Timeshare News

AP TIMESOFMALTA.COM- “Malta—Timeshare touts have restrained their “devious” tactics after the Tourism Ministry gave them five days to “clean up their act or else get off the road”.

Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech has warned that the next time the unacceptable behaviour resurfaces the government will enact the necessary regulations to prohibit the street promotion of timeshare in whatever format.

“Our warning has definitely led to the desired result and the behaviour of outside promotional contacts (OPCs) has improved. We will be monitoring the situation to ensure the situation does not get out of hand again,” he said when contacted.

The unacceptable behaviour of OPCs who pester tourists has made the headlines several times. Did Dr Zammit Dimech truly believe the situation has been resolved?

“I think that for the moment things are under control. However, I agree this is not a permanent solution. In the long term we must find a more acceptable way of selling timeshare, such as setting up booths, to avoid loitering,” he admitted.

Dr Zammit Dimech said that once summer was over he would broach the matter with the timeshare association to discuss the best way forward.

“While the present civil atmosphere is maintained we will continue as is for the remaining summer months. Once the peak season is over we can talk about a more long-term solution,” he added.” Click here for the full article.

(http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=194330)

AP EMEDIAWIRE.COM- “Orlando, FL (PRWEB)...—Lisa Ann Schreier, timeshare expert, author of “Surviving A Timeshare Presentation…Confessions From The Sales Table” and the just released “Timeshare Vacations For Dummies,” and yes, a former timeshare salesperson, knows all about what happens, and doesn’t mind telling some of the industry’s best-kept secrets.

She has been there and done that. The memories of sitting in front of an unsuspecting couple, in the middle of a room filled with other couples and families at a resort under the guise of “attending an enjoyable 60-minute meeting and getting 4 days of a luxury vacation.”

Throw hook out, reel in couple, and then ask innocently, “will you be putting that on your charge card or writing us a check today?”

Ah, most of us are familiar with the “timeshare soft shoe.”

Every year more than 3 million Americans attend a timeshare sales presentation, and statistics reveal that 250,000 of them decide to purchase. Do those buyers make the right choice, or were the ones who walked away taking the smarter course of action?

That question could only be answered by examining each individual decision, of course, but there is no doubt that timeshares have become a significant factor in the travel and vacation industries, especially during the summer months when so many potential timeshare owners are lured into a “resort preview” while enjoying their family summer vacation.

“When I polled a half dozen of the timeshare resorts recently,” said Schreier, a former Chicago resident who now resides in central Florida, “all of them stated that the majority of their “pitches” to potential owners are done in the months of June, July and August when the number of tourists is at the peak. It’s a great time of the year if you’re in the timeshare business, because you know that you’ll always have someone to try and sell to during those busy months.”

Yet, as Schreier notes in her recently published book, “Surviving A Timeshare Presentation…Confessions from the Sales Table,” the next few months also can be a very confusing time for many prospective timeshare buyers trying to sift through the meanings of phrases such as “fixed week,” “floating week,” “fractionals,” “point-based systems,” “deeded” and “right to use.”

With more than 6.5 million people owning timeshare at over 5,700 resorts worldwide – and perhaps three times that many people considering a purchase – there is a critical need for objective, unbiased information about timeshares.”... Click here for the full article.

(http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/7/emw265169.htm)

AP THETIMESHAREBEAT.COM- “Time4Sharing.com, the worldwide charitable movement founded by Lebanese entrepreneur, Viviane Boulos -Tolan, major shareholder of Platinum International, successfully entered the Guinness Book of World Records in Central Europe.

The charity created the longest human made golden gate bridge in Prague, involving 812 orphan children from all over the Czech Republic. This record breaking event made national evening news which is watched by an estimated 4 million viewers in the Czech Republic and was backed by Czech Airlines and GTS, the telecom giant in the Czech republic.

Time4Sharing.com was established in November 2000 and organizes fun days for underprivileged children worldwide.

Time4Sharing.com organized a spectacular children’s festival at a sports stadium in Prague, complete with famous rock bands, entertainers, competitions, and games for over 47 orphanages in the Czech Republic this past Friday June 1st, 2001.

Volunteers from Beirut arrived to join efforts with 60 other Time 4 sharing.com volunteers from the Czech Republic, Germany, Malta and the UK.

Earlier this year Platinum was responsible for creating and sponsoring the Czech-Lebanese friendship week and presented a Lebanese Cedar Tree to the Deputy Foreign Minister in the House of Parliament as a gesture of friendship between the two nations. Czech Journalists were taken on a 7-day tour of the New Lebanon for a special “Rediscover Lebanon” event where they met with many ministers and officials.

Commenting on the success of the day, Viviane Boulos- Tolan remarked, “In our industry of timesharing, we provide luxury and enjoyment and fun vacation experiences to our clients. We now take these values to kids who could only dream of realizing a fantasy day of luxury and fun and raise awareness to create opportunities for like minded people to share their time, if only for a day. It’s a great feeling”, she added.

“Overall, this has been the largest Time4Sharing.com event we have held so far. We have successfully prepared 12 events since our existence and this week we also sponsored events in Beirut and Bahrain.

“It is such a pleasure to work with the children. Our focus is mainly to donate our time which is so personal and enriching!” commented Alyah Rafeh, Events Coordinator of Time4sharing.com.

On the 31st of May, the Lebanese initiative, Time4Sharing.com, was involved in the Special Olympics of Bahrain as they collaborated with the Special Olympics Committee to organize a very successful day for over 300 mentally challenged and disabled children from various institutions in Bahrain.” Click here for the full article.

(http://www.thetimesharebeat.com/archives/2001/ts/tsjune20.htm)

AP JUSTGIVE.ORG- “Despite the slow economy, our country’s spirit of charity remains high. A nationwide study conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, showed that nearly three-fourths of adults contributed in some way to help victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

To further that spirit of philanthropy, Gift Certificate Center, a Hallmark company, and JustGive.org are partnering to provide an easy way to give. Gift Certificate Center customers can now donate all or part of their Premiere Choice Award to charity. The company has a long history of supporting charities and is pleased to join with JustGive.org to offer this option to its clients.

“As a company we want to assist charities in any way we can. We know our customers are eager to give back as well,” said Erika Perrault, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, Gift Certificate Center. “We think this is an exciting new way to support the charities that make such a difference in our communities.”

A portion of or an entire Premiere Choice Award can be donated in the categories of Animals, Children & Youth, Disaster Relief, Environment and Hunger & Poverty. Gift Certificate Center and JustGive.org, a non-profit service whose mission is to connect people with the charities they care about, will pass along 100 percent of the donation. This reduces fundraising costs for the charities and increases the impact of the donation.” Click here to visit http://www.justgive.org

(http://www.justgive.org/html/about/giftcertificate.html)

AP PRESS.ARRIVENET.COM- “SEATTLE (PRWEB) July 21, 2005 —-Holiday Resales, a member of the Seattle-based Holiday Group of companies, reports an unprecedented demand for drive-to destinations for mini-vacations close to home. “We”re hearing it from our customers, and we”re seeing it in the web analytics tracking the click-through path of our visitors to our gallery of timeshares,” says David Skinner, President and CEO of Holiday Resales.

Since 1992, over 20,000 customers have purchased “used timeshares” from Holiday. “As opposed to our earlier years in the business, the trend today is “vacation local”” says Skinner. “People want a hassle-free vacation experience. And airports are anything but hassle-free.”

Skinner reasons this is due to the following: heightened security measures, keeping lines long; money-saving cut-backs from airlines, reducing staff and service levels; crowded planes, flying at passenger capacity to increase revenue. And now, rising airfares—just in time for summer vacations.

“Sure, gas is going up too,” Skinner acknowledges. “But, taking your car with you alleviates another line to wait in as well as the expense of paying at the rental car agency desk.”

But money and aggravation aside, there is another reason for the increase in demand for drive-to destinations: Americans are time-starved.

“The people who can most afford a vacation are those who can least afford the time to take a full week off from work,” states Skinner. Their solution is to take several long weekends every quarter: tacking a Monday/Friday onto a weekend for a quick getaway. And who wants to spend their precious time in an airport?

“Even a regional airline that flies you point-to-point in less than two hours becomes a 5 hour commitment each way, by the time you calculate delays for checking in, security screening, waiting for luggage and renting a car,” explains Skinner. “Not to mention the hassle factor. With a drive-to destination, the vacation begins as soon as you leave the driveway—the cooler is between the seats, your favorite CDs are playing, and the kids are watching a movie on the pop-down TV or a laptop.”

Does this trend signal a rebirth of the road trip? “Well, yes and no,” says Wendy Knudson, a Vacation Concierge for Holiday Timeshare Resales, one of the Holiday Group companies. “The traditional road trip in the 60”s involved days of driving spread out over a week or more. Today, my customers are looking for a shorter road trip—-both in driving time and length of stay. They want to get to the resort within 3 hours of leaving home, and stay no more than four nights.” Click here for the full article.

(http://press.arrivenet.com/tra/article.php/672690.html)

AP PETERDIEKMEYER.COM- “Fed up with delays, security checks and the “hub and spoke” airport system, executives are turning to fractional aircraft ownership operators like AirSprint to get greater control of their travel

Earlier this year Jim Hewitt took the business trip from hell. His flight to Greenbriar, Virginia, left Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport an hour late and he missed his connecting flight in Pittsburgh.

The alternate connection brought him 100 miles from his destination and he had to rent a car to do the last leg. The trip ending up costing Hewitt eight hours of stress-filled travel time, for a flight that would have taken just over two hours if he could have flown direct.

“I travel a lot for business. It’s an important part of my life,” said Hewitt, president of Hewitt Equipment, a Caterpillar heavy-equipment dealership that services Quebec and the Atlantic region. “In the old days we used to rely extensively on commercial airlines and we got good service. But not any more.”

Not long after Hewitt’s Greenbriar trip, he signed a letter of intent to acquire a one eighth interest in a corporate jet from AirSprint Inc. a fractional aircraft provider, which set up shop in Quebec last year.

AirSprint, which was founded in 1999 by Calgarian Judson Macor, now maintains a fleet of 11 time-share jets including nine Pilatus PC-12 turbo props, which are owned mostly by corporate users and based across the country. If an exec’s jet is being used by one of the co-owners, another jet is flown in for him. AirSprint sells the aircraft shares, and then manages the fleet for the owners, providing pilots and maintenance services. Although there are several similar businesses in the U.S., notably NetJets, which pioneered the industry, AirSprint is the largest domestic player.

“We never felt that we could justify owning an entire plane,” said Hewitt. “But the shared ownership system ensures that we always have a plane on standby.”

According Fernand Croisetiere, AirSprint’s vice-president (Eastern Canada), Hewitt isn’t the only executive who is fed up with the state of North American business travel.” Click here for the full article.

(http://www.peterdiekmeyer.com/041129.html)

AP HOTELMOTEL.COM- “Timeshare trial membership programs might sound too good to be true because most offerings allow consumers to sample the benefits of timeshare with no long-term commitment. Timeshare operators say it’s a cost-effective sales-and-marketing tool that effectively recruits potential clients. Industry experts say it is a win-win for consumers and developers.

“It’s a very vital piece to the business because there are a number of clients who like what they see, and can afford the product, but just are not ready to make the commitment,” said Andrew Gennuso, president of Sunterra’s Resort Marketing International, which is based in Las Vegas. “It’s an opportunity to test the program on a limited scale.”

Escapes is Sunterra’s trial program, which is pitched at the closing table to “on the fence” customers about making a permanent commitment to timeshare ownership. Guests become owners on a limited basis—often up to 18 months—for a reduced number of single-usage points.

“It provides the buyer with the opportunity to test-drive the product before they make the decision,” Gennuso said. “Sometimes a life situation or timing isn’t right to make a purchase.”

Vacation Introduction Program, or VIP, is Hilton Grand Vacations Club’s trial program and is primarily offered to people who have participated in a formal presentation, but aren’t quite ready to purchase.

“It’s an opportunity to get a feel for how the system works and a nice introduction to our services and how we function,” said Kim Krieger, senior vice president and chief club officer of Orlando-based HGVC.

Trial programs are popular because they provide qualified leads. Gennuso said trial owners are three to four times more likely to purchase a membership than regular nontrial customers.

“The efficiencies and quality of sales are high,” Gennuso said. “It’s a very conscious, well-thought-out decision. They know what they want, and they are much more comfortable making the decision.”

Krieger agreed, saying a very high percentage of people purchase full deeded interest after sampling their program.

“The majority do purchase, and we’re excited about that,” Krieger said. “It’s a testimony to the product.”

Simon Crawford-Welch, executive v.p. of sales and marketing for Chicago-based Shell Vacations, said the company’s Explorer trial program has a high conversion rate. About 40 percent of the people who buy the Explorer option convert to full membership, he said.” Click here for the full article.

(http://www.hotelmotel.com/hotelmotel/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=170842)

AP THEROYALGAZETTE.COM- “Opposition Senate leader Kim Swan again urged Government to get on with amending the Timeshare Act.
Timeshare owners who bought years ago are worried they might lose their property as their 25 year leases are up this year.
He said Government had been promising law changes since 1999 but had done nothing and were now saying they didn’t want to rush into hasty legislation.
He said: “We have seen the Minister for Tourism of Transport – when he wants to do something he gets on with it, irrespective of public opinion.”
Speaking in the Senate’s motion to adjourn yesterday Sen. Swan said: “Those who made the ultimate commitment to Bermuda by purchasing multiple weeks were given the impression this matter would have been dealt with sometime ago.”
But he said the earliest it would be done would be three or four months down the line.
“It will do further damage, this Government is procrastinating.”
Sen. Swan also spoke about the need to clamp down on beggars, particularly those who intimidate people by gripping or blocking them.
He also complained about Government not giving notice about changes to the Bail Act made since the House session before yesterday’s sitting.” Click here to read the full article.

(http://www.theroyalgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050720/NEWS/107200068)

*Who They Are:

Compared to all U.S. households, timeshare owners earn more (72.9 percent have incomes of more than $50,000, compared to only 34.3 percent for U.S. households); are older (75.3 percent are 45 years of age or more, compared to 52.1 percent); and are more educated (57.4 percent have a bachelor’s degree, compared to 24.5 percent).

• In 1978, the median household income of timeshare owners was about $23,000. It is now more than $68,000.
• Two-fifths (41.7 percent) of all current timeshare owners have household incomes of more than $75,000. Only 5.2 percent have incomes of less than $30,000, while 21.5 percent have incomes of more than $100,000.
• The average age of timeshare owners is 54 years.
• The majority (87.2 percent) of all timeshare owners is couples. 12.8 percent are single.
• Only 34.8 percent of owners have children younger than 18 years of age living at home.

Why They Buy:

The exchange opportunity remains the most frequently cited motivation for purchasing a timeshare interval (84.2 percent), followed by being able to save money on future vacation costs (59.5 percent) and simply liking the timeshare resort, the amenities, and/or the unit (52.2 percent).

Satisfaction rates with the exchange opportunity are very high. Some 78.6 percent of owners express satisfaction with their exchange company, and 83.1 percent express satisfaction with their most recent exchange.

One-half (50 percent) of those surveyed own at seashore or ocean beach areas, followed by golfing destinations at 28.9 percent, snow skiing destinations at 20.7 percent, and lake or large river destinations at 20.3 percent. A high 28.8 percent of owners own timesharing at more than one resort.

Click here to read the entire report.

(http://www.tug2.net/news/rci/rci_stat5.htm)

• Information from RCI and Timeshare Users Group

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(http://www.diabetes.org/support-the-cause/make-a-donation/online.jsp)

*Information from ADA