Vacation Club

The 2008 ARDA Convention & Exposition will be held next month, April 6-10, at the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. This is the top event in the resort and timeshare industry and it will draw some 5000 attendees from more than 40 countries worldwide.

Speakers at the ARDA Convention

Each year the ARDA Convention & Exposition offers resort and timeshare professionals the most up-to-date information on services and new directions within the industry. For the 2008 convention, Rick Barrera will be the keynote speaker. Barrera is a nationally recognized speaker, marketing consultant and acclaimed author. He is probably best known for his unique approach to brand building and holistic customer service. Barrera’s strategies can be seen in use today by such business giants as Google, Hummer, and Tivo.

In tomorrow’s Timeshare Owners Blog, I will be sharing information about a few of the ARDA Convention’s other speakers and panelists, including the panel on which I will be presenting. Here is also a link to Sell My Timeshare NOW‘s most recent press release about the ARDA Convention.

Entertainment at the ARDA Convention

As if just being in Las Vegas isn’t entertaining enough, the ARDA Convention includes a performance by Terry Fator. If you are not familiar with this multi-talented entertainer, then the idea of watching a ventriloquist may not seem too exciting.

Think again. Terry Fator, winner of last year’s American’s Got Talent competition on NBC, is one of the single most entertaining, genuinely talented performers today.

I have attached a YouTube video of Fator during his first televised appearance on the, America’s Got Talent competition. Once you watch this first video, you may want to go back and view the many others available on Fator’s website or on YouTube – he is guaranteed to brighten your day.

Last week I wrote a post called, Timesharing as a Concept Will Increase Timesharing as a Practice. And then, as if on cue, I ran across this bit of timely information reinforcing the idea that both timeshare ownership and fractional ownership will grow, simply because we, as a culture, are increasingly integrating the idea of shared ownership into our lifestyles and mindsets.

Last summer, a London-based company, called Fractional Life, held their first Fractional Ownership Expo. The alfresco-style exhibition was hosted in the city-center of London to introduce people to the diverse opportunities in fractional or timeshare ownership. The event was such a success that the company currently is hard at work preparing for Fraction Ownership Expo, 2008, to be held next month, again in downtown London.

Fractional Ownership Expo 2008

Fractional Life describes the expo by saying, “…the event caters for the growing number of people who want to enjoy a lifestyle of luxury items and experiences – without the ties, responsibilities and capital outlay of a complete purchase.” …hummm, sounds like timeshare to me.

Fractional Ownership Expo’s flagship sponsors are the Oceanico Group, a leader in luxury four and five-star residential and holiday homes offering high quality golf or beach amenities and, IFA Hotels & Resorts, an internationally recognized leader in the development of premier mixed-use hotel and tourism resort projects and luxury leisure services. Although the heart and soul of the fractional ownership event centers on shared vacation ownership property – timeshare real estate – exhibitors will include companies dealing in fractional ownership of classic and luxury cars, boats, yachts, aircraft and jets, wines, sporting passes and even handbags.

All of which proves once again, that the concept of timesharing really makes a lot of sense, even if I don’t personally understand exactly how you timeshare a bottle of wine.

As 2007 was winding down, ad agency JWT put together a list of seven trends they believed would drive consumer thinking and behavior in the year 2008. In a summary of their report, published by Hotels‘ magazine, Ann Mack, director of trendspotting at JWT was quoted as saying, “We believe it’s essential to plot societal shifts in order to develop big brand ideas. Trendspotting allows us to figure out how the mood of the moment is affecting people’s lives.”

What interested me was the fact that among the seven key trends identified, one of them is timesharing. While JWT refers to it as, “Cooperative Consumption,” you and I recognize a description of timeshare ownership when we hear it.

Predicted Growth of Fractional Ownership as a Concept

According to the report, “Fractional ownership is moving beyond the shared planes of the jet-setting elite. The masses are already sharing everything from art to cars to designer handbags, and as technology for pooling demand and resources becomes increasingly sophisticated, this model will be applied to an even wider range of categories.”

Yep…that’s a lot of words, for describing timesharing, but timeshare ownership of luxury items is exactly the point being made by JWT, one of the most famous brand-building advertising agencies in the world today.

What Acceptance of Fractional Ownership Means

The Hotels’ article analyzes the report, saying, “Fractional ownership is nothing new in real estate and hospitality, but the building trend of consumers sharing is worth noting and considering – perhaps a mixed-use development makes good sense, and whole ownership is not the only residential component available.”

I don’t think it is a stretch to say that mixed-use development is already the path being taken by many hoteliers who have an established presence in the timeshare industry. Additionally, one would think that as people who have never dreamed of buying timeshare real estate become comfortable with the idea of owning everything from cars to dogs to jewelry on a timeshare basis, they would become equally as receptive to the idea of shared vacation property ownership.

Timeshare real estate ownership has always been a great idea and the millions of satisfied timeshare owners prove this. But the popularity of buying timeshares and timeshare resales is presently only a pale hint of what it has the potential to become; and according to JWT’s predictions about the movers and shakers, it is well on its way.

Learn more about the opportunities available in timeshare resales and timeshare rentals at Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Easter is only slightly less than a week away, yet much of the US is still shoveling snow in their driveway and scraping ice from car windshields. With that in mind, it’s not hard to be enticed by the idea of packing your sunscreen and flip-flops and becoming a vacation property owner in the Maldives, the beautiful islands known as the pearls of the Indian Ocean.

Forty-four of the 200 inhabited islands in the chain of “pearls” are developed exclusively as resorts. Now the United Arab Emirates-based developer, Emerald Vacation Group, is about to add one more – this one, a timeshare resort. The new Turtle Cove Resort will be the first vacation ownership property in the Maldives.

On the private island of Mahadhdhoo, in an idyllic setting on the northern Huvadhu Atoll, the exclusive Turtle Cove Resort and Spa will offer unique timeshare vacation properties. Completion of the resort is scheduled for 2009, and when finished, the timeshare resort will offer 77 one-bedroom villas, with future plans for ten two-bedroom timeshare units. Thirty of the timeshare villas will be located on the water at the lagoon and each one will have a private swimming pool and personal concierge service.

The resort will include fine dining restaurants, a spa, shopping promenade, and a water sports center. According to Emerald Vacation Group’s general manager, Chris Jackson, “The launch of Turtle Cove Resort and Spa marks Emerald Vacation Group’s first foray into the international property arena. We have therefore chosen a unique and exclusive island in a highly sought after part of the world as our entry into an industry that looks set to soar in the coming years. As the first vacation ownership property in the Maldives, we anticipate that Turtle Cove will attract a great deal of interest.”

Opportunities in Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals

Here’s a YouTube video that will help you get a better picture of just how beautiful life is in the Maldives. And once you watch this video, you will be so ready to head to your own island paradise vacation, you will need this list of timeshare resales in areas near the Maldives, that are ready, waiting, and are currently available at excellent resale pricing from Sell My Timeshare NOW.

• Malaysia Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals
• Indonesia Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals
• United Arab Emirates Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals