Bono (aka Paul David Hewson) is the lead singer for the rock bank U2 and is almost as well known as a political activist, campaigner for human rights, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee as he is for his music. But you might not know that he is also in the hotel business.
Bono and fellow band member, The Edge, own the Clarence Hotel in Dublin. Recently the two hired world-renowned architect, Sir Norman Foster, to create a resort design that represents a Viking ship. But whether the idea floats or not remains to be seen.
While Dublin city officials don’t have a problem with Bono and The Edge pumping more than $240 million into the resort hotel project, some object to the fact that several surrounding historic buildings will be destroyed in the process.
Currently the hotel property, which the two musicians have owned since the early 1990’s, has only 49 guest rooms. The new proposal emphasizes that it will turn the hotel into a resort destination. Plans call for, “quadrupling the size of the building and transforming it into an eight-storey, 140-bedroom five-star hotel,” according to the website U2France. There is no mention of whether the resort will include timeshares or any other vacation ownership component.
Ireland Timeshare Resales and Ireland Timeshare Rentals
To learn more about Ireland timeshare resales and timeshare rentals, visit Sell My Timeshare NOW. And to help you get in the mood for planning a timeshare vacation this summer in Ireland, or any other dreamy location, listen to this YouTube video featuring the Corrs and Bono performing, “Summer Wine.”
State of Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon has filed a lawsuit in Taney County Circuit Court against Branson log Homes, a company which does business as Executive Timbers Resort and Golf Course. The lawsuit alleges that the southwest Missouri company used deceptive practices, fraud, and misrepresentation in the sale an advertisement of timeshare memberships, timeshare plans, and timeshare property.
Details of the Alleged Timeshare Fraud
According to the Attorney General’s Office, consumers who contacted them complained that the timeshare company:
Failed to provide required notice to them of their right to cancel contracts.
Failed to allow consumers to cancel their contracts within five days after they purchased a timeshare membership.
Billed timeshare buyers for maintenance or upkeep fees on property they were trading in, after neglecting to inform consumers that they would be required to pay such fees.
Did not reimburse consumers for maintenance fees after telling them those fees would be reimbursed.
Promised that consumers who purchases a timeshare membership, plan, or property from them would receive certain benefits , but then didn’t make good on those promises, and
Did not disclose the fact that it was already over $30,000 in debt to the travel club that it was using to provide travel club memberships to the consumers.
What To Do If You Are a Victim of a Timeshare Scam
The Missouri Attorney General’s investigation has revealed that most victims of this timeshare scam have lost between $7,000 and $17,000 each, but some people may have lost more. If you want more information about this problem, contact the Office of the Attorney General at cphillips@phillipsgarcia.com or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).
If you believe you are a victim of timeshare fraud in another US state, contact that state’s office of Consumer Protection or the Attorney General. Another way to learn more about protecting yourself against timeshare fraud is to talk with other timeshare owners at online forums, such as Sell My Timeshare NOW’s Timeshare Owners Forum.
And to learn more about safe and cost effective ways to buy timeshare, visit the website for Sell My Timeshare NOW.
Let’s face it. Timeshare owners at Royal Oasis got a very bad deal. And unless the new owners (Harcourt Development) step up in a big way, or the courts are able to enforce actions against the previous development company, then nothing will ever make up for what the owners of timeshare weeks at Royal Oasis have lost in dollars and vacation time.
But as I wrote in the Timeshare Owners Blog last November 5, timeshare owners are not the only victims of the problems at Royal Oasis. Somewhere between 800 and 1000 people lost their livelihoods when Royal Oasis timeshare closed in 2004. While several million dollars in severance money has already been paid to some Royal Oasis timeshare company employees, other employees have yet to receive anything. According to the February 25 online edition of The Bahama Journal, the Bahamian government still needs to disperse nearly $600,000 in severance pay to past employees of the timeshare resort.
Minister of State Zhivargo Liang says, “There still are some of the (former) Royal Oasis workers who have complaints about either not having been paid or not being paid sufficiently, etc. Those people are being interviewed with a view to getting what the exact details are of their complaints. Following upon that, determinations are being made as to what ought to happen in respect to payment for them.”
Liang believes that the monies owed involve approximately 100 people who had to choose between agreeing to accept an amount of money they thought was incorrect or gambling that waiting it out would lead to further investigation and ultimately the receipt of the correct amount.
Timeshare Resorts Are More than Vacation Destinations
When you take a timeshare vacation at many of the high demand destinations, it may seem as if timeshare resorts are a dime a dozen. Lose your job at one, and there are plenty of other timeshare resorts where you can apply for work. But the truth is, timeshare resorts are a valuable part of a community’s economic structure. Lose even one, and the stability of that structure is threatened.
A timeshare resort employs anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand employees at most locations. For many of the employees, this income may be the sole source of livelihood for them or their families. When a timeshare resort closes, not only are thousands of employees impacted, but vendors, who supply goods and services to the property are hurt as well.
In the case of the Royal Oasis timeshare resort, located on the edge of the famous Bahamian International Bazaar, traffic at the street shops and restaurants dwindled, causing the permanent closing of many of these businesses. And then there’s the impact on the tax base. Most timeshare resorts mean tourist taxes and real estate or property taxes paid into a community. In the case of Royal Oasis timeshares, damage to the local economy included loss of casino taxes as well—a painfully large chunk of tax revenue that simply disappeared overnight.
You may love timeshare or hate it depending on your experience with in the past. But the bottom line remains: when a community loses a timeshare resort for any reason, everyone from owners to employees to the community itself is seriously hurt by the loss.
As you sit at your desk this Monday morning, here is a video from Grand Bahama Island that is sure to make you long for the warm sunshine and sugar sand beaches of a Bahamas timeshare vacation.
Last September the Timeshare Owners Blog gave you an update on expansion by Wyndham Vacation Ownership (Wyndham timeshare) in Panama City Beach that had just made an acquisition of 100 timeshare condos at the Emerald Beach Resort.
That must have proven to be a good move for Wyndham timeshare as late last month, they finalized the addition of another 100 timeshare condos at the Emerald Beach Resort. Wyndham timeshare has also entered into a contractual agreement to purchase more timeshare condos at this location in the future, although terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Franz Hanning, president and CEO of Wyndham timeshare said, “Last fall, we initiated a deal that would expand our presence in the Florida Panhandle through the incremental acquisition of existing vacation ownership units in Panama City Beach…Our continued investment in this popular beach destination ensures that even more of our owners will have the opportunity to experience it.”
Wyndham Vacation Resorts Panama City Beach are part of the Wyndham FairShare Plus program and include one, two, and three-bedroom timeshare condos with views of the Gulf of Mexico. All of the timeshare condos offer a private balcony, a full kitchen with washer and dryer, and living and dining areas.
Wyndham timeshares in the Florida Panhandle also are available at:
An island in the Fijian archipelago is the setting for a new Survivor-themed timeshare-esque vacation concept.
So, who’s heard about the new Survivor-style timeshare vacation, Tribewanted? Is this a vacation, or a thinly-veiled attempt to get people to pay to labor on someone else’s island, while being video-taped for posterity?
Tribewanted describes these activities on Adventure Island as, of course, the "adventure of a lifetime."
"It is Tribewanted’s aim to create a sustainable and ecological community on Adventure Island and to encourage tribe members to actively take part in this challenge." The community opens September 1st 2006 but is already building online.
Tribewanted’s motives notwithstanding, what they do have is great PR and an interesting website.
Joining the Timeshare Tribe is certainly affordable; at $220 up to $660, the timeshare tribe is open to many vacationers. "Tribe Members" can join for one to three years. At the end of the three years, the island, which is actually being leased, will be returned to its owners, who may or may not open it up to the public again.
A new slice of the ecotourism pie, Tribewanted’s goal is to have a "positive impact on both the environment and the communities it is working with in Fiji. They are keen to promote responsible tourism and actively engage in developing a sustainable eco-community on Adventure Island." Perhaps most interesting is Tribewanted’s ultimate goal, "To promote and raise awareness for sustainable and eco-friendly living and travel as a real option for both tourists and communities around the world; showing that you don’t need to be an eco-warrior to blend with the environment." Hurrah!
If the real chief of the island, Tui Mali, decides so at the end of the three years, everything will be dismantled and removed. Or, the adventurous experiment will be continued. Either way, there are currently about 4000 more tribal places available, and current members hail from all around the world.
Here’s further proof that timesharing is a solid business concept
Owner’s Pass, LLC, a San Francisco Bay area company, barely one year old, is taking the concept of timesharing to the world of professional sports. The luxury suites and skyboxes in most major arenas are utilized only about 50 percent of the time. The cost to lease them for a year is often so steep that many companies pass on sports suites as an option for entertaining their present and prospective clientele. But as John Arledge, CEO and founder of Owner’s Pass explains, “Timesharing is a proven business model that has been successful for other expensive assets such as vacation real estate, corporate aviation, and luxury yachts. We saw the opportunity to extend that model to sports where companies were losing tens of thousands of dollars to under-utilized suites.”
The concept of Owner’s Pass enables companies to use sports suites as much or as little as their schedules permit. Instead of owning a suite for a full sports season, a company can now select specific events to attend, giving them greater control over both their time and their dollars.
Imagine. Ownership privileges and flexibility, while paying for only the time you actually use…now that’s a great idea!
ESPN and NBC will combine to provide daily coverage for all four rounds of the US Open
Instead of that recliner in your living room, wouldn’t you like to watch the US Open from the gallery? So here your head’s up: the 2007 US Open site will be Oakmont, Pennsylvania; 2008 at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California; 2009 at Bethpage State Park, Farmingdale, New York; 2010 at Pebble Beach, Pebble Beach, California; and 2011 will be at Congressional in Bethesda, Maryland.
Start planning. There are fabulous timeshare resorts in all of these locations, and with a little skillful exchanging, you could be off the couch and on the course when golfing history is made.
The first steel-frame skyscraper in San Francisco, the Chronicle Building will house 52 residential condo units and 49 fractionals.
The Ritz-Carlton Club, a timeshare division of the well-respected hotels, announced Monday that it has accepted “sales reservations” totalling $106 million USD for fractional condos in downtown San Francisco. The location is the former Chronicle building at 690 Market Street.
Originally built in 1889, the landmark piece of architectural history started life with a brick face and was famous for being the first steel-frame skyscraper in San Francisco. During the 1960s it was “modernized” with steel panels which covered its surface. But about a year ago, those shiny coverings were removed to reveal its intended classic exterior. Eight floors have been added as part of the extensive $90 million project to transform the building into fractionals, otherwise known as luxury timeshares.
Local preservationists are enthusiastic about the transformation of the former headquarters of the San Francisco Chronicle. The building has survived numerous earthquakes, including the devastating 1906 quake which leveled most of the city.
Welcome back, beautiful building!
And welcome home to those who will reside in the 52 residences and 49 fractionals. Currently there are 57 interested buyers for the fractionals, which start at $200,000 for a one-twelfth share of a unit, and there are 45 interested buyers for the traditional condos which range from $1.2 million to $5 million.
If you scheduled New York timeshare this week, you could be on the eighteenth green to see the winning putt at the 2006 US Open
This week the United States Golf Association returns to Winged Foot, hosting the US Open Golf Championship. For only the fifth time since 1929, the prestigious event will be contested on the challenging fairways and greens of the Mamaroneck, New York golf course. To give you an idea just how difficult a US Open at Winged Foot can be, only Fuzzy Zoeller in 1984, claimed his win with a total score below par—267 for four grueling rounds of golf.
So on Sunday afternoon, who will walk away with the trophy and the winner’s share of the 6.2 million dollar purse? It might be Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson. It might even be 52-year old Jay Haas, who only three weeks ago claimed his first major title at the Senior PGA Championship. And this year’s winner could even be long shot, 15-year old Tadd Fujikawa, (the second youngest qualifier in the event’s history) who claimed the lone entry spot at the sectional qualifier in Hawaii.
But in tiny Mamaroneck, New York, where every hotel and motel room has been sold-out for months in anticipation of this great golfing event, the real winners will be the timeshare owners who planned ahead and exchanged their weeks for New York timeshares.
Orlando’s bed tax is not an issue for timeshare owners or those who rent timeshare by-owner.
How did you feel when you helped pay for the expansion of the Convention Center in Orlando? And wasn’t that nice of you to underwrite the city bus system there and pay for all those television ads to attract more tourists to Central Florida?
Don’t remember doing that?
If you enjoyed an Orlando vacation and stayed in a hotel or motel room there, then you did donate to a number of city and county projects—in addition to the donation you made via state and county sales tax to the highways, school systems and community services enjoyed by Florida residents.
The Central Florida vacation area, like many other tourist destinations across the country, levies a tourist tax or bed tax on top of their state and local sales tax. Hotel and motel occupants must pay both taxes on every room night booked. And because this double taxation accounts for a minimum of 11 percent of every hotel bill, (more in some areas) it is no wonder travelers reel with sticker shock when they see their final bill.
But residents of The City Beautiful may soon have to find another way to build a new arena for the NBA’s Orlando Magic and a new community performing arts center. Despite the fact that tourism is up in central Florida—hotel occupancy is down. When industry experts went looking for someone to blame for the room night shortage, (because surely the tourists were not all sleeping in their cars) they found the culprit to be timeshare resorts!
According to Staff Writer, Tim Barker, of the Orlando Sentinel in 2001, 10 percent of all visitors to the area stayed in Orlando timeshares. By 2005, that number had increased to 15 percent. Because timeshare owners are actual property owners, they do pay a percentage of their unit’s annual property or real estate taxes. But they are not charged with bed tax or sales tax on timeshare nights because they are sleeping in a bed they actually own.
What’s more, most timeshare renters are not charged the bed tax, if they lease a timeshare property directly from the person who owns it. Until municipal governments figure out how to collect and enforce such an effort, they simply have no way to track or collect the bed tax on individual transactions that often take place online, outside the state of Florida, perhaps even outside the US. The only situation in which timeshare renters are likely to be hit by the bed tax is when they rent timeshare directly from the resort.
So if you are considering selling your Orlando timeshare, the good news is that the Orlando resale market gets stronger and stronger all the time. And if you’d like to hang on to your timeshare resort property and use it as a rental, that market looks equally solid, especially as hotel rates (and their additional taxes) creep upward, already up 9 percent in the first quarter of 2006 compared with 2005.
No wonder even highly successful hoteliers like Ritz Carlton say they will no longer build hotels unless there is a hotel-condo or timeshare component as part of the project.
