There is no doubt that the Sheraton Vistana timeshare resort in Orlando, Florida has sprouted a few gray hairs lately. Wrinkles are beginning to show up in a few places, and frankly, Vistana was beginning to lose the pep in her step.

…Age will do that to you.

RCI took notice of it and downgraded the Sheraton Vistana timeshare resort from a gold crown to a silver crown ranking. Fortunately for Sheraton Vistana timeshare owners, the resort’s Board of Directors also noticed the decline and made arrangements for a little timeshare nip and tuck.

The resort reportedly had nearly $4 million in accumulated reserves—this is one of the reasons timeshare owners pay those annual fees. Additionally, Vistana is assessing owners a fee to be billed in two increments over a six-month period. The total to be collected from the owners will be roughly an additional $10 million, targeted to cover the improvements.

The planned changes include:

• New furnishings in many of the rooms.
• 42-inch LCD televisions with Bose ® sound systems.
• New linens, window treatments, and light fixtures.
• New paint, trim, and carpeting. Wooden kitchen cabinetry, appliance upgrades, and granite countertops.
• Make-over for the general store and the fitness center and basketball courts.

No word on a target completion date for the project, but it seems to me this could be an excellent time to purchase a Vistana timeshare resale from current owners looking to avoid any possible inconveniences that may occur during the renovation. Buy now at “old property” prices, then enjoy the benefits of owning a “new and improved” Vistana timeshare in the near future.

Apparently other people have had this idea too, because Sheraton Vistana is one of the timeshare resorts that showed up near the top of the Sell My Timeshare NOW Hot Properties List during the first quarter of 2007.

Here’s more information on the new Washington DC, Wyndham resort, I mentioned in our blog last month. Wyndham Vacation Ownership in the DC area is expanding with a 250-timeshare unit resort in Prince George’s County, MD. Through a deal involving The Peterson Companies and Wyndham Vacation Ownership, the luxury resort will offer an eleven-story tower of timeshare condos, including 42 penthouse suites. Guests will enjoy one, two, and three-bedroom timeshare units, a fitness club and spa, and indoor and outdoor pools.

This timeshare resort will be Wyndham’s second property in or near Washington DC, and is part of a plan to develop the National Harbor as a premier entertainment and recreation destination. The National Harbor project is a massive undertaking, encompassing nearly 300 acres, with residential housing, resorts, restaurants, shopping, parks, and entertainment venues, all within a quarter mile of the Potomac River. The first phase of the National Harbor, including a grand hotel under construction by Gaylord Resorts, will open next year.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership already offers its members the Wyndham Washington DC, in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. To learn more about the resort in Alexandria, visit our previous post, or explore the timeshare resales and rentals offered by Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Grand Pacific Resorts and 5G Wireless have entered into several contracts under which 5G will soon be providing the wireless service at all of Grand Pacific’s timeshare resorts. Grand Pacific Resorts is one of the oldest and largest timeshare companies in the state of California and has resorts located in San Diego, Indo/Palm Springs, the Napa Valley, and Lake Tahoe, California.

5G started the Wi-Fi upgrades with Grand Pacific’s timeshare resort at Lake Tahoe with other of the California Grand Pacific timeshare resorts to follow shortly. Jerry Dix, CEO of 5G Wireless describes their role as, “…providing the Grand Pacific Resorts and its guests with a five star wireless service.”

Grand Pacific timeshare resorts have more than 40,000 owners. Their beautiful resorts include: Carlsbad Inn Beach Resort, Carlsbad Seapointe Resort, Coronado Beach Resort, Grand Pacific MarBrisa Resort, Grand Pacific Palisades Resort, San Clemente Cove, Sheraton Carlsbad Resort, Southern California Beach Club and Villa L’Auberge timeshare resorts located in the San Diego area. The Red Wolf Lakeside Lodge and Red Wolf at Squaw Valley are in the Lake Tahoe area. Indian Palms Vacation Club is in the Indio/Palm Springs area, and RiverPointe is in the Napa Valley.

Research recently conducted by Ernst & Young, LLP for the International Foundation of the American Resort Development Association shows sales of new US timeshares increased by 16 percent during 2006. But what does it really mean when new timeshare sales are booming? Does the sale of new timeshares compete with timeshare resale companies like Sell My Timeshare NOW and timeshare for sale by owner?

No, not really. Timeshare resale companies, timeshare developers, and timeshare companies that sell new or pre-construction timeshare offer different ways to buy timeshare. Collectively they meet the needs of a broad market by giving consumers a choice of ways to buy, rent, or sell timeshare.

ARDA research shows that 80.3 percent of timeshare owners are satisfied with their purchase, and more than 75 percent say that owning a timeshare has increased their anticipation for upcoming vacations. But as wonderful as it is to those of us in the timeshare industry that there is an 80 plus percent satisfaction rate, that still leaves nearly 20 percent of timeshare owners who are (at least to some degree) not satisfied.

With over 4 million timeshare owners in the US alone, the dissatisfied percentage translates to roughly 871,000 people— that’s nearly one million timeshare owners who could be looking to sell timeshare.

When you want to sell timeshare, one of the easiest ways is to find a highly reliable timeshare resale company to advertise and market your property for you. It is hard for an individual to publicize their timeshare resale to a vast global marketplace. But it is not hard to let Sell My Timeshare NOW do it for you.

And when you want to buy timeshare at the most competitive prices, go to Sell My Timeshare NOW and shop their incredible inventory of timeshare resales and timeshare rentals.