FROM THE SPONSORS PEN

This new addition to Industry Whispers each month will highlight what’s happening across the industry directly from one of our Annual Gold Sponsors.

SPONSOR WRITE UP: From the desk at Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific

Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific (Wyndham) experienced an exceptional year in 2009 and is expecting to continue its success in 2010. In what was a tough year for many sectors of the hospitality and tourism industry, Wyndham Vacation Resorts maintained a key position in the market place, boasting record profit margins in 2009.

CEO & Managing Director, Barry Robinson said “The outlook for 2010 is just as positive, with Wyndham aiming to further enhance and develop WorldMark South Pacific Club for the benefit of our Owners”. Wyndham’s property development and resort operations team is focused on several key projects this year, including the refurbishment and enhancement of resorts in Ballarat and Lakes Entrance, Victoria, and Flynns Beach, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour in New South Wales. The maintenance and refurbishment of Club properties continues to exceed Owners’ expectations and drives occupancy at Club resorts. Wyndham Vacation Resorts will continue to equip its resorts with the best amenities, as well as maintain the highest standards in comfort and décor, fulfilling the promise to make holiday dreams come true and ensure the product competes positively in the accommodation market-place.

The services to WorldMark South Pacific Club Owners will also continue to be enhanced.  According to Wyndham Vacation Resorts’ 2009 statistics, WorldMark Owners have responded positively to key initiatives implemented in 2009, such as the destination-focused e-magazine, Regions Revealed. Owners are also responding positively to environmentally friendly initiatives, with many opting to receive promotional and Club material via email rather than post. Wyndham Vacation Resorts’ Owner Education team is dedicated to further assisting WorldMark Owners in understanding and maximising their Ownership with the Club in 2010. The new and improved Owner Education Workshops were a success in 2009, with a significant peak in Owner attendance. The workshops were made accessible to all WorldMark Owners, with online facilities and conference calls available to those in regional locations.  The outcomes from the investment in education have been positive with a significant increase in Owner bookings and Owner satisfaction.

New Club related initiatives are also expected to take off in 2010, with a Gift Certificate option introduced prior to Christmas 2009, whereby WorldMark Owners can gift Vacation Credits to family and friends. In addition to enhancing the experience for WorldMark South Pacific Club Owners, the Resort and Club enhancements continue to support Wyndham Vacation Resorts’ successful sales business for the growth of the Club and provide a valuable upgrade incentive for existing WorldMark Owners.

Barry Robinson is confident 2010 will be another successful year for Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific as it focuses on both its vacation ownership business and expansion through its hotel and resort management services.

About Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific

Wyndham Vacation Ownership, a member of Wyndham Worldwide’s (NYSE: WYN) family of companies, is the world’s largest vacation ownership business, as measured by the number of vacation ownership resorts, individual vacation ownership units and owners of vacation ownership interests. Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its three primary consumer brands, Wyndham Vacation Resorts, WorldMark by Wyndham, and Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific. As of January 1, 2009, Wyndham Vacation Ownership had developed or acquired approximately 150 vacation ownership resorts throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and the South Pacific that represent approximately 20,000 individual vacation ownership units and more than 830,000 owners of vacation ownership interests. Wyndham Vacation Ownership is headquartered in Orlando, Fla., and is supported by approximately 13,800 employees globally. 

Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific offers a network of more than 19 resorts at locations including: Denarau Island, Fiji; Cairns, Marcoola Beach, Caloundra and Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia; Coffs Harbour, Hunter Valley, Port Macquarie, Port Stephens and Sydney in New South Wales, Australia; Ballarat and Lakes Entrance in Victoria, Australia; Dunsborough and Perth in Western Australia; Seven Mile Beach in Tasmania, Australia; and Rotorua and Wanaka in New Zealand.

Pictured Top to Bottom: 1. Barry Robinson (CEO & Managing Director) and Marion Smart (SVP Property Development and Resort Operations) inspect refurbishment plans. 2. Historic property WorldMark South Pacific Resort Ballarat (Victoria) which will be refurbished in 2010.

EVENT: Australian Timeshare Industry Charity Golf Day 2010

This charity golf day will be held at the Colonial Golf Club on Friday February 26, 2010. This a fabulous opportunity to mix with the industry leaders and raise money for many great causes granted by the ATHOC Foundation. This is the fifth year that the Industry has run this event and over this time raised more than $350,000.

See some of the great awards granted so far. For more information and sponsorship opportunities click here. If you cant make it but would like to donate prizes, please give us a call on 07 5574 2622.

EVENT: 19th National Industry Awards Night – July 30, 2010

A call for the National Awards Nominations will be sent soon. Start having a think about who you will nominate. If you have someone within your company who you believe should be recognised please put them forward. That recognition for a staff member means a huge amount to them. The 2010 awards night will be held at the Gold Coast Arts Centre.

EVENT: 2010 ATHOC Conference - Christchurch, New Zealand

Christchurch, New Zealand will be the host city for the 2010 Australian Timeshare and Holiday Ownership Council (ATHOC) Conference.

The Conference will run from Sunday 12th September to Tuesday 14th September 2010.

Take advantage of the opportunity to mix  with colleagues and suppliers from Australia, New Zealand and Fiji as well as get up to date on the most pressing issues facing the Holiday Ownership Industry. The event will see a host of sessions run by industry leaders, organisational experts and talented presenters that can provide you with a array of ideas to take back and implement in your business.

This is a must attend event for anyone in the industry or suppliers to the industry. Benchmark against the best!
For more information contact ATHOC at info@athoc.com.au 

HOME GROWN: RCI TV goes public

The Group RCI web-based TV channel, RCI TV, launched earlier this year and until now only available to RCI members, is now live and available to all consumers on www.rci.com.
Consumers will be able to find information about Group RCI products and services, as well as travel and resort information. Viewers can access a Destination Review Channel and a Resort Showcase channel, with video footage and virtual tours of the resorts, and a direct link to the developer’s website.
There are also significant enhancements to RCI TV such as easier navigation from the RCI website and the integration of the RCI online resort directory.
To help promote the channel, RCI ran an ad on the CBS Super Screen in New York’s Times Square during the whole month of December. RCI has also signed a deal to advertise on Resort & Residence TV, a new network that reaches millions of household through its travel, lifestyle and real estate programmes.

HOME GROWN: Phil Hall - 1939 - 2010

The timeshare industry has lost one of its founding members. Phillip James Hall was one of the timeshare leaders in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Phil passed away peacefully after a long battle with cancer on Wednesday 6th January 2010.

Phil was a Director of the National Holiday Ownership Council and for 6 years was the exclusive representative for Interval International in Australia. Phil had a successful background as a Gold Coast real estate agent with Ray White Realty Group and timeshare resort developer with over 16 years experience in the Australian timeshare market. He was also the founder and Managing Director of Northern Sun Marketing Pty Ltd involved in timeshare and real estate, his sales and marketing team were the largest and most successful during 1983 – 1991 with over 400 staff.

Phil was the developer and/or marketing agent for the following timeshare Resort; Tiki Village International Resort, Chevron Hotel – Surfers Paradise, Sandy Point Beach Resort, Tangalooma Island Resort, Beach House Seaside Resort, Ocean Sound Beach Resort – Perth, Port Pacific – Port Macquarie, Pacific Palms Resort, Nepean Country Club, Cedar Lake Country Club, Mariner Shores Club, Don Pancho Beach Resort, Pelican Sands Resort, Golden Shores Resort, Club Panoly Resort – Philippines.

To many people Phil Hall was a well respected businessman, valued friend, honest critic and would always find the best in others - he shall be remembered with fond thoughts.

HOME GROWN: Connecting tourism for business success

QTIC has released the Connecting Tourism for Business Success brochure, which is an important resource for small business developed in conjunction with Tourism Queensland and the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation.

The brochure has been developed as a one-stop-shop for every business in the tourism industry to point operators in the right direction for information, publications and networks at every stage of the business cycle.

The document is specific to the tourism industry and can be downloaded at www.qtic.com.au/connectingtourism.

HOME GROWN: Beach Safety

There have been a number of drowning’s already this year, which is not only devastating for the families, but also for the tourism industry. It is extremely important that if you are in a beach area that you try to ensure that guests at your resort have an understanding of what to look for and what part of the beach they should be swimming at. The link below is to a QTIC website that gives a huge amount of beach information. You may wish to use some of this for your guests.

Tourism Queensland is also looking at options to help promote the surf/beach safety message for Queensland properties. More information will follow.

 http://www.qtic.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=812&Itemid=310

HOME GROWN: Accor Vacation Club and Flight Centre launch strategic alliance                                                                              
Accor Vacation Club and Flight Centre are proud to announce Accor Vacation Club Travel by Flight Centre. This new commercial venture between Accor Vacation Club and Flight Centre became operational on the 27th of January 2010 and presents a new strength to two highly respected brands in the Asia Pacific region. Accor Vacation Club Travel by Flight Centre, combines the buying power of Australia’s largest travel agencies Flight Centre, and Accor Vacation Club one of the largest holiday ownership clubs in the Asia Pacific region, operated by Accor.

“We are very excited about this new partnership with Flight Centre and the added benefits this brings Accor Vacation Club Members” says Craig Wood, Accor Vacation Club’s Chief Executive Officer, “they were the obvious choice as our new travel provider sharing our passion for exceptional customer service and value for money. This is just the first of many new initiatives that our Members can look forward to in 2010.”

All backed by Flight Centre’s Australia promise of their ‘Fly Free’ Guarantee, Members will now have access to a range of unbeatable travel services and great value holiday packages, special accommodation offers, last minute promotions, along with hundreds of international and domestic flight deals.

HOME GROWN: Accor Vacation Club’s Exciting New Member Website

Accor Vacation Club is delighted to reveal a fabulous new look to their Australia Club’s Member Website. Members now have even more access to a world of holiday options and exclusive Member Benefits with this new online portal having opened the door to an array of experiences awaiting their enjoyment; from tropical beach getaways, romantic city escapes, snow laden adventures, to wine country tours...all at the tip of their fingers by surfing this new Member Website. There are so many fantastic improvements and new additions for Member to experience, that it is sure to make booking any future holidays even easier and stress free. Stage one of the new Member website introduces new facilities such as a more simplified menu process and the latest technology for viewing Club properties, with the ability to compare the Premiere Points and Bonus Time Rates at room type level for multiple properties, as well as a live currency converter and local weather feeds. This is a great accomplishment for the Accor Vacation Club web and e-commerce team, who are leading the way to a lifetime of great holidays for thousands of Club Members across the Asia Pacific region.

WORLD AROUND US: Arrests in timeshare fraud on the Costa del Sol and Tenerife

Spanish Police have arrested a network of 22 people in Tenerife and Malaga, on the Costa del Sol, on suspicion of fraudulent timeshare resale activity.

The fraudsters were helped by disgruntled employees of the companies which manage the timeshare resorts, who would provide them with the timeshare owners’ contact details.

Some victims were conned several times by the scheming network, whose members would first contact the owners to offer a potential buyer for their timeshare and again when the sale didn’t realise to offer the services of a lawyer to recover the money paid in advance for the transfer of ownership. The names of real notaries were also used to add credibility.

Officers found bank documents, lists of owners and instructions for the sales calls, as well as 30,000 euros and taser guns in the 11 properties searched as part of the operation. December 2009

WORLD AROUND US: Timeshare Owners Conference - Europe 2010

TATOC Owners Association in Europe are hosting their conference “Working Together” at the Nottingham Belfry from Friday 26th March to Sunday 28th March 2010. Booking forms are now available to download at www.timeshareassociation.org

WORLD AROUND US: Anna Grand Hotel Vacation Club Joins Interval International

Interval International, a leading global provider of vacation services and an operating segment of Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: IILG), announced that Anna Grand Hotel Vacation Club in Hungary has joined its vacation exchange network. The 200-year-old hotel is set in the centre of Balatonfüred, a historic town on the northern shore of Lake Balaton — so large that it is often referred to as the “Hungarian Sea.”

BUSINESS: Environment Carbon Trading and Offsets - What is it all about?

The proposed introduction of the government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme has stirred a new height of awareness on carbon emissions and has raised many questions on how will it work and what will be the effect on the business and the general public.

The government is committed to reduce Australia’s carbon pollution to 25% below 2000 levels by 2020 on the basis that the global carbon emitters agree to an ambitious deal to stabilise levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at 450 parts per million CO2-equivalent or lower by mid century.

The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 or scheme (NGERS) will underpin the introduction of the emissions trading scheme. The aim of NGERS is to establish a framework for companies to measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption.

The emissions are broken into three areas:

Scope one emissions: The release of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as a direct result of an activity.

Scope two emissions: The release of greenhouse gas as a result of one or more activities that generate electricity, heating, cooling or steam that is consumed by the facility but does not form part of the facility.

Scope three emissions: The release of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere that occurs outside the boundary of a facility as a result of the activities of the facility and are not included in scope two emissions.

So, how do I know how much greenhouse gas I produce?

The first step is the calculation of the carbon footprint of the activities of the company or building. A carbon footprint is a measure of the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions attributed to an activity; it is commonly used at a individual, household or organisation, product or service level.

A carbon offset represents a reduction in greenhouse gasses relative to a business as usual baseline. Carbon offsets are tradeable and are often used to negate (or offset) all or part of another entity’s emissions.

Being carbon neutral refers to a situation where the net emissions associated with an organisations’ activities, product or service is zero.

What carbon offset units should I use?

There are four main types of acceptable units:

(A) Australian carbon pollution permits;
(B) Certified emissions reductions;
(C) Emissions reduction units; and
(D) Removal units.

The Carbon Offset Guide Australia provides a list of providers in the purchase of carbon credits.

Organisations that calculate their emissions footprint and purchase offsets to balance their emissions should develop a management plan to demonstrate that systems are in place to monitor reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the relevant product, service or organisation and to purchase and retire the equivalent carbon offsets.

An annual report should be made available to communicate carbon offsetting activities
Public statements of green claims can be assessed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Incorrect claims risk contravening the Trade Practices Act 1974.

It is proposed that the carbon reduction and trading scheme will not be introduced until 2011, however corporations must register by 31 August 2009 with NGERS and report on their CO² emissions and energy consumption. Thresholds apply so corporations will need to make an assessment on their CO² emissions and energy consumption prior to that date.

Peter Greenham-Independent Inspections – Accommodation News – Jan 2010

BUSINESS: Are you interested in lifting your industry profile?

If you have recently undertaken an upgrade at your property, have a new industry product or service, or would simply like to recognise your team then we'd love to hear from you. Send your stories through to info@athoc.com.au