ARDA Celebrates Industry Excellence Top Individuals, Teams, Resorts, and Corporations Inducted into ARDA Circle of Excellence

by American Resort Development Association

The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) honored the 2006 ARDA Circle of Excellence (ACE) award winners at a gala ceremony and dinner during the ARDA Convention and Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“ACE recipients have attained the highest level of excellence in their fields and have demonstrated a commitment to the improvement of the vacation ownership resort industry as a whole,” said Howard Nusbaum, president and chief executive officer of ARDA. “This is the ultimate honor we bestow as an industry, but it is actually we who are honored and privileged to have professional and corporate colleagues such as these alongside us.”

The ACE Lifetime Achievement Award is given to an individual whose pioneering efforts have had a major positive impact on the direction and standards of the industry. Recipients possess an outstanding body of work with a minimum of 15 years’ involvement in the industry with demonstrated leadership, integrity, creativity, innovation, and quality standards and ethics.

This year’s recipient, Richard Ragatz, founder of Ragatz Associates, is the research pioneer in the industry. He has completed the largest study ever funded by the federal government on privately owned recreational properties, the first study by the British Department of the Environment on vacation homes, the first national study of resort timeshare buyers, the first national survey of fractional interest purchasers, and the first worldwide study of the resort timesharing industry.

Given in memory of Anne W. Crawford, the ACE Volunteer Award “The Annie,” recognizes an ARDA member who consistently devotes time, energy, creativity, and talent. A passionate industry activist and selfless volunteer, the 2006 award recipient is Thorp Thomas, executive vice president, Association Management, Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc. As chairman of ARDA Florida, he organized and led the effort to reverse the devastating legislation that would have essentially de-regulated right-to-use timeshare plans.

The ACE Community Service Award recognizes outstanding community contributions by an ARDA member individual or organization. This year’s recipient, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, was recognized not only for the depth of the company’s commitment, but also the degree of involvement throughout the company. Starwood and its employees implemented a natural relief effort to assist their many colleagues whose homes and lives were disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. Funds were raised by employees through a phone-a-thon, an on-line auction and, other efforts. These efforts assisted 5,000 individuals.

The ACE Innovator Award recognizes a company or individual that has developed a groundbreaking product, service, or concept that was successfully implemented within the last three years. Recipient Shell Vacation Systems (SVS)/Shell Vacations, LLC, developed, from scratch, the industry’s first-ever franchise for a point-based vacation ownership product. The 350-page manual includes several state amendments and nine different franchise agreements.

The ACE Employee Award recognizes an outstanding employee who has demonstrated commitment and loyalty, has a history of superior performance and contributions, and has set a positive example for co-workers and a willingness to “go the extra mile.” Recipient Susan Venaderford, business continuity manager of Cendant Timeshare Resort Group, single-handedly spearheaded disaster response for properties and operations centers in Florida, Louisiana, Texas, California, Washington, Mexico, and the Caribbean. She tracked 27 different storms in 2005, anticipating the impact and what would be needed to recover. She set up an emergency response system for every single property and company team affected by each disaster.

The ACE Employer Award recognizes an employer that has demonstrated commitment to its employees through training, flexibility, individual development, benefits, or other unique programs for its staff. This year’s recipient, Sunterra Corporation, offers its employees extremely generous medical, dental, and retirement benefits.

The ACE Philanthropic Award recognizes an outstanding philanthropic effort for a humanitarian cause by an individual or company. Cary Erfurth, executive vice president of Island One Resorts in Kissimmee, Fla., was recognized this year. He organized a company-wide relief effort for Hurricane Katrina victims and more than 1,000 employees donated time, money, and materials. He organized two convoys back to Mississippi to help repair and rebuild communities.

ACE Project of Excellence Award recognizes timeshare or mixed-use projects that are considered a success by investors, owners, and the local community. The recipient exhibits years of cooperation between planners, engineers, architects, lenders, contractors, designers, sales, marketing, and operations staffs, owners, local government, community groups, and the surrounding area. This year's recipient was the Hilton Grand Vacations Club Las Vegas (with MBH Architects) for the pre-planning studies they conducted—from the owner surveys to the analysis of maximum sunlight that would fall into key parts of the property—and then the thoroughness with which they executed the building of this project on the north side of the Strip.

In addition to the ACE Awards, ARDA gave approximately 55 ARDYs to winner finalists in the advertising and promotion, resort design, management and administration, and marketing and sales categories.