Timeshare Real Estate

(Disneyland California Adventure Revamped. Photo credit: The Walt Disney Company)

With some reporters describing it as a Disney “do-over” thousands of people lined up Thursday night to be among the first to get into the Walt Disney Company’s unveiling of improvements at its Disneyland California Adventure Park.

Previously described by Disney’s chief executive, Robert A. Iger, as a “brand eyesore” the entertainment company has invested more than a billion dollars, along with its energy, time, and talent into revamping its formerly lackluster California Adventure Park. The revisions include a 12-acre expansion dedicated to Pixar’s “Cars” movies; a total revamp of the park’s entrance; Buena Vista Street, home to the Carthay Circle Theatre; and a heavy infusion of what the company calls, “Disney DNA”, meaning you now see a lot more of the Disney characters and signature brand touches that were previously missing from the park.

New rides now feature “Toy Story” and “The Little Mermaid,” and an $80 million fountain show created to bring Disney characters to life, combines music, lighting, and 1,200 programmable jets of water. Thomas O. Staggs, chairman of Disney’s parks division, explains, “People are still spending on vacations, but they are concerned about value, and they are getting that and more with our new product.”

Disney Vacation Club, Disney Timeshare Part of the Plan for Growth at Disneyland

Carrying forward on an objective started by former Disney CEO, Michael D. Eisner, the company hopes that the park’s revisions will cause Disneyland guests to add an extra day to their Disneyland vacation, and to be more likely to stay on property at a Disney hotel or Disney timeshare, and eat more meals at Disneyland restaurants. The transformations at the Disneyland Park have included the addition of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, which along with 948 guest rooms, includes 50 two-bedroom Disney Vacation Club ( Disney timeshare ) units.

An additional benefit of park guests splitting their time between Disneyland and The California Adventure is that it could relieve some of the overcrowding problems Disney struggles with in its Disneyland Park. Where Disney’s signature park at Disneyland attracted 16.1 million visitors last year, California Adventure lagged behind, attracting only about 6.3 million.

Many in the vacation ownership and timeshare industry know that our company has been making major changes in order to serve both our consumer clients and our industry clients better. On March 30 of this year, we announced our newest brand: VacationOwnership.com. (see: Leading Timeshare Resale Company Rebranding As VacationOwnership.Com)

Rebranding a company, especially one with an internet presence as expansive as ours, is a big challenge. Although our new website www.vacationownership.com is busy with the online activity of timeshare buyers, sellers, and renters through our licensed timeshare brokerage, we are still working daily to expand and improve the website.

We have also had the exciting opportunity of working on our new corporate logo. A process that isn’t—and really shouldn’t be—easy to do. After all, a logo plays an important role for a company. It must communicate, brand, engage, and attract. At the same time, it needs to look good on your website, your golf shirt, or your business card. It can’t be too busy or it will be distracting, nor can it be too plain which would make it boring. Most importantly, it has to speak to others for your company when you are not there to speak yourself.

The number of people who can say they would recognize the CEOs of NIKE, Coco-Cola, or McDonalds if they saw him or her walking by is vastly smaller than the number of people who know the brand marks of those corporations. People recognize certain logos so well that they can instantly identify them even without the presence of the company’s name beside the mark.

Yes, a little logo carries a lot of responsibility on its back. We can’t wait to start unveiling ours. We tried to think of a good hint to share about our new logo but decided that for now, we’d just have to tell you that it makes us feel good about our company every time we see it and we hope that’s how it will make you feel, too.

…watch for it soon!

Yesterday, the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) announced findings from the State of the Vacation Timeshare Industry: United States Study 2012 Edition conducted by Ernst & Young.

Howard Nusbaum, president and CEO of the American Resort Development Association describes the state of the vacation ownership industry. Nusbaum says, “Our 8 million owners continue to value the proposition of vacationing better with timeshare as the products offer flexibility and rejuvenating amenities for the whole family.”

Timeshare sales, the report reveals, were up slightly in 2011 over the previous year. Just as importantly, nearly 80 percent of  owners travel to their resort. This is an especially significant finding in view of the fact that hotel occupancy lags behind at only 60 percent in 2011. These findings are from a Smith Travel Research December 2011 report.

Vacation Ownership and Resort Rentals

The distinctive niche of rentals continue to be significant, with twelve percent of the resort occupancy rate being comprised of renters, and eighty-six percent of the resorts offering some form of rental program. In 2011, renters accounted for 10.4 million nights of total occupancy.

Other facts of interest about the timeshare industry include:

• Fifty-eight percent of sales in 2011 were from new owners, which indicates that over forty percent of sales were from repeat buyers.

• Seventy-two percent of resorts have at least half of their sales from new owners, showing a healthy influx into vacation ownership.

• Roughly seventy-two percent of the survey respondents own multiple weeks.

• Sixty-seven percent of vacation owners participate in a points based ownership structure.

Did you know that the beaches of Orange Lake Resorts have gotten bigger?

Last month, Orange Lake Resorts timeshare, which already operates eight popular properties, officially closed on a transaction which will allow two new resorts to become part of the Orange Lake timeshare family.

In a deal with Cooper Industries, Inc., Orange Lake Resorts is adding the Tropical Breeze Resort in Panama City Beach, Florida, and Galveston on the Gulf Resort in Galveston, Texas to its brand.

Tropical Breeze Resort offers 37 timeshare units, including one- and two-bedroom timeshare villas—every one with a view of the Gulf of Mexico from a private patio (first floor units) or balcony (upper floors) for enjoying ocean breezes and spectacular sunsets.

With direct beach access, an outdoor heated swimming pool, kiddie swim area, hot tub and fitness center, and other great amenities, Tropical Breeze Resort will make a wonderful addition to the Holiday Inn Club Vacations family of Florida timeshare resorts.

Galveston on the Gulf Resort is located on Galveston’s barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico, off the Texas coastline. This 78 timeshare unit resort offers one- and two-bedroom timeshare villas, including timeshare lock-off units.

Each villa at Galveston on the Gulf Resort offers a private patio or balcony and beautiful views of the Gulf . The resort also includes direct beach access, a  outdoor, heated infinity-edge swimming pool, kiddie swim area, fitness center, hot tub and complimentary Wi-Fi Internet service.