Tired of Eating Pizza on a Hotel Bed? Rent a Timeshare for a Better Vacation

Straight from ARDA's consumer website, www.VacationBetter.org comes yet another consumer friendly report. I suggest that all timeshare owners, or potential owners, visit VacationBetter.org for deep insight, consumer advisory's and more! Educate yourself!

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2010 – As we enter the summer vacation season, families are looking for travel savings ideas everywhere and are prepared to jam their families into small hotel rooms if the deal is right. The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) has a solution for the budget-conscious, weary traveler: rent a timeshare villa for your next vacation.



“Many vacationers don’t yet realize that they can rent a week or two at a fabulous resort and stay in spacious accommodations with one or more bedrooms and bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room – all the comforts of home,” said Howard Nusbaum, ARDA president and CEO. “While it may be the destination that gets them there, it’s the guarantee of high-quality accommodations that keeps them returning year after year.”


According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers research on the state of the timeshare industry in 2009, nearly half of timeshare purchasers rented first. Among six million-plus timeshare owners, timeshares continue to enjoy an 85 percent satisfaction rate. “Timeshare owners place value on having the space to truly rejuvenate – a benefit that comes with a timeshare vacation,” said Nusbaum. And, because of the pre-paid nature of the product, timeshare owners continue to travel despite historic lows in traditional hotel occupancy. For 2009, the timeshare industry reported an occupancy rating of nearly 80 percent.


“We have created a rental engine for consumers to take advantage of the convenience of vacationing ‘timeshare-style.’ The opportunity for consumers to spread-out with all the conveniences of home as well as enjoy a host of on-site activities and amenities has been very positive,” said Don Harrill, president and CEO of Orange Lake Resorts, home to Holiday Inn Club Vacations. “We have seen an increase in our rental activity and our guest surveys reflect high product satisfaction ratings. In addition, we have opened our channels to mini-vacation packages and specials and are beginning to use social media as a way to market directly to consumers,” Harrill continued.


There are many ways for vacationers to ensure the right timeshare rental to meet their travel needs. Rentals can be found at aggregated sites such as www.redweek.com and www.tug2.net, as well as with many timeshare developers that may be offering rental packages. “We have two to three thousand rentals on our site at any given time,” said Brian Rogers, president of the Timeshare Users Group. “We frequently encourage travelers to explore this vacation experience because renting provides the perfect “try before you buy” solution.”

ARDA’s consumer website, www.VacationBetter.org, is a resource for all timeshare information. Visit it to discover what you’ve been missing.




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About ARDA:



The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) is the Washington D.C.-based professional association representing the vacation ownership and resort development industries. Established in 1969, ARDA today has over 1,000 members ranging from privately held firms to publicly traded companies and international corporations with expertise in shared ownership interests in leisure real estate. The membership also includes timeshare owner associations (HOAs), resort management companies, and owners through the ARDA Resort Owners Coalition (ARDA-ROC). For more information, visit www.arda.org or ARDA’s consumer website at www.VacationBetter.org.

Massanutten Timeshare Resort

I can speak about Massanutten resort from the perspective of a timeshare vacationer/owner, an employee, and a resident. My parents went to work at Massanutten resort in the early 80's. We lived at the resort and through the years, myself, my brother, my sister n law, my nephew, my daughter and two nieces worked there along with many dear friends. I havent been there for a few years now in an employee capacity nor do I still live there, but for about two decades it was a part of my life.

Massanutten Resort is one of the places you purchase a timeshare at because that is where you plan to vacation. It is true that it holds exchange power with RCI, but people who start travelling there normally wind up falling in love with it to a point of not wanting to give up their weeks there. Many owners will use their primary week at Massanutten and then use their bonus weeks to travel elsewhere if at all.

Massanutten has every size unit imaginable, along with snow skiing and two indoor sports facilities. The sports facilities have indoor swimming pools, racquetball, spas, diners, fitness rooms, ping pong, games, just about everything you can imagine! Massanutten resort also has an indoor water park along with two PGA championship golf courses. There are miles of beautiful hiking trails, outdoor tennis and swimming and most importantly, the kids are safe to take off for awhile on their own. The only real problem with the resort is that Massanutten is so huge that it is hard to get around the entire resort without transportation.

You can find plenty of timeshare resales at Massanutten resort on the internet and at local vendors or brokers in the area, and you can also track down some great timeshare rentals too. Buying direct from the developer will ofcourse give you benefits that the resale market does not offer such as the Gold Card membership which basically gives you discounts and the right to use the resort any time you wish even when it is not your designated timeshare week. Among other resale companies that have great prices for Massanutten timeshare resales, check out SellMyTimeshareNOW.com, MyResortNetwork.com and the National Timeshare Help Center. If you have direct or specific questions about Massanutten Resort that I can help you out with, feel free to ask!

My Resort Network

While I attended the CARE Conference in New Orleans, I had the pleasure of meeting and visiting with the owners and management from MyResortNetwork.com. MyResortNetwork.com is a website that is a "For Sale By Owner" platform much like Redweek.com or SellMyTimeshareNOW.com. It is a high traffic website where owners of timeshare can post their timeshare properties for sale or rent and recieve their buyer and renter leads directly, thereby skipping paying commission to a brokerage.

There are many timeshare brokers who search for buyers and sellers on this website so by engaging on this website, you are likely to be approached by a company wanting to assist you in the purchase or sale of your timeshare, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Your goal if you are trying to sell your timeshare is to be "seen" and this website certainly would be a good route to go. Give them a look while you are determining what path you are going to take while trying to sell your timeshare and you might decide that these guys are right for you.

ARDA announces Joint Consumer Education Program

Washington, DC – April 27, 2010 – The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) and the National Timeshare Owners Association (NTOA), have announced a year-long campaign to help educate consumers about timeshare vacations. The first initiative answers ten of the most frequently asked questions

Read the full story here..
http://bit.ly/a0dPbe

Should I rent my timeshare?

To be honest, you should not own a timeshare in order to rent it out. Remember, you will still have your maintenance fees to pay and whatever commission is owed to a rental agent. Often a rental agent will need for you to exchange your week into something more desirable for it to be able to rent and so this drops your revenue margin even further due to your exchange fees. This is all assuming that it does indeed rent!


Before renting your timeshare out, you should consider space banking it into your exchange company to save for future usage. The next best option would be to offer your timeshare week to family members and friends. Often these are actually your best potential renters but you might have to make them an offer of renting simply in exchange for your maintenance fees and exchange fees.

If you find yourself completely in need of renting your timeshare week out, understand first that this should be treated in the same manner as a timeshare resale. You have to be careful about where you advertise your timeshare rental. The companies that are out there are often waiting on unsuspecting timeshare owners to catch their upfront fees, without any real attempt at getting results. Again, as I offered on the idea of a timeshare resale, I recommend two particular companies to handle your timeshare rental for you. You can post on www.redweek.com and do a "for rent by owner" ad which collects no commission, or you can contact www.sellmytimesharenow.com and have them place it for rental either on a small fee based advertisement, or on a success fee based rental listing. Either way, the same rules apply as with the resales.. you need to market your timeshare through a company that gets the highest exposure as well as has the best intentions of completing your successful transaction in finding a renter!