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Fairfield Resorts Celebrates Major Milestone - Reaching 500,000 Owners |
| Fairfield becomes industry’s first to reach the half-million mark. |
ORLANDO, Fla. – May 25, 2005 – Thirty-nine years after opening its first sales office in a tiny, converted gas station in Arkansas, Fairfield Resorts, Inc. today joins its more than a half-million owners in celebrating an industry milestone – as the first vacation ownership company to reach the 500,000 owners mark.
Fairfield officially eclipsed 500,000 owners in late April, and continues to boast more owners than anyone in the industry worldwide. The company will commemorate the milestone with celebrations among its owners, employees, sales centers and more than 70 resorts throughout North America for the remainder of the year.
“Reaching 500,000 owners is a tremendous accomplishment and one we’re all extremely proud of,” said Franz S. Hanning, president and CEO, Fairfield Resorts, a division of Cendant Timeshare Resort Group. “It’s a testament to our dedicated employees who always strive to provide world-class service – and it’s certainly a tribute to our loyal owners, Fairfield’s beautiful resorts and the memorable vacation experiences we provide every day.”
Fairfield Resorts has come a long way since first opening its doors in 1966, when the fledgling company’s sales offices operated in that gas station in Fairfield Bay, Ark. At the time, Fairfield’s only development was a single, 14,000-acre master-planned resort community in the middle of the Ozark Mountains. Today, Fairfield owners enjoy vacationing at a growing portfolio of resorts that reaches across 21 states and U.S. territories.
“It’s amazing to think how much we’ve grown over the years to become the largest vacation ownership company in the world,” said Hanning, who first joined Fairfield as a sales professional in 1982 and has been the company’s president and CEO since 2001. “I believe a big key to our growth and success over the years is that we’ve always treated our owners like family – and it’s certainly a growing family now.”
Fairfield has seen its ownership base more than double since 1998, and the company’s growth mirrors that of the timeshare industry as a whole. One of the fastest-growing segments in travel, timeshare is now owned by more than 3 million Americans and has brought an estimated $7.5 billion in sales industry-wide in 2004.
“For the entire history of the vacation ownership industry, including today’s world of household name hotel brands, Fairfield continues to be a leader and innovator with more owners than anyone,” said Howard Nusbaum, president of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), the trade association that governs the industry. “Public awareness of, and interest in timeshare is growing every day, and Fairfield reaching a half-million owners is a great accomplishment that further points to our industry’s growing popularity.”
About Fairfield Resorts
Fairfield Resorts, Inc., with more than 500,000 owners, is the largest vacation ownership company in the world. Fairfield Resorts specializes in the development, marketing and sales of innovative travel and leisure products, including vacation ownership intervals at the company’s 71 resorts. Fairfield Resorts was one of the first U.S. developers to move from traditional fixed-week timeshare ownership to a points-based exchange program with the launch of FairShare Plus in 1991. Fairfield Resorts, headquartered in Orlando, is a subsidiary of Cendant Corporation (NYSE: CD), a diversified global provider of business and consumer services primarily within real estate and travel. Other Cendant brands include Cheap Tickets, Orbitz, AVIS, Days Inn, Ramada, Century 21, Coldwell Banker and RCI. For more information, visit www.fairfieldresorts.com
Media Contacts:
Jim Cohn Peter Tosches
407-370-5321 407-248-3504
jim.cohn@fairfieldresorts.com peter.tosches@cendant_trg.com
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