At Sell My Timeshare NOW, we recently completed a study on the reasons motivating people to sell timeshare they currently own. Looking closely at the key indicators, we concluded that the slow US economy does not figure as prominently among the reasons people sell timeshare as you might expect.

Our research involved nearly 1000 timeshare owners, all of whom had expressed a desire to sell timeshare they currently own as deeded property, right to use property, or vacation club membership weeks. We ran the survey for more than four months, and our demographic included a cross section of timeshare owners.

Why Timeshare Owners Decide to Sell Timeshare

On March 5, Sell My Timeshare NOW issued a press release on the findings of our timeshare owner survey. Our research revealed that 28.5 percent of the timeshare owners surveyed say: they just don’t use their timeshare anymore. Another 21.4 percent say they have experienced a change in their family situation, such as a divorce or their children no longer vacation with them, which motivates them to sell timeshare. In other words, lifestyle changes account for the reason almost half of all timeshare sellers decide to sell timeshare weeks or vacation club memberships.

Happy Timeshare Owners

While we all hear the grumblings of unhappy timeshare owners, maybe that’s a case of the “squeaky wheel” getting the attention…the majority of timeshare owners seem to just be busy planning and enjoying timeshare vacations.

Statistics from ARDA (the American Resort Development Association) have consistently shown a high rate of satisfaction among timeshare owners. Nearly 85 percent of all timeshare owners ARDA surveyed say they are satisfied with their timeshare purchase. Our study, at Sell My Timeshare NOW, expands on this information, showing that among people who are ready to sell timeshare, less than one percent are doing so because they do not like the resort or the amenities. Additionally only 4.6 percent sell timeshare because they feel it is too difficult to exchange timeshare for other dates or other locations.

Click here, to read the media release on the Sell My Timeshare NOW study or here to go to the Sell My Timeshare website and learn more about the opportunities in timeshare resales and timeshare rentals.

The Wyndham Pantipa Spa Villa and Resort Timeshare, scheduled for completion in 2009, will become the first timeshare resort in Asia to carry the Wyndham Vacation Resort’s Asia Pacific brand. The Pantipa Spa is already under construction on Thailand‘s largest tropical island, Phuket.

The timeshare resort and spa will have an idyllic setting on a forested hillside, overlooking Kalim Beach on the Andaman Sea. The 44 one, two, and three bedroom deluxe and presidential timeshare units will be part of a resort (scheduled for completion in August 2008) that will include a boutique hotel, six cafes, bars, restaurants, shops, and a luxurious day spa.

Wyndham Timeshare’s Growth in Asia Pacific

According to Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific’s president and CEO, Barry Robinson, Wyndham timeshare was eager to make this location their first in Asia. “We are supremely confident that Pantipa Spa Villa & Resort will be a coveted addition to the company’s management resort portfolio,” said Robinson.

Wyndham timeshare already has associate resort arrangements in a number of Bali resorts, including The Bali Dynasty Resort in South Kuta, Pat-Masse Villas in Jimbaran Bay, and Swiss-Belhotel Bay View in Nusa Dua.

Thailand Timeshare Resales: An Exotic Vacation Destination

Other opportunities to enjoy timeshare vacations in beautiful, exotic Thailand include Thailand timeshare resales and Thailand timeshare rentals at numerous resorts including Marriott’s Phuket Beach Club and the QVC at Samui Peninsula.

To learn more about a Thailand timeshare vacation visit Sell My Timeshare NOW.

PGA Tour golfer Brandt Snedeker, who won his first PGA Tour victory at the Wyndham Championship, and won the 2007 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Award, has signed a sponsorship contract with Wyndham Worldwide and Wyndham timeshares.

What does this sponsorship mean for the Nashville, Tennessee native, who earned over $2.8 million in his rookie season with a Tour victory and six top-10 finishes? It means he sleeps more soundly at night.

Unlike an NBA or NFL team member who works under contract with his team, a PGA Tour player is an independent businessman. When the Boston Celtics travel to play the Orlando Magic, the team travels together, typically on a private jet, and the team pays for travel, accommodations, and meals for its players. The team also pays for the uniforms, equipment, the services from the trainers, coaches, team medical staff, and everyone else who works behind the sidelines keeping Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo on the floor, blocking shots, stealing balls, and shooting three’s.

But professional golfers operate by different rules. They are not under contract with the PGA Tour; instead, they are members, with their membership based on their playing performance. The PGA Tour doesn’t pay them to play; PGA Tour members actually pay the Tour for their membership and the privilege of competing in tournaments. They also foot the bill for their own travel expenses, their trainers, coaches, caddy, equipment, and even the plaid pants and white shoes they wear in the final round, unless these costs are underwritten by a sponsor.

Play as well as Brandt Snedeker played last year and sponsors like Wyndham timeshare are eager to put their logos on your cap, golf bag and the shirts you wear during tournaments. Sponsorship deals for professional golfers range anywhere from a few thousand dollars to millions, with bonuses thrown in for top finishes and tournament wins.

Recreational golfers and fans of the game of golf are an excellent market for the timeshare and timeshare resales industries. Many professional golf tournaments draw a half million fans in the galleries during the week of play, with millions more watching the event on television. Companies who sponsor the play of professional golfers recognize that marketing to golfers means marketing to people who have the time and means to plan regular vacations and would be interested in the vacation ownership opportunities of timesharing.

Franz Hanning, president and CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership (Wyndham timeshare) “We believe this is a tremendous opportunity to align the Wyndham brand with one of the game’s most promising young talents. Our goal is to connect with golfers at every stage in their love of the game. We’re proud to associate ourselves with a rising star like Brandt and believe he is the perfect complement to our partnership with the game’s most preeminent legend.”

Besides sponsoring Snedeker, Wyndham timeshare maintains an exclusive marketing partnership with Arnold Palmer, and has developed the Arnold Palmer Golf Holidays line of travel products.

Wyndham timeshare will again sponsor the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., on August 11 through 17, 2008.

To learn more about opportunities in Wyndham vacation ownership and Wyndham timeshare resales visit Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Watch this YouTube video to see the golf swing that made Brandt Snedeker 2007 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

Let’s face it. Timeshare owners at Royal Oasis got a very bad deal. And unless the new owners (Harcourt Development) step up in a big way, or the courts are able to enforce actions against the previous development company, then nothing will ever make up for what the owners of timeshare weeks at Royal Oasis have lost in dollars and vacation time.

But as I wrote in the Timeshare Owners Blog last November 5, timeshare owners are not the only victims of the problems at Royal Oasis. Somewhere between 800 and 1000 people lost their livelihoods when Royal Oasis timeshare closed in 2004. While several million dollars in severance money has already been paid to some Royal Oasis timeshare company employees, other employees have yet to receive anything. According to the February 25 online edition of The Bahama Journal, the Bahamian government still needs to disperse nearly $600,000 in severance pay to past employees of the timeshare resort.

Minister of State Zhivargo Liang says, “There still are some of the (former) Royal Oasis workers who have complaints about either not having been paid or not being paid sufficiently, etc. Those people are being interviewed with a view to getting what the exact details are of their complaints. Following upon that, determinations are being made as to what ought to happen in respect to payment for them.”

Liang believes that the monies owed involve approximately 100 people who had to choose between agreeing to accept an amount of money they thought was incorrect or gambling that waiting it out would lead to further investigation and ultimately the receipt of the correct amount.

Timeshare Resorts Are More than Vacation Destinations

When you take a timeshare vacation at many of the high demand destinations, it may seem as if timeshare resorts are a dime a dozen. Lose your job at one, and there are plenty of other timeshare resorts where you can apply for work. But the truth is, timeshare resorts are a valuable part of a community’s economic structure. Lose even one, and the stability of that structure is threatened.

A timeshare resort employs anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand employees at most locations. For many of the employees, this income may be the sole source of livelihood for them or their families. When a timeshare resort closes, not only are thousands of employees impacted, but vendors, who supply goods and services to the property are hurt as well.

In the case of the Royal Oasis timeshare resort, located on the edge of the famous Bahamian International Bazaar, traffic at the street shops and restaurants dwindled, causing the permanent closing of many of these businesses. And then there’s the impact on the tax base. Most timeshare resorts mean tourist taxes and real estate or property taxes paid into a community. In the case of Royal Oasis timeshares, damage to the local economy included loss of casino taxes as well—a painfully large chunk of tax revenue that simply disappeared overnight.

You may love timeshare or hate it depending on your experience with in the past. But the bottom line remains: when a community loses a timeshare resort for any reason, everyone from owners to employees to the community itself is seriously hurt by the loss.

As you sit at your desk this Monday morning, here is a video from Grand Bahama Island that is sure to make you long for the warm sunshine and sugar sand beaches of a Bahamas timeshare vacation.