The Best of the
Season
By Howard Nusbaum
It’s summer time, which for millions of Americans means
vacations. And for our industry, this means show-time as we deliver on the
dream of better vacationing for our consumers. That is if they take their earned vacation time.
There is good news on that front. Project: Time Off found
that Americans are now using more vacation time than they have in the past
decade, according to their latest report The State of American Vacation 2017. This is, of course, great news for our
industry.
Even with American travel being up, our ARDA advocates have remained
busy this past legislative season trying to ensure this trend continues. I’d
like to share some State Affairs advocacy successes and recognize the
achievements and progress our advocates have made on your behalf.
It was a busy year around the country, with bills and issues
in dozens of states and jurisdictions, which tallied up an impressive list of
successes. For example, in a recent Florida win, legacy resorts will now have
more tools at their disposal, such as more achievable extensions to timeshare
plans and important product definitions now memorialized in state law.
In South Carolina, we passed a successful piece of
legislation that helps timeshare owners and their HOAs stay safe from transfer
and resale scams. And in Hawaii, we were able to protect consumer privacy by
protecting the integrity of timeshare owners’ lists.
Looking to the Caribbean region, we mitigated onerous tax
issues on behalf of timeshare owners in the USVI, while also working diligently
on behalf our owners and industry in Puerto Rico and St. Marten. These are just
a few of the successes that our State Affairs team have accomplished in the
past year.
With these successes, we hope to make vacationing with
timeshare better for each and every one of our consumers. We want to make sure
that vacation usage continues to rise, while preventing any obstacles that
could interfere with your vacations. So, go take your vacation this summer, I
know I am looking forward to soaking up a wonderful summer right alongside our
consumers!