“The number of adult leisure travelers who say they are familiar with timeshare has grown 57 percent over (the) last eight years,” says Howard Bendell, director of market research and analysis for Interval International.

Who gets the credit for increasing the public’s awareness of timeshare? According to Hotel Interactive’s website, Howard Bendell attributes the growing knowledge of timesharing to ARDA’s outstanding consumer education programs, as well as efforts by timeshare developers themselves to get the word out.

Timeshare companies using television advertising have helped increase awareness of the opportunities of timeshares. More importantly, the incredible internet presence of both new and resale timeshare companies means that the message of timesharing is reaching amazing numbers of people globally. But as with most products in today’s marketplace, the consumer-to-consumer voice is fast becoming the single most powerful marketing tool for communicating the benefits and features of timeshares.

People no longer want to hear a big company tell them that a product will fit their needs; they want to hear what friends, family, and other consumers—even consumers they do not know—have to say. As the World Wide Web transitions into Web 2.0, the internet will continue to redefine itself with more interactive options, empowering people to learn what others candidly think about their experience with buying timeshare or selling timeshare.

Sell My Timeshare NOW has always been about consumer-to-consumer transactions for buying, renting, or selling timeshare. Current timeshare owners who want to sell timeshare or use their vacation property as a timeshare rental turn to Sell My Timeshare NOW to advertise their unit, interval, or vacation club membership for them, giving them worldwide exposure in the timeshare resale marketplace.

Sell My Timeshare NOW timeshare resales are a great choice for many vacationers and a perfect solution for people who want to sell timeshare they no longer use. But you don’t have to take our word for it; read the testimonials of Sell My Timeshare NOW’s highly satisfied customers, or visit us on Facebook and find out what other timeshare sellers and timeshare buyers genuinely think.

Right now, it seems as if one lone Scotsman is standing between Donald Trump and his plan to build Trump International Golf Links.

This past June, (June 11,12, The Timeshare Owners Blog) I wrote about Trump’s plan to develop approximately 1000 acres with two championship golf courses, a 450-room luxury hotel, between 500 and 1000 timeshare villas or vacation residences, a golf academy, and perhaps even a turf grass research center. The project is an enormous undertaking (the only kind the Donald seems to get involved with) and could bring many benefits in the form of jobs for area residents and tourist dollars into the local economy of the coastal farming area near Aberdeen, Scotland.

But problems that have ranged from environmental issues, to permitting, to securing the land, have now delayed construction on the golf resort and timeshare villas by more than a year.

The most recent thorn in the side of the Trump Organization is a farmer and fisherman by the name of Michael Forbes, who owns roughly 23 acres of land that Trump would like to own in order to move the project forward. Forbes, who was quoted in NY Daily News as saying that the land had been in his family for generations and would never be sold to someone like Donald Trump, has now become a target for Trump’s vocalizations. Trump has been very outspoken with his claims that the farm’s appearance is “disgusting” and that Forbes is just trying to “raise the stakes”.

So move over, Rosie O’Donnell, it looks like you may have to share the Trump hot seat with Mr. Forbes, at least for a while.

In the meantime, there’s nothing to stop you from enjoying a Scotland timeshare vacation in a great timeshare resale or timeshare rental.

• Cameron House
• Edinburgh Residence
• Great Glen Water Park Club
• Hilton International Grand Vacations at Hilton Coylumbridge and Hilton Craigendarroch
• Loch Rannoch Highland Club
• Moness Country Club
• Sunterra Resort Kenmore Club

The Travel Mole recently cited a Harris poll that said, for the eleventh year in a row, Americans list Australia as the number one place they would like to visit. Yet less than a half million Americans make it to Australia each year, and there has been ostensibly, no increase in American tourism to Australia since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Tourism officials in Australia feel confident that the problem lies with time and money. When you head south to Australia, you really head south. Air travel from Los Angeles to Sydney is, at best, a fourteen-hour flight. Then there’s the cost. By the time many people shell out the money for air tickets to Australia, there is not much left over for lodging and other expenses associated with vacationing.

So here’s the twofold plan that just may get you to the land of wallabies and koalas. First, Australia is a growing destination for timeshare development and offers fabulous opportunities in Australia timeshare resales and rentals. And as the millions of satisfied timeshare owners will attest, buying timeshare lets you freeze the price of vacation accommodations for as long as you own your timeshare.

The Future of Australia Tourism

Tourism Australia (the governmental agency responsible for promoting Australian tourism) is working to entice Americans to the Land Down Under by educating US travel agents about the options and desirability in Australian vacations.

To help make air travel to Australia more affordable, Qantas airlines is offering the Aussie Air Pass, which starts at a little over one thousand dollars. Qantas is also working hard on a campaign designed to show Americans that air travel on Qantas is more comfortable than the standards most of us have come to accept from US budget airlines.

The Future of Australia Timeshare

In a statement issued in September 2005, Senator Grant Chapman, Chairman of Australia’s Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, said, “In my view the timeshare industry has the potential to continue to make a significant contribution to the tourism industry in Australia. Timeshare is a viable product, and there are many thousands of happy timeshare participants in Australia and overseas.”

Australia is committed to helping US vacationers enjoy everything from the Great Barrier Reef to the Coober Pedy; from the Sydney Opera House to the Golden Outback. I can’t think of a better way to start planning your Australian vacation than by looking at the opportunities available in by-owner timeshare resales and rentals at Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Partial List of Sell My Timeshare NOW Australia Timeshare and Vacation Resorts:

• Bright Resort
• Cedar Lake Country Club
• Holiday Club Pacific Australia
• Port Pacific Resort
• Sandy Point Beach
• Seashells Beachfront Resort 
• Surfers Royale
• Tamarind Sands
• Whitecliffs Beach Resort
• WVC Tinaroo Lake Resort

In yesterday’s Timeshare Owners Blog, I mentioned the use of Segways at theme parks, and the current battle over this issue in Orlando.

If you have physical challenges, you probably already know a good deal about the Americans with Disabilities Act, (ADA). The law was passed in 1990, and implemented in 1992. It was written to protect the rights of anyone with physical limitations or disabilities. The Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA), (and several state law counterparts of the ADA) help to further define the terms of public accessibility.

US timeshare resorts constructed after January 1993, should fully comply with the ADA and offer timeshare units that are handicap accessible. They must also offer handicap accessibility to the facilities and amenities of the resort.

Timeshares for use by people with disabilities must be sold or rented at the same rate or price a timeshare owner or timeshare guest would pay for a comparable timeshare unit at the same resort. Even though the extra features in a handicap accessible timeshare unit add to the construction cost of the timeshare, these costs cannot be passed on to the individual.

However, even at resorts constructed after 1993, the number of specially equipped timeshare units is limited, so if you require a handicap accessible timeshare unit, the further in advance you make your vacation plans, the more likely you are to be able to reserve a unit that meets your needs.

Timeshare resorts built prior to 1993, must comply with the law through the: (1) the removal of architectural barriers and, (2) the provision of auxiliary aids and services to the disabled. Remember that interpretation of this law can vary from resort to resort, and to some degree can only be applied on a case-by-case basis. Certain facilities at some timeshare resorts simply cannot be adequately changed or retrofitted for complete accessibility by everyone.

To learn more about the Americans with Disabilities Act, visit the website for the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. To learn more about the options to buy timeshare, sell timeshare or rent timeshare, visit the website for Sell My Timeshare NOW.