Vacation Club

The beautiful Whistler Vacation Club timeshares, located in British Columbia, Canada, have upgraded its systems with SPI Software.

Marlene Scott, Whistler Vacation Club’s Executive Director/General Manager, says, “SPI is our daily ‘go-to’ for all member information, reservations, reservation history, financial transactions, inventory management, inventory ceding, industry partner inventory allocation and all in real time. Reservation confirmation letters are generated from SPI, pre-arrival letters and check-in information are ready at the front desk at check-in time.

Clearly Whistler Vacation Club timeshare owners and guests benefit from the resort’s use of the efficient, responsive software systems, which is bound to make vacationing at either the Whistler Vacation Club Twin Peaks Resort or its Lake Placid Resort easier to book and enjoy than ever. But the benefits of using SPI’s proprietary Owner Connect application, go beyond the user experience that timeshare owners perceive firsthand. As Marlene Scott explains, “On the management side, we rely on SPI’s system to generate Revenue Reports to set our annual budgets and to handle the billing of annual maintenance dues for each member to be emailed (we’re a paperless club). SPI allows us to generate Quarterly Occupancy Reports, which are a valuable tool in determining our occupancy rate and measuring our rental performance. Our accounting department utilizes the Transaction Reports to ensure our member financial information is accurate. SPI allows ‘real time’ access to owner information and an online presence allowing owners to conduct business when it suits them, not just when our office doors are open.”

Marlene adds, “By moving in this direction, we will have improved our efficiency from a five-step, manual process to our members facilitating the entire transaction themselves. Our team can now focus on ways to improve the member’s experience, resulting in higher retention and lower bad debt. The net result equals happy members/owners!”

In addition to the easy, seamless online interface that makes happy owners at Whistler Vacation Club, (Twin Peaks and Lake Placid)  each of the two year-round resorts offer spacious two-bedroom, two-bathroom (approx. 1000 sq. ft.) condos with fully-equipped kitchens, full-sized washer/dryers, secure heated underground parking, complimentary HD cable and Wi-Fi Internet.

Since 2004, Travel To Go has been actively participating in ARDA. This year, you will find Travel To Go at the ARDA World timeshare and vacation ownership conference as an exhibitor.

At the ARDA World 2013 conference, Travel To Go will be launching its newly redesigned Membership Kit. Having invested many hours into research and planning, the new Travel To Go Membership Kit better conveys the value of its product and reinforces the consumer’s purchase decision. Additionally, the kit is easy to customize for distributors,can be produced in a timely manner and can be offered at a competitive price.

Ready to learn more about Travel To Go’s new Membership Kit? You’ll find more insights in the ARDA Convention Preview issue of Developments due out later this month and Travel To Go representatives will also be available to answer questions at booth #1023 during the ARDA World 2013 timeshare and vacation ownership conference.

Travel To Go: Timeshare, Vacation Ownership, and the Travel Club Industry

Travel To Go is committed to working through ARDA to help raise the level of the travel club industry to the professional standards set by ARDA and contributes to the vacation industry’s future expansion.

Last October, Travel To Go’s Executive Vice President, Tommy Middaugh, introduced panel discussions sponsored by Travel To Go at the ARDA West Regional meeting held in San Diego. Jeanette Bunn, President, participates on ARDA’s Travel Club Task Force. Both Jeanette and Tommy have successfully completed the Supplier Certification Seminar to become ARDA Supplier Certified, while Travel To Go Marketing Manager, Renée Wagner, has successfully completed the AIF Qualification Test with honors. 

With 23 years in the vacation and travel industry, Travel To Go serves it customer base of more than 50,000 members with pride in its 5-Star service standards and the achievement of its mission to “Making Dreams Come True.”

Other recent Travel To Go news from The Timeshare Authority blog:

• Travel To Go Nominated for 4 Perspective Magazine Timeshare Awards
• Travel Club Update: Destination Request Services has Contracted with TrackResults Software
• Travel To Go And TrackResults Providing Enhanced Business Intelligence

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) of Singapore has announced it will be tightening safeguards and eliminating loopholes regarding timeshare deals and the current Singapore timeshare law. The goal is to provide better protections for consumers in timeshare deals, especially timeshare offered as part of holiday club memberships.

With over 350 complaints related to Singapore timeshare deals in each of 2010 and 2011, the issue remains the number one topic of consumer complaints accord to the Consumers Association of Singapore. The proposed changes to the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) (Cancellation of Contracts) Regulations include:

• Holiday clubs will be bound, under the new law, to the same five-day cooling off period as timeshare contracts must currently met.
• During the cooling off period, no money for a timeshare deal or holiday club transaction will be permitted to change hands.
• The terms and application of the “regulated contract” will be redefined. The new definition will be expanded to include “long-term holiday product contracts,” which is intended to close the current loophole that has enabled some Singapore timeshare companies to modify their business model and dodge the requisites of existing laws.

Officials believe that the changes in the timeshare laws will not only reduce the risk of consumers losing their money but will reduce the inconvenience of recovering money that was paid should a consumer have a change of heart during the rescission period.

Singapore Timeshare Deals: the Source of the Problem

In attempting to circumvent current Singapore timeshare laws, some timeshare companies have moved from selling conventional timeshare as a right to use timeshare accommodation to selling holiday club memberships. The holiday club memberships require members to advance pay for the right to receive future discounts on accommodations, airfare, and other vacation services. Because holiday clubs fall outside of current Singapore timeshare law, they have been able to avoid the cooling off or rescission period.

The Executive Director of Consumers Association of Singapore, Seah Seng Choon explains, “When they  (consumers) want to get out of the contract during the cooling-off period, they have great difficulty getting their money back and there’s always a delay in recovering the payment made. During the course of the time, some of these timeshare (companies) may just disappear or close and consumers may not be able to get their money back.”

The proposed terms of the new Singapore timeshare law will be open for public comment through March 1, 2013.

The Timeshare Authority blog has brought you updates on the changes in Singapore timeshare law since 2006 as government officials have worked to resolve matters of timeshare scam and fraud.

• Update on Singapore Timeshare Problems: 3 Red Flags
• Singapore Timeshare Will Benefit from Tougher Laws
• Singapore Timeshare Alert

You may not know the name Club Melia, but you have been dreaming about their resorts for years. The luxurious vacation properties of Club Melia, with their idyllic settings, offer the kind of getaway vacations of which dreams are made. And why wouldn’t they? Although Club Melia is relatively new to vacation clubs and the concepts of vacation ownership, they are a part of  one of the most respected global brands in the hotel industry, Meliá Hotels International.

Club Melia, as a vacation membership club, begin in Orlando, Florida in 2004, starting out with three properties. Within only two years time, Club Melia had added more resorts, for a total of 15 international member resort locations along with numerous popular international destinations available to Club Melia members for internal timeshare exchange.

You’ll find the dreamy resorts of Club Melia in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic); Mexico (Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Vallarta); the Panama Canal in Panama, and in the Canary Islands of Spain. And Club Melia membership is designed for the way you like to vacation, affording you the flexibility to bank  or borrow vacation days from one year to the next, vacation in intervals shorter than your ownership week, and even exchange your membership points for discounts on airfare, car rental, and other travel benefits.

So wherever you are this January weekend, why don’t you warm up your vacation dreams with this video, and then peruse the resale and rental values you can enjoy in a Club Melia vacation?

Club Meliá is part of  Meliá Hotels International, a 55-year-old international hospitality company with over 350 hotels around the world.