A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a refrigerator, and other kitchen facilities, upholstered chairs, a flat-screen television, and en-suite bathrooms. Small, lower-priced hotels may offer only the most basic guest services and facilities. Larger, higher-priced hotels may provide additional guest facilities such as a swimming pool, a business center with computers, printers, and other office equipment, childcare, conference and event facilities, tennis or basketball courts, gymnasium, restaurants, day spa, and social function services. Hotel rooms are usually numbered to allow guests to identify their room. Some boutique, high-end hotels have custom decorated rooms. Some hotels offer meals as part of a room and board arrangement. In Japan, capsule hotels provide a tiny room suitable only for sleeping and shared bathroom facilities.
A resort is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel is frequently a central feature of a resort and the term resort may be used for a hotel that provides an array of entertainment and recreational activities. Some resorts are also condominium complexes that are timeshares or owned fractionally or wholly owned condominium. A resort is not always a commercial establishment operated by a single company, but in the late 20th century, that sort of facility became more common.
Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a private, 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization founded in 1912. BBB's self-described mission is to focus on advancing marketplace trust, consisting of 97 independently incorporated local BBB organizations in the United States and Canada, coordinated under the International Association of Better Business Bureaus (IABBB) in Arlington, Virginia.
A timeshare is a property with a divided form of ownership or use rights. These properties are typically resort condominium units, in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each owner of the same accommodation is allotted their period of time. Units may be sold as a partial ownership, lease, or "right to use", in which case the latter holds no claim to ownership of the property. The ownership of timeshare programs is varied, and has been changing over the decades.
Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee. The chain was a division of Bass Brewery from 1988-2000, Six Continents from 2000-03, and IHG Hotels & Resorts since 2003. It operates hotels under the names Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, and Holiday Inn Resorts. As of 2018, Holiday Inn operates more than 1,100 locations.
The Disney Vacation Club (DVC) is a vacation timeshare program owned and operated by Disney Vacation Development, Inc., a subsidiary of Disney Signature Experiences, a division of Disney Experiences, a segment of The Walt Disney Company. It allows buying a real estate interest in a DVC resort via a flexible points-based membership system. There are an estimated 220,000 club members.
A vacation rental is the renting out of a furnished apartment, house, or professionally managed resort-condominium complex on a temporary basis to tourists as an alternative to a hotel. The term vacation rental is mainly used in the US. Other terms used are self-catering rentals, holiday homes, holiday lets, cottage holidays and gites.
Destination clubs, or vacation clubs, or travel clubs, is a concept within the leisure industry introduced in 1998, when Rob McGrath, a veteran of the luxury time share development business, launched Private Retreats. Members pay a membership deposit and annual dues to join and access the club’s properties. Since then, more than 30 companies have launched clubs targeting affluent families that want the benefits of second home ownership, but with more flexibility and choice in where they vacation each year. The use of a portfolio of high-end homes in resort destinations is said to be preferred by its members over access to a single golf course alone as appears to be the case with country clubs. Destination clubs are said to be ideal for the individual seeking variety and enjoy the thrill of visiting different locations. The world's largest destination club still in operation is said to be Inspiratowith American Express.
Video Professor, Inc. was an American company that developed and marketed tutorials for a variety of computer-related subjects, such as learning to use Microsoft Word, Microsoft Windows, and eBay. Video Professor was founded in 1987 by John W. Scherer and was located in Lakewood, Colorado. It was known in the U.S. for its commercials and infomercials on late night television and print ads almost daily in USA Today and other nationally-distributed newspapers. The company has been the subject of controversy regarding its sales and billing practices, as well as lawsuits it has filed against online critics of the company.
Travel + Leisure Co. is an American timeshare company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It develops, sells, and manages timeshare properties under several vacation ownership clubs, including Club Wyndham and WorldMark by Wyndham, and provides timeshare exchange services, primarily through RCI.
RCI is a timeshare exchange company with over 4,300 affiliated resorts in 100 countries.
Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. is based in Orlando, Florida, United States, with regional offices located in Las Vegas, Nevada, Oahu, Hawaii, New York City, Marco Island, Florida and Sanibel Island, Florida. It was formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of Hilton Inc. until it was spun off into a publicly traded company. As of December 31, 2019, it has 55 properties with 8,916 rooms in 5 countries and territories, all franchised.
Club Mahindra is the flagship brand of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited (MHRIL), an Indian Hospitality company founded in 1996. It is a part of the Leisure and Hospitality sector of the Mahindra Group and provides family holidays on a timeshare basis. MHRIL offers family holidays primarily through vacation ownership memberships for over a period of 25/10 years.
Bluegreen Corporation is an American private vacation ownership company based in Boca Raton, Florida. Currently a wholly owned subsidiary of BFC Financial Corporation with around 4,500 employees, the company provides vacations at 60 company-managed resorts on a time-share basis, with alternative resort and cruise options available through upselling and third-party exchanges. Bluegreen makes its services available to other resort operators on a fee-for-service basis.
The Allegro Resorts Corporation was a major hotel operator and one of the pioneers in all-inclusive travel industry. At its height, Allegro owned 27 properties in the Dominican Republic, Antigua, Morocco, Aruba, Turks and Caicos, Mexico, Venezuela, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Tunisia, St. Kitts and Egypt. The brand portfolio was composed of Caribbean Village, Allegro Resorts, Royal Hideaway and Jack Tar.
Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, is a beachside resort hotel at the Ko Olina Resort in Kapolei, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. Alongside Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort and Disney's Vero Beach Resort, Aulani is Disney's third "stand-alone" hotel located in an area without any adjacent theme park.
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation is a pure-play public timeshare company. Formerly a division of Marriott International, Marriott Vacations Worldwide was established as a separate, publicly traded entity focusing primarily on vacation ownership in November 2011. Marriott Vacations Worldwide runs more than 120 resorts with over 700,000 Owners and Members. Its brands include Marriott Vacation Club, Marriott Vacation Club Pulse, Grand Residences by Marriott, and The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club. The Company also operates Interval International, which offers an exchange network and travel membership programs through a network of more than 3,200 affiliated resorts in over 90 countries and territories.
Diamond Resorts is a timeshare company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, with regional offices in Orlando, Florida and Lancaster, United Kingdom. The company has a network of more than 379 vacation destinations in 35 countries around the world and sells vacation ownership points. The company sponsors numerous celebrities, including LPGA professional Brittany Lincicome, PGA Tour professional Brian Gay and MLB Hall of Famers Gaylord Perry and Reggie Jackson. The company also pairs with country music artists, including Cole Swindell, Lauren Alaina and Jana Kramer to host private concerts for its members.
Vida Vacations is a vacation membership company, which allows its customers to purchase a Right to Use and, more recently, a real estate interest in 15 resorts in Mexico. It was founded in 2010 by Grupo Vidanta, and was originally named "Vida Vacation Club". Before that, in the 1990s it was called Vidafel and sold only timeshares. The total number of rooms is approximately 7,000.
Elara is a 52-story timeshare building and non-casino hotel at 80 East Harmon Avenue in Paradise, Nevada, located behind the Planet Hollywood resort that operates on the Las Vegas Strip.
