Olympus World

We have a new addition to the team down at Club Olympus.

Kate Olds is now heading up the Kids Club and Animation team.

Kate on the left is from Barnstaple in Devon and has been in Tenerife for a almost a couple of months. She has extensive experience in looking after children and is thoroughly enjoing her new role at Club Olympus. She is ably supported by Gabby Rhodes who has been part of the team since leaving school earlier this year. Gabby has assisted the Kids Club during the last couple of summers and is well known by everybody.

Keep-fit enthusiast Kate said “it’s a delight to be involved at Club Olympus and it’s pleasure to welcome Club Olympus owners and guests down to the resort, oh and don’t think you are going to wriggle out of the Aqua-Aerobics!!”

Kate and Gabby photographed this morning at the Club Olympus Poolside.

It’s not often that we have the In-House Team all together with Hedley and Jane Rhodes at the same time. So I grabbed the opportunity to get a shot of them as they all wanted to say hello to our owners at Club Olympus and to guests who might be on their way down. Firstly the girls!

From the left we have Ann, Nikki, Jane, Jo and Team Leader Suzanne

Then the Guys!

Again from the left we have Ray, followed by Developer Hedley Rhodes then Ivan.

They all wanted to say hello from everybody at Club Olympus so please consider that done and we will see you soon down at Garden City.

Please feel free to say hello back by clicking on “comments” below right!

Club Olympus Committee member Brian Bottomley joined us this week. Brian has been a mainstay of the Owners Committee for years and puts in hours of work on behalf of Club Olympus members. His outgoing personality, friendliness and great experience have made him a tremendous representative for the the Club. Brian has had a slightly rough ride healthwise for the last year or two but says he is “fighting fit”.

Brian with Jane Rhodes of Club Olympus.

Brian’s objectives remain the same, to look after the interests of Club Olympus owners and to thoroughly enjoy his holidays down at the resort in Tenerife. Brian and wife Josie (shown below with Gabi Rhodes of the Kids Club Team) have been coming to Club Olympus for 22 years.

Brian and Josie are originally from Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. Brian has a background as a Technical Engineer specialising in the oil and gas industry and has worked all over the world. Josie has a nursing background and now specialises in looking after Brian!!

Its a pleasure to have them with us for the next couple of weeks.

The Club Olympus management team attended the OTE timeshare conference in Madrid this week. Staying at the same hotel was football legend Pele seen here with Tony and Ivan below.

Pele was launching a new cruise programme but took time out for a brief chat and for photographs. He is still Brazil’s highest scorer for the national side and the only footballer to be part of 3 World Cup winning teams.

We had a lovely chat and it was a pleasure to meet this real gentleman.

Here is Jodie Rhodes with Pele. Jodie said “You never put me on the blog Ivan but because it’s football I might stand a chance of getting on there! Anyway please say Hi to all the owners for me” - Consider it done. (Then she said “Who’s Pele anyway?”)

Watch this YouTube clip “the best of Pele” by clicking here

As mentioned previously, the Organisation for Timeshare in Europe (OTE) have been holding a writing competion for timeshare owners. A number of Club Olympus owners submitted entries describing their timeshare experiences.

Here is an extract from a piece submitted by Olympus owner Dave Bownes:-

“We have found that all the staff at Club Olympus are so helpful and friendly so why go any where else when we can be well looked after here? It’s twenty minutes by road from the airport, perhaps a bit longer in Via Express coach but that’s to be expected. Still it’s nice to be driven to our destination where life seems to be very warm and friendly. The view from our Time Share apartment is so lovely when you catch the sun going down. Just sitting there looking out to sea is something gives you that lovely warm feeling before you go out at night.

Our timeshare is our little piece of Tenerife where we live for the two weeks that we are here. The thing about our timeshare is that it’s so pleasant. You don’t think you have wasted money on somewhere you don’t like and it is money well spent. Lying around the pool and having a drink in the bar is so refreshing. To be able to go and make a ‘cuppa’ and look out to sea and have a salad butty is so nice and peaceful. To have a spare bedroom, where you can spread your holiday clothes out in extra wardrobes that you don’t get on a “bucket and spade” holiday. It gives you more room to play with without being cluttered up in one room .The apartment is so spacious and nicely set out for easy living and cleaning .

We love our Time Share for all the right reasons as it’s our home and it is a friendly home were we can sit and watch the world go by and just think where we are going tonight for a lovely meal and drink in a nice bar and walk. This is our Time Share.”

Dave and Trisha Bownes

Photograph taken by Dave from his Club Olympus balcony

For many years at Club Olympus we have provided free Spanish lessons to all our guests. These take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between 11 O’clock and 12 noon in the Poolside Bar.

Here are the ‘class’ from this morning (Tues 30th Sept). They are Olympus owners Margaret, Myra, Anita and Janet with instructor Joanne.

Spanish teacher Joanne Clarke (above) has been with us for many years and has a lovely easy going way about her that makes learning basic Spanish fun. Everybody is welcome, there is no charge, no strings, just learn to speak Spanish - that’s it.

By the way, just so you know what the weather is like today, here below is the view from the top of the resort at lunchtime today!

See you soon - The Team at Club Olympus

The fabulous Siam Park had its official opening ceremony yesterday evening and Club Olympus were invited. Peter Rhodes represented Club Olympus as the park was opened by a Princess from the Thai Royal family.

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn signs the opening page of the visitors book at Siam Park. Stood at her side is Mr Wolfgang Kiessling the owner of Siam Park and also of the world famous Loro Parque in Puerto De L Cruz.

Over 2,000 guests were present at this grand occasion which marks a very important point in the history of the south of Tenerife.

The opening ceremony was attended by many local dignitaries including the President of the Cabildo of Tenerife and the President of the Cabildo of the Canary Islands.

Here on the left is Senor Paulino Rivero, President of the Canary Islands and in the centre rear is Senor Ricardo Melchior, President of Tenerife.

The Park is going to be the largest of its kind in the world and will be mainly a water based theme park with a flavour of Thailand.

Guests at the ceremony enjoyed traditional Thai Dancing as well as arts and crafts from ancient Siam as Thailand was known.

The visitors had a tour of the Park and saw the various rides, slides and attractions in action.

 Siam Park will feature the biggest “Wave Pool” in the world. It has an enormous ‘beach’ area and amazingly generates surfable waves!

There are many different types of slides include “The Tower of Power” which features a 90 foot sheer drop! However there are many more gentler slides such as this one below.

Lots of animals will be a part of the Park and the first ones have begun to arrive as the first phase nears completion. There are two more phases yet to be constructed and one of them will include the worlds largest Roller Coaster using the natural contours of the parkland. Animals are still being located at various Zoos and theme parks to bring into the Park. The Kiessling family have a great reputation for conservation and the breeding of endangered species. They also are insistant on keeping animals in the conditions that closely resemble their original habitats.

After the tour the Mayors of Adeje and Arona Districts gave speeches welcoming the opening of the Theme Park. Here below is Senor Jose Fraga, the mayor of Adeje Province under which jurisdiction Siam Park comes as well as that of Club Olympus in Garden City.

The evening was topped off with a superb show followed by a spectacular firework display and the Park was officially open. Here below, at the conclusion of the event, the President of the Canary Islands, Senor Paulino Rivero congratulates Christoph Kiessling (left) on the inaugural event.

The Park officially opens to the public tomorrow on Wednesday the 17th of September. Tickets and passes to Siam Park will be available through reception at Club Olympus. Don’t forget that Siam Park is next door to Club Olympus in Garden City and is one of the many attractions surrounding the resort that make Club Olympus one of the best placed resorts in Tenerife to have a fantastic holiday.

Club Olympus, it’s a way of life!

The clans gather for our usual Saturday morning welcome bash! It has been a slightly tough week on the travel front. The difficulties with XL airlines caused a number of Club Olympus Owners and guests a few problems. We had a number of guests who were delayed yesterday as they tried to get out to Tenerife and some families had long waits at the airport but everybody managed to get sorted out and this mornings party went with a swing.

Everybody enjoyed their ‘Bucks Fizz’ and took part in the quiz and novelty bingo with gusto as you can see. The Saturday Welcome Party is a great feature at Club Olympus and gets the week off to a fabulous start. The team who will look after you for your hols are introduced. We talk about the ‘do’s and don’ts’ to make sure that you get the best out of your hard earned time in Tenerife. We run through the excursions available and generally give you useful background information.

Brian and Pat Clarke (above and below) are Club Olympus owners from Bradford in Yorkshire. Pat has just completed a charity fun run for cancer research and was ready for some sunshine down in Tenerife.

They have owned timeshare with Club Olympus for 20 years and it is a real pleasure to see them back down at the resort. Brian is battling health problems with an inspirational spirit and he does us all good by simply being here.

Despite inclement weather in the UK we have had a brilliant summer so far and it has been a welcome change for many of our UK owners.

Our Compere and host at todays party was Dave O’Neill (one half of the world famous O’Neill twins) and he was in fine form and fine voice!

And a great time was had by all. The In-House team headed by Suzanne White (below) are ready to look after you all throughout the new autumn season which, despite economic gloominess, looks set to be quite busy.

Our reservation department are reporting that our bookings and reservations are up on last year which is a very positive sign. This shows that timeshare has great benefits when things are tight. Your quality accommodation is already paid for!

Alan Gibbons, our Resort Manager (above), is reporting that all is well and the refurbishment programme at Club Olympus is going full steam ahead. He said that owners will certainly see a difference over the next few months.

So come on down to Club Olympus in Garden City, Tenerife. There will always be fabulous weather, a great family welcome, lovely apartments and a team ready to look after you when you arrive!

Every Thursday evening we are entertained by the “Comares Loro Show” team. This long established company provides a brilliant fun show with performing Parrots at the Poolside Bar at Club Olympus.

The birds used are Blue and Gold Macaws, Sulphur Crested Cockatoo’s and Scarlet Macaws. All the birds are in superb condition and are obviously well loved and cared for.

These gorgeous and intelligent birds are capable of a wide variety of tricks such as riding a miniature bicycle shown below.

Or riding an electric skateboard which he starts and stops himself!

And both kids and adults alike are absolutely enthralled.

As the Parrots run through their repertoire.

The “Comares Loro Show” have been entertaining us for many years and are very well known in Tenerife. They have a great reputation for animal welfare and are involved in numerous preservation projects.

Freddie, the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo pulls his pal along in a little chariot.

And then Freddie has a rest in his little deck chair!

 Because we are in Spain we demonstrate the traditional “Parrot Bullfighting”

The Matador wins and the Parrot is vanquished!

The Parrot show is a great success and is free to all our guests at Club Olympus. On Thursday evenings we have a kids disco which begins at 7pm, this is followed by the Parrot Show at about 7.45pm. After the parrots we then have our family barbecue and cabaret. The Barbecue is great value at 6.50 Euros per head and the party really does get going.

Everybody is welcome to the Club Olympus Thursday night Parrot Show, Barbecue and family shindig!

The Organisation for Timeshare in Europe (OTE) would like any budding writers, who own timeshare, to write a short article about their timeshare holiday experience. I know that we have some very talented owners at Club Olympus so if the idea appeals, get writing.

The competition has been launched in four countries, The UK, Spain, Greece and Hungary.

Entrants are required to submit an article reflecting why they love their timeshare. The articles should be between 500 to 800 words. A top prize of 200 Euros will be awarded to the winner with 100 and 50 Euro prizes to 2nd and 3rd respectively.

You can email your entry to Sue McNicol of the OTE on smcnicol@btinternet.com

submitted entries may be published in newsletters and on the OTE website.

If you enter, let me (Ivan Rhodes) have a copy to publish on the Club Olympus Website via sales@olympusworld.com or info@olympusworld.com