Starwood Capital Group recently announced the planned development of the first eco-friendly, luxury resort properties. The global brand will be known simply as, “1” and the first property scheduled to open will be the “1” Hotel and Residences in Seattle, expected to be operational in late 2008. Three additional properties will follow, all of which, like “1” Seattle, will be new construction. Locations include Mammoth Mountain, California; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Shortly after launching the initial four properties, Starwood plans to renovate a historic location in Paris as the first international “1” hotel. Within the next twenty-four months, Starwood will finalize a hotel deal or hotel and timeshare deal at fifteen locations, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other urban markets.

In an effort to appear more environmentally conscious, many hotels and resorts have placed signage in their rooms suggesting guests re-use bath towels and bed linens for more than one night. Starwood’s new “1” resorts will take the concept of environment responsibility to a much higher level. Each of the “1” resorts, whether new construction or a renovation, will be built in accordance with the green buildings standards of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System, also known as LEED. The accountability system promoted by LEED promotes a whole-building approach and recognizes performance in the areas of energy efficiency, material selection, sustainable site development, water savings and indoor environmental quality.

The Natural Resources Defense Council has agreed to be the environmental advisor on the “1” project, with the goal of both setting a new standard in environmental responsibility and ultimately transforming the entire hotel and vacation resort industry.

You can enjoy Starwood vacation ownership or a Starwood timeshare deal at their worldwide resorts, which include the brands Starwood, Sheraton and Westin.

In their online edition (www.deseretnews.com), Salt Lake City’s Deseret Morning News recently ran a series of three articles about timesharing. Here are some of the points made by author Lee Davidson:

“Developers sell timeshare for far more than what they are worth on the open resale market. Value of units easily drops 40 percent or more when the purchaser walks out the door after a sale…High-pressure sales are still a staple of the industry…Developers often charge high to astronomical interest rates to finance timeshare loans and sometimes make deceptive claims…”

Such harsh criticism of the way the timeshare industry in general, or any timeshare company specifically, conducts business is hard to hear. But I want to take this opportunity to remind you that such searing critiques about timeshare promotion or timeshare financing are NOT directed at resale timeshare or timeshare by-owner marketing companies like SellMyTimeshareNOW.

SellMyTimeshareNOW.com affords timeshare owners a marketing platform from which to sell timeshare or rent timeshare to smart buyers and renters who have learned that it is not necessary to pay the marked-up prices some timeshare companies charge. Timeshare resales are competitive. They provide an excellent way for people to become satisfied timeshare owners and take advantage of the opportunities and flexibility afforded by vacation ownership. Best of all, when buyers deal directly with the current timeshare owner, they skip the middleman and they avoid paying inflated developer prices for great timeshare vacation property.

The 5th European Tourism Forum was held November 16 and 17 in Cyprus at the Hawaii Grand Hotel & Resort, a five-star property in Lemesos (Limassol). The European Commission, the Finnish Presidency and the Government of the Republic of Cyprus co-hosted the forum, said to be the largest annual tourism event conducted by the Commission.

Prominent industry leaders, academics and policy makers were represented at this year’s forum. Planning sessions and workshops were scheduled to give attendees the opportunity to speak out on issues of consumer security, electronic reservation systems, timesharing, public-private partnerships and cruise tourism, along with other concerns of the travel and hospitality industry.

Key topics included new trends in the tourism industry, specifically the consumer trends to take more and shorter holidays and to be more brand loyal and less price conscious. Other key topics of discussion looked at online travel booking trends, a market that will reach $70 billion in the US alone by the end of 2006. The European Tourism Forum is especially concerned with boosting travel, tourism and timesharing in Europe, all of which have lagged behind the US in recent years. The slower growth is partially attributed to a slower increase in internet usage in European countries as compared to the US or in Asia Pacific countries, where it is growing exponentially.

Don’t get caught! Indonesians are only one group of tourists in Singapore who have been falling victim to unscrupulous timeshare companies. Chinese and Bruneian tourists are also frequent targets.

As one timeshare vacation agent was quoted by The Electric New Paper News of Singapore as saying, “As I speak Bahasa Indonesia, it’s easier for me to pitch my sales to fellow Indonesians. I also gained their trust easily as I’m Indonesian…But after one or two months on the job, I started receiving complaints from my customers…I felt guilty to have sold them something that they can’t really use.”

A frequent tactic of an unethical Singapore timeshare deal involves charging consumers between $30,000 and $50,000 for lifetime timeshare vacation memberships. For this expenditure, the timeshare buyer gets one week of timeshare vacation annually. Not only is this timeshare deal a bit pricey, but it includes the caveat that vacationers schedule their holidays one and sometimes even two years in advance.

In 2005, CASE received over 2500 complaints against timeshare companies in Singapore. This past October, the association announced that it is cutting the grace period for a timeshare company to clean up its bad practices from three months to one.

These get-the-sale-at-all-cost practices certainly damage the “name” of timesharing, but you can buy timeshare or sell timeshare successfully and easily online. Just check out SellMyTimeshareNOW.com. You’ll be amazed at the number of timeshare connections made around the world through that site.

What are some of your experiences? What tips can you give for buying, selling and renting timeshares? How does timesharing impact your vacationing? Many people say it gives them a chance to spend more quality time with their families, while others say it provides the perfect get-away. Post a comment and let us know!