European Timeshare

It’s almost time for the next Shared Holiday Ownership Workshop. Here is an announcement for the timeshare and shared ownership industry from FractionalLife.com.

Further to the success of the Shared Holiday Ownership Workshops earlier this year in Istanbul and Vienna we are pleased to present a further half day Shared Holiday Ownership Workshop on:

Tuesday 13 November, from 12:30, at the
Macdonald Houstoun House Hotel, Edinburgh West, Scotland

Visit www.SHOWorkshops.com for more information:

The Shared Holiday Ownership Workshops programme will incorporate:

• Why Shared Holiday Ownership?
• The range of Shared Holiday Ownership Options e.g Timeshare, Fractional, Mixed use
• How do the products work
• Legal Structures – trustees, sipps, EU rules
• Efficient & effective sales and marketing
• Customer Care
• Regional Case Study
• Networking event with sponsors and delegates

These events will be highly interactive with lots of audience participation. Registration to attend the half-day session is £75 plus VAT per delegate and will include lunch.

Who should attend the Workshops:

• Developers
• Brokers
• Tourism Authorities
• Real Estate
• Press
• Hoteliers

For more information and to register please contact [email protected]. Corporate sponsors for the event include: RCI; Best International; The Registry Collection; HVS; FNTC; Hutchinson; Generator; and media partners Perspective Magazine and FractionalLife.com.

Earlier this month, Yahoo Travel ran an interesting article called, Are You an Ugly American? In it, the writer offered 10 insightful tips for how to avoid offending others and blend in better with local cultures when you travel. Among the points covered was one that had to do with expectations about your sleeping arrangements, mattress, and bedding. If you seriously look at the differences in how Americans view the necessities for a good night’s sleep, vs. the viewpoints of people in many other cultures, you may find that a California timeshare sounds more appealing to you than a dream vacation to Europe.

When it comes to travel, it seems, no one really does bedding the way Americans like to sleep quite as well as do American resorts. In many parts of the world, beds are smaller than American mattress sizes, with hotel rooms often offering either separated twin beds or twin beds pushed together.

As the Yahoo Travel article explains so well:

“So here’s a dose of reality in travel: If you favor a king-sized mattress topped with a feather mattress and a down-filled duvet, plus a deep-soaking Jacuzzi tub big enough for two, a separate, glassed-in shower with a marble bench seat and a second shower in the garden, there’s a great country you can visit: California.”

European Holiday or a California Timeshare?

We are not suggesting you forgo a European holiday in favor of a California timeshare vacation. Nothing beats the experience of the history, art, architecture, food, and vibrant culture of each distinctive country in Europe. And with many US-based timeshare brands well represented among European vacation ownership, there are certainly great accommodations throughout Europe that parallel their US counterparts.

But the point made by Yahoo Travel is well taken. If you are looking for a relaxing holiday that offers both a change of pace and all the creature comforts you expect presented in a way that looks and feels like the American ideal of luxury and relaxing comfort… well, for a vacation like that, you might be happiest to simply choose a California timeshare or any other spacious, amenity-loaded timeshare resort here in the USA.

Club Meliá Timeshare, an international vacation membership club, has made back to school a little easier for more than a hundred students in the Orange County, Florida public school system. Partnering with Orange County Public Schools in the Community Resources Backpack Project, Club Meliá has donated backpacks and mouse pads for students in need.

Since 1980, the Orange County Public Schools  Community Resources Partners in Education program has partnered with businesses to help students whose families cannot provide for all of their school needs. Pamela Carson, Sr. Manager for Community Resources at Orange County Public Schools, says, “We welcome Club Meliá as a new community contributor and thank them for their generosity. Their gift is an investment in our children and in the community’s future.”

Denis Ebrill, Executive Vice President, Club Meliá, says, “We are excited to participate in this wonderful community program and be a part of what Orange County Public Schools does to make a meaningful difference in the success of students and teachers.”

The Beautiful Resorts of Club Meliá Timeshare 

Orlando-based Club Meliá (formerly Sol Meliá Vacation Club) is part of Meliá Hotels International, which is based in Palma de Mallorca. Spain. The luxurious Meliá Hotels International offer beautiful resorts in the Caribbean, Europe, Mexico, and Central America, with a focus on elegant leisure lifestyles and glamorous destinations.

Headquartered in Orlando, Club Meliá membership club today has 15 member resorts (core resorts), 27 associated resorts in the Resort Collection which features prime beach locations in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Spain and in the Urban Collection which features European and Latin American city destinations, available to be enjoyed by its 27,000 vacation ownership club members. Yet in 2004, when Club Meliá first opened its corporate offices in Orlando, the vacation ownership club began with only three resort properties.

The core resorts of Club Meliá shared vacation membership club can be found in Mexico (Cancun, Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta, Playa Del Carmen); Puerto Rico (Rio Grande); Dominican Republic (Punta Cana); Panama (Panama Canal)and the Spain (Canary Islands & Marbella.) You can find out more about vacation ownership resale opportunities at Club Meliá resorts here:

• Melia Vacation Club at Gran Melia Cancun Timeshares
• Melia Vacation Club at Melia Azul Ixtapa Timeshares
• Melia Vacation Club at Melia Cabo Real Timeshares
• Melia Vacation Club at Melia Caribe Tropical Timeshares
• Melia Vacation Club at Melia Cozumel Timeshares
• Melia Vacation Club at Melia Puerto Vallarta Timeshares
• Melia Vacation Club at Paradisus Punta Cana
• Melia Panama Canal Timeshares 

The European timeshare association, TATOC, has officially trademarked its name and corresponding logo.

The action by TATOC communicates much about today’s vacation ownership business environment, some of it positive, some of it reflecting changes we must all work toward in the timeshare business culture.

TATOC’s action, to expend the time, money, and effort in registering its trademark, identifies that the association is brand-aware and in tune with consumer expectations that organizations refine and promote their brands. When a brand for goods or service is clearly defined, consumers have a much easier time distinguishing what a brand stands for and whether or not they want to be affiliated with it.

Like the old saying, “good fences make good neighbors,” brand differentiation creates parameters for what to expect from a brand and gives those who support the brand confidence that they not only are dealing with a brand with which they are comfortable, but that the brand will continue to perform/serve/ deliver at no less than that same level of quality or service currently associated with it.

Why TATOC European Timeshare Association is Registering its Trademark Now

But then, there’s another reason companies and organizations are driven to register or protect their name and their logos and that involves the unsavory side of business and the issue of brand infringement. As Harry Taylor explains, “In the past few months the TATOC logo has been used without our permission by a number of organisations. By registering the name and logo as a trademark we hope to prevent this and it makes it easier for us to take legal action should they continue. We will not hesitate to take action against companies who use the TATOC name and logo without written authorisation. Trading Standards and the police will also now be able to bring criminal charges against counterfeiters who are trying to scam people using our good name and reputation.”

Registering TATOC as its trademark gives the European timeshare association the exclusive right to use the mark in the United Kingdom and Europe. TATOC is currently undergoing trademark registration in the US.

TATOC members and affiliates will receive a link to a webpage where the updated logos can be downloaded in formats suitable for print or online publication. You may also contact Emily Collins ([email protected]) or Mark Caldicott ([email protected]) for the link to the webpage to download the logos.