Defense employees eligible for reduced vacation rates
Service members and Defense Department civilians are eligible to rent condominiums in certain resorts around the world as part of a vacation club arrangement between the Army and a civilian corporation.
Army Morale, Welfare and Recreation arranged with Cendant Corp. and one of its subsidiaries, Resort Condominiums International, to offer the condos at reduced rates to active and reserve service members, military retirees, Defense civilians, and any other persons eligible to use military morale, welfare and recreation services.
The deal offers condominium unit rentals for $234 per week at selected resorts. The normal rates are $600 to $1,500 per week in season, according to Verlin Abbott, Cendant national vice president for Defense and government marketing.
"I have gotten phones calls from scores of individual MWR offices talking about how great the program is and received e-mails from hundreds of places around the country from active duty soldiers, retired military and Defense civilians, asking how to sign up," said Dan Yount, chief of Army leisure travel services. "The program has generated a lot of positive response from people."
More than 327 military bases currently take part in the program, which started as a test project with 18 Washington, D.C.-area military installations in November 1998. The program expanded nationwide in August 1999. Military officials recently began to promote the program overseas to take advantage of the many condominium resorts outside the United States, MWR representatives said.
Cendant/RCI manages more than 3,700 time-share resorts worldwide. The discount arrangement is possible because not all resort units are used by owners or rented all the time. The company must pay upkeep costs, but receives no revenue while units are vacant.
Access to information about the Armed Forces Vacation Club is available by visiting the Army's "Great Travel Deals" Web site at http://www.armymwr.com/portal/travel/traveldeals and clicking on the Armed Forces Vacation Club logo.
Service members or civilians can reserve a condo using a major credit card. The MWR office receives $22 for every reservation booked.
Some restrictions apply. Confirmed vacations are not transferable. The customer purchasing the space-available voucher must check in at the resort and be at least 21 years old. Pets are not allowed at any location.
Abbott said service members and civilians must be flexible with their requests. "You're not going to get Vail (Colorado) at Christmas," he said. "Generally, what's available is off-season or on relatively short notice." In fact, most vacancies aren't posted until 14 to 21 days before the scheduled date of arrival, he said.
For more information on the club program and other discount travel packages and specials, check with installation MWR Information, Tickets and Reservation or Information, Tickets and Tours offices.