According to the Post and Courier’s Charleston.net, the city of Charleston, SC, and the Private Escapes Vacation Club have agreed to a settlement in their current court battle. Charleston zoning rules prohibit a timeshare company or vacation club from operating in an area of the city that has residential zoning. The Private Escapes Vacation Club’s Smith Street resort currently violates this law.

At Private Escapes, members pay both dues and up-front fees to stay up to 50 nights per year at the company’s resorts and private luxury homes, which are located worldwide.

Although an appeal by Private Escapes LLC was pending in the South Carolina Court of Appeals, the company agreed to the settlement with the city. Terms of the agreement include the City of Charleston agreeing to dismiss pending fines for zoning violations while the vacation club company agreed to stop offering accommodations at their Smith Street location, effective June 2, 2008.

Steep Price Tag on Some Luxury Vacation Clubs

Private Escapes bills themselves as a “luxury vacation club.” In 2007, Private Escapes and Ultimate Resorts announced a merger that the companies are still in the process of implementing. Private Escapes has resort properties in the Bahamas, Utah, Florida, New York, and South Carolina. Ultimate Resorts are located in London, Paris, St. Thomas, the Bahamas, Mexico, Wyoming, Hawaii, and South Carolina.

According to the Robb Report, membership requires a $325,000 deposit, $22,000 in annual dues, and nightly rates of $185. At the Ultimate Resort, Elite level members pay between $380,000 and $407,500 for 180 travel days in luxury homes that have an average value of $3 million.

Timeshare and Affordable Vacation Clubs

There’s no word yet on whether or not the Private Escapes plans to open a new resort destination in another part of the city of Charleston, although their partnership with the Ultimate Resorts expands their resorts to include a SC location, in Kiawah Island. But for all the people who want vacation ownership in Charleston, SC, there are plenty of great opportunities to buy timeshare resales or rent timeshare in this charming and historic seaside town.

If you can’t shop for vacation ownership with a $300,000 to $400,000 price tag, but you still expect luxury accommodations, go to Sell My timeshare NOW to learn more about timeshare resales and vacation club memberships.

Last week I posted a blog called, Timesharing as a Concept Will Increase Timesharing as a Practice. And then, as if on cue, I ran across this bit of timely information reinforcing the idea that both timeshare ownership and fractional ownership will grow, simply because we, as a culture, are increasingly integrating the idea of shared ownership into our lifestyles and mindsets.

Last summer, a London-based company, called Fractional Life, held their first Fractional Ownership Expo. The alfresco-style exhibition was hosted in the city-center of London to introduce people to the diverse opportunities in fractional or timeshare ownership. The event was such a success that the company currently is hard at work preparing for Fraction Ownership Expo, 2008, to be held next month, again in downtown London.

Fractional Ownership Expo 2008

Fractional Life describes the expo by saying, “…the event caters for the growing number of people who want to enjoy a lifestyle of luxury items and experiences - without the ties, responsibilities and capital outlay of a complete purchase.” …hummm, sounds like timeshare to me.

Fractional Ownership Expo’s flagship sponsors are the Oceanico Group, a leader in luxury four and five-star residential and holiday homes offering high quality golf or beach amenities and, IFA Hotels & Resorts, an internationally recognized leader in the development of premier mixed-use hotel and tourism resort projects and luxury leisure services. Although the heart and soul of the fractional ownership event centers on shared vacation ownership property - timeshare real estate - exhibitors will include companies dealing in fractional ownership of classic and luxury cars, boats, yachts, aircraft and jets, wines, sporting passes and even handbags.

All of which proves once again, that the concept of timesharing really makes a lot of sense, even if I don’t personally understand exactly how you timeshare a bottle of wine.

Starwood Vacation Ownership (Starwood Timeshares) has expanded their fractional properties with the opening of The Phoenician Residences part of The Luxury Collection Residence Club.

Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, the 250-acre resort has undergone a major renovation to include floor plans that range from 1400 square feet to 2400. Each fractional unit has hardwood floors, a natural stone fireplace, a private plunge pool and spa, an outdoor summer kitchen, LCD televisions, and imported Irish linens.

On-property amenities include a USGA championship golf complex with 3 nine-hole courses, chipping and putting greens, and a driving range. The Tennis Garden offers 12 lighted courts, while other features include nine swimming pools, a 165-foot water slide, private cabanas, and a spa and wellness center.

The MoneyCentral Business Wire on MSN.com quoted Matt Avril, president and managing director of operations at Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc, as saying, “This newest offering in our portfolio of fractional resorts is the perfect complement to the St. Regis Residence Club properties in Aspen and New York. As a premier destination, The Phoenician (R) is a perennial favorite of sophisticated vacationers, and we are extremely excited to offer ownership opportunities through The Phoenician Residences, our first fractional resort under The Luxury Collection brand.”

Prices for fractional ownership at The Phoenician Residences start at $150,000 up to $400,000 and range from three weeks of vacation time upward. Fractional owners at The Phoenician Residences also have the option to exchange weeks for stays at other Residence Club properties or for Starwood Preferred Guests Starpoints.

Starwood properties include the following brands: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Four Points by Sheraton, LeMeridien, Aloft, Element, and Sheraton timeshare resorts and Westin timeshare resorts. More information is available on Sheraton timeshare resales and Westin timeshare resales from Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Recent Timeshare Owners Blog posts about Starwood timeshares include:

• Starwood Will Be Selling Timeshare from New Sales Galleries

Most people understand the concept of timeshares, even if they don’t know all the fine points. They realize that you can either jointly own a timeshare condo with many other owners or own the privilege of vacationing for a specific number of weeks in that timeshare condo. Some timeshares are deeded property ownership while other timeshares are based on the sharing of time at the vacation resort rather than the sharing of the real estate itself. Either way, the product qualifies as a timeshare, even when it is called a vacation club or vacation ownership.

What Makes a Timeshare A Timeshare?

Timeshares can be found in a range of sizes, from efficiency or studio rooms to 3 and even 4-bedroom timeshare units. Locations vary; some of them are great getaway retreats, some are urban timeshares, and others put you in the heart of a high-demand tourist destination.

Looking at Fractionals

While these qualities are all (typically) true of fractionals, as RCI explains, “The major difference between timeshare and fractional ownerships is money.” Fractionals - for good reason - cost more to purchase than do timeshares.

A fractional may be a condominium, or it may be a detached home. And the perks that come with fractionals can be amazing. Benefits like the use of a luxury car, the services of a private chef, or storage for your personal possessions between visits, may come as part of your fractional ownership.

Another important distinction of fractional properties is that they typically are built in locations that are so high-demand, only the uber-wealthy can afford to own them as sole owners. Fractionals can be found at the top ski resorts and on beachside property that is simply too valuable to be sold to a single owner.

Timeshare typically is owned in one-week intervals, although one owner may own multiple weeks. Fractionals, however, usually involve owning at least a month and can be up to 3 or 4 months of time, although not necessarily consecutive weeks or months.

RCI’s list of similarities between timeshare ownership and fractionals is not conclusive, but it does identify some of the commonalities of the two.

Timeshare and fractional can both be:

• Bought as deeded properties.
• Rented out to others during periods of non-use.
• Shared among family and friends.
• Resold at any time.
• Willed to kin. (Or I might add, willed to anyone else to whom you would like to leave it.)

At this time, someone who is trying to sell you a multi-million dollar fractional is unlikely to refer to it as a “timeshare”, but the fact is, the concept is basically the same. Right now, it is typically difficult to find fractional ownership properties under $100,000, with many being priced into the millions. But remember that the lines between timeshares and fractionals are already blurry, and they are only likely to become more so in the future.

To learn more about timeshare ownership, timeshare resales, and fractionals contact the timeshare specialists at Sell My Timeshare NOW. And watch the Timeshare Owners Blog this week for more posts on the topic of fractionals.

As 2007 was winding down, ad agency JWT put together a list of seven trends they believed would drive consumer thinking and behavior in the year 2008. In a summary of their report, published by Hotels‘ magazine, Ann Mack, director of trendspotting at JWT was quoted as saying, “We believe it’s essential to plot societal shifts in order to develop big brand ideas. Trendspotting allows us to figure out how the mood of the moment is affecting people’s lives.”

What interested me was the fact that among the seven key trends identified, one of them is timesharing. While JWT refers to it as, “Cooperative Consumption,” you and I recognize a description of timeshare ownership when we hear it.

Predicted Growth of Fractional Ownership as a Concept

According to the report, “Fractional ownership is moving beyond the shared planes of the jet-setting elite. The masses are already sharing everything from art to cars to designer handbags, and as technology for pooling demand and resources becomes increasingly sophisticated, this model will be applied to an even wider range of categories.”

Yep…that’s a lot of words, for describing timesharing, but timeshare ownership of luxury items is exactly the point being made by JWT, one of the most famous brand-building advertising agencies in the world today.

What Acceptance of Fractional Ownership Means

The Hotels’ article analyzes the report, saying, “Fractional ownership is nothing new in real estate and hospitality, but the building trend of consumers sharing is worth noting and considering - perhaps a mixed-use development makes good sense, and whole ownership is not the only residential component available.”

I don’t think it is a stretch to say that mixed-use development is already the path being taken by many hoteliers who have an established presence in the timeshare industry. Additionally, one would think that as people who have never dreamed of buying timeshare real estate become comfortable with the idea of owning everything from cars to dogs to jewelry on a timeshare basis, they would become equally as receptive to the idea of shared vacation property ownership.

Timeshare real estate ownership has always been a great idea and the millions of satisfied timeshare owners prove this. But the popularity of buying timeshares and timeshare resales is presently only a pale hint of what it has the potential to become; and according to JWT’s predictions about the movers and shakers, it is well on its way.

Learn more about the opportunities available in timeshare resales and timeshare rentals at Sell My Timeshare NOW.

People who use the smaller timeshare exchange companies frequently give them accolades for the personalized service they receive; yet many timeshare owners still don’t realize that RCI (Resort Condominiums International) and Interval International are not the only options in timeshare resort exchange.

The San Francisco Exchange Company, also known as SFX Preferred Resorts, has recently purchased a new purpose-built office building in Alameda, CA to serve as their corporate headquarters. They may be a smaller company, but they are definitely moving forward in growth mode.

Mel Grant, president and CEO of SFX Timeshare Resort Exchange says, “With 150,000 members, and as a result of current and anticipated future growth, it has become necessary to acquire more space giving us the ‘capacity’ for further expansion.”

The timeshare company’s official press release states, “SFX is not a replacement for other exchange companies. Rather, it is positioned as an “added layer” of premium service, which resorts use effectively in addition to their formal affiliation.”

As SFX Timeshare Resort Exchange has grown, they have added a division to focus on fractionals. The Fractional Collection is a subsidiary of SFX Preferred Resorts. SFX believes that because they focus on high-end timeshares, high-end fractionals are a natural extension of their services. The Fractional Collection will also be housed in the company’s new Alameda offices.

According to SFX Timeshare Resort Exchange, many informed consumers will not purchase a timeshare unless they know it qualifies for exchange through SFX, because SFX attracts the only high-end resort brands. The timeshare exchange company’s website describes their services in this way, “Regardless of any resorts exchange company affiliation, individual timeshare Owners own the rights to their time and can request the service of any exchange company willing to accept their weeks for exchange. SFX allowed Owners to exercise this right to its fullest, a never before realized value.”

To learn more about the opportunities in timeshare resales and timeshare rentals, visit our company’s website at www.sellmytimesharenow.com.

Zoning laws that limit the length of stay or the size of a hotel unit are creating problems for developers of condo-hotels and fractionals in parts of the Florida Panhandle

Pensacola Beach Developers hope to replace a Clarion hotel*, damaged by Hurricane Ivan, with a new 216-suite fractional resort. Each unit in the resort property would be sold to eight owners, who would individually pay to use it six weeks per year. When the owners were not using it, the suite would be available for rent to short-stay guests as a hotel room.

According to Joe Endry, owner of JME Realty, as quoted in a Pensacola News Journal article of April 12, 2007, each of the fractional or hotel units would average 1,250 square feet in size and would rent for $275 to $300 per night. By comparison, a traditional hotel room is between 300 and 450 square feet in size and generally rents for $150 per night (or less) in that particular geographic location.

The crux of the problem is that some officials say visitors who stay longer and have the use of a kitchen and dining area will utilize these in-suite amenities and thereby dine out fewer times than short-stay guests who do not have access to kitchens and eating areas. The critics say that a fractional or condo-hotel component added to a project essentially turns the property into an apartment unit, rather than a hotel, creating a difference that would be felt sharply by local restaurants.

As legislators, including the Santa Rosa Island Authority and Escambia County commissioners, attempt to sort through the distinctions that define one type of property as a hotel, another as a timeshare, a third as a fractional, and still another as a condo-hotel, they are considering hiring a hotel consultant to assist them.

One thing is certain, as resorts more frequently become multi-use properties, this issue will have to be ironed out in board rooms and meeting halls across the country.

* Note to readers: While the Pensacola News Journal identifies the site in question as being that of the hurricane-damaged Clarion hotel, other sources have said that it is the site of an old Best Western motel or and old Holiday Inn.

Elysian Development Group is acquiring the luxury Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colorado.

David Pisor, the CEO of Elysian Development Group is acquiring Aspen’s Hotel Jerome. Pisor currently owns and runs the Elysian Chicago hotel, which has 51 private residences as well as 181 guest rooms. The Elysian’s private residences reportedly sell for between $480,000 and $640,000.

While it has yet to be announced whether the Hotel Jerome will convert to a condo-hotel property, fractional, or timeshare resort, many anticipate such a move, based on Pisor’s business history. The Aspen Times (March 29, 2007) even referred to the Hotel’s new owner (meaning Pisor) as a “Chicago timeshare specialist”.

Timeshares have also been a touchy subject with some of the residents and council members of Aspen, which explains why the future of the Hotel Jerome remains, at this point, a little uncertain.

Nevertheless, there are other fabulous fractionals, timeshare resorts, and timeshare rentals in and around Aspen, Colorado, that are perfect for your ski vacation or just enjoying the great outdoors.

The award-winning, historic Hotel Jerome was built in 1889 and most recently owned by the Gaylord family who also owns Nashville’s Opryland Hotel, as well as the newspaper, The Daily Oklahoman.

Before you buy vacation property, learn the facts.

According to statistics recently released by the National Association of Realtors, four out of every ten homes sold are purchased either as investment properties or as a second home. As today’s baby boomer generation enters their peak income earning years, as well as comes into inherited money from previous generations, this trend is expected to escalate.

The vacation home market it thriving and with it comes new options for ownership beyond the traditional cabin in the woods or condo on the beach. Fractionals and private residence clubs are choices for people looking to buy deeded property to use on a part time basis. Destination clubs are another option in which owners do not acquire a deed to a specific property but instead gain the right to use a portfolio of homes.

Condo hotels or condotels are actual operating hotel properties that offer some or all of their suites for sale to individuals. While the hotel units may be privately owned, the condo hotel management assumes responsibility for running the hotel and providing contracted management of the units to be rented like regular hotel rooms. Owners can schedule the units at any time for their personal use.

And of course, there are timeshares and vacation club memberships which offer a variety of products from deeded ownerships, to right-to-use, to points-based programs. Timeshares enable you to buy vacation property yet pay for only the days and nights you actually schedule to use. While new timeshare in 2005 sold for an average price of more than $17,000 per week or interval, resale timeshare is available at much lower prices. If you are among the many people who are looking for vacation ownership, ARDA, the American Resort Development Association, has developed the following questionnaire to help you decide which option is best for your lifestyle and your budget:

1. How much time will we be using the vacation home?
2. Is the destination choice difficult to purchase in, or seem over-valued due to location popularity?
3. Are we looking at this second home as an investment and/or family legacy, or perhaps primarily as an annual ‘go to’ vacation spot?
4. How much time and money are we willing to invest in home maintenance or decor?
5. Is it important to be in the same vacation home every time we visit the area, or do we prefer variety?
6. What level of luxury are we seeking, and are we realistically able to achieve it in a second home?
7. Is it important for the vacation home to be deeded?
8. What is our annual vacation budget?

Here’s one more important addition to the list: Before you buy any vacation property, visit www.sellmytimesharenow.com and look into your opportunity to buy resale timeshare at excellent prices.

The Middle East is one of timeshare’s fastest growing regions.

This year’s Vacation Ownership Investment Conference will be held on March 6, 2007 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The theme of the VOIC Dubai 2007 conference will be, “Timeshares, Fractionals, Condo-hotels And more…”

Over 100 senior management executives from industries in 13 countries attended the 2005 Dubai symposium, formerly known as the Timeshare & Resort Investment Conference. This year’s event is returning to Dubai because VOIC recognizes the Middle East as one of the fastest growing regions for vacation ownership, in an industry that has experienced double-digit growth for more than two decades. Many experts believe that the timeshare vacation industry in the Middle East will see growth previously unparalleled in vacation ownership. With some 6.7 million timeshare owners, and over 5500 resorts in 110 countries around the globe, the vision of even greater growth, at a faster rate, is staggering.

The conference will not only educate its attendees on the opportunities in timesharing but will discuss fractionals, private residence clubs and condo-hotels, as well. Owners and decision makers within the industry will learn ways to benefit from the multiple profit centers timesharing creates, as well as develop a better understanding of the unique synergy between the traditional real estate industry and the vacation ownership market. Orlando’s Peter C. Yesawich, the chairman and ceo of Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown, & Russell, will be the conference’s keynote speaker. Mr. Yesawich is an industry expert you’ve heard me quote frequently in the Sell My Timeshare NOW, Timeshare Owners’ Blog, podcasts, and press releases. You’ll also find Yesawich’s wisdom in publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, Business Week, and Newsweek. His firm is one of the travel industry’s leaders in marketing, advertising, and public relations, and includes among their clients, the Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin Hotels, US Airways, Marriot Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Grand Vacations, Marriott Vacation Club International, the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), and Interval International, to name only a few.

The host hotel for the conference will be The Arabian Court, One & Only Royal Mirage in Dubai, a beachside resort that includes three properties: The Palace, The Residence & Spa, and The Arabian Court.