• Industry veteran Ron Haylock dies
    Ron Haylock
    It is with deep regret that we have learnt of the sudden death of industry veteran Ron Haylock. Ron died on Tuesday evening and the news has come as a shock to us all. We would like to extend our thoughts and condolences to his family and friends at this sad time; he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.   Details of the funeral arrangements will follow as soon as these have

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  • RDO Research: How can the timeshare industry target customers more effectively through social media?
    School of Tourism at the University of Bournemouth
    RDO has today released the results of a study conducted on its behalf by final year students at the School of Tourism at the University of Bournemouth into how social media campaigns and e-commerce can best be utilised to reach the industry's target audience, the 30/40-year-olds.   The research included a case study of RDO developer Pearly Grey, visits to Club La Costa, Club Olympus and Silverpoint resorts in Tenerife as well as telephone conference

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  • Registration for RDO4 2013 Conference now open
    RDO Conference
    Registration for this year’s conference, “RDO 4: Standing Together”, is now open on the dedicated website www.rdoconference.org.  Delegates can register online to attend the conference, which will take place from 15 to 17 September 2013, and also book their accommodation at the Lopesan Baobab Resort in Gran Canaria, the chosen venue for this year’s event.  Discounted Early Bird rates are available until midnight on 12 July.   Further details about RDO4, including information about the venue

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  • Mission Statement - Not Mission Impossible?
    Mission RDO
    This week saw the new RDO Mission Statement start to go out to our Stakeholders – government bodies, consumer associations, trade associations with whom we work etc. Last week this went out to RDO members and there is a meeting next week in London to look at how we push forward the task we have set ourselves of cleaning up so much of the rubbish on the internet that denigrates the industry around Europe. This

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  • Spring is in the air....
    Spring is in the air....
    Early February found me in Berlin, meeting with Klaus Juhl, whose PR Firm works with Hapimag in promoting timeshare in Germany and also promotes RDO and its members. The German media appears to have a more difficult reputational relationship with the industry than here in the UK (if possible) and there is to be a hearing in April before the relevant committee of MP’s in the Bundestag to enquire why that is still the situation.

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  • Press Release: RDO & its members support English Tourism Week!
    Press Release: RDO & its members support English Tourism Week!
        RDO, the trade body for vacation ownership industry, which includes timeshare and fractional developments, is marking VisitEngland’s second English Tourism Week (16 - 24 March 2013) by highlighting the importance of timeshare to the country.    VisitEngland’s Chairman, Lady Cobham, commented, “English Tourism Week is about celebrating the fantastic quality of holidays here in England. We have such a vast array of top class accommodation in the country to suit all budgets and

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  • January And All That
    January And All That
    Is it just me or do others regard January as the worst month of the year? Certainly from a London perspective it is not without its challenges - Christmas and New Year behind us, snow paralysing transport in the capital, not forgetting trains delayed and planes cancelled. Those credit card bills accumulated when buying presents to be paid off and the tax man waiting at the end of the month for his pound of flesh!

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  • Timeshare welcome here!
    Timeshare welcome here!
    It has been a busy few weeks, apart from RDO’s Autumn Board and Council meetings, we have had Management Meetings and various outside conferences/forums, the latter giving rise to this Blog’s title.     I was at the “Visit England” Economic Forum recently,held at the HQ of RBS/NatWest in the City. I was talking to the representative of the Local Enterprise Partnership for West Devon (which as I understand it is the equivalent of the

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  • RDO3 2012 Conference Round-up
    RDO3 2012 Conference Round-up
    Take a look at all of the action from RDO3 2012 conference in London......     
  • The Motto of the Mounties?
    The Motto of the Mounties?
    It is a popular misconception that the motto of the Mounties (or to be more precise The Royal Canadian Mounted Police) is "we always get our man". I think this came about through 1950's /60's TV shows, in fact their motto (according to Wikipedia at least) is "Maintian le droit" or in English - "Uphold the right or Uphold the law" however you like to translate the French. You would be forgiven for wondering where

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  • Save the Date - RDO4 2013 Conference
    Save the Date - RDO4 2013 Conference
    RDO4 2013 Conference will take place on 15th - 17th September 2013 at the Lopesan Baobab Resort, Gran Canaria - make sure you save the date!  
  • The Impala Or The Three Men In The Toilet?
    The Impala Or The Three Men In The Toilet?
    Those delegates to RDO 3 who were in Nigel Risner's closing session of the Conference will know what I mean - clever and amusing as the "Three Men" sketch was, every time I think of that Impala hitting the tree and the two lions looking at each other in surprise, I can't help but smile, so I believe the Impala has it, but let me know what you think.   This first paragraph will be

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  • RDO study reveals strong industry sales in Europe, despite the recession
    RDO study reveals strong industry sales in Europe, despite the recession
    23 September 2012: At its annual conference in London today, RDO released its latest report on timeshare, revealing that despite the recession, it remains a robust industry, with European sales totaling €750 million in 2011.   The report was compiled on RDO’s behalf by The Market Research Group (MRG) at Bournemouth University and analyses the performance of the industry in 2011, focusing on sales volumes, value of sales and employee numbers and payroll.   The

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  • Sandy Grey - Forever Stuck In A Time Warp?
    Sandy Grey - Forever Stuck In A Time Warp?
     My Sunday morning was enlivened by an email from my colleague Robin Mills forwarding on a copy of Mr Grey's latest tome on the timeshare industry rather grandly entitled (“The Rise and Fall of Timeshare in Europe” – Shades of Edward Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” first published 1776?). Once I had elected to spend some of my valuable Sunday delving into this work, it became clear that much of the 55

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  • The Summer Is Over - All Change!
    The Summer Is Over - All Change!
    There are a lot of media commentators here in the UK, who are effectively saying, that now the Olympics and Paralympics are over and the weather has changed, the UK will have to wake up to the fact it is still in recession and there is a long way to go before the nation is out of it.   I think this air of doom and gloom is because we are starting the political conference

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  • How Wrong Can They Be?
    How Wrong Can They Be?
    Over the past two weeks, we have had a journalist in the Daily Mail talking about the resurgence of "Timeshare sharks" on the Costa del Sol, another from The Olive Press making reference to “Timeshare Crooks” and on two other occasions we have had Lord Coe head of LOCOG, the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, , talking about feeling like a "Costa Blanca timeshare salesman" when he originally showed the Olympic Committee the

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  • Why Join the RDO?
    Why Join the RDO?
    November is a month for reflection, not only because it is the month before we get into the hectic round that is the run up to Christmas and the New Year, but because traditionally this is a month when we have few meetings, the membership invoices for 2011 go out and we get a chance to draw breath and reflect on events and developments after the Conference. Next month I am afraid you will have

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