Ragatz Associates Confirms Irene Aviles as a Speaker for the Ragatz Fractional and Resort Real Estate Conference

Eugene, OR, February 22, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Ragatz Associates announces that Irene Aviles, Founder and President of Private Trade Winds, Inc., will be a speaker at the 12th Annual Ragatz Fractional and Resort Real Estate Conference, to be held at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona on March 12-13, 2012.

After spending more than 20 years as a senior executive in the multi-family real estate management industry, Mrs. Aviles, in a bold and innovative move, launched the first “hybrid club concept” for luxury vacation homeowners and discerning travelers alike. Private Trade Winds is quickly becoming known in the luxury travel segment as the purveyor of the “Five Star Villa Vacation.”

Mrs. Aviles will be speaking during the “Some Emerging Alternatives to Traditional Ownership of Resort Real Estate” session of the conference on Tuesday, March 13 at 8:00am.

This year’s event has expanded its program from previous years as it will address all forms of resort real estate and not exclusively fractionals. Speakers will describe trends in the primary resort real estate attractors, including skiing, golf and spa. They will also discuss trends in the primary product types of resort hotels, resort timeshare, fractionals, whole-ownership vacation homes, and master-planned resort real estate communities. Recognizing that consumer decision-making patterns are dramatically changing, several market researchers/trend analysts will share their recent findings and emphasize how they relate to product design and the sales and marketing process.

Ragatz Associates specializes in research projects specifically designed for the shared-ownership industry including fractional interests, private residence clubs, destination clubs and resort timeshare.

Ragatz Resort Realty, a Ragatz Associates and Resort Equities partnership, is an international, full-service resort real estate brokerage, focused exclusively on resorts, hotels and shared ownership projects - including timeshare and fractional resorts, private residence and destination club properties. Ragatz Resort Realty works with both buyers and sellers of resort and hospitality projects, as well as prospective joint venture partners and various financing sources, in order to maximize the likelihood of success for its clients.

For more information on the Ragatz Fractional and Resort Real Estate Conference, please visit http://ragatzconference.com.

The Ragatz Fractional and Resort Real Estate Conference will be co-hosted by Resort Equities, with additional sponsors Preferred Residences, The Registry Collection, Baker Hostetler, Timbers Resorts, Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP, Ballard Spahr, Star Resort Group, Greenberg Traurig, LLP, ARDA, Hyatt Residential Group, STR and Christel House International as Charity of Choice.

About Ragatz Associates
Ragatz Associates is a highly respected international consulting and market research firm in the resort real estate industry. It was founded in 1974 by Dr. Richard Ragatz and has serviced clients from both the private sector (from small, individually owned companies to international corporations) and the public sector (from small municipalities to national governments). The firm has worked on over 2,500 assignments in the resort real estate industry in 48 states and over 70 countries.

###