Monday, March 18, 2019

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. 

Monday, March 11, 2019

When Is A Timeshare a “401-V”?

I’ve previously written about the pending legislation in both Florida and Arizona. In the case of the pending legislation in Arizona, I’ve quoted Don Issacson who is a lobbyist for ARDA as saying, “The state should not step in to protect people who didn’t bother to understand the nature of the deal.”  He continued, “You are buying real estate, you are buying it as an adult. You read the documents and unless there is fraud, you are bound to that particular purchase.”

I’d love to hear what Mr Issacson has to say about this encounter with a sales agent:

“Sales agent Eric told us that we were buying points at a low rate, less than $4 per point, and that “at this price the point value can only go up.” We could sell some points at a profit and keep the original base points for travel. Ultimately getting our entire purchase for free, he called it a “401-V”.  He said he would lock the price for one year in case we decided to get more points later to utilize our “401-V”. We have since learned REDACTED DEVELOPER NAME points are virtually worthless on resale.

The forms were long and extensive. We asked for time to review the documents but were pressured into signing “today” or not get the price per point offered.  After seven hours, my husband got upset and left. Eric followed us to our room insisting that we sign. We thought that Eric must be telling the truth, because if he wasn’t, there would be some sort of regulation. We incorrectly put our faith in Eric.”

This is an example of why consumers need more protection from unscrupulous sales personnel 

If you live in, own timeshare in, or just feel it’s important as I do, contact the legislators in those states. A call to Mr Issacson might be in order as well. 


Friday, March 1, 2019

Arizona Certainly Is Paying Attention

This is HUGE news. 

Things are getting quite interesting in Arizona, which while not quite the hotbed of timeshare activity that Florida is, is still an important state. 

House Bill 2639 which has already passed  UNANIMOUSLY out of the House Committee on Regulatory Affairs contains some major points. Among them:

>It would make it possible for people who buy a timeshare and keep it for at least ten years to simply walk away from it if they no longer want it

>Doubling the current rescission period from 7 days to 14 days

> Another quasi-rescission period that would a secondary ‘rescission’ period which would allow buyers to opt out within 14 days of actually using their timeshare and be entitled to 90% of their money back (Someone has obviously read my blog about a “timeshare restocking fee”

You can read the entire Bill here:


ARDA; the organization that represents the timeshare industry, is very much against the bill, or at least large portions of it to no one’s surprise. Don Isaacson, one of ARDA’s lobbyists was quoted in an article by the Arizona Capitol Times which you can read in it’s entirety here https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2019/02/19/timeshare-bill-passes-out-of-house-committee/

“This bill goes too far. No state allows someone to simply give back a unit after 10 years.”

More telling and insane he said “The 
state should not step in to protect people who didn’t bother to understand the nature of the deal.”  He continued, “You are buying real estate, you are buying it as an adult. You read the documents and unless there is fraud, you are bound to that particular purchase.”

BUYING REAL ESTATE?  READ THE DOCUMENTS?  Seriously? The vast majority of timeshares being sold by developers these days have little to no relation to real  estate, they’re simply an allocation of points that allow the purchaser, and the general public alike, the right to access an oftentimes Byzantine reservation system. No one is given the full set of documents until after they’ve signed on the dotted line. I wonder if Mr Isaacson has ever been on the receiving end of a timeshare sales pitch. I’m kidding of course, I don’t wonder at all. 

In another article, Mr Issacson was quoted as saying, “The state should not step in to protect people who didn’t bother to understand the nature of the deal."  I couldn’t make this up if I tried. 

If you live in Arizona, or quite frankly own timeshare in Arizona, I urge you to contact one or more of these legislators and let them know your thoughts on the subject. 

Bolick, Shawnna  (602) 926-3244 SBOLICK@azleg.gov         (Bill sponsor)
Biasiucci, Leo (602) 926-3018 LBIASIUCCI@azleg.gov
Blackman, Walter (602) 926-3043 WBLACKMAN@azleg.gov
Carroll, Frank (602) 926-3249 FCARROLL@azleg.gov
Dunn, Timothy M. (602) 926-4139 TDUNN@azleg.gov
Fillmore, John (602) 926-3187 JFILLMORE@azleg.gov
Finchem, Mark (602) 926-3122 MFINCHEM@azleg.gov
Grantham, Travis (602) 926-4868 TGRANTHAM@azleg.gov   (Committee Chair)
Kavanagh, John (602) 926-5170 JKAVANAGH@azleg.gov
Payne, Kevin (602) 926-4854 KPAYNE@azleg.gov
Roberts, Bret (602) 926-3158 BROBERTS@azleg.gov
Toma, Ben (602) 926-3298 BTOMA@azleg.gov
Weninger, Jeff (602) 926-3092 JWENINGER@azleg.gov

I’m glad that someone in Arizona at least is paying here. Consumers have gotten the bad end of a deal for too long. It’s about time to increase consumers’ rights and bring some transparency to timeshare.