Timeshare Trends Blog

The Fisherman’s Paradise Resort is scheduled to open on September 9. The resort is actually a boat and is moored 15 miles off the Clearwater, Florida coast. It is a barge that after six years of construction has been converted into a five-story $25 million floating palace and boasts a helipad, marina, two-floor gym, a sports bar, a wine cellar, and a movie theater. It will loop between the Gulf of Mexico, Panama, and Belize and its cost will include a helicopter ride and a charter fishing tour. To check in, guests must dock boats in the barge’s marina and take a shuttle boat or go by helicopter from the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.

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Tempus Resorts and some of its affiliated companies have already filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida in order for the acquisition to start immediately. Diamond Resorts is known as one of the most successful vacation ownership companies in the world. Its global headquarters is located in Las Vegas, Nevada and it has more than 177 branded resorts in over 26 countries, including the continental United States and Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. It offers properties to more than 385,000 owners and members through the service of more than 5,500 team members worldwide.

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The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club and the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club have unveiled its first of its kind partnership. The two luxury destination clubs have forged a new exchange opportunity for the benefit of their members. This strategic alliance presents members of both clubs an expanding universe of extraordinary destinations that only they can provide. The collaboration allows Ritz-Carlton Destination Club members access to 17 Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club residences in North America. They include Scottsdale, Lake Tahoe, Aspen, South Carolina, Punta Cana, Sun Valley, Jackson Hole, Hawaii’s Big Island, the Turks & Caicos, and Mexico’s Los Cabos, Punta Mita and Puerto Aventuras. In return, Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club Members are able to convert their nights for use at 10 Ritz-Carlton Destination Club locations in Colorado’s Aspen Highlands, Bachelor Gulch and Vail, St. Thomas, Jupiter in Florida, San Francisco and North Lake Tahoe, Hawaii, and Abaco in the Bahamas.

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Starwood Vacation Ownership has expanded its Sheraton Vistana Villages, located on the south end of world-famous International Drive in Orlando. The current expansion phase includes 200 new villas, a new swimming pool complex, a new recreation building that will house a second fitness center, game room and arcade, as well as an activities desk with sports, pool games and equipment. The Sheraton Vistana Villages is the second Sheraton vacation ownership property located in Orlando. The first property is the Sheraton Vistana Resort, one of the Orlando’s largest timeshare properties.

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Legoland Florida is on schedule to open in late 2011. Legoland Florida will be the world’s largest Legoland Park and is expected to bring Winter Haven back to it tourism heyday when Cypress Gardens was one of Florida’s leading attractions and the first official theme park built in the state of Florida. Legoland Florida is being developed on the site of the long closed Cypress Gardens.

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Universal Orlando’s profits are way up thanks to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Universal Orlando has just posted its best quarterly results in its entire 20-year history. Attendance at the resort has soared 36% in the recent third quarter when compared to the same quarter last year, climbing by over one-million visitors to 3.7 million. It is the highest quarterly attendance Universal has reported since Universal Studios opened in 1990 and the biggest percentage gain since its second park, Islands of Adventure debuted in 1999. Universal’s quarterly revenue has rocketed up 62% to $364 million fueled by ticket sales and enormous demand for Potter-themed merchandise. The popularity of the park allowed Universal to raise ticket and parking prices in the middle of the quarter.

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Interval International has revealed that its U.S. resident members reported annual household income greater than $125,000 per year, 88% are satisfied with their membership, 33% would like to purchase additional holiday time, and Interval International’s U.S. members spend about 23 nights away from home, taken as leisure time. Also determined in the profile, Florida, California and Hawaii are the most popular destinations members said they wanted to visit within the next two years, with New York City the most popular urban destination. The Caribbean is the number one “international” favorite destination for US residents. An official at Interval International said, “The observations and insights drawn from this research reinforce the value our members place on vacationing. This study also represents the latest in Interval’s continuing commitment to bring timely and consumer-centric research to the market.”

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Timeshare operations have learned from the credit crunch. According to a recent article in the Orlando Sentinel, the plummeting sales of timeshares have finally leveled off. Nationwide, timeshare sales have fallen from a peak of $10.6 billion in 2007 to $6.3 billion last year, according to figures released during the 12th annual Vacation Ownership Investment Conference held at the Peabody Orlando Hotel. Employment in the industry has fallen 30% from about 279,000 to about 196,300. Timeshare business was humbled as credit markets dried up in late 2008, but the industry’s major trade group said the credit crunch that crippled the industry also helped change the way companies do business for the better. Marketing techniques have changed into more efficient tactics, such as selling more product (upgrades) to current owners and targeting prospects with higher credit scores resulting in higher closing percentages. Down payments are up, occupancy is steady at 80% and individual units are now selling at an average of $20,468 versus $16,278 in 2005. Financing is still tight, but it is easing up, but according to officials in the timeshare industry, it is still going to be awhile until we get back to the way it was three years ago when there was plenty of financing.

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Florida passes new law on timeshare foreclosures. The governor of Florida recently signed into law a measure that gives much needed relief to timeshare owners associations and developers from the lengthy judicial processes for timeshare interest foreclosures. The “Trustee Foreclosure” bill promises to help reduce the time and cost involved in reclaiming timeshare interests from owners who are delinquent in paying their maintenance fees, assist timeshare developers in recovering inventory from owners who are unable to make their mortgage payments, and prevent thousands of timeshare foreclosure cases from being filed with the Florida courts already overwhelmed by residential foreclosure cases. The trustee foreclosure will shorten the time to complete a foreclosure action from as long as 18 months to as little as 90 days.

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Bluegreen Resorts has been named a finalist in 2010 American Business Awards. Bluegreen Corporation has been selected as the first finalist in multiple categories for the 2010 American Business Awards (also referred to as the Stevie Awards). This annual competition recognizes the achievements and contributions of organizations and businesses, ranging in size from up to 100 employees to more than 2,500 employees. Bluegreen was selected as the finalist in three different categories, including the Most Innovative Company of the Year, Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year, and Corporate Environmental Responsibility Program of the Year. Premier Bluegreen resorts include the Fountains in Orlando, the Big Cedar Wilderness Club in Branson, and more than 50 property locations in some of the top vacation destinations.

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