Applications have been made to the UK High Court in relation to the proposed mergers of Diamond Resorts (Europe) Limited with three of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Diamond Resorts Spanish Sales S.L., Diamond Resorts Tenerife Sales S.L., and Diamond Resorts Balearic Sales S.L. in accordance with The Companies (Cross-Border Mergers) Regulations 2007 (“Merger Regulations“).

Pursuant to regulations 10 and 12  of the Merger Regulations the merger plan and directors’ report in relation to each of the three mergers are available to download on the Diamond Resorts’ website by clicking here.

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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Royal Westmoreland (www.royalwestmoreland.com), the leading golf, beach and spa resort in Barbados has appointed P1 Communications to manage their media relations and PR campaigns for the UK and Irish markets.

Located in the parish of St. James on the prestigious west coast, the stately five-star resort is a major player in the island’s luxury hospitality sector and currently holds the Bloomberg International Property Awards for ‘Best Golf Development in the Caribbean’ and ‘Best Golf Development in the Americas’.

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Online voting will end on April 29^th for timeshare and fractional industry professionals looking to assist in deciding the winners for the inaugural Perspective Magazine Awards Program.

Nearly 2,000 votes have already been cast online for nominees in the Perspective Magazine Awards program. However, timeshare and fractional industry professionals who have not yet cast their ballots only have until the end of this week to participate in the selection process.[membe]

April 29^th is the deadline for online voters to help choose between nearly 150 entries submitted for the awards program, with winners to be announced the evening of May 12^th, 2011 during a Gala dinner at the conclusion of global networking expo GNEX 2011.

Online voting is being conducted through the Perspective Magazine website at http://perspectivemagazine.com/awards, with voters asked to go to the website and follow the links for instructions on how to vote for their favorite individual or company. Once online voting is concluded, the votes will be added to the decisions of a select panel of industry experts in a process to decide the award winners.

“We are absolutely thrilled with the response from the industry so far during the voting process,” said Paul Mattimoe, president and CEO, Perspective Magazine. “With nominations coming in from around the world, we set up the website to make it as easy as possible for the industry to vote and they have exceeded our expectations. We are the only shared ownership industry awards program that includes this level of public involvement and look forward to expanding upon its success year on year.”

GNEX 2011 and the Perspective Magazine Awards will be held May 11^th-12^th, 2011 at the spectacular Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas and will take a comprehensive look at the industry from a global viewpoint. Industry associations from five continents have given their support to the event as attendees from the USA, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Russia, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Australia will be examining creative new ways to grow their businesses.

Workshops discussing international best practices and new strategies to gain and maintain customers will provide outstanding value for delegates. The expo will also incorporate an exhibitor hall, networking sessions, a welcome reception, open networking time and areas for individual business meetings in addition to the Perspective Magazine Awards Gala dinner.

For more information and to find out how you can attend GNEX 2011, please visit http://perspectivemagazine.com/gnex

Sponsors and supporters of GNEX 2011 include:

The Absolute World Group, Dial an Exchange, Resort Television, Yucatan Holidays, Citadel Trustees Limited, Connex, First American Title Insurance Company, ICE, Interval International, LeisureLink, Max Generation, RCI, First National Trustee Company, Lloydshare, Alternative Ownership Conference Asia Pacific (AOCAP), Australian Timeshare & Holiday Ownership Council (ATHOC), Canadian Resort Development Association (CRDA), Cooperative Association of Resort Exchangers (CARE), La Asociación Mexicana de Desarrolladores Turísticos (AMDETUR), Ragatz Fractional Interest Conference, Resort Development Organisation (RDO), Vacation Ownership Association of Southern Africa (VOASA), American Airlines, Avis Rent A Car and Christel House International as Charity of Choice.

About Perspective Magazine

Perspective Magazine publishes four regional brands: industry publications Perspective Magazine North America, Perspective Magazine Europe & Middle East, Perspective Magazine South Africa and Perspective Magazine Asia Pacific. Together, the industry magazines are the most read independent trade publications globally for the shared ownership industry and the company is a media sponsor of 30 major industry events around the world. 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.  Distribution is via a variety of high-profile consumer channels including, but not limited to, more than 150 first class airport lounges worldwide with over a dozen airlines such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta as well as hundreds of luxury hotels, resorts, spas and golf clubs.

For more information, please visit http://perspectivemagazine.com/gnex or email Steve Luba, Director of Public Relations, at steveluba(at)perspectivemagazine.com. For information on advertising and editorial opportunities visit http://perspectivemagazine.com/advertise. [/member]

Citadel is proud to announce that it will be attending the Fractional Summit in Abu Dhabi as a Ruby Sponsor. The decision by Citadel to support this event which is to be held at the spectacular Yas Hotel on the 23rd and 24th of November 2010, reflects the increasing importance of the Middle East region and the potential it offers the shared leisure market. The Abu Dhabi Fractional Summit is to focus on all the main aspects of the shared leisure industry from traditional timeshare through to all the different types of fractional products.

Christopher Allen, Director, commented “This is an exciting decision for Citadel and we firmly believe that the event will provide us with the ideal platform from which we can launch our bespoke services in the region. Citadel already has many years of experience in Europe, Asia and the Far East, so we see it as a natural progression for us to now look towards the Middle East and the business opportunities it can offer”.

Piers Brown, founder of event organizer Fractional Life, said: “We´re delighted to have Citadel on board for our first event in the Middle East. This sponsorship demonstrates Citadel’s true foresight and commitment to growing the shared ownership marketplace and we look forward to welcoming delegates and sponsors from around the world to network and discover the opportunities in this exciting region”.

Further to the success of the UK Fractional Summit held earlier this year at the Marriott Grovesnor, London, Citadel is also proud to confirm that it will be attending the 2011 event and, for the fourth year running, it will be supporting the Summit as a Gold Sponsor.

Citadel, which also specializes in emerging products, such as green energy and biomass products, requiring stakeholder, trustee and escrow services, as well as Hotel buy-to-let schemes and other leisure related investment products. Citadel has grown rapidly over since its inception and is authorized by the UK Financial Services Authority to set-up, operate and wind-up Unregulated Collective Investments Schemes, an area of business which has seen very strong growth in recent years and one which will be of particular focus for the company in the future. The Group now boasts offices in the UK, Spain, India, Thailand and China and is involved with projects valued at over $2.5 billion.

For further information about Citadel, please contact Christopher Allen, Director, Client Services and Business Development, by email chrisallen@citadeltrustees.com or, call the company’s UK Head Office +44 (0) 1276 482015/16

A new five year holiday plan package launched by De Vere aims to meet the growing consumer demand for greater flexibility and destination choice.

Slaley Hall

Under the De Vere Take 5 Holiday Plan one week’s annual holiday over the next five years can be planned and paid for with the added benefit of being able to choose from over 2500 luxurious worldwide resorts in years two, three and four.

To join the package holidaymakers choose their ideal De Vere accommodation from a portfolio of four luxury lodge and apartment resorts across the UK – the Carrick at Cameron House, Cameron House on the shores of Loch Lomond, Slaley Hall in Northumberland and Belton Woods near Grantham, Lincolnshire.
Once they have selected their ideal property and preferred week in the year, they then holiday there in years one and five, but have the flexibility of venturing to one of the overseas destinations covering Europe and the USA in the interim period.

Allan Reich, general manager of De Vere Seasonal Ownership, said that the plan had been developed to meet the changing consumer requirements for hassle free, flexible and varied holidays, appealing particularly to a younger, family leisure market.

Cameron House

“Through De Vere we offer a choice of one to four bedroom lodges and apartments and once customers have selected their preferred property, together with the time of the year they would like to get away, they can relax in the knowledge that their annual holidays are planned and paid for over the next five years.”

The Take 5 Holiday Plan features a worldwide exchange membership with Interval International, ensuring consistently high standards of comfort, cleanliness and leisure experience in the 2500 Interval International affiliated resorts all over the world.

Prices start from £3,395 exclusive of up to four people, which equates to £873 per person for five years of holidays. Further information on the De Vere Take 5 Holiday Plan is available by calling 0844 980 8040.

Macdonald Resorts based in Scotland is recognised as one of Europe’s leading resort developers with nine resorts located across the UK and Spain, which complement the Macdonald Group’s 43 four and five star hotels in the UK. With over 25,000 members, Macdonald Resorts has been in operation for over 20 years and is one of the UK’s leading hospitality brands.

Offering a range of products including fixed week ownership, short term lease products and the points-based vacation club “Options”, which links with its sister business Macdonald Hotels, Macdonald Resorts is unique in its make-up.

“Merlin will allow Macdonald Resorts to handle every aspect of the business including property & inventory management, sales & marketing and management fee billing so we can maximise our business potential”, explained Simon Jackson, Managing Director of Macdonald Resorts Ltd. “Obviously Merlin includes all the functionality that one comes to expect in software but Merlin has so much more to offer, to the extent that all of our technology needs are catered for in one application.  And of course website integration that allows owners to interact with their ownership accounts, including being able to pay management fees on line, will add a new dimension to our services”.

Jackson continued:  “We needed an experienced technological partner who could provide us with more than just software.  The Merlin team has hands-on vacation ownership experience. Mike Pnematicatos, Merlin’s chief software developer, has built his own resorts so he understands the challenges that innovative businesses face today”.

From fixed weeks and points club management to fractionals and private residence clubs, Merlin’s software functionality provides a single software solution for today’s resort and management business. Developed as state-of-the-art Business Application Software, Merlin is web based and served across the internet. Users can access their accounts securely via a web browser from anywhere, at any time without the need of expensive or complicated hardware installations.

Merlin’s interactive functionality allows management companies to integrate the software with their current websites for online bookings and payments. Members can transact in real time with their management company, accessing the same data and with all activities written back directly into Merlin.

Merlin, the leading industry online software provider, delivers software directly to users through the internet using the new technology of Cloud Computing. According to chief software developer Mike Pnematicatos “Merlin is resource light, incredibly intuitive and allows unlimited users and multiple locations to access the software securely in real time from anywhere in the world. It enables resorts and hotels to benefit from time and cost savings – yet still be at the cutting edge of internet technology.”

About Merlin
Merlin Software for Vacation Ownership has been developed by Mike Pnematicatos who has over 25 years experience in the timeshare industry in sales, marketing and resort management. Merlin Software is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.

Using the latest web technology, Merlin is the complete software package for today’s hospitality industry and can handle all types of timeshare and holiday product.

Merlin Software incorporates modules for sales, marketing and front and back office, and its software architecture is inherently flexible. As Merlin is served over the Internet there is no requirement for any expensive communication links or set up fees and can be accessed from wherever there is an Internet connection.

Contact details
For more information on Merlin Software for Vacation Ownership contact Mike Ashton by e-mail at mikea@quickmerlin.com  or visit www.quickmerlin.com to arrange a full demonstration.

As part on an ongoing campaign to help stamp out fraudulent practices targeted at timeshare owners, RDO (Resort Development Organisation), the trade body for timeshare and fractional ownership, is calling for consumers to come forward with their complaints.

Of particular interest are complaints from people who have been invited to a presentation either to discuss ways in which to dispose of their timeshare or to join a class action scheme, but are then persuaded to sign up to membership of a holiday club of which they had no former knowledge. A deposit is frequently taken and if no cooling off period is provided, which is frequently the case, consumers may lose significant sums of money.

The evidence that RDO builds up through this campaign will be presented to the enforcement authorities in both the UK and Spain to enable them to take decisive and hard-hitting action, putting a stop to the distress caused to people who have been misled by this type of activity.

Over the course of the last few years the number of consumers coming to RDO with allegations of fraud has steadily increased and its enforcement programme, which is headed up by a former Spanish police inspector, is more important than ever, with significant sums of money being invested into a pan-European programme.

Richard McIntosh, the Organisation’s chairman, adds, “Members of the public should always check with RDO if they are approached by a company they are unsure of and should walk away if they are asked to sign a contact which does not give them the right to withdraw.”

RDO (Resort Development Organisation) is the trade body dedicated to excellence and fair trading in the European vacation ownership industry, whilst promoting and fostering industry growth. As such, it serves its members through public relations, legislative lobbying, research and member and consumer relations management.

Formerly Organisation for Timeshare in Europe AISBL, RDO is an international non profit making association registered in Brussels with company number 0457.984.213.  Its registered office is at Oak House, Cours St Michel 100/3, 1040 Brussels, Belgium. Web: www.rdo.org, email: info@rdo.org

Merlin Software is delighted to announce that its new benefit for TATOC’s resort members and affiliates will be launched this weekend at the TATOC Conference 26th-28th March at the Belfry in Nottingham, UK.

The new benefit consists of a free assessment of a resort’s current technology and a guide on the latest resort-based technology that is now available. By completing a simple questionnaire the Merlin team will assess how a resort is using technology in its daily activities and make suggestions on how the latest technology can improve procedures and operations, lower costs and streamline activities. The benefit is available to all TATOC resort members and affiliates.

Merlin’s chief developer Mike Pnematicatos explains: “Many resorts feel they are too small or mature to use the latest technologies but this simply isn’t the case.  Everyone can benefit and you don’t need to be a computer geek to understand them. A simple change or addition can save a resort a considerable sum of money every year and add new services for members to enjoy”.

TATOC already uses the services of Merlin to support the activities of the Helpline, provide statistics and reports and assist with the marketing and promotion of the Association. Harry Taylor, CEO, said “We were looking for software that could handle every aspect of our business including the Helpline. We are now able to run everything on one system rather than using multiple programmes”.

Merlin’s software is delivered directly to users through the internet, is very resource light and easy to use. It covers all aspects of a timeshare operation from maintenance fee collections and accounts to inventory control and reservations. Merlin can also interact with a resort’s website to offer online services such maintenance fee payments and rentals.

Merlin will be attending the upcoming TATOC conference on 26th -28th March and questionnaires will be issued during this time. Resort members and affiliates who are not able to attend will receive their questionnaires by email after the event.

TATOC members enjoy a number of membership benefits including timeshare industry news and information, survey results, case studies and general legal and accounting advice.

For further information, please visit Merlin at www.quickmerlin.com. For further information on TATOC, please visit www.timeshareassociation.org

Background
Merlin Software for Vacation Ownership has been developed by Mike Pnematicatos who has over 25 years experience in the timeshare industry in sales, marketing and resort management.

Using the latest web technology, Merlin is the complete software package for today’s hospitality industry and can handle all types of timeshare and holiday product.

Merlin Software incorporates modules for sales, marketing and front and back office, and its software architecture is inherently flexible. As Merlin is served over the Internet there is no requirement for any expensive communication links or set up fees and can be accessed from wherever there is an Internet connection.

TATOC, a non-profit company, was formed in 1989 to act as a networking group for the appointed members of timeshare owners’ committees. Today the Association has 70 resort members representing over 250,000 timeshare owners across Europe and is sponsored by some of Europe’s leading timeshare businesses.

Contact details
For more information on Merlin Software for Vacation Ownership contact Mike Ashton on +44 (0) 7753 910788 or by e-mail at mikea@quickmerlin.com

For more information on TATOC, The Timeshare Association contact Harry Taylor on +44 (0) 161237 3611 or by e-mail at harry.taylor@timeshareassociation.org.

Christel House International today announced that RCI, the global leader in vacation exchange and one of the Wyndham Worldwide family of companies (NYSE: WYN), will return for the fourth year as the Title Sponsor of the RCI® Christel House Open® International Charity Golf Tournament.

Now in its eighth year, the global tournament will begin on Monday, June 7, 2010, and take place at 18 sites in six countries. One hundred percent of the worldwide proceeds will go to programs and services that directly benefit the more than 3,000 children of Christel House.

“We are again thrilled to sponsor the RCI Christel House Open and so very proud to continue the tradition of working with this great organization,” said Geoff Ballotti, CEO, RCI. “We know that working on this event, along with so many other fundraising initiatives for Christel House, allows us to help improve the lives of the children, families and communities that comprise their wonderful programs throughout the world.”

Approximately 1,800 golfers will tee off from sites in the U.S., Mexico, India, South Africa, Venezuela and the U.K.

“RCI has a long history for its commitment to social responsibility,” said Christel DeHaan, Founder. “We could not ask for a more engaged Title Sponsor and we are grateful to RCI for its generous support.”

DeHaan, the co-founder of RCI, founded Christel House in 1998 with the goal of helping children around the world break the cycle of poverty and become self-sufficient, contributing members of their societies. Since then, Christel House has expanded its programs and locations to serve more than 3,000 students, their families and communities, and employ more than 250 dedicated professionals who help the children optimize their potential and achieve productive, self-sufficient lives.

As the charity of choice for the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), Christel House and the RCI Christel House Open are largely supported by developers, resorts and vendors in the timeshare industry. Christel House is also one of the four signature charities of Wishes by Wyndham, the philanthropic program of Wyndham Worldwide. Founded in 1974, RCI is the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and is recognized within the industry for its longstanding history of social responsibility. For more information on the RCI Christel House Open, please visit www.chopen.org.

About RCI
RCI is part of Wyndham Exchange and Rentals, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and the European leader in vacation rentals, with exclusive access for specified periods to more than 65,000 vacation properties in approximately 100 countries. Wyndham Exchange and Rentals is comprised of vacation exchange, including RCI, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and provider of travel services to businesses and consumers and The Registry Collection program, the world’s largest luxury exchange program; vacation rentals, including Endless Vacation Rentals, Landal GreenParks®, Novasol®, and other renowned vacation rental brands, through which vacationers can rent a variety of property types, from city apartments to villas; and NorthCourse® Leisure Real Estate Solutions, a research and consultancy firm providing advisory services to the global leisure real estate industry. Wyndham Worldwide Corporation is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies with leading brands in lodging franchising, vacation ownership, vacation rentals and vacation exchange.

For additional information visit www.wyndhamer.com or the media center of www.wyndhamworldwide.com.