Best Practices...Calling Best Practices

The New York Times ran an article entitled "The Timeshare Hard Sell Comes Roaring Back.
To say that it was less than flattering is an understatement.  Read it for yourself if you haven't already:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/business/diamond-resorts-accused-of-using-hard-sell-to-push-time-shares.html?_r=0

Five hour high pressure pitches, running a credit card without permission, $30,000 upgrade...it goes on and on.  Despicable and unnecessary tactics in my opinion as I've maintained from way back in1999. Even back then I was saying to anyone who would listen (basically no one as I was a peon salesperson) that far more people would own and enjoy timeshare if the industry let it be bought rather than insisting on selling it.

Anyway, back to the article and its aftermath.  DRI stock took a 10% hit that day and caused the company to issue an e-mail to its investors.  You can read the 8-K form here:

http://services.corporate-ir.net/SEC.Enhanced/SecCapsule.aspx?c=251836&fid=14147615

The part that jumped out at me was this:

We have in place a strict set of sales policies and practices aimed at protecting the consumer that are in-line with industry best practices.

Read that again...I did.

So, I started searching for these "industry best practices."  Didn't find much of anything other than the NTOA's Best Practices which I assisted in drafting,  However, nothing from the timeshare industry.

I emailed Mr. Acito who issued the 8-K and politely asked him the following:

Would you kindly point me in the right direction as to where I can find these best practices, where are they published, who else in the timeshare industry participates in these best practices (if you are aware of them) and who within the industry developed and standardized these best practices?

 

No answer to date.

 

So Mr.Acito at DRI and anyone else so inclined in listen...I'm more than happy to draft Best Practices for the timeshare industry.

 

Let's start the clock on when someone will take me up on my offer...

Important Update Regarding Celebration/Festiva/RCI Case

The Class Action suit involving the old Celebration World Resort, Festiva (who took it over) and RCI has been going on for a very long time.

This week, Finn Law Group provided us with this update which I am reprinting in its entirety:

To all prospective class members of the Festiva/Celebration World/RCI litigation:

On December 15, 2015 the parties agreed to settle the proposed class action lawsuit and filed a motion with the court to preliminarily approve the class action settlement.  Attorneys for the parties are scheduled to attend a court hearing on January 25, 2016 regarding the motion to preliminarily approve the proposed settlement.  The link below provides you access to the Motion for Preliminary Approval (without Exhibits), the Proposed Notice, and the Settlement Agreement.  All of these documents are available to the public.

If the judge preliminarily approves the settlement, a notice will be mailed to all class members and there will be an administration process.  As part of the administration process, attorneys with the Finn Law Group, P.A. will be available to answer questions the class members may have regarding the settlement.

Please be advised that the judge has not decided whether to preliminarily approve the settlement.  Therefore, we are unable to answer questions regarding the terms of the proposed settlement until the proposed settlement is preliminarily approved.  Please know that at this time, as a potential class member, Finn Law Group is not your legal counsel.  As such, its attorneys cannot impart legal advice to non-clients.  You have the right to obtain your own attorney at your own expense.

The below link has the above referenced documents and additional information regarding the case. 

http://www.finnlawgroup.com/festiva-documents/

 

Show Me Your Numbers

ARDA, the American Resort Development Association, has come out with its latest finding showing that a family of four saves $18,160 over the cost of 18 years by purchasing a timeshare over using a hotel room.

Here's the link to the infographic:

http://vacationbetter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/ARDA-Value-Prop-2-Value-of-Vacation-090115-large.png

Here's the numbers they used:

Average Hotel Stay
$3,000 annually for 18 years
Total Cost $54,000

Assuming a 7 night stay, that comes to $428.57 per night

Average Timeshare
$20,000 cost of purchase
$15,840 average maintenance fee ($880 per year)
Total Cost $35,840

Showing a cost savings of $18,160 over an 18 year period.

I'm throwing it open here...agree, disagree?

Show me your numbers.

Looking to Purchase a "Red" Timeshare Week? Read This

Ah, the “good old days” of categorizing timeshare weeks by color.  Remember hearing “Orlando is all red, all the time” or “the reason you can’t trade your week is that you own a green week”?

If you’ve owned a timeshare for any length of time, you may yearn for these times, or worse, not know that neither RCI nor II uses color codes anymore.

RCI used to use a red/white/blue system, where red weeks were the highest in demand.  Interval International used red/yellow/green, where again, red weeks were the highest in demand.

While color codes were simple, the truth of the matter is that they were far from accurate.  Resorts located in Orlando, Florida and in the Bahamas for instance, all used to be “all red, all the time” when anyone who has been to Orlando in September or Las Vegas in July clearly knew that was not the case.  In reality, Orlando in September was white or yellow at best, while the Bahamas in August may have really been a blue or green week.

Interval International was the first to stop using their red/yellow/green designations in favor of their vastly improved Travel Demand Index.  Now, weeks are rated on a numerical scale where 100 means “average demand”, so that week 51 in Orlando is rated a 150, while week 39 in September is rated a 80.  Similarly, the Bahamas range from a 70 during weeks 37 and 38 to 150 weeks 9 through 14.

Several years ago, RCI discarded their red/white/blue weeks classification system in exchange for their TPU (Trading Power Unit) system which assigns a numerical value to each week based on several criteria including; the classification, demand, supply and use for your specific week, the resort and the region it’s located in, the size of the specific timeshare unit and how far in advance of the usage week you have deposited it.

NOTE:  The numerical “point” value assigned by RCI applies only to week-based timeshare and must not be confused with the “points” assigned to RCI point-based timeshare.  They are two completely different systems and TPUs do not apply to point-based timeshare.

All of these changes are crucial to both getting the most out of your timeshare and when considering a timeshare purchase on the secondary market.

If you’re confused about timeshare weeks, talk to your exchange company and don't forget to investigate the "other" exchange companies that your home resort never mentioned. 

If you are considering buying a timeshare on the resale market, and the company/broker/individual/platform advertises a “red week”, this should be considered a warning flag that the seller is not operating with the most recent information.

Missed The Broadcast? Listen Here

Delighted to have had the opportunity to discuss timeshare issues and answer listener questions on KIRO-AM a few weeks ago.

In case you missed the broadcast, here's the link:

http://kiroradio.com/listen/9993915/

Guest Blog Post From Michael Finn

As anyone who has read this blog knows, the ongoing issues with Festiva Orlando (formerly Celebration World Resort) and RCI and the ensuing Class Action lawsuit have been going on for several years.

Understandably, frustration has set in among many owners of the resort that are or may be affected.

Sadly, this frustration has taken a nasty turn...I've been accused of being a shill for Festiva...NOT TRUE.  The Finn Law Group has been accused of not being a real law firm...NOT TRUE.  And so on.

What follows is an unedited response from Michael Finn of the Finn Law Group:

Of course it's disheartening to hear that Finn Law Group is being characterized as being part of the problem and maybe even being controlled by the Defendants. It's further a frustration that I cannot divulge the status of the settlement negotiations because of the imposition of confidentiality that governs all settlements activities, this one being no exception. There are some statements I can make that shouldn't impact the settlement discussions, and I do feel compelled to defend my firm's efforts to obtain some recompense for the injured owners.

 

First, know that I believe the settlement negotiations have been mostly successful and we well should have a proposed resolution prior to the court ordered mediation date of Dec 16th, 2015. We have the framework of a potential resolution already in place, and, as they say, the devil has been in the details.

 

More importantly perhaps, at least to me, is addressing the insinuation that I've somehow, after 45 unblemished years of law practice, fallen in with the very industry I've been battling over the past 5 years. Believe me folks, no one on the timeshare developer/operator side of the equation is inclined to even speak to me, and selling out my clients after all these years is not even possible. They can't print that much money.

 

Please do recall that Celebration World, a defunct company did not sell or transfer the subject resort to Festiva. Festiva purchased the assets from a third party who obtained the Celebration assets after Celebration defaulted on their secured debt to this third party. Neither Festiva nor RCI, the prominent defendants in our litigation, were directly involved in either the default nor the repossession of Celebration Word assets. Many of you received notice from the State of Florida's DBPR (Department of Professional Regulation) that they had investigated the complaints of Celebration World owners, and in their opinion, nothing inappropriate occurred and further that they planned to take no action against any of the players, including our named Defendants. 

 

Finn Law Group saw things differently and with the involvement and direction of the class representatives, brought suit on their behalf. Class action litigation is costly and time consuming with no guarantees of a win. We've invested a lot of time and money in this, and owe a duty of loyalty to our clients, the class representatives. We have yet to receive a penny on this matter and are therefore perhaps the most unhappy participants in this oft delayed ordeal.

 

I can deal with all of the above, but what is a bitter pill for me to swallow after taking the risks I've taken, is being accused of being the reason for the delays in the proceedings, when exactly the opposite is accurate. I know you folks are looking for the source of delay to blame but to castigate the only law firm who's tried on their own dime to make some of this right, is simply inaccurate, and a tad hurtful!

 

I can't offer more than this at this time but I do hope the coming holiday season will be good to all of us similarly situated participants in this sad clean up of what should have been far better handled by the regulatory agencies who sat back and did nothing. Perhaps if you're looking for someone to be upset with, that might be a better place to start.

 

Mike Finn

Thinking About A Vacation Club? READ THIS

Day in and day out I receive e-mails from consumers who either are thinking that a vacation club is a great alternative to a timeshare, or have spent thousands of dollars on a vacation club and now that they are faced with the truth, want my help in getting their money back.

Sorry no can do.

Before you even think of spending a dime on a vacation club, READ THIS taken directly from our friends at Inside The Gate:

Global Vacation Ventures has entered into an agreement with the Florida Attorney General’s Office following accusations of fraud. An Assurance of Voluntary Compliance for Global Connections Inc. also known as Global Discovery Vacations, Premium Destinations, LLC, GVV, Florida Inc. doing business Global Vacation Network and Global Vacation Ventures was filed earlier this month.

Through 2013 the AG’s office received at least 51 complaints, most of them from people over 55, citing high pressure sales tactics and bait-and-switch, among other things. For instance, one couple booked a cruise through Global, but found their promised ocean view room turned out to be a view of a lifeboat. Others reported they could not reach the company within the three days required when they tried to cancel their membership.

Global Vacations is a distributorship/sales agent for Kansas-based Global Connections, Inc., the company that fulfills the travel club members’ vacation requests. Global has agreed to pay $5,000 towards attorneys’ and investigative fees and agreed to comply with a number of requirements, such as not using the word “free” in offering incentives to consumers to attend its sales presentations.

And of course Global denies it engaged in any wrongful or unlawful conduct and contends that its business practices were and are consistent with industry best practices and that fair and adequate disclosures were and are made to consumers. But just to resolve the complaints, the company agreed to the following requirements, among others:

• It cannot distribute any advertisements or offerings to the public using the following words: free, awarded, prize, absolutely without charge, free of charge, and words or groups of words of similar intent which reasonably lead consumers to believe they may receive something of value without payment, unless the item or a portion of it is free.

• It cannot make any statements to the public which offer items as free with conditions such as having to travel to a pickup location unless that is clearly and conspicuously disclosed.

• It must make an effort to ensure that at least 90 percent of all consumers who are offered and accept a marketing incentive for attending a sales presentation utilize it within one year. For example if 100 consumers are offered a free cruise, attend a presentation and seek to attend the free cruise within one year, at least 90 of those consumers must be able to book the cruise within a year.

• It must not make any misrepresentations to consumers with respect to the identity of the company selling the vacation club and travel services products, the identity of the company which is the actual fulfillment center for the products, which company’s Better Business Bureau ratings are being displayed or provided, the number of consumers served or a particular period of time and the length of time Global has been in the business of selling the product.

• It must provide consumers attending sales presentations with access to view a date-specific list of destination -based properties currently available for reservations through the travel club program during the succeeding 12 months via a web page or print-out hard copy of the webpage.

• It must not make false or misleading statements of fact concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amounts of price reductions as it relates to the sales of vacation club and travel services products.

• During sales presentations, it must accurately present the vacation club and travel services products and membership uses and benefits and fully describe the membership’s pricing and options.

Aw rats! A vacation/travel club distributor forced to sell a clean product in a clean manner? What’s next? Politicians forced to tell the truth?

PLEASE READ THIS, PRINT THIS, SHARE THIS....THE ONLY WAY THESE COMPANIES WILL STOP IS IF YOU STOP FALLING FOR THIS STUFF.