During the 10th Annual Grand Bahama Business Outlook forum last week, Mike Murphy of Harcourt Development announced that Harcourt (the owners of Royal Oasis) has finalized a management deal for the Royal Oasis Timeshares property.

The Freeport News quoted Murphy, the director of Harcourt Development, as saying, “We’ve been working at this for a very long time and we met with Foxwoods almost a year ago now and we’ve been in talks with them ever since.” As Murphy explains, “We’re (Harcourt Developments) the owners and developers of the property, but Foxwoods are going to be the operators.”

Spokespeople for both Harcourt and Foxwoods agree that they are still in an assessment phase, determining which aspects of the hotel and timeshare resort can be refurbished and which will have to be totally rebuilt. Royal Oasis timeshares, as you probably recall, has be closed since Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne caused extensive damages in the fall of 2004. Timeshare owners at Royal Oasis have been in limbo since that time, many still on the hook to make payments on timeshare condos were no longer usable as vacation properties.

Upgrades and Repairs at Royal Oasis Caribbean Timeshare Resort

Currently, proposed plans for the Royal Oasis timeshare resort include quickly bring the Ruby Golf Course to playing conditions, with a long-term overhaul planned for the Emerald Course. A new hotel tower is planned, along with a spa, and multiple food and beverage service locations.

According to reports in The Bahama Journal, some 400 hotel units will be refurbished and another 350 hotel units added. While all sources of information about this newest development in the long and controversial issues surrounding Royal Oasis timeshares refer to the expansion as “hotel” units, I am speculating that they actually mean “timeshare units”. Moreover, while any news of forward momentum in this situation is positive, it doesn’t sound like timeshare owners at Royal Oasis can look forward to using their timeshare weeks any time in the immediate future.

The unfairness of this whole nasty mess as far as Royal Oasis timeshare owners are concerned is inexcusable and if you would like a refresher course on the chain of events, I recommend you revisit the following posts in the Timeshare Owners Blog:

• Updates about Royal Oasis Timeshare
• Do You Own Timeshare at Royal Oasis in the Bahamas?
• Royal Oasis Timeshare Resort: A Litany of Problems
• Uncertain News about Royal Oasis Timeshare Resort

If you are a timeshare owner at Royal Oasis, you still have until April 1, 2008, to become part of the class action lawsuit against the original owners of the timeshare resort. To find out more about the terms of this lawsuit, contact:

Phillips & Garcia, P.C.
Carlin Phillips, Esq.
13 Ventura Drive
N. Dartmouth, MA 02747
[email protected]

On Monday, the Timeshare Owners Blog will update you on the other group, in addition to timeshare owners, who have been so deeply impacted by the debacle at Royal Oasis timeshares.

At the Westwood Corporate Center in Orlando, Florida, nearly 1000 employees of Marriott Vacation Club International (Marriott Timeshare) officially turned “green” this past week.

For these timeshare company employees, going green, means placing a greater emphasis on recycling and environmental conservation. Marriott began their green initiative earlier this year in their Bethesda, Maryland offices and plans to take the philosophy and practices to their other corporate divisions over the next few months.

Marriott timeshare workers at the Westwood offices have committed to recycling the paper, plastic, and aluminum products used there at the business complex. Thermal travel mugs (courtesy of Marriott timeshare) now replace Styrofoam cups. Where the break rooms previously offered disposable plastic ware that spends thousands of years clogging landfills, new utensils and serve ware is a biodegradable product made from potatoes.

The product Marriott timeshare has selected for use in their cafeterias and break rooms is suitable for use even in hot liquids, yet it biodegrades in roughly 180 days. Appropriately known as “SpudWare” the cutlery and other products are produced by combining potato starch and soy oil.

To learn more about Spudware and other environmentally friendly products, go to TreeCycle.

To learn more about great deals in Marriott timeshare resales and Marriott timeshare rentals, go to Sell My Timeshare NOW.

For a closer look at Marriott going green, watch this YouTube video.

Would you be surprised to learn that 15 percent of all households in Finland are considering the purchase of timeshare weeks or timeshare condos? Finland based, Holiday Club Resorts Oy, is not surprised; they have recognized the opportunity to grow their hotel and spa business through the development of new Nordic timeshare resorts.

With 5.3 million people in 2.4 million households, (according to Timeshare Perspective Magazine) Finland has some 800,000 people who currently have the potential to buy timeshare. Neighboring Sweden offers another 1.5 million potential timeshare owners—and these numbers only reflect people who can afford to buy timeshare from the developer. Imagine how these figures increase if you include all the people who can afford to buy timeshare at the fantastic discounts available in timeshare resales.

Holiday Club Resorts is Thinking Big about European Timeshare

Holiday Club Resorts Oy is the oldest timeshare company in the Nordic countries. They are part of the RCI timeshare exchange, and they offer Holiday Club timeshare resorts in high-demand ski destinations, as well as numerous spa resort hotels. Currently Holiday Club timeshare, which has timeshare resorts in Sweden, Finland, and Russia, projects they may be on their way to becoming the largest European timeshare company.

Holiday Club Resorts Oy is seriously going after new timeshare owners. They have set up some of their timeshare condos in line with the concepts of the Stress Free Area®. Stress Free is a registered design of the Conbalance company, that specializes in interior space planning. In Stress Free designs, attention is given to planning lighting, color selections, fabrics, and furnishing to enhance a sense of calmness and wellbeing for the occupants.

Timeshare Resales, the Nordic Opportunity

Listening to the media tell you about the surfeit of home foreclosures and the spiraling increase in the costs of energy and durable goods, you may feel that this is an impossible time to sell timeshare. But these statistics from Finland and Sweden are just one more reminder that the person who buys your timeshare resale could be from anywhere in the world, provided you advertise your timeshare resales through a company that uses the world wide web to create a broad base of global marketing.

And as an interesting post script, I have to compliment the people at Holiday Club for the timeshare advertising slogan they pose to their market, “Why buy a cow when you need a litre (liter) of milk?”

…I couldn’t have said it better myself.

SunStream Hotels and Resorts is now offering one-bedroom timeshare condos at the Diamond Head Beach Resort on Fort Myers Beach. The nine-year-old resort is a twelve-story, beachside property, that has recently been remodeled and is selling 31 units as timeshare condos.

Historically, SunStream is recognized as a property management company, operating other Florida vacation condos. The Diamond Head timeshare units include kitchens, queen-sized sleeper sofas (in addition to the queen bed in the private bedroom), and balconies with a view of the Gulf.

According to Street Talk Blog, prices begin at $9,990 for deeded ownership of one week in off-season. However, in visiting the SunStream Vacation Club website, it appears that this is a special rate for the first timeshare buyers only and will not be in effect much longer. Also, perhaps the renovation is still underway, as the website says that first occupancy is not until the 2009 season.

Opportunities in Florida Timeshare Resales

Just to refresh your memory about the beautiful beaches in Florida, Fort Myers Beach is way down south on the Gulf Coast side of the state. You can expect temperatures in line with Miami or Boca Raton, but because you are on the Gulf side not the Atlantic, you’ll enjoy much warmer waters and typically balmier breezes…in other words, just about an ideal location for a timeshare vacation.

If you are interested in getting some sun and beach time in the Fort Myers area and you don’t want to wait until 2009, be sure you consider Fort Myers timeshare resales and timeshare rentals. Sell My Timeshare NOW has an excellent inventory of Florida timeshare resales in the Fort Meyers area, and around the state, where you can start enjoying vacation ownership immediately, at highly competitive prices.