Timeshare odds and ends

Some interesting items hitting my radar screen.

Wyndham Vacation Resorts coming to San Francisco

Pretty soon Worldmark by Wyndham won’t be the only member of the Wyndham family with a resort in San Francisco. Corporate cousin Wyndham Vacation Resort will soon be joining them in the City by the Bay.
WVR acquired and converted the Canterbury Hotel Whitehall Inn and is looking to do a grand opening as early as June. The Sutter Street location will have studio, one and two bedroom units, and is blocks from Union Square. If it’s anything like the Oceanside resort, a review I'll be posting soon,  Shell Vacation Club may have a run for its money in the City by the Bay.
Worldmark opened about 3 ½ years ago not too far away, on Stockton Street, at the former location of the historic Juliana Hotel.

Oceanside Westin

Speaking of Oceanside, perhaps best known as the home of Camp Pendleton and the location for much of Tom Cruise’s movie, Top Gun, is undergoing a rejuvenation. Down the street from Wyndham Vacation Resort’s year-and-a-half old property is an empty lot that is scheduled to become a mixed use Westin property, combining both luxury hotel and a high-end fractional project. By the way, on the far end of that site is the house Kelly McGillis “lived in” in Top Gun. It is due to be moved to the heart of town, and turned into a bar.

Anaheim Westgate

Not on the fast track, on the other hand, is Westgate Resorts first property in California. While signs for the preview center can be seen at The Shops at Anaheim GardenWalk shopping mall, both the center and the resort it promotes are on hold until the economy gets a little better. Westgate, based in Orlando, has been moving further west, opening in Park City Utah a few years ago, followed by putting timeshare in Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.

Fractionals in Europe

Reporting from the recent fractional conference, fellow travel writer Sarah Lee reports on a variety of  concerns and issues impacting the growing fractional trade in Europe.  On the one hand the tight economic climate has put the brakes on some projects there, perhaps temporarily, perhaps longer.
On the other hand, they are looking to the future, trying to establish some mentoring programs allowing those just entering the world of fractionals to benefit from more experienced players in the field.
And on the third hand (Fiddler on the Roof anyone?) many are coming to grips with the fact that fractionals are a different product than timeshare, and different than wholly owned vacation property. Marketing that was effective in those two fields isn’t necessarily what will work in this hybrid product.