Timesharing has been around since the 1960’s and available in the US since as early as 1970 when the first right-to-use timeshare resort was developed in Hawaii. Most of the early developers were individuals or companies whose names were not well known to the general public. It took another fifteen years before big name hoteliers, interested in the timeshare market, made their decisive move.

To the surprise of many in the hospitality industry, the Marriott Corporation was the first major hotel chain to venture into the timeshare business. In 1984, Marriott purchased the assets of American Resorts, Inc., which at that time owned two resorts on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and had a third resort under construction. Marriott recognized the successful track record of American Resorts in this market and quickly hired many of American Resort’s top executives to run the Hilton Head properties.

Today, Marriot Vacation Club International (MCVI) features over fifty luxury resorts in more than thirty destinations including the US, Spain, the Caribbean, and Thailand. With Marriott’s demonstrated success as inspiration, Disney, Sheraton, Hilton, Hyatt and many other big guns of the hotel business soon found themselves developing and operating timeshares and vacation clubs. Their presence has benefited the industry across the board, raising standards of service, quality, and reliability, and increasing customer confidence in timeshares as a product. Hoteliers in the timeshare industry are able to take advantage of name recognition and customer loyalty from one branded product to another.

But the consumer interested in buying a timeshare resale should not feel left out of the “big name” market. A quick search of the internet reveals that resale opportunities are plentiful for hotel brand timeshares and vacation club memberships. Hotel brand timeshares tend to command higher resale prices, while retaining excellent value.

The timeshare buyer interested in a hotel-brand property as a resale should carefully confirm which of the present owner’s membership perks will transfer in a sale. The answer to this varies from company to company, but since many vacation club members claim their perks alone are worth their membership costs, it is important for the resale buyer to understand exactly what s/he is purchasing. It is also sometimes a good idea for interested buyers to tour a property as a new timeshare prospect, even if they know before they go that they are only interested in buying resale. The time spent listening to a sales presentation affords interested buyers several benefits. They will learn many details about the amenities of the property from the sales presenter. They will enjoy the opportunity to tour the property firsthand and to compare the costs of buying new with buying resale. And they will typically have the opportunity to enjoy a luxury vacation at a free or highly discounted price in return for their time spent at the sales presentation.

A timeshare buyer should always remember that buying resale and paying a lower purchase price does not mean settling for less in the way of quality, comfort, and amenities. In today’s timeshare market, almost any resort product that can be purchased new is also available at a much lower price buying resale from a broker or by-owner service, and dealing directly with the person who owns the timeshare now.

Cornerstone of South African hospitality industry announces expansion plan.

According to statistics compiled by the South African government, travel to South Africa was up more than 26 percent in April 2006, as compared to the same month, 2005. Travel by international tourists showed a 13 percent increase. Overall, in 2005, nearly 7.4 million international visitors to South Africa spent 53.4 billion rand (about 6.8 billion USD).

CEO Alan Gooderson of the Gooderson Leisure Group, based in the KwaZulu Natal region of South Africa, says revenues at his company are expected to increase 35 percent next year while tourism in general in South Africa is projected to grow by 6 percent over the next ten years. Tourism ranks third, behind gold and diamonds, in the South African national economy, contributing about 9 percent.

Gooderson Leisure provides lodging, food, beverage, and restaurant services to its resorts in the Drakensberg and northern KwaZulu-Natal regions. Gooderson also has a strong presence in the South African timeshare industry and owns Goodfin, as a wholly owned subsidiary, which provides financing to timeshare buyers. Monies lent by Goodfin to timeshare buyers, to date, equal approximately 11 million rand (1.4 million USD).

In the late 1970’s, the Gooderson family de-listed their company from public trading on the bourse (the French word South Africans use to describe their stock market). At about this same time, son Alan Gooderson bought out the interests of his brothers and other family members, downsized the company’s holdings and began to aggressively look for ways to rebuild a stronger company. Timeshares proved to be one of Gooderson’s solutions.

Today the company owns two game lodges, two resorts, two urban hotel properties, and six timeshare resorts in South Africa, including the recently acquired Natal Spa, the Tropicana and Beach Hotels in Durban, and the Fairways timeshare resort at Drakensberg Gardens. Gooderson, with the management assistance of his two daughters and their husbands, is looking to dramatically expand the company’s holdings, starting with additional timeshare units at the Fairways. Other resorts may be built in the area of Cape Town, with a particular focus on acquiring timeshare properties.

As part of Gooderson Leisure’s growth plan and the objective of seeking new investment capital, on September 27, 2006, the company re-listed on the Alternative Exchange, commonly known as the AltX. The AltX is South Africa’s alternative stock market, primarily dealing in listings of small to medium-sized growth businesses.

Summer is just getting started at many great vacation destinations.

For US and British travelers, summer is officially over. Children have returned to their schoolbooks, and in many places fall is in the air. But for timeshare owners, it’s always vacation season somewhere!

As the leaves turn from shades of green to gold and russet, and cold weather begins to nip the air, it is easy to forget that in the southern hemisphere, spring is just getting started. And since South Africa and Australia offer some of the best opportunities on the planet to buy timeshare, this may be the right time to start planning your next vacation.

South Africa and Australia are currently great locations for buying timeshares, but let’s look more closely at why. First, you have the climate. Cape Town, South Africa and Sydney, Australia (coincidently both located at 33 degrees 55′ South latitude) are just about the same distance south of the equator as Phoenix, Arizona is north of the equator. This translates to year-round sunshine, with seasons reversed from the way they occur in the northern hemisphere. Both locations are beautiful seaside cities, yet serve as gateways to incredible countryside where you can still easily travel into the bush veldt to see nature unspoiled.

Just as importantly, there is the matter of international currency and an excellent exchange rate. While the rates fluctuate daily, in general terms of today’s economy, every Australian dollar you spend costs you only seventy-five cents in US dollars or about sixty cents in Euros. In South Africa, the dollar return is even more dramatic. The South African rand (which slumped to a three-year low this past week) costs you a mere thirteen cents in US money or about ten cents in Euros.

Think of the possibilities!

You can travel to wonderful destinations like Cape Town, the Drakensberg Mountains, and the KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, or Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane in Australia. While you are there, enjoy dining, entertainment, golf, safari adventures, or snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. You’ll be paying your expenses with discounted dollars. Even better, if you buy South Africa or Australia timeshares, and arrange to pay for them in the prevailing currency, you could reap dramatic benefits from the currency conversion alone.

South Africa timeshares and Australia timeshares…they might just be the start of an endless summer vacation.

PGA Tour winner Bobby Cole, sponsored by SellMyTimeshareNOW, finished near the top at the Otesaga Hotel Seniors Open.

The Otesaga Hotel (Cooperstown, New York) in conjunction with the Pathfinder Village Foundation, hosted the 24th annual Otesaga Hotel Seniors Open. One hundred twenty-six professional golfers competed in a 54-hole format on the hotel’s beautiful Leatherstockings Golf Course.

The tournament benefits the Pathfinder Village, a residential community dedicated to children and adults with Down syndrome, along with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s annual fund, which also helps underwrite many of the special events at Pathfinder Village. Over the years, this professional tournament has donated more than a million dollars to the school’s scholarship fund.

Bobby Cole finished the tournament tied for 14th. White Plains, New York resident, Bobby Heins took home the tournament trophy after shooting, 12 under par, a remarkable 5 shots better than the field.

Congratulations gentlemen on some great golf.