Timeshare Trends Blog

To be located on the northeast side of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, this planned resort is to be opened in late 2014. The resort will be a complete renovation of the Grand Palace Beach Resort, which is now located on the site planned for Margaritaville. The resort is being developed through a partnership with Margaritaville Hospitality Group and Orlando based, Wyndham Vacation Ownership and will be the first of possibly many Margaritaville Vacation Club resorts. The resort is expected to immerse guests into escapism and an island lifestyle as demonstrated in Jimmy Buffet’s famous music, according to company representatives.

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for a data breach. US regulators filed a complaint against Wyndham Worldwide Corp and three subsidiaries including Wyndham Vacation Ownership, alleging that a failure to safeguard consumers’ personal information led to more than $10 million lost to fraud. The FTC said repeated failures to secure consumer data led to hundreds of thousands of consumers’ payment card information being exported to an Internet domain address registered in Russia. Wyndham failed to take security measures and stored sensitive payment card information in clear readable text, the agency said. The breaches occurred in April 2008 and March 2009.

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Wyndham Wordwide timeshare revenue in the recent third quarter increased 5 percent over one year ago and totaled $559 million, according to an Orlando Sentinel article. The increase reflected higher timeshare sales as well as commissions generated by its fee for service operation. Gross timeshare sales totaled $455 million up 10 percent compared to a year ago.

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Wyndham Worldwide has acquired ResortQuest, a leading provider in full-service vacation rentals in the United States. The acquisition price is approximately $56 million, subject to adjustments. The all-cash transaction is anticipated to close by the end of the third quarter, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions. With this acquisition, Wyndham Worldwide becomes the world’s largest full-service vacation rental business, providing access to more than 85,000 vacation properties in approximately 100 countries. ResortQuest will provide a strong platform for the company’s expansion into the U.S. serviced vacation rentals market. According to Geoff Ballotti, president and CEO of Wyndham Exchange and Rentals, acquiring ResortQuest, expand Wyndham’s efforts to provide superior rental distribution services to consumers, as well as provide second homeowners the opportunity to rent their properties through a trusted source and well-known brand.

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Wyndham Vacation Resorts has re-opened the Wyndham Nashville after a $10 million rehabilitation. In early May, the region was struck by a large flood that ruined many homes, establishments, and hotel properties. Wyndham Nashville was one of the unlucky properties to survive the massive flood, albeit with substantial damages to its landscaping and lower-lying buildings. After over four months, the property is back in top shape and welcoming Wyndham timeshare owners. Conveniently situated near the legendary Grand Ole Opry and the huge Opry Mills outlet mall, Wyndham Nashville features a large indoor swimming pool, two outdoor pools and spa, and a fully-equipped fitness center. All amenities of the property were part of the reconstruction plan that started on May 6. Aside from rebuilding its own property, Wyndham also helped the Tennessee community by donating $25,000 in flood relief to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

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Wyndham Worldwide Corporation has recently renewed its financing for its Orlando based timeshare operations. According to a recent story in the Orlando Sentinel, Wyndham has stated that the securitized timeshare receivables conduit has a capacity of $600 million, and is renewed through September 2011. Timeshare companies typically use the receivables facilities to turn timeshare buyers mortgage into cash that the companies can use for further development.

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Wyndham Vacation properties in Hawaii rated as a best place to work. Wyndham Vacation Ownership has been recognized by Hawaii Business Magazine and the Best Companies Group as one of the best places to work in Hawaii in 2010. Ranking in the large companies category, with more than 150 employees, Wyndham was accredited for creating a rewarding work environment particularly for its sales organization. The company was previously recognized as a “Best Places to Work” in 2006. Wyndham, of course, boasts an expansive presence in the Hawaii market with more than a dozen properties including Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk, Wyndham Kona Hawaiian, Wyndham Royal Sea Cliff, WorldMark Kihei, and Wyndham Kauai Beach Villas, among others.

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The Reunion Resort and Club now joins the Wyndham brand. Wyndham Hotels and Resorts recently announced their newest addition to their brand of resorts. Home to luxurious vacation rentals, the 400 room Reunion Resort and Club is located in Orlando and be can be found on 2,300 acres of lush landscaping and will be now known as the Reunion Resort and Club Wyndham Grand Resort. The resort is located within only a few miles from Disney World and Universal Orlando and has over 25,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor function space for guests to use. At the resort, there is on-site audio-visual capabilities, fine dining and rooftop restaurants, a chic lounge, over-sized pool, a grand lobby with a bar and retail shops. The timeshare also offers access to three signature golf courses including the Legacy Course, which was designed by Arnold Palmer, the Tradition Course designed by Jack Nicklaus and the Independence Course by Tom Watson. Plus there’s a five-acre water park with a long winding lazy river, two story water slide, children’s water play area and other recreational activities.

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Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific received two of the most prominent awards at the recent American Resort Development Association (ARDA) awards recently held in Las Vegas. The awards were presented to the company in the categories of “General Manager” and “Marketing – Operational Support Staff Manager”. The award acknowledges the company as the best in the world and also helps build its reputation as a favored travel industry employer. Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific is a division of Wyndham Worldwide. Individual recipients were Apivut Chakuthip, Wyndham’s Director of Market Intelligence and Glenn Daniels, Wyndham’s General Manager for their Fiji timeshare resort. Chakuthip was recognized for his use of strategic information to develop effective marketing methods to reach certain goals and to bring more travelers to the Wyndham resorts. Daniels was recognized for all of his efforts during the storms and floods of 2009, and his teams outstanding customer service during that time.

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Wyndham Vacation Resorts recently negotiated a deal to start selling units in Towers on the Grove, a 232-unit oceanside condo in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The developer will provide financing, while Wyndham will market and manage the timeshare community as one of its own for a fee. According to a recent Orlando Sentinel story, the fee-for-service approach, which Wyndham calls the Wyndham Asset Affiliation Model, takes advantage of the company’s marketing assets, which have suffered as timeshare developers find it more difficult to access credit and capital. According to the CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership, this method is a good solution for a developer or for a lender that’s foreclosed on an asset. With business slow in financing new timeshares at the resort, this may be an alternative.

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