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Timeshare Industry Conducts Upbeat Annual International Conference in Trying Times

(ORLANDO, FL) -- With the global recession continuing to drag on for the 16th month, it's tough for many people to find a silver lining in the cloudy economic conditions, especially those in the timeshare industry. But that's exactly what an estimated 2,800 timeshare executives and affiliates attempted to do this week at the American Resort Development Association's annual  2009 Convention and Exposition here at the Orlando World Center Marriott.

The fact so many professionals showed up for the five-day event was positive news in itself, ARDA president Howard Nusbaum pointed out during the general opening session  that featured Jeffrey Rosensweig, a leading global economist from Emory University's Goizueta Business School.

Many of the timeshare industry's top professionals were in attendance, including large contingencies from exchange company giants Group RCI and Interval International, principals from leading timeshare developers and operators such as Marriott Vacation Club International, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Hyatt Vacation Ownership, Starwood Vacation Ownership and Wyndham Vacation Ownership, and CFI/Westgate Resorts founder David Siegel, who runs the largest privately held independent timeshare company in the world.

"Most shows are down 50 percent," Nusbaum told the audience, "and we're only down about 25 percent. That's a testament to our passion for the industry."

Indeed, and nobody was more passionate in talking economy and the timeshare business than Rosensweig, who has appeared nationally on ABC's World News Tonight and Good Morning America, NBC's Today Show and Nightly News, and CNN.

"I do not forecast a second depression," Rosensweig said at the top of his presentation. "I do believe the Federal Reserve knows what's going on, and I do believe a lot of the actions being taken (by the Fed and government) will help."

And perhaps the most relieving prediction is Rosensweig calls for the current recession to "bottom out in 8-9 months."

However, Rosensweig told the attendees that he doesn't see any "real rebound" until sometime in 2011 when the country "returns to normal" with maybe 2 percent gross domestic production, compared with typical annual GDP of 3 percent. Until then, the celebrated professor from the Coke-endowed Emory business school said, "We'll be lucky to grow 1 percent in 2010, and we'll probably see ½ percent to 1 percent GDP growth."

"My entire life I've been an optimist, but I want to be a realist with you," Rosensweig told the timeshare attendees. "We're not anywhere near the bottom."

Generally speaking, though, Rosensweig painted a positive picture for the fundamental strengths of America and Americans, noting the U.S. has an increasingly younger population compared with most of the other leading developed nations. For example, there were more babies born in America the last two years - 8.5 million - than in any other time in history.

"We have optimism for growth with our growing workforce," Rosensweig said. "Europe has an aging population and worries of who will preserve their pensions."

Also, Rosensweig stressed it's important to put the current U.S. economy in proper perspective historically. For instance, on a Global Growth Chart, he showed China, India and Brazil are projected to be the only nations with sizable positive GDP growth from 2009-2010. China, of course, and its $4 trillion economy leads the pack, but the Chinese will accomplish that growth with four times the population of the United States.

Meanwhile, Rosensweig noted America has a $14 trillion economy, or even more impressively, 10 times the per capita productivity of China.

Another region that showed some signs of life at this year's ARDA conference was Latin America. Despite the generalized economic slowdown, Group RCI reported April 1 the total number of local timeshare buyers in Latin America exceeded 80,000, up from nearly 70,240 in 2007.

Meanwhile, the number of foreign buyers remained the bulk of timeshare buyers in this region, growing to 175,000 from 171,000 the previous year. Another interesting item presented at the convention in Group RCI's "Executive Summary Latin America and the Caribbean Vacation Ownership Fact Book," was 42 new properties became affiliated to an exchange company, bringing the total to 1,174 affiliated resorts in the region. Mexico and Caribbean countries, not surprisingly, continue to lead this growing region in sales.

Group RCI, part of the publicly traded Wyndham Worldwide family of companies,  is the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and the European leader in vacation rentals, with exclusive access for specified periods to more than 67,000 vacation properties in approximately 100 countries.

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Holiday Inn Club Vacations Officially Goes Live with 2 More Timeshare Properties
 
(ORLANDO, FL) -- Holiday Inn Club Vacations, the newly formed partnership between timeshare giant Orange Lake Resorts and Holiday Inn's parent company, Intercontinental Hotel Group, announced April 1 the South Beach Resort in Myrtle Beach, S.C.,  officially joined the timeshare brand's portfolio.

Meanwhile, the Smoky Mountain resort in Gatlinburg, Tenn., was scheduled to go live April 2.

These newest additions join the brand's flagship location, Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort in Orlando, Fla., and three other Holiday Inn Club Vacations resorts in Lake Geneva, Wis., Panama City, Fla., and Brownsville, Vt.

In February of this year, the 256-unit South Beach Resort in Myrtle Beach and the 109-unit Smoky Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg were purchased by Orange Lake Resorts under an exclusive agreement with IHG to license the Holiday Inn Club Vacations name.

Holiday Inn Club Vacations will add a 6,500 square-foot sales center at the Myrtle Beach resort, and starting April 2 timeshare intervals at all Holiday Inn Club Vacations properties will be sold out of both Orlando and Myrtle Beach properties.  Orange Lake Resorts also has budgeted nearly $3 million for improvements to the resort, including the renovation of the private beachfront owner clubhouse. 

"We know that what matters most to our guests is creating memorable vacation experiences with their families and friends," said Christian Hempell, vice president of Holiday Inn Club Vacations.

"As our guests look for better vacation value in these tough economic times, we're pleased that in just three months we've offered them six new resorts all conveniently located in high-demand, drive-to destinations."

Orange Lake President/CEO Don Harrill, said, "It's an exciting time for our company, as we grow our timeshare brand to the destinations our club members have asked for. The only way for us to continue to be among the best in the timeshare industry is to deliver on our promise to enhance the way our members vacation--and we're pleased to say we're still doing just that."


With these two resort locations, Holiday Inn Club Vacations will welcome nearly 200 more employees to deliver the brand promise to guests and owners in Myrtle Beach and Gatlinburg.

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Gary Player, Other Top Golf Industry Leaders Convene at World Golf Village

(ST. AUGUTINE, FL) -- The World Golf Village/World Golf Hall of Fame hosted many of the golf industry's leading developers, operators, architects and consultants here this week for the annual Crittenden Golf Inc. Spring Conference.

And while golf course development and participation continues to decline or remain stagnant worldwide, the one message from this year's conference is golf is far from dead as an amenity for resort-style developments.

Clearly, one of the highlights of this year's conference was the guest appearance of Hall of Fame golfer Gary Player. Player enthralled the estimated 200 attendees with a rousing inspirational keynote address that thoroughly covered three of his biggest passions in life - growing the game internationally, eliminating child obesity and water conservation - and, of course, the messy state of the world's economy.

When asked by the Real Estate Channel where his favorite place to relax on the planet is, other than his home in South Florida and South Africa, Player simply said, "Home is where you make it."

As for the health of golf, Player, who will be playing in a record 52nd Masters Championship later this month, said, "Golf is due for a big, big change. Golf has reached a maturity in the U.S. We overbuilt (the number of courses)."

One creative solution Player offered to help grow golf was creating a new junior-level state-by-state championship contest, with the top four finishers then having the grand prize opportunity of playing a pro-am round of golf with golf's leading professionals during a particular week of the PGA Tour.

"Can you imagine what that would mean to be a state champion and then play a round with  stars like Tiger Woods, Ernie Els or Retief Goosen," asked Player, the Global Ambassador for the World Golf Foundation. "Another big-big problem is golf is taking too much time away from you and your families. We have to make golf more fun and more for the families."

One final bit of advice that Player drove home on several occasions was the subject of how to succeed in these trying times.

"The economy is first prize," said Player, who, at age 73, appears to be as youthful as ever. "Life is difficult. It's God's plans to have adversity. ... One quote I've always liked was from the great leader Winston Churchill. He said, "Change is the price of survival."

It's a statement that couldn't be any more apropos for both the golf business and life in general.

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