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.

The website TypicallySpanish.com is reporting that a German prosecutor is investigating timeshare fraud conducted in the Canary Islands. The case is being prosecuted in Stuttgart, bringing charges against Ivan Boris, a 37-year-old man from Croatia. According to the report, Boris has assumed at least fifteen false identities, in his attempts to defraud victims in the timeshare scam.

Boris allegedly promises the timeshare buyers an investment return and uses falsely notarized documents to back up his promises. The timeshare fraud has involved perhaps as many as 40 victims, who spent nearly three quarters of one million dollars (collectively) for timeshare rights at the Club Monte Anfi.

Timeshare Sales in Spain

As a timeshare buyer, you should understand that timeshare purchased in the Canaries (or in the Balearic Islands) is governed by Spanish Timeshare Law. Click here and you can read a summary of Spanish Timeshare Law from the official source: The Organisation for Timeshare in Europe, the OTE.

Timeshare laws in Europe have lagged behind those in the US and many other parts of the world in providing a structure that properly protects the interests of timeshare owners and timeshare buyers. While it wasn’t for lack of having laws in place, the wording of many of those laws simply permitted loopholes that could be exploited.

In recent years, the OTE has tightened up their laws, targeting £100,000 in 2007 to its “Enforcement Project in Spain,” with plans to increase that spending in 2008 by 30 percent. During the past year, the OTE Enforcement Project in Spain, working with the police, has closed four bogus law firms and seven timeshare resales companies that were running timeshare scams.

Timeshare in Spain is some of the most splendid in the world, but historically, it has also been a hotbed of timeshare fraud. Among timeshares in the Canary Islands, Tenerife in particular has seen more than its share of timeshare scams. The OTE estimates that nearly half a million Brits lose over a billion pounds each year to timeshare fraud in the form of Discount Travel Membership Clubs.

Buy Timeshare Safely

When it comes to buying timeshares, the rule is the same worldwide: Don’t rush. Don’t make a buying decision on the spot and don’t make your decision to buy under pressure. If you are not dealing with a worldwide brand that you know, (Marriott timeshare, Hyatt vacation club timeshare, Hilton timeshare, etc.) Take the time to find out whom you are dealing with, and not just based on their word, but by contacting organizations such as OTE and asking them about a timeshare company’s reputation.

If a timeshare sales person pressures you with a “buy now or this price goes away” approach—walk away. You can always buy timeshare at even better prices than the developer can offer by buying timeshare resales, where you never have to face the high pressure sales pitch, and can deal directly with the current timeshare owner.

You have choices and you have time – take advantage of them.