The publishers of Timeshare Perspective Magazine have launched a new website to help increase communication between the timeshare industry, timeshare owners, and future timeshare owners or renters.

Here’s a new website I think many of you will find interesting. TimeshareSurveys.com has been created by the people who produce Timeshare Perspective Magazine and Timeshare Staff Network. When you visit the Timeshare Surveys website, you can take or read surveys about timesharing and vacation trends. You can study information from timeshare owners and non-owners. You can also suggest new timeshare survey topics or adaptations to existing surveys.

The timeshare survey website requires you to register your email address in order to participate or even just view the surveys. Other than your email address, however, you do not have to provide any other personal information.

Here’s an example of the type of timeshare information the website covers and the responses it receives:

When asked for their main reason for buying timeshare–

• 28% said it was, “to save money on future holidays”.
• 39% said it was to “get better standards of accommodations.”
• And 17% said it was to “visit new & exciting places.”

Other categories of responses included: “to make me break away from work every year,” and “to holiday with family more.” The new survey website offers interesting information about timeshare owners.

The website for Sell My Timeshare NOW is also loaded with information about timeshare ownership, timeshare resales and rentals, and how to buy, rent, or sell timeshare.

Recent article on timesharing packed with valuable information on the benefits of timesharing.

A colleague recently brought to my attention a great article on timeshares that appeared in the May issue of Family Circle magazine. Peg Rosen, author of “The Truth About Timeshares,” looked at the topic from several angles. In her article, Rosen suggests, “buying from a developer isn’t your only (or smartest) option.”

Hel-lo!

Haven’t we always told you the same thing here on the Timeshare Owners Blog and on our company’s website www.sellmytimesharenow.com?

As the article goes on to explain, when looking into a timeshare company, with their sales and marketing pitch that is often extravagant, interested timeshare buyers should, “investigate the resale market, where the inventory is enormous and many owners are eager to unload their timeshares.”

Here are some of the reasons Rosen suggests for the fact that timeshare sales have double in the past decade:

• Government regulation has provided better consumer protection.
• Trusted big name brands like Disney, Marriott and Hyatt have entered the market.
• Points programs provide more flexibility than ever before.
• And the growing number of urban timeshares now offers locations in the heart of some of the world’s greatest and most interesting cities.

Expansion at Branson’s Stormy Point timeshares continues on schedule, with exciting new amenities.

Branson-based VPG Partners LLC, first opened Stormy Point Village timeshares in June of 2005. The timeshare vacation resort, situated on picturesque Table Rock Lake, is west of Branson, Missouri, in adjacent Stone County. Upon completion, Stormy Point Village timeshare will have 300 Cape Cod–style cottages built on the 40-acre property. Currently about 60 cottages are complete with another 15 under construction.

According to VPG spokesperson, Pat Joyce, Festiva Resorts, based in Asheville, NC, has been purchasing the cottages as they are completed. Festiva, a boutique timeshare resort management company, provides timeshare sales and on-site operational services at Stormy Point.

The Stormy Point timeshare villas are available in four floor plans, with two and three-bedroom timeshare options, all with approximately 1400 spacious square feet. On March 1, the 13,000 square foot clubhouse added an indoor-heated pool, meeting space, a gift shop, the Lighthouse Lounge, entertainment center (with $25,000 in video game equipment) fitness center, sauna, and locker rooms to the timeshare resort’s other amenities.

Timeshare sales at Stormy Point Village topped $38 million for 2006, and are expected to exceed that for 2007. Timeshare resales at Stormy Point Village are available through Sell My Timeshare Now, as is a wide selection of other timeshare resales in rentals in and around Branson.

RCI and II offer excellent services, but timeshare owners should also consider timeshare exchange companies of all sizes as they select the exchange option that is best for them.

Most timeshare vacation property owners have at least heard of the two largest timeshare exchange companies, Interval International (II) and Resort Condominiums International (RCI). But many timeshare owners are surprised to learn that there are a number of other successful timeshare exchange companies and that for some timeshare owners, a small company is the best choice.

Dial An Exchange International (DAE) is a small timeshare company with offices in the US, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. In recent weeks, Dial An Exchange has announced new operations throughout Asia in conjunction with Highpoint Business Solutions and in South Africa. The goal of Dial An Exchange is to establish a network of representative offices thought Asia, starting with China, India timeshare, and Thailand timeshare and to better serve the growing South Africa timeshare market.

To find about more about Dial An Exchange, visit their website, http://www.daelive.com

To learn more about timeshare exchange companies in general, visit the Sell My Timeshare NOW website and read about “Timeshare Exchange Companies” and the benefits they offer timeshare owners.