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.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership (Wyndham Timeshare) has commenced construction on their fifth Las Vegas timeshare resort, the Wyndham Desert Blue.

The initial phase of construction, which is scheduled for completion in 2010, will include a 19-story tower with 281 condominium-style timeshare units. Fifty of the timeshare condos will be penthouse style Presidential suites, while the rest will be one, two, and three bedroom timeshare suites.

The Desert Blue will be adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip and next to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.

Wyndham Timeshare Shows Commitment to Las Vegas

The addition of the Wyndham Desert Blue will give Wyndham timeshare 2400 timeshare units in Las Vegas. Franz Hanning, president and CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership says, “Our Las Vegas operations have continued to experience tremendous growth since our arrival in 2000. To date, we’ve sold nearly $1 billion worth of product in this market alone…We are committed to expanding our presence in this larger than life city, and once complete, Desert Blue will be one of the most in-demand properties in our portfolio.”

Wyndham Timeshare Resales and WorldMark Timeshare Resales

Currently the four Wyndham Las Vegas timeshare resorts are: the Wyndham Grand Desert, (part of the company’s FairShare Plus by Wyndham portfolio); the WorldMark Las Vegas; the WorldMark Las Vegas Spencer Street, and WorldMark Las Vegas Tropicana.

To find out more about excellent opportunities at these and other Las Vegas timeshare resales, visit Sell My Timeshare NOW.

This month’s edition of the Harvard Business Review included a very interesting article about the future of tourism both in the US and internationally. With the dark clouds of recession never far from view, it is very good news to hear knowledgeable experts forecasting positive trends in travel and vacationing.

Paul F. Nunes is an executive research fellow with the Accenture Institute for High Performance Business in Boston and London-based Mark Spelman is the global managing director of Accenture’s strategy practice. Together, they researched and wrote, “The Tourism Time Bomb”, which appeared in the Harvard Business Review’s April 2008 issue.

To understand their predictions, you have to start with the fact that they are forecasting the global emergence of a new middle class who will be shopping for vacations and travel. To quote their words, “Indian call-center employees, Russian petrochemical engineers, Chinese middle managers, and Brazilian salespeople are already scouring the web for deals on trips.”

Add to this list the changes in Cuba, (discussed in Saturday’s Timeshare Owners Blog) the American baby boomer, who is relatively insulated from the current US economic situation, Canadians who are enjoying a strong Looney, and other populations worldwide who are or will in the future be spending their money on travel and vacations. Suddenly, it begins to make sense that the United Nations is projecting that the annual number of international tourist visits will nearly double and reach 1.6 billion by the year 2020.

Could A “Bomb” Explode and Shower Us with Timeshare Resorts?

Nunes and Spelmen see three scenarios that could occur because of a surge in vacationing or what they call, “the tourism time bomb”.

The first possibility is that demand for hotel rooms in popular venues will outstrip supply. They go on to explain that the lodging crunch could become so tight, a new type of scalper could emerge, selling hotel rooms, air fares, and other travel related items at whatever top dollar the market will bear.

If this seems hard to imagine, remember that it is already happening in some segments of the travel industry, with the 2007 American Express Global Business Travel Report forecasting an 11 to 14 percent increase in the cost of travel for 2008. Can you envision a future where hotel room nights are pedaled at black market prices?

What A Travel Boom Will Mean to Timeshare Owners

If the predictions of Nunes, Spelman, American Express, or the United Nations turn out to be even halfway correct, then I can only see this as great news for timeshare owners. Timeshare owners will be ahead of the game because they own their vacation or travel accommodations, at a locked in price. These timeshare units will have been purchased at pre-escalation prices and if they were wisely bought as timeshare resales, then the timeshare owner will be even further ahead. When and if the timeshare owner decides to sell timeshare as a resale, he or she may find that the market has become extremely “seller friendly”.

The Tourism Time Bomb definitely gives us food for thought and paints the picture of a future environment that is beneficial for timeshare owners and timeshare real estate in general.

Check in on tomorrow’s Timeshare Owners Blog. I will share further information from this fascinating report and look at the other two travel industry scenarios the authors project.

Currently there are timeshare resorts in the Mozambique coastal cities of Ponta de Ouro and Tofo, and in the seaside province of Gaza (not to be confused with the troubled Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean Sea). But until now, the rest of Mozambique has been more or less cut out of the timeshare industry. Complex laws governing ownership of property have made it challenging for outside investors to own and develop properties of any type, but particularly timeshare real estate.

When Orlando Candu, the Mozambique national Inspector General of Tourism, spoke last week at the first Vacation Ownership in Mozambique Seminar, he explained, “Getting property rights, especially for commercial ventures, is difficult in the country but with new legislation like the regulation of timeshare, things would be easier.”

Candu is referring to Mozambique’s recent regulatory changes governing timeshare ownership that enable both local and foreign investors to enter the competitive timeshare real estate property market on an equal basis. At this time, the few existing timeshare resorts in Mozambique are owned by tourist operators from the neighboring countries of Zimbabwe and South Africa. Now, potentially both local business people and international hoteliers will have a green flag for developing in Mozambique.

Why You Should Keep Your Eye on Mozambique Timeshares

While Mozambique historically has been a country marked by political strife and a struggling economy, keep your eye on them as a potential timeshare resort growth destination - much like South Africa timeshares.

Mozambique offers miles and miles of sun-soaked, pristine beaches and tropical offshore islands. The country’s rich cultural heritage is an interesting mix of native Bantu tribes and the Portuguese colonists who settled there in the 1500’s. The Portuguese influence is still so strong that it remains Mozambique’s official language.

As the world continues to discover South Africa timeshares and as vacation ownership grows in this region, Mozambique could easily be the next stop on timeshare developer’s hot list. The perceived safety of vacationing at timeshare resorts will ease security concerns about traveling in Africa in the minds of many people. In addition, for US travelers facing the dollar’s declining value in Europe, Africa, where the US dollar remains strong, could become an increasingly attractive vacation destination.

To learn more about current opportunities in South Africa timeshare resales visit Sell My Timeshare NOW’s website. If you are interested in being ahead of the game in the timeshare industry, keep your eyes on Mozambique timeshare.

Enjoy this 30-second video of mysterious Mozambique:

Easter is only slightly less than a week away, yet much of the US is still shoveling snow in their driveway and scraping ice from car windshields. With that in mind, it’s not hard to be enticed by the idea of packing your sunscreen and flip-flops and becoming a vacation property owner in the Maldives, the beautiful islands known as the pearls of the Indian Ocean.

Forty-four of the 200 inhabited islands in the chain of “pearls” are developed exclusively as resorts. Now the United Arab Emirates-based developer, Emerald Vacation Group, is about to add one more - this one, a timeshare resort. The new Turtle Cove Resort will be the first vacation ownership property in the Maldives.

On the private island of Mahadhdhoo, in an idyllic setting on the northern Huvadhu Atoll, the exclusive Turtle Cove Resort and Spa will offer unique timeshare vacation properties. Completion of the resort is scheduled for 2009, and when finished, the timeshare resort will offer 77 one-bedroom villas, with future plans for ten two-bedroom timeshare units. Thirty of the timeshare villas will be located on the water at the lagoon and each one will have a private swimming pool and personal concierge service.

The resort will include fine dining restaurants, a spa, shopping promenade, and a water sports center. According to Emerald Vacation Group’s general manager, Chris Jackson, “The launch of Turtle Cove Resort and Spa marks Emerald Vacation Group’s first foray into the international property arena. We have therefore chosen a unique and exclusive island in a highly sought after part of the world as our entry into an industry that looks set to soar in the coming years. As the first vacation ownership property in the Maldives, we anticipate that Turtle Cove will attract a great deal of interest.”

Opportunities in Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals

Here’s a YouTube video that will help you get a better picture of just how beautiful life is in the Maldives. And once you watch this video, you will be so ready to head to your own island paradise vacation, you will need this list of timeshare resales in areas near the Maldives, that are ready, waiting, and are currently available at excellent resale pricing from Sell My Timeshare NOW.

• Malaysia Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals
• Indonesia Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals
• United Arab Emirates Timeshare Resales and Timeshare Rentals

Who could have imagined that the business affairs of Donald Trump would show up in the Timeshare Owners Blog as frequently as they have this past year? But Donald Trump’s reality reads better than fiction, and new chapters seem to be written almost weekly.

If you have somehow missed the continuing saga of Trump’s dream to build a hotel and timeshare resort on the Scottish coast, I direct you to these past postings on the Timeshare Owners Blog.

Trump’s Efforts to Build a Hotel and Timeshare Resort in Aberdeen, Scotland:

• Drama Continues Over Trump Hotel and Timeshare Resort
• Hey Donald Trump, Can You Get Me a Timeshare Deal?
• Aberdeen Golf and Timeshare Resort a Little Closer to Reality
• Can One Scotsman Stop Trump’s Resort and Timeshare?
• Donald Trump’s Controversial Golf and Timeshare Resort in Aberdeen, Scotland Part II.
• Donald Trump’s Controversial Golf and Timeshare Resort in Aberdeen, Scotland

…And now for the latest chapter in Trump Golf’s quest to build the finest golf resort and timeshare in Scotland.

Photo courtesy of The Daily Mail

Earlier this month the Scotland’s heraldic authority stated that Donald Trump had broken the law by not registering a coat of arms the Trump Organization has been using on stationery and other promotional materials for its proposed Aberdeen golf course, hotel, and timeshare resort. Citing a regulation that is more than 300 years old, the Scotland heraldic authority says Trump has been illegally using a coat of arms that features three lions and a fist holding an arrow as part of their marketing campaign for the golf resort.

The Court of the Lord Lyon, which has held authority over coats of arms in Scotland since 1642, has issued an order that the Trump company must immediately stop use of the image. Not only is the coat of arms unregistered, but according to a quote that appeared in United Press International, Romilly Squire of the Scottish Heraldic Society says that having Trump’s name in the crest breaks a key law of heraldry. Apparently, a motto should have been used rather than a name.

According to a slightly tongue-in-cheek blog post on The Nation, written by author and columnist, Nicholas Von Hoffman, Trump also uses a similar logo for Trump University. I wonder if the Trump U lion is a registered coat of arms or if the keepers of heraldic integrity will have to rap The Donald’s hands for that unauthorized use as well?

Great Choice for a Scotland Timeshare Vacation

And while the world waits for the resolution of the Trump hotel and timeshare resort issue, remember that there are always opportunities to enjoy a great Scotland timeshare vacation or golf timeshare vacation by taking advantage of Scotland Timeshare Resales and timeshare rentals through Sell My Timeshare NOW.

• Sunterra Resort Kenmore Club
• Moness Country Club
• Loch Rannoch Highland Club
• Hilton International Grand Vacations at Hilton Coylumbridge and Hilton Craigendarroch
• Great Glen Water Park Club
• Edinburgh Residence
• Cameron House

You have to hand it to the people at Travelodge UK for being genuinely concerned about the well-being of their customers.

During a trial period, guests at Travelodge hotels in London Heathrow T5, Bristol Central, Birmingham Fiveways, Manchester Central, and Edinburgh Central will receive a pair of complementary pajamas, scientifically designed to improve their sleep. These are no ordinary pj’s.

Made from a fabric called Dermasilk, they are designed to feel like a second skin. When you wear these pajamas, your skin can breathe, can more easily regulate your body temperature, and maintain its moisture balance, all of which should lead to a better night’s sleep.

According to Leigh McCarron, Travelodge Sleep Director, “As a retailer of sleep, we are constantly investigating innovative ways, on how we can help our customers attain a good night’s sleep. Something as simple as changing your bed attire can dramatically affect your quality of sleep.

To support our pjs trial, we conducted a sleepwear study, which examined the nation’s attitude towards nightwear. These findings have been incorporated into our final pajama prototype - resulting in the ultimate sleepwear.”

The findings of the Travelodge study on sleepwear revealed that among the 3000 British adults surveyed:

• • 23 percent said itchy nightclothes stop them from getting a good night’s sleep.
• • 66 percent said being too hot or too cold at various points throughout the night interferes with their sleep pattern and 54 percent say they are more often too hot while 35 percent say they are too cold.
• • 23 percent of women will wear socks to bed in order to stay warmer while only 11 percent of men will sleep in socks.

If you are a regular reader of the Timeshare Owners Blog, you may recall last November when I wrote a blog post about Travelodge UK’s concern over nude sleepwalking. I suppose if the new second skin pajamas are a success, then the hotel chain will have succeeded in improving the quality of sleep for many of their guests and at the same time reducing the epidemic numbers of nude sleepwalkers that they have been dealing with in recent months. (see our November 11, 2006 blog post here)

You have to applaud Travelodge’s commitment to improving every detail of their guests’ stay in their hotels, and wonder if providing free sleepwear will become a trend at hotels and timeshare resorts. After all, the plush, terry bathrobe has long been a trademark of many better hotels and resorts.

And in the spirit of, “don’t knock it, ’til you’ve tried it,” I won’t completely rule out sleeping in such ‘unique’ sleepwear, but I can’t help but wonder which would ultimately be more disturbing: seeing other hotel or timeshare resort guests sleepwalking in the nude or seeing them sleepwalking in these odd looking pajamas?

What do you think? Would you be willing to don a pair of these pj’s in the pursuit of a great night’s sleep? Have you stayed at other hotels or resorts that provided you courtesy sleepwear?

Lodging Econometrics (LE), a Portsmouth NH company that monitors trends in hotel real estate, has released hotel growth projections for 2008.

In their report titled, 2008 Outlook for the Lodging Industry, Lodging Econometrics says that the Construction Pipeline stood at 5,438 projects and 718,387 guestrooms at the end of the fourth quarter 2007, meaning that the hotel industry now offers more than 700,000 rooms for the first time ever.

According to Patrick Ford, president of Lodging Econometrics, “The development boom is led by projects in the upscale and mid-market sectors, which together make up 83% of the non-casino projects and 76% of the guestrooms in the Pipeline. These chain scales include the high profile brands from the top franchise companies – Marriott, Hilton, InterContinental, and Choice, as well as Best Western. These companies had an outstanding year selling their family of brands both to developers for new construction and to investor groups interested in reflagging their open and operating hotels.”

According to Lodging Econometrics research, there are 1208 new hotels projected to open in 2008 translating to 133,628 guestrooms and 1456 hotels projected to open in 2009, which will add an additional 166,236 guestrooms.

The hotel industry experts at Lodging Econometrics assess that this growth pattern indicates, “a clear reflection of optimistic developers who anticipate the lending markets will have stabilized and approached normalcy when they are ready to seek financing.”

While this forecast is almost entirely derived based on the numbers of hotels already under construction, the new report acknowledges that 2009 numbers could decline slightly if economic and lending conditions turn out to be worse than currently projected.

Hotel developers were hoping that the residential real estate mortgage and lending situation would have improved by the end of 2007, and that it would not interfere with lending for hotel development in the future. Because there has not been an improvement, according to Lodging Econometrics, the Federal Reserve started a series of auctions in December to infuse banks with capital at reduced rates. These emergency auctions are meant to encourage banks to be more proactive lenders.

Since that time, the rate cuts by the Feds have surprised (and pleased) most of us. The assessment by Lodging Econometrics is, “Lenders simply have to resume lending.” But even the Lodging Econometrics people acknowledge that the impact of the cuts by the Federal Reserve will take months to truly begin to turn the economy around.

Hotels and Timeshare Resorts May Feel the Belt Tighten

Many of the people who buy timeshare weeks have not been hurt by the mortgage crunch. They have owned their home long enough to have sufficient equity to help them weather the soft economy, and frequently, their homes were bought before the days of irresponsible mortgage lending practices. Yet, I don’t have to tell you that everything from gasoline to groceries has gone up dramatically in price.

So far, the hotel industry has not dealt with enough decline, nor has it gone for a long enough period of time, that serious damage has been done. And timeshare resorts have felt the belt tightening even less than hotels. But how long can either hotels or timeshare resorts hold up if a true recession unfolds?

According to the Lodging Econometrics report, “the Condo Hotel boom is over, while the number of new Timeshare announcements is certain to decline.” Here’s who their report predicts will fare the best in upcoming months. “Properties under 200 rooms, with the top brands and the most experienced developers - having conservative proformas that account for anticipated supply increases in the years ahead - will be the most attractive to finance during the current turmoil, either through local institutions or a declining number of national lenders.”

I can’t help but believe, that timeshare resales will feel the impact of the economy less than other sectors. Besides the fact that often timeshare owners and timeshare buyers are in better shape going into the economic crunch than are many other Americans, the most important factor is that a decline in the number of new timeshare resorts to be built should only serve to drive up the value of existing resorts.

I am not predicting that the value of timeshare resales you currently own will soar, or even necessarily increase, but it may very well be one of the few areas of the economy that does not take a nose dive. And in a declining economy, holding your own, can be a very good thing.

J. W. “Bill” Marriott is the well-known president, CEO, and family heir of the Marriott International Corporation, which includes Marriott hotels, Marriott timeshare, and numerous related hospitality and management companies. Always a highly visible leader in the business world, Bill Marriott is recently making his voice heard in politics as the 2008 presidential election continues to heat up.

In a speech delivered on January 17, Marriott called for presidential candidates to, “move to a sober discussion of immigration reform.”

“We need to cool the rhetoric and work together to come up with a federal solution,” Marriott said, emphasizing the current problem employers have attempting to comply with a diversity of immigration laws that vary from state to state.

According to Marriott, “With expected growth, the hospitality industry alone will need an additional 300,000 workers in the next several years…We need immigrant workers in our economy and we need to create a workable verification system so that employers like us know that they’re hiring people who are authorized to work.”

In his speech, Bill Marriott called for the removal of barriers to global travel saying that visa and entry systems needed to be more efficient and customer-friendly or the US loses the opportunity to attract more visitors, stating that, “Bottom line, travel is trade.”

In this YouTube video, Bill Marriott talks about the need for immigration reform and other points related to the economy and the hotel and timeshare resorts industry.

When you want to sell timeshare and you put your vacation property on the market as a timeshare resale, it may surprise you which features make it most attractive to people looking to buy timeshare. The rule is the same for timeshare real estate, as it is for residential homes, commercial property, and vacation housing: location-location-location.

Timeshare at highly sought vacation destinations is attractive to people interested in timeshare condo resales and vacation club memberships. But timeshare resales have one huge advantage over other types of real estate when it comes to the subject of location because so many timeshare resorts offer exchange privileges at other resorts, or through timeshare exchange memberships like Interval International and RCI timeshare. In fact, frequently, when people buy timeshare, they look for properties - not at the destination they want - but at a destination where they think other people will want to make a timeshare exchange.

The second factor that strongly affects salability of timeshare resales is the dates or time of the year you own. Many people who buy timeshare must plan their travel and vacation dates around school calendars. However, despite the fact that timeshare sales are increasing rapidly among younger buyers, the largest market for the purchase of timeshare weeks is still among Baby Boomers - the demographic that is the least likely to be concerned about school holiday schedules.

Of course, the features and amenities that your timeshare resort offers, also makes a big difference with attracting people to buy your timeshare resale. Beachside access always attracts buyers, as does a location near popular ski sites. But also attractive are what is known as “drive to” destinations, which may not be on the beach or near the slopes, but do offer the advantage of being geographically located within easy driving distances for large populations of people.

At the resort, it has long been the standard that location at a golf course or with golf access makes timeshare resales more desirable. But according to recent information released by M.I.C.E, (an acronym for MEETING - INCENTIVE - CONFERENCE - EXHIBITION , a professional organization for meeting and event planners) interest in tennis between the years 2000 and 2005 increased by more than 12 percent. According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, tennis is experiencing the highest growth rate of the 114 traditional sports tracked in the United States. So if your timeshare resale offers tennis courts on property or nearby, be sure to make that point known to potential buyers. In these tighter economic times, the cost of playing tennis as compared to the cost of playing golf, is bound to be a consideration by some vacationers.

For more information about the easiest and most effective way to sell timeshare, visit the timeshare resales experts at Sell My Timeshare NOW.