Timeshare Trends Blog

WorldMark by Wyndham has opened its first resort property in Santa Fe, a 32-unit boutique-style resort that offers a quiet retreat right in the center of the city.

Formerly known as the Casa Pueblo Inn, the property has been completely renovated and transformed into a modern vacation ownership property while retaining the charm of the original structure. The WorldMark Santa Fe is the third New Mexico resort joining the WorldMark Taos and the WorldMark Red River also in Taos.

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The Ocean Lakes Family Campground in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina has just been named the favorite campground in the nation’s first consumer service satisfaction survey of privately owned campgrounds and RV parks.

Ocean Lakes is located on 310 oceanfront acres in Myrtle Beach, with more than 80% of their guests being repeat visitors. Nearly 13,000 camping and RV enthusiasts participated in the 2008 online survey, which evaluated guest experiences at independent campgrounds and RV resorts affiliated with the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds

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Breckenridge Grand Vacations is on a record sales pace despite the slumping economy and tightening credit in the timeshare industry. Their Grand Lodge on Peak 7 is selling beyond budget projections, and even though they had budgeted $37 million in sales for its new property, it is expected to top $50 million by the end of 2009.

Breckenridge Grand Vacations currently owns and manages the sold out Grand Timber Lodge, and it is now completing The Grand Lodge on Peak 7, located at the base of Breckenridge Ski Area. It will consist of two five-story buildings with 114 units, a restaurant, a large lobby with a piano, and underground heated garage, pools, hot tubs, and more. The Grand Timber Lodge sold out last July with recorded sales of $300 million.

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The property is located in the gated community of Tierra Del Sol. SRG, the developer of this property is a leading developer, marketer and seller of luxury fractional ownership real estate, private residence clubs, condo-hotels, timeshares, and whole ownership resort real estate products in The Americas.

Star Resort Group provides sales and marketing, development and management expertise to developers throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America and now, the Caribbean.

Other Star Resort Group projects currently in sales are Cape Codder Residence Club in Hyannis, Massachusetts and Vallarta Gardens in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

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Disney Vacation Club has restructured its timeshare points system to get more people to book weekend trips. As part of the alterations, the amount of points needed for weekday stays have been increased and the number required for weekend stays has been reduced.

Previously, the amount of Disney timeshare points needed for a weekend stay were approximately twice as much as a weekday trip.

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Many employees of Westgate Resorts are bringing a wage and hour lawsuit against the Orlando based company. According to a recent article in the Orlando Sentinel, the suit says employees were illegally deprived of overtime compensation.

The suit could potentially cover thousands of employees, according to the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs. Employees worked for more than 40 hours a week without proper overtime compensation, the lawsuit says. A lawyer for Westgate is evaluating the lawsuit and said it is premature to comment

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Florida locations are the favorites among the top 10 Spring Break Destinations according to Travelocity.com.

The number one destination is Orlando, followed by South Florida (West Palm Beach-Fort Lauderdale), number three is Las Vegas, number four is Fort Myers, number five is Denver, number six is Phoenix, number seven is Tampa-St. Petersburg, number eight is Cancun, number nine is Los Angeles, and rounding out the top ten is Puerto Rico.

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Disney plans to open three new timeshare properties in Orlando and one in Anaheim later this year despite a tightening credit market and slower growth of their Disney Vacation Club timeshare program.

The Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort will open on August 4. The roughly 300-unit tower will be linked to the Contemporary Hotel by a fifth floor pedestrian bridge. It will be the first timeshare resort ever sold by Disney that will be within walking distance of the Magic Kingdom.

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The timeshare arm of the Walt Disney Company, is experiencing huge losses now that it has lost its access to a long standing line of credit it had been tapping to raise cash by selling bundles of its timeshare mortgages it issues to individual buyers.

Disney sold $17 million in Disney Vacation Club memberships in its last quarter compared to $41 million one year ago. With Disney being forced to carry the timeshare mortgages as opposed to cashing them out will end up slowing Disney Vacation Clubs earnings and growth.

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Orange Lake Resorts has converted additional properties into the Holiday Inn Club Vacations brand, as part of the marketing agreement that the Orlando timeshare company worked out with InterContinental Hotels Group PLC last year.

The Orange Lake properties in Panama City, Florida; Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; and Ascutney, Vermont have all adopted the Holiday Inn Vacation Club brand. In addition, Holiday Inn Club Vacations has added two new timeshare resorts to its portfolio The two latest destinations include the South Beach Resort in Myrtle Beach and the Crown Park Resort in Gatlinburg (to be renamed the Smoky Mountain Resort) bringing the total number of timeshare resorts operated by the company to six.

The Orange Lake Resort near Disney World is the flagship Holiday Inn brand resort. Holiday Inn Club Vacation owners also have access to the more than 4,000 RCI resorts and more than 4,100 Holiday Inn hotels in 120 countries

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