In yesterday’s Timeshare Owners Blog, we looked at an ABC 20/20 investigation of Royal Holiday vacation club. Here is Part II of that post:

The hidden camera videotape made by ABC’s 20/20 investigators reveals that Royal Holiday breaks a lot of rules when it comes to selling timeshare. People who attend the Royal Holiday sales presentation are promised an incentive if they sit through a 90-minute sales pitch, which actually lasts 3 or more hours. They are told that they can only take advantage of special pricing if they buy today…on the spot, and if they prove reticent to buy, that price may mysteriously be cut in half in hopes of getting them to sign up now, as first one and then another salesperson tries to break down their resistance.

Royal Holiday also serves alcoholic drinks to their prospects. It is poor business ethics to do this, and it is an absolute no-no for you, as a prospective buyer, to make the mistake of clouding your good judgment with alcohol. Never, I repeat never, mix alcohol with the decision to buy timeshare.

Other criticisms of Royal Holiday’s sales tactics include promises made by salespeople that a buyer’s money is invested in a foreign bank account and will be returned to them in 30 years; that rooms shown as examples of what you are buying are far nicer than the rooms you actually can book; and that availability in busy seasons is scarce.

How to Avoid High Pressure Timeshare Sales Tactics

All in all, 20/20’s report was extremely negative. There is however, one foolproof way to avoid the heavy hand of a timeshare company salesperson. Buy resale timeshare. Deal only with the person who already owns the timeshare or vacation club membership. Bypass that salesperson who works for the timeshare company yet counts on you to pay his or her salary through commission.

When you shop for timeshare resales or timeshare rentals online, you can take your time. You can ask questions, you can compare products. You can sleep on your decision and consult your attorney or your financial planner. Money doesn’t come easily these days; take your time deciding how you will spend it.

Royal Holiday Vacation Club Timeshare Resales

Currently Sell My Timeshare NOW timeshare resales and timeshare rental advertising company has more than a hundred different listings for Royal Holiday vacations. Some start at under $1000.

The Royal Holiday vacation club affords you the opportunity to travel the United States and Mexico without joining an exchange company. Royal Holiday Club has occupancy rights at Sheraton Cancun Resort and Towers in Cancun; Sol Caribe in Cozumel; Sheraton Ixtapa, Mexico; the Raddison Xanadu in Freeport, Bahamas; Wave Crest in Del Mar, California; Powell Place, San Francisco; Marriott’s Streamside at Vail; Tropicana Golf Estates in Las Vegas; High Point in Orlando; and Brigantine Beach, NJ.

Sell My Timeshare NOW can help you buy, rent, or sell Royal Holiday vacation club timeshares, without the hassle.

Starwood Resorts and Timeshares has announced that they are building a freestanding timeshare sales gallery inside the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel for the purpose of selling timeshare weeks at that property and at the Sheraton PGA in Port Lucie, FL.

This is the first time Starwood Resorts and Timeshares have used a purpose-built, freestanding timeshare sales office to sell timeshare units and timeshare weeks. The new Starwood Timeshare office will employ 20 to 25 timeshare sales people, and will ultimately sell timeshare weeks at all 25 Starwood properties, which includes Sheraton timeshare resorts and Westin timeshare resorts.

In an article published by PressofAtlanticCity.com, written by business editor Kevin Post, Starwood Vacation Ownership spokesperson David Matheson was quoted as saying, “Timeshares are becoming more and more of a mainstream product. Starwood and companies like it are bringing credibility to the industry.”

The article noted that Starwood timeshare units range from about $13,000 to $28,000 with annual maintenance fees of $400 to $800. On the same day that this article ran, CrainsNYBusiness.com published an article identifying that their new chief executive officer, Fritz Van Paasschen, who took the helm in September of 2007, earned approximately $9.1 million during that 4-month period.

Sheraton Timeshare and Westin Timeshare

While Van Paasschen’s base salary is less than $300,000 annually, his bonuses, incentives, and stock options accounted for the rest of his 9 million dollar-plus compensation. Leaving you to draw your own conclusions here, now seems like a good time to remind you that you can get excellent timeshare deals on Starwood timeshare resales, resorts that carry the brands of Sheraton timeshare resales or Westin timeshare resales.

Timeshare Resales from Sell My Timeshare NOW

When you buy timeshare directly from the person who owns it, you are purchasing vacation time at the same resorts as people who buy timeshare new, from the developer and typically pay much higher prices. Here’s a list of some the opportunities available in timeshare resales in Sell My Timeshare NOW’s current inventory:

• Sheraton Broadway Plantation - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• Sheraton Desert Oasis - Scottsdale, Arizona
• Sheraton Mountain Vista - Avon, Colorado
• Sheraton PGA Vacation Resort - Port St. Lucie, Florida
• Sheraton Vistana Resort - Orlando, Florida
• Sheraton Vistana Villages - Orlando, Florida
• The Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas - Maui
• Westin Kierland Villas - Scottsdale, Arizona
• Westin Mission Hills Resort and Villas - Rancho Mirage, California
• Westin St. John Resort and Villas - St. John, US Virgin Islands
• Harborside Resort at Atlantis - Paradise Island, The Bahamas
• Lakeside Terrace - Avon, Colorado

During the 10th Annual Grand Bahama Business Outlook forum last week, Mike Murphy of Harcourt Development announced that Harcourt (the owners of Royal Oasis) has finalized a management deal for the Royal Oasis Timeshares property.

The Freeport News quoted Murphy, the director of Harcourt Development, as saying, “We’ve been working at this for a very long time and we met with Foxwoods almost a year ago now and we’ve been in talks with them ever since.” As Murphy explains, “We’re (Harcourt Developments) the owners and developers of the property, but Foxwoods are going to be the operators.”

Spokespeople for both Harcourt and Foxwoods agree that they are still in an assessment phase, determining which aspects of the hotel and timeshare resort can be refurbished and which will have to be totally rebuilt. Royal Oasis timeshares, as you probably recall, has be closed since Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne caused extensive damages in the fall of 2004. Timeshare owners at Royal Oasis have been in limbo since that time, many still on the hook to make payments on timeshare condos were no longer usable as vacation properties.

Upgrades and Repairs at Royal Oasis Caribbean Timeshare Resort

Currently, proposed plans for the Royal Oasis timeshare resort include quickly bring the Ruby Golf Course to playing conditions, with a long-term overhaul planned for the Emerald Course. A new hotel tower is planned, along with a spa, and multiple food and beverage service locations.

According to reports in The Bahama Journal, some 400 hotel units will be refurbished and another 350 hotel units added. While all sources of information about this newest development in the long and controversial issues surrounding Royal Oasis timeshares refer to the expansion as “hotel” units, I am speculating that they actually mean “timeshare units”. Moreover, while any news of forward momentum in this situation is positive, it doesn’t sound like timeshare owners at Royal Oasis can look forward to using their timeshare weeks any time in the immediate future.

The unfairness of this whole nasty mess as far as Royal Oasis timeshare owners are concerned is inexcusable and if you would like a refresher course on the chain of events, I recommend you revisit the following posts in the Timeshare Owners Blog:

• Updates about Royal Oasis Timeshare
• Do You Own Timeshare at Royal Oasis in the Bahamas?
• Royal Oasis Timeshare Resort: A Litany of Problems
• Uncertain News about Royal Oasis Timeshare Resort

If you are a timeshare owner at Royal Oasis, you still have until April 1, 2008, to become part of the class action lawsuit against the original owners of the timeshare resort. To find out more about the terms of this lawsuit, contact:

Phillips & Garcia, P.C.
Carlin Phillips, Esq.
13 Ventura Drive
N. Dartmouth, MA 02747
cphillips@phillipsgarcia.com

On Monday, the Timeshare Owners Blog will update you on the other group, in addition to timeshare owners, who have been so deeply impacted by the debacle at Royal Oasis timeshares.

Saturday’s Timeshare Owners Blog reported on several factors that could strengthen the interest in timeshare resales and timeshare rentals in the Bahamas, including two US airlines that are adding more flights to Grand Bahama.

The Weekend Edition of England’s Travel Mole reported that British Airways increased their number of flights from Gatwick to St Lucia and will offer a non-stop flight rather than flying via Antigua, which creates a two-hour layover. Caribbean Airways’ codeshare flight with British Airways to the Port of Spain route will incorporate the new flights via St Lucia as well as four weekly Barbados flights.

Also according to The Travel Mole, despite the fact that over 60 percent of Bahamas hoteliers who participated in an economic survey reported a net loss for 2007, the Bahamas Hotel Association (BHA) continues to be optimistic about the tourism sector’s performance in 2008. President of the Bahamas Hotel Association Russell Miller says that hoteliers do blame the week US economy for the 2007 downturn.

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has predicted a record year for 2008 with 10.5 million passengers originating from North America and 2.3 million from international markets, but they say they fear that the Caribbean will not be a hot destination for 2008. According to the Special Features News of the Travel Mole, “We anticipate that the unparalleled diversity of cruise experiences offered by our members will result in another record year for the industry.”

Yet they quickly follow this quote by explaining that, “…climbing US unemployment might soften demand in the Caribbean which offers the most affordable offerings. Low income consumers tend to lean towards Caribbean cruises based on pricing, said Robert Simonson of William Blair & Co.”

Like so many other things about the potential economic ups and downs of 2008, only time and hindsight will tell us precisely what the year will mean for Bahamas tourism and Bahamas timeshares. But as the Timeshare Owner’s Blog said yesterday, “logic says, the more the Bahamas develop into a highly desired tourist destination, the easier it could be to sell your Bahamas timeshare resale or use it as a Bahamas timeshare rental.”

Here are only a few of the opportunities in Bahamas timeshare resales and Bahamas timeshare rentals available through Sell My Timeshare NOW:

• Viva Vacation Club at Viva Wyndham Fortuna Beach
• Sandyport Beaches Resort
• Island Seas Resort
• Freeport Resort and Club

Do you have Bahamas timeshare weeks you want to sell or rent?

If so, you may benefit from this information. According to an article that appeared in The Freeport News, January 11, this month is bringing record numbers of visitors to the island of Grand Bahama. Logic says, the more the Bahamas develop into a highly desired tourist destination, the easier it could be to sell your Bahamas timeshare resale or use it as a Bahamas timeshare rental. And the Bahamian Ministry of Tourism is doing everything they can to move the Bahamas up the preferred vacation destination charts.

Tourism to Grand Bahama Island recently benefited because high winds in other parts of the Caribbean rerouted some cruise ships to Freeport Harbor. Yet much of the tourism Grand Bahama is enjoying is simply the result of people who have selected the Bahamas as their target destination.

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism is working hard to improve the island’s desirability factor. According to the Executive Director of the Ministry, Kerry Fountain, (as quoted in The Freeport News) the plan is to, “Create your product, deliver on the experience in terms of service and the attitude, get your guests here affordably, and promote it.” He adds, “It has to happen in that order, but we have to keep our nose to the grindstone in order to get it done.”

The Ministry of Tourism anticipates being able to successfully weather even a tight US economic market because many US vacationers will still be taking trips, they will just be looking to travel closer to home. Additionally, the Ministry is working hard at recruiting and training better hospitality industry workers, unrolling programs in the high schools to promote careers in tourism. Efforts like this will help the long-term tourism market in the Bahamas as well as Bahamas timeshare resales and Bahamas timeshare rentals.

Creating immediate boosts to the tourism market in Grand Bahama are recently discounted airfares to Freeport and Nassau. US Airways and American Airlines are currently both offering special pricing on island airfares or vacation packages.

And now that things seem to be turning around for the Royal Oasis timeshare resort with plans to renovate and reopen, popular Bahamas tourist destinations like the International Bazaar may actually return to their former glory. Harcourt Developments Limited, the purchaser of the Royal Oasis timeshare, is expected to invest some $400 million dollars in their Bahamian resorts over the upcoming years.

To learn more about how to sell timeshare or rent timeshare you own in the Bahamas, visit Sell My Timeshare NOW. If you are interested in becoming a Bahamas timeshare resales owner, Sell My Timeshare NOW also offers an excellent inventory of vacation ownership properties.

Continuing from yesterday’s Timeshare Owners Blog about the situation at Royal Oasis timeshare resort, today’s blog looks at things from the perspective of timeshare owners.

Until yesterday’s post, the last blog I wrote about circumstances at this Caribbean timeshare resort was March 7, 2007. At that time, I was quoting the Freeport News as saying that Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie and former Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe were both hinting at a pending purchase of the resort. So here it is, eight months later, but finally, that sale may be about to happen.

Since the timeshare resort’s closing during the 2004 hurricane season, rumors of the sale of Royal Oasis have taken on the credibility of the boy who cried wolf. However last April, Harcourt Developments, a Dublin, Ireland based property development, management and investment company, surfaced as the front-runner in the rumor mill. But it appears that this time the news is solid, and Harcourt Developments is ready to finalize the deal to purchase the Royal Oasis resort. According to an article that appeared in Dublin’s Sunday Business Post Online, the $40 million deal is nearly completed.

Harcourt has gone so far as to notify people who own Royal Oasis timeshare, telling them that their contracts will be honored. The Nassau Guardian says, “All 3,000 timeshare owners at the Royal Oasis resort appear to have won the war they’ve waged for the last three years.”

The article went on to say it is unclear whether “the government or Lehman Brothers has offered to help cover the cost of restoring timeshare owners to the position they held before 2004.” Obie Wilchcombe, according to the Nassau Guardian, “suggested that a struggling Freeport could ill afford not to satisfy those investors, given the potential for them to mount a negative campaign against a newly renovated Royal Oasis as planned by Harcourt.”

Lehman Brothers’ role in the Royal Oasis debacle is that they stepped in to control the property when former owner Driftwood, failed to meet their mortgage obligations.

Royal Oasis Timeshare Owners, Let Us Hear From You

If you own timeshare at this resort, and have received a letter from Harcourt Developments, the Timeshare Owners Blog would love to hear from you. You can leave a comment on this post, letting us know what’s happening or post comments on our Timeshare Owners Forum. We’d really like to get our news on this subject from the people with the clearest perspective—the timeshare owners at Royal Oasis!

I have been very hesitant in the past few years to write about the ups and downs at Royal Oasis timeshare in the Bahamas. Sorting out truth from rumor and promises from cold hard fact, has been extremely hard and quite honestly, every time I heard something hopeful, it seemed to be quickly followed by more bad news.

If you are a timeshare owner and you have not heard the ugly story of Royal Oasis timeshare resort, then I will summarize it by saying that in 2004, Hurricane Frances and two weeks later, Hurricane Jeanne, hit the resort, after which Royal Oasis never reopened. But as you read the facts about Royal Oasis timeshare, I think it is clear that the hurricanes might not have been the resort’s only problem—in other words, the fact that hurricanes do sometimes hit coastal timeshare resorts should not stop you if you want to buy timeshare at or near the beach.

At Royal Oasis timeshare resort, Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne may have turned out to be merely the straw that broke the camel’s back. The timeshare resort clearly had problems long before a record-setting hurricane season blew through. Many people—many, many people—were hurt by everything that happened at Royal Oasis. The damages were far greater than a leaking roof and wind damaged timeshare units.

Let’s start by looking at the problems created for the timeshare resort’s employees—800 people according to one source, 1300 according to another. My guess is the discrepancy in number probably has to do with whether one is counting all employees of the timeshare resort, or only full time employees. Either way, we are talking about a lot of people whose jobs were gone. To add insult to injury, when Driftwood Freeport Limited closed the Royal Oasis timeshare resort, they not only left millions of dollars in debts, (source: The Freeport News) they also left employees without severance pay—to the tune of $6.12 million in severance pay according to government officials in Freeport.

In 2005, the Bahamian government stepped in and paid approximately $5 million of the resort’s unpaid severance, but many people received only half of the total amount due them, and others, who disputed the amount designated for them, received none of what they were due, rather than sign off to accept an amount they believed was incorrect.

But on Monday, October 29, the Freeport News reported, “The government is going to cause to be paid (to) the workers at the Royal Oasis Hotel the balance of their redundancy payment entitlements,” according to Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. Ingraham went on to say that, the government was taking steps to make “the reality of the payout as soon as possible.”

The article listed some of the Royal Oasis timeshare’s other debts including more than $13 million owed in casino taxes, another three-quarter million owed to Immigration, as well as debts to Customs, National Insurance, and the Union pension fund. Reportedly, Royal Oasis also was bouncing checks for employee’s deductions for their wages in order to make loan payments.

Do I know this for a fact? NO. I have not seen copies of public records or other documents to verify this information. I am basing my words solely on what has appeared online in the Freeport News.

The Royal Oasis timeshare was one of the largest resorts on the island, second in size to the Westin and Sheraton Grand Bahamas Island. When the timeshare resort closed, several neighboring businesses at the International Bazaar also went under. The culmination of the horrific hurricane season’s impact on their overall business, damages to their own properties, and the absence of foot traffic from the nearby timeshare resort, proved too much for them to withstand.

Throughout the island, grocery stores, clothing stores, neighborhood restaurants, and a host of businesses felt the pinch, when breadwinners in hundreds of families lost their livelihood with the closing of Royal Oasis timeshares. Likewise, there were independent contractors and small businesses that provided food, cleaning supplies, uniforms, and other types of goods and services to the resort itself that lost a meaningful chunk of their business revenues.

Since Royal Oasis shut its doors three years ago, the financial loss to the community has spread in a domino pattern, affecting thousands of people on Grand Bahamas Island. Thank goodness, government officials seem to be ensuring that former employees of the timeshare resort receive severance pay, despite the fact that it is not the Bahamian government’s obligation to cover the responsibilities of the resort’s ownership and management. This was an especially noble act in light of the fact that tax revenues to the Bahamian government and/or the city of Freeport probably took a dip when the resort shut down.

And as bad as this story sounds, it does not end here. In tomorrow’s Timeshare Owners Blog, we will look at what this situation has meant for vacation property owners of Royal Oasis timeshare. If you have been part of the ongoing story at Royal Oasis, or have any thoughts about it, we’d love for you to post your comments.

Before I get in trouble with the knitters of the world, let me make it clear that I’m not making fun of knitting. I recognize that knitting has become seriously popular in recent years. Many people have taken up their knitting needles as both a creative and relaxing outlet.

But I have to admit that I was a little surprised to learn there is a market for knitting-themed cruise vacations. Next February, Norwegian Cruise Line is offering The Great Balls of Yarn Cruise. The cruise was started two years ago by the owner of a chain of knitting stores in Florida, and brings together knitting enthusiasts along with celebrities from the world of knitting.

During these cruises, you can take classes to improve your technique, learn to knit a different garment each day of the cruise, and socialize with other knitters at yarn sales that masquerade as cocktail parties.

The next Great Balls of Yarn Cruise tours Belize and Honduras, which is really what caught my attention most. Belize happens to be one of the most incredible vacation destinations on the planet. I could easily devote all my blog posts for the month of October to the wonders of Belize and never cover the same information twice.

And while I applaud anyone who recognizes the value of a hobby, especially one that is as productive, yet rhythmic and relaxing as knitting, it makes me cringe that visitors to Belize might be distracted by any endeavor that caused them to miss the splendor of this tropical getaway. I’ve used the word “un-Belizeable” to describe this amazing country so frequently on our Sell My Timeshare NOW website that our marketing department has tried to ban me from saying it again.

Belize is the only English-speaking country in Central America. It is where the tropical Caribbean meets ancient Mayan ruins and is culturally both Caribbean and Central American.

The Belize Barrier Reef is over 200 miles of lacework coral, second only in size to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. A Belize vacation not only means swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, sailing, and sport fishing, but the opportunity to explore ancient ruins, an amazing network of inland caves, and some of the most pristine jungles in the world.

Hotels in Belize tend to be a bit pricey, which is one of the reasons that Belize timeshare vacations are so attractive. You can take advantage of a Belize timeshare resale or a Belize timeshare rental at a great price, leaving you plenty of vacation dollars for exploring, renting scuba gear, or even buying more knitting yarn.

If you have your heart set on cruising, you’ll be interested in Forbes Magazine’s recent article on the, “World’s Most Unusual Cruises”. Who knows, you may even be able to exchange timeshare points through your timeshare exchange company for an Elvis cruise, a motorcycle lovers cruise, or that knitting cruise you’ve been dreaming about.

As Central America and Mexico brace for Hurricane Felix, our thoughts and prayers are with everyone for their personal safety and the protection of their property.

Thousands of people in Honduras and Nicaragua were ordered to leave as Felix approached and told to seek higher ground further away from the storm’s path. Residents and tourists on the islands of Roatan and Guanaja—popular dive destinations—were evacuated by boat and plane in anticipation of both catastrophic winds and flooding.

According to the New York Times, some of the most vulnerable people in the hurricane’s path are the Miskito Indians along the remote Nicaraguan-Honduran border. Primarily living in small wooden houses, the Miskito’s are facing Felix at its worst, with little means to protect themselves.

Throughout Central America, Hurricane Felix brings to mind horrific memories of 1998, when Hurricane Mitch, also a Category 5, left a swath of destruction in much of the same area, killing between 9000 and 11,000 people and leaving as many more missing and presumed dead. The flooding and mudslides that followed Mitch destroyed some villages in entirety, leaving no one alive in its path.

As always, we will try to keep you apprised of property damage as it relates to timeshare owners and others with interests in timeshare resorts.

While the popular timeshare vacation destinations in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao were under a hurricane watch as Felix passed over them Labor Day weekend, neither Curacao nor Bonaire reported serious damages according to the Cayman Net News. There was however, street flooding and downed trees in Curacao. Despite its massive force, hurricane force winds extended only 15 miles and tropical winds only 115 miles as Felix passed over the southern Caribbean, meaning that both Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles experienced only gusty conditions.

Bonaire’s Lt. Governor, Herbert Domacasse said, “The local population and visitors remained in their homes and hotels overnight. No calls were received on the emergency line set up in preparation for the storm.” With many areas still recovering from Hurricane Dean, thousands of people need your help. Give your donations through a charity you trust.

The Council of Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance maintains guidelines to help you identify reputable charities. Other considerations are the American Red Cross, and the International Red Cross.

With the memory of Hurricane Ivan (2004) still fresh in the mind of many Cayman Island residents, people there prepared for the worst from Hurricane Dean. But the eye of Hurricane Dean passed nearly 120 miles south-southwest of Grand Cayman Island, leaving residents and tourists who had not evacuated to sigh in relief.

According to the Cayman Net News, two Members of the Legislative Assembly assessed the Bodden Town District on Monday after Dean had passed through and they reported no structural damage or injuries to persons in the area. Police officials said there were also no reported injuries on Grand Cayman.

Hurricane Ivan caused over $2 billion in damages to the Caymans and left 85 percent of the homes damaged and 25 percent uninhabitable. In many cases, repairs are still ongoing, and the Cayman Islands probably could not have prepared, either emotionally or economically, to endure another direct hit.

Thanks again to the people at Storm Carib blog for their updates. While the Timeshare Owners Blog has little other specific information to offer about the status of Cayman Island timeshares, it would appear that the following timeshare resorts have received minimal damage from the storm:

• Moritt’s Tortuga Club
• 7 Mile Beach Resort
• Grand Caymanian Resort
• Moritt’s Tortuga Seaside
• Moritt’s Grand Resort
• Royal Reef Resort Grand Cayman
• Plantation Village Beach Resort
• Coral Sands Resort Grand Cayman

US citizens can always obtain updates about travel to the Cayman Islands and other locations on the travel advisory webpages for the US Department of State. A US Consular Officer is available in the Cayman Islands to assist US citizens traveling there.

Because the Cayman Islands are a British Overseas Territory, there is no British diplomatic or consular representation there, but local authorities deal with all requests by British citizens for consular assistance. To learn more about advisories issued by the United Kingdom go to the webpage for the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Here’s a good You-Tube video shot at Grand Cayman after the curfew was lifted: