As part of ARDA-ROC’s advocacy efforts on the federal level, the ARDA-ROC team partners with several entities and programs to ensure that timeshare owners and their interests are well represented on Capitol Hill and beyond.
A list of some of the groups our team regularly works with is below:
- U.S. Travel Association: This organization works to better the travel community as a whole. ARDA-ROC partners with the U.S. Travel Association on initiatives that benefit the health of our industry. For example, ARDA-ROC, along with the U.S. Travel Association, supports the proposed Visa Processing Improvement Act (S. 2632), which would help lower the visa wait times for foreign visitors (from non-US visa waiver countries), which would help to make the US a more attractive destination for international visitation.
Another example is supporting BRAND USA – the highly successful public/private partnership formed under the bipartisan Travel Promotion Act of 2009, which is the nation’s first globally coordinated marketing effort to promote the U.S. as a premier travel destination and communicate U.S. visa and entry policies. ARDA-ROC partnered with the US Travel Association to support the passage of the legislation that created BRAND USA and continues to advocate on its behalf to make sure it is fully funded, so that it can help market the US and all of its destinations at no cost to taxpayers. - NREO (National Real Estate Organizations): This is a group of 15-20 trade associations that have similar interests within the real estate sector, who work together to address issues that impact their members, such as the reauthorization of terrorism risk insurance or flood insurance. ARDA-ROC partners with NREO to identify and cultivate relationships with their allies in Congress and support legislation that best represents both the real estate and timeshare industries.
- Main Street Privacy Coalition: The Main Street Privacy Coalition (MSPC) is comprised of a broad array of national trade associations representing businesses that line America’s Main Streets. ARDA-ROC recently partnered with them to advocate for compressive data privacy legislation that ensures every industry sector that handles consumers’ personal information has equivalent legal obligations to protect consumers’ privacy under the law. Having a comprehensive federal law on data privacy that protects consumers in a nationwide, uniform and consistent way is in the best interests of both consumers and businesses alike.
- EUROC: This is the official, independent, non-profit timeshare association that stands side-by-side with timeshare owners, owner committee representatives and resort management teams from timeshare clubs and resorts around Europe. EUROC allies with like-minded associations, like ARDA-ROC, that have the same goal, duty and commitment towards preserving, protecting and enhancing the world of timeshare ownership and ensuring the best possible treatment of timeshare clubs, owners and members.
ARDA-ROC’s work with each of these organizations, as well as dozens of other organizations around the country, is crucial to the continued advancement of the timeshare industry and the protection of our owners.