Interesting news in the timeshare industry as Diamond Resorts starts offering more flexible products. Full details are below but it will be interesting to see what the overall response is to deals like this.

Full press release below:

DIAMOND RESORTS INTERNATIONAL(R) (DRI), a global leader in the hospitality and vacation ownership industries, today invites you to take your vacation holidays to a new level and discover its flexible vacation ownership products. Read more

Looking for a truly green holiday this summer? If so, why not book a stay at one of the Eco cabins at the Centre For Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, Mid Wales.

The Centre For Alternative Technology (CAT) is an environmental education centre nestled in a former slate mine in the foothills of Snowdonia. The innovative centre boasts 7 acres of interactive displays, organic gardens, a cafe, shop and adventure playground.

CAT have recently made two eco cabins available for public use, opening up great possibilities for green-minded family holidays. Each cabin sleeps up to 18 people so they are ideal for large families and groups.

As well as offering the chance to relax in beautiful surroundings, a break at CAT is a great way to pick up practical knowledge that can help you be more eco-friendly when you get home. Guests get hands-on information about topics including organic gardening, alternative energy generation and sustainable buildings. We’re not just talking about exhibitions and displays either – this is living, breathing eco-friendly living.

Staying at one of the eco cabins gives visitors the chance to really soak-up everything the centre teaches about sustainable living. Hot water is provided by solar panels on the roof. Electricity is generated by photovoltaic cells, wind turbines and a water turbine – plus a diesel generator for additional power if and when needed. Waste water from the cabins is recycled, passing through a reed bed sewage system before being re-absorbed into the ground.

As well as being an enlightening experience for adults, staying at CAT is a lot of fun for families. A full program of children’s entertainment runs through the summer holidays – free, fun activities include model making, gardening, slug and bug hunts and painting. Workshops run from 10.30am to 4.30pm each day with each session lasting an hour. There’s no need to book – just turn up and enjoy the fun.

The centre’s location in the Dyfi valley makes it an ideal base for exploring the surrounding countryside. Once you’ve explored the centre in full, take advantage of the many walks and cycle routes in the area. Beautiful beaches are within easy reach, as are the mountains of Snowdonia. Although it’s not the easiest place in Britain to reach, the wonderful scenery and unique experience really does make it worthwhile.

For more information including prices and booking, visit the Centre For Alternative Technology website, www.cat.org.uk.

Jurys Inn has become the first hotel chain to have all its properties awarded a gold star by the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS).

The Aberdeen Jurys Inn is the latest to receive the award, which is the only environmental scheme validated by national tourism agency Visit Britain. The hotel chain has properties at popular city and seaside locations around the UK and Ireland, including Manchester, Dublin, Birmingham, London and Brighton.

Company management say that the green practices the chain has employed will save a substantial £1m over the next three years. And with rooms starting from as little as £39 per night, this is one hotel where being green won’t cost customers the earth.

Green practices in place at Jurys Inn include using renewable energy from Airtricity for all Irish Inns through to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Nearly 60% of waste is recycled across the group thanks to state-of-the-art recycling and composting facilities.

The hotel group also has an energy saving team in place at each hotel and has put in place several measures to save water across the group. Examples of water-saving features include efficient shower heads and toilet cisterns, in addition to electronic washroom systems.

John Brennan, chief executive at Jurys Inn, said: “Getting everyone at Jurys to help has been essential. The energy, attention to detail and ‘buy-in’ from staff is one of the main reasons Jurys has been able to achieve so many gold awards.”

New hotels are due to be opened in Portsmouth, Bradford, Gateshead and Glasgow over the next year. As would be expected from a gold-star winning chain, environmentally friendly features including heat recovery systems, solar panels and rain harvesting systems are being factored-in to the designs.

The GTBS is the UK’s national sustainable tourism certification scheme and the only scheme validated by Visit Britain. Businesses that want to be accredited by the scheme are visited in person by a trained assessor and graded bronze, silver or gold according to the standards of environmental care adopted at each location.

In addition to being a green choice for city breaks, Jurys Inn has a number of special offers on family breaks. These include hotel and attraction packages for Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and Cadbury World Birmingham. Just make sure you travel by train to ensure that your holiday really is green.

How often are you hotel towels washed?

Have you ever wondered how a supposedly green hotel manages to save energy when lights are left on overnight and the air conditioning never turns off? Or why the towels at your eco-lodge feel so fresh and clean when you replaced them on the rail to be used again?

If you have ever had a sneaky suspicion that all is not as green as it seems while on holiday, your instincts could be right.

Almost half of all accommodation providers are misleading customers about their green credentials by pretending to adhere to eco policies which don’t exist. The shocking statistics were revealed by not-for-profit organisation The Green Tourism Business Scheme in an article on industry website Air and Business Travel News.

The Green Tourism Business Scheme inspects over 1,000 environmental policy documents each year as part of its green accreditation program. It found that for many businesses, being green is nothing more than a marketing ploy.

According to Managing Director Andrea Nicholas, many businesses have environmental policies which are “fluffy to the point of being meaningless”.

Apart from deliberately vague statements of environmental intent, The Green Tourism Business Scheme reveals a number of common eco-fibs. Top tricks cited include: washing towels regardless as to where they had been placed, using standard tea and coffee sachets instead of fair trade and leaving office equipment on standby overnight.

Nicholas admits that much of the green-washing is down to “misunderstanding”. But many customers will be left wondering how they can avoid being ripped-off by environmental policies that aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

To avoid being taken for a ride when deciding where to stay on holiday, always choose accommodation that has been vetted by an independent organisation. The Green Tourism Business Scheme has over 2,000 members in the UK, each of which has been inspected and has passed strict eco tests.

For overseas holidays, the TravelLife Sustainability System audits accommodation sold by larger tour operators including Thomas Cook, First Choice and Virgin Holidays. Hotels which meet the required environmental standards are flagged in the brochures and online.

If you’re considering staying at accommodation which has not been audited by an environmental scheme, ask to see a copy of their written environmental policy document. If they don’t have one, the likelihood is their eco-credentials are all talk.

With smaller businesses it’s often a case of asking the right questions and trusting your instinct. Send an email and remember: the devil is in the detail.

According to new research published by ABTA and the Travel Foundation, nearly half of all Brits forget about saving the environment the moment they step off the plane.

Despite the fact that record numbers of families are making an effort to go green at home, it seems nothing could be further from our minds once we get into the holiday mood. Nearly 90 per cent of families surveyed said they regularly perform waste recycling such as paper recycling and plastic recycling, but less than half do the same while on holiday.

The findings were published last week as part of the first ever “Make Holidays Greener” week. The national campaign organised by ABTA and The Travel Foundation aims to convince holidaymakers to consider the environment and local communities when travelling abroad.

Supported by travel organisations including ABTA, Thomson, First Choice and Thomas Cook, the “Make Holidays Greener” initiative is the first to target mainstream consumers and not just those travelling with specialist green and ethical travel providers.

Organisers hope to persuade travellers that being green on holiday is just as easy and important as saving the environment at home.

ABTA spokesperson Nikki White said: “Make Holidays Greener isn’t about being super-green or making carbon-neutral claims, but about how you can take some very simple steps that won’t cost you money and won’t mean you have to compromise on comfort, luxury or style”.

They also hope that children will be a driving force behind making family holidays more eco-friendly. Sue Hurdle of the Travel Foundation added:

“Children are often the ones nagging mums and dads to turn off the lights when they’re not needed or to turn off the taps when they’re brushing their teeth. We now want them to replicate their green habits when they go on holiday.”

Some of the activities being suggested include taking showers instead of baths, turning off air conditioning and saving water by not washing towels daily.

The survey also revealed that nearly a third of holidaymakers believe holiday accommodation providers should provide more information to guests as to how they can protect the environment during their stay.

Given that many overseas hotels and villas don’t provide recycling and power saving facilities as standard, the ability of holidaymakers to meet their green commitments is often determined by their villa or hotel. But if efforts to raise consumer awareness are redoubled with property owners abroad, perhaps 2010 could be the year green travel goes mainstream.

Hike, bike and get healthy for the New Year when you plan your adventure now, in the Spanish Virgin Islands.

Join Beyond Boundaries Travel’s biking & sailing easy adventure in the Spanish Virgin Islands. With a sparse population, wild uncrowded beaches and crystal clear waters, the islands of Culebra and Vieques offer the perfect venue for this adventure.
The adventure begins January 1, 2011 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. With hundreds of direct, affordable flights from the USA, the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport serves as a hub for many Caribbean destinations.

The first night of the New Year will be spent at the Hotel Milano, described as “a little jewel in the heart of Old San Juan”. After breakfast the next morning and a tour of Old San Juan, a private motor coach will transport the group to the Fajardo Ferry for the 19-mile boat ride to Isla de Culebra where you will be met by your hosts, Captains Rick and Karen Miles, who will welcome you aboard the Wanderbird yacht for the start of your sailing adventure.

The 90′ Wanderbird is a classic North Sea fishing trawler built to rigorous Dutch standards. Each of the six cabins has its own bathroom and accommodates two people. All meals are prepared with the freshest of natural ingredients with breads and pastries made from scratch daily.

Tentative plans are to spend two days biking on Culebra and three days on the larger island of Vieques. Each morning you’ll come ashore via a skiff where your French guide, Eric will greet you with your bike ready to ride. A support van will follow the group on each ride, which will be an average of 5 – 15 miles per day. The terrain varies from easy flats along the electric blue waters of the Caribbean to rather challenging as the road takes us up and over the spine of the islands. After biking each day, there will be plenty of time to explore the flora and fauna of these magical islands.

This trip is limited to twelve participants so sign up early.  The adventure includes:

· Professional trip host
· 1 night lodging, luxury hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico
· Guided city tour of Old San Juan with lunch
· Private transfers from San Juan to Fajardo
· Ferry from Fajardo to Culebra Island
· 6 nights aboard the Wanderbird  yacht
· 2 days guided and supported biking on Culebra Island
· 3 days guided and supported biking on Vieques Island
· Ferry from Vieques to Fajardo
· Airport transfer from Fajardo to SJU
· Included meals: 20

Price: $ 2499 double occupancy only. Trip deposit: $600. Dates: January 1-8, 2011.

For more information, visit Beyond Boundaries Travel.

A volunteer holiday in Africa is just one of a plethora of responsible holidays on offer. Credit: Responsible Travel

Virgin Holidays has created a new collection of holidays designed to provide customers with the opportunity to add a sustainable element to their overseas breaks.

There are five different holiday types within the collection and each provides tangible benefits to the people and/or environment in its destination. This can be in the form of helping out in communities through volunteering, directing holiday expenditure to smaller independent businesses, staying at properties which are using solar power and chemical free swimming pools or getting involved in conservation efforts such as turtle monitoring.

Among the opportunities on offer are volunteering in South Africa, Thailand or Kenya, biking through Bangkok or staying in one of the specially selected ‘small and real’ hotels. The Human Nature Collection holiday categories are:

• Giving Something Back – Combining award winning volunteer projects and exhilarating adventures that assist local communities in Kenya, Thailand or South Africa, these holidays enable visitors to gain life-changing experiences through cultural integration, challenge and adventure.
• Real World Adventures – Allow travellers to get acquainted with local food, culture and traditions in worldwide destinations, all in the company of an expert local guide.
• Back to Nature – A range of single centre holidays from the Virgin Holidays’ existing range, which allow customers to experience the natural world first hand.
• Small and Real – This selection of small and often family-run hotels offer an authentic feel of the local way of life across the Caribbean, US and Africa – perfect for those that want to feel part of the culture that they’re visiting.
• Travelife Awarded – A range of hotels from across Virgin Holidays existing programme that have all achieved sustainability awards for their ongoing contribution to local community investment and reducing their environmental impacts.

Commenting at the launch, Andrew Shelton, Virgin Holidays Marketing Director said, “Many of the hotels and excursions in the collection have been chosen because they prioritise employing local people and using locally owned businesses, so more of our customer’s money stays in the destination. This also allows our guests to interact with local people and get a more authentic experience.”

View The Human Nature Collection at Virgin Holidays or at Responsible Travel.