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Welcome to this November-December 2009 edition of the LHC newsletter.
Dear LHC Member
LHC will engage in a Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] project with the Baan Fuang Fah orphanage for marginalized children at Pakkred, Nonthaburi, just north of Bangkok.
A letter informing you about this worthy project went out in October, together with the invoice for club dues 2010.
Laguna Resorts & Hotels [LHR] of which we are part has a comprehensive CSR programme administered through Banyan Tree, the parent company. This is LHC’s first CSR project, and for that reason, we want to appeal to our members to give it your full support.
Initially this will be through donating just USD 1 [around 33 THB] through allocation from your annual Club Dues. It is a small, but important, contribution toward helping these underprivileged children. LHC will match your donation with another USD 1.
In this way we anticipate building up a worthwhile fund quickly to help Baan Fuang Fah.
Please be assured that we will not be making cash donations to the orphanage. The funds will be used to either purchase much needed operational equipment and supplies, and for training of staff, all of which are badly needed.
While Baan Fuang Fah receives some state funding, it is not nearly enough so the orphanage must rely on the generosity of people, like LHC members for example, to help them care for the children in the best way possible.
The funds will be subjected to LHC’s strictest auditing procedures and closely administered.
We would also hope that you can become directly involved with the orphanage through a staff involvement programme which we will initiate, to give volunteers the opportunity to visit and assist for a day.
We hope you will support us in this endeavour.
Kind regards
Gerard [Jerry] van Paassen
Assistant Vice President
Laguna Holiday Club
About Baan Fuang Fah
Baan Fuang Fah is an orphanage situated at Pakkred, Nonthaburi, just north of Bangkok, which cares for a large number of mentally and physically disabled Thai children up to the age of seven years.
This includes deaf and blind children, as well as those with milder and severe disabilities.
While the orphanage receives some state funding, this is insufficient to meet their daily operational requirements. One of the biggest problems they have is obtaining sufficient well qualified, or trained, staff.
LHC has chosen Baa Fuang Fah after extensive research, including visiting the orphanage and also two others to assess their suitability to be the beneficiary of the LHC Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] programme.
Our clear impression was that while Baan Fuang Fah undoubtedly needed more support for its operations, it was also well administered and the maintenance of the facility was very good, given the limited resources.
Our involvement will centre on the purchase of much needed equipment and development of a training package for volunteers to aid in the mobility of the children. Longer term, we hope we can help the orphanage become more self-supporting through development of products and services.
This is a small beginning with CSR, but we believe it is important that LHC is active in the community through our members in this way.
Media Coverage
A column on the timeshare industry in Asia appeared in the Bangkok Post on 17 October, 2009. It is part of an ongoing series of columns Laguna Resorts & Hotels are providing to the Post each month commenting on particular aspects of our industry. These columns will be posted on our website.
Contact Centre Expanded
The LHC contact centre in Bangkok was upgraded in October with additional staff and lines, thus improving a customer’s or member’s chance of receiving prompt service. A new ISDN line in Bangkok will allow us to scale up even further, should there be a need. This expansion complements the deployment of LHC’s new TimeShareWare IT platform, and together will enable LHC to raise the quality of our services to members.
Customer Experience Team
Our Customer Experience [CE] team is a new initiative to take proactive steps to reach out to LHC’s customers. Trained, senior staff from Member Services will be actively contacting members who may not have visited LHC properties for a while to keep them fully up to date with developments and the benefits available to them e.g. when they might be able to take advantage of an RCI exchange, or when units are available for their use. The idea is to set a “tone” for membership of LHC, to guide members. Communication will initially be through email and then, if required, a follow up telephone call. We will also be doing birthday greetings to members through CE.
Website Review
LHC is reviewing how to run its website to ensure it is kept as up to date as possible. We recognize the importance of the site as a communication tool and the need to constantly update information on it. A full time webmaster aimed at this is being recruited. Maintenance of the website will also be undertaken internally from now on to enable LHC to input material quicker and more cost effectively.
LHC @ Boathouse Hua Hin
Starting with the initial seven units in mid 2008, LHC now owns 17 units in the Boathouse Hua Hin. Our units there are doing very well, with occupancy often reaching over 90% even on weekdays. A key factor is the points differential between weekday and weekend usage of LHC units; this valuation relates more correctly to demand and supply. It is a good way for people in Bangkok, in particular, to take a day off work and be “pampered” during the week when the shops are less busy and there is not so much traffic. In fact, LHC @ Boathouse Hua Hin has changed people’s travel habits. Members using Hua Hin are mainly Bangkok based Thais, but increasingly, we see expats from places like the United Kingdom and America are including a stay at the Boathouse as part of their holiday in Thailand.
LHC @ Boathouse Hua Hin was affiliated to RCI in April this year, with the first exchange visitors arriving in July and August, many of them international guests. In fact, despite the relatively short notice, all the weeks deposited have been snapped up for inbound exchanges.
Review by Timeshare Owner
ow is an interesting review and comments from a timeshare owner in the United States, which underlines the advantages of owning a timeshare.
prisingly, timeshare has been in existence as a concept since the 1960s. A ski resort owner in France decided that owning a set amount of time in a resort each year was a much more practical way to have a holiday than renting. Over time his idea became popular, and the timeshare concept has steadily grown in popularity ever since, particularly in the US.
Why do people buy and use timeshares? When you buy a timeshare, you become owner a tiny part of the property, and for many people they like the feeling of security and ownership that gives them. Maintenance and other ownership costs are split among all the property owners, and generally the owners will combine to hire a professional manager to take care of the resort.
Once you own timeshare, you are guaranteed to have that amount of time in the resort each year, which can be a big plus if it is a very popular resort. When the resort is a little quiet, they may offer extra weeks to owners at a much cheaper rate than normal rentals. The biggest benefit for most people, however, is that you can exchange your own week at your resort for a week at an entirely different resort. This is great if you do not really want to vacation in the same place every year. You can exchange into resorts all over the world, which is an enormous range of places and climates to choose from. So it will take a long time to run out of places you like to visit.
Timeshares also offer a quality vacation. Many timeshare resorts are of the highest quality, incorporating luxury features within the accommodation itself, and many extra resort facilities such as tennis courts and swimming pools. The variety is astonishing, and I have always been impressed with the resorts I have visited, both in terms of quality and facilities. Even in the short time I have owned a week of timeshare, I have stayed in a luxury Hawaiian beachside apartment, a chalet in the Canadian Rockies, by a peaceful lake in New Zealand and beautiful Australian bush setting.
Sometimes, a timeshare resort will set up an agreement with other timeshares, which means you get access to cheap weeks at the other resorts as well. If you find you do not want to use your week one year, you can let family or friends use it. All you need to do is pay the annual maintenance fee. There are timeshare resorts available all over the US, so you should be able to find one relatively close by. You can usually arrange a free tour, or even stay for the weekend at a reduced rate if you are thinking of buying a week at the resort. During your stay it is a good idea to talk to other owners and get their feedback. Timeshares can be a wonderful vacation option, so do your research and make sure you buy wisely, if you decide a timeshare is right for you.
Steve Dolan is a timeshare owner of several resorts and loves to vacation across the world.
Feedback
We welcome your feedback and input into this newsletter. Any comments should be directed to: newsinfo@lagunaholidayclub.com
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