Westgate Timeshare

It’s back to the HOT 100 timeshare list today for The Timeshare Authority blog, as we look at timeshare resort number 63 on this year’s list: The Westgate Park City Resort and Spa timeshare.

This Westgate Vacation Villas timeshare resort, set in the scenic Wasatch Mountains, offers a true ski-in/ski-out experience with more than 140 ski runs that rank from the beginner level to the professional. Ranked Five Stars, the Westgate Park City Resort and Spa timeshare includes approximately 185 timeshare villas, from studio units to 4-bedroom timeshare suites. Most are equipped with a full kitchen, laundry, balcony with hot tub, fireplace in the living area, whirlpool tub in the master bedroom, and TV, DVD and entertainment center. Some of the timeshare villas offer steam showers. For true indulgence, try the famous Papillion the Spa located at this resort.

Amenities at the timeshare resort include a heated indoor/outdoor pool, tennis, gol, and basketball, as well as dining at the Westgate Grill, a full service restaurant that receives glowing reviews from patrons. Onsite is a wine shop, which can be a convenience, since state of Utah liquor laws regarding when and where alcohol can be sold sometimes catch travelers and vacationers off guard.

Planning Your Utah Timeshare Ski Vacation

… here’s some interesting information, as you plan your Utah timeshare ski resort vacation …

According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac , a weather resource since 1792, this year will bring average to above average snowfall in the ski country of the northwestern United States. On The Old Farmer’s Almanac map, geographic region number 13 is called “Intermountain,” and includes all or portions of Arizona, California, Colorado (including Colorado Springs and Denver, Idaho, Montana , Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. In this region, the winter is predicted to be much colder than normal, with snowfall, above normal in the north. The periods of the most snow are predicted to be mid-November, early and mid-December, mid- and late January, and late February.

Region 12, “The High Plains,” includes all or parts of Colorado (starting at Denver and heading east), Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. In the northern portions of The High Plains, temperatures are predicted to be slightly above normal, but an average of two degrees below normal in the south. The Old Farmer’s Almanac states, “Precipitation will be near or slightly below normal, with below-normal snowfall. The snowiest periods will be in early December, mid-January, most of February, and early and mid-March.”

Based in Dublin, NH (just 80 miles from the Sell My Timeshare NOW offices in Dover, NH) The Old Farmer’s Almanac is North America’s oldest continuously published periodical. While no one can predict the weather with total accuracy, The Old Farmer’s Almanac claims that its weather predictions are on-target 80 percent of the time, which is amazing when one considers they are prepared as much as 18 months in advance.

Although it may still be warm outside, it’s not too early to track down your mittens and go wax your skis. And it is exactly the right time to start shopping Sell My Timeshare NOW’s huge inventory of timeshare resales and timeshare rentals at some of the most in-demand ski destinations in North America and around the world.

Not in the mood yet for a ski trip? Watch the snow silently falling in this short video, shot from the balcony of a Westgate Park City Resort and Spa timeshare.

We’ve been updating you all year on what Marriott International and Marriot Vacation Club timeshare is doing to protect and preserve the environment. In February, The Timeshare Authority brought you an update on Marriott Vacation Club employees in Orlando, FL who made the switch from plastic eating utensils and Styrofoam serve ware in their cafeterias. They even switched to SpudWare ™, which are eating utensils that are made from potato starch and that completely biodegrade in 100 days after disposal.

Marriott has also taken steps to make their greens environmentally greener on golf courses at Marriott Hotels and Marriott timeshares, by using more eco-friendly methods of golf course maintenance, including reducing their use of chemicals on the greens and fairways.

Last week in Salt Lake City, Utah, Marriott Vacation Club International expanded their efforts to go green by conducting the Green Fair, involving more than 18 businesses and non-profit organizations. The idea behind the Green Fair is to educate and inform employees and associations about actions they can personally take to recycle and reduce energy consumption.

Over 900 Marriott Vacation Club International associates received reusable eco-friendly mugs and shopping bags. They were also given the opportunity to calculate their individual carbon footprint. Ron Essig, vice president of global owner products and services for Marriott Vacation Club International said, “This is just one step toward Marriott International’s efforts to preserve the environment, acting both locally here in Salt Lake City and across the Marriott Vacation Club International division. With more than 900 associates at the Salt Lake City Marriott Customer Service Center, if we all do our part, we can definitely make a difference-both at the office and at home.”

Marriott vacation club estimates that the immediate result of their effort to go green will be a reduction of nearly 100,000 pieces of plastic ware that would have wound up in landfills.

Sell My Timeshare NOW and Marriott Timeshare

Sell My Timeshare NOW works to reduce, reuse, and recycle in our own work environment. We are proud that our website, www.sellmytimesharenow.com not only advertises and markets right-priced timeshare resales and timeshare rentals, but that our inventory includes Marriott timeshare, a company that is proving their commitment to the environment through their actions.

With timeshare resales from Disney Vacation Club, Westgate timeshare, Hyatt Vacation Club timeshare, and Hilton timeshare, to name only a few, Sell My Timeshare NOW offers you the opportunities of vacation ownership with timeshare companies that are environmentally responsible, at prices that are realistic and affordable in today’s economy.

Related posts on The Timeshare Authority:

• Marriott Hotel and Timeshare CEO Speaks Out for Energy Cost Cuts
• A Timeshare Sales Company Taking an Important Environmental Stand

So far, the timeshare industry has weathered the economic problems in the US without significant impact. Most of the leading timeshare resort developers are still publishing solid quarterly reports, and in many cases, timeshare sales are propping up declining hotel revenues.

But when people stop gambling, we have to feel concern for all sectors of the economy. Typically, gambling weathers almost any economic crisis. For the first two months of 2008, gambling revenues in Vegas were down by 4 percent from last year.

Ups and Downs in Las Vegas Timeshare and Hotel Construction

Hotels Magazine tells us, “…Las Vegas has a huge inventory of new casinos and hotels due for completion in the next few years, and a long slump could send the city reeling.”

The bright side:

• Caesars Palace is planning a billion dollar makeover, with a 23-story tower and three new swimming pools.
• MGM Mirage’s $8 billion CityCenter project is still moving forward, encompassing 76 acres on the Vegas strip.
• Westgate Resorts timeshare‘s fifty story timeshare resort, the Planet Hollywood Towers, is moving forward to become the only timeshare resort directly connected to a major hotel and casino on the strip.

The bad news:

• Foreclosure has started on a $760 million construction loan for the Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino.
• Plans to build the Crown Las Vegas, a bullet-shaped hotel and casino resort that was supposed to become the tallest building in the city, have been scrapped due to lack of financing.
• For January and February, hotel occupancy was down by 1.5 percent, despite the fact that daily room rates were nearly 4 percent lower than for the same period in 2007.

Serving Your Timeshare Needs

Who can even guess any longer, how the US economy will sort itself out? For people who are in the business of buying real estate, selling oil, or repossessing automobiles, then these are good times. And for the rest of us, who need gasoline to get to work, groceries for our families, and mortgages we can afford, well, things are feeling a little scary.

Wherever you are in this economic rollercoaster, Sell My Timeshare NOW is an affordable, safe, and reliable way to deal with your timeshare needs, whether that is buying timeshare, selling timeshare, or renting timeshare.

With changes in ownership, will Las Vegas’ historic cornerstone, Harrah’s Entertainment, hold its course or will it give in to new trends in hotel and resort development?

The recent trend in Las Vegas has been toward luxurious, uber-elegant hotels and resorts. The Wynn Resort and the Bellagio Las Vegas, along with other properties like the Planet Hollywood Towers currently under construction by Westgate Timeshare, give evidence to the fact that developers believe visitors are willing to pay more for a high-end vacation experience. With boutique properties gaining ground all the time as the latest trend in hotel accommodations, much of the industry seems to be betting their money on the idea that “more is more” when it comes to distinction, elegance, and a unique hotel or timeshare resort property.

Which leaves the legendary Harrah’s — the world’s largest gaming company — trying to decide whether to follow the pack or continue doing what it has done so well over the years. Harrah’s carved out its place in the resort and gaming market by catering to the needs of a middle income client who came to Vegas (or other destinations like Reno, Atlantic City, and Biloxi) to gamble, not to shop and not to spend time in his or her hotel room.

Harrah’s hotels along the Las Vegas strip include Harrah’s, the Rio, the Imperial Palace and the Flamingo. All are very nice but none are true ultra luxury properties. Instead, they afford Las Vegas visitors a pleasant place to sleep and shower before returning to the buffet lines, the shows, and most importantly, the gaming tables, which for many visitors are the sole reason they came to Las Vegas. None of the Harrah’s properties are timeshare resorts, nor are any of them particularly geared to the family vacation.

But Harrah’s is now facing new ownership. The private equity firms of Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group are about to become equity partners in Harrah’s Entertainment. And while word on the street is that the investors will leave current management in place and let them continue to call the shots, who really knows what will happen in the months and years to come?

Harrah’s board of directors initially approved a buyout offer by the two investment companies in April 2007, and late last month Nevada regulators gave their approval. Some sources have claimed that the purchase of Harrah’s Entertainment is one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history. Apollo and Texas Pacific currently manage the investment monies, (around $70 billion) of endowments, charities, and pension funds.

The history of Harrah’s Entertainment goes back to an inauspicious origin as a bingo parlor in Reno in 1937. Currently Harrah’s has some $4 billion slated for new projects, but not all of it will go to the company’s Las Vegas properties. Many brands in many locations are part of Harrah’s Entertainment including some of the Bally Casinos, Caesars, Grand Casinos, Horseshoe, Paris Las Vegas, Showboat, and the World Series of Poker.

It will be interesting to observe the changes made by Harrah’s in the days and weeks to come. With the soft economy overall, will people who travel to Las Vegas be looking for better deals in hotel and timeshare accommodations? Or will the middle-income buyer curtail his trips to Vegas, leaving the demand primarily among the high rollers who are willing to pay the higher prices for plush accommodations? And how will all of this affect timeshares resorts in destinations with Harrah’s owned and managed properties – which are not limited to Las Vegas, Reno, and Atlantic City? Harrah’s Entertainment has resorts and or casinos in: Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Iowa, Arizona, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Ontario, and Pennsylvania.

In the end, only time will tell. But current Las Vegas timeshare owners, looking to sell Las Vegas timeshare or use it as a timeshare rental, have plenty of reasons to remain optimistic about the Las Vegas timeshare resales market. Likewise, those of you who are ready to buy timeshare in Las Vegas should expect to find excellent deals on timeshare resales in the inventory of Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Here’s an amazing Royal Flush at World Series of Poker 2007, courtesy of YouTube: