Illinois

Although Sundance Vacations President John Dowd has been attending the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) meetings for the past 18 years, he recently joined the organization. ARDA is a Washington D.C.-based professional association representing the vacation ownership and resort development industries. Established in 1969, ARDA has approximately 1,000 corporate members ranging from privately held firms to publicly traded companies and international corporations with expertise in shared ownership interests in leisure real estate.

ARDA promotes the growth and development of the timeshare/vacation ownership industry through a variety of capacities: Advocacy, Networking, Business Partnerships/Bridge Building, Outreach, Knowledge, and Support and Development.

Sundance Vacations wasn’t a member of ARDA in the past, simply because it was more focused on timeshares. The industry is constantly changing, and ARDA now fits the Sundance Vacations product better. ARDA is redefining leisure travel. According to ARDA, “With today’s evolving vacation home market, consumers have an increasingly diverse marketplace and options in leisure travel; the growing variety of vacation home options includes Timeshare/Vacation Ownership; Fractional Ownership/Private Residence Clubs; Destination Clubs; Condo Hotels; and Traditional Second Home Ownership.”  

For more information visit www.arda.org

Sundance Vacations recently teamed up with Dun and Bradstreet. D&B is a financial rating company that is the world’s leading source of commercial information and insight on businesses, enabling consumers to decide with confidence. D&B has been in business for the past 167 years.

The Dun and Bradstreet website report will display financial details on Sundance Vacations including: trade payments, history and operations, public filings, risk of financial stress, risk of payment delinquency, supplier evaluation risk, credit capacity, and financial overviews. Sundance Vacations holds one of the highest financial ratings with D&B.

“Through Dun and Bradstreet customers can feel confident about the financial stability of Sundance Vacations,” explained Sundance Vacations Founder Tina Dowd.

For more information, please visit the Sundance Vacations corporate website at www.sundancevacations.com and click on the D&B logo at the bottom of the homepage.

Sundance Vacations is, for the second year in a row, participating in the Tax Refund Program. The Tax Refund Program was created to help potential customers travel more during tough economic times.

The Tax Refund Program allows customers to use their tax refund toward a travel package and get an equal credit from the company. Customers have the opportunity to choose any portion of their tax refund and apply the whole amount or any smaller portion to a vacation package. The credit you receive from Sundance Vacations is equal to the portion you apply toward a travel package. The tax refund benefits the customer because Sundance Vacations is actually doubling their refund.

The tax credit does exceed the actual purchase price. The maximum credit is the total amount of the tax refund. The actual credit is the amount the customer chooses to apply toward the purchase of a Sundance Vacations package. Customers are not eligible for cash back. In order to receive the credit, customers are required to provide a copy of their official refund check. The Sundance Vacations Tax Refund Special started at the beginning of the tax season. The program ends April 30, 2010.         

Please visit a local Sundance Vacations sales office for more information.

Sundance Vacations recently donated a vacation week to the Chicago Better Business Bureau in support of the Chicago BBB Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics. The company is honored to support the 13^th Annual Torch Awards Program. Sundance Vacations donated a seven night free vacation to one of Sundance Vacations’ numerous resort properties. The Torch Award ceremony will be held on Thursday, December 3^rd at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza, Chicago. Sundance Vacations has a proud member of the Chicago Better Business Bureau since 2005.

Have you made a donation recently? What is your favorite charitable organization to donate to?

The Better Business Bureau, one of the first organizations to rate businesses on their honesty and fairness to customers, has improved their rating system. The new and enhanced ratings are now shown as letter grades. The new business ratings are shown as letter grades A+ through F.

The letter grades provide more specific information for businesses to find suppliers and vendors, and at the same time provide a more precise guide to improving their own operations. The new ratings also help consumers to find trustworthy businesses. Previously the Better Business Bureau was using satisfactory and unsatisfactory ratings. The new grades give consumers a better idea of where a company stands with the public. The new letter-grade concept was tested for more than two years at selected BBB’s.

As part of its strategy to build trust in the marketplace, the Better Business Bureau also recently changed the way businesses affiliated with the organization were designed, from “BBB Member” to “BBB Accredited Business.” The “Accredited” designation highlights the fact that businesses have been evaluated by BBB and have contractually agreed to meet and uphold BBB’s high standards for integrity and reliability when dealing with customers. (BBB Alert, June 09, pg. 1)

Sundance Vacations is a member of the BBB in every market we operate in. The grades for each location are as followed: BBB of Washington DC and Eastern PA (Harrisburg, King of Prussia, and Wilkes-Barre): A-, BBB of Wisconsin (Brookfield): A+, BBB of New Jersey (Princeton, Rockaway): A+, BBB of Illinois (Downers Grove): A+.

For more information on BBB ratings and to find out ratings of local businesses, go to www.bbb.org.

Congratulations team, you did it!! Sundance Vacations was named as one of the Best Medium Companies to Work for in Illinois. Numerous Illinois employees anonymously participated in the survey process. Participation levels were so significant, that Sundance Vacations once again proves to be one of the best places to work, because of its employees!

“Sundance Vacations is very proud of our local Illinois management team. Maintaining a group of employees 600 miles away from the corporate office can sometimes be a challenge, yet the Illinois team does an exceptional job of helping every employee feel valued,” said Sundance Vacations President John Dowd.

This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Illinois, benefiting the state’s economy, its workforce and businesses. In 2008 Sundance Vacations was named #12 best large company to work for in Pennsylvania.
 
Sundance Vacations will be recognized and honored at the Best Places to Work in Illinois awards ceremony coordinated by The Business Ledger on May 19^th. The final rankings will be revealed at the ceremony. Stay tuned!
 
Join me in congratulating the one of the BEST PLACES TO WORK IN ILLINOIS!