Tagrel
06-10-2004, 09:09 AM
With how quickly SSR is selling, it sure seems that DVC demand is growing. When you think that BCV sold out in 13 months during one of the worst tourist slumps, I guess it isn't too surprising to see demand growing now that travel industry is picking up again. Makes you wonder exactly HOW many DVC resorts there will end up being? :shock: I sure can't see Disney stopping while there is so much profit to me made!
I vote for that DVC addon at the Contemporary or the Polynesian! :dazzle:
Have to agree with the article - I love my DVC! :mrgreen:
Original Article: Huge Demand for Sharing Time (http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040610/REPORTER/406100335/1021)
Huge Demand for Sharing Time
Once thought of as a hard sell, vacation time shares are gaining in popularity.
By MICHAEL W. FREEMAN
The Reporter Editor
LAKE BUENA VISTA -- A longtime fan of Walt Disney World, Jo-Ann Jean readily admits she was an easy sell on the idea of buying into an annual time share at the Central Florida resort.
"Friends of ours owned one," Jean said. "We usually go on vacation with these people in the summer. They go down with us. They were staying at the Boardwalk (resort) and we met up for dinner one night. When we saw their unit, we said, `Oh my God, this is beautiful.' "
That was in 2000, when Jean and her husband, Doug, bought a time share at Disney's Vero Beach Resort. The family from Fall River, Mass., has been making summer trips to Disney every year since and have no regrets about the investment. In fact, Jo-Ann Jean feels the investment has already paid off.
"I feel like we've already got to that point because of the size of the accommodations we're staying in," she said. "Even if I chose to stay in a studio, it comes with a kitchen and a sleeping area and dining area. The accommodations are so much bigger than at a hotel, and we're the type that stays on Disney property anyway."
As a Disney fan, Jean also expects the expense of a time share to pay out in the long run.
"I couldn't afford to book the type of accommodation I'm booking with this," she said. "My kids are both grown. I'd have to book two hotel rooms to really be comfortable because we stay there for three weeks in the summer."
Jean is one of a rising number of families -- from the North or from Europe and other parts of the world -- who are jumping to take advantage of this fast-growing industry. Pre-sold vacation times -- better known as time shares -- have become a big business in this tourist-friendly region. While Central Florida continues to be a magnet for newcomers who are moving to the area permanently, the region has benefited from foreign residents, particularly the British buying vacation homes here, and others who want an opportunity to ensure an annual vacation in the area without having to book it each year.
Jim Lewis, the senior vice president and general manager of the Disney Vacation Club, called it "our best kept secret."
"What is a time share?" Lewis asked. "The best way to describe it is it's the one-time purchase of future vacations at today's prices."
The minimum purchase price for a Disney time share is $14,250. Lewis said that within seven years, a member of the club can break even, and then only has to worry about paying annual maintenance fees.
In return, they are guaranteed accommodations at a Disney resort of their choice.
"This is a great value for our members," he said. "Most of our members vacation on a yearly basis. Their time share is paid off in the long term, and we have over 450 destinations they can visit. Your only financial commitment after that is your annual maintenance fees."
Jean agreed this is a solid deal.
"Once you buy your points, you don't pay for anything," she said. "You can use them at any Disney resort and there's no exchange fee. I get to decide when I want to go, and where I use the points. It's available to me all year long. I love it. It's the best. It was a great concept. I wish we had bought in around 1991 when they first started it."
Michael Allen, a Realtor with Professional Real Estate of Orlando, said Central Florida is a prime location for the time-share industry because of the region's appeal as a top tourist destination.
"The key to advertising it is the price," he said. "People who can't afford a condo on the beach go that route. People who can't afford to buy something near the beach or a top vacation destination go for a time share. If they don't want to worry about dining and accommodations when they go on vacation, most time shares will have a kitchen and one or two bedrooms."
Allen said there's another benefit: buyers are not necessarily locked in to visiting that same location year after year.
"Some people sublease their time shares," he said. "It's called a trade out. You can trade your time in a group. There's a whole Internet resource you can log on to. Let's say you want to spend a week in Arizona. You can share your time with someone else from that state.
"Big players in this industry, like Marriott, have a whole network where you can trade your time with someone in another part of the country," Allen said.
As Lewis noted, selling time shares is an industry in flux -- and one that has suddenly gotten hot with a travel-hungry public.
"The industry has changed quite a bit," Lewis said. "A lot of the business players in this industry have got involved."
In addition to Disney, other leaders in the hospitality industry moving into the time-share market include Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott, Lewis said. The growth signals a growing popularity among time shares, he added.
"If you surveyed people in the early 1990s who have an understanding of the time-share industry, only 30 percent of them had a positive impression of it," Lewis said. "Today, more than 80 percent have a positive impression. This is part of the evolution of our product, since it's actually been around for a while. We just haven't talked about it a lot."
Jay Rasulo, president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, noted the "phenomenal growth of the Disney Vacation Club in the past few years." Launched in October 1991, DVC now has more than 80,000 member families.
The concept was inspired in part by Disney guests who frequented the theme parks year after year.
"Our decision to enter the vacation ownership business was a natural progression to accommodate our guests with a flexible vacation product designed to meet their ever-changing vacations needs as they pass through different phases of their life," Lewis said.
"Eighty-one thousand members have made a lifelong commitment to Disney vacations," Rasulo said.
Vacation ownership programs were first introduced to the United States in the early 1960s, but have since grown to a more than $7 billion business, with an annual growth rate of 13 percent, the American Resort Development Association said.
Lewis noted that, at DVC, guests become members and can sell accommodations, and can tailor their vacation plans to meet their personal needs. Disney Vacation Club membership is based on a vacation point system. Each year, members receive an annual allotment of vacation points that can be used in a variety of ways for different types of accommodations at a variety of resorts. That includes Disney's newest, the Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa modeled after an Upstate New York retreat, which opened on May 27.
Members can also elect to bank or borrow vacation points, use their vacation points in combination with renting accommodations on a cash basis, or can purchase an additional real estate interest at any time.
Unlike some traditional time-share programs, Lewis said DVC members are not locked into a single week or fixed time period at a single resort.
DVC membership can be used to reserve accommodations at the member's home resort, or they can exchange reserved home resort accommodations to stay at other DVC resorts. Members also have access to more than 500 resorts worldwide through an agreement with Interval International, one of the world's largest vacation ownership exchange companies. Members can also opt for a safari or a cruise instead.
Some DVC properties, but not Saratoga Springs, are sold out, including Disney's Beach Club Villas, which sold out within 13 months.
Michael W. Freeman can be reached at Michael.Freeman@t heledger.com or at 863-421-5577.
I vote for that DVC addon at the Contemporary or the Polynesian! :dazzle:
Have to agree with the article - I love my DVC! :mrgreen:
Original Article: Huge Demand for Sharing Time (http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040610/REPORTER/406100335/1021)
Huge Demand for Sharing Time
Once thought of as a hard sell, vacation time shares are gaining in popularity.
By MICHAEL W. FREEMAN
The Reporter Editor
LAKE BUENA VISTA -- A longtime fan of Walt Disney World, Jo-Ann Jean readily admits she was an easy sell on the idea of buying into an annual time share at the Central Florida resort.
"Friends of ours owned one," Jean said. "We usually go on vacation with these people in the summer. They go down with us. They were staying at the Boardwalk (resort) and we met up for dinner one night. When we saw their unit, we said, `Oh my God, this is beautiful.' "
That was in 2000, when Jean and her husband, Doug, bought a time share at Disney's Vero Beach Resort. The family from Fall River, Mass., has been making summer trips to Disney every year since and have no regrets about the investment. In fact, Jo-Ann Jean feels the investment has already paid off.
"I feel like we've already got to that point because of the size of the accommodations we're staying in," she said. "Even if I chose to stay in a studio, it comes with a kitchen and a sleeping area and dining area. The accommodations are so much bigger than at a hotel, and we're the type that stays on Disney property anyway."
As a Disney fan, Jean also expects the expense of a time share to pay out in the long run.
"I couldn't afford to book the type of accommodation I'm booking with this," she said. "My kids are both grown. I'd have to book two hotel rooms to really be comfortable because we stay there for three weeks in the summer."
Jean is one of a rising number of families -- from the North or from Europe and other parts of the world -- who are jumping to take advantage of this fast-growing industry. Pre-sold vacation times -- better known as time shares -- have become a big business in this tourist-friendly region. While Central Florida continues to be a magnet for newcomers who are moving to the area permanently, the region has benefited from foreign residents, particularly the British buying vacation homes here, and others who want an opportunity to ensure an annual vacation in the area without having to book it each year.
Jim Lewis, the senior vice president and general manager of the Disney Vacation Club, called it "our best kept secret."
"What is a time share?" Lewis asked. "The best way to describe it is it's the one-time purchase of future vacations at today's prices."
The minimum purchase price for a Disney time share is $14,250. Lewis said that within seven years, a member of the club can break even, and then only has to worry about paying annual maintenance fees.
In return, they are guaranteed accommodations at a Disney resort of their choice.
"This is a great value for our members," he said. "Most of our members vacation on a yearly basis. Their time share is paid off in the long term, and we have over 450 destinations they can visit. Your only financial commitment after that is your annual maintenance fees."
Jean agreed this is a solid deal.
"Once you buy your points, you don't pay for anything," she said. "You can use them at any Disney resort and there's no exchange fee. I get to decide when I want to go, and where I use the points. It's available to me all year long. I love it. It's the best. It was a great concept. I wish we had bought in around 1991 when they first started it."
Michael Allen, a Realtor with Professional Real Estate of Orlando, said Central Florida is a prime location for the time-share industry because of the region's appeal as a top tourist destination.
"The key to advertising it is the price," he said. "People who can't afford a condo on the beach go that route. People who can't afford to buy something near the beach or a top vacation destination go for a time share. If they don't want to worry about dining and accommodations when they go on vacation, most time shares will have a kitchen and one or two bedrooms."
Allen said there's another benefit: buyers are not necessarily locked in to visiting that same location year after year.
"Some people sublease their time shares," he said. "It's called a trade out. You can trade your time in a group. There's a whole Internet resource you can log on to. Let's say you want to spend a week in Arizona. You can share your time with someone else from that state.
"Big players in this industry, like Marriott, have a whole network where you can trade your time with someone in another part of the country," Allen said.
As Lewis noted, selling time shares is an industry in flux -- and one that has suddenly gotten hot with a travel-hungry public.
"The industry has changed quite a bit," Lewis said. "A lot of the business players in this industry have got involved."
In addition to Disney, other leaders in the hospitality industry moving into the time-share market include Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott, Lewis said. The growth signals a growing popularity among time shares, he added.
"If you surveyed people in the early 1990s who have an understanding of the time-share industry, only 30 percent of them had a positive impression of it," Lewis said. "Today, more than 80 percent have a positive impression. This is part of the evolution of our product, since it's actually been around for a while. We just haven't talked about it a lot."
Jay Rasulo, president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, noted the "phenomenal growth of the Disney Vacation Club in the past few years." Launched in October 1991, DVC now has more than 80,000 member families.
The concept was inspired in part by Disney guests who frequented the theme parks year after year.
"Our decision to enter the vacation ownership business was a natural progression to accommodate our guests with a flexible vacation product designed to meet their ever-changing vacations needs as they pass through different phases of their life," Lewis said.
"Eighty-one thousand members have made a lifelong commitment to Disney vacations," Rasulo said.
Vacation ownership programs were first introduced to the United States in the early 1960s, but have since grown to a more than $7 billion business, with an annual growth rate of 13 percent, the American Resort Development Association said.
Lewis noted that, at DVC, guests become members and can sell accommodations, and can tailor their vacation plans to meet their personal needs. Disney Vacation Club membership is based on a vacation point system. Each year, members receive an annual allotment of vacation points that can be used in a variety of ways for different types of accommodations at a variety of resorts. That includes Disney's newest, the Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa modeled after an Upstate New York retreat, which opened on May 27.
Members can also elect to bank or borrow vacation points, use their vacation points in combination with renting accommodations on a cash basis, or can purchase an additional real estate interest at any time.
Unlike some traditional time-share programs, Lewis said DVC members are not locked into a single week or fixed time period at a single resort.
DVC membership can be used to reserve accommodations at the member's home resort, or they can exchange reserved home resort accommodations to stay at other DVC resorts. Members also have access to more than 500 resorts worldwide through an agreement with Interval International, one of the world's largest vacation ownership exchange companies. Members can also opt for a safari or a cruise instead.
Some DVC properties, but not Saratoga Springs, are sold out, including Disney's Beach Club Villas, which sold out within 13 months.
Michael W. Freeman can be reached at Michael.Freeman@t heledger.com or at 863-421-5577.