Timeshare Trends Blog

The Orlando based company that owns the Mystic Dunes Resort and Golf Club in Celebration filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and plans to sell its properties to Diamond Resorts International. Tempus Resorts lender, GMAC Commercial Finance has stated that it is getting out of timeshare financing. The Tempus Resorts CEO says they are profitable, but filed for bankruptcy because the private-equity company that bought its loan portfolio opposed the sale to Diamond Resorts. The deal will now be reviewed by a bankruptcy judge. Existing timeshare owners would retain Tempus privileges, but could upgrade to the Diamond Resorts

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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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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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Harris Rosen has been inducted into the Florida Tourism Hall of Fame. Announced at the 43rd annual Florida Governors Conference on Tourism, the award was bestowed upon Mr. Rosen for his contributions to the industry. Among his contributions, he supported construction of the Orange County Convention Center, donated 20 acres of land to create and build the University of Central Florida’s School of Hospitality Management, he owns and operates seven properties in Orlando including the Rosen Shingle Creek, Rosen Plaza, and Rosen Centre.

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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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The Island One Resorts Management Corporation has recently filed for voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization in US Bankruptcy Court in Orlando, Florida. Island One Resorts is a 25-year-old, Orlando based timeshare developer that currently owns and operates eight Florida timeshare resorts and one Caribbean timeshare. In the Orlando area, Island One resorts include Barefoot’n the Keys, Bryan’s Spanish Cove, Liki Tiki Village, Orbit One Vacation Villas, and Parkway International Resort. Other timeshare properties include the Charter Club Resort in Naples, the Cove on Ormond Beach, The Crescent Resort in Miami, and Chenay Bay Resort in the US Virgin Islands. Through Club Navigo, a points-based vacation club, Island One also offers its member-owners access to numerous US timeshare resorts, Mexico timeshare, and Caribbean timeshare. According to the Orlando Business Journal, court documents state, “The company attributed the Chapter 11 filing to the downturn in the economy in 2008 and the fact that unit sales and resort revenues were reduced as consumers generally took steps to limit spending on vacations.”

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The timeshare industry has contributed $69 billion of economic output in the US economy. A recently released economic impact study of the timeshare industry highlights the key economic and fiscal impacts on the U.S. economy in 2009, according to the American Resort Development Association (ARDA). Developed in conjunction with Ernst & Young, the report shows that the U.S. timeshare industry generated an estimated $69 billion of economic output with 465,800 full and part-time jobs, more than $22 billion in income and nearly $8.4 billion in total taxes. “The contribution of the timeshare industry on local economies goes beyond the resort footprint,” said Howard Nusbaum, ARDA president and CEO. “In addition to sales and corporate operations, development of new resorts and renovation projects, it also includes the impact of expenditures from vacationers during timeshare stays.”

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This latest edition to the Bonnet Creek resort has added 300 units to Wyndham’s flagship resort property. The resort is situated on actual Walt Disney World Resort property and now boasts approximately 1,150 units sprawled across 58 acres. “When we broke ground on this project in 2002 we knew we were taking a calculated risk since Orlando was one of the most heavily saturated timeshare markets in the country,” said Franz Hanning, president and chief executive officer of Wyndham Vacation Ownership. “The fact that we continued to expand this site in spite of the current marketplace is a testament to the popularity of both the resort and our points product. We originally intended to build 744 units, but we had to keep on building because we kept on selling.”

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Wyndham Vacation Ownership has announced a fee-for-service timeshare sales model at Reunion Resort in Orlando. Wyndham Vacation Ownership, the world’s largest vacation ownership company and a member of the Wyndham Worldwide family of companies, has announced it has entered into an exclusive sales and marketing agreement at Reunion Resort. Under this agreement, the company will become the exclusive sales and marketing agent for the sale of vacation ownership interests in up to 256 condominium-style units at Reunion Resort. All units will be marketed as Wyndham Vacation Resorts Reunion at Orlando. Reunion is a 2,300-acre resort located within six miles of Disney World. In addition to three signature world-class golf courses, Reunion offers a selection of outstanding amenities, including the Annika Academy, the 5-acre Reunion Water Park with a lazy river and interactive pool, a daily activities program with events for all ages, bicycling and six lighted tennis courts.

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