TATOC, the Timeshare Association, today announced that sponsorship for the annual conference, taking place from 9^th-11^th March at the Park Royal Hotel, Stretton, near Warrington, has gone beyond the board’s expectations.

“We have been delighted and surprised at the huge level of support shown by the industry for the annual conference,” explained Harry Taylor, executive chairman. “The conference is always well supported and attended but this year, with such difficult economic conditions, we were aware that sponsorship might be affected. We needn’t have worried.”

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Resort Equities, (www.ResortEquities.com), an emerging national leader in the shared ownership industry, has announced its participation as a co-host of the 12th Annual Ragatz Fractional & Resort Real Estate Conference, held March 12-13 at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch in Arizona. This year’s conference will be a departure from previous events, which focused solely on the fractional industry and will feature topics on all forms of resort real estate.

Resort Equities Founder and CEO Keith Cox added, “Along with the beautiful new conference venue, expanded discussion topics will cover a broad range of important resort real estate issues and opportunities specific to the current era. The educational value of these sessions is beneficial to the entire resort real estate industry. As the conference Co-Host, we will have the opportunity to introduce our senior executive team and share some exciting new initiatives, which we believe will help us reshape and move forward within the fractional industry.”

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Experienced vacation ownership industry marketing executives partner on innovative new firm, offering executive consulting, business development, and digital marketing services to clients of all sizes.

Marketing consulting firm Resort Insiders, recently launched by longtime industry professionals Dennis Brisson and Chris Hornbeck, offers an extensive suite of executive consulting, digital marketing, business development, and marketing operations consulting services to developers, resorts, travel clubs and marketing companies in the worldwide vacation ownership industry.

Brisson, an industry-veteran marketing executive with extensive experience in site-level management, call center development, and vendor relationship management, has held senior executive positions at Wyndham/Fairfield, Club Navigo/Island One, and KGI Resorts, and Hornbeck, a digital marketing and technology expert, has an extensive background in tour and lead generation, data analysis, and marketing operations, having spent a number of years as both an independent e-commerce consultant and Director of Internet Marketing at Festiva Resorts.

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Perspective Magazine’s Second Annual Global Networking Expo, GNEX 2012 – The Global Meeting Of Minds, took center stage at the Ritz Carlton Cancun in Cancun, Mexico as 177 delegates representing 91 companies gathered to seal business deals over January 31^st – February 2^nd, 2012.

Attendees from as far away as Australia, United Arab Emirates, Malta and Brazil converged for three days of outstanding panel discussions, informative presentations and clever social events to produce the most unique, globally-focused industry networking event on the 2012 calendar.

Participants such as Francisco Neto, Executive Director of Rio Quente Resorts in Brazil, Ashraf El Zarqa, COO of Emirates Vacation Club and Ramy Filo, CEO of Classic Holiday Group gave resounding reviews of the event, as the combination of audience-driven panel debate, business meetings, speed networking and nightly parties created an environment for delegates to build new and lasting relationships.

Numerous business deals were finalized throughout the event as the specially-designed networking lounge and extended networking time built into the conference agenda gave attendees the time and atmosphere to create strategic partnerships.

More information about GNEX 2012 will be available during the next few weeks on the conference website at http://perspectivemagazine.com/gnex.

Our thanks go out to our GNEX 2012 event sponsors and supporters:

Blue Strawberry Resorts,  Holiday Systems International, Sunset World Resorts, Dial an Exchange, Resort Television, Travel To Go, Interval International, Lloydshare, RCI, BuyaTimeshare.com, Customer Count, Emirates Vacation Club, First American Title Insurance Company, Hop-On, Merlin Software, Sell My Timeshare NOW, Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific, Track Results Software, Travel Guard, YachtsE, Circle One BlueBay Resort, El Cid Vacation Club, Grand Velas, Mayakoba Residences, Royal Resorts, Unlimited Vacation Club, Alternative Ownership Conference Asia Pacific (AOCAP), Australian Timeshare and Holiday Ownership Council (ATHOC), Cooperative Association of Resort Exchangers (CARE), Canadian Resort Development Association (CRDA), The Pacific Institute, Ragatz Associates Fractional Interest Conference, Resort Development Organisation (RDO), The Association for Timeshare Owners Committees (TATOC), Vacation Ownership Association of Southern Africa (VOASA), Women in the Industry (WIN) and Christel House International as Charity of Choice.

Next year’s event is already on the 2013 calendar as GNEX 2013 – The Global Meeting Of Minds makes its first foray into the United States at the world famous Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California during February 4-6, 2013. More information will be available in the coming weeks on the conference website at http://perspectivemagazine.com/gnex.

About Perspective Magazine

Perspective Magazine is the leading independent, multi-media information provider for the shared ownership industry. The company publishes five regional brands covering North America, Latin America, Europe & Middle East, South Africa, and Asia Pacific which are, combined, the most read independent trade publications globally for the vacation ownership industry.

The company’s consumer magazine, Owners Perspective Magazine, is the only independent consumer publication that specializes in promoting the benefits of buying shared ownership products to the general public and is also available as a specially customized developer edition for lead generation, in-room marketing and third party sales collateral. Owners Perspective Magazine’s online version, http://ownersperspective.com, also features a new guaranteed lead generation program specifically designed for resorts and developers. The site will host the company’s latest endeavor, Vacation TV, a streaming 24/7 online video channel full of information about vacation ownership products and services.

Perspective Magazine also operates a recruitment advertising service through TimeshareStaff.com (http://timesharestaff.com ),  fractional property listing services and a customized in-room Resort Television product that encourages on-site spending and vacation ownership sales.

GNEX is the company’s annual global networking expo which gathers the top industry professionals from around the world to network, create new strategic alliances and develop joint ventures that can benefit their businesses.

Perspective Magazine also publishes online through http://perspectivemagazine.com, hosts an online community of industry professionals through Perspective Forums, engages a social media audience of over 44,000 followers through its corporate social media accounts and is a media sponsor of 30 major industry events around the world.

For more information, please visit http://perspectivemagazine.com or email Steve Luba at steveluba(at)perspectivemagazine.com. For information on advertising and editorial opportunities visit  http://perspectivemagazine.com/advertise.

Building on solid tourism numbers in 2011, the Mexico Tourism Board predicts 52 million tourists will visit Mexico in 2012. This follows a strong winter break season with hotels in many of the top tourist destinations – from Cancun to Los Cabos — seeing a significant increase in occupancy compared to last year’s winter break.

SECTUR, The Mexican Ministry of Tourism reported that the number of air arrivals in December 2011 was up 13 percent compared to the same period in 2010. More than 1.07 million international travelers visited Mexico in the last month of 2011, a record for December.

In addition to an increase of visitors from the US (10.6 percent) and Canada (9.1 percent), Mexico received significant year on year increases from Spain (6 percent), Italy (10.5 percent), Argentina (21.4 percent), and France (12.4 percent).

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Trading Places International (TPI) today announced that the 4 Seasons at Desert Breezes Resort has been awarded the prestigious RCI Gold Crown Resort property designation by RCI, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange.

A select number of RCI affiliated resorts meet RCI’s requirements for recognition and have earned the RCI Gold Crown Resort award. These resorts have attained high levels of excellence in resort accommodations, hospitality and member experience as measured by RCI.

“4 Seasons at Desert Breezes Resort is honored to have achieved this prestigious RCI designation,” said Tom Newman, director of Resort Operations at TPI. “The association’s board of directors, through diligent planning and oversight and working with its managing agent, Trading Places International, plan to maintain this Gold Crown status by providing owners and guests the quality accommodations and services we are known for.”

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FARROW Commercial Construction, a nationwide commercial construction company based in Santa Rosa, CA has files filled with Customer Care Questionnaires.

Westin Kierland

According to Rick Cratty, Director of Operations for FARROW, “we never leave a job site without getting some feedback.  At the close of 2011 we went through our files and were pleased to find an overwhelming amount of “Atta boys!”

With numerous construction projects completed this year, FARROW reports that 100% were rated as “outstanding in all categories.”  For instance, from the General Manager of the Hilton in Fort Wayne, IN comes this review:  “Overall best renovation process I have every experienced!”  Scott Caldwell, Resort General Manager at the Westin Kierland Villas in Scottsdale says FARROW exhibited “Great leadership, Quality and Customer Care.”  In Branson the client was “very pleased with the overall communication, flexibility and cleanliness” for a project at Branson Suites at Fall Creek.  Mark Sedillo, Resort General Manager at the Ridge Resort in Sedona put it honestly when he said FARROW made the process as “painless as possible.”

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Effective January 1, 2012, Festiva Hospitality Group has selected to partner with Wells Fargo Insurance Services as its insurance broker and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) as its health and dental insurance benefits provider. This new partnership is an important milestone for Festiva, which has been partially self-funded for health and dental insurance for that last six years.

“With the ever-changing state health care reform, Festiva decided to move from being a partially self-funded program to partnering with Wells Fargo in a fully-funded insurance plan with a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) for two basic reasons. We want our employees to get the best benefits available and we want to ensure the long-term health of Festiva and our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP),” said Terri Kirkpatrick, Human Resources Manager for Festiva.

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The Lubner Group, internationally respected for its hospitality and commercial design work, has recently completed the total renovation and installation of new furnishings for five “Old Conch” styled buildings with a storied past at the Coconut Beach Resort in Key West, Florida, positioning the resort to enter a new phase in its legendary history.

Located at 1500 Alberta Street on the Atlantic side of Key West, the vacation ownership resort is set against lush gardens and quiet walkways with white verandahs and French doors opening to the sea. The Lubner Group’s design challenge was to blend existing Victorian gingerbread architecture – rich with living history – with a fresh lifestyle in an updated tropical design that invited guests to relax in serene tranquility. Amenities include a pool, Jacuzzi, and private beach. The resort has been named an Interval International Select Resort.

The Lubner Group (www.LubnerGroup.com) completed the six-month total interior renovation project in three phases. Work included the selection of all furniture, fixtures and equipment for the 32 one- and two-bedroom/two bath units plus the resort’s lobby. The Lubner Group also provided design direction for the kitchen and bath cabinetry and flooring.

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Phil Tufnell, former England Cricket Captain and sporting personality celebrated the New Year, and his return to Thailand, with a relaxed game of beach cricket against a local Phuket Cricket League Team and a stunning Thai island backdrop – directly outside his beachfront holiday villa.

Tufnell and family enjoyed warm Thai hospitality, five minutes from the island of Phuket, at the luxury all-villa resort The Village Coconut Island.  Taking time out not only to challenge The Village Coconut Island League Team but to host a charity dinner as Ambassador of the Absolute World Group – Thailand’s leading and multi award winning vacation ownership brand – attended by local dignitaries, press and cricket enthusiasts. The event raised EURO1,325 for Absolute’s charity of choice, the Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation, supporting children effected in the Thailand Tsunami disaster.

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