European Timeshare

( Sharetime Publication of TATOC )

TATOC, the European Timeshare Association, has announced the appointment of Emily Collins, a new co-opted board director. Emily oversees TATOC’s two websites. She is also responsible for the publication of the Association’s outstanding quarterly magazine, Sharetime. Emily has been working with TATOC for the past three years.

Harry Taylor, executive chairman of TATOC, says, “Emily has been involved with the industry for nearly 20 years and has a huge wealth of industry experience. She has been providing marketing services to the association for three years and has become a valuable member of the team. We believe that the board will be enhanced with her appointment.”

At the most recent TATOC conference, the Association announced that it was looking to develop a stronger board of quality directors with a wider scope of experience. Harry Taylor explains, “The timeshare world is changing and TATOC has a number of objectives to support our members and affiliates tackle the challenges we are facing. The board needs to call upon the knowledge of industry professionals to help us achieve these objectives.”

Among the objectives of TATOC are to grow, improve, and become stronger. TATOC feels it must build on relationships and partnerships within the industry. Says Harry, “We need greater recognition, more publicity and increased visibility and awareness. We believe developing the board will help us with this.”

The Voice of European Timeshare

TATOC is The Timeshare Association (Timeshare Owners and Committees). The organization was founded in 1989 and is the only elected consumer association representing the interests of European timeshare owners. Across Europe, 95 vacation ownership resorts are members, which mean more than 350,000 timeshare owner-member families.

TATOC works to be the voice of European timeshare owners, while safeguarding and enhancing the vacation ownership holiday experience for existing and prospective  timeshare users.  The Association’s focus includes: growing its membership base, raising the profile of the Association, and establishing TATOC as the recognized voice of the European timeshare consumer and an informed point of contact for the vacation ownership industry.

Now Marriott Vacation Club is bringing the flexibility and choice of Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange to its owners of European timeshare. (Follow this link to read the Marriott Vacation Club media release.)

This week, Orlando, Florida-based Marriott Vacation Club timeshare announced a new usage option for its timeshare owners at European resorts. Now, these Marriott vacation ownership members have usage options that provide them access to the points-based Marriott Vacation Club Destinations(TM) Exchange Program. Through this program, participating timeshare owners of Marriott Vacation Club European timeshare gain greater vacation planning flexibility and access to thousands of new vacation choices worldwide.

Recognizing the unique history of Marriott Vacation Club timeshare in European vacation ownership, Bob Miller, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer – International, Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation, says, “As the first branded hospitality company to enter the European timeshare market in 1996, we’ve been committed to providing great vacation experiences for our Owners at beautiful resorts in coastal Spain and France. The expansion of our points-based exchange program to this region now offers exceptional vacation options to enrolled Owners that are easy to use and provides greater flexibility and more personalized experiences.”

Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program for owners of European timeshare is similar to the timeshare points based program Marriott launched in 2006 for its owners of Asia Pacific resorts, and in 2010 for its owners in North America, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

The Marriott Vacation Club timeshare owners who are members in the Destinations Exchange Program can exchange their vacation ownership interests annually for Vacation Club Points, permitting them to travel within any of three Vacation Collections or continue to use as they have before.

The Marriott Vacation Club options for owners of European timeshare are:

World Traveler Collection, which provides participating owners access to hundreds of resorts through Interval International.

Explorer Collection, through which participating owners can use their Vacation Club Points to explore, cruise, and discover the world.

Marriott Vacation Club Collection, an option designed to give participating owners easy reservation access to more than 50 luxurious Marriott Vacation Club resorts, with greater flexibility for any day of the week check-in; varied length of stay; and more options and flexibility in timeshare unit sizes, season, and destinations in North America, the Caribbean, and Europe.

Read more about Marriott timeshare points based programs from The Timeshare Authority blog:

• Timeshare Points at Marriott Vacation Club are Changing – Timeshare Owners Still Have Questions
• More Details on New Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Timeshare Points
• Questions Persist about the New Marriott Timeshare Points Program

All next week, the BBC 3 Counties Radio show will be looking at today’s most relevant consumer issues – topics of interest and concern to its listening audience. To kick off the series of broadcasts, Harry Taylor, Chairman of the European timeshare association, TATOC, will be one of the radio show’s special guest authorities.

Harry will be appearing on the Jonathan Vernon Smith consumer show on Monday, May 21 on BBC 3 Counties Radio; he will be responding to consumer questions about European timeshare. If you fail to catch the show live, which is scheduled for 10:00 to 11:00AM local time, the BBC website for The JVS show also makes these segments available for online replay for approximately 5 to 6 days after the shows originally air.

European Timeshare

TATOC, describes itself as being run “by timeshare owners for timeshare owners.” Organized in 1989, the heart and soul mission of TATOC is to “safeguard and enhance the timeshare holiday experience for existing and prospective users and to be the voice of owners.”

As the largest consumer association for timeshare owners in Europe, TATOC, a non-profit making, limited company, includes 92 timeshare resort members throughout Europe and represents the interests of some 350,000 timeshare owner families.

Previously this month, on May 10, Harry Taylor, appeared on Jonathan Cowap’s Big Conversation show on BBC Radio York, where he discussed timeshare and answered many questions. Following that appearance, the TATOC helpline received a number of follow up calls from listeners who had heard the show and had additional timeshare questions or were seeking vacation ownership advice.

On March 16, the Spanish government passed the European Timeshare Directive into national law. The law comes into effect this week, and all Spanish timeshare companies are required to be in compliance with it at this time.

Francisco Lizarza, RDO’s Chairman in Spain and head of the Spanish lobby group said, “This new law sweeps away the confusion that has existed in Spain over the past year and timeshare companies can finally make the appropriate adjustments to their operations”. He added, “The law will help boost consumer confidence in Spain, the most popular timeshare market in Europe, where almost half of European owners have chosen to buy.”

Among other initiatives, the Spanish timeshare directive standardizes the following:

• A 14-day cooling off period (a rescission period for the timeshare buyer)
• An absolute ban on deposits
• Contracts of more than one year are within the legislation whereas previously it was three years
• Contracts must be provided in the language of the purchaser as long as it is a language of the EU
• And, detailed information of the product must be provided, again in the language of the purchaser

While these initiatives cannot be changed by individual member countries, the governments of each country can add to the directive for guidelines regarding their country.

Most European countries passed the European Timeshare Directive in 2011. The inclusion of Spain, home to so many popular and beautiful Spanish timeshare resorts, is welcomed by the global timeshare community.