Westgate Resorts Recognized for Excellence in 2020 American Resort Development Association (ARDA) Awards

ORLANDO, Fla., June 8, 2020 – Westgate Resorts is pleased to announce that it has been honored with the prestigious American Resort Development Association (ARDA) Awards in three major categories for 2020: ACE Philanthropy Award (Founder & CEO David Siegel), Resort General Manager Award (Carlos Brador) and Technology Project Award (Owner Account Management Website).

Through its prestigious annual Awards Program, which is widely considered to be the gold standard in the industry for overall professional excellence, ARDA endeavors to honor the best people, places, communications pieces and strategies within the vacation ownership industry. The 2020 ARDA Awards Program categories consisted of ARDA Circle of Excellence (ACE), Marketing & Sales, Management & Administration, Advertising, Promotion & Communication and Resort Design.

“We are honored to be recognized by ARDA, the premier body representing our industry across the United States,” said Mark Waltrip, Chief Operating Officer of Westgate Resorts. “Our ARDA Award recipients reflect Westgate’s core values of philanthropy, hard work and dedication coupled with an unmatched expertise in resort sales, marketing and operations. We look forward to continued success as we embrace the challenge and opportunities that lie ahead.”

Westgate Resorts Founder and CEO David Siegel was awarded the 2020 ARDA ACE Philanthropy Award, which recognizes Mr. Siegel’s work through the Victoria’s Voice Foundation to help stop the opioid epidemic and bring awareness of this issue to the national stage. Since the tragic passing of their beloved 18-year-old daughter Victoria to an overdose, David Siegel and his wife Jacqueline have led a long and comprehensive effort to shine a light on the national drug epidemic and have been recognized as some of the nation’s leading advocates for social policy changes in the nationwide fight against opiate addiction.

Westgate was also honored for its new, state-of-the-art Owner Account Management (OAM), which received the 2020 ARDA Technology Project Award for its innovative tools designed to empower Owners to conveniently manage all of their owner account functionality online. Westgate Owners can search for preferred dates, reserve vacation time and interact with Westgate from any device around the world.

Westgate is also proud to announce that Carlos Brador won the 2020 ARDA Resort General Manager Award for his diverse 11-year tenure at Westgate, during which he has guided both Westgate Cocoa Beach Resort and Westgate Myrtle Beach Oceanfront Resort through exhaustive renovations, while increasing service and activity levels to new company highs.

All of the 2020 ARDA Awards Program winners will appear on the ARDA website on June 3, 2020 (the ARDA World 2020 event itself has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). In addition, Westgate was named as a finalist in five other categories of the 2020 ARDA Awards: Inventory Revenue Management Team, Activities Program (Westgate Smoky Mountain Resort & Spa), Assistant Manager (Judy Caudill, Westgate Smoky Mountain Resort & Spa), Special Event (Military Weekend) and Interior Design (Westgate New York Grand Central).

ABOUT WESTGATE RESORTS

Westgate Resorts is the largest privately held timeshare company in the world and one of the largest resort developers in the United States. Founded in 1982 by David Siegel, the company is headquartered in Orlando with 8 Orlando hotel resorts, and 24 themed destination resorts nationwide, featuring more than 14,500 luxury villas and hotel rooms in popular vacation destinations throughout the United States such as Miami, Orlando and Cocoa Beach, Florida; New York City, New York; Park City, Utah; Las Vegas, Nevada; Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Williamsburg, Virginia; Branson, Missouri; Mesa, Arizona; and Tunica, Mississippi. Most Westgate Resorts locations feature a variety of unique restaurant, retail and spa concepts, including Drafts Burger Bar, Edge Steakhouse, Westgate Marketplace & Deli and Serenity Spa by Westgate. For more information about Westgate Resorts, visit www.westgateresorts.com.