Continued expansion of a well-established Caribbean timeshare company.
One of the things many people like about the Divi Resorts is that they are specialists, not generalists. All eight of Divi’s timeshare resorts are located on one of five Caribbean islands. And while the vacation ownership company is currently in an expansion mode, don’t expect them to move outside their warm, sunny paradise.
According to TravelDailyNews.com (February 16, 2007) the Divi Little Bay Beach Resort in St. Maarten is expanding their portfolio by $25 million, as they convert beachfront hotel rooms into timeshare units.
Meanwhile, the Divi Village Golf & Beach Resort in Aruba, has already completed 82 luxury golf villas, of a planned 240 suites. Fifty-two more units are expected to be complete by mid-2007. The Aruba Phoenix Beach Resort is also expanding; growing from 140 to 280 luxury beachfront timeshares.
Timeshare on a Caribbean beach. A good thing that just keeps getting better.
Bonaire Resort adds underwater photography shop for their timeshare guests.
As many of us are digging out from under late winter snowfalls, or donning that extra sweater to offset the chill, I can’t think of a better time to bring up the subject of the Divi Caribbean Resorts. With nine vacation ownership properties in Aruba, Bonaire, Cayman Brac, St. Maarten, Barbados, and St. Croix, there is bound to be a beach chair waiting for you.
Many of the Divi Resorts offer amenities that include full service spas, golf courses, casinos for gaming, and of course some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Recognizing that most of us cannot afford the cost or commitment of owning a private beach home in this desirable part of the world, the Divi Resorts began offering vacation ownership options nearly 40 years ago.
And in case you somehow manage to get your fill of lounging by the pool, sipping tall cool drinks, or beach combing along miles and miles of white sand or pink shell beaches, the Divi Flamingo Beach Resort & Casino in Bonaire is adding a new guest service. Capture Photo, a full-service underwater photography shop, opens this month, on property at the Netherlands, Antilles resort.
The shop’s staff will include experienced underwater photographers and master divers, ready to assist resort guests, visitors, and local islanders with all realm of underwater photography needs including equipment, services, and instruction.
You don’t have to be an experienced diver to enjoy underwater exploration of the Caribbean. There are numerous locations for joining up with a beginner dive program, as well as some programs just for snorkeling. But if you do have previous dive experience, you might be interested in exploring some of the numerous shipwrecks scattered throughout the islands.
The island of Curacao lies roughly thirty miles west of Bonaire. In 1977, a ship known as Superior Producer set out from the Santa Anna Bay in Willemstad, Curacao, loaded or perhaps overloaded with Christmas merchandise bound for Venezuela. With too much cargo on board, a shift in the load caused the Superior Producer to immediately commence taking on water. She began to sink in only 100 feet of water.
Unable to save her, the rescue team simply towed the ship away from the navigational channel, and allowed her to settle to the bottom of the sea. The Superior Producer is a favorite among wreck divers because she sank on an even keel, making her easy to explore. If you are interested, I found some amateur underwater video of the shipwreck on YouTube.
The Divi Resort at Bonaire would be an excellent destination for anyone interested in exploring Superior Producer first hand. Divi Resorts are a member of the RCI exchange. You can search for Divi timeshare resales and timeshare rentals at Sell My Timeshare NOW.
Name may change but quality remains with Wyndham Vacation Resorts.
Effective in 2007, you can expect Fairfield Resorts, TrendWest North America, and TrendWest South Pacific to be renamed and re-branded as part of the Wyndham hospitality empire.
When the name change is completed, more than 140 timeshare resorts throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific will carry the Wyndham identity and logo.
Fairfield Resorts will become Wyndham Vacation Resorts. TrendWest South Pacific will be known as Wyndham Vacation Resorts-Asia Pacific, while WorldMark by Trendwest will become WorldMark by Wyndham. Wyndham Worldwide chairman, president and chief executive officer Stephen P. Holmes, announced last summer that for Fairfield Resorts, the re-branding process will begin immediately.
Industry experts believe that the renaming will go a long way to reinforcing the Wyndham brand, especially on mixed-use hotel and timeshare properties, which seem to be the way of the future. When corporations re-brand a product, there is always initial cost and at least a little confusion. In the end, it typically proves to be a cost-saver, allowing the corporation to focus all of their marketing and advertising dollars on a single identity or label.
A bit of hopeful news for owners at Royal Oasis timeshare vacation resort.
I haven’t written about Royal Oasis timeshare resort since May of 2006. Even though some of our regular readers have asked for updates, I haven’t been able to offer any—there just has not been any reliable news.
But according to a recent edition of the Newport News, online edition, Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie and Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe have both “hinted” at a pending purchase. The Newport News quoted Wilchcombe as saying, “We know that the group is the right fit for Freeport and will bring the brand, the experience and the commitment to Freeport and to Grand Bahama.”
In case you are not familiar with Royal Oasis, the timeshare resort was damaged by Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, in September of 2004. When the timeshare company closed the resort, over one thousand people were laid off. To exacerbate the impact on the local economy, two thirds of the 38 merchants at the International Bazaar, businesses supported in large part by the timeshare owners and visitors at Royal Oasis, have also had to close.
As for the timeshare owners themselves, they have been left to own or in many cases, make payments on property that is unusable and un-saleable. Royal Oasis is a highly atypical situation in the world of timesharing today. There are thousands and thousands of timeshare vacation resorts around the globe and it is inevitable that every year a few properties will sustain damage from natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, or fire. But you never hear about these situations because repairs are made quickly, business is soon back to normal, and individual owners are not personally impacted when it comes to using and enjoying their interval timeshare or vacation club membership.
Here’s the one thing you can count on. As soon as any of us at Sell My Timeshare NOW know anything definitive about Royal Oasis, we will be passing that information along to you.
