Timeshare For Tour

During the craze to buy permanent holiday homes, timeshare was looked upon as a creaky relic to be filed in the history of leisure travel. But it is coming back into fashion with families seeking ever more cost-effective methods of holidaying.

Resort Condominiums International (RCI) is a leader in the field “with over 85 per cent share of the global timeshare market”. The company runs 3,700 timeshare resorts in 100 countries, with 40,000 members and 50 resorts in India. It is soon going to open an office in Calcutta.

“Places such as Darjeeling have been favourites with Calcuttans, who don’t necessarily want to break the bank to get away. In Darjeeling and many more areas, RCI will be providing affordable options for holidays,” said a spokesperson for the company. Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives have recently been added to RCI’s repertoire.

Flexibility and diversity seem to be at the forefront of RCI’s approach to timeshare, with the customer paying according to the time of the year and the destination. After an initial one-off payment, transaction fees are charged for each holiday. The transaction fee for an Indian holiday will be Rs 3,675, while an international holiday will cost Rs 9,450.

RCI has of late been seeking to broaden its timeshare appeal, with women at the top of the target list. The spokesperson explained: “We recognise that women will often be the ones choosing the timeshare location and planning the logistics of a family holiday, so we want them to not only be attracted to the timeshare concept, but also fully understand what is available.”

Our Timeshare In The Sun

IT consultant Matt Dimbylow, 35, and his wife, Emma, realised they could afford a luxury villa rather than a basic apartment in Portugal when they came across the concept of timeshare ownership.

They bought a share in a three-bedroom, three-bathroom furnished villa with its own pool on a golf development in the Western Algarve at Parque da Floresta for £75,000 two years ago.

The Dimbylows, pictured with their two daughters, Lauren, four, and two-year-old Ella, can use the villa for two weeks at Easter and two weeks in August. This is not timeshare as you own your portion of the freehold and profit from any increase in the property's value.

The couple, who also run a football coaching scheme called Socatots in Cheshire, have seen the value of their timeshare increase by £20,000 already. Last July they bought a quarter share of a beach house being built nearby at Salema by the same developer, Vigia, for £114,000.

Matt says: 'The properties are in an area of the Algarve which is mostly a National Park, so it can't be over-developed.'

His annual maintenance fees are £1,175 for the villa and £2,000 for the beach house. They raised the money to buy the properties by tapping into the equity of their home in Northwich, Cheshire, using a Flexible Advance on their Nationwide mortgage.



Timeshare began in the U.S. and is also common in the Caribbean. The main drawback is that you can't get a mortgage on part of a freehold so you have to have funds available or release the equity in your main home. Check the contract to see when you can use the property and how much rent you can get when you don't use it.

Simon Conn, of Conti Financial Services, says: 'It's a good stepping stone to buying a place abroad outright. It's becoming more common in Europe, but you should be aware that it could take longer to sell than normal should you want to cash in your share.'

Raymond and Kathryn Finch are buying a new townhouse in Spain with an initial payment of just £2,000. The couple, with their 15-year-old son, Jason, and a daughter, Hayley, 22, are selling their home in Grays, Essex, and moving to Los Altos, near Torrevieja on the Costa del Sol.

The three-bedroom end-of-terrace house sold by Parador costs £140,000, including fees and taxes, and should be completed at the end of the year. They have a new type of loan from Spanish bank BBVA which releases payments in two stages during the building process.

The Finch family are moving to a newly-built home in the Spanish CostasTheir two-year, interest-only loan for £55,000 is charged at around 4.8% This sum and the remaining £85,000 will be repaid when their £175,000 Essex home is sold later this year.

Raymond, 53, says: 'My brother and his wife already live near our new home. We saw the Los Altos development when we were visiting in November last year and fell in love with it. We looked at loans from two British banks before Parador put us in touch with BBVA.'

Property developers such as Parador and Noray, which sell new homes along the Spanish coastline, have linked up with BBVA to lend British home-owners up to 40% of the purchase price for two years to cover payments during the building period.

The loan's interest rate is variable, with 1.9% being added to the European inter-bank rate, the euribor (currently 2.9%), making for a current rate of 4.8%.

Interest is paid quarterly and the loan can be repaid early without penalty. Your UK home is used as security and your existing mortgage and the new loan can't add up to more than 70% of your UK property's value.

Once the Spanish property is completed, you can take out a new mortgage, if necessary. The danger is that if the developer goes bust or the building work is delayed, the Spanish bank could call in the second charge on your British property, putting it at risk.

Beware The Hard Sell In Soft Whites Could Mean Timeshare

The caller ID can tell you when those timeshare solicitors are on the other end of the phone, but who would suspect fresh-looking men and women wearing white tennis outfits on the beach?

During the Memorial Day weekend, Sunterra, a timeshare vacation-ownership company with 89 resorts in 13 countries, will deploy guerrilla-marketing teams, courtesy of PJ Inc., New York, at beaches on the coastlines of New Jersey, Florida and Texas.

They will carry Sunterra see-through beach bags and distribute packets of suntan lotion with a blue Sunterra hanging card asking, "Where will your next vacation be? Come vacation with us." The card also lists the company's phone number and the Web address www.sunterragetaways.com. Radio spots in those markets also will support.

"We have an exciting timeshare product that is attractive to families who spend time at popular beaches, and we are taking our message to them, on the beach," Dave Lucas, Sunterra evp and CMO, said in a statement. "In doing so, we hope to drive traffic to [the Web site] and gain important information about public perception of timeshares and vacation habits so we can reach new customers in a way that traditional timeshare marketing cannot."

Large New Luxury Timeshare-Hotel Planned In Old Part Of Park City

Work has begun on a timeshare hotel in the old part of Park City, and it's unusual in several respects.

Called The Sky Lodge, it's the first such timeshare hotel in that part of Park City, which was created in the mining days and still has many original buildings. The 76 timeshare units have been sold in five shares, with the maximum prices hitting $2,000 a square foot. That price is on par with Aspen, reports the developer, Bill Shoaf. Fifty percent of the timeshare units have been pre-sold.

Second, because it is surrounded by older buildings, the developer was forced to accommodate them by step-backs in the hotel's height. Among the other buildings are an old railroad depot, a coal and lumber station, and even a tack shed that, in a curious shift, is to be moved and transformed into a Japanese-inspired spa.

The project is expected to yield $3.9 million directly and indirectly in taxes for the town. In addition, for every timeshare unit sold, the developer has committed $1,000 to the Performing Arts Foundation. Shoaf told The Park Record that such properties should be active participants in their communities. Timeshares do help the community.

New Law Shifts Burden Of Timeshare Taxation

A recently enacted statute, LD 1857, is good news for Wells and any other town in Maine that contains time-share vacation units. The law, signed by Gov. Baldacci in late April, changes the way property taxes are collected by towns from the owners of the timeshare.

As a result of the change, the entity that manages the timeshare units is now responsible for collecting taxes from the individual owner. In the past, towns had to collect them directly from the owners. With a timeshare, there could be as many as 100 owners for each unit.

“There are roughly 2,500 timeshares in Wells,” said Town Treasurer Leo Ouellette. “We had to send individual bills to each of them. I had [budgeted] more than half of one staff person’s time doing [the bills for timeshares].”

Ouellette said his department’s work involved sending out tax bills and dealing with the matter of foreclosures. “We send the bill to the timeshare owner,” he said. “Often the letter will come back marked ‘addressee unknown.’ The managing entity often doesn’t know the address. If they haven’t paid by the 12th month after billing, we put a lien on the property and then the owner has another 18 months to pay. We send another notice at the end of the 18 months, and if that’s not paid after 60 days, we foreclose.”

If the town forecloses, it becomes the owner of the particular week that had been the subject of the lien. That’s not necessarily a good thing. As a result, the town becomes responsible for the common expenses of the timeshare association, since the town is the owner.

Town Assessor Tanya Freeman explained that some of the tax assessments are so low that they are less than the fees the town incurs through ownership. “At the Nautical Mile, for example, it’s $31.56 per unit per year in property tax, on average,” Freeman said. “The lien fee is more than that. But, you can’t not tax something. That’s why we had to have this legislation.”

Recently, the town negotiated an agreement with the Nautical Mile to sell back 37 foreclosed units at a price of $100 each. “The town has been hands-on in running the business,” said Selectman Jim Spiller. “We had to go after each one. Often the value of the timeshare is less than it costs us to collect the taxes.”

Freeman noted that the 2,500 timeshares in town represented over 17 percent of the town’s 14,000 property tax accounts. “Until we change ownership issues, we have to have an account for each one,” Freeman said of the assessment process. “But, once they’re set up, they’re not a bother. There’s work only when the ownership changes or there’s a reassessment.”

Under the new law, the town would still individually assess each timeshare unit, but the managing entity would be responsible for collecting the tax and maintaining escrow accounts of the money until the town billed for it.

“We’ve worked on [this issue] ever since I’ve been in Augusta,” said Wells State Representative Ron Collins. “Every term there’s been a bill set forth to address the issue. There are a lot of timeshares in Wells, but there are also all over the state. This is not unique to Wells.”

Spiller agreed the effort to change the law had extended over time. “We’ve been monitoring this for a long time, and trying to get it through,” he said. “This should save the town a tremendous headache.

“This empowers the [condo] association to collect taxes on behalf of the town and get into the lien process itself. There’s another piece of legislation that would make it a lot easier for the association to take a timeshare back for lack of payment.”

Hundreds Of Jobs Face The Axe At Lancaster Timeshare Company

JOB cuts are planned at a Lancaster timeshare firm which lost more than £30million last year.

Sunterra Europe – with headquarters in Caton Road and a payroll of 260 – has warned that costs have to be cut significantly. A company report says up to
£6.3million should be set aside for redundancy payments across the firm. Chief executive David Harris – with an annual salary of more than £200,000 plus bonuses – has already departed.

Sunterra Europe is a subsidiary of the Las Vegas-based Sunterra Corporation. American bosses brought in consultants to look at the loss-making European business, which has 34 resorts.

Nick Benson, worldwide president and chief executive, said: "The company (Sunterra Corporation) has decided to make some significant changes in its European operations.
"The European business will be reduced and unnecessary and duplicative costs will be eliminated or reduced.

"New member marketing programmes will be curtailed, management streamlined and infrastructure reduced."

The plan aims to produce "substantial" cuts in European costs by August this year.
Sales, marketing and advertising were areas where "improvements" are required.
Company documents refer to 13,000 unsold timeshare weeks on the books of the European operation.

Spending of up to $12million is expected in connection with the changes, which follow depressed market conditions. Sunterra Europe marketing director Jim Shannon said the company was reviewing its European operation.
"We are looking at a number of proposals. We have entered a consultation period with people who might be involved."

Mr Benson – formerly Lancaster-based as Sunterra's European chief – was spending time in the city each week seeking to resolve the problems.

The firm went through a redundancy programme last year.
Sunterra Corporation, which is among world leaders in timeshare, has been advised by the consultants to concentrate on its strengths in North America.

The corporation emerged from bankruptcy under US law in July 2002. Sunterra Europe moved its headquarters from Pine Lake, near Carnforth, to Citrus House in Caton Road, in 2001. It has pledged to maintain services to members, despite the cuts.

Meanwhile the company has voluntarily handed over $3.1million (£1.63 million) to Spanish tax authorities with another $900,000 (£474,500) expected to follow. This was in respect of past underpayment of tax.

Gas Prices Take a Vacation With Timeshare Gas!

With warm weather, Memorial Day and summer vacation on the way, government officials are scrambling to provide quick relief from soaring gas prices. But a Seattle-based timeshare company has beaten the bureaucrats to the pump. By offering free $110 gasoline gift cards to their customers with every purchase, Holiday Group, a timeshare resale company, hopes to provide some vacation relief.

"Though timeshare resales are as much as 60 to 80% below resort prices, this special offer makes vacationing this Memorial Day even better," says David Skinner, Holiday's President. "We're doing what we can to ease the consumer's burden so they can vacation more. Everyone could use a break."

Gas prices usually peak around Memorial Day, just as drivers prepare for a long vacation weekend. Today, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline hovers around $2.90 -- up 72 cents from a year ago, according to the Energy Information Agency. A $3 average is not far away -- which could prevent many people from driving over the Memorial Day weekend and on through the summer.

Skinner believes people don't need to curtail their vacation plans over the price of gasoline. "The whole purpose of a timeshare vacation is to eliminate stress," he notes. "People are really stressing about the price of gas ... and we want to help them relax."

Even with the rise in gas prices, timeshare resales continue to thrive. And as more and more people feel the pinch at the pump, $110 worth of free gasoline becomes an appealing incentive to consider a timeshare as a vacation alternative. Between May 12th and May 29th, customers who purchase a timeshare from Holiday can say "fill it up' and they'll receive a free gas card.

Dream’ Vacation Is A Timeshare Nightmare

AT YOUR SERVICE: I paid $5,500 to Worldwide Dream Vacations of Branson as part of a timeshare contract. I was to get discounts on hotels, vacations, cruises, resorts and a $5,500 rebate. The $5,500 rebate would be returned by Rebates International.

I received notification that I was overdrawn on my credit card because Rebates International had submitted a claim for $11,000. Eventually I was credited for the $5,500 overcharge. I didn’t get a reply after mailing the materials for the rebate and a second mailing was returned undeliverable.

I then received a letter from a law firm that stated it was the court-appointed receiver in an action filed by the state of Oklahoma Department of Securities v. Sunset Financial Group, which included Rebates International Inc. and other entities.

The law offices reported that there are more than 600 rebate claims totaling about $2 million. The lawyer said that no funds would be disbursed until the court authorized a distribution. Am I the victim of a timeshare scam? — R.J., Overland Park

DEAR R.J.: According to Worldwide, it paid Rebates International for your rebate. The company reported that the Oklahoma Securities and Exchange Commission sued Rebates International in 2003 for allegedly selling unlicensed securities. The lawsuit was settled in 2004.

The company said it understands that there was no wrongdoing found on the part of Rebates International; however when the lawsuit was filed the company went out of business.

The court in Oklahoma will decide what happens regarding the timeshare rebates, we were told. Worldwide Dream Vacations said it had no idea how long this would take.

We would caution consumers about getting involved in these types of offers. Often by the time you are ready to use the vacation, the company has gone out of business. Also, if you do research, you would probably come out better paying for the vacation trips outright than trying to use these coupons or other incentives that you’ve purchased.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Take care with a timeshare

Be careful when buying a timeshare. Thoroughly check out the company and compare prices. Be cautious about a company offering incentives to buy a timeshare. Check out any offers through a third party with your state attorney general’s office and the Better Business Bureau.

Cendant Renames Timeshare Subsidiary

The Cendant Timeshare Resort Group Inc. has changed its name to take advantage of the Wyndham brand Cendant Corp. acquired earlier this year.

The Orlando-based timeshare company and parent of Fairfield Resorts and Trendwest Resorts has been renamed Wyndham Vacation Ownership Inc.

The company says the name change is in anticipation of Cendant's planned spinoff later this year of its entire hospitality services division, which includes the timeshare group as well as other hospitality-related businesses such as hotel lodging, vacation exchange and condo rental businesses.

Upon completion of the planned spinoff, Cendant's hospitality services division will become Wyndham Worldwide.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership will continue to market and sell vacation ownership interests under the Fairfield and Trendwest brands. The two account for more than 140 timeshare resort properties and more than 750,000 owner families worldwide.

The company says using the Wyndham brand will enhance its visibility in the marketplace while preserving the equity of its current brands.

Additionally, Cendant (NYSE: CD) also says its Wyndham Vacation Ownership's consumer finance division, currently named Cendant Timeshare Resort Group-Consumer Finance Inc., is scheduled to be renamed Wyndham Consumer Finance Inc. in about one month.

New Getaway Lesson: Don’t Rent It, Own That Timeshare

Time to buy and exchange your vacation this summer... in short, Timeshare. Timeshare simply means owning your vacation accommodation, be it a studio unit or a two-bedroom unit in a resort.

Depending on the size of the accommodation and the season, the price ranges from Rs 70,000 to Rs 4.5 lakh for a period of 25 years to a maximum of 33 years.

“Currently, there are two lakh timeshare owners in India. The industry is registering an annual growth of 18-20%,” says Radhika Shastry, director-India & Malaysia, Resort Condominium International (RCI).

Around 15,000-17,000 families are expected to become timeshare owners by ‘06 end, she adds. About 67 timeshare resorts in India are affiliated to RCI compared with mere three resorts when RCI began its operations in India in 1992. And there are 58,000 RCI timeshare members compared with 1,000-2,000 members in the initial years.

“With increasing disposable income and attractive airfares, holidaying as a concept is gaining popularity thereby contributing to the timeshare growth. RCI timeshare membership is growing annually at the rate of 15-18%,” says Ms Shastry.

However, the concept of timeshare is more popular in western states, 42% of RCI members are from the western states particularly people from Gujarat and Maharashtra who prefer to travel in groups as timeshare becomes an economical way of holidaying, she adds. North contributes 26% to RCI membership, south 25% and east 7%.

So if you want celebrate Christmas every year in a particular resort in Goa without the hassles of getting a confirmation, just become the timeshare owner of your unit. And if you want to spend your vacation in different countries, get yourself enrolled at any timeshare exchange companies like Resort Condominium International (RCI) and Interval International (II).

For instance, if your home resort belongs to a timeshare exchange organisation, you can bank your timeshare week with the organisation and exchange it for a week in another timeshare resort in India or abroad for a fee.

Apart from the exchange’s subscription fee and the one-time purchase cost for which, you are entitled to a week’s vacation accommodation every year in your home resort, you also have to pay the annual maintenance fee.

Rise of Condo-Hotels, Not Timeshares Brings Fears

With the Coachella Valley on the cusp of a proliferation of condominium-hotels, some are expressing fears their presence might also cause a decrease in transient occupancy taxes, a key source of funds for desert cities.
Some valley cities aren't waiting to find out what the impact will be and are drafting ordinances that they think will address any shortfalls.

Indian Wells is about to see construction begin on two condo-hotel projects, not timeshares Remington Las Montañas Resort & Spa and Fairmont Residences, with units priced in the $750,000 to $900,000 range.

The city has drafted ordinances to help preserve transient occupancy tax revenues.

Bed tax is important because the lion's share of a city's general fund is derived from those revenues, helping to pay for city services, salaries and infrastructure. The dollars also filter into tourism promotional efforts to keep desert timeshare resort communities in the forefront and attract more than 3.5 million visitors annually.

The Indian Wells ordinances define the condo-hotel in such a way to ensure it:

Is labeled as a commercial property, so it cannot be used as a permanent place of residence.

Limits stays by condo unit owners to no more than 60 cumulative days in a calendar year.

Requires each unit to be made available as a rental or timeshare unit for guests, subject to tax, at least 304 cumulative days of a calendar year.

Indian Wells Councilwoman Mary T. Roche looks upon the 60-day concession on bed tax - set at 9.5 percent in Indian Wells - as a trade-off to attract high-caliber hotel resort development.
"There is no lost revenue,'' said Indian Wells City Manager Greg Johnson. "We look upon these projects as an enhancement."

Indian Wells is projecting it will collect $5.2 million in bed tax revenue this fiscal year. "We think, in Indian Wells, with these two condo-hotel projects, alone, we're looking at driving up the TOT somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 (million) to $3 million."

It will likely prompt a hike in the average daily rate charged by nearby hotels, Johnson said, and bolster sales in the lifestyle centers around it.

The cities of Rancho Mirage and La Quinta are paying close attention.

La Quinta Mayor Don Adolph said city officials are mulling the prospect of weaving a type of homeowner's association fee into a proposed condo-hotel project at SilverRock Golf Resort into the revenue equation for condo-hotel buyers.

Under this scenario the dues would be calibrated against hotel occupancy rates, and would go to the city whether the units were rented out, or not.

Rancho Mirage City Manager Patrick Pratt anticipates reviewing some form of condo-hotel legislation, as well.

The Lodge at Rancho Mirage, which is owned by GenLB-Rancho, a partnership led by Gencom Group of Miami, has said it wants to reshape its timeshare resort into a renovated, three-floor hotel with about 122 hotel-condo units and villas.

Palm Springs Finance Director Craig Graves said the city has not specifically focussed on the issue.

But it is looking for ways to capture revenue from private investors or small groups who rent out homes or condos as timeshare units.

"Everyone is talking about it,'' said Tim Ellis, general manager of Palm Mountain Resort, Palm Springs. "It's a new inventory coming into the marketplace."

The trend is becoming so prevalent, in fact, Hospitality Design Expo in Las Vegas dedicated a special educational session to the topic.

Howard C. Nusbaum, president and chief executive officer of Washington, D.C.-based American Resort Development Association, which represents the vacation ownership and timeshare resort development industry, said these sessions are important because myths about lost bed tax revenue pop up from time-to-time.

Quite the contrary, Nusbaum said. "Mixed use is becoming the name of the game."

Nusbaum said there are tradeoffs that should not be overlooked. He said a study in South Carolina showed that timeshare operators brought 10 people into the resort hotels for the one person who bought a unit. That one buyer, tended to spend more while on vacation because their lodging was pre-paid, and that those who came and didn't buy stayed in hotels and spent money on tourism activities.

"This is good for all the cities,'' Ellis said. "It's new inventory coming into the market place," which drives up the attraction level of the valley as a whole.

I would rather them build more timeshare units.

Timeshare Property Tax Rates Reflect Priorities

The Maui County property tax system has evolved over the years as county leaders recognized changes in the way properties were used.

The County Council establishes the tax rates, set at so many dollars per $1,000 of assessed valuation, based on the overall worth of the timeshare property as determined from the selling prices of comparable property.

Maui County recognizes 10 different classes of property, setting different rates based on use. Homeowners get a preferred rate, proposed to be $2.50. Agricultural and conservation lands also get lower rates, to support farmers and ranchers and land kept in open space.

Income-producing properties as timeshares have the highest rates. At the top of the scale are timeshares, reflecting a general belief that the use takes more from the community than it returns. Hotels have a lower rate because they provide more residents with income in the form of paychecks than do timeshares.

Timeshare units and condo units used by the owner part time and rented most of the time are basically investments. One of the costs of that investment is the property tax.

The No. 1 priority is to keep the taxes for family homes as low as possible. As for the other timeshare properties, let the buyer beware.

Salamone: Timeshare Reseller Offer Too Good To Be True

Question My husband and I own a timeshare. We rarely use it, so we decided to sell it. An advertisement we got in the mail claimed they would help us sell the timeshare. My husband contacted them and was told it would cost $500. You guessed it; we went ahead with it.

I've since read this is a big mistake. My husband tried to call but they do not return our calls. Can we contact our credit card company and cancel this? Is there any recourse? Thanks.

Answer Maybe. If this is a recent transaction, then you should fire off a letter to the credit card company. Explain what has happened and request a credit. Did you have a contract with this reseller? Did you try contacting the reseller by letter?

This is the timeshare information that will help you get a refund for your timeshare listing.

State, Timeshare Group Disagree Over How To Count

Did Hawaii timeshare visitors spend $112 or $160.10 a day in 2004?

A long-running discussion between the state and the timeshare industry on the methodologies they used to calculate spending concluded that there were differences that couldn't be reconciled.

The two groups crunched the figures again and, while they came up with new numbers, they still didn't agree; the state said $90 and the industry group $111.

"There's no way to reconcile," said Pearl Imada Iboshi, the chief economist of the Research and Economic Analysis division of the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

"We have agreed to disagree," she said. "We figured out what the differences in timeshare spenders are and figured we can live with them."

The state and the American Resort Development Association Hawaii have gone back and forth on who had the right numbers after they came out with conflicting reports on the scope of timeshare visitor spending two years ago.

At stake was the credibility of both agencies. Some believed ARDA had an agenda because it was championing the cause of timeshare visitors and trying to prove that they were not cheapskates, as timeshare detractors have sometimes claimed.

The resort association's report said timeshare visitors spent about $160.10 a day during their vacation. State economists calculated that each timeshare visitor spent about $112.

The source of the problem was found to be the maintenance fee, an average of $600 annually, that timeowners paid. ARDA included this as a more than $30 expense per day for each visitor while the state didn't include these numbers.

"The question was whether or not to include timeshare maintenance fees and it merited a fair amount of discussion," Iboshi said. Those timeshare fees all add up.

Royal Oasis Timeshare Co. Faces Class Action Suit

The government is a month past the promised deadline to update the public on the sale of the Royal Oasis in Freeport and angry timeshare owners of the resort have in turn retained legal counsel.

A source close to the timeshare project told the Freeport News several weeks ago that Harcourt Developments, a Dublin-based property management and construction company, was in negotiations with the government of The Bahamas for the purchase of the hurricane ravaged timeshare resort.

However Obie Wilchcombe, Minister of Tourism, was only willing to say two months ago that the investor that is interested in the Royal Oasis was of sound international reputation and that the sale was imminent. Further Mr Wilchcombe said that there would be some indication of the prospective buyer, but was reluctant to be more forthcoming at that time, as previously a deal to sell the Royal Oasis Timeshare over a year ago fell through with the same company.

According to the Freeport News, Bradley Roberts, Minister of Works, followed on Mr Wilchcombe's heels and said that an announcement or update on the sale of the timeshare property would be made by the end of March.

To date there has been no word. Timeshare owners of the resort have taken action however. Several weeks ago, several of the timeshare owners were demanding answers on what the future of the Royal Oasis would be. Many of the timeshare owners are growing more agitated with concern over their investment in the property. Several weeks ago one of the owners told the Freeport News, "We seem to be in the middle of a struggle between Driftwood and the government as each tells us to call the other. We hear rumours of a sale and that once that happens our agreements could be fulfilled with that new owner. That the timeshare resort will be rebuilt bigger and better than before, this all sounds good, but we cannot trust any of that information as treatment to date has been unbelievably terrible

"I can't understand why the Bahamas government completely ignores...that I am one of many timeshare owners who have the same agreements which translate into tourism dollars for the Bahamas. I can't understand why they ignore or disregard this fact."

Driftwood Freeport Ltd, the owners of the Royal Oasis, reportedly pegged the price of the resort at $29 million. However the most recent reports on the pending sale indicated that the prospective buyer was willing to bring only $24 million to the bargaining table. The source close to the project told the Freeport News at the beginning of April that the $5 million difference in the ask and bid price was holding up the negotiations.

In the meantime, it was reported that the timeshare owners have identified a law firm that would represent them in a class action suit against Driftwood. "Our patience is running thin in the face of more reports of Driftwoods' continuing downward spiral and the lack of a sale or any information how that sale would affect our agreements," this timeshare owner told the Freeport News a few weeks ago.

Timeshare Becomes A Quick Growing Industry

Anxiety beset Donna Iker when she bought a timeshare apartment at Sheraton Vistana Villages on International Drive five years ago.

"I told my husband that I thought it would be too much," said Iker, 57, of Fort Worth, Texas. "We are raising two grandchildren, and it just seemed difficult. But now I think it was the best thing I have ever done."

Initially, she wondered whether the investment would fit her family's lifestyle. And she remembered hearing about timeshare deals gone bad, leaving buyers remorseful and angry. But today, Iker has nothing but good things to say about the decision.

Much has changed since real estate developers began selling real estate in increments of time in the 1970s. Buyers today commonly do business with large corporations, some of which are subsidiaries of the best-known operators in the hospitality sector.

In the past 20 years, timesharing has developed into one of the fastest-growing segments of the real estate industry, with a double-digit annual growth rate and an international presence. Many of the top sales companies have key operations in Central Florida, the industry's home base.

"Central Florida is the time-share capital of the planet, no question about it," said Jim Lewis, general manager of Disney Vacation Development, Walt Disney World's timeshare unit. "It has been a great business for us."

The division has five timeshare resorts at Walt Disney World and two others, one in Vero Beach, the other in Hilton Head, S.C. Disney's sales record demonstrates the power of selling real estate in the fourth dimension: 100,000 buyers have a stake in just 2,000 vacation apartments.

The growth of Disney Vacation Club, as the division is known, mirrors the industry's growth. Major hospitality companies, including Starwood Resorts, Cendant, Hyatt and Marriott, have timeshare operations. In 2004, the most recent year for which statistics are available, there were 1,668 timeshare resorts in the United States owned by 3.87 million households. The number of owners increased 13.8 percent between 2003 and 2004.

Central Florida had 74 resorts, according to the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), a trade group representing time-share developers. That represents nearly 20 percent of the resorts in Florida.

Concept has changed

For developers, selling a condo in 52 weekly intervals can reap big profits. ARDA says that the average price for one-week interest in a U.S. timeshare unit is $15,789.

The proposition seems as attractive to buyers as sellers. Real estate prices in top vacation locales have soared, drastically limiting the number of people who can afford second homes in such places. But timeshares bring down the cost, and limit the overhead, for those who plan to use a vacation home for only a week or two a year.

"The attitude now is why buy a whole pizza when you only need a slice," ARDA President Howard Nussbaum said. "The idea of shared use is more accepted today than it once was."

Baby boomers are more inclined to buy time shares than their parents were for a number of reasons, Nussbaum said. They are less wedded to the idea of exclusive ownership, he said, and like the flexibility that timeshares offer.

In the 1980s, most buyers purchased a condo that they could use one week a year, period. The concept has evolved since then. Today's timeshares are more like currency -- a unit owner can generally stay anywhere in a resort, or trade his time for a vacation at a property elsewhere.

"We have exchange opportunities that allow people to stay at any of 500 other resorts around the world," said Disney's Lewis.

Peter Yesawich, chairman of the Maitland travel marketing firm Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell, said acceptance of timeshares is spreading.

"We estimate that 14 percent of the leisure-travel population is interested in purchasing vacation time," Yesawich said. "That's about 9 million households, and that number has gone up 3 percentage points in the last 12 months, which is statistically significant."

Yesawich said the biggest reason people want to buy timeshares is the ability to take vacations in a variety of locations.

"The concept of shared ownership, whether it is ownership of an aircraft or of a condo, is becoming mainstream," said Franz Hanning, head of Cendant Corp.'s timeshare division in Orlando. "We have adapted to the vacation habits of our customers."

Timeshare Tourists

With the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) just around the corner, it’s no surprise that lots of research pointing to novel leisure vacation ideas is popping up.

So, when research extolling the virtues and value of owning timeshare properties hits you, there’s a certain sagging feeling of heard-it-all-beforeness.

Ask any UK expat over a certain age what they think about timeshare properties and you’ll get looks of horror, long intakes of breath and reminders of how often the word ‘timeshare’ rolled of the lips of Anne Robinson, the Rottweiler presenter of UK consumer issues show, Watchdog.

Timeshare has had a dodgy reputation in the past, particularly in European locations such as Spain, where Brits bought up 1,000s of them with no knowledge of the nightmare’s they were getting into. But of course, it’s all different out here, so let’s have a look.

Of course, the one thing the timeshare concept has in its favour is that hotel room rates in the UAE are soaring and holiday accommodation in hotspots such as Dubai are in short supply.

So the prospect of timeshare and shared ownership properties could be the answer for many regional holidaymakers.

At least that’s according to a new study which claims to show a growing number of people turning to shared ownership options, when owning a second or additional home in a destination location, such as Dubai.

The research, which was made available yesterday at a conference held at the Burj Al Arab, in Dubai, was commissioned by RCI Middle East, part of the world’s largest holiday exchange and rental travel group, the RCI Global Vacation Network.

Most research undertaken by coroporate entities are basically designed to tell us what the company wants us all to believe, and rarely is it the case, which is why most research ends up in the bin.

However, RCI has at least bothered to interview the minimum number of required candidates to get the message across to us that timeshare is where it’s at.

RCI claims to have interviewed 1,000 candidates in its research, which formed the basis of a programme for an audience of high profile executives from around the world, says RCI.

Stephen Holmes, vice chairman of Cendant Corporation, parent company of RCI, provided the keynote address, along with Awadh Al Ketbhi, director of conventions at Dubai’s department of tourism and commerce marketing.

The research focused on the burgeoning Arab tourist market and the holiday preferences of Arab travellers. More and more of them expressed a preference to holiday within the region, which is worth knowing for all those involved in the local hospitality and leisure sectors.

RCI says it undertook fieldwork during March across a sample of nearly 1,000 high-earning nationals from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Egypt and the UAE.

It engaged the Pan Arab Research Centre, (PARC), to conduct face-to-face interviews, which were then analysed and edited by NorthCourse Advisory Services.

If you’re not very wealthy, this is where you should stop reading, because the research apparently revealed one astounding fact - that the concept of shared ownership products is ideally suited to the higher income Middle Eastern national.

Also, that many Saudi and UAE nationals are more inclined to consider buying a timeshare property over and above other options.

Longer stay purchases, known as practional ownership, typically involving a share of a larger number of weeks rather than just one or two, were also a major preference, especially amongst Kuwaitis and Egyptians.

So that kind of blows out your chances if you’re strapped for cash and want a holiday retreat that also works as an investment.

According to the study, the entire sample travels regularly and holiday choices are largely based upon destinations that offer good family solutions and shopping rather than activity and adventure tourism.

Food and fine dining is definitely high on the agenda for all respondents in the survey. Topics of particular focus during the research were four leisure travel options - family holidays, religious travel, big trips and festive travels.

The clear leader is family holidays, with many travelling in larger groups, with extended family, friends and household staff.

“The larger, more luxurious type of accommodation found within shared ownership developments, can fulfil these requirements perfectly, according to RCI’s news release on the research.

Notably, 40 per cent of Saudi nationals take household staff away with them, and 46 per cent of UAE nationals take their parents. Unsurprisingly, Dubai, and the UAE as a whole, are the most popular destinations for all nationalities, especially when considering a timeshare purchase.

RCI believes that the potential to grow the timeshare market in the Gulf is significant - the Middle East market alone could support $540 million in annual timeshare sales.

With regard to fractional ownership, the most attractive locations were Dubai, Sharm El Sheikh and Mecca. Although this is a smaller market in terms of volume, gross annual sales are estimated at $642 million, greater than for timeshare due to higher-value properties.

RCI says that another exciting new shared ownership product is the religious timeshare, which it says got an extremely positive response among Muslim communities, who all have a common interest in travelling to Mecca.

RCI says the findings of its research clearly demonstrate the major potential for timeshare ownership developments within the Middle East.

However, as with any investment deal, timeshare ownership may sound like a dream holiday/investment solution, but as many Europeans have found to their cost, there can be a downside that needs to be properly explained by those promoting them.