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Toll Free: 877-624-6889
Intl: (407) 917-8432
Posted on December 22, 2020
The timeshare industry continues to persevere in the midst of the COVID pandemic, with the vast majority of timeshare resorts in the U.S. open and ready to close the book on 2020. As we head into the holiday season, the branded timeshare companies continue to forge ahead with plans to move their respective companies forward, as 2021 holds out hope that the vaccines put travelers in a vacation state of mind.
During this challenging year, Capital Vacations has managed to expand its lineup of offerings to 68 managed resorts and 30 vacation club properties.
Capital has just announced its renewed management contracts with resorts in Florida, Massachusetts and St. Thomas. Hollywood Beach Tower (South Florida), Topsiders Resort (Islamorada, Florida Keys), Ventura at Boca Raton (Florida), The Ponds at Foxhollow (Lenox, Mass.), and Bluebeard’s Castle Resort (St. Thomas) all remain within the Capital network. This follows the addition of Magic Tree Resort (Kissimmee), Sea Club IV (Daytona Beach) and Calypso Cay (Kissimmee) to its lineup.
Wyndham Destinations has reopened two of its timeshare resorts on St. Thomas - Limetree Beach Resort by Club Wyndham and Club Wyndham Elysian Beach Resort.
Limetree Beach Resort is the renamed Bluebeard’s Beach Club and completed a three year refurbishment with 74 renovated units and 10 new oceanfront suites. Amenities have been upgraded such as a new restaurant and revamped pool with a swim-up bar.
All 69 units at Club Wyndham Elysian Resort have been refurbished, with owners and guests having access to a private beach near the St. Thomas Yacht Club.
Grand Pacific Resorts has added Tahoe Sands Resort to its network, with the addition to become official on January 1. Tahoe Sands will become the fourth Grand Pacific timeshare offering in the region along with Red Wolf Lakeside Lodge, Red Wolf Lodge at Squaw Valley and Olympic Village Inn.
Tahoe Sands features studio, 1- and 2-bedroom cottages for accommodation, with direct lake access, a private beach and close proximity to Tahoe ski resorts.
Westgate has completed an $8million renovation project at Westgate Branson Lakes, including renovating the resort’s 152 villas. Each timeshare villa has new furniture and appliances along with new ceiling fans, light fixtures and flooring. New kitchen counters and new showers have also been added.
Upgrades have also been made to the fitness center, pool and marketplace, adding to its allure next to Table Rock Lake.
After a three year rebuild following the impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September, 2017, Hyatt Hacienda del Mar in Dorado, Puerto Rico is now open.
Hyatt included new furniture and appliances to all villas as part of the restoration, with the resort situated on Dorado Beach along the northern coast of Puerto Rico and less than 10 miles from Old San Juan.
Hilton Grand Vacations is showing some bravado in the midst of COVID, as sales have begun for The Beach Resort Sesoko by Hilton Club, Hilton’s first timeshare resort on the Japanese island of Okinawa.
The 140 unit resort is scheduled to open in late 2021 and is seen as an expansion of Hilton’s timeshare presence in Asia. Over 67,000 Hilton owners are based in Japan and Okinawa’s inbound tourism market is 70 percent Japanese.
Slightly better news for Hawaii timeshare owners as the state has reduced its mandatory quarantine timeframe from 14 days to 10 days to align with new CDC guidelines. This will only impact travelers who have not elected to provide a negative COVID test when entering Hawaii.
In October, Hawaii relaxed its rules to allow travelers to avoid quarantine if they could show a negative COVID test upon entry. That has since been expanded to providing proof before boarding the last leg of a flight to Hawaii, since some people landed in Hawaii while their tests were still being processed and therefore were required to quarantine.
Should a quarantine be required, at least the timeframe has been shortened as new CDC guidelines now recommend the period to be between 7-10 days, at the discretion of the local authorities.
California’s Stay at Home Order, which went into effect on December 6, is due to expire after this weekend. The Order is to be reviewed on a week to week basis and implementation is triggered by a threshold of less than 15 percent of ICU bed availability in a given region.
In other words, if a region’s ICU bed availability is less than 15 percent, the Stay at Home Order remains in effect.
Because this status is so fluid, we would encourage timeshare owners who own California timeshares to check the state’s page at https://covid19.ca.gov/stay-home-except-for-essential-needs/#regional-stay-home-order/ for the latest information about the status of the Order in a particular region. As always, owners should remain in contact with their resort on the latest status if they are considering booking a trip to their timeshare.
