Timeshare Sales

Festiva Hospitality Group (Festiva timeshare) has recently completed the development of a comprehensive, eight-day new hire training system for its timeshare sales employees in conjunction with Levitin Group and ePercipio. Levitin Group is known as the industry’s leading timeshare sales training and consulting company while ePercipio is a top online earning and collaboration software provider.

Products of this effort included:

• a customized training manual
• content specific training videos
• daily exercises designed specifically for Festiva employees
• and a detailed, custom Trainer’s Guide to ensure training consistency

Rich Hartnett, Senior Vice President at Festiva Hospitality Group  talked about the process, saying, “The challenge we had was our ability to scale our successful operations, rolling out best practices to new sites. The Levitin Group took what we were doing good, brought it to great, and provided us the tools needed to roll out effective and consistent processes.” Describing the collaboration with Levitin Group, he explains, “Levitin Group was dedicated to preserving our business processes. Our new training program is not a canned process, but is, instead, a merged, customized plan that incorporates the best of Festiva, overlaid with the Levitin Group’s proven business concepts.”

Specialized Timeshare Sales Training

Levitin Group specializes in timeshare sales and real estate sales process design. The company offers expert methods and philosophies, supported by detailed research and in-the-trenches experience. Shari Levitin, President and CEO of The Levitin Group says, “It was an absolute pleasure working with Festiva. I have never worked with such an engaged group of people. From the Executive Leadership to the Site Directors, everyone was actively participating and contributing their talents to this project. The end result is a training program we are all very proud of!”

This week, Bluegreen Resorts issued a press release announcing that system-wide sales of vacation ownership interests (Bluegreen timeshare), have increased 21.6 percent to $96.2 million from $79.1 million in Q2 2011.

John M. Maloney Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Bluegreen, explains, “Our strong performance continued in the 2012 second quarter, with growth in our traditional VOI  (vacation ownership interests) business as well as our fee-based services business. We produced notable improvements in areas such as tours, transactions, and conversion rates, which we attribute to the quality and value of our offerings, a disciplined approach to marketing, and the commitment of our people. In addition, we continued to advance towards our goal of making our fee-based services business an increasing portion of our total business. Fee-based services represented approximately 41 percent and 35 percent of total system-wide VOI sales for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012, respectively, up from approximately 34 percent and 32 percent, respectively, in the same periods last year. Through the first half of 2012, we generated free cash flow of $89.8 million (including $27.8 million of proceeds from the sale of Bluegreen Communities) and reduced outstanding debt by approximately $95.0 million.”

Changes May Be Ahead for Bluegreen Timeshare

According to the South Florida Business Journal, Bluegreen Corporation is currently working toward a merger. In June of this year, Bluegreen shareholders approved a Bluegreen merger with Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based BFC Financial Corp., which already owns 54 percent of Bluegreen Corporation and Bluegreen timeshare. Each Bluegreen shareholder reportedly would receive eight shares of BFC Financial. Before merger, BFC Financial must secure a listing on a major stock exchange, which would require a reverse split to raise its share price. At this time, this has not occurred.

Currently there is a Bluegreen shareholder class action lawsuit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court  seeking to block the merger, but the plaintiffs involved  have been unsuccessful in securing an injunction to prevent the merger.

You will find a detailed look at  Second Quarter 2012 Financials for Bluegreen timeshare at this link to BusinessWire:

Bluegreen Corporation Reports 2012 Second Quarter Financial Results

And for more insights on why Bluegreen owners love Bluegreen timeshare, enjoy this video of one of the many popular Bluegreen Resorts:

How do you measure an industry’s success? For vacation ownership, industry leaders are looking at other factors beyond the dollars and cents of timeshare sales each year. A redefined product, options to buy timeshare in smaller increments (timeshare points), and increasing numbers of timeshare sales are all factors that play a part in the overall picture. As American Resort Development Association (ARDA) President and CEO Howard Nusbaum told Sara Clarke of the Orlando Sentinel, “In the old days, velocity was the rule of thumb … and today the matrix is margin.”

Last year, US timeshare sales totaled $6.5 billion, which is an increase of 2.4 percent from timeshare sales in 2010, a year that had only a slight increase over sales from the previous year. And while timeshare sales have yet to return to their 2007 peak of $10 billion, many in the industry are focusing on packaging, marketing, and selling timeshares in new and profitable ways.

Timeshare Sales Since the Economic Downturn Began [Read more…]

For years, timeshare owners have had few options to refinance timeshare on which they are currently making payments. Life happens. And when it does, the financing provided at the time the owner purchased the timeshare sometimes stops being a good fit for the family’s budget.

Timeshare owners can find themselves in a situation where their monthly timeshare mortgage payment is hard to make, whether it is because of divorce, salary reduction, the expense of a growing family or any of dozens of other reasons. Worst of all, when your timeshare loan payment is hard to make, the joy of taking the vacations you and your family need and deserve can be overshadowed. Your timeshare can start to feel like a burden.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are options.

SellMyTimeshareNOW.com and VacationOwnership.com offer timeshare financing and timeshare refinancing options available at competitive rates.

Now You Have Options to Refinance Timeshare

Through an easy online process, you can apply today to refinance your timeshare. Many people compare the application process to applying online for a credit card—it’s that simple.

If you are approved, your loan payment comes directly to you. You can then use it to pay off your current high-interest timeshare loan.  You will be starting fresh with a new loan, with terms that are a better fit for where you are in life right now. And your new loan will be a fixed rate loan, so you’ll have peace of mind knowing your rate is locked in for the life of the loan.

You’ll be the owner of your own timeshare, not the bank or some other lender. You’ll be able to finally start enjoying timeshare vacations the way you envisioned you would when you first bought your timeshare.

Whether you own a timeshare unit, interval, or timeshare points, a timeshare refinance loan may be just what your household budget needs. There’s no upfront fee to apply to refinance timeshare and no obligation on your part. Imagine owning your timeshare on terms you can actually afford.

But you’ll never know until you apply. Contact us today or call (855) 597-3960 to learn more about your financing options.