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Shell Vacations Systems Wins ARDA Innovator Award

Inducted into ARDA'S Circle of Excellence

Press Release: Shell Vacations Systems
April 21, 2006
NORTHBROOK, IL -- Shell Vacations Systems recently received one of the most prestigious awards presented at the vacation ownership industry's annual trade association conference in Las Vegas.

The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) honored Shell Vacations Systems as the recipient of its 2006 ARDA Circle of Excellence (ACE) Innovator Award.

The ACE Innovator Award recognizes a company or individual that has developed a groundbreaking product, service, or concept successfully implemented within the last three years. Shell Vacations Systems/Shell Vacations LLC was honored with the award for developing the industry's first franchise for a point-based vacation ownership product.

"We are extremely proud to be named the top innovative company within our industry," commented Sheldon Ginsburg, CEO of Shell Vacations LLC. "With franchising and timesharing among the most highly regulated and legally complex businesses in the United States, this was truly an innovative venture. It is even more remarkable because it came from a privately-held company in an industry dominated by lodging companies and hotel brands that are franchise giants."

Shell Vacations proved it is possible for franchising to work successfully in the timeshare industry by transforming two single-site, stand-alone resorts at opposite ends of the country into component parts of the Shell Vacations Club (SVC) system. In 2005, SVS opened sales centers in Texas and New Hampshire in coordination with the franchisee's marketing and administration offices. SVS is currently the only timeshare company with franchisees in active sales.

"Franchising," says Tracy Sherles, President of the Shell Vacations Club and architect of SVS, "enables new entrants into the timeshare business as well as existing independent developers an opportunity to grow and thrive, allowing them to compete with brands and public companies, giving them the power of a large resort system, a sophisticated points product, and support infrastructure that took tens of millions to develop. It would be nearly impossible for a new entrant to assemble the human and capital resources required to replicate a system like ours."
www.shellvacationsclub.com
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