October 19, 2001
NORTHBROOK, IL - - Shell Vacations LLC announced today that it has secured refinancing in the amount of $20 million
for its Horseshoe Resort in Ontario, Canada, and that despite the tragic events of September 11, the company continues
to experience record performance levels.
According to Shelly Ginsburg, Shell Vacations LLC Managing Director, "This has been an excellent year for Shell. Our record performance month after month, and the refinancing of our Canadian resort along with the emergence from bankruptcy of our financial partner FINOVA, means that the financial outlook for our company has never been more encouraging and our plans for growth and expansion will continue uninterrupted."
Ginsburg also noted that like most organizations throughout the industry, Shell Vacations LLC felt the impact on business of the tragic events of September 11.
Simon Crawford-Welch, Shell's Executive VP, Sales & Marketing stated "Immediately after the tragic events of September 11, our senior executive team convened and put into action a 'crisis action plan' to deal with what we anticipated would be potentially major negative implications for our tour flow, recission rates, owners and members. Due to the creative programs implemented by our sales, marketing and hospitality teams, we were able to continue our upward trend and have exceeded budgeted sales numbers every week since the tragedy," he added.
Shell's 'September 11 Crisis Plan' consisted of changing telemarketing scripts to be more sensitive to the mood of the nation; implementing an outbound telephone campaign to owners of the Shell entry-level 'Explorer' product to encourage them to convert to full membership sooner than they may have originally planned; instituting specialized anti-rescission campaigns; and offering special services and facilities such as extended stays and full-service office facilities to guests stranded at Shell resorts during the crisis.
With ten off site Preview Centers and 14 resorts located in California, Hawaii, Arizona and Canada, Shell Vacations
is one of the nation's largest independently owned vacation ownership developers, serving nearly 60,000 owners.
In 2001, Shell Vacations LLC will have timeshare sales well in excess of $100 million.
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For Additional Information, Please Contact
Simon Crawford-Welch at 847-564-4600 Extension 160
Or Marge Lennon at 941-482-3891