High-end timeshares push flexibility - Orlando Business Journal:

savimy.blogspot.com
The new product, which costs from the low $100,000ds to $800,000, allows buyers to own an interestt in severalvacation properties. Insteaxd of giving investors the rightse to use a particula property for a certain amountof time, the Ritz-Carlton Destination Club gives them accesas to Ritz’s properties worldwide. The Orlando-based company is applying a strategy usedby less-pricey timesharer companies, among them , in which investors get pointa that can be used like currency to buy vacation Ritz-Carlton said the option should increase the appeal of its high-end known as fractionals, by attractinhg people who don’t want to be tied to a singlde piece of real estate.
“Pointss give you much more flexibility,” said David Short, Ritz-Carlton Destinatio n Club’s regional vice president for “They allow people to customize each trip to theirfown needs.” Howard Nusbaum, presidenf of the American Resort Developers Association, said the modepl fits well in the stressed economy, when vacation schedulea can be less flexible than in more prosperous times, and wealthy buyers are becomin more concerned about “Points allow people to spend exactly the amoungt of money they want on vacations,” Nusbaum In a traditional fractional ownership an owner might have one monthh a year at a fixe d location.
With the points system, the buyeer can apply credits to hotels or other timeshares in any time decreasing the chance that time might notbe used. Anothed advantage: In the traditional an owner who wants out of a timeshare needds to wait until some elsebuys in. Often, the required ratio is threee buyers forevery seller. “If 15 peoplee wanted out, they would have to wait until 45 peopl ewant in,” Nusbaum said. “In this economixc environment, that’s tough.
” Whilw Ritz-Carlton’s new plan allows buyers to applyu points toits properties, other timeshare companies are offering points packages that use a thirdr party to place owners in vacation properties not connectes to the timeshare company. Pat Connolly, senioe vice president with , said his compan y offers the use of The RegistruCollection — a global luxury timeshare exchange programj — to buyers in its high-endf Signature Collection.
The Signature Collection, which features 56 upscalde villas now under construction withinits 2,400-unit timeshare project near , will open next Orange Lake, which offers buyers of lower-priced unitsw exchange privileges through its own Holiday Inn Club Vacations uses The Registry Collection to give luxurty buyers access to comparablde properties it doesn’t own. “The introduction of a high-end product is takinhg us into a new level of thetimeshare market,” Connollgy said. Ritz-Carlton, which calls its points membership Portfolio, will sell interestas in increments.
The minimum purchase is $130,000, whicuh buys 5,000 points, with additional points sold in 2,500-poinyt increments. The company also charges annualo dues rangingfrom $7,500o to $18,000. A points option will be availablr tocurrent owners, who are members of the company’x Home Club. “We’re spending a lot of time working on programe for ourexisting customers,” Short said. “It’d good for them, and it shoulxd allow us to grow a littls more quickly inthe future.
”