Earlier this week, I wrote in the Timeshare Owners Blog about a predicted future escalation in global tourism leading to a shortage of hotel and timeshare resorts. Starwood Hotels and Timeshare resorts is just one of several hoteliers and developers that seem to think such predictions are solid.

In a multi-year strategy to revitalize the brand name of Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Starwood begins this week on an aggressive expansion plan calling for 54 hotels and 20,000 guest rooms to be added to the Sheraton brand by this time next year. According to Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc, the company will be spending approximately $2 billion just on North American properties. The plans include $1.3 billion in renovations and $400 million in key brand initiatives and upgrades at 100 US hotels.

Starwood’s official news release says that Sheraton is already the company’s largest and most global brand, and that they plan to increase this by opening one hotel every 12 days during 2008. Target markets include Denver, Minneapolis, Dallas, Phoenix, and Washington, DC. Globally, expansion plans include Egypt, China, Ireland, and Argentina.

Hoyt Harper II, senior vice president for Sheraton Hotels and Timeshare Resorts says, “Over the next several years, Sheraton’s footprint will become even more prominent, and as we grow, we will leverage Starwoods’ proven history of building great lifestyle brands to enhance the entire guest experience.”

Ready to Buy Sheraton Timeshare?

If you have ever considered buying Sheraton timeshare, there has never been a better time. You would become a Sheraton timeshare owner just as the company is putting billions of dollars back into their hotels and resorts – think of it as, getting in at the right time. And buying Sheraton timeshare from Starwood is not the only way to become a Sheraton timeshare owner. There are incredible opportunities to buy Sheraton timeshare resales, and bypass paying the developer’s upfront marketing costs. Visit Sell My Timeshare NOW today to learn more.

Here’s a YouTube video about the Starwood Spa collection that is reason enough to become a Starwood timeshare owner.

Recent Timeshare Owners Blog posts about Starwood timeshares include:

• Starwood Will Be Selling Timeshare from New Sales Galleries
• Starwood Timeshare Opens The Phoenician Residences

Last week ATA Airlines stopped flying. The week before, Aloha Airlines shut down. Air Bus is gone, Oasis Air liquidated, and Champion Air has announced it will cease operations on May 31. Sun Country Airlines says it will lay off 45 of its 156 pilots for the summer, cutting back by 30 percent. Other airlines talk about layoffs, cutbacks, and rising ticket prices.

According to The International Air Transport Association (IATA), between the soaring cost of fuel and consumers forced to cut back on spending, 2008 will be a very tough year for the airlines. In light of this, IATA has twice downgraded its industry profit expectations for 2008.

So what will these changes mean for timeshare owners and the way people use their timeshare weeks?

Timeshare Weeks and the Airline Cutbacks

Airline cutbacks could impact specific timeshare vacation destinations. Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines were only two of several airlines providing service to Hawaii, but they were both economy-priced providers. For people who were barely squeaking the cost of their annual vacation trip into their family budget, before the price of gas and groceries went through the roof, the shutdown of budget airlines could be the final straw.

Yet tourism experts are not predicting that Hawaii, or any other single destination, will be hit unduly by a decline in vacationers. People may vacation differently than they have in the past, staying closer to home, steering clear of high-priced restaurants, or vacationing for fewer days, but most people will still find a way to enjoy some much-needed R & R.

A Tight Economy May Lead to Timeshare Exchange or Timeshare Resales

With the price of fuel driving up the cost of transportation, many timeshare owners will no doubt opt to exchange their timeshare weeks for vacation time at a timeshare resort closer to home. Other timeshare owners may choose to bank their timeshare weeks, hoping that next year funds will be more readily available. Still other timeshare owners may seek to resell timeshare, just to be out from under the cost of maintenance fees and annual expenses.

Before You Sell Timeshare, Consider This Option

Before you do anything, check out your options. Just because this may be a tough year for you to vacation, don’t assume that everyone is dealing with the same issues. There are people in certain career fields who are actually benefitting from the US economy’s problems. In addition, there are some international tourists whose money has never been stronger against the US dollar.

You may find that renting your timeshare unit is a perfect solution. You can hold on to your timeshare resort property, yet typically receive enough money when you rent timeshare to pay your timeshare unit’s annual expenses. If your timeshare is already paid for, and you are not making monthly payments on it, then it really makes a lot of sense to use it as a timeshare rental until your personal budget or schedule loosens up and you can enjoy a timeshare vacation again. Even if you owe money on your timeshare unit, you may decide that it is worthwhile to rent timeshare, holding on to the timeshare unit you have already spent hard earned cash to own.

The bottom line is that you have options. And the timeshare resales and timeshare rentals specialists at Sell My Timeshare NOW can help you decide which options are right for you. Don’t be too quick to throw in the towel; just because some airlines, mortgage companies, or home owners who were already overextended have called it quits doesn’t necessarily mean that you are headed for your own financial crash and burn.

Last November, the Timeshare Owners Blog reported on the arrest of Dennis Drummond. In the summer of 2007, Drummond was picked up on a fugitive warrant in North Carolina and was then extradited to Massachusetts, where he faced multiple counts of larceny. Dennis Drummond has faced charges in MA in 1990, 2003, and 2005, each time on charges related to timeshare fraud.

The former resident of Plymouth, Drummond was accused of a timeshare scam involving more than 80 people. According to police, Drummond would set up real estate offices and offer (for a fee) to exchange people’s timeshare units for better weeks or vacations at better timeshare resorts.

Last Wednesday, Drummond pleaded guilty to three charges of larceny over $250; larceny over $250 involving a person over the age of 60; and larceny over $250 in a single scam. Drummond was sentenced to 2 and a half years in jail, but will only serve 10 more months. He is also required to make restitution to his victims.

Elderly Can Be Targeted in Timeshare Scams

One particularly sad account in this timeshare scam is the story of the Doucettes. Janice Doucette told the court that in 2002, she and her husband gave Drummond $25,000 and the deed for two of their three timeshare weeks, but that they never received anything in return. As Doucette explained, her husband Charles is now 79 years of age and receiving kidney dialysis in a nursing home. Doucette blames Drummond for ruining the golden years of her marriage.

While Drummond’s sentence may seem light, if he fails to make restitution, or is arrested again, he could then be sentenced to up to five years in state prison.

For more information on ways to safely buy, rent or sell timeshare, visit Sell My Timeshare NOW.

In “The Tourism Time Bomb,” (Harvard Business Review, April 2008) the authors, Paul F. Nunes and Mark Spelman, predict a global tourism explosion resulting from an expanding middle class. The message is good news for the economy, good news for timeshare owners or people who want to buy timeshare or resell timeshare, and eye-opening information for travelers and vacationers worldwide.

Tourism Time Bomb Could Result in a Shortage of Hotels and Timeshare Resorts

Yesterday, when the Timeshare Owners Blog looked at this Harvard Business Journal report on vacation trends and tourism, we noted three possible outcomes of such a tourism explosion. The first likelihood deals with a shortage of accommodations and the prediction that hotel rooms could become a scarcity. As noted in the blog post, Good News for the Middle Class Could Mean Good News for Timeshare Real Estate, if this happens, demand will increase tremendously for both hotels and timeshare units. And timeshare owners, especially those who own timeshare with exchange options, or who own multiple timeshare units or timeshare weeks, will be in good shape. If an accommodations surfeit actually happens, then timeshare owners will be in the enviable position of owning vacation property at a locked-in price.

No-Vacancy Signs at Hotels, Timeshare Resorts, and Attractions

The second scenario that could result from a global tourism explosion is that overcrowding and over-demand at popular vacation destinations might result in restrictions on the number of people allowed to visit there. This goes beyond the problem of overbooked hotel rooms and becomes a matter of tougher regulations limiting the number of visitors to sensitive areas such as historic ruins and environmental habitats. It will also mean more days when popular attractions reach sold-out capacity early in the day. Already there are peak times when vacationers arrive at theme parks only to be turned away because the location has reached max capacity.

The report goes on to explain, that with the strange psychology of supply and demand, the destinations with the longest waiting lists, will ironically become the places people most want to visit. Restrictions on visiting certain destinations will simply make those places more desired than ever.

The third situation that could occur because of a surge in tourism is that secondary destinations and even as-yet-undeveloped destinations could turn into vacation hot spots. According to “The Tourism Time Bomb,” China has developed the Hawaii-like Hainan Island and Macao, a gaming paradise located on China’s southern coast. Thanks to the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet rail line, the number of visitors to Tibet increased 64 percent last year to more than 4 million, while high-rollers and gamers of all levels already head to casinos in Biloxi and Detroit to avoid the crowds on the Las Vegas strip.

Buy Timeshare and Get Ahead of the Crowd

As a parting thought, consider this bit of advice from the authors of the report: “Get in while you can.” The only thing I might add to this wisdom would be: “Get in while you can…buy timeshare resales so that the tourism explosion never stands in the way of your vacation.”