What Has Changed?

Today's Timeshare Radio Interview

Kudos as always to Dave for doing a fabulous inteview.

http://www.rciventures.com/2011/04/019-todays-timeshare/

I'm Angry

I'm angry.  Really angry.

Before I tell you why, let me again set the record straight on a few issues:

1)  I was a timeshare salesperson/manager from 2000 to 2005
2)  I have written two successful book of timeshare information for consumers
3)  I have co-authored a college level textbook on timeshare
4)  I do not sell, rent, buy, broker, list, transfer or represent any timeshare or any timeshare company
5)  I don't get paid for my articles and blogs
6)  In my role as The Timeshare Crusader, I try to be the voice of the timeshare consumer as well as a catylst for positive change in the timeshare industry
7)  I have a very small ego and feel honored that consumers trust me and that I'm occassionally allowed to play with the big boys in the timeshare sandbox
8)  I am not anti-timeshare nor anti-developer, nor have I ever been

I mention items 1, 2 and 3 because they do give me some credibility.  I actually do know what I am talking about.

Does everyone FINALLY understand #8 now?  Excellent, now let's get back on track and talk about why I am so angry.

Several months ago, I came up with an idea for a short interview series with important and influential people in the timeshare industry.  The idea was simple; to let the timeshare consumer get a glimpse of the personal side of the people who have such an impact on the timeshare product.

The questions were:

1)  What was your first job in timeshare?
2)  What is the biggest lesson you've ever been taught?
3)  What is your favorite vacation destination?
4)  If you could change one thing about timeshare, what would it be?
5)  What is your favorite color?

Not exactly hard hitting questions, but that was not the intent.

The answers were going to be published in this blog because timeshare owners and consumers don't get or read any of the nice, shiny, glossy, 4-color magazines that these professionals read.

I sent out more than 100 e-mails to people at ARDA, RCI, II, Hilton, Starwood, Marriott, Wyndham, ICE, Disney, resellers, resort managers, exchange companies, writers, PR people, people in timeshare finance companies, timeshare collection companies, etc.  And I handed out a bunch of  "interview slips" two weeks ago while attenidng the ARDA Convention.

So what was the response?  99% of the time I was totally ignored.  Repeatedly ignorned.  1/2 % of the time I was given an answer similar to, "we have to run this past legal."  Yeah, I can see why answering that your favorite color is blue would need a team of lawyers to review.  The other 1/2 % of the time, I did get an answer, and those answers will be out starting the first week of May.

Back to the anger...I'm ignored by these people because I don't print fluff, because I'm not employed by magazines that print fluff and accept ads, because I ask questions and raise issues on behalf of timeshare owners and because I don't kiss ass.

The Real Truths About Timeshare-Part 2

MAINTENANCE FEES

Again, the author makes these fees out to be specific to timeshares only. Let's be serious. When you rent a hotel room for $150 a night you are also paying your maintenance fees, unless you are doing landscaping work, cleaning the pool or overhauling the roof. How much of the $150 a night is for the room and how much is for the maintenance fees? They keep that from you.

At least with a timeshare, you know upfront what the fees are. Again, shame on anyone who purchases a timeshare without knowing what the fees are, what they were last year and the year before that and knowing what the cap, if any, is.

If you buy a car for around $30,000 would you expect to not pay maintenance fees? When you buy a house, don't you pay to keep the place up?

Can you rent a hotel room for less than maintenance fees? Of course you can. The average annual maintenance fee last year was about $650. That comes out to about $90 per night. Then again, if you are happy with a $90 hotel room, then by all means, stay away from timeshare.

Lakeview Manor Resort-Bahamas

I was made aware of this situation at Lakeview Manner in the Bahamas through an e-mail that one of the owners sent to me.

It seems that the resort has been dis-affiliated from RCI because they "had not met the enrollment quota." I'm checking into this issue to see what the true story is.

What is equally troubling is the fact that a representative of the resort sent an e-mail to about 350 individual owners, but instead of a) personally addressing each e-mail or b) using the simple "bcc" feature she made individual names, e-mail addresses and unit numbers available to everyone.

The entire situation sounds weird at best. I'm doing some checking to see what the true story is but in the meantime, if you own at Lakeview Manor, work at Lakeview Manor and/or work at RCI and can shed some light on this situation, please let us know.

The Real Truths About Timeshare

A recent piece floating around the internet lately entitled "The Top Five Reasons Why Timeshares Are A Bad Investment" has me hopping mad. I am SO sick and tired of listening to the same old stuff about how timeshares, whether tied to real estate or not, are poor investments.

If you buy a timeshare, any timeshare, as a real estate investment, shame on you for not understanding what you are buying. And if you sell timeshare, any timeshare, as a real estate investment, you should be fined and prohibited from selling it in the future.

I won't divulge the author of the article in question; he has done enough disservice as it is. However, I will rebut his points one by one.

TIME VALUE OF MONEY
If someone came up to you 10 years ago and offered you a deal whereby for $5,000 you could receive all the gasoline for all the cars you would ever drive, would you consider this a good deal? The answer for most of us would be a resounding "YES." Back when I started driving (in the Dark Ages), gas was $.74 a gallon. Today, I filled up for $3.76 a gallon.

Timeshare operates on the same premise. You are in fact pre-paying for tomorrow's use at today's prices. If, 10 years ago you were offered an opportunity to pay $5,000 for one week's quality vacation every year, forever, wouldn't you have taken it? If vacations were important to you, then you would have been foolish not to take this offer.

Timeshare Conventions-What They Mean For Consumers

The American Resort Development Association (ARDA), just wrapped up their annual convention in Orlando and the Canadian Resort Development Association (CRDA) is holding their annual convention later this month in Vancouver.  Next month, Perspective International will be hosting the first ever GNEX convention.

Now, as a timeshare owner, you may think that these annual conventions have no impact on you and serve no other purpose than a convenient excuse for timeshare professionals to run up their expense accounts and have some fun in some wonderful locale for a few days.  You would however be very wrong.

Today, I'm going to introduce you to GNEX, why I's so excited about it and what impact it will have for you.

GNEX 2011 is being put on by Perspective International (http://www.theperspectivemagazine.com/.)  By the way, if you do not subscribe to Owners Perspective, check it out.  I'm all about sharing as much information with timeshare owners as possible.  The goal of this year's convention, is to quote Paul Mattimoe, "getting together all of the industry leaders on a global basis to share best practices and move the industry forward."

That seems like a tall order at best, but it serves as a great illustration of why this event in particular is important to timeshare owners worldwide.  Sharing of information on a global basis.  Timeshare, as you can imagine, means one thing in Orlando and quite another in Dubai.  Timeshare owner and potential owners are concerned about one thing in Hilton Head and another thing in France.

GNEX will be making great use of the delegates' time by making the convention as interactive as possible.  I can tell you that it is this interactive format that to me, hold the most promise.  I had the good fortune to participate in "The Timeshare of the Future" session at ARDA last week, and while I did find the general education sessions interesting, I found that once the audience was participating and exchanging information, FAR more good ideas were generated.

I'll be writing more about GNEX in the following days.  In the meantime, visit their site at http://www.perspectivemagazine.com/gnex/about