Royal Host Real Estate Investment Trust shifts corporate focus.

In an era when most hotel companies are embracing the idea of interval timeshare, condotels, and other vacation ownership products as part of their portfolio of services, Canada’s Royal Host hotels are getting out of the timeshare vacation business. Royal Host Real Estate Investment Trust announced that it has sold its timeshare company business, effective as of December 31, 2006.

The sales price of $1.25 million (cash) includes all of the timeshare operations managed by the Royal Host company except for the Grand Okanagan Lakefront Resort and Conference Center, located in Kelowna. According to the president and chief operating officer of Royal Host, Michael L. Jackson, “The successful completion of this transaction is consistent with our decision to focus on our core business of hotel ownership, management, and franchising.”

The Royal Host company presently owns 37 hotels, which offer a total of 4,500 rooms. Additionally, they manage hotel properties for third parties and have franchises located in 110 locations. Fifteen Royal Host properties are owned under the brands Travelodge and Thriftlodge.

Does this sale signal a waning in the enthusiasm major hotel companies have been exhibiting for the timeshare vacation industry? Not in the least. The divestiture of their timeshare resorts by Royal Host is simply one company’s way of refining their niche in today’s competitive market.

At this time, the name of the new property owners has yet to be released.

The Middle East is one of timeshare’s fastest growing regions.

This year’s Vacation Ownership Investment Conference will be held on March 6, 2007 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The theme of the VOIC Dubai 2007 conference will be, “Timeshares, Fractionals, Condo-hotels And more…”

Over 100 senior management executives from industries in 13 countries attended the 2005 Dubai symposium, formerly known as the Timeshare & Resort Investment Conference. This year’s event is returning to Dubai because VOIC recognizes the Middle East as one of the fastest growing regions for vacation ownership, in an industry that has experienced double-digit growth for more than two decades. Many experts believe that the timeshare vacation industry in the Middle East will see growth previously unparalleled in vacation ownership. With some 6.7 million timeshare owners, and over 5500 resorts in 110 countries around the globe, the vision of even greater growth, at a faster rate, is staggering.

The conference will not only educate its attendees on the opportunities in timesharing but will discuss fractionals, private residence clubs and condo-hotels, as well. Owners and decision makers within the industry will learn ways to benefit from the multiple profit centers timesharing creates, as well as develop a better understanding of the unique synergy between the traditional real estate industry and the vacation ownership market. Orlando’s Peter C. Yesawich, the chairman and ceo of Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown, & Russell, will be the conference’s keynote speaker. Mr. Yesawich is an industry expert you’ve heard me quote frequently in the Sell My Timeshare NOW, Timeshare Owners’ Blog, podcasts, and press releases. You’ll also find Yesawich’s wisdom in publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, Business Week, and Newsweek. His firm is one of the travel industry’s leaders in marketing, advertising, and public relations, and includes among their clients, the Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin Hotels, US Airways, Marriot Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Grand Vacations, Marriott Vacation Club International, the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), and Interval International, to name only a few.

The host hotel for the conference will be The Arabian Court, One & Only Royal Mirage in Dubai, a beachside resort that includes three properties: The Palace, The Residence & Spa, and The Arabian Court.

Disney will be offering timeshares at Animal Kingdom.

Walt Disney Vacation World in Orlando, Florida will soon be adding 458 new timeshare units to its Animal Kingdom Park. The timeshares will include new construction and renovated accommodations in part of the Animal Kingdom Lodge. This means that members of the Disney Vacation Club will soon have a brand new option for timesharing.

The African themed décor of the new property will offer guests views of the open savannah-like area where animals roam freely in ways that replicate their natural habitats. Some of the timeshare units will be available as early as Fall 2007, with a full project completion date set for Spring 2009.

With the inclusion of the new vacation ownership venue at Animal Kingdom, members of the Disney Vacation Club will have their choice of eight Disney-branded timeshare properties. Disney Vacation Club timeshares include the beachside resort at Vero Beach, Florida; the golf and tennis resort at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; and the five other Orlando Magic Kingdom properties: Saratoga Spring Resort and Spa at Downtown Disney; the Old Key West Resort; the Villas at Wilderness Lodge; the Disney Beach Club Villas; and the Boardwalk Villas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urR9_UWyCJ8

Members can also exchange their points for vacations at resorts in other Disney parks, including Disneyland in California and Disney Paris, as well as exchanging through Interval International for more than 300 affiliate locations worldwide. Animal Kingdom is the largest Disney park and covers more than 500 acres.

Sadly the one-year mark has passed and still no leads on Jennifer Kesse.

January 24, 2007 marked the one-year anniversary of the date Orlando resident and timeshare employee, Jennifer Kesse went missing. During this past year, we have used our Timeshare Owners Blog to help get the word out about this heartbreaking event. Once again, we’d like to remind you of the facts in this case, always in the that hope that someone, somewhere will remember a key piece of information that might lead to Jennifer’s safe return.

Jennifer Kesse was 24 years old at the time of her disappearance and presumed kidnapping. She was a graduate of the University of Central Florida and an employee of Central Florida Investments Timeshare Company (Westgate Resorts). After working as usual on Monday, January 23, 2006, Jennifer returned home to her recently purchased condo and spoke by phone that evening with several family members, as well as with her boyfriend, Robert Allen, and other friends. On Tuesday morning when she failed to have her routine morning phone conversation with Allen, a resident of Ft. Lauderdale, he called CFI only to learn that she had not arrived at work. Two days later the Orlando Police found Jennifer’s car at a nearby apartment complex.

Despite exhaustive searches of the area the police have no viable leads at this time. The Kesse family, along with Jennifer’s friends, and co-workers at Westgate, continue their efforts to keep Jennifer’s story alive and to spread the word to as many people as possible. It is believed that the abduction occurred on the morning of January 24, and that someone who was in the area at that time may remember details that will be helpful to the police.

What can you do to help?

Here are some of the suggestions that investigators believe might lead to solving this case:

1. Visit the website www.JenniferKesse.com. You can download copies of Jennifer’s photo to distribute by email, print your own flyers, or request flyers in English or in Spanish to distribute in your area.
2. Tape the information with a photo of Jennifer to your car windows, so that everywhere you go, you will be spreading the word.
3. Send information about Jennifer to everyone on your email list.
4. Make it a habit to share the information about Jennifer’s disappearance with strangers you may meet during your workday.
5. And if you know anything—anything at all that might be helpful—contact Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.