Starwood Resorts and Timeshares has announced that they are building a freestanding timeshare sales gallery inside the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel for the purpose of selling timeshare weeks at that property and at the Sheraton PGA in Port Lucie, FL.

This is the first time Starwood Resorts and Timeshares have used a purpose-built, freestanding timeshare sales office to sell timeshare units and timeshare weeks. The new Starwood Timeshare office will employ 20 to 25 timeshare sales people, and will ultimately sell timeshare weeks at all 25 Starwood properties, which includes Sheraton timeshare resorts and Westin timeshare resorts.

In an article published by PressofAtlanticCity.com, written by business editor Kevin Post, Starwood Vacation Ownership spokesperson David Matheson was quoted as saying, “Timeshares are becoming more and more of a mainstream product. Starwood and companies like it are bringing credibility to the industry.”

The article noted that Starwood timeshare units range from about $13,000 to $28,000 with annual maintenance fees of $400 to $800. On the same day that this article ran, CrainsNYBusiness.com published an article identifying that their new chief executive officer, Fritz Van Paasschen, who took the helm in September of 2007, earned approximately $9.1 million during that 4-month period.

Sheraton Timeshare and Westin Timeshare

While Van Paasschen’s base salary is less than $300,000 annually, his bonuses, incentives, and stock options accounted for the rest of his 9 million dollar-plus compensation. Leaving you to draw your own conclusions here, now seems like a good time to remind you that you can get excellent timeshare deals on Starwood timeshare resales, resorts that carry the brands of Sheraton timeshare resales or Westin timeshare resales.

Timeshare Resales from Sell My Timeshare NOW

When you buy timeshare directly from the person who owns it, you are purchasing vacation time at the same resorts as people who buy timeshare new, from the developer and typically pay much higher prices. Here’s a list of some the opportunities available in timeshare resales in Sell My Timeshare NOW’s current inventory:

• Sheraton Broadway Plantation - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• Sheraton Desert Oasis - Scottsdale, Arizona
• Sheraton Mountain Vista - Avon, Colorado
• Sheraton PGA Vacation Resort - Port St. Lucie, Florida
• Sheraton Vistana Resort - Orlando, Florida
• Sheraton Vistana Villages - Orlando, Florida
• The Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas - Maui
• Westin Kierland Villas - Scottsdale, Arizona
• Westin Mission Hills Resort and Villas - Rancho Mirage, California
• Westin St. John Resort and Villas - St. John, US Virgin Islands
• Harborside Resort at Atlantis - Paradise Island, The Bahamas
• Lakeside Terrace - Avon, Colorado

Because St. Maarten is a popular vacation destination and the location of many wonderful timeshare resorts, air travel there continues to expand. Air service from the US already included American, US Air, Continental, and Delta but the additions of Spirit Airlines flying out of Fort Lauderdale and more recently, JetBlue from New York, gives timeshare owners and vacationers a lot more options in budget friendly airfares for getting to St. Maarten timeshare resorts.

St. Maarten (or Sint Maarten) and St. Martin are the French and the Dutch sides of one of the Caribbean’s most desirable vacation destinations. The two bordering governments co-exist in harmony and there are no checkpoints when crossing the borderlines, so when you vacation there you can swim on a Dutch-side beach in the morning and have lunch at a French-side café without even a trip through customs.

The island is less than 40 square miles in size, but because of the mountainous elevations, the island “lives large” with many villages built on hillside slopes. St. Maarten is considered part of the Netherlands Antilles, which also includes the islands of Bonaire and Curacao, and is just off the coast of Venezuela. The other two islands of the Netherlands Antilles are St. Eustatius and Saba, which are both close to St. Maarten.

One of the largest resorts in St. Maarten will be the new Westin St. Maarten Dawn Beach Residences in St. Maarten, where an adjacent Westin resort will provide condo owners the amenities of a hotel guest experience. Like other condotel or condo hotel developments, this should prove to be a win-win, where condo owners enjoy up to 28 days per year in their properties while receiving a percentage of the rates for the other days the condo unit is rented. At the same time, Westin can develop the property, relying on money from condo owners to greatly offset the funds the developer must secure in its mortgage.

With more St. Maarten timeshare resort and condo properties from which to choose and more ways for getting to the island, what’s stopping you from planning a St. Maarten timeshare resort vacation? The opportunities in timeshare resales in the Netherlands Antilles are huge, and Sell My Timeshare NOW is the perfect place to start planning your tropical island vacation.

Marriott Timeshares are usually credited with being the first hoteliers to get into the timeshare real estate business. In fact, some of the first hotel-branded properties were Sheraton timeshares. Sheraton timeshares have been in Hawaii since the 1960’s, and it is little surprise that today, as Starwood timeshare resorts, they continue to thrive in our fiftieth state.

In April, Starwood Vacation Ownership is opening their third vacation ownership (timeshare) resort in the Hawaiian Islands. The Timeshare Blog quoted Denise Wardlow, general manager of the new Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas as saying, “This property gives our travel partners more options to attract upscale clients who are repeat guests to the island of Kaua’i - guests who desire the convenience of a fully-furnished kitchen, washer and dryer, plus all of the luxurious amenities and services of a Westin resort.”

Located in Kaua’i, in the seaside community of Princeville, the new resort has classic Hawaiian plantation styling and includes seven buildings with a total of 179 timeshare condos, as well as a clubhouse, restaurant, and general store. Rack rates for a studio timeshare condo will start at $600 per night, $800 per night for a one-bedroom timeshare condo, and $1400 per night for a two bedroom timeshare condo.

The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas will combine state of the art amenities with traditional island charm, but before you reach for your checkbook, make sure you look at other opportunities in Hawaii timeshare resales and Hawaii timeshare rentals.

Here are some of the excellent opportunities available to you to buy timeshare or rent timeshare through Sell My Timeshare NOW:

• Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort - North Villas Resales
• Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort - North Villas Rentals
• Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas Resales
• Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas Rentals

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts is trying to make booking your hotel or timeshare condo more fun with the addition of an online pillow fight and an online pool splash-fight to their website. Sheraton’s advertising agency for their website, Avenue A| Razorfish and Eyeblaster, a designer and vendor of online technology, joined forces to create two real-time, online interactive games for visitors to the Sheraton website.

Using a combination of artificial intelligence and interactive communication, each of the two games allows website visitors to use their cursor to join in the hotel room pillow fight or the splash fight in the hotel pool.

“Multi-user technology was the perfect fit for the Sheraton audience,” said John Antoniello, of Avenue A| Razorfish. “It’s a simple way for lots of people to jump into a fun, social activity. Who wouldn’t want to join a pillow fight?”

The pillow fight breaks every 15 seconds for users to either regroup or move ahead booking their Sheraton hotel and timeshare accommodations. With all the accompanying publicity, the games are sure to draw many visitors to the Sheraton website. But after 15 seconds of bashing virtual pillows with a stranger, you will probably be ready to go to Sell My Timeshare NOW and buy timeshare resale or book a timeshare rental directly from the current owner. You save money on fabulous timeshare vacation property and the owner of the timeshare gets a convenient way to sell timeshare or rent timeshare he no longer needs. Now to me, saving time and saving money is a much more satisfying way to interact online than splashing in a virtual swimming pool or creating a snowstorm of imaginary feathers.

Sheraton is part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc, with resorts in 95 countries, and includes Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc, operating timeshares under the brands of Starwood, Westin, and Sheraton.

• Harborside Resort at Atlantis, Paradise Island, The Bahamas
• Lakeside Terrace, Avon, Colorado
• Sheraton Broadway Plantation, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• Sheraton Desert Oasis, Scottsdale, Arizona
• Sheraton Mountain Vista, Avon, Colorado
• Sheraton PGA Vacation Resort, Port St. Lucie, Florida
• Sheraton Vistana Resort, Orlando, Florida
• Sheraton Vistana Villages, Orlando, Florida
• The Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas, Maui
• Westin Kierland Villas, Scottsdale, Arizona
• Westin Mission Hills Resort and Villas, Rancho Mirage, California
• Westin St. John Resort and Villas, St. John, US Virgin Islands

I recently wrote about the new Starwood timeshare vacation property at Desert Willow, scheduled for development under the Westin brand in late 2007 or early 2008. I want to share a few enlightening facts about California’s Coachella Valley, the fastest growing area in all of Southern California.

And while I am not prognosticating or recommending that anyone plan a timeshare deal based solely on this information, I think you will find these statistics very interesting. Knowing the next “hot spot” destination can prove to be valuable insight for anyone looking to buy or sell a timeshare condo.

The Coachella Valley is a geographic area that extends roughly 45 miles from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea. Nine cities are located inside this target area: Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Coachella, Indian Wells, Indio, Desert Hot Springs, La Quinta and Palm Desert. There are over 100 great golf courses located here, included the world famous courses at Mission Hills, La Quinta, PGA West, Indian Wells and Tamarisk, to name only a few. And according to research developed by the Global Hospitality Group, the population of the Coachella Valley increased by 59 percent between the years 1990 and 2004.

So what is attracting the influx of both new residents and vacationers to this area?

Surprisingly, despite the number of luxury homes and magnificent resorts, the cost of living in the Coachella Valley beats that of Los Angeles, San Diego or greater Orange County. And the Coachella Valley still represents the desert playground of old-time movie glam stars like Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. While all this fast growth and projected development will gobble up nearly 200,000 acres of undeveloped land in the valley, the good news is that despite such expansion, there will still be roughly a million acres of vast, awesome, spectacularly unique undeveloped desert land.