Fractional

The Barbados, West Indies beach resort, known as Pure Beach Resort & Spa, has retained The Lubner Group and Clive Daniel Home to provide design services and custom furnishings for 300 plus planned condominium villas. Sales at the resort will include full ownership and Barbados fractional ownership, expanding the options for Caribbean timeshare and vacation ownership.

Barbados Fractional and Full Ownership to be Available at Pure Beach

Pure Beach Resort & Spa is to be a master planned, mixed-use resort with a five-star beachfront hotel, residences, and an anticipated 309 luxury residential villas and condos. Planned for the project are also a boutique hotel and a convention center, as well as shops, entertainment, restaurants, and clubs.

Groundbreaking has already taken place with full buildout expected by 2018. Property sales are to be handled by Sotheby’s International Realty Barbados and Preferred Residences (currently under negotiations).

Development partners are Mark Purai, Anwar Rabah, and Sang H. Park, all of whom are residents of Toronto. Purai says, “We believe Pure Beach will soon become a major destination resort. Because our prospective buyers are seasoned travelers and vacationers who expect the highest in quality surroundings, we knew Lubner Group would be the ideal design partner to help create our desired level of luxury ambiance and transform our dreams into reality.”

Dan Lubner, president of both the Lubner Group and Clive Daniel Home, says, “It has been an exciting opportunity for us to provide our design services to Pure Beach Resort at the ground level. Lubner Group will create a new line of custom furnishings specifically for this luxury property, manufactured by Clive Daniel Home. Our team will also coordinate every facet of the design, manufacturing, shipping, and installation process.”

Barbados has long been a popular tourist destination offering distinctive vacation experiences depending on whether you enjoy the island’s luxury resorts on its west coast or its surfer-friendly, beach casual, east/north-east coast. Barbados timeshares, including the historic resort, The Crane, are one of the reasons vacationers are drawn there, and no doubt the new Pure Beach Resort & Spa will be another jewel in Barbados’s sparkling crown.

Last week Bluegreen Vacations announced it has purchased a new California resort, making The Club at Big Bear Village, the newest Bluegreen timeshare option. Located less than two hours east of Los Angeles, this popular California timeshare resort makes a great addition to the family of beautiful Bluegreen timeshare destinations.

David Pontius, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer; President, Bluegreen Services at Bluegreen Corporation, explains, “Adding The Club at Big Bear Village to our collection of resorts just made sense. We have been looking for the opportunity to further our westward expansion and the accommodations and amenities offered by The Club at Big Bear Village are ideal for our vacation club owners. It’s a perfect four-season destination that nicely compliments our Las Vegas and Phoenix properties, offering a unique and very special experience.”

Located in Big Bear, California, the resort is situated on Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino National Forest. In a release to the news media this past Tuesday, Bluegreen Vacations says the resort, “has been referred to as an ‘ultra-luxurious’ base camp to all the mountain and lake adventures that Big Bear offers.”

What this Purchase Means for Bluegreen Timeshare Owners

Initially owners of Bluegreen  timeshare will have access to the resort’s unsold inventory of fourteen 3-and 4-bedroom presidential units. These upscale California timeshares include Jacuzzi ™ baths, steam showers, Sub-Zero kitchen appliances, big screen high definition televisions and other luxury amenities. Accounting for the sleeping capacity, spaciousness, and lavishness of these vacation ownership units is the fact that they were originally intended to be fractional ownership properties.

The resort includes other units that are either unfinished, unfurnished, or both and that Bluegreen timeshare will be working to complete. The goal is that these additional units at Big Bear Village will be available by 2013.

David Pontius commented, “Dealing with high-end fractional owners as a timeshare company can be challenging. After all is said and done, we think the existing owners will really be pleased with what we bring to the table, and we know that existing Bluegreen Vacation Club owners will appreciate one more resort at which they can vacation and build memories.”

With jobs and the economy remaining a personal issue for many and a global issue for all, the strength and stability of a timeshare job, or jobs in the fractional and vacation ownership sectors is a subject of importance. In terms of employment, travel and tourism is the second largest job creator in the US (education tops the list), directly employing 98 million people in 2011. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), counting both indirect and induced employment in travel and tourism, the field sustained 255 million jobs in 2011, which is 1 in 12 of all jobs in the world.

Preparing for a Vacation Ownership or Timeshare Job

When timeshares were just getting started in the United States, more than 40 years ago, there were no college programs that specifically addressed the timeshare business or that prepared you for a timeshare job. The founders of the industry came into timeshares with training in business, marketing, and a variety of hospitality industry backgrounds.

Today’s young candidate for a timeshare job may enter the industry with the same types of skills and training or may be a graduate of one of the many excellent higher education programs in hospitality management that includes specific coursework to prepare him or her for a successful career in timeshare sales, management, marketing or other aspect of our industry.

Among the many universities offering top hospitality management programs to prepare you for a timeshare job are:

• Cornell School of Hotel Administration, the country’s oldest college of hospitality management and is rated number one in the world.
• University of Nevada at Las Vegas Harrah Hotel College
• Michigan State University School of Hospitality Business
• Pennsylvania State School of Hospitality Management
• University of Central Florida Rosen College of Hospitality Management

And while we are on the topic of jobs in timeshare sector, this is an appropriate time to mention Executive Quest Inc., a leading timeshare industry job search provider. It’s time for Executive Quest, Inc.’s Salary Study for 2012. Your participation in this confidential salary study provides valuable information for profiling careers in the timeshare, fractional, and vacation ownership industries. Find out more here:  Executive Quest Salary Study or contact Keith Trowbridge here: [email protected]

Important insights on the state of the timeshare, vacation ownership and fractional were announced last month during the 12th Annual Ragatz Fractional & Resort Real Estate Conference held at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch in Arizona.

Published as a report, the Shared-Ownership Resort Real Estate Industry In North America: 2012,consolidates data on sales in the fractional industry. The findings show that although buying patterns are below what they were at their peak, sales in 2011 were on the upswing.

As fractional resort real estate expertRichard Ragatz, Ph.D. of Ragatz Associates explains, “The key finding is that total sales volume in 2011 was about $552 million, a slight increase from $530 million in 2010. While this increase is nominal, it represents a four percent gain. We also learned that a significant number of developers said that sales were better during the second half of 2011 than in the first half, giving the impression that the bleeding has finally stopped and that we may be turning the corner.”

Of the $552 million sales, there were in-house sales, presales, and new closed sales.

• 19 percent were Florida projects, accounting for $103 million
• 40 percent were destination clubs, accounting for $221 million
• 41 percent were private residence clubs, accounting for $228 million

This year’s Ragatz Conference included all components of the resort real estate industry, from timeshare, to rental clubs, fractional interests, and whole-ownership vacation homes. The complete report is available for purchase from Ragatz Associates at (www.RagatzAssociates.com)