timeshare news

CRDA (the Canadian Resort Development Association) and ARDA (the American Resort Development Association) have now joined forces in a new working relationship. Both professional organizations are dedicated to the betterment of the timeshare and vacation ownership industries, advancing policy, standards, and opportunities.

CRDA identifies its goal as a timeshare association as being, “… to encourage and maintain a high standard of ethical conduct throughout the industry, and to assist in the education of Canadian industry members toward an enhanced standard of professionalism.”

Ross Perlmutter, President of CRDA says, “We would love the opportunity to introduce ARDA‘s suppliers to the robust Canadian resort market, and we’re confident that ARDA‘s resort developers will understand and appreciate both the value in, and importance of, displaying CRDA‘s emblem on their showrooms’ walls when presenting their programs to affluent Canadian tourists.”

Expect CRDA and ARDA working together on various objectives to further important initiatives through which timeshare developers, timeshare sales companies, timeshare resales companies, and timeshare owners will all benefit. And for anyone already a member of either CRDA or ARDA, look for special opportunities to become a member of both timeshare associations.

Follow this link to learn more about CRDA and this link to learn more about ARDA.

And for information on opportunities in Canada timeshare, and Canada timeshare rentals, no one offers a better online inventory than does Sell My Timeshare NOW.

As we all know, where you start out is not always where you wind up, which is exactly what seems to have happened to the timeshare sales and timeshare resales industry.

Once upon a time, (as all good stories begin) timeshare sales were made solely across a table. A timeshare sales representative met with a couple, spent typically several hours explaining the advantages of becoming a timeshare owner, perhaps taking them on a tour of a model timeshare unit, and then wrapped up the pitch, hoping to close the sale.

There is no point in arguing whether this is the best business model for selling timeshares because the simple fact is, this is the business model the industry chose. But that was all pre-internet.

Last summer, the online publication, Tracking Tourism: The Tourism Research Blog, ran an interesting post, filled with analytical observations about how the travel and tourism industries as a whole thrive and fail to thrive as internet based businesses.

The Changing Ways People Buy and Sell Timeshare

Here’s one of the many insightful takeaways from that post on The Tourism Research Blog: “Travel and tourism rarely thinks of itself as an e-commerce or even an online business. After pure online retail, travel/tourism is the next biggest e-commerce revenue generator on the web. But unlike the online retailer who created a business purely focused on the web, many tourism businesses have evolved stealthily  into e-commerce businesses – so stealthily they may have barely noticed and do not have a rolling development strategy in place.” (source: http://blog.highlandbusinessresearch.com/2009/07/20/it-shouldnt-be-this-difficult/)

Timeshare companies often fall into the category of businesses that evolved into delivering online services (primarily in response to consumer demand) while failing to redefine their business brand in their own eyes or the eyes of consumers as online vendors. Because of this ‘identity crisis’ these companies may lack what they need in infrastructure, technology specialists, and other internal systems necessary to effectively serve the online consumer.

Sell My Timeshare NOW is a purpose-conceived and purpose-developed online timeshare resale and timeshare rental advertising and marketing company. We are not struggling to adapt our business to the changing ways consumers buy timeshare, sell timeshare, or rent timeshare; instead, we recognized the need, anticipated the changes and have been, from day one, offering the easiest and most reliable ways to handle your timeshare sales or timeshare rental transactions. E-commerce is not secondary or accidental at Sell My Timeshare NOW; it is what we were built to do best.

It seems like everyone is trying to get into the conversation about Tiger Woods these days, including Jacqueline Siegel, wife of Westgate timeshare developer, David Siegel.

Both the Siegels and the Woods live in the gated community of Isleworth on the southwest side of Orlando, just in the edge of the otherwise quiet town of Windermere. Last week, the Orlando Sentinel quoted Mrs. Siegel as saying this of Elin Woods, wife of Tiger Woods, “I see her in the neighborhood jogging or pushing her babies in a double stroller. She’s a very healthy mother. She looks wonderful for having two babies in a row.”

According to the Sentinel, Siegel went on to say, “She seems to be a really sweet, maybe shy type of person. I’ve tried to get a few favors from her for some of our events, but didn’t have any luck. She’s more the type of mother who stays home and takes care of the children when her husband goes out. She doesn’t go out to a lot of clubs.”

While the much of the world waits, hoping to catch a glimpse of either Elin or Tiger Woods (despite the fact that security is tight in the exclusive community) boaters who frequent the Butler Chain of Lakes on which Wood’s home is located have been known to spot them (in the past) or other celebrity residents of the community. Situated just north of Arnold Palmer’s famed Bay Hill Golf Course, Isleworth is not far from the attractions area of Central Florida and many of the most popular Florida timeshare destinations including: Orlando’s Sunshine Resorts, Orlando International Resort Club, Cypress Harbour, Cypress Pointe At Lake Buena Vista Timeshare, Cypress Pointe Grand Villas Timeshare, and Westgate Lakes Resort and Spa Phase I Timeshare

Here’s an interesting thought regarding vacation planning: Last week the Commercial Aviation Safety Team, a government-industry aviation safety group, elevated “birds” to its list of priority aviation safety issues.

Everyone knows about US Airways Flight 1549 that made a miraculous and safe emergency landing in the Hudson River last January; an incident precipitated by a flock of Canadian geese. According to an article that appeared in USA Today, “… last month, a bird blasted a hole through the windshield of a cargo plane over Arizona and another gouged an 18-inch tear in the side of a Delta Air Lines jet near Phoenix. Birds also have been involved in several helicopter accidents this year, including a crash in Louisiana that killed eight people headed to an oil platform.”

Even if concerns over airline safety are not enough to keep you grounded (air travel remains the safest form of transportation available), there are other reasons to buy timeshare at a drive-to destination.

Reasons to Buy Timeshare near Your Home

• A drive-to timeshare vacation translates to money saved on travel, meaning that even when your vacation budget is tight, because timeshare affords you prepaid vacation accommodations; you can probably always manage to take a vacation.
• When you buy timeshare located near where you live, you can work in ‘mini vacations’ thanks in part to the fact that today’s timeshare intervals can typically be enjoyed in periods of less than a week—some even allowing you to enjoy your timeshare one night at a time.
• Depending upon where you live, odds are that if your timeshare is near your home, it is within driving distance of other large populations meaning that when you want to sell timeshare or rent timeshare you have a targeted market of others who may be interested in drive-to vacations.
• If your timeshare is sufficiently close to your home, you can also use it for overflow housing for guests, visiting relatives, or business associates who are in town.

While the FAA will likely be able to spur the development of solutions to problems our fine feathered friends create for jet engines, one idea that is definitely not for the birds is how much sense a drive-to timeshare can make.