Caribbean Timeshare

You often find me blogging about golf, the PGA Tour, and timeshare resorts with great golf courses. Timeshares and golf go together in part, because on-property or nearby to so many timeshare resorts are fabulous golf courses. Often this means that timeshare owners can enjoy reduced rates on tee times and even play the course at times when there are no tee times available for non-owners. Overall, the demographic of timeshare owners includes a large number of people who enjoy golf recreationally or as a spectator sport. And in a recent study by ARDA, over 22 percent of the timeshare owners surveyed ranked “golf” as the most attractive characteristic of a resort area.

Recently I learned that the relationship between golf and timeshare vacation resorts goes beyond the consumer level. Textron Inc., is a multi-industry company whose brands include Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft, Kautex, Lycoming, Greenlee, and E-Z-GO golf cart and turf maintenance vehicles. What I did not realize was that over the years, Textron Financial has expanded their financing of golf courses to include financing hotels and timeshare resorts.

Textron Financial offers hotel and timeshare resort financing for acquisition and development loans, construction loans, inventory loans, and notes receivable financing, in amounts that range from $5 million to $80 million. Their investment portfolio includes hotel properties and timeshare resorts in the US, Canada, the Caribbean, and Mexico.

Textron Financial sees timeshare resort financing as a logical choice for their company because their strong presence in the golf industry positions them to recognize the long-term value of golf course investment strategies for a resort. When major companies don’t hesitate to put big money into underwriting timeshare resorts, the rest of us ought to also feel pretty comfortable about the wisdom of buying one or more timeshare intervals to enjoy with our families.

Harborside Resort at Atlantis is a top destination in the Bahamas and it’s no surprise that Harborside is on the Sell My Timeshare NOW 2007 Hot Property List.

Harborside Resort at Atlantis ranks #10 on the Sell My Timeshare NOW Hot Property List for the first quarter of 2007. No surprises here, since Harborside Resort at Atlantis is a perfect “10” timeshare destination, located just across the marina from the vacation playground of Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Between the amenities on property at Harborside Resort, and those at the neighboring Atlantis Resort, timeshare owners, renters, and their guests can enjoy the incredible Mandara Spa, a sports center, restaurants that range from poolside casual to fine dining, eleven swimming pools, golf, diving and snorkeling, tennis, the Atlantis Kids Club, the largest casino in the Bahamas, water slides, rides, and the world’s largest marine life habitat. As if that is not enough, 2007 marks the beginning of expansion at Atlantis Resort, as they develop phase III, planned to include more dining, four water slides within a seven-story tower, a mile-long wave river with five-foot tall waves and the Dolphin Cay, an interactive dolphin habitat and lagoon.

The timeshare villas at Harborside border the marina and beautiful Nassau Harbour. One, two, and three-bedroom floor plans are available, as well as both two and three-bedroom lockout timeshare units. All Harborside timeshare units include a jetted tub, fully equipped kitchens, washer and dryer, and an airy, tropical plan and décor.

Part of the Starwood Vacation Network, you can become a vacation property owner at this fast-growing, top demand location by purchasing new timeshare at the developer’s market price, or by shopping the large inventory of Harborside timeshare resales and rentals at Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Reminder: With the new US passport laws now in effect, US citizens must have a passport to reenter the US when traveling from the Caribbean.

The tourism and timeshare industries in the Caribbean have been pleased with the response to new US passport laws.

One of our past blog topics this year dealt with the change in US Passport laws that requires US citizens, along with people arriving in the US from Canada, Bermuda, and Mexico, to present a passport in order to enter the US when arriving by air. The passport law revisions, implemented by the US Department of State and Homeland Security, specifically changed the old laws by requiring that US travelers returning from the Caribbean, now present a passport. The only exception to this rule is travel to and from Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands (which includes American Samoa, Swains Island, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).

People involved in the tourist industry in the Caribbean, including hoteliers and Caribbean timeshare resorts, were concerned that the new laws would have a detrimental effect on travel. For so many years, the Caribbean has been a favorite beachside vacation destination where US travelers could enjoy last minute holidays and timeshare vacations without needing a passport. Would the US government be able to meet the surge of passport applications that would inevitably occur as the deadline for the new laws approached? Would vacationers who don’t already have a passport choose another beach vacation destination, like Miami timeshares, rather than obtain a passport?

According to an article recently released by The Daily Herald News, published in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles the new passport laws have had a negligible impact on tourism, especially in the timeshare vacation sector.

St. Maarten-Saint Martin is a Caribbean Island, roughly 150 miles east of Puerto Rico. Divided in nationality, half Dutch and half French, it is the smallest island in the world with ownership claimed by two nations. The northern half of the island is Saint Martin, and is a dependency of France, while the southern half of St. Maarten is part of the Netherlands Antilles.

The Caribbean Hotel Association and Caribbean Tourism Organisation sponsored a media campaign based on the slogan, “Life needs the Caribbean but you need a passport,” in order to increase public awareness of the changing passport laws. The St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association even offered “100 St. Maarten Bucks” or the equivalent of 100 US dollars in goods and services on the island for visitors who arrived with a new or renewed passport.

According to The Daily Herald News, Jules James, president of the St. Maarten Timeshare Association, said that timeshare resorts gave the clearest indication that the new passport law did not stop people from traveling to the island. James said, “We are at 87 percent occupancy now and numbers have been high all through the winter.”

James explained that timeshare owners got their passports because they were protecting their interval timeshare. “The timeshare sector safeguards itself.”

Timeshare vacation opportunities are excellent throughout the Caribbean. To learn more about timeshare resales in St. Maarten, click here. You can also find out more about Caribbean timeshare rentals by visiting the Sell My Timeshare NOW website.

Additional information about the timeshare company, Divi Resorts that timeshare buyers need to know.

Rarely do I write three consecutive blogs about the same timeshare company, but as I became aware of new information about Divi Resorts, I thought it was important to keep you up to date.

The Cayman Net News is reporting that after closing the Divi Tiara Beach Resort in September of 2006, Divi resort management has announced they have made a business decision to also close their Cayman Brac operations. According to Mark Steward, vice president of sales and marketing at the Divi Tiara Beach Resort, “As part of a strategic plan to refocus its resources on potential growth markets in the Caribbean, Divi Resorts has decided to cease business operations at Divi Tiara Beach Resort in Cayman Brac.”

Whether or not the timeshare resort buildings at Tiara Beach and Cayman Brac are on the market, is not immediately clear, although the rumor mill does indicate that Divi management is in discussion with some interested parties.

Why this decision? Why now?

According to Steward, “Certain economic realities of continuing a dive-oriented resort on Cayman Brac also influenced our decision. Factors included airlift issues, which have affected Divi Tiara’s dive guests in particular as they need to bring additional gear for their sport; increased competition from the growing number of niche market dive destinations throughout the Caribbean; and weather which in the past years has pushed up insurance costs.”

Closing some timeshare resorts at the same time the company is renovating others isn’t necessarily either a negative or a positive indicator. After all, bigger is not necessarily better from the perspective of the consumer. On the other hand, if you are shopping for a Divi Resort timeshare or timeshare resale, do your homework before you buy. No vacation ownership resort company can promise you that they will be operating the same resorts five, ten, or twenty years in the future that they are operating on the day you buy your interval timeshare. But if you have your heart set on staying at a Divi Caribbean timeshare resort and visiting specific dive sites, make sure it is at least an option at the time you make the decision to buy timeshare.