• Wyndham's first-quarter results for 2007 appear to have beat analyst estimates by a mile. In just the vacation ownership interest (timeshare) segment alone, Wyndham benefited from an industry on the rise. Industry sales increased 22% to $10.5 billion. In the first quarter, Wyndham grew gross VOI sales 20%, tours were up 15%, and volume per guest -- which measures sales conversion -- was up 9%. Management noted that it's the biggest player in the vacation ownership industry, with more sales and resorts than Marriott, Starwood and Disney combined. This is a big advantage in branding, and more importantly, in being able to offer more locations to timeshare customers.

Full story here.

• Holiday Resales, a timeshare resale company, celebrates its 15th anniversary this month. Starting with just two employees in 1992, Holiday today employs over 100 people in offices in Seattle and Las Vegas. During that time, Holiday has grown into one of the largest and most respected timeshare resale companies in the U.S.

Full story here.

• The news about timeshare keeps getting better.

Not only is it a profitable industry, but consumers are more interested in owning timeshare properties than before, according to new research released at the American Resort Development Assn.'s 2007 Conference & Expo.

The U.S. timeshare industry contributed an estimated $92 billion to the country's economy in 2005, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' latest research. Timeshare owners took about 5.7 million timeshare vacations in 2005, contributing $410 billion in local spending.

In addition, the industry achieved significant growth of 24 percent over the past three years in salaries, wages and related income for its employees, and timeshare employment increased 11.5 percent from 2002 to 2005.

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May 21, 2007
Bangalore