Orlando Timeshare

You know what they say about anything that sounds too good to be true…

An Orlando timeshare resale company agreed last week to pay nearly $100,000 to consumers as part of a settlement to end the investigation into a series of complaints about the company’s practices. More than half the money will go directly to clients who complained to the Florida Office of the Attorney General, Bill McCollum. The balance of the money will go toward the cost of the investigation itself.

The Orlando Sentinel quoted McCollum as saying, “Time-share resale businesses are often mistaken for real estate brokers when they are simply providing an advertisement service to promote the sale of a consumer’s time share.”

The allegations, some of which go back 5 years, claim that the timeshare resale company made the promise that, if it could not sell your timeshare in 180 days, you would receive two free airline tickets to certain destinations. According to consumers who received the promise during telemarketing calls from the timeshare resale company, the tickets had so many caveats and restrictions that they were useless. Some customers of the timeshare reseller say they never received the tickets at all.

Other alleged false claims by the company included the timeshare resale company’s membership in the Orange County (Florida) Convention & Visitors Bureau and affiliation with the Orange County Convention Center.

What a Timeshare Resale Advertising and Marketing Company Should Do

A good timeshare resale advertising and marketing company should present all the information about your timeshare property to the largest possible market of potential timeshare buyers. They should be on the cutting edge of internet marketing strategies so that your timeshare resale or timeshare rental is advertised in a global marketplace of people who want to buy timeshare or rent timeshare.

More than that, any timeshare resale company should be able to tell you:

• • How many visitors come to their website each day. (Sell My Timeshare NOW averages more than 10,000 unique visitors to their website each day and over 30,000 total visitors.)
• • And the dollar amount of offers made to rent or buy timeshare they advertise. (Sell My Timeshare NOW averages over $800,000 a day in offers made to buy timeshare or rent timeshare.)

Not only that, but at Sell My Timeshare NOW, if your timeshare sells at the asking price or higher through any other source, bring us proof of the sale, and we will give you back the fee you pay to advertise and market your property with us. That’s a promise, and it’s one we keep.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

For everyone one who appreciates the traditional Yule stories of Father Christmas, you will be as fascinated to learn about tourism to the Arctic Circle and about the new Elf Academy in Rovaniemi, Finland, as I was.

I don’t pretend to know the verifiable details about the life of Santa Claus, St. Nickolas, Father Christmas, or Sinterklaas. I just accept that as long as I stay on the “Nice” list, there will be presents with my name on them under the Christmas tree and no lumps of coal in my stocking.

And while the exact location where Santa got his start, and the precise address where he resides today, are a little vague, the people of Lapland know that nowhere in the world is any closer to his home than the ice and snow of the Arctic Circle.

Officially, Lapland includes the northern parts of eastern Russia, as well as northern Finland, Sweden, and Norway, and there is Christmas-themed tourism in each of these countries. But it is Finland that attracts over a half million tourists each year, (a number that is steadily growing) who come solely for the purpose of getting a little closer to the magic of Christmas.

So what should one expect of a vacation to a place where the average temperature is 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and snow is rarely less than three feet deep? Apparently, the adventure begins with the elves.

Arrive in Kittilä on one of the flights that lands roughly every ten minutes from Britain or Ireland and you can expect to be greeted at the airport by elves dressed appropriately in red and green. Snowmobiles are the preferred form of travel as you make your way about the Christmas shops and the Christmas pageants. But activities include everything from skiing, to learning to drive huskies, reindeer safaris, hunting (hopefully not the reindeer), and cruising on icebreakers. Expect to dine on more figgy pudding and gingerbread than you ever imagined, as well as local Swedish specialties. And everywhere you go, expect to find elves.

The people of Lapland realize that tourism is critical to their economy. Training a new generation of elves in customer service is one of the best investments the region can make in itself. In Rovaniemi alone, over 500 people are employed as professional elves, certified by the Lapland Vocational College which runs the elf academy. Elf tasks include meet and greets, providing transportation, directing lost tourists, wrapping packages, answering Santa’s mail, and generally providing the “can do” answer to any need a tourist might have. Think of them as a concierge in a snowmobile, who happens to be trained in Arctic survival skills and reindeer herding.

A seasonal trip to the land of Christmas sounds like a way to create amazing memories. Taking your children or grandchildren to see the Northern Lights play across the winter sky seems far more memorable than the usual trip to see Santa at the mall. And for the times that Lapland doesn’t quite fit your vacation agenda, think about holiday themed fun right here in the US, when you vacation at a timeshare resort near Santa Claus, Indiana; Christmas, Florida (near Orlando); or North Pole, New York.

Orange Lake timeshares is generally known as a great place for a relaxing vacation with amenities to please the whole family, but I bet you never knew that they are also a swan’s best friend.

Orange Lake timeshare resort (in Orlando, Florida) employs a duo of resident naturalists, twin sisters, Shirley and Sheila Bolin. Sheila A. Bolin, MS, is the official swan keeper for Orange Lake Resort and Country Club in Orlando, Florida, while her twin, Shirley A. Bolin, AGS, is the head photographer there. Shirley’s photographs and stories have been published in Sports Illustrated, The Miami Herald, USA Today, and other prestigious publications.

The sisters not only help safeguard the wellbeing of the swans, but work to protect the ecosystems at all Orange Lake timeshare resort properties. Together with the Orange Lake timeshare Grounds Superintendent, Shawn Boschert, the dedicated sisters work as members of The Regal Swan ®, a scientific research team that has discovered how to correct a threatening bacteria discoloration in swans.

This past April, US Congressman Tom Feeney presented the Florida Governor’s Points of Light Award to The Regal Swan ® at Orange Lake Resort & Country Club. The researchers had pioneered the use of a specific cattle vaccine used to treat botulism and an equine West Nile Virus vaccine to be used on swans. They were recognized by the Governor for their important contribution to environmental education.

Obviously there is a lot more going at timeshare resorts than most of us ever realized.

To learn more about the opportunities in Orange Lake timeshare resales and rentals, visit Sell My Timeshare NOW.

In our September 6 blog post, titled, “Planning Your Orlando Timeshare Vacation”, I noted that Disney had banned their guests from using the two-wheeled, battery-powered individual people transporters, known as Segways. Disney, and other Orlando theme parks permit Segways, as does the City of Orlando, but use is restricted to authorized personnel, and not available to their paying customers.

In the October 14 edition of the Orlando Sentinel, an article stated that, “Advocates for the disabled are pushing Walt Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando to lift a ban on the use of Segways in the theme parks.”

The Disability Rights Advocates for Technology, known as DRAFT, is an organization that raises money to donate Segways to disabled US military veterans. As the article explained, many people with prosthetics, as well as people with disabilities that permit them to stand but not walk, benefit from the mobility Segways provide. An estimated 5,000 disabled people now use Segways to increase their mobility options.

In one further note, the Sentinel article stated that Disney runs paid, guided Segway tours of Epcot and the Fort Wilderness campground, however in response to our phone call, we were again told by a Disney customer service representative, that those tours have been suspended.

The Timeshare Owners Blog will keep you posted on the status of the Segway at Orlando theme parks.

Here are a few suggestions for enjoying Orlando timeshares on your next Florida vacation:

• Disney’s Beach Club Villas Resales
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas Resales
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort Resales
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa Resales
• Disney’s Villas at Wilderness Lodge Resales
• Magic Tree Resort Resales
• Marriott’s Cypress Harbour Resales
• Marriott’s Grande Vista Resales
• Marriott’s Horizons of Orlando Resales
• Marriott’s Imperial Palm Villas Resales
• Marriott’s Royal Palms Resales
• Marriott’s Sabal Palms Resales
• Mystic Dunes Resort and Golf Club Resales

And here’s a You Tube video of Segways in use at Walt Disney World.