Park Leisure has launched the Diamond Club, enabling people to purchase a quarter share of one of up to five lodges at the Chantry Retreat Holiday Park in Leyburn, North Yorkshire. In the lodges, holidaymakers will find plasma screens in bedrooms and the living area as well as heated towel rails. Wi-Fi and state-of-the-art kitchen fittings are also to be found in the lodges, while a dedicated concierge service is on offer for Diamond Club members.

The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay has been opened on a 24-acre oceanfront setting at Maui's Kapalua Resort.

It features 62 fully furnished, 2 and 3-bedroom fractional ownership residences and club members can purchase a one-twelfth interest so they can stay for 21 days each year. Members will also be able to enjoy a close to 30,000 sq ft spa in the coming weeks on top of golf course privileges and the Kapalua Adventure Center.

BW Group's International Riviera fractional resort development in Tunisia has been affiliated with The Registry Collection exchange programme. Once it is completed, the five-star resort will feature 60,000 wholly-owned and shared-ownership properties. The first build phase is due to be completed in 2011 when 50 luxury water villas will be on offer as high-end fractional ownership properties.

Australian firm Swagman Motorhomes has launched a fractional ownership programme in conjunction with Success Lifestyle. The aim of the scheme is to make motorhome ownership more affordable and provide all the benefits at a fraction of the cost. Members of the fractional ownership scheme will have usage rights of a motorhome from between 60 to 160 days a year, which can be taken as individual holidays or multiple weeks.

The Reefs Club in Bermuda is close to being completed with the first owners set to arrive on July 3rd. A total of 19 residences featured in the shared ownership property with either 2 or 3 bedrooms. All have unobstructed ocean views and private hot tubs on the verandas, while flat screen televisions and spa bathrooms will feature in them as well.

A new private residence club in the Sebago Lakes Region has been created named Maine Lakefront Club. Owners at the resort will be able to benefit from numerous amenities such as daily housekeeping and pre-arrival grocery shopping, while kayaks and bicycles are also on offer.

The Fractional and Shared Ownership Trade Association (FSOTA) has become a member of the trade body for vacation ownership, Resort Development Organisation (RDO). Formerly known as OTE (Organisation for Timeshare in Europe) RDO changed its name and opened up its membership to reflect changes in the vacation ownership industry, which has moved well beyond traditional forms of timeshare to include offerings such as ‘floating weeks’, the points system, fractional ownership, private residence clubs, destination clubs and condo hotels.

Condo hotels - also known as condotels and apartotels, a form of vacation home, are spreading across the US and baby boomers looking for a holiday home are considering getting involved in the trend, it is said. Writing for isnare.com, president of Condo Hotel Center Joel Greene states that condo hotels are usually found in resorts run by notable hotel chains, such as Ritz-Carlton and Trump International, among others.

Timeshare resorts and fractional ownership are being increasingly thought of in a positive way, one commentator states.

"Gone are the days when reports and views on timeshare ownership were negative" says Mark Silverman in an article for the Examiner.