Presents Awards, Names Board Members & Works With Charity Food Bank

There was a great deal of prideful celebrating going on in New Orleans as the Cooperative Association of Resort Exchangers (C.A.R.E.) reached a significant milestone in its 25-year history by welcoming members to its 50th semi-annual conference, held in late April. The Silver and Gold Conference celebrated not only C.A.R.E.’s quarter of a century as an organization, but also recognized special members who have helped their group succeed over the years.

Held at the landmark Hilton New Orleans St. Charles Avenue, the historical spring conference attracted over 160 member representatives in spite of the current economy. New Orleans was also the site of the first C.A.R.E. (www.care-online.org) conference 25 years ago. Former board members and award winners were recognized for their contributions in bringing the organization to its current respected status.

Emily Ceruzzi of Global Connections was honored at the conference with the prestigious Richard Gallardo Award. Emily was instrumental in raising sponsorship funds to help defray speaker and conference costs. Emily has been a C.A.R.E. member for 11 years and serves on the Membership Benefits and Sponsorship Committees. Presented annually in recognition of outstanding service to C.A.R.E., the award was created in honor of Richard Gallardo, who served the organization for many years. The award was presented to Emily by Ricky Gallardo, the son of Kathleen and Richard Gallardo, who were one of C.A.R.E.’s founding member families and present at the organization’s inaugural conference 25 years ago.

Another special celebratory event included honoring Travel Advantage Network (TAN) of Millersville, MD with the Silver & Gold award for contributing more than $300,000 in C.A.R.E. sponsorship donations over the past 25 years.

New officers installed at the conference were Vice Presidents, Debi Mongan of Travel Advantage Network (TAN), who was newly elected for a one-year term and incumbent Linda Mayhugh of Accommodations Unlimited, re-elected for a three-year term. Alain Carr remains C.A.R.E.President.

Since several C.A.R.E. members had expressed an interest in participating in a charitable activity to give back to the resort communities that have served them for many years. Board member Dave Dawson and others helped locate the Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana. After the close of the conference, several C.A.R.E. members donated their time and efforts by working at the food bank for half a day in a warehouse facility.

Described Dave: “Our volunteers sorted and repacked food donated by major grocery chains prior to distribution to soup kitchens that feed the homeless abused, and women’s shelters. Everyone was exhilarated by the team coming together and felt a great deal of gratitude for being able to serve the community through their efforts. It was an experience we will long remember.”

With leadership by Jeanette Bunn, the conference’s silent/live auction raised over $10,000 to help promote C.A.R.E. through advertising to attract new member companies. Five percent of the total auction proceeds were donated to the New Orleans chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Auction items donated included five RCI weeks, three Global Connections weeks, accommodations in Colorado, California and Branson, and ads in Resort Trades and the Management & Operations magazine, plus other popular items.

C.A.R.E. is comprised of resort developers and service companies, property management firms, homeowners associations, rental and exchange organizations and travel clubs engaged within the vacation industry. Members are located in the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. The member companies of the association offer over 2,500 vacation properties and services to over a million vacation owner members, along with the tools to provide outstanding vacation services while remaining committed to the highest standards and ethics. www.care-online.org

Women in the Industry (WIN), an organization professionally supporting and cultivating women leaders of tomorrow in the vacation industry, has announced the results from its first online auction to support its philanthropic initiatives.

Co-President Cathy Backus says “the auction garnered over $10,000 to fund our 2010 philanthropy projects.  The funds will be used in part to support Girls Inc. ‘Collegeship’ fund and will send four girls and two counselors to visit out-of-state colleges this spring.  Our second major philanthropic efforts are directed toward Gal to Gal Foundation which supports those battling Fourth Stage Breast Cancer.  Because of the generous contributions of our sponsors and those who bid on vacation weeks, three women and their families will have the opportunity to enjoy quality time by going on vacation!”

Organizations which donated to the online philanthropic endeavor included Bluegreen Vacations, Dial-an-Exchange, Festiva Resorts, Great Eastern Resorts, Hotel Playa Mar,  ILX Resorts, ICE, Interval International, Island One Resorts, Leisure Link Universe, ResorTime.com, RCI, SFX Preferred Resorts, Shell Vacations, Tartan Management, Travel Advantage Network, Quarter House Resort, and Vacation Exchanges.

Bidding on top vacation locales was not limited to WIN Members alone.  Members of WIN come from all backgrounds. They include individuals, resorts, recreational real estate developers, vacation clubs and funding/lending institutions.  WIN also has members among the legal community as well as architects and other suppliers to the vacation industry.

While membership is not solely for women, the non profit organization is committed to fostering the growth of women in the shared ownership industry by connecting and mentoring them through charity, business, educational and networking events.  Additionally the new group facilitates research in the vacation industry, organizes and implements community and philanthropic activities and promotes and recognizes women’s achievements in the vacation industry.

WIN’s cause is supported in part by individual memberships, corporate benefactors and friends among which are Bluegreen Corporation, C.A.R.E., Chicago Title, CSA Travel Protection, Group RCI, I.C.E., Marriott Vacation Club International, ResorTime.com, Resort Trades, Shell Vacations, Spirit Incentives, Ticor Title, Vacation Grand Getaways, and Wyndham Vacation Ownership.

The organization is holding its first regional meeting in Orlando, Florida from January 29-30, 2010.  A national networking event will be held at the ARDA Spring Convention on March 16, 2010.  Additional information is available on the web site http://www.womenintheindustry.org.  More membership information is available by calling 760-755-0356.

Travel Advantage Network (TAN), one of the largest travel clubs in the United States with more than 85,000 clients, has chosen TimeShareWare as its enterprise technology platform. TAN sells packages of vacation weeks in as many as 1500 resorts throughout the world. They cited TimeShareWare’s superior technology as one of the main reasons they chose TimeShareWare over the other software solutions on the market.

TAN will install the entire TimeShareWare Enterprise suite of software modules, including Sales, Marketing, Accounting, Reservations, Property Management, Advanced Commissions, and Web Services. TAN will be completely live on the new system by the end of this year.

Andrew Spicer, General Manager at Travel Advantage Network, was first introduced to TimeShareWare at the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) Convention and was impressed with the flexibility and best practices inherent in the software. “TAN has experienced aggressive growth in the past several years. Initially, we intended to just purchase a generic software platform and develop a custom system for our needs. However, after reviewing TimeShareWare Enterprise we realized we could utilize the functionality already within the Enterprise platform. Now we can leverage our internal development team to polish off the remainder of our specific requirements using the built-in client customization tools already within TimeShareWare Enterprise. We will save months of time and tens of thousands of dollars.”

Brian Harrison, Business Analyst at Travel Advantage Network, said, “We evaluated several vacation club systems before deciding on TimeShareWare Enterprise. Our decision was made due to Enterprise’s built-in capabilities and easy-to-use interface. The operational efficiencies that we will gain as a company make the ROI on this project an unbeatable value.”

Timo Jones, President and CEO of TimeShareWare, says, “Working with a company like TAN is just the type of partnership we strive to develop with all of our clients. When Andy Spicer came to our offices to finalize their decision, he recognized the inherent value in not only our superior technology and products, but also of our dedicated staff of 60 employees who wake up every morning anxious and excited to improve the world’s best software. We were glad that the deeper he dug, the more satisfied he became. We look forward to strengthening our partnership and bringing them additional value as our relationship grows.”

For more information on the Travel Advantage Network, please visit their website at
www.planwithtan.com.

About Travel Advantage Network:
Travel Advantage Network, established in 1992, is the recognized leader in the vacation club industry. Through TAN’s extensive network of resort organizations, vacation property owners, and real estate professionals, they are able to provide their 85,000 clients with exciting vacation opportunities at substantially lower prices. TAN has been acquiring large quantities of inventory from some of the top vacation properties and the savings are passed on to their clients.

TAN is an active member and sponsor of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), Cooperative Association of Resort Exchangers (CARE), Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA), The Executive Committee (TEC, peer management counseling group), Young President’s Organization (YPO), The Association of Timeshare Owners Committees (TATOC), Caribbean Tourism Association (CTO), Customer Care Institute (CCI), and Better Business Bureau (BBB).

About TimeShareWare & CondotelWare:
TimeShareWare provides the most advanced resort technology in the industry and has created a state-of-the-art software platform to provide best-of-breed, superior software solutions to shared-ownership, mixed use resorts around the world. Since 1993, TimeShareWare serves all sizes and types of vacation ownership associations, fractional ownership properties, and timeshare resorts including multi-site, single-site, and points-based clubs. The advanced technology provides critical functionality to the Vacation Ownership, Vacation Club, and Vacation Rentals industries. The TimeShareWare software platform includes solutions for lead and tour management, contract processing, sales and marketing, owner accounting, loan servicing, property management, reservations, and web-based owner servicing.

CondotelWare is the first full-service software solution designed specifically for condominium residences and hotels. The software helps owners and operators master all aspects of condo-hotel/residence management and administration, including owner accounting, billing, rental rotation, inventory management, reservations, owner relations, reporting, and more.

Travel Advantage Network, one of the fastest-growing travel programs in the nation, celebrated one of its most successful fund-raisers when the company’s Eco Team collected $1,506 for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation during November. TAN Purchasing Specialist Dan Negrete spearheaded the effort by resurrecting an old idea: penny wars.

“The response was overwhelming,” Negrete says. The two office buildings that comprise TAN’s headquarters competed head-to-head to see which building could balance their pennies with their competitor’s silver coin and dollar contributions. In the end, Negrete carted more than 150 pounds of coins to the bank for counting. “People really did step up for the penny wars,” Negrete says.

“I think the penny wars created a lot of good old-fashioned fun,” Eco Team chairwoman Dee Ann Arneson says.

“Dan found a creative way to support a terrific cause,” says TAN President Brad Callahan. “He and the entire Eco Team continue to impress me with their ideas to enforce our company’s green policies.”

Formed in 2006, the Eco Team doesn’t stick to ordinary recycling projects. Arneson says they once collected 100 pairs of sneakers to donate to Nike, Inc. for use in recycled playing surfaces like outdoor basketball courts. The team also distributed fluorescent bulbs and reusable grocery bags to its employees on Earth Day and regularly presents its Greenie Award to employees who promote and support the company’s green efforts.

The team’s daily efforts include lunch-room recycling bins, reminders to turn off lights and the use of paper pads recycled from old company request forms.

In the future, Arneson says TAN hopes to start a sponsor-a-highway project, enact green policies within the company’s numerous properties and disseminate community green opportunities to employees.

The Eco Team’s most recent fund-raising effort collected enough to purchase 60 trees for CBF. Negrete says he initially established a goal of $1,000, but watched as contributions heartily passed it. “Wow. I never thought that would be obtainable. I thought $1,000 was pushing it,” he says.

About Travel Advantage Network – Since 1992, TAN, a wholesale priced vacation accommodations program, has helped families and individuals create lifelong vacation memories. TAN is the proud recipient of the Better Business Bureau of Maryland’s prestigious Torch Award for exemplifying high business standards and professional integrity and the Maryland Chamber of Commerce’s Philanthropy in Business Award for outstanding and innovative commitment to local and national charities. TAN is a recipient of Baltimore CEO Magazine’s 2008 Future 50 Award, recognizing the fastest growing companies in the greater Baltimore area. TAN was the only travel company to make this year’s Future 50 list.  To learn more, visit http://www.planwithtan.com.

Travel Advantage Network, one of the nation’s fastest-growing travel programs, has focused its fund-raising efforts on Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the global leader of the breast cancer movement. Through a raffle, breast cancer pin sales and a Jeans Day, where employees purchase the opportunity to wear jeans to work for one day, TAN employees raised $729 for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists.

“Each month we ask TAN employees to give and each month they come through for us,” says TAN President Brad Callahan. “We have a unique group of employees here at TAN. Always willing to support a worthy charity with donations of time and money.”

This month, TAN employees Kristina Davis and Venus Dorrycott led the fund-raising efforts for Komen for the Cure. “My grandma had breast cancer,” says Davis. “Her sister and her mother, too. It runs in my family.”
Every October, TAN chooses to support a breast cancer charity, raising about $1,000 each year. In fact, TAN raises about $1,000 each month for causes like juvenile alopecia areata, Fidos for Freedom and congenital heart defects. To date, TAN employees have raised about $12,000 in 2008.

About Travel Advantage Network
Since 1992, TAN, a wholesale priced vacation accommodations program, has helped families and individuals create lifelong vacation memories. TAN is the proud recipient of the Better Business Bureau of Maryland’s prestigious Torch Award for exemplifying high business standards and professional integrity and the Maryland Chamber of Commerce’s Philanthropy in Business Award for outstanding and innovative commitment to local and national charities. TAN is a recipient of Baltimore CEO Magazine’s 2008 Future 50 Award, recognizing the fastest growing companies in the greater Baltimore area. TAN was the only travel company to make this year’s Future 50 list.  To learn more, visit www.planwithtan.com.