.........................
.........................
.........................
.........................
Timeshare News .....
January 2004 TIMESHARE PLAN FOR GOVERNMENT-OWNED FLATS IN HONG KONG China's largest property developer has expressed renewed interest in buying 20,000 government-subsidised flats in Hong Kong and selling them to mainland visitors as timeshare apartments. According to regional press reports, the flats are among some 80,000 that have been left vacant since the government suspended sales a year ago to prop up Hong Kong's depressed property market. The timeshare scheme could help attract up to three million mainland Chinese to Hong Kong a year, said a senior official. PROMOTE THE COMMUNITY BENEFITS OF TIMESHARE, SAYS LANGDALE The timeshare industry needs to clean up its act and present a more cohesive and positive image, according to a senior executive of a resort in the UK's picturesque Lake District. Referring to findings from a recent study into the community benefits of timeshare, Fredericka Johns, sales and marketing director at Langdale Leisure, called for greater awareness of the positive impact brought by this growing sector of the tourism industry. The research – conducted by Ragatz Associates, a division of Cendant Corporation – shows that significant economic and community benefits were generated through timeshare holidays taken in Europe in 2002. The average timeshare travel party spent in the region of £1,000 in the local community during their visit. The total number of nights spent in a resort after purchasing timeshare increased by 76 per cent in the UK. "There's been plenty of coverage in the media over the summer warning consumers to beware of bad practice," said Mrs Johns. "It's about time we shouted about the advantages, such as the community benefits and corporate social responsibility, afforded by timeshare resorts." SUNTERRA STOCK LISTED ON NASDAQ NATIONAL MARKET The Las Vegas-based Sunterra Corporation, parent company of Sunterra Europe, this week began trading on the Nasdaq National Market. According to the company, the move marked "another step in the successful implementation of our strategy to grow the business and broaden our shareholder base". In July 2002 Sunterra completed a reorganisation plan that allowed it to emerge from Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code and later relocated its headquarters from Florida to Nevada. NEW CZECH RESORT FOR RCI RESORT PORTFOLIO RCI has entered the Czech market by affiliating a luxury residence in the heart of the country's capital, Prague. The Iron Gate is one of only a handful of city-based timeshare properties available in Europe offering its members quality urban accommodation. The resort has signed an exclusive agreement with RCI offering both weeks' and points' exchange programmes for members. Owned by the independent company, Orchid CZ, The Iron Gate is a stylish renovation of one of Prague's oldest buildings. Situated in the historic section of Old Town, it comprises 44 suites. In a separate development IFA Hotels & Resorts – a subsidiary of International Financial Advisors Kuwait (IFA) – has signed an affiliation contract with RCI for the membership inventory management of its Vacation Club on The Palm, Jumeirah in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The exchange company recently opened an office in Dubai. The mixed-use project on The Palm, Jumeirah, includes a 300-room, five-star hotel, 460 Vacation Club suites which are linked to the Souq Palm, a waterfront shopping complex with 200 freehold residences/townhouses above and 248 residences of two-, three-, four- and five-bedrooms with a private club. The affiliation of The Palm Vacation Club is part of IFA's strategy to provide quality tourism facilities in prime locations. The Club will link with other IFA resorts in South Africa and Zanzibar as well as with a planned project in Lebanon and its existing hotel and Pine Cliffs Vacation Club in Portugal, owned by United Investments Portugal, one of the companies in the IFA consortium. CONVICTED FRAUDSTER TO CHALLENGE COMPENSATION ORDER Next week an appeal court in London is due to begin hearing an application by timeshare fraudster John Palmer to reduce the £2.3million compensation he was ordered to pay his victims. According to UK press reports, Palmer's lawyers claim that some of the people he defrauded have already been compensated or are overstating their claims. John Palmer was jailed for eight years in May 2001 for conspiracy to defraud. Some 17,000 victims, many of them pensioners, were said to have handed over millions of pounds to buy shares in Tenerife resorts. Palmer's appeal against the jail term was dismissed in November 2002. The following year, due to a legal blunder, an order for confiscation of £33million of Palmer's reputed assets (said to be worth £270million) was overturned. Now Palmer is claiming that a £2.3million compensation order, made in addition to the confiscation order, should be reduced by between £600,000 and £800,000. According to Palmer's lawyer, prior to the 2001 trial, Palmer had already voluntarily paid around £8million to those who had made complaints against him. He had also paid £1.2million compensation into court and did not dispute that he owed that much. MEMBERSHIP MILESTONE FOR RCI POINTS PROGRAMME After three years, the RCI points-based exchange programme has enrolled its 350,000 th member. Branded the RCI Community, it has "achieved notable success with more than 85 per cent of members either ‘satisfied' or ‘very satisfied'…. according to a Ragatz study," said Ken May, RCI's president and chief executive officer. PACK COMPANY DENIED A CONSUMER CREDIT LICENCE The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in the UK has refused an application for a consumer credit licence by a company selling holiday packs online. The basis for the decision was that Satish Singh, an officer of Worldscape.net Ltd, was previously the controller of Oyster Leisure Limited. Trading Standards received 51 complaints about Oyster that went into liquidation owing consumer creditors almost £40,000. Oyster acted as an agent selling access to a holiday club website where it was claimed consumers could gain access to discounted dream holidays world-wide. Consumers paid around £3,000 to £4,000 for membership. "Oyster had misled consumers about the nature and availability of its products, the status of its disclaimer, on their cancellation rights and had failed to respond adequately to complaints," said the OFT. In making its application, Worldscape. Net Ltd. had failed to declare, among other things, that Satish Singh was the controller of Oyster. ECKHARD EILERS DIES The Timeshare industry lost this Tuesday a longstanding timeshare professional in Eckhard Eilers. Eckhard, 61, passed away after battling illness. Eckhard represented the Puerto Calma Group in Gran Canaria and served for three years as Chairman of the OTE Canarian Islands Chapter. A Board member of OTE Spain, Eckhard was at the forefront of guiding the Spanish timeshare industry to incorporate high standards and grow the timeshare industry to its current level. December 2003 GLENEAGLES - SCOTLAND Gleneagles says that it has sold over 400 weeks of timeshare in its Glenmor resort in the first year at an average price of £21,500. CONTINUING STORY OF JOHN PALMER John Palmer has applied to the Court of Appeal for the compensation order made against him for £2.3M should be reduced by up to £800,000. A full hearing is expected on 14 January 2004. MINISTERS TOLD TO GET TOUGH ON COSTLY HOLIDAY CLUBS - Jeremy Skidmore - Telegraph Citizens Advice has urged the Government to crack down on holiday club salesmen who make promises but fail to deliver them. A report compiled from 150 Citizens Advice Bureaux around the country suggests that the 1992 Timeshare Act is failing to protect holidaymakers adequately. Unlike legitimate timeshare companies, holiday clubs do not own properties but promise customers a selection of holidays. Many charge an introductoryfee and do not give people a "cooling off" period to change their minds. Citizens Advice said current timeshare law was too narrowly defined to protect consumers fully. It quoted dozens of examples of people who had been pressurised into paying deposits of hundreds of pounds after attending a presentation by a holiday club, and then heard nothing more from the company. "Promises of holidays for years to come are not being delivered," said David Harker, chief executive of Citizens Advice. "People are ending up with holidays that cost far more than they would on the high street - if they can book anything at all." The Organisation for Timeshare in Europe (OTE), which maintains strict guidelines for its members - including offering a minimum 10-day cooling off period - said it backed Citizens Advice. Peter Van de Mark, secretary general of the OTE, said: "We are in full support of calls to crack down on rogue operators. It has encouraged the Government and authorities over the past two years to clamp down on operators that do not follow timeshare legislation or any other consumer protection law." The Department of Trade and Industry operates an ongoing campaign against rogue traders. "We have done a lot already," said a spokesman, "and this year alone we have shut down 18 or 19 holiday clubs that weren't delivering on their promises. "We will continue to stop UK companies operating scams, but there is a difficulty with UK legislation because much of the selling happens abroad. We need Europe-wide legislation to curb this." CENDANT REPAYS $229m OF MATURED 7 3/4% NOTES Cendant Corporation (NYSE: CD) announced that it used $229 million of its available cash to repay all of the remaining 7 3/4% Notes that were issued by the Company in 1998 and that matured on December 1, 2003. Jonathan Mindell has been appointed Vice President and Group Marketing Director for leading timeshare exchange and travel organisation, RCI Europe. He joins the European Management Team based in Hammersmith, and will be responsible for the marketing strategy, planning and execution for all RCI's business areas across Europe.
November 2003 TIME2SHARE LTD The company Time2Share based in Aberfoyle in 1998 and 1999 is charged with timeshare fraud. The Owner Eric Vickers denies the charges. More Details CITIZENS ADVICE REPORT – OTE ISSUES PRESS RELEASE In response to the Citizens Advice press release of 6th November on non-regulated holiday clubs, OTE issued a release supporting calls to curb the activities of rogue operators. Both the OTE and Citizens Advice releases were forwarded to members by email on November 6th. The Citizens Advice release follows a 60-page report on timeshare written by Susan Marks, a social policy officer at NACAB (National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux). In addition to highlighting loopholes exploited by some operators and the problems associated with non regulated products such as holiday clubs and resales, Ms Marks calls for the UK government to introduce legislation to bring more products, such as holiday clubs and packs and canal boats, within the scope of the law. She also calls for the European Commission to review the Timeshare Directive and consider: • Redefining the Directive to ensure that holiday clubs and canal boats are included PR STEERING GROUP The PR Steering group, made up predominantly of OTE developer members, next meets on 25th November at the offices of First National Home Finance (formerly called First National Bank). Its key aim is to tackle cynicism on the part of the media and discuss how to reduce the number of negative articles in the press. OFT LAUNCHES MARKETING STRATEGY FOR SELF REGULATION SCHEME OTE’s National Chapter in the UK, Timeshare Council, is applying to take part in the scheme and our codes of ethics are current being reviewed by the OFT self regulation team. Feedback is expected before the year end. For information, 4 code sponsors have already achieved Stage One of the two-stage process for OFT approval of their consumer codes of practice, and are now working towards recognition by the OFT that their codes are being effectively implemented. A further fourteen code sponsors are currently working towards Stage One status. OFT CREDIT LICENCES - QUARTERLY UPDATE Between 1 July and 30 September nine consumer credit licence applications were refused and five existing licences revoked. There were also 62 warning/advisory letters issued and 179 applications withdrawn following challenge. A further 39 minded to revoke or refuse or refuse to renew notices were issued plus one minded to grant in different terms. OFT SUPER COMPLAINTS SEMINAR The aim of the event was to inform potential super-complainants about how to achieve designation and to explain how the OFT will handle super-complaints as well as the kind of information and evidence that it is looking for in a super-complaint submission. This is to help ensure that the OFT receives complaints that are adequately substantiated and of good quality. Super-complaints will be given fast-track consideration. The OFT and Regulators with a duty to respond to super complaints are required to publish a response detailing what action they intend to take, if any, and why, within 90 calendar days from when a complaint is received. The OFT has already launched two market studies in response to informal super-complaint−one into private dentistry and the other into doorstep selling. More Details COMBATTING GLOBAL SCAMS UK consumers have in the past fallen victim to bogus Canadian lottery scams, and dubious e-mail approaches urging people to part with their money often originate from overseas. |