Timeshare Trends Blog

The Palace Vacation Club of Malaysia has joined the RCI network of timeshare exchange affiliates. The resorts included in the Palace Vacation Club group are the Country Villas Malaysia and the Palace of the Golden Horses.

Country Villas is Malaysia’s first Mediterranean-style waterfront property. It has distinct wall finishings on graceful white facades and unique red-bricked driveways surrounded by beautiful landscaped gardens. The 250 units are tastefully furnished and well-equipped with basic amenities. The property also provides facilities for business and leisure with six meeting rooms, a conference room, a seminar room, a banquet hall, an auditorium, gymnasium and a swimming pool.

The Palace of the Golden Horse is known as Asia’s “Most Extraordinary Hotel” with world-class and award winning accommodations. There’s a dedicated conference center and state of the art facilities with a distinctive Moorish-Malaysian architecture and equestrian theme. The hotel has 400 rooms and 80 suites and offers an outstanding variety of dining and entertainment options. It also offers a comprehensive health screening service, a scenic jogger’s track, an executive fitness center and a luxurious Balinese-themed Jojobali Spa for personal rejuvenation.

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The Azul Sensatori by Karisma resort in the Riviera Maya, Mexico has been added to the Interval International global vacation exchange network. The resort features the innovative Gourmet Inclusive concept that is designed to elevate all-inclusive vacations to quality levels comparable to traditional luxury hotels.

Located in the exclusive Petempich Bay area, Azul Sensatori includes 438 suites with unobstructed views of white-sand beaches, turquoise waters, and lush tropical gardens. The suites feature contemporary designer furnishings, dark wood accents, marble floors, ample living and dining areas and oversized terraces. Guests can enjoy a relaxed yet upscale atmosphere and a host of amenities and services that include dining at six restaurants, a 14,000-square-foot spa and fitness center, a nightclub, multiple pools with swim-up bars, kid’s pool and splash park, a beach butler, concierge and 24-hour room service.

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Marriott International is cutting back on the high-demand home development business and is cutting prices at some of its fractional ownership resorts. Marriott is also planning to halt its timeshare development in Europe. However, according to a recent Orlando Sentinel story, Marriott officials report that their timeshare business run by Orlando based Marriott Vacation Club International is doing better than its high-end counterpart.

According to Marriott’s president and chief operating officer, Arne Sorenson, the significant decline in demand for luxury residential real estate is reflective of today’s economy. It also reflects the relative strength and deeper market of the traditional timeshare business, which while impacted by the weaker economy has proved to be more resilient.

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Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, a member of the Wyndham Worldwide family of hospitality companies has opened its first brand in China with a newly constructed 588-room luxury hotel in Xiamen. Wyndham Hotel Group is the world’s largest U.S. based hotel company in China, currently franchising 175 hotels and five brands throughout the country.

The 26-floor, five-star Wyndham Xiamen features five food-and-beverage outlets, 37,000 square feet of meeting space, a 2,658-square-foot business center and diverse fitness facilities. The Wyndham Xiamen has a 66-foot-high waterfall, a 23-foot-tall lobby chandelier, a 23-foot-high statue at the entrance named the Goddess of Heping (the indigenous goddess of the sea), there are 161 suites, 130 serviced apartments that range in size from 500 to 1,065 square feet—and all with views of the ocean or city skyline.

The top five floors comprise the Wyndham Club, with 90 executive rooms, library, business services, meeting room and split-level lounge. Each guest room features high-speed Internet service, stunning glass-design bathrooms with separate shower and bath, feather-down bedding, 32-inch, flat-screen LCD TVs, a safety deposit box with power to recharge laptop, nightly turndown service, room cleaning and refreshed linens. There’s also a 13,558-square-foot, pillarless grand ballroom that can accommodate up to 1,000 guests.

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RCI has welcomed ABC Boat Management to its worldwide network of affiliated resorts. This unique addition to RCI members offers canal boat holidays on the beautiful waterways of England. As part of this relationship, the Anderton Marina and Hilperton Marinas are now a part of the RCI exchange program.

Anderton Marina is situated in the heart of northwest England and offers cruising on local rivers and canals. Anderton Marina also offers easy access and available moorings close to the historic city of Chester. The laid-back nature of canals and narrow boating are an ideal way to relax and escape from the hectic pace of modern life, as well as an opportunity to enjoy the countryside from a new vantage point. Members can moor up at a canal-side pub for lunch or dinner, while all boats, which sleep up to six, come complete with full kitchens including a microwave, as well as central heating, television and other facilities.

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The Outrigger Laguna Phuket Resort and Villas in Thailand is scheduled to open in the fall of 2009. Outrigger Enterprises Group has been selected to manage the resort that includes a new luxury collection of residences, villas, town homes and apartments being developed by the Laguna Resorts & Hotels Public Company Limited. The resort is located on Bang Tao Bay on the northwestern coast of Phuket. When fully completed, it will consist of 309 two, three, and four bedroom units. The resort is upscale and many of the units will include their own private swimming pools. Widely recognized as Asia’s finest destination, this property is part of a 1,000 acre mixed-use tropical resort with five miles of pristine sandy beaches, six deluxe resort hotels, the Laguna Phuket Golf Club, spas, restaurants and bars as well as a retail shopping center.

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There are three new properties located close to Cape Town that are now part of the DRI list of timeshare properties. The Peninsula Resort, Avalon Springs, and Wilderness Dunes all offer easy access to Cape Town and the pristine beaches of South Africa’s coast. The Peninsula Resort is situated on Cape Town’s magnificent mile. Avalon Springs has a luxury spa and a large pool area with giant waterslides, and the Wilderness Dunes offers a fully accommodating chalet-style units with easy access to a variety of watersports and the popular Wilderness National Park.

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The Grand Solmar at Land’s End Resort and Spa, an exclusive vacation ownership resort in Los Cabos is scheduled to open in 2011. The resort will be a member of the Interval International Global Vacation Network.

The oceanfront resort is located next to the Arch of Los Cabos at the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula. The property will include 250 villas with views of the Pacific Ocean, landscaped gardens, and many more amenities.

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Shell Vacations has recently added the Mountainside Lodge to its growing list of resort and timeshare properties. Located in the popular four seasons resort area of Whistler, in British Columbia. Shell Vacations now owns the existing 41-unit timeshare portion of the resort, which is partially owned by about 1,600 existing interval owners as well as 37 all-suite units. The hotel units will all be converted to timeshare units.

The resort is an easy one-minute walk to the lifts of Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains, or you may stroll through the European-style village of Whistler, with shops, activities, and restaurants, as well as an active nightlife.

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Timeshare sales have continued to drop in 2009 much like they did in 2008, which experienced the biggest drop in the roughly 35 year history of timeshares. According to an executive for Group RCI, there are glimmers of hope in the industry.

Many of the potential buyers of vacation homes, after having been hammered by the economy, are now beginning to turn to timeshares. Unfortunately, this new pool of buyer is generally being required to make down payments of between 25% to 30% of the purchase price. Even in these difficult economic times, customers continue to pay their mortgages and maintenance.

Customers believe that they must protect their investment in their property, which can exceed $24,000. The resorts are also watching their expenses closely, and they do not want cost cutting to impact the customer’s experience. On the chopping block are the 40% of costs generally spent on marketing.

Resort executives believe that they have seen the bottom, and that in the future there will be more resorts built. Many of those resorts will be more austere, and will have less in the way of amenities and luxury features like granite kitchens and stainless steel espresso machines.

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