Help STOP This Timeshare Bill From Passing In Florida

We received this today from our friends at the Florida Timeshare Owners Association and want to pass it along:

IMPORTANT AND URGENT!

The information provided below is from the office of my District's State Representative, Greg Steube.

The proposed revisions to the Florida Timeshare Act, having now been approved by the Senate and the House, are now being sent to Florida's Governor, Rick Scott, for either his approval, or his veto. Once he receives the bill, HB453, he has up to 15 days to either sign the bill, or veto it.

Many timeshare groups, including ours and the National Timeshare Owners Assn., have voted to object to its passage, due to the extremely harmful and immediate negative effects that the proposed changes would create for all present and future owners of timeshare property located within the state of Florida, as well as, in the future, all 50 states.

This bill was created and submitted for legislative filing by the Timeshare Resort Developers, for their sole benefit, and will directly damage and negate the multiple consumer rights and protections that all Florida unit owners have now, that are currently existing within the present state statutes. This bill, HB453, favors only the Resort Developers, and was also supported by the American Resort Developers Assn., ARDA, and their subsidiary, ARDA Resort Owners Coalition, ARDA-ROC.

In order for us to obtain the Governors veto, all individuals and organizations opposed to this bill, must register their objections to this bill's passage directly to the Governors office within the next few days. This is vital, as the Governor's staff is now keeping records of all emails, and especially, all telephone calls, that they receive advocating for a veto.

I am requesting your participation in our efforts to convince Gov. Scott that a veto is most necessary and that the current law should remain unchanged, in order that we, as timeshare owners, may retain its many built-in consumer protections.

Please contact the Governor's Office, by his direct telephone number, 1 (850) 488-7146, Legal Affairs, and state that you are opposed to House bill #453, and request his veto of this bill. A phone call is preferred.

For those who prefer to email the Gov., his direct email address is: Rick.Scott@eog.myflorida.com

Please note:  You do not have to be a resident of Florida, or even presently own a timeshare in Florida, in order to have your objection registered with the Governors Office. It is also not necessary to provide your address in order to object.

Every FTOG member should/must be concerned enough to participate in this major effort that will impact you, as well as  family members, and all other timeshare owners, effective July 1, 2015, if not vetoed.

And please remember that "Time is of the Essence". Our "window of opportunity" diminishes every day we delay!

 

We stand with FTOG and the NTOA on asking the governor to VETO this bill and sit down with the entire timeshare community to work  on a new set of timeshare laws that are fair to both sides.

 

It shouldn't be a matter of win/lose, but a win/win.

 

Let's do this!

All Star Guest Blogger Reviews The Cliffs at Peace Canyon

Before I commence my review of The Cliffs at Peace Canyon I would like to give a few reasons why RCI members should consider a visit to the Las Vegas area. The first reason is obvious ie for the gambling in the numerous casinos on the strip and nearby. This may be the main reason why numerous people come to Las Vegas but it certainly is not for me as I have now visited twice for multiple other reasons. Another reason why people should consider visiting this city is for the top rated shows which are too numerous to mention here in my review. The high end shopping at places such as many of the hotel/casinos will be an attraction for others. Other people will enjoy the free shows on the strip such as the water fountains at the Bellagio. Many people will enjoy just walking around and looking at the sights at the fantastic Las Vegas hotels  Perhaps for myself the two main attractions for visiting Las Vegas was the superb warm weather in the spring and fall without the humidity I am used to at that time of year in Florida. Above all for me the principle attraction for visiting Las Vegas is to take trips to places such as the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park. The last two National Parks were visited on my last trip to Las Vegas and were booked through the timeshare resort with Sweet Tours and what a superb day out it was for us though tiring as it involved travelling about five hundred and sixty miles in one day with a 6-15am pick up from the resort.

I will now commence my review of The Cliffs at Peace Canyon and I would like to start by getting my two negative comments out of the way. Firstly this is one of those resorts where after checking in you are directed to a member of staff from 'guest services' After my fiancée and I had been travelling for about twelve hours all I wanted to do was to get to my unit and rest however we were subjected to the usual invitation to attend a free breakfast or lunch and then have a timeshare presentation to become an owner at the Grand View resort in Las Vegas. I had to say no several times before the lady in question understood that no meant no and we were then able to go to our unit. The second negative about this resort is that my fiancée and myself were not alone in finding the sun loungers to be too firm and uncomfortable. I went up to another guest one day who was sitting on a chair with her feet on another chair. I asked her why she was doing this and she said that it was more comfortable than using the sun loungers in my opinion she was correct in having that view.

I slightly hesitated in making these two negative comments because in every other way this is one of my favourite resorts in RCI. I first visited this resort about twelve years ago and I liked it then and I like it even more now as the units are so spacious and comfortable. I like the fact that both bedrooms in the two bed unit are at the opposite end of the apartment which gives more privacy for the guests. The units have their own washer and dryer which is very convenient. I found our unit to be very quiet but that to some degree depends on who your neighbours are in any particular week.

The pool area is very pleasant with water tumbling into the water on either side of the pool. The pool has a maximum depth of four feet which is unusual in my experience but it was not a problem for me.

I found all the staff to be friendly and helpful especially the young members of staff on 'guest services' as I had some contact with them through booking my day trip to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.

The resort has an excellent computer room which you can use at any time of day. This was particularly useful for printing our boarding passes for our flights back home. There is also a fitness room which to my shame I never stepped into even to look at what equipment they have on offer.

As I am British I am not very comfortable driving on what I see as the wrong side of the road!!!!!!LOL hence I try to avoid visiting timeshare resorts where having a car is essential. I don't believe that it is essential to have a car at this timeshare resort as they have a free minibus which will take you to a large supermarket. The main purpose of the minibus is to take you to the strip which is about ten miles away where they drop you off near the Mirage hotel and casino and from time to time they will take you to Fremont Street. This service is an hourly service leaving the resort from 10am and the last pick up at the strip is at 11-30pm. There is a period in the afternoon when there is no service because the driver is having his lunch break. I met three drivers and they were all very friendly especially Steve from England who supports the English football champions Chelsea while this Steve from England supports Sheffield Wednesday for my sins!!!!!!!LOL.

I have often done reviews for Timeshare Insights at timeshare resorts where there is very limited availability several resorts that I have reviewed in England come to mind also the Manhattan Club in New York is another example. This is not the case with the Cliffs at Peace Canyon as RCI has availability for most weeks over the next two years and at a reasonable exchange trading power. Another issue I should mention is this resort makes a charge of twenty five dollars which you pay at check in this is I believe for services such as the internet though there is a further daily charge of one dollar fifty for high speed internet. While I don't appreciate these extra charges which are now quite common especially in California twenty five dollars for the week is far better than the thirty dollars a day daily charge at the Manhattan Club in New York.

I ask myself at the end of every timeshare vacation would I go back and the answer is yes as for me the positives far outweigh the negatives at this lovely peaceful timeshare resort on the outskirts of Las Vegas.

Timeshare Owners Deserve Better

On Wednesday, April 29^th, the Florida Senate unanimously passed HB 453, which contains language that significantly shifts more power to timeshare developers and further limits rights that timeshare owners currently have.

The bill originated in the Florida House of Representatives by Eric Eisenaugle was replicated by Senator Kelli Stargel.   According to Lobby Tools.com, the bill(s) “Revises provisions relating to timeshares, including amendments made to timeshare instrument, public offering statements, release of certain escrow funds, written advertising materials, real estate licensure requirements, fee requirements, multisite timeshare plans, substitutions & deletions of component site accommodations or facilities, etc.”

Sounds like a small amendment, however vague.  However, when the National Timeshare Owners Association got late wind of this bill and took a closer look at it, what they saw alarmed them.  “This legislation is detrimental to timeshare owners and their ownership interests as well as to good developers who have no problem complying with current laws”, says Gregory Crist, the Association’s President. “We think consumers will likely be exposed to certain rouge developer practices that we haven’t seen since the 80s and 90s.  What this could do to the reputation of the industry remains to be seen.” For those of you not old enough to remember, the 80s and 90s was when the timeshare industry gained its less than stellar reputation for honesty and transparency, and to their credit, continues to make strides towards overcoming that reputation to this day.

Prospective timeshare purchasers as well as owners are already at a disadvantage due to language written into all timeshare purchase contracts which state that any and all oral representations made by anyone during an oftentimes 3-4 hour intense  presentation are deemed immaterial.  Basically that means anything told to the consumer by the marketing person, the front desk person, the sales person, the sales manager or anyone else representing the resort means absolutely nothing, even if the consumer relied on it to make a purchase  A license to lie?  You tell me.

The NTOA started an online petition https://www.change.org/p/florida-governor-veto-senate-bill-932-florida-timeshare-act?recruiter=282528011&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=share_twitter_responsive designed to persuade Florida Governor Rick Scott to veto the bill.  It states in part; “The bill allows developers to almost unilaterally decide what constitutes “compliance” and “materiality” with regard to mistakes and omissions in contracts. The bill also restricts owners’ ability to challenge the legality of their contract after the 10-day rescission period required by current law.  As you know, developers already hold all of the cards in timeshare transactions; Potential buyers are subjected to verbal high-pressure sales tactics that, under current law, are not actionable. Developers provide buyers with long and complicated contracts that are very difficult to read much less understand, and which are written to protect the developer.  Beyond that, most timeshare developers don’t even offer, to this day, programs that will allow longtime Florida owners with medical or financial hardship to get OUT of their timeshare contracts while their mandatory maintenance fees continue to increase.”

The cause and the petition have gained support from consumer friendly organizations such as RedWeek.com (2.1 million registered users), TUG (50,000 members), TimeSharing Today magazine, the Timeshare Board Members Association, Frank DeBar, President of the Florida Timeshare Owner Group and Florida Real Estate Broker and timeshare reseller Tom Tubbs who says; “The timeshare industry has had more than its fair share of negative publicity through the years.  This legislation has the power to peel back years of consumer protections and return the industry to the “us first, consumer last” or “us vs. them” way of thinking.  It is shortsighted to the nth degree.”  Robert Brooke, President of The Villages Timeshare Owners Group had this to say, “Timeshare owners' rights need to be protected. Lack of buyer/owner confidence will cause the industry to collapse.”

Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel recently wrote; “What should surprise — and gall — you is that the Florida Legislature is trying to pass a law to decrease the industry’s obligation to disclose things and make it tougher for buyers to get out of faulty contracts.”

The bill is being supported by the American Resort Developers Association-Resort Owners’ Coalition which has this to say on it’s website; “The proposed amendments to the legislation would provide benefits for the timeshare industry at large by clarifying current law to include the operations of timeshare plans organized as real estate trusts, which are not currently addressed in the statute. Additionally, the bills propose to make a number of changes that would potentially save owners hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, provide additional detail and transparency to current disclosures and provide new tools for associations.”

The NTOA and the above named organizations and I do NOT see how this bill would provide “additional detail and transparency to current disclosers.”  In fact, we see exactly the opposite, e.g.; “The bill allows developers to almost unilaterally decide what constitutes “compliance” and “materiality” with regard to mistakes and omissions in contracts.”

No consumer input was considered by Representative Eisenaugle or Senator Stargel.  Clearly, consumers are the lifeblood of the timeshare industry.  They deserve a better deal than what this set of laws offers them.

Five and Almost 10 With...Perry Newton

Perry is with AZURE Resort who I had the distinct pleasure of meeting during the recent ARDA Conference.


What was your first job in timeshare?

OPC

What was the greatest lesson you've ever been taught?

Treat people the way you would like them to treat you.

Where is your favorite vacation spot?

Turks & Caicos, Peovo

If you could change one thing about timeshare, what would it be?

Create a universal resale market value.

What is your favorite color?

AZURE Blue of course!


Thanks Perry!

Want to be included in this blog?  Just drop me an e-mail at lisa@timeshareinsights.com.

Why The Timeshare Industry MUST Focus on Ownership

I came across a site with this edited for brevity only copy:

Endless Choices

No matter your destination, we will have a great selection of inventory for you. Are you bringing the whole family, or is it just you and your spouse? Not to worry! Unit range from studios all the way up to three-bedroom suites. Each resort also offers its own unique amenities, so it is easy to find the resort that offers the best options for you. Finally, you have the ability to choose a different place every single year. Don’t settle for one vacation–save money and travel the world.

 

Upscale Features

When searching, you’ll find that all these suites are spacious and well-appointed. Just within the suite itself you will find high end amenities such as private balconies, whirlpool tubs, a washer and dryer, and full kitchens. Venture out into the resort and you’ll find even more luxury—lobby fire places, infinity pools, lazy rivers, and poolside bars are just a few! It’s not hard to find a resort that offers unique features to make your vacation more convenient and enjoyable.

 

Space

A suite at a resort gives you the option to have more space to relax. Many resorts offer multi-bedroom units that often feel like a luxury apartment, rather than a stuffy hotel room. If you’re bringing kids or lots of friends, you have the option to space everyone out in separate bedrooms. But you’ll also have a conjoined living area so that you can all spend quality time together. A week of vacation spent in a cramped hotel room can take a lot of fun out of the vacation.

 

Privacy

With these full units, you will be able to relax in the privacy of your own suite. Many resorts offer lockout units so you can choose how private you want to be, and since the suites can be so large, you won’t feel like you are on top of other units. Enjoy a private balcony or patio, to bask the outdoors in your own secluded area. Unlike those thin-walled hotel rooms, you can enjoy full peace and quiet—or let the kids be loud!

 

Entertainment on Site

Luxury resorts often offer great things to do right on site, so you don’t have to stray far for a good time! When looking for the perfect resort, see if they have pools and fitness centers, or bars, casinos and scheduled live performances. Resorts also often have scheduled activities for all ages such as aerobics classes, volleyball tournaments, and craft nights. If you’re looking for more private activities, you can even retreat to your own suite where you can watch movies from the resort’s DVD library, enjoy a soak in your own whirlpool tub, or cook dinner together as a family.

 

Food Options

Most resort suites come with a kitchen or kitchenette for the convenience of cooking from your own room. Cooking food is a great way to save money on vacation. Resorts also usually have at least one or two on-site restaurant options so you don’t need to travel to eat out. For an afternoon snack check out a poolside bar! Whatever you need, luxury resorts make it easy to have multiple dining options on vacation.

Exploration

While resort suites offer many reasons to stay onsite, they also make a great home base for exploring the surrounding area. Luxury resorts offer great resources for you to wander around and see various sites. Many resorts offer car or shuttle services to take you where you need to go, and concierge services are very helpful for informing you of the best local spots to check out.

 

This all sounds like copy for the promotion of buying timeshare, right?  Not so fast.  This copy comes directly from a RENTAL SITE.  Any many of these available rentals are in fact, you guessed it, timeshare resorts.

The final bullet point on the site sums it up

Save Money

Last, but certainly not least, you will save money when you rent a resort suite through ____________. Our rental units are available by-owner and are 70% off official resort prices. So the choice is yours—you can stay in a confined, stuffy hotel room, or enjoy endless amenities, perks, and activities by staying in a resort rental suite.

The timeshare community has put forth a lot of time, effort and money into promoting vacations.  I say much of this is totally unnecessary.  Who is anti-vacations?  Who doesn't want to take a vacation?  No-one, that's who.  But when all the benefits of owning a timeshare, to wit: endless choices, upscale features, space, privacy, entertainment on site, food options and exploration are available to anyone and everyone with the cost or the responsibilities of ownership, where does that leave current owns and the much talked about potential owners?

There are many good and valid reasons to purchase and own a timeshare,  However, the timeshare community isn't doing enough to give the public those reasons. The vacation rental industry is giving the public a lot of reasons to NOT purchase and own.

The ball has been placed squarely in the timeshare community's court.  Who is playing?
 

 

Five and Almost 10 With...Fermin Cruz

Fermin Cruz is the Vice President of the Americas for Dial An Exchange

What was your first job in timeshare?
My first job in timeshare was with ICE in 2001. It was a great experience with a high growth, innovative company! I was in marketing and business development.

What was the greatest lesson you've ever been taught?
Listen and learn from someone who has been there before!

Where is your favorite vacation spot?
I love the waters of the Caribbean and the wildlife of Alaska. Is there such a spot?

If you could change one thing about timeshare, what would it be?
I would love to see a change in the traditional sales and marketing process. I would love to see an evolution of marketing efficiency and would love to change the market and industry perception that timeshare or “vacation ownership” is not a “sought after” product.

What is your favorite color?

Black

If you'd like to be featured in this interview series, just drop me a note at lisa@timeshareinsights.com

 

Don't Get Taken In A Timeshare Tax-Deduction Scam

The timeshare related fraudsters hell bent on separating you from your hard earned money do not take a break and seem to come up with ever more clever ways of taking advantage of you.

With tax season here, I've heard from an increasing number of consumers who have been promised a tax deduction of upwards of $25,000 if they “donate” their unwanted timeshare…for a hefty fee of up to $5,000 of course.

Legitimately donating a timeshare is almost impossible and trying it usually results in an IRS audit and fines.

Here are some tips and things to remember before doing business with anyone claiming to “help” you donate your timeshare:

*  If you donate anything else such as a car, clothing or money, there is no “fee” to do so.  Why then, would there be a fee to donate your timeshare?

*  The timeshare owners I've heard from were contacted by a third party, NOT the purported charity. The Red Cross, Disabled Veterans of America, Goodwill, the United way, etc. do not work with third parties.

*  All of the companies initiated contact.  No legitimate company will ever initiate contact.  This goes for resale, rental, listing, transferring, "getting out of" and donations.

*  A charity cannot accept a donation if it comes with an ongoing liability and annual maintenance fees are an ongoing liability

Your timeshare does NOT have a $25,000 value, or a $15,000 value, or in most cases, even a $7,000 value.  Timeshare is not an investment and the value of it does not increase over the years.  Here is a definition of Fair Market Value that should clear things up: Fair market value is the price at which property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither having to buy or sell, and both having reasonable knowledge of all the relevant facts.

If the legitimate charity receives anything (doubtful in most cases), it will be a nominal amount of no more than a few hundred dollars which comes directly from the fee the company is charging you, NOT from the value of your timeshare, which as stated above, the charity does not want and cannot take

If you own a timeshare that you no longer need or want, here are some tips:

*  Seek out unbiased information on how to use it better, including alternate exchange companies or renting it.

*  Call the resort and inquire if they will buy it back from you.

*  If you decide to sell it, only work with those organizations that you contact first and that do not require an upfront fee or give you any promises about selling

Bottom line is don't do anything before checking with an unbiased source of information.   That source of information is NOT the one trying to convince you of anything.