The second annual Middle East Leisure Real Estate Symposium will again be scheduled for Dubai. On September 9, 2007, at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Group RCI (Resort Condominiums International) and NorthCourse (SM) will host the event designed to serve as a forum for learning more about the Middle East’s important growth industry of vacation ownership.

According to a press release that appeared in Arabian Business, “with …destinations like Dubai being billed by experts as the next Orlando, …it’s important to understand the vital role timeshare plays in satisfying consumer demand for a wide choice of vacation accommodation options.” The news release goes on to say that the symposium organizers anticipate that, “nationals in the Gulf region will spend US $1.2 billion annually on shared ownership leisure real estate within the next 12 years…”

With those kinds of numbers being thrown around, it is no wonder that RCI executives were quoted in Khaleej Times online as saying that the introduction of timeshare property developments could result in a “property market frenzy”.

In Tuesday’s Timeshare Owners Blog, we will look at what government officials in Dubai are doing to establish timeshare industry regulations here.

The acquisition of Sunterra timeshare by Diamond Resorts marked the end of an up and down period for the timeshare points based vacation ownership company, which had first come to the public’s attention in 2006 when Sunterra put its European timeshares up for sale. The Timeshare Owners Blog reported on the sale of the European properties in an entry titled, “Don’t Panic About Sunterra Timeshares.”

At our company, Sell My Timeshare NOW, we help timeshare owners advertise and market their timeshare for sale or rent. We always get questions about timeshare points in general, and sometimes about Club Sunterra Points specifically.

Sunterra Points represent a true undivided interest. For example, if you divide the ownership of a piece of property by the number of owners — AND you issue each owner a deed for their fragment of ownership, then you have what is known as divided interest.

The alternative is to establish an undivided interest. For example, if there are 52 owners of a timeshare unit, and they collectively own the timeshare unit under one deed, they have an undivided interest. But there still needs to be a way to define what each timeshare owner (or club member) owns. Assigning “points” is a perfect way to establish how large a piece of pie each person gets. If you own more points, then your piece of pie is larger than that of someone who owns fewer points.

And points function in the world of timeshares like currency. You can spend your points on a larger timeshare unit this year, but perhaps next year choose to use the same number of points on a smaller timeshare unit during a higher demand season. In some cases you can bank your points to use in a future year, purchase out-of-pocket additional points to increase your “spending power” or sometimes use your points for something totally different than timeshare, such as a cruise or airline tickets.

Here is some additional information about points that appliesspecifically to Club Sunterra Vacation memberships:

• Your membership is in perpetuity.
• The real property that you own in your undivided interest is deeded to an independent trustee, which is currently First American Trust. Sunterra members do not hold a deed to a timeshare unit or interval, but instead receive a Vacation Ownership Policy and Membership Certificate.
• Sunterra ownership can be sold or transferred. Club Sunterra Vacation SunOptions and membership in the Association are transferrable and a new owner can travel within the nineteen Club Sunterra Vacation resorts, or pay an additional fee for membership in to Club Sunterra, Inc.

The timeshare resale and rental professionals at Sell My Timeshare NOW are available to assist you when you buy, rent, or sell Sunterra timeshare, as well as other timeshare and vacation club memberships. They will also help you understand more about points, and the differing types of timeshare ownerships. Visit our website at www.sellmytimesharenow.com or call toll-free 877-815-4227 to learn more.

If you start talking to people about “Week 53” you can expect to be met with strange stares as if you just crossed over from an episode of Rod Serling’s classic The Twilight Zone. That is, unless the people to whom you are talking happen to be timeshare owners.

While most of us accept that there are 52 weeks in a year, there are actually only 51 or 52 complete weeks in most years along with either one or two partial weeks. Once every 28 years, there are even 54 weeks. The last time there was a 54-week year was in the year 2000, which is ironic when you consider how many other time-related issues there were that year.

Many people simplify the matter of the 53-week year by saying it occurs once every seven years, but this is an over simplification. Actually, because of leap year, the 53 week year rolls around at five, six, or seven year intervals. When it happens in timesharing, it has nothing to do with crossing over into another dimension, where your next stop is The Twilight Zone.

Week 53 usually belongs to the timeshare association or the timeshare resort. It is typically not sold or rented, although it may be. Sometimes week 53 is used as a time to perform routine repairs and maintenance at the resort.

To learn more about week 53, spacebanking, and the lingo of timeshares, you may want to visit the “Glossary of Terms” on the Sell My Timeshare NOW website.

And just for the fun of it, enjoy this You Tube video of the old TV intro to The Twilight Zone.

Timeshares are a blended industry that has brought together concepts from the hotel and hospitality industries as well as principles from the real estate profession. As a result, the timeshare industry uses language from these professions, but has also developed an industry specific vocabulary all its own.

When you want to rent or buy timeshare or just make the most of a timeshare you already own, you’ll find that it is easier if you understand the timeshare industry language and learn to “talk the talk”.

One of the more interesting words in the timeshare industry is, “spacebanking,” a term that seems to be used exclusively in the world of timeshares. When a timeshare owner spacebanks his or her timeshare unit or timeshare interval, he or she is simply saving the timeshare for use in the future. Generally, in order to space bank, you have to place or deposit your timeshare interval in a pool with other spacebanked timeshares. Other owners, who are looking to exchange timeshare, will be able to swap their unit or interval with the one you have spacebanked. Rarely are such exchanges direct swaps, meaning that just because someone selects the time you have banked, does not mean that you have to accept the timeshare or interval that person added to the bank.

Timeshare exchanging is one of the most attractive options to many timeshare owners. When you can’t use your timeshare, it is always nice to be able to bank it for use in the future. Another option, when your schedule makes it impossible to use and enjoy your timeshare, is to advertise it as a timeshare rental.

For more information about spacebanking your timeshare unit, contact your resort or your exchange company. To learn more about renting your timeshare, contact Sell My Timeshare NOW at 877-815-4227 or go online to the Sell My Timeshare NOW website to learn more about your options to buy, sell, or rent timeshare.