Timeshare Sales

The luxury resort company, Blue Residences has announced plans to open a new vacation ownership resort in Aruba. The resort will open on March 1st, 2014 and will be located on the coastline of Aruba’s famous Eagle Beach.

Blue Residences will offer 3 luxury towers scheduled to open in sequence. The first tower, opening March 1st, features 42 units for sale: two 5-bedroom penthouses, four 3-bedroom penthouses, twelve 3-bedroom units, and twenty four 2-bedrooms. Representatives expect that the second tower will open in May 2014 and the third in January 2015.

The units will be outfitted in ultra – modern furnishings and luxury décor. All condos will feature multiple bedrooms, a dining room, living room, full kitchen and private terrace. Units on the ground floor will even feature private outdoor Jacuzzis. Most units will feature vaulted ceilings, unobstructed ocean views, and the latest technology.

President of Icon Hotel Marketing Herber Valkenberg says, “This is the first luxury resort to open on Eagle Beach in the past 20 years and we are excited about the prospect of promoting this to both loyal Aruba vacationers as well as those considering a second home or shared ownership on the popular island, […] Blue represents a unique whole ownership opportunity for the condo-oriented family, as it is one of the few beachfront properties left in Aruba and the only new property targeting the affluent traveler.”

Owners will also enjoy the use of a private beach, poolside butler and concierge services while staying at the resort. The resort amenities also include two infinity pools, a luxury spa, gym, lavish restaurant, bar, convenience store, and delicatessen. While staying at the resort, guests can also play at two nearby golf courses including one designed by Robert Trent Jones.

The resort is located less than five miles away from the capital of Aruba, Oranjestad. This unique village provides sophisticated shops & restaurants, while still embracing local culture. Throughout the year, parades, festivals, and music events allow visitors to experience a true taste of Aruba.

All towers are currently offering units for sale, as well as vacation rentals. For more information, please visit Blue Aruba’s Website.

In the business of timeshares, we are all familiar with Crossville, Tennessee. The city, with a population of some 11,000, has two very important connections to the timeshare and vacation ownership industry. Crossville, Tennessee is home to The Resort Trades, one of the leading publications in timesharing; and it is also home to the Wyndham Fairfield Glade Resort.

Although it many not be widely known as a vacation hot spot like Orlando, Florida or Las Vegas, Nevada, the Wyndham Fairfield Glade Resort hosts over 90,000 guests and resort owners each year. This week, the property officially cut the ribbon on a new resort check-in and timeshare sales office.

Franz Hanning, president and CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership, explains, “Our company started here. It thrives here. We want nothing but success for this place. It is dear to the company. We want people to have the happiest moments of their life at Fairfield Glade.”

Coincidentally, the location also is where Franz Hanning got his start with the company. Hanning noted how much things have changes since then, pointing that starting in timeshare shares, Hanning himself did not make a single sale during his first month (June 1982) of employment at the Fairfield Glade. Says Hanning, “I tell this story to all our sales reps; you can really start with this company, go 0 for June and end up CEO.”

Although the 14,823-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility is new, and many aspects of timesharing have changed, other factors have remained consistent at Fairfield Glade over the past 30+ years. The team at the Wyndham Fairfield Glade still works with integrity, passion, commitment, and creativity. Dave LaBelle, regional senior vice president for Wyndham Vacation Ownership, says the corporate culture formed at the Crossville, Tennessee timeshare resort in the late ’70s and early ’80s set the foundation for this company.

Construction on the new facility began last November, with a groundbreaking ceremony. By the end of May, (ahead of schedule) the new guest check-in and timeshare sales center was open and operational. Purpose-built for service, function, and efficiency, the new facility includes environmentally friendly features, such as energy-saving lighting and flooring made from recycled materials. With design and planning a team effort, Sara King, executive vice president, praised the team involved, saying, “They understand how intentional design and how the environment can drive sales and drive revenue.”

Fairfield Glade, with over 23,000 timeshare owners is one of Wyndham’s more than 185 resort locations.

If you are a Florida timeshare owner, you probably have already heard about the sinkhole that opened beneath two units (one building connected by a walkway) at the (Clermont) Orlando timeshare, Summer Bay Resort. If you’ve missed this, here are three updates from The Timeshare Authority that will bring you up to speed:

• Is the Orlando Summer Bay Resort Timeshare Sinkhole Growing?
• The Insurance Issue for Summer Bay Resort Timeshare Owners
• Getting to the Bottom of the Summer Bay Resort Sinkhole

Although no one was injured in the building collapse, certainly the vacationers involved experienced emotions that ranged from inconvenience to trauma. Their holidays were disrupted with the type of vacation memories that no one wants ever to experience. Many are still sorting out the personal expense they may incur, while all Summer Bay Resort owners are wondering if this catastrophic event will result in additional fees being levied on a one-time basis, or perhaps an ongoing increase in annual maintenance fees.

Answers to these questions are being sorted out, one by one. While only time will tell for sure how the Summer Bay Resort event is resolved, Florida timeshare owners in general can’t help but wonder if their timeshare could be next.

Florida Timeshare Owners: Are Sinkholes a Reason to Sell Your Timeshare?

Sinkholes are essentially any area of soil that collapses and in varying degrees, they can occur anywhere. A perfect example is the sinkhole that opened earlier this summer in Arlington, Texas, near the pitcher’s mound at Ranger’s Ballpark. It was caused by a busted water pipe under the infield and had to be repaired before the Cleveland Indians and the Texas Rangers took the field that evening.

The sinkhole at Ranger’s Ballpark is caused by our own actions and is a different category from what happened two weeks ago at the Clermont, Florida timeshare. Generally, naturally occurring sinkholes are either cover-subsidence sinkholes, which typically collapse slowly over many years or are cover-collapse sinkholes such as the Summer Bay Resort sinkhole. This second type of sinkhole also takes time to build, but appears to happen suddenly because the surface damage becomes evident abruptly when the surface soil collapses into a void  that has been slowly expanding.

Because sinkholes can be induced by our own actions that involve drilling, paving, and otherwise disrupting the soil and drainage, they can, technically occur anywhere. Those that occur because of changing subsurface water levels and other natural transitions in the earth generally happen in places with a high concentration of limestone soil.

Florida, of course, sits on the top of the sinkhole vulnerable list because it literally sits on top of a shelf of limestone. But limestone can be found throughout the eastern US, with the Great Valley (of limestone) reaching from the eastern parts of New York, into Pennsylvania, through Tennessee and Alabama. Even the Ozarks in Missouri are vulnerable along with Indiana and portions of Minnesota.

Just this week, officials in Louisiana are dealing with a sinkhole that has been growing for more than a year. Covering some 25 acres in land area, the sinkhole (which has already resulted in evacuation of two towns) threatens road closure that could create a 90-minute detour for travelers, including school buses. The Assumption Parish Sinkhole is shown in this video, which captures the actual collapse of trees in a way that will probably make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.  

But before you decide to put your Florida timeshare (or Louisiana timeshare) on the resale market, you need to know that east coast limestone isn’t the only soil vulnerable to sinkholes. Gypsum, found in soil strata throughout the Midwest, salt domes found in Texas, Louisiana, and Utah, and anhydrite scattered across the country are all carbonate rocks with the potential to wash away. The US Geological Survey says perhaps as much as 40 percent of the US is undermined by rock that under the right circumstances (or wrong circumstances) can collapse.

What’s a timeshare owner to do? Weigh your risks. Consider whether the nagging worry of  a sinkhole collapse will put a damper on your vacation experience.  Consider adding a sinkhole policy to your home owners insurance; this will help cover personal property loss in the event you ever experience a sinkhole collapse.

..And by the way, we did our research. According to multiple sources, including this map published in the New York Times, Florida doesn’t even make the Top 5 of places where you are most at risk from a natural disaster.

Perhaps the only thing that could make owning a Bluegreen Vacations timeshare even better would be if it came with no timeshare maintenance fees. For 11 lucky Bluegreen timeshare owners, that is exactly the deal.

Bluegreen Corporation (Bluegreen Vacations Timeshare) has announced the winners of its Encore Sweeps Contest. Grand Prize Winners, George and Mary Whelchel, of Liberty, SC, won ten years of paid timeshare maintenance fees. Eight other first-prize winners received one year of paid maintenance fees, and two second-prize winners received a 3-night stay in Bluegreen’s The Fountains Presidential Suite in Orlando, FL.

The inspiration for the timeshare contest is Bluegreen’s Encore Program, which awards owners who refer qualified friends and family to attend a Bluegreen timeshare sales presentation. These Bluegreen Vacations timeshare owners are always rewarded with Encore Dividends™ that they use as currency for various Bluegreen vacation products, however, during the contest, they also received an entry for each referral they made.

Because of the contest, more than 6300 prospective Bluegreen Vacations timeshare buyers have attended these sales presentations during the contest period. Winner Mary Whelchel says, “We enjoy going to the resorts. We’ve been extremely satisfied owners. The maintenance fees have increased over the years, as to be expected, so this prize really helps us a lot.”