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November 3, 2010 | View PDF Version

From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, millions of Americans travel to celebrate the holidays with friends and families. With timeshare being a natural choice for a spacious, homey vacation, the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) recently surveyed its members to discover what exciting holiday events they were offering. From Arizona to Colorado to Florida, timeshare resorts across the country are rolling out the sleighs and cooking up the turkeys to help guests have fantastic, memorable holidays.

“Spending Thanksgiving or Christmas in a special place with the ones you love not only provides fun times, it creates important memories,” said Howard Nusbaum, ARDA president and CEO. “We encourage everyone to explore timeshare for their next holiday get-together.”

Imagine arriving at your fully decorated unit already stocked with groceries for the week. That’s one of the amenities that Breckenridge Grand Vacations in Colorado offers. Set against a beautiful backdrop of decorations and lights, guests here tend to come back year after year and look forward to celebrating the holidays with their extended resort families. They go on sleigh rides, dog sled adventures and simply kick back and enjoy time with family.

“There is a lot of tradition at our resort and the guests seem to enjoy getting away from their normal routines and spending the holidays in this great location,” says Kit Armour, general manager, Breckenridge Grand Vacations.

Guests at the Scottsdale Camelback Resort are treated to a grand themed vacation every year. This year’s theme is gingerbread and it can be seen in the decorations as well as the activities. There will be a gingerbread house-building contest and special menu items including gingerbread-flavored milkshakes for the kids.

“Many of our guests come for a New Year’s celebration that includes the January 1 Fiesta Bowl,” says Clark Rowley, director of marketing and public relations, Scottsdale Camelback Resort. “This is one of the major college bowl games and there’s a week packed with bowl activities for the football enthusiast.”

On the other side of the country, Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort in Orlando caters to the vacationers looking to escape winter and celebrate the holidays in a warmer climate. An oversized gingerbread house provides an apt setting for family photos and guests can order a full holiday meal – including turkey with all the trimmings – to eat in their comfortable, large in-unit dining areas. There is always an amazing array of holiday activities at nearby Disney resorts that guests can take advantage of and in addition, this year Holiday Inn Club members can use their Club Points to see the world-famous Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s 2010 Holiday Tour.

“From our tree lighting ceremony on the day after Thanksgiving through our multiple New Years’ parties we have a very active and fun holiday season for our guests,” says Stacy Sutherland, vice president of corporate communications for Orange Lake Resorts, home to Holiday Inn Club Vacations.

There are timeshare resorts around the country offering great holiday packages. For more information on timeshare vacations, please visit www.VacationBetter.org.

About ARDA:
The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) is the Washington D.C.-based professional association representing the vacation ownership and resort development industries. Established in 1969, ARDA today has almost 1,000 members ranging from privately held firms to publicly traded companies and international corporations with expertise in shared ownership interests in leisure real estate. The membership also includes timeshare owner associations (HOAs), resort management companies, and owners through the ARDA Resort Owners Coalition (ARDA-ROC). For more information, visit www.arda.org or ARDA’s consumer website at www.VacationBetter.org.