Timeshare Resorts

What he’ll get for the money

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Phil Mickelson’s $3.4 million timeshare/fractional purchase, and I thought you might enjoy learning a little more about what you get for that kind of money. For starters, this is pre-development pricing. Sure the golf course at the property is already constructed, after all, it’s the Old Course at St. Andrews, where they’ve been playing golf since at least as early as the fifteenth century. But the St. Andrews Grand, a renovation of a building that has most recently served as a dormitory at the University of St. Andrews, isn’t scheduled to open for business until 2008. Not that “open for business” means that anyone can just walk in and plunk down his or her $1.5 to 3.4 million—you have to be invited to purchase property there.

When completed, the five-star St. Andrews Grand will have 23 residences, including six penthouses, like the 1,922 square foot penthouse purchased by Phil and Amy Mickelson. All will be three or four bedroom apartments with luxury kitchens. Property ownership includes the privilege to fish for salmon and trout in the River Tay, as well as hunting rights at a nearby estate, golf at numerous courses, his and hers spas, a billiards and game room, limo transportation, a library, and a gourmet dining room.

According to Golf Digest Magazine, the Mickelson’s nine weeks of yearly timeshare/fractional usage at the St. Andrews Grand will come with annual dues reported to be nearly $35,000. For less than Phil Mickelson’s annual dues, you can buy a timeshare of your own in Scotland.

Make the most of your timeshare ownership by taking advantage of bonus time opportunities

Until you own a timeshare, you may not fully appreciate bonus time. The term bonus time means deeply discounted vacation rates offered either by a timeshare resort, a group of resorts, or through a timeshare exchange company.

Resort Condominiums International, for example, offers two types of bonus timeshare to its members. Extra Vacations are the available days created when RCI members trade their timeshare points or weeks for another travel product, such as discount airfares or a cruise. The result is extra timeshare inventory in certain resort locations and great deals for RCI members. Members can purchase Extra Vacations for a period of one-week and use them for themselves or give them to someone else through a gift certificate.

Last Call is RCI’s clearance-priced bonus timeshare. Last Call timesharing is truly last minute planning, but the prices are incredible. Currently RCI Last Call reservations for studio units are $129 per week; one bedroom units at $179 per week; and two bedroom units priced at $219 per week – discounts well worth making a last minute effort to enjoy.

Trendwest by WorldMark makes the list of best places to work in Hawaii

Hawaii Business Magazine (interestingly the oldest regional business magazine in the US) and the Best Companies Group have recognized Trendwest Resorts, Inc., as one of the “Best Places to Work in Hawaii”.

Congratulations to Trendwest Hawaii, who received this honor in the category for small to medium companies (25 to 249 employees). The company is recognized for creating and supporting a rewarding work environment, providing a progressive benefit program, and promoting organizational values. And as we all know, happy, well cared for employees translate to well-run resorts that timeshare owners and timeshare renters can own and enjoy with confidence.

Currently there are more than 50 Trendwest WorldMark condominium resorts in the United States, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, and Fiji. The four Hawaii Trendwest timeshare resorts are at Kapaa Shores on Kauai; Kihei and Valley Isle on Maui; and Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. All are fantastic vacation destinations that you know before you go will be safe, luxurious, and convenient to the amenities you and your family want to enjoy.

The play’s the thing for Pocono Mountain timeshare owners

The Shawnee Playhouse Theater has been an entertainment staple for vacationers in the Pocono Mountains since 1979. This summer, for the first time since the theater’s 1979 opening season, the playhouse will offer four different shows each week – a theatergoers delight.

Why the change from four plays that run consecutively to four different plays per week?

According to Jerry Durkin, chairman of the informal playhouse board and a cast member in “Same Time, Next Year,” the idea came after seeing the results of an online survey taken by 650 Poconos timeshare owners. The favorite amenity of the vacation property owners is not golf, skiing, or even just enjoying the mountains themselves – it is the Shawnee Playhouse.

This summer, the charming 210-seat theater that claims to have no bad seats in the house, will present: “A Chorus Line,” “Grease,” “Godspell,” “Same Time, Next Year,” and “The Compleat Works of William Shakespeare Abridged.”