Timeshare Trends Blog

Pronghorn Club and Resort has surpassed expectations in visitors for the last year. The resort, which opened in 2006 as an ultra-luxurious, private, gated golf community about 15 miles northeast of Bend, Oregon saw its home sales plummet when the economy soured. Instead of giving up, its developers constructed 48 swank lodge units, and, in summer 2010, began allowing public access to the resort and one of its two championship golf courses. (A Tom Fazio-designed course remains open to members only). Pronghorn has since piled up the accolades, including ranking among Golf Digest’s top 50 golf resorts in North America last year and earning a top-25 rating by the magazine for its Nicklaus Course among public golf courses.

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The Villas at Tree Tops has received the RCI President’s Club Award. The prestigious award was given for being one of RCI’s top performing affiliates. According to Andy Worthington, President and CEO of Bushkill Group Inc., owners of the resort, in spite of significant weather events last year, no snow this winter and an economy that is still in recovery, they have seen measurable increases in vacation ownership sales in the last several months and have been outperforming sales year over year for the last three years. The President’s Club Award is presented annually to properties around the world and recognizes resorts for growing their business and for the company’s shared commitment with RCI for the transformation of the vacation experience. Located in the Pocono Mountains, the Villas at Tree Tops benefits from an easy drive to the New York and New Jersey metropolitan market and offers affordability and a comprehensive list of amenities and regional attractions.

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EllicottVillas has become a Preferred Residences member as well as a new member of Interval International. Preferred Residences is a hospitality branded membership and exchange program for luxury shared ownership resorts. The resort is known for its five-star services and club amenities in a community of fully furnished, beautifully landscaped villas. The residences at EllicottVillas offer all of the comforts of an upscale vacation resort, along with a location nestled in the foothills of a historic community known for its great skiing. The resort features the highest quality construction and finishes, and is outfitted with distinctive furnishings, sophisticated technology and quality appliances, and comes with personalized hospitality services that include transportation, grocery shopping, and more. Each well-appointed villa is designed as a three-story town home with garage, private deck, and patio area, providing approximately 3,000 square feet of living space with a spacious great room and kitchen, guest room, and third-floor master with sitting area and fireplace.

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Salem, Massachusetts is the perfect place for a Halloween vacation. Salem is one of the most haunted cities in America and is an iconic witch-filled, ghost-filled town. The most haunted spot in Salem is now known as Gallows Hill Park. This is the site where the majority of accused “witches” were hung during the witch hysteria that gripped the town in 1692. Salem has been forced to embrace its tragic past, and today has turned its history of witches into its main industry. Police cars are adorned with witch logos, a local public school is known as the Witchcraft Heights Elementary School, and the Salem High School football team is called the Witches. Salem is definitely a hot spot for Halloween celebrations. From October 1 through November 1 you can join the Halloween festival in everything from parades to psychic fairs to tours of haunted houses.

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Acadia Village Resort has been forced into foreclosure by the city of Ellsworth, Maine. The city has been thrust into the vacation timeshare sales business after the resort developer and timeshare owners have fallen far behind on taxes for dozens of units. Beginning in April, Ellsworth officials began foreclosure sale proceedings on 66 timeshare units with each unit representing one week’s use of the specific property. Because of the way the resort was incorporated, Acadia Village requires city officials to collect one week’s worth of property taxes from the more than 2,000 partial owners. Timeshare owners represent about one-quarter of the city’s 8,000 property tax payers.

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Shell Management Hawaii, Inc. has been named one of the”Best Places to Work” in Hawaii for 2011. The annual event sponsored by ProService Hawaii and published annually by Hawaii Business Magazine honors businesses in its “Best Places To Work In Hawaii” program. Company data is gathered and analyzed by an independent research organization, the Best Companies Group, which conducts similar research in states throughout the nation. Honors will be given at an awards dinner in March.

With 292 employees, Shell Management Hawaii, Inc has been named in the large category. Shell Management Hawaii was ranked first in 2010 and fifth in 2009. Shell Vacation Resorts in Hawaii include the Holua Resort at Muana Loa, Kauai Coast Resort at the Beachboy, Kona Coast Resort, Paniolo Greens, and the Waikiki Marina Resort.

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Wyndham Vacation Ownership properties have now expanded into Vermont. The Smuggler’s Notch Vermont Resort has entered into an exclusive sales and marketing agreement with Wyndham Vacation Ownership and will serve as the exclusive sales and marketing agent for the sale of vacation ownership interests at Smugglers’ Notch, with sales expected to start by the second quarter of 2011.

Situated in the Green Mountains of Vermont, Smugglers’ Notch is a favorite family vacation destination featuring mountainside condominiums ranging from studios to five-bedroom homes, clustered around a village core. The resort is noted for its year-round recreational programs and facilities, including eight heated pools and four waterslides in the summer and more than 1,000 acres of skiing and snowboarding terrain in the winter.

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Timeshare units at this resort in Catskills, New York, face potential liquidation as approved by a bankruptcy court. A bankruptcy judge has ordered the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Nottingham Village Development Corporation to be converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation case. Concerned timeshare holders have already sought the help of the New York Attorney General’s Office in clarifying the situation for shareholders. The Attorney General has recommended that a coalition of shareholders pool their resources for legal counsel in the matter, in the event they were unable to individually afford legal fees. The timeshare setback is the latest blow to Friar Tuck’s financial struggles. In April, the neighboring Friar Tuck Inn was repossessed by Ulster Savings Bank, after the same court dismissed its claim for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

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While highlighting its significant market opportunities and competitive advantages, Marriott International has informed security analysts and institutional investors in New York, that its earnings per share of stock could hit well above the highest earnings achieved during Marriott’s most recent peak earnings year of 2007. The company expects to add at least 80,000 to 90,000 hotel rooms to its portfolio from 2011 through 2013 with additional opportunities for 22,000 rooms to open in Europe and Asia during that same period. Marriott has plans to adapt and expand current brands, such as Courtyard and Fairfield, to meet the growing needs of customers in markets worldwide. The company will also be expanding its new brands outside of the United States, including Edition, which just opened its first hotel on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. Marriott is also successful in the high-end timeshare market.

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Inn season Resorts has now joined RCI’s Global Network of resorts in a new multi-year affiliation relationship that will allow eligible InnSeason owners to become RCI members. Inn Season Resorts are located in Maine with two properties, New Hampshire with two properties, and in Massachusetts with five properties all located on Cape Cod.

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