Vacation Club

Did you know that at least one company offers vacation insurance specifically designed for timeshare owners?

VacationGuard ®, is an insurance product provided through the Nationwide® company. According to their marketing materials, VacationGuard ® is, “the first plan designed to cover the real needs of the timeshare owner. It’s based on the amount of time you own or will vacation and covers maintenance dues, unit damage, and exchange fees all in one easy plan.”

The policy provides annual coverage to timeshare owners and vacation club members, not protection on a “per trip basis”. It does not distinguish whether you vacation a day at a time, or week by week. In addition to travel interruption and delay, like other more traditional types of travel insurance cover, this special timeshare owner’s policy covers property damage to your timeshare unit and annual expenses that can include maintenance dues and fees, in the event you cannot use your timeshare because of a reason or reasons covered by your policy.

There are also some other valuable benefits including towing and car breakdown coverage, loss of job coverage and exchange coverage. There’s even a “snow guarantee” for skiers and coverage of your greens fees if your round of golf gets rained out.

If you are interested in purchasing vacation insurance designed for timeshare owners, be sure you also check into what may also be available through your exchange company as well as looking into other types of traditional travel insurance.

You often find me blogging about golf, the PGA Tour, and timeshare resorts with great golf courses. Timeshares and golf go together in part, because on-property or nearby to so many timeshare resorts are fabulous golf courses. Often this means that timeshare owners can enjoy reduced rates on tee times and even play the course at times when there are no tee times available for non-owners. Overall, the demographic of timeshare owners includes a large number of people who enjoy golf recreationally or as a spectator sport. And in a recent study by ARDA, over 22 percent of the timeshare owners surveyed ranked “golf” as the most attractive characteristic of a resort area.

Recently I learned that the relationship between golf and timeshare vacation resorts goes beyond the consumer level. Textron Inc., is a multi-industry company whose brands include Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft, Kautex, Lycoming, Greenlee, and E-Z-GO golf cart and turf maintenance vehicles. What I did not realize was that over the years, Textron Financial has expanded their financing of golf courses to include financing hotels and timeshare resorts.

Textron Financial offers hotel and timeshare resort financing for acquisition and development loans, construction loans, inventory loans, and notes receivable financing, in amounts that range from $5 million to $80 million. Their investment portfolio includes hotel properties and timeshare resorts in the US, Canada, the Caribbean, and Mexico.

Textron Financial sees timeshare resort financing as a logical choice for their company because their strong presence in the golf industry positions them to recognize the long-term value of golf course investment strategies for a resort. When major companies don’t hesitate to put big money into underwriting timeshare resorts, the rest of us ought to also feel pretty comfortable about the wisdom of buying one or more timeshare intervals to enjoy with our families.

The Hilton Grand Vacations Club on International Drive in Orlando ranks as lucky number 21 on the Sell My Timeshare Now Hot Properties List.

Today I am putting the spotlight on another wonderful timeshare resort that appeared high on the Sell My Timeshare Now Hot Properties List. If you missed the information about the list, you may want to check our Timeshare Owners blog entry, posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2007. The Sell My Timeshare NOW Hot Property list gives you the top ranking resorts, based on the offers submitted to the timeshare property owners. This report covers more than 1,300 timeshare resort properties that were advertised as timeshare resales on www.sellmytimesharenow.com during the first quarter of 2007.

In the spotlight today is the timeshare vacation resort that ranked number 21 on the list: the Hilton Grand Vacations Club on International Drive in Orlando. In vacation town Orlando, Florida, International Drive is the hub of tourist activity and entertainment. When you select a timeshare resale on or near International Drive, you can walk to more restaurants, shops, and fun time attractions than you could possibly cover, even in a lifetime of great vacations.

The Hilton Grand Vacations Club on International Drive is designed with a Tuscan theme. Archways and fountains at this lakeside resort are part of the beautiful landscaping in an atmosphere that is wonderfully tranquil, while at the same time, conveniently close to the resort attractions of Walt Disney World ®, SeaWorld ® Orlando, Universal Studios ® and all the places you and your family want to visit during your Orlando timeshare vacation.

You can choose a studio, 1, 2, or 3 bedroom villa, all with either a screened porch or a screened balcony. Every suite (except studios) has a large whirlpool jet tub in the master bath, which could be just what you need after a busy day at the theme parks. Also found in all suites except the studios are washers, dryers and fully equipped kitchens. And when you want the simplicity (and cost-savings) of dining in, there is even a large supermarket located just across the street. When you own or rent a Hilton Grand Vacations Club timeshare, you have all of the Orlando theme parks, golf courses, and entrainment to chose from. On the other hand, with two large swimming pools and an interactive children’s pool, an on-property fitness center, video arcade, and regularly scheduled recreation activities, you may find it hard to think of a reason to ever leave the resort.

Orlando, Florida is the number one family vacation destination on the planet. If you find that conventions and tradeshows take you back to Orlando year after year, a timeshare resale on International Drive is a great way to turn a business outing into a wonderful and relaxing time for the whole family. Many companies also discover that owning a timeshare resale along International Drive provides luxurious travel accommodations plus long-term savings.

The Ultimate Cyclist Vacation Club is a good idea that might be an excellent match with timesharing.

I ran across the idea of the Ultimate Cyclist Vacation Club on an interesting blog: www.fatcyclist.com. The writer (who seems to go only by the name, Fatty) has an idea that I think sounds great.

An avid biker, Fatty suggests what he calls, “The Ultimate Five-Day Trip,” which he would host in his home area of Utah. His plan calls for inviting other cyclists (he suggests a group of seven) to join him on a five-day ride, where he would choose the trails, the places to eat, and generally coordinate all the details of the trip. He compares his role as host to that of Mr. Roarke, from the old television show, Fantasy Island. And then suggests that other bikers would follow up by hosting trips in their favorite biking territory.

Fatty describes the highlights of his proposed Utah bike trip like this: the ride would take in the epic views of Tibble Fork, the natural waterslide at Hog’s Hollow, an 80-mile section with 9000 feet of climbing called the Gauntlet, and then drop down into southern Utah to Gooseberry and Little Creek Mesa.

For housing, Fatty suggests accommodations at the local Marriott, but I have another suggestion: timeshares!

Think about how comfortably seven people could stay in a 3-bedroom timeshare or a couple of 2-bedroom timeshare units? The average 2-bedroom timeshare unit is usually designed to sleep between six and eight people, while 3 and 4-bedroom units may sleep up to ten. There are some spectacular Utah timeshares, and even more spectacular deals on Utah timeshare resales and by-owner timeshare rentals. And when you split the cost 7 ways, these great deals get even better.

The more I thought about the options, the more exciting I thought it was. A group of cyclists could purchase a timeshare resale jointly, then use their exchange privileges to help them plan annual bike trips to all parts of the country. Or they could just take advantage of a timeshare rental, and with no other commitments, pick a different place to go every year.

And for less adventurous bikers, many timeshare resorts have excellent bike trails in place, perfect for both adults and children to enjoy, often without leaving the security of the resort property. Bike trekking and timeshare resorts are a new combination, I’d never considered, but when you think about it, the opportunities are endless.

Here’s a link to a great page of Utah mountain biking video. Please remember that these videos are the copyrighted material of UtahMountainBiking.com.

biking video download link

Here is also a great You-Tube Video of biking Gooseberry Mesa.