City Council, first in the developmental stage and again in a final review.

Other Options in Aspen Timeshare and Aspen Fractionals

If you are interested in owning timeshare vacation property in Aspen, you can buy timeshare resales at the St. Regis Resort, in increments of four nonconsecutive weeks. The St. Regis is the ultimate in luxury timeshare/fractional ownership, with access to skiing, summer mountain sports, and all the shops, dining, and entertainment charm of Aspen.