Interval International, a prominent worldwide provider of vacation services and an operating business of Interval Leisure Group, has revealed that its UK members travel extensively, find holiday ownership satisfying, own an average of 1.9 weeks of shared ownership time or its equivalent, and report average household incomes of approximately GBP 70,050 per year. And, more than one-quarter report ownership of a second home — apart from their holiday ownership.

These findings are from Interval International’s 2011 UK Membership Profile, which was developed from a sample of UK-resident vacation owners maintaining an active membership with Interval. The online study was undertaken to provide insights for use in the development of services and benefits to be offered to Interval members and may also be useful to resort developers and prospective industry entrants in designing their products and developing their marketing strategies.

Interval’s UK members spend approximately 28 nights away from home travelling solely for leisure purposes. Additionally, these study respondents indicate a penchant to travel across the European continent during the course of the next two years, boding well for future holiday ownership purchases. Further afield, they have a strong desire to visit the USA and Canada, the Caribbean, and Australia and New Zealand.

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International visitors to the Gold Coast were steady over the year ending December 2010, an increase of 0.5% on the previous year however they spent 6% less on their trips to the tourism capital according to figures released today by Tourism Research Australia.

Gold Coast Tourism CEO Martin Winter said the results were anticipated given the strength of the dollar in 2010 and a changing mix of visitors to the Gold Coast.

“The Gold Coast tourism industry knows from experience that a strong Australian dollar weakens international visitor spend, so when the Australian dollar jumped from 85 cents to over parity last year we were anticipating a decline in international visitor spend, that is reflected in these numbers,” he said.

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Sol Meliá, the 15th-largest hotel chain in the world and the leading Spanish hotel and resort company, has launched a comprehensive brand assurance evaluation  program across its global portfolio of hotel and resort brands.  To execute the program, Sol Meliá has partnered with LRA Worldwide, Inc., a leading firm in the design and development of performance measurement and quality assurance programs for the hospitality and lodging industries.

The brand assurance program is a crucial part of Sol Meliá’s “brand equity” strategy for all of its various brands.  The process began with a series of brand “boot camps” facilitated by LRA to help further define each brand and how that offering is delivered at the property level.  The evaluation program is designed to measure the effectiveness of the implementation process and delivery of a “branded” guest experience at each property.

“It is crucial to the continuing growth of our company that we consistently deliver what we promise across more than 28 countries and 300 properties,” explained André Gerondeau, Executive Vice President, Hotels for Sol Meliá. “LRA brings the right blend of hotel operational experience, brand sensibility and data collection expertise as our partner in this program.”

Each of Sol Meliá’s hotel and resort brands – including Gran Meliá, Meliá, ME, Innside, Tryp, Sol and Paradisus – has a customized evaluation protocol designed to measure its specific brand attributes.  In addition, there are a set of common standards that are measured across all brands.  All of the data is available at the corporate and property level via LRA’s proprietary online quality management reporting tool, TouchPoint Manager ™.   All reporting is available in both English and Spanish.

“Sol Meliá understands that the strength of a brand is in consistently delivering value and quality,” said John Roberto, LRA’s Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Quality Assurance. “Once we helped Sol Meliá define their brands, our charge was to distill those brand elements into measurable line items to ensure consistent execution.”

LRA provides a variety of branding, standards development and performance measurement services to seven of the top ten hotel companies in the world.  In all, LRA’s Quality Assurance practice conducts nearly 13,000 site visits and evaluations each year, either as a stand-alone offering or as an integrated part of an overall Customer Experience Management project.  In addition to its work with other lodging clients such as Hyatt Hotels Corporation, IHG, Sofitel Luxury Hotels, Grupo Posadas, Pestana Hotels, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Wyndham Worldwide, LRA works with industry leaders in Sports, Conference Centers, Timeshare, Gaming, Homebuilding, Retail and Travel.

The brand assurance program was officially launched in June at the Gran Meliá Colon in Seville, Spain.  Since then, LRA has conducted an additional 190 evaluations, with a full complement of evaluations scheduled for 2010.

About Sol Meliá
Sol Meliá was founded in 1956 in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) and is the world’s leading resort hotel chain, as well as Spain’s leading hotel chain in both the business and leisure markets. It currently provides more than 300 hotels in 28 countries on 4 continents under its brands: Gran Meliá, Meliá, ME, Innside, Tryp, Sol, Paradisus and Sol Meliá Vacation Club. www.solmelia.com

Sol Meliá is the hotel company with the greatest number of properties in the exclusive club of “The Leading Hotels of the World” (seven hotels). In 2006, the “Corporate Reputation Institute” of New York ranked the company amongst the corporations with the best reputation in the world, the leading hotel company and the second highest ranked company in the travel industry. Sol Meliá is the only travel company included in the exclusive “Footse4Good Ibex” Spanish stock market index, and is the third ranked company in Spain amongst companies which generate the greatest degree of confidence and in the top three hotel chains for reputation.

The company currently employs more than 34,000 people worldwide with staff from over 80 different countries.

About LRA Worldwide, Inc:
LRA Worldwide is a leading research and consulting company in the emerging discipline of Customer Experience Management (CEM). We work with our clients to help them design and deliver consistently exceptional customer experiences in order to drive customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy, and company growth and profitability.

In LRA’s 25-year history, we have grown from a provider of customized quality assurance evaluation programs for the hospitality industry, to a leading CEM consulting company offering a variety of client solutions. The evolution has been driven by our clients asking us one question – “How do we get better?” In response, we have built a range of performance measurement, research, training and consulting solutions to help them do so. Today, we are a growing company operating in more than 120 countries throughout the world, helping clients such as Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the National Basketball Association, the PGA TOUR, InterContinental Hotels Group, Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Ritz-Carlton Clubs deliver exceptional customer experiences. Every touch. Every time. For more information, visit us at www.LRAworldwide.com.

Trading Places International was recently named as one of the top 75 companies in Orange County for the Orange County Register’s Top Workplaces for 2009 list. In this annual survey, 31,311 employees at 121 companies across Orange County were asked to give their opinions on their workplace.

“We’ve always been conscious of the fact that our employees seem to enjoy working for us, and our goal has always been to create an atmosphere in which we can strike a balance between working hard and having fun.” said RJ Jackson, president of Trading Places International. “It is very gratifying to discover, through the results of the employee survey, that we have indeed succeeded in that goal.”

The companies included in the OC Register’s Top Workplaces list were selected based on a survey of employees measuring qualities such as company leadership, compensation and training, workplace flexibility, and diversity. Rankings and overall results were showcased in the Top Workplaces to Work section in the December 10th edition of the OC Register.

External Links:
Trading Places International: The perks of being a small business
Trading Places International Workplace Profile

Trading Places International is a 36-year veteran of the travel and vacation ownership industries.  It is the only vertically-integrated, independent timeshare company providing full service resort management, association administration, timeshare exchanges, and travel agency services. It currently oversees more than 71,000 timeshare owners at over 30 resort locations in Hawaii, Mexico, South America, and mainland United States.

Big Winners Include Fairmont, Marriott, American Airlines and Host Hacienda Tres Rios; Awards Help Traveling Public Find Best in Class

Hacienda Tres Rios, an all-inclusive luxury resort in Mexico’s Riviera Maya, was the setting for the 2009 World Travel Awards’ North and Central America regional ceremony, held on the warm, tropical evening of September 21, 2009.

The World Travel Awards (WTA), described as the Oscars of the global travel and tourism industry, acknowledge the “best of the best” out of more than 500 nominees. The event was held in partnership with Hacienda Tres Rios, Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau, Yucatan Holidays, Yucatan Travel, RCI and Vive Mexico. Luminaries attending the event included Mexico Secretary of Tourism Sara Latife Ruiz Chavez, who also serves as governor of the state of Quintana Roo. In a statement appearing in the printed guide to the award festivities, she acknowledged the WTA organizers and sponsors, thanking them for “bringing here this important event which consolidates the image of Mexico and Quintana Roo within the world tourism map.”

The host resort had been nominated for recognition in several categories and proved its world-class status, taking the top nod as Mexico & Central America’s Leading Green Hotel and Mexico and Central America’s Leading All-Inclusive Resort. Opened in November 2008, Hacienda Tres Ríos is the first resort of five at Tres Ríos. Hacienda Tres Ríos Resort boasts 273 suites featuring native materials and offering breathtaking views of the turquoise Caribbean Sea.

The unique onsite Tres Ríos Nature Park is open exclusively for resort guests, who can enjoy guided nature tours through 326 acres of pristine tropical jungle criss-crossed by three fresh-water rivers, dotted by 10 cenotes and home to 90 species of fauna and 120 species of flora.

While it is easy to see why Hacienda Tres Rios was named top all-inclusive, the elements that make an exceptional green operation blend seamlessly into the guest experience, striking a delicate balance of luxury holidays and conservation. This eco-luxury resort, located in a nature preserve, was constructed as part of a master plan that included more than two years of comprehensive environmental studies. The architectural design was based on rigorous environmental criteria and the buildings were placed on areas of lower environmental value. What’s more, in 2006 the Mexican government recognized Hacienda Tres Rios as a “regional and national model for sustainable tourism development.”

“In less than one year since opening,” said Tres Rios CEO Orlando Arroyo Marroquín in the guide, his resort “has become internationally renowned as the first luxury sustainable tourism development in Mexico.”

This commitment to ecological conservation “has garnered the recognition of the Mexican government as well as the major travel industry events in England, Spain and Germany, where we have been invited to share our experience as a case study,” he continued. “With the support of the important international organizations such as Green Globe International, World Heritage Alliance of the United Nations, Sustainable Travel International and Rainforest Alliance, Hacienda Tres Rios is a clear example that Quintana Roo and Mexico are ever working towards improving tourism and a healthy environment.”

Area Well Represented
But Hacienda Tres Rios isn’t the only reason to visit the Yucatan Peninsula. The area was well represented on the awards platform, winning several other WTA honors. Among them were Selvatica Puerto Morelos as Mexico & Central America’s Leading Adventure Park; Tulum, Mexico as Mexico & Central America’s Leading Beach; Terminal Punta Langosta, Cozumel, Mexico as Mexico & Central America’s Leading Cruise Port; Chichen Itza, Yucatan as Mexico & Central America’s Leading Cultural Heritage Destination; and Cancun as Mexico & Central America’s Leading Destination.

In other awards, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts bagged four North American awards including Canada’s Leading Golf Resort, Canada’s Leading Ski Resort, Canada’s Leading Business Hotel and North America’s Leading Golf Resort. The Leading Hotel Brand for North America went to Marriott Hotels & Resorts, and North America’s Leading Destination went to Miami.

WTA crowned American Airlines as North America’s Leading Airline and Mexicana Airlines as Mexico & Central America’s Leading Airline. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City were named North America’s and Mexico & Central America’s Leading Airports, with The Ritz-Carlton in Marina Del Rey (California) and Camino Real Aeropuerto (Mexico City) taking the honors for North America’s and Mexico & Central America’s Leading Airport Hotels.

The full list of winners for the World Travel Awards North and Central Americas can be found by logging on to www.worldtravelawards.com

How Winners Are Chosen
The World Travel Awards were launched in 1993 to acknowledge and recognize excellence in the world’s travel and tourism industry. Thousands of votes are cast by travel professionals from 183,000 travel agencies, tour and transport companies and tourism organizations in over 160 countries across the globe. Votes are cast globally by fellow industry professionals in 919 different categories. In 2009, WTA opened the voting to the traveling public as well.

The inherent principles under which all nominations are judged are:
• Consistent overall business performanceand success
• Understanding visitor needs and expectations for a supreme customer experience
• High levels of customer satisfaction
• Valuing personnel
• Excellent internal and external communications
• Enterprising product expansion and development
• Fostering innovation, creativity and enterprise
• Expansion and development, and
• Team work that helps a company to deliver longer-term corporate vision

In 2009, regional ceremonies have also taken place in Dubai (Middle East region) and Durban, South Africa (Africa region). The European Ceremony is scheduled for October 17 at Praia D’ El Rey Golf & Beach Resort, north of Lisbon, Portugal. South America, Caribbean, Asia, Australasia and the Indian Ocean Ceremonies are slated for November 7 at the Grosvenor House, a JW Marriott Hotel in London.

The 2009 Grand Final of World Travel Awards is set for the following night in the same venue. “This year’s winners can display the official World Travel Awards symbol with pride on their sales and marketing literature,” explained Graham Cooke, president of the World Travel Awards, “offering travelers a cast-iron assurance that what they are buying is a guarantee of travel excellence.”

Travel excellence such as provided at Hacienda Tres Rios. “It seems fitting,” said Cooke, “to celebrate the North & Central Americas awards ceremony in this beautiful destination, which sets the bar for the global travel and tourism industry, and creates hope for many young travel professionals.”

Top 5 Facts About the World Travel Awards

1. 3,600 travel companies, destinations and organizations are nominated every year
2. An average of 167,000 travel agents and industry professionals record their votes every year
3. Ten awards categories are dedicated to sustainable tourism
4. World Travel Awards nominations are decided by an independent panel of industry experts
5. Judging criteria takes into account every aspect of the business including overall performance, product
development, innovation, creativity and customer satisfaction

Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN), one the world’s largest hospitality companies, has been ranked among the top 100 greenest companies in America by Newsweek magazine, which also ranked the company in the top 10 of its Media, Travel and Entertainment category.

The Newsweek Green Rankings, the magazine’s first such report, is based on the environmental footprint, policies and practices of America’s 500 largest publicly traded companies as measured by revenue, market capitalization and number of employees.

Newsweek ranked Wyndham Worldwide number 81 on its list based on a number of criteria including greenhouse gas emissions, toxic waste emissions, use of other natural resources, management of environmental issues and policies, regulatory compliance and policies concerning climate change.

The report, published Sept. 28, also factored the results of Newsweek’s reputational survey of chief executive officers, corporate social responsibility officers, the news media, academicians and members of key environmental groups.

“We are honored to be recognized by Newsweek as a national leader in sustainability,” said Stephen P. Holmes, Wyndham Worldwide chairman and chief executive officer. “We are committed to conserving our natural resources, preserving our habitats and preventing pollution. With more than 70,000 locations in 100 countries, we can make a tremendous impact in our communities around the globe.”

WyndhamGreen by Wyndham Worldwide, the company’s sustainability program, aims to manage energy consumption as a part of the company’s overall green strategy across its businesses and brands.  Due to the Company’s numerous brands, properties and distribution points, WyndhamGreen is expected to have a large impact on the Company’s overall carbon footprint.

The recently released WyndhamGreen Global Best Practices document showcases the company’s initiatives in energy and water conservation, recycling, education, community programs and innovation. It notes that Wyndham Worldwide’s new 250,000-square-foot headquarters, located in Parsippany, New Jersey, is on target to achieve Silver LEED certification for its interior.  The building is expected to reduce water, energy and waste by 10 to 30 percent. The Company also recently received the “Green Pioneer” award from ConEdison Solutions for purchasing 100 percent of the building’s electricity from wind generation.

Wyndham Hotel Group, the world’s largest hotel company with more than 7,000 hotels and 11 brands, is implementing the EarthSmart linen reuse program to save resources and operational costs.  The company’s Super 8®, Howard Johnson®, Travelodge®, Days Inn® and Ramada® brands currently participate.

The Wyndham® Hotels and Resorts brand developed uniforms spun from recycled plastic bottles.  Each uniform requires 66 percent less energy and 90 percent less water to produce than a standard uniform. The upscale hotel chain’s Wyndham ClearAirsm initiative features allergy-friendly rooms designed at improving air quality.

Group RCI, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and the European leader in vacation rentals, saved 1.3 million kilowatts annually at its Parsippany headquarters and Indianapolis call center by replacing lighting fixtures and bulbs and installing motion sensors to control lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning units. Last year, RCI was the first in the vacation exchange industry to begin printing all of its resort directories and Endless Vacation magazines for members on FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) paper. RCI also converted vacation confirmations and notifications to members from direct mail to e-mail, saving more than 5 million pieces of paper and an estimated 435 trees.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership, the world’s largest vacation ownership business, provides low- and no-phosphate laundry and dish detergent in its resorts, an initiative that has reduced pollutants by 90,000 pounds since its inception in 2008.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership’s Asia Pacific division developed a sustainable destination resort on the Australian island Tasmania that practices conservation of biodiversity and restoration of the natural habitat.  The resort utilizes a state-of-the art wastewater treatment plant, and its villas were designed to resemble sea shells to fit into the environment.

“We have made tremendous progress in a short period of time,” said Faith Taylor, Wyndham Worldwide vice president of sustainability and innovation. “Although we still have much to accomplish as we evolve our strategy, we are proud of our associates and partnerships that have helped us make this world a better place.”

Additional information is available at www.Wyndham-Green.com.

About Wyndham Worldwide
As one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, Wyndham Worldwide offers individual consumers and business–to–business customers a broad suite of hospitality products and services across various accommodation alternatives and price ranges through its premier portfolio of world–renowned brands.

Wyndham Hotel Group encompasses over 7,000 franchised hotels and approximately 590,200 hotel rooms worldwide. Group RCI offers its 3.8 million members access to more than 73,000 vacation properties located in approximately 100 countries. Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its network of over 150 vacation ownership resorts serving over 830,000 owners throughout North America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Wyndham Worldwide, headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., employs approximately 25,500 employees globally.

For more information about Wyndham Worldwide, please visit the Company’s web site at www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

BuyATimeshare.com’s primary focus is staying on top of new developments in the timeshare industry to provide better services for our customers. As part of our development, we sent our company Owner and Founder, Wes Kogelman, and Peter Emery, Director of Sales, to the CARE Conference this past weekend in San Diego.

The Cooperative Association of Resort Exchangers, or CARE, is a ‘trade association’ of timeshare resort representatives with a shared goal of providing their owners with more unlimited vacation opportunities. This group, established in 1985, provides member companies with the ability to utilize a vast inventory of rentals while adhering to a strict code of ethics.

The Keynote speaker at the CARE Conference focused on the use of social media, like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, to enhance and improve relationships with businesses and clients. BuyATimeshare.com can be found on Facebook, and often updates with industry information, company information, and discussion topics relating to timeshares and travel. The company also can be followed on Twitter, where we update with every new advertisement posted to our website, as well as other news. By utilizing these technologies, we connect with a greater audience of potential customers by implementing a live feed of available inventory, and also continue with our goal of providing the general public with accurate information and education about the industry.

During this conference, we also discovered an exciting new Merlin software called TRUST (Trading Resorts Using Sharing Technology) that we are looking forward to utilizing for the benefit of our customers. This initiative allows ‘shared ownership product’ developers and managers to build their resorts and inventory in a ‘virtual environment’ online. By applying the latest internet technologies, this information can be shared quickly and easily between users. Companies using Merlin TRUST will be able to swap inventory, rent or sell inventory, and generate more business seamlessly with this new platform.

BuyATimeshare.com is truly enthusiastic about this opportunity. By using this cost effective technology, we know we will increase our transactions and benefit our customers by expanding our network and streamlining our communications with our associations within the industry. The rental, resale, and brokerage consumers of BuyATimeshare.com will be greatly benefited by our industry connections. We look forward to using Merlin TRUST, social media technologies, and other developing technologies to continually improve our business and achieve superior services for our clients.

Despite Downward Travel Trends, Timeshare Occupancy On The Rise at Wyndham Vacation Ownership

Bucking current travel patterns that continue to trend downward in nearly every segment of the hospitality industry, timeshare owners — particularly those participating in points–based programs — are still taking vacations.

According to Smith Travel Research, 2009 full–year hotel occupancy is projected to be 55.4 percent, a decline of 8.4 percent from 2008.* Wyndham Vacation Ownership (WVO), the world’s largest provider of points–based timeshare, has experienced no decline in year–over–year occupancy to date, despite the addition of nearly 1,300 condominium–style units to its portfolio in 2008. In fact, WVO resort occupancy was slightly up at about 75% across its network of more than 150 resorts from January through June over the same period in 2008. Advanced bookings are also up three percent for the balance of the year, further demonstrating that timeshare owners continue to vacation despite a weakened economy.

Points–based programs, such as CLUB WYNDHAMSM Plus and WorldMark, The Club, provide owners with an annual points or credits– based currency to select when and where they want to vacation — a contrast to traditional fixed–week timeshare, which locks vacationers into the same time, unit and location year after year.

“It stands to reason that if you’ve already paid for your vacations, chances are you’re taking one this year,” said Franz Hanning, president and chief executive officer, Wyndham Vacation Ownership. “With points–based timeshare, it’s as if someone hands you vacation cash each year to spend however and wherever you like.  Vacation excuses are pretty hard to find among timeshare owners.”

OCCUPANCY
Given the flexibility of Wyndham’s points–based programs, resort occupancies are a strong measure of where owners decide to travel. Hawaii, which is widely recognized as one of the world’s most renowned vacationing spots, continues to experience record lows in hotel occupancy — Wyndham’s timeshare occupancies remain level there. Perhaps more impressive, occupancy rates at select Wyndham timeshare resorts in traditionally popular vacation destinations, including Florida and Southern California, are up considerably year over year.** Points–based programs also enable owners to divide their time into multiple, shorter vacation stays throughout the year, mirroring recent consumer travel trends. Although a number of Wyndham owners are still flying to their next vacation, many are also opting to stay closer to home or travel to resorts located in drive–to or regional destinations.  WVO’s top 10 travel markets based on increased year–over–year** occupancy levels are —

Region                                     Occupancy***

Panama City Beach, Fla.               +12.4%

Destin, Fla.                                     +6.0%

San Diego, Calif.                            +5.3%

Bass Lake, Calif.                             +4.4%

West Yellowstone, Mont.               +4%

Palm Springs, Calif.                       +3.5%

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.                        +2.7%

Branson, Mo.                                  +2.5%

Nashville, Tenn.                             +1.9%

San Antonio, Texas                        +1.6%

ABOUT WYNDHAM VACATION OWNERSHIP
Wyndham Vacation Ownership, a member of the Wyndham Worldwide (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.

* According to “Smith Travel Lodging Research Review” Smith Travel Research published February 7, 2009.

**Year–over–year occupancy is defined as January — June 2008 vs. January — June 2009.

*** 2008 vs. 2009 year–to–date occupancy rates for the Wyndham Vacation Ownership resort portfolio, which includes Wyndham Vacation Resorts and WorldMark by Wyndham.

Study Shows Link to Academic Achievement in First Graders

As the nation’s children settle in for another school year, many parents and teachers wonder how the summer break affected their children’s academic achievement. Analysis of a U.S. Department of Education study found that children who travel over summer break — whether to a beach, historic site or a national park — did better in reading, math and general knowledge than their peers who didn’t vacation.
“The data is clear — and gives hard-working parents another reason not to put off a summer vacation trip,” said Dr. Bill Norman, Clemson University. “Providing kids with the experience of travel broadens their horizons and opens up their minds to learning.”

A series of analyses were conducted to determine the relationship between summer vacation travel and academic achievement in children entering first grade. Specifically, the study explored whether going on a vacation, the number of days spent on a vacation and places visited were linked to academic achievement in the areas of reading, mathematics and general knowledge. The results revealed a significant difference in academic achievement and taking a family summer vacation trip. Children that traveled with their family over summer vacation scored higher on academic achievement assessment tests than those who did not travel. The days spent on family summer vacation trips had a modest significant relationship with academic achievement. Lastly, children who visited plays or concerts, art or science museums, historical sites, beaches or lakes, national or state parks, and zoos or aquariums had significantly higher academic achievement scores than those who did not.

“To date there has never been a study that plainly shows the correlation between travel and academic achievement,” says Jessica Parker, researcher, Clemson University. “It was interesting to see the impact on a child when they spend vacation time away with their family.”

Over three-fourths (75.2%) of the participants responded that the child had taken a family summer travel vacation prior to starting first grade. For those children that took a family summer vacation trip, the average number of days spent traveling was 11.8 days.

“The timeshare industry has always touted the importance of regular vacations for health and wellness,” says Howard Nusbaum, president and CEO, American Resort Development Association (ARDA). “This study gives families yet another strong reminder that taking vacation has benefits beyond the actual week or two of vacation.” (Research Shows Vacations Make Kids Smarter Video)

This research study of how vacation impacts childhood learning used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of the Kindergarten Class database from the United States Department of Education. The database contains information on 21,600 children followed from kindergarten through fifth grades. This year study examined children’s early school experiences as well as family and life experiences, such as summer activities. The parents of a subsample of 5,047 children were asked about summer travel. Academic achievement was measured with a series of standardized test in the three areas of math, reading and general knowledge.
Although the results indicate that summer vacation travel and academic achievement are linked, other factors such as income level, parent’s educational level and language spoke at home may influence these findings.

About VacationBetter.org
The American Resort Development Association’s (ARDA) on-line resource informs consumers of the importance of vacations and the overall health and wellness benefits of enjoying one — regularly and economically — through timeshare. VacationBetter.org gives vacationing families and consumers a way to learn about traveling better with vacation ownership.

The newly completed Hyatt Siesta Key Beach luxury fractional resort is now open. The resort is located on one of the top beaches in the world, Siesta Key Beach, Florida. Owners of Hyatt Siesta Key Beach have travel opportunities to 14 other Hyatt Residence Club and Hyatt Vacation Club properties as well as over 380 Hyatt hotels worldwide with Hyatt Gold Passport™.

Mark Schoenfeld, Managing Director for The Carlyle Group, owners of Hyatt Siesta Key Beach, today announced that the resort has been completed and is now open. Hyatt Siesta Key Beach is the first purpose-built luxury fractional beachfront residences in the Sarasota area. The resort is the 15th property in the Hyatt Residence Club and Hyatt Vacation Club portfolio. Other resorts are in Key West and Bonita Springs, FL; Carmel, CA; San Antonio, TX; Aspen, Beaver Creek and Breckenridge, CO; Lake Tahoe, NV; Sedona, AZ and Dorado, Puerto Rico with Fifth Avenue, New York City coming soon.

“Carlyle enjoyed working with Hyatt to develop this splendid property on one of the most pristine beaches in the country,” said Schoenfeld. “Its coming to fruition validates our shared vision for choosing Crescent Beach for Hyatt Siesta Key Beach.” The resort features 44 fully furnished residences with thirteen different floorplans and living space ranging from 1,865 to 2,920 square feet. Each residence features extraordinarily high-end finishes — including Wolf, Sub-Zero and Fisher & Paykel appliances. Other furnishings include custom furniture and décor, lavish linens and Lube Italian cabinetry throughout.

Hyatt Siesta Key Beach was built by Sarasota-based Tandem Construction. Over 500 construction workers, craftsmen, tradesmen, landscapers and laborers contributed to building the resort. The project was completed with equity provided by private equity firm The Carlyle Group. Hyatt Siesta Key Beach was completed in thirteen months and infused approximately $100 million into the local economy.

Luxury fractional ownership at Hyatt Siesta Key Beach provides owners with as much time as is typically spent at a wholly-owned second home, but with the added benefits of on-site property management by a luxury brand, the style of service and amenities luxury buyers expect and travel opportunities to 14 other Hyatt Residence Club and Hyatt Vacation Club properties* as well as over 380 Hyatt hotels worldwide with Hyatt Gold Passport™**.

For a limited time, pricing at Hyatt Siesta Key Beach begins at $135,700 for a 1/16 share (three weeks). Also available are 1/8 shares (six weeks). Ownership at Hyatt Siesta Key Beach includes Cabana Club privileges which provide owners 365-day access to resort amenities (subject to Cabana Club rules and regulations). Residences are deeded and may be passed along to future generations. Hyatt Siesta Key Beach should be seen in person to fully appreciate the experience. Visit at www.HyattSiestaKeyBeach.com.

http://www.fractionalownershipmagazine.com/fractional-ownership-resort-opens-in-florida-hyatt-siesta-key-beach/