Buyers and sellers of timeshare need to stay on top of the trends.

When you buy a timeshare or timeshare resale, you can base your decision-making solely on the location, amenities, options, and price that best suit your personal budget. But if you see resale or even exchanging in your future, then you also should consider factors that other people most frequently seek in a timeshare resort or vacation club.

Two-bedroom units are by far the most popular and of course, you need to consider the desirability of the week or timeshare interval you own. But a sometimes-overlooked factor that influences resale-ability is brand. As I have mentioned before, people are comfortable with names they already know and trust. If someone likes a certain hotel chain, they naturally assume they will like timeshare resorts developed under the same brand. And big-names give buyers a sense of assurance that the company they trust is going to be around for awhile.

Of course you know and recognize the major brand players in timesharing. Disney, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, Starwood, are only a few of the companies that inspire confidence among timeshare buyers. HOTELS magazine recently added to that list with some other timeshare names you may or may not know, but should watch for. Based on research from HOTELS magazine, here’s RCI’s list of “fast-track” timeshare companies:

• In the US and Mexico: Bluegreen Corporation, Burroughs & Chapin, and Mayan Resorts (Mexico)
• In Europe: Pestana Hotels & Resorts, Porto Bay Group, Sol Meliá, Hilton International, and Ramada
• In Asia: Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India, Royal Resorts (Australia)
• In Africa: Sun International

Interval International’s list includes:

• In the US and Mexico: Gold Key Resorts, Westgate Resorts, and Villa Group (Mexico)
• In Europe: DeVere Hotels & Resorts (UK), and Royal Savoy Resort (Portugal)
• In the Middle East: Caryatid Properties, developer for the Royal Club at The Palm, Beijing’s Xiang Luxiang, and Development Corp.’s private residence clubs

Other notables: Grecotel, Club La Costa, RMI, and HC (Europe).

To find resale timeshare from these developers and many others, visit www.sellmytimesharenow.com

Name may change but quality remains with Wyndham Vacation Resorts.

Effective in 2007, you can expect Fairfield Resorts, TrendWest North America, and TrendWest South Pacific to be renamed and re-branded as part of the Wyndham hospitality empire.

When the name change is completed, more than 140 timeshare resorts throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific will carry the Wyndham identity and logo.

Fairfield Resorts will become Wyndham Vacation Resorts. TrendWest South Pacific will be known as Wyndham Vacation Resorts-Asia Pacific, while WorldMark by Trendwest will become WorldMark by Wyndham. Wyndham Worldwide chairman, president and chief executive officer Stephen P. Holmes, announced last summer that for Fairfield Resorts, the re-branding process will begin immediately.

Industry experts believe that the renaming will go a long way to reinforcing the Wyndham brand, especially on mixed-use hotel and timeshare properties, which seem to be the way of the future. When corporations re-brand a product, there is always initial cost and at least a little confusion. In the end, it typically proves to be a cost-saver, allowing the corporation to focus all of their marketing and advertising dollars on a single identity or label.

If you are a true-blue fan of college basketball, isn’t it madness that you don’t use your timeshare to put you courtside for the action?

It’s NCAA hoops time, and again this year, the nail biting excitement of college basketball teams in competition for the title of national champs, will cause millions—that’s right—millions of us to be parked in front of our televisions.

Each year, some fans cheer for schools with storied basketball traditions, like Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, or North Carolina. Other fans watch with the hope that this year a Wichita State, George Mason, or Valparaiso will write a Cinderella story. They call it March Madness for a reason and true fans know that when it comes to college basketball, on any given day, any single team can beat any other team and become the winner.

Typically, audiences for the televised coverage of NCAA tournament competition are record breakers for CBS Sports. In 2006, CBS also set, or came very close to setting, (depending on whose statistics you trust) the record for the largest online simultaneous streaming audience, with “March Madness on Demand.”

If you don’t already have tickets for this year’s games beginning March 13, you can plan to be back on the couch again. Even if you have tickets, don’t expect to be able to book a hotel room or make a timeshare deal to see the Final Four in Atlanta, Georgia or even most of the cities hosting the regional rounds.

Accommodations have long been sold out to people who planned to be sitting in the stands, viewing the action first hand, and bought their tickets and reserved their hotel rooms or timeshare condos far in advance. But as all true basketball fans know, “there’s always next year.” So next year, or the year after, why not plan to be at the games in person?

Here’s a partial schedule of future dates and sites. Mark it on your calendar, buy your tickets, and schedule your timeshare condo to put you at the right place at the right time.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Dayton Ohio.

Thursday and Saturday, March 20 and 22, 2008 Anaheim, California; Omaha, Nebraska; Washington, D.C.

Friday and Sunday, March 21 and 23, 2008 Birmingham, Alabama; Little Rock, Arkansas; Raleigh, North Carolina; Tampa, Florida

Thursday and Saturday, March 27 and 29, 2008 Charlotte, North Carolina; Phoenix, Arizona

Friday and Sunday, March 28 and 30, 2008 Detroit, Michigan; Houston, Texas

Final Four: April 5 and 7, 2008 San Antonio, Texas

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Opening round: Dayton, Ohio Thursday and Saturday, March 19 and 21, 2009 Greensboro, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon

Friday and Sunday, March 20 and 22, 2009 Boise, Idaho; Dayton, Ohio; Miami, Florida; Minneapolis, Minnesota

Thursday and Saturday, March 26 and 28, 2009 Boston, Massachusetts; Glendale, Arizona

Friday and Sunday, March 27 and 29, 2009 Indianapolis, Indiana; Memphis, Tennessee

Final Four: Saturday and Monday, April 4 and 6, 2009 Detroit, Michigan

A bit of hopeful news for owners at Royal Oasis timeshare vacation resort.

I haven’t written about Royal Oasis timeshare resort since May of 2006. Even though some of our regular readers have asked for updates, I haven’t been able to offer any—there just has not been any reliable news.

But according to a recent edition of the Newport News, online edition, Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie and Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe have both “hinted” at a pending purchase. The Newport News quoted Wilchcombe as saying, “We know that the group is the right fit for Freeport and will bring the brand, the experience and the commitment to Freeport and to Grand Bahama.”

In case you are not familiar with Royal Oasis, the timeshare resort was damaged by Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, in September of 2004. When the timeshare company closed the resort, over one thousand people were laid off. To exacerbate the impact on the local economy, two thirds of the 38 merchants at the International Bazaar, businesses supported in large part by the timeshare owners and visitors at Royal Oasis, have also had to close.

As for the timeshare owners themselves, they have been left to own or in many cases, make payments on property that is unusable and un-saleable. Royal Oasis is a highly atypical situation in the world of timesharing today. There are thousands and thousands of timeshare vacation resorts around the globe and it is inevitable that every year a few properties will sustain damage from natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, or fire. But you never hear about these situations because repairs are made quickly, business is soon back to normal, and individual owners are not personally impacted when it comes to using and enjoying their interval timeshare or vacation club membership.

Here’s the one thing you can count on. As soon as any of us at Sell My Timeshare NOW know anything definitive about Royal Oasis, we will be passing that information along to you.