California Timeshare

In yesterday’s Timeshare Owners Blog, we looked at an ABC 20/20 investigation of Royal Holiday vacation club. Here is Part II of that post:

The hidden camera videotape made by ABC’s 20/20 investigators reveals that Royal Holiday breaks a lot of rules when it comes to selling timeshare. People who attend the Royal Holiday sales presentation are promised an incentive if they sit through a 90-minute sales pitch, which actually lasts 3 or more hours. They are told that they can only take advantage of special pricing if they buy today…on the spot, and if they prove reticent to buy, that price may mysteriously be cut in half in hopes of getting them to sign up now, as first one and then another salesperson tries to break down their resistance.

Royal Holiday also serves alcoholic drinks to their prospects. It is poor business ethics to do this, and it is an absolute no-no for you, as a prospective buyer, to make the mistake of clouding your good judgment with alcohol. Never, I repeat never, mix alcohol with the decision to buy timeshare.

Other criticisms of Royal Holiday’s sales tactics include promises made by salespeople that a buyer’s money is invested in a foreign bank account and will be returned to them in 30 years; that rooms shown as examples of what you are buying are far nicer than the rooms you actually can book; and that availability in busy seasons is scarce.

How to Avoid High Pressure Timeshare Sales Tactics

All in all, 20/20’s report was extremely negative. There is however, one foolproof way to avoid the heavy hand of a timeshare company salesperson. Buy resale timeshare. Deal only with the person who already owns the timeshare or vacation club membership. Bypass that salesperson who works for the timeshare company yet counts on you to pay his or her salary through commission.

When you shop for timeshare resales or timeshare rentals online, you can take your time. You can ask questions, you can compare products. You can sleep on your decision and consult your attorney or your financial planner. Money doesn’t come easily these days; take your time deciding how you will spend it.

Royal Holiday Vacation Club Timeshare Resales

Currently Sell My Timeshare NOW timeshare resales and timeshare rental advertising company has more than a hundred different listings for Royal Holiday vacations. Some start at under $1000.

The Royal Holiday vacation club affords you the opportunity to travel the United States and Mexico without joining an exchange company. Royal Holiday Club has occupancy rights at Sheraton Cancun Resort and Towers in Cancun; Sol Caribe in Cozumel; Sheraton Ixtapa, Mexico; the Raddison Xanadu in Freeport, Bahamas; Wave Crest in Del Mar, California; Powell Place, San Francisco; Marriott’s Streamside at Vail; Tropicana Golf Estates in Las Vegas; High Point in Orlando; and Brigantine Beach, NJ.

Sell My Timeshare NOW can help you buy, rent, or sell Royal Holiday vacation club timeshares, without the hassle.

Apparently Disney Vacation Club Timeshare is trying to get the message across that they are not just about Disney vacations.

In an article published by the Orlando Sentinel on April 9, Jason Garcia writes about Disney’s new television commercials designed to promote timeshare sales, in which the actors focus on other vacation destinations before they get around to talking about the Disney theme parks. Now that is an interesting way to back into your timeshare sales pitch.

Disney Vacation Club Timeshare Advertising

The 60-second commercial, called “Little Travelers,” opens with children talking about all the places they have visited with their families, through Disney Vacation Club timeshare membership. The children talk about Costa Rica, the Grand Canyon, and England while the camera rolls on pictures of the Venice canals and the Eiffel Tower. Eventually, of course, the commercial gets around to talking about Disney theme parks.

The strategy is to eliminate any objection that buying Disney Vacation Club timeshare limits you to vacationing only at Disney properties. The marketing minds behind Disney Vacation Club timeshare want consumers to understand that Disney timeshare is owned in the form of timeshare points, which can be exchanged at hundreds of non-Disney resorts around the world.

Morningstar Inc., lodging industry analyst, Jeremy Glaser says, “I think when people look at discretionary spending, time shares are places that are pretty easy for some people to cut out.”

Yet just as we are hearing from so many timeshare resort developers, Disney Vacation Club timeshare’s director of marketing, Sylvia Woolfork says that they have seen no slowdown so far. According to quotes in the Orlando Sentinel, Woolfork says, “We’ve actually seen some pretty healthy trends in our business.”

Opportunities in Disney Vacation Club Timeshare Resales

To learn more about the opportunity to become a Disney Vacation Club timeshare owner, by purchasing a Disney timeshare resale, visit Sell My Timeshare NOW.

There are Disney Vacation Club timeshare resales available at these resorts:

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas Resales
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas Resales
• Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort Resales
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort Resales
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa Resales
• Disney’s Vero Beach Resort Resales

Starwood Resorts and Timeshares has announced that they are building a freestanding timeshare sales gallery inside the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel for the purpose of selling timeshare weeks at that property and at the Sheraton PGA in Port Lucie, FL.

This is the first time Starwood Resorts and Timeshares have used a purpose-built, freestanding timeshare sales office to sell timeshare units and timeshare weeks. The new Starwood Timeshare office will employ 20 to 25 timeshare sales people, and will ultimately sell timeshare weeks at all 25 Starwood properties, which includes Sheraton timeshare resorts and Westin timeshare resorts.

In an article published by PressofAtlanticCity.com, written by business editor Kevin Post, Starwood Vacation Ownership spokesperson David Matheson was quoted as saying, “Timeshares are becoming more and more of a mainstream product. Starwood and companies like it are bringing credibility to the industry.”

The article noted that Starwood timeshare units range from about $13,000 to $28,000 with annual maintenance fees of $400 to $800. On the same day that this article ran, CrainsNYBusiness.com published an article identifying that their new chief executive officer, Fritz Van Paasschen, who took the helm in September of 2007, earned approximately $9.1 million during that 4-month period.

Sheraton Timeshare and Westin Timeshare

While Van Paasschen’s base salary is less than $300,000 annually, his bonuses, incentives, and stock options accounted for the rest of his 9 million dollar-plus compensation. Leaving you to draw your own conclusions here, now seems like a good time to remind you that you can get excellent timeshare deals on Starwood timeshare resales, resorts that carry the brands of Sheraton timeshare resales or Westin timeshare resales.

Timeshare Resales from Sell My Timeshare NOW

When you buy timeshare directly from the person who owns it, you are purchasing vacation time at the same resorts as people who buy timeshare new, from the developer and typically pay much higher prices. Here’s a list of some the opportunities available in timeshare resales in Sell My Timeshare NOW’s current inventory:

• Sheraton Broadway Plantation – Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• Sheraton Desert Oasis – Scottsdale, Arizona
• Sheraton Mountain Vista – Avon, Colorado
• Sheraton PGA Vacation Resort – Port St. Lucie, Florida
• Sheraton Vistana Resort – Orlando, Florida
• Sheraton Vistana Villages – Orlando, Florida
• The Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas – Maui
• Westin Kierland Villas – Scottsdale, Arizona
• Westin Mission Hills Resort and Villas – Rancho Mirage, California
• Westin St. John Resort and Villas – St. John, US Virgin Islands
• Harborside Resort at Atlantis – Paradise Island, The Bahamas
• Lakeside Terrace – Avon, Colorado

A weakened US dollar may be creating a tighter economy here at home, but international travelers are enjoying the benefits.

According to a recent article in Hotels Magazine, titled, “Weak Dollar Becomes US Welcome Mat,” not long after Saks Fifth Avenue opened its all-shoe floor last summer, one hundred European women chartered a plane to New York for the sole purpose of shopping – shoe shopping!

International consumers spent almost $3 billion in New York City stores in 2007, insulating many NYC merchants against the economic slump felt by other retailers across the US. Recognizing the value of the foreign shopper, many New York merchants are directing their advertising dollars toward an international clientele.

Historically, New York City is the number one destination for foreign travelers to the US but other cities, such as Miami and Los Angeles, also benefit from international tourist dollars. “According to NYC & Co.,” 46 million people visited the city in 2007, an increase of 5 percent over the previous year. And of those visitors, 8.5 million were non-American, a whopping 20 percent increase for the same time period.” (source: Hotels Magazine ©2008 international herald tribune, February 6, 2008, Special Report; pg. 11. Katie Weisman, The New York Times Media Group, New York)

Saks has partnered with The Daily Telegraph in London, offering four day excursions to New York City this spring. Bloomingdale’s has long maintained an international marketing department in addition to their marketing and sales promotion division, because they recognize the importance of the foreign dollar in their New York stores. Bloomingdale’s also cultivates their foreign consumer at their stores in Miami, Chicago, and San Francisco. At their New York City store, where the employees collectively speak more than 40 different languages, Bloomingdales saw an increase of 35 percent in the number of foreign shoppers for 2007.

As the Hotel Magazine article points out, “No one expects revenues from international shoppers to totally compensate potentially flat or declining sales due to continued economic woes of the American economy.” Yet the reality for timeshare owners is that you do not have to depend on the US economy alone if you are looking to sell timeshare or rent timeshare; but you do have to advertise and market your timeshare resales and timeshare rentals in a place that provides vast global exposure. Look for a timeshare advertising and marketing website with a strong and leading presence on the World Wide Web; look for Sell My Timeshare NOW.