Timeshare Trends Blog

Seven of Starwood Hotels and Resorts newest properties have made the Conde Nast Traveler Hot List. Starwood is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies, and among timeshares, it provides generally the most luxurious and spacious vacation accommodations. With seven premier new hotels making this year’s Conde Nast Traveler Hot List, it is more than any other hotel group. Bearing the flags of Starwood’s luxury and design-led brands, hotels that gained spots on the famous list includes the majority of new St. Regis hotels that opened last 2009, including three W Hotels from Washington D.C to South Beach to Santiago, Chile, and the first Luxury Collection in Peru. Properties on the Conde Nast list include Hotel Paracas in Peru; St. Regis Atlanta; St. Regis Mexico City; St. Regis Deer Crest in Park City, Utah; the W Santiago, Chile; W South Beach in Miami; and the W Washington, DC.

Bookmark To:

LaTour Hotels and Resorts will be managing Grove Gardens Phuket in Thailand. US based LaTour Hotels and Resorts, which offers personalized luxury hospitality management services for four and five-star properties worldwide, will now manage Grove Gardens Phuket, an exclusive residential estate property located on prestigious Cape Yamu on the East Coast of Phuket, Thailand. Grove Gardens Phuket brings the number of LaTour Hotels and Resorts properties in Asia to three. LaTour Hotels and Resorts delivers highly personalized vacation experiences at new and existing four and five-star golf, ski, urban and oceanfront properties. LaTour Hotels and Resorts currently operates properties in the United States, Mexico and Thailand, with upcoming expansion plans throughout South America, Europe and Asia.

Bookmark To:

Over 100 new resorts in 2009 were welcomed by RCI, the world’s largest vacation exchange company. Demonstrating that vacation exchange remains a bright spot in the travel industry, RCI, considered the global leader in vacation exchange and one of the Wyndham Worldwide family of brands, announced that it added more than 100 new resorts in 2009 alone, including 10 properties under development.

Bookmark To:

Interval International, a prominent worldwide provider of vacation services and an operating segment of Interval Leisure Group, has added Bali Palms Resort to its exchange network. Just steps from the sand in the East Bali town of Candi Dasa, the fractional vacation residences include studios and one and two-bedroom apartments available in three, six or ninth month increments. The Bali Palms Resort is known for having one of the largest pools in the area with lush palms and sunbeds all along the beachfront and well-established tropical gardens. It also boasts the Palms Cafe beachfront bar and restaurant where guests can relax, enjoy a cool drink or meal and watch the sea.

Bookmark To:

Sol Melia Vacation Club has opened two new resorts in Coatia. Sol Melia, one of the world’s leading timeshare resort brands has opened two luxury resorts in Umag, Croatia. Previously part of Sol Hotels, both resorts are now part of the Sol Melia group, which owns over 300 properties in 28 countries across four continents. The luxury makeovers mean the Melia Coral and Melia Istran Villas are now the most luxurious properties on the Umag coast. Both resorts offer guests the amenities and standards of service that have become Sol Melia’s gold seal. The Meliá Coral offers 244 rooms, six luxury suites, a spa, pool, solarium, an elegant bar and Mediterranean tavern, and two outdoor leisure areas known as the Club Elite Automat and the Beach Club. The Meliá Istrian Villas is an environmental village without cars in an oasis of 180 properties set on the edge of the sea, well-known for its 15-court tennis center. The villas combine traditional architecture with modern comfort, new facilities include the O Grill restaurant.

Bookmark To:

ResortCom Elite has been rebranded as LaTour Hotels and Resorts. LaTour Hotels and Resorts offers personalized, luxury hospitality management services for four and five-star properties. Currently, LaTour, operates seven developments representing nearly 500 units, with nearly 400 more units at multiple properties planned in the near future. For every client, the company’s goal is transform the ownership experience through superior service, distinctive amenities, imaginative activities and an obsessive attention-to-detail. LaTour Hotels and Resorts include the Tonopalo Private Residence Club in Lake Tahoe, California; El Secreto and El Caracol in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; IndoChine Resort and Villas and Grove Gardens Resort in Phuket, Thailand; and the Lodge at Stillwater in Deer Valley, Utah; as well as an in-construction project, the Delcanto Resort in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico scheduled to open summer 2010. The LaTour Signature Group also actively operates Dewa Resort in Phuket, Thailand and has two projects in various stages of construction, which include the Wyoming Club in Black Hills, Wyoming; and Olamar Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Bookmark To:

 The Pestana Promenade is set to establish a new benchmark for vacation ownership resorts in Europe. Located on Madeira, an island off Portugal’s coast, the resort, which is one of the many Pestana Hotels and Resorts, was inaugurated in early 2009 with a mix of 245 hotel units and deluxe apartments and has now beaten all demand records set by previous Pestana resorts. The most striking feature of Pestana’s latest hotel is its prime oceanfront location set in the heart of Funchal’s tourist area offering easy access to the coastal promenade. All units enjoy full panoramic sea views, there’s a themed restaurant, lounge bar, pool bar, health club and relax area.

A dominant feature of the resort is the expansive swimming pool with special water features set in landscaped gardens. The lagoon pool also allows for sunbathing on sunbeds in shallow sections. There’s a state of the art spa facility that includes indoor pool with jet streams, treatment rooms, relax areas, gym, sauna, Jacuzzi and Turkish bath.

Bookmark To:

Europeans own and enjoy timeshares. According to the recent Executive Summary article, ” The European Timeshare Industry″ sponsored by The Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute at the University of Nottingham in England, 1.5 million European households own timeshare, with the United Kingdom and Ireland having the largest base of timeshare owners. Most timeshare resorts are in Spain, with 26.3 percent of all resorts, 14.94 percent in Italy, and 11.05 percent in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The total number of European timeshares now equals 1,312. European timeshare owners and visitors generate billions in money spent during their vacations with 69,836 jobs directly sustained by the European timeshare industry. 86.6 percent of the European timeshare owners reported satisfaction with their timeshare holiday, while 55.6 percent say they were very satisfied.

Bookmark To:

A new Hilton resort is set for opening in July in Cairo. Hilton Worldwide has signed on with a management company for a new Hilton branded resort on the historic Nile River running through Egypt. The new 88-room, 76-suite Hilton Zamalek Residence Cairo overlooks the Nile and is expected to open in July of 2010. The resort is located in the heart of Cairo on beautiful Zamalek Island, not far from the Cairo International Airport. The new Hilton resort will help to add even more presence for the company in Egypt, being the 16th Hilton branded timeshare resort. The resort has undergone a $20 million renovation and now features many new accommodations for travelers to enjoy, such as five new restaurants, a coffee shop and pastry shop and a pool cafe. On-site you can also find three new meeting rooms, a business center with three breakout rooms, a health club with a spa, sauna and steam room, and a massage treatment room.

Bookmark To:

Mjejane Game Reserve in South Africa joins Interval International global exchange network. The property is a 10,000-acre reserve within the world famous Kruger National Park and overlooking the Crocodile River. Upon completion later this year, the resort will offer unparalleled “big five” game and bird viewing. It will feature a combination of two, three, and four-bed apartments and is adjacent to the exclusive Mjejane Safari Lodge. Among the planned amenities at the Lodge are an elegant restaurant, pub, spa, gym, and elevated viewing. At the resort, you can see hippopotamuses, giraffes, tortoises, more than 500 species of birds, herds of buffalo, elephants, lions, leopards, and numerous other game virtually at their doorstep.

Bookmark To: