When Does ‘Comprised Of’ Not Mean ‘Made Up Of’?

Merriam Webster defines ‘comprised of’ as ‘to be made up of.’  So, you’d think that as a timeshare owner, you would have certainly heard of an organization that is comprised of one million plus owners just like you. You’d be wrong. 

Welcome to the spin zone that’s timeshare. Read on. 

Chances are you’ve seen a line item on your annual maintenance fee bill of between $3 and $10, although I’ve heard from some owners $15, that is a voluntary contribution to ARDA-ROC. What is ARDA-ROC you ask, since many owners pay this fee without knowing that it’s voluntary or anything about the organization?

Here’s some information off of ARDA-ROC’s own website:

ARDA-ROC is comprised of one million-plus timeshare owners across the country who  voluntarily contribute between $3-$10 a year to advocate for local, state and federal policies that are beneficial to timeshare owners. 

Hmmm, I hear you saying. That’s pretty cool that more than 1 million timeshare owners comprise the organization. You had no idea that so many owners were involved in timeshare advocacy. Of course you didn’t, because that’s not really how the organization works. It seems that the phrase ‘comprised of one-million plus timeshare owners...’ doesn’t mean that ANY owners are involved in ROC’s activities. 

Again, from their own website is a list of companies that participate:

ARDA-ROC Participants 

ARDA wishes to thank the following companies and their owners for participating in ARDA-ROC and/or ARDA-ROC PAC. 

Bluegreen Corporation	Breckenridge Grand Vacations	Carriage House
Christie Lodge Owners Association	Daily Management, Inc.	Defender Resorts, Inc.
Diamond Resorts	Eastern Slope Inn Resort	East West Destination Hospitality
Exploria Resorts	Festiva Development Group	GoodManagement, Inc.
Harbor Ridge Condominium Association	Hilton Grand Vacations Company	Holiday Inn Club Vacations
Hyatt Vacation Ownership, Inc	Kenoyer Real Estate Corp.	Las Olas Resorts, Inc.
Legacy Vacation Club	Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation	Royal Aloha Vacation Club
Royal Islander Club	Royal Suites IOA	Scottsdale Camelback Resort.
Silver Lake Resort, Ltd.	SPM Resorts, Inc.	Stoneridge Resort.
Trapp Family Housing Cooperative, Inc.	Trapp Family Housing Cooperative Two, Inc.	Vacation Resorts International
Vistana Signature Experiences	VSA Resorts	Welk Resorts
Wyndham Destinations

Wait, I hear you say. You own a timeshare at one of these timeshares and have never been told anything about ROC, never been asked if you’d like to participate in what they do or been kept up to date on what they’re doing?  Imagine that. 

Surely, there must be an average owners, or better yet an owners’ advocate sitting on ROC’s Board that is standing up for owners’ rights. Wrong. Here, again directly from their own website is a listing of their Board Members:

ARDA-ROC Board

Ken McKelvey CPA, RRP, ARDA-ROC Chairman, Defender Resorts, Inc.

John Albert, Marriott Vacations Worldwide

Travis Bary, RRP, Capital Vacations 

 Ada Grzywna, Bluegreen Vacations

Janice Feirstein RRP, Daily Management, Inc.

Jon Fredericks, RRP, Welk Resorts

Don Harrill RRP, Holiday Inn Club Vacations 

Neil Hutchinson RRP, Hilton Grand Vacations Company 

William Ingersoll RRP, Holland & Knight 

 Robert Miller, RRP, Marriott Vacations Worldwide

 Richard Muller, RRP, VRI Resorts

 Ron Naves, Welk Resorts

 Tom Nelson, Holiday Inn Club Vacations

 Howard Nusbaum RRP, ARDA

 Geoff Richards, Wyndham Destinations

 Lisa Siegert-Free RRP, Christie Lodge

 Robert Spottswood, Spottswood Companies, Inc.

 Sverre Thomassen, Marriott Desert Springs Villas

  Kimberly Tramontana RRP, Breckenridge Grand Vacations

 Chris Van Ruiten RRP, Comerica Securities, Inc.   

  Mark Wang, Hilton Grand Vacations

  Robert Webb Esq., RRP, Baker & Hostetler 

  Stephen Weisz, RRP, Marriott Vacations Worldwide

No owners. No owners groups. No owner advocates. Just timeshare industry people. Taking the low number, ARDA-ROC obtains $3,000,000 from voluntary owner contributions annually. It’s probably closer to $5,000,000. 

And what does ROC do with these funds?  Recently they had one of their lobbyists in Arizona working hard against legislation that would give more protections to owners and prospective owners. They also were hard at work in Florida last week, petitioning legislators to mandate that a consumer be given 24 hours to look over and review a contract from any company or individual who claimed to be able to get someone out of a timeshare. Which sounds good, if you overlook the fact that they’re unwilling to mandate that same review period to anyone purchasing a timeshare. 

Now, I’m not saying that ROC hasn’t done owners any good. What I am saying is that consumers and legislators alike had better start paying more attention to anything and everything timeshare related. 

Imagine if 1,000,000 plus owners stopped voluntarily contributing unless/until they knew for certain their voices were being heard. 

Here’s the first thing owners should do:  Go back and review your last 5 years of maintenance fees and see how much you’ve unknowingly ‘voluntarily’ contributed to ROC. Then call both your resort and ARDA-ROC and ask why you’re not being kept up to date on what is going on with your contributions.