Sheraton Hotels & Resorts is trying to make booking your hotel or timeshare condo more fun with the addition of an online pillow fight and an online pool splash-fight to their website. Sheraton’s advertising agency for their website, Avenue A| Razorfish and Eyeblaster, a designer and vendor of online technology, joined forces to create two real-time, online interactive games for visitors to the Sheraton website.

Using a combination of artificial intelligence and interactive communication, each of the two games allows website visitors to use their cursor to join in the hotel room pillow fight or the splash fight in the hotel pool.

“Multi-user technology was the perfect fit for the Sheraton audience,” said John Antoniello, of Avenue A| Razorfish. “It’s a simple way for lots of people to jump into a fun, social activity. Who wouldn’t want to join a pillow fight?”

The pillow fight breaks every 15 seconds for users to either regroup or move ahead booking their Sheraton hotel and timeshare accommodations. With all the accompanying publicity, the games are sure to draw many visitors to the Sheraton website. But after 15 seconds of bashing virtual pillows with a stranger, you will probably be ready to go to Sell My Timeshare NOW and buy timeshare resale or book a timeshare rental directly from the current owner. You save money on fabulous timeshare vacation property and the owner of the timeshare gets a convenient way to sell timeshare or rent timeshare he no longer needs. Now to me, saving time and saving money is a much more satisfying way to interact online than splashing in a virtual swimming pool or creating a snowstorm of imaginary feathers.

Sheraton is part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc, with resorts in 95 countries, and includes Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc, operating timeshares under the brands of Starwood, Westin, and Sheraton.

• Harborside Resort at Atlantis, Paradise Island, The Bahamas
• Lakeside Terrace, Avon, Colorado
• Sheraton Broadway Plantation, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• Sheraton Desert Oasis, Scottsdale, Arizona
• Sheraton Mountain Vista, Avon, Colorado
• Sheraton PGA Vacation Resort, Port St. Lucie, Florida
• Sheraton Vistana Resort, Orlando, Florida
• Sheraton Vistana Villages, Orlando, Florida
• The Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas, Maui
• Westin Kierland Villas, Scottsdale, Arizona
• Westin Mission Hills Resort and Villas, Rancho Mirage, California
• Westin St. John Resort and Villas, St. John, US Virgin Islands

Arthur Frommer is known worldwide as the grandfather of travel guidebooks for the budget-conscious, and these days, doesn’t that description apply to most of us? Since the 1950’s. Frommer’s guidebooks have been the go-to resource for smart travelers, starting with his now legendary, Europe on 5 Dollars a Day, published in 1957.

Frommer’s New Year’s resolutions for 2008 include the following economical, environmentally correct, or just plain logical commitments:

• Limit myself to carry-ons, and never check a single bag.
• Carry sandwiches from home, and never bite into a single airline snack.
• Use public transportation from airport into town.
• Never book a connecting flight. If there’s no non-stop to my destination, I won’t go there (with some exceptions).
• Share courses with my wife, ordering a single main plate for the two of us.
• Stop patronizing “duty-free” shops.
• Never book an uncomfortable “boutique hotel” designed by a famous fashionista.
• Never use a credit card that doesn’t earn frequent flyer mileage.
• Never board a cruise ship carrying more than 700 passengers, and
• Remain calm and unperturbed by refusing to read the travel section of the New York Times.

This is all such good advice, I only wish Frommer had added a couple more equally worthwhile resolutions:

• Never book a hotel room when I can stay for less in a timeshare rental.
• Never stay in timeshare rentals leased from the timeshare resort or management company when I can rent timeshare directly from the timeshare owner at a much better rate.
• Stop spending money on hotel rooms when it makes so much more sense to buy timeshare, and
• Buy timeshare resales from the individual owner, not the timeshare development company.

It’s a brand new year and I can’t think of a better time to say, “Hey, I am tired of spending more money than I have to for great vacations and travel.” Think timeshare. There is a reason that “share” is part of the word; timeshare resales and timeshare rentals truly let you share the cost of vacation accommodations with others, and yet still enjoy the luxury and privacy of a beautiful resort vacation or holiday.

Visit Sell My Timeshare NOW to learn more about the opportunities for timeshare resales and timeshare rentals.

Will 2008 be the year of a recession in the United States?

Even leading economists cannot say with certainty whether America, already dealing with a soft economy, will hit the skids with a full-fledged recession, but many forecasters agree that certain signs are right. The real estate market is tough and probably getting tougher, although it is important to note that some geographic areas are experiencing a slight rebound or at least a cessation in decline. Retail, however, didn’t exactly have its best holiday season ever, and the price of gas, food, and other necessities of life seems to mount with each passing week.

On the other hand, the St. Louis Business Journal quotes Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.com, who says, “The job market of 2007 showed resilience amidst economic uncertainties and produced north of 1.3 million new jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” The figures clearly show that while job opportunities may not be increasing as much as we would all like to see, they are still moving forward. And the stock market adds still another layer of confusion to this already blurry picture. One day up, the next day down; investors clearly can’t decide if times are going to improve or falter.

So what does this mean for the individual timeshare owner who wants to sell timeshare he or she no longer uses?

I am not an economist. I am not trained in forecasting the economy. But I do know that purchases of new timeshares and of timeshare resales continue to increase. Despite widespread concerns about the US economy, people who can, will still take a vacation, even if they cut it short by a few days or vacation closer to home.

More importantly, many people who are looking to cut their vacation costs will suddenly begin to pay more attention to the message that Sell My Timeshare NOW continues to publicize, “There are amazing opportunities in timeshare resales and timeshare rentals!”

2008 could easily be an excellent year for timeshare resales as smarter spending patterns in the US replace indulgent spending patterns. Just as significant for timeshare resales is the simple fact that the market to buy timeshare or rent timeshare is vast and global. As the US dollar declines, international interest in buying US timeshare and timeshare resales escalates. Consumers with Canadian loonies to spend or British Euros are already making their mark on timeshare resales, eager to buy while their currency affords them more spending power than they have enjoyed in the US vacation market in years.

Sell My Timeshare NOW has clients from almost every country in the world. China and India are two countries with astounding populations of emerging new timeshare buyers who are just beginning to learn about the opportunities to buy timeshare and enjoy vacations and holidays at affordable prices.

So if you want or need to sell timeshare, I encourage you to move forward optimistically. In 2007, SellMyTimeshareNOW.com presented its customers over $270,000,000 in offers to buy timeshare or rent timeshare and 2008 should easily be another record setting year.

On Christmas Day, 15-month-old Isaiah Whalen drowned in the pool at a private home during a family Christmas celebration in southern Orlando.

The following morning, three-year-old Emmanual Brown drowned at a vacation rental a few miles away in Osceola County, just south of Orlando.

Later that afternoon, at Parkway International resort timeshare, six miles away from where Emmanual Brown had just died, another 15-month old child, Octavius Johnson, drowned in the bathtub of the timeshare unit.

In the state of Florida, drowning is the leading cause of death in children under the age of four. And as the tragedies of this past week show, many of the children who drown in Florida are the children and grandchildren of tourists on vacation.

People go on vacation to relax; they let their guard down. They become preoccupied with socializing with one another, or just enjoying much needed down time. Children, exuberant with vacation excitement and sometimes unaccustomed to beaches and pools, make bad choices. They wind up getting in over their heads – literally.

When children fall into a pool, you would think adults would hear the splash; surprisingly, they rarely do. Children slip into a swimming pool and there is almost no sound in the water at all. Unlike adults, who realize they are drowning, children don’t know what is happening to them or how to react to save themselves. When a child begins to drown in a pool or lake, they usually struggle to reach an adult they know, even when doing so only takes them further away from the closest edge of the pool or beach and even if it takes them into deeper water.

Every child who is near a pool, lakeside, or beach needs constant adult supervision. The Mayo Clinic reminds us that a baby can drown in only an inch of water. A child can become submerged in ten seconds; unconscious after two minutes under the water; and permanently brain damaged within four to six minutes of going under. Everything from your mop bucket, to your toilet, your bathtub, your neighbor’s hot tub, or the swimming pool at your home, hotel, or timeshare resort is a potential death trap for a child.

Enjoy the beach. Take a timeshare vacation to some place warm and sunny this winter. But if you travel with children, remember that there is no such thing as being too cautious about water safety.

Three families ended 2007 with a heartbreaking loss last week in Orlando, Florida. Let’s all do everything we can to make 2008 a safe and happy year.