Busted: Timeshare agents?

According to the S.C. Department of Revenue:
- Hilton Head timeshare agent Leigh Anne Hoppe was arrested in July for failure to file state income tax returns for years 2007, 2008 and 2009. Hoppe, 48, earned income of $190,465 during years 2007 - 2009 with a tax liability of $8,944. Hoppe was required to file a South Carolina income tax return on or before April 15 for these tax years. If convicted, Hoppe could face up to three years in prison or fines of up to $30,000, or both.
- Robert Ray Lauderman was arrested by S.C. Department of Revenue investigators for failure to file income tax returns. During 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, Lauderman, a timeshare sales agent in Hilton Head, brought in $417,302 and allegedly failed to file his state individual income taxes during that time. Lauderman’s state tax liability for these years is $21,809. He’s facing up to five years in prison and/or fines of up to $50,000 if convicted.
- On July 12, state Department of Revenue investigators arrested Freda G. McKinney, a licensed Hilton Head timeshare sales agent, allegedly failed to file her state income tax returns for tax years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. During this time she hauled in $633,269. Her tax liability is $25,771. McKinney, 58, could go to prison for five years or get a $50,000 fine or both, if convicted.

Families Celebrate Summer with Wind Down Rates at Wyndham Orlando Resort

Wyndham owners: Have you been wondering why you cannot book a week with your timeshare/ Maybe because it is being rented to the general public starting at $67 per night.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Located in the heart of one of the world’s most popular vacation destinations, Wyndham Orlando Resort encourages families to soak up Orlando fun and sun this summer while winding down from the hectic pace of the school year, with rates starting as low as $67 per night now through Sept. 30, 2012.

Guests can take advantage of these great Florida savings and make their reservations by visiting www.wyndham.com/hotels/MCOWD/main.wnt or calling (407) 351-2420. Rates are subject to availability.
Families can celebrate summer in sunny Orlando with spectacular vistas of more than 42 well-manicured acres filled with lush gardens and lagoons. The Wyndham Orlando Resort has a grand history of providing guests with the simple pleasures of summertime from the comfort of 1,052 guest rooms sprinkled throughout 16 two-story, villa-style accommodations and close proximity to the exciting pace of Orlando’s magic.

A myriad of activities instantly embrace families at Wyndham Orlando Resort, from splashing in one of three swimming pools and enjoying a casual stroll along the lush garden path, to enjoying refreshing ice cream sundaes at the resort’s on-site Scream’s Ice Cream Parlor. With Florida’s most thrilling theme parks just minutes away, guests enjoy the resort’s complimentary shuttle service to nearby Universal Orlando Resort, Wet ‘n Wild Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando parks.
After a busy day hitting the theme parks or attending business meetings, guests can unwind poolside at Gatorville Poolside Bar & Restaurant, while enjoying “Floribbean” specialties merging Key West and Caribbean influences. As the sun sets on the day, Augustine’s Bar and Grille – Wyndham Orlando Resort’s signature restaurant – offers continental cuisine, including sumptuous seafood and superior steaks in a casual atmosphere.
Business travelers enjoy the convenient option of more than 39 meeting rooms, anticipating any group’s needs by providing state-of-the-art technology and support. Offering more than 70,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, Wyndham Orlando Resort provides an unparalleled venue for seamless events, including three elegantly appointed ballrooms, as well as the Grand Lawn and Pool Pavilion for sensational outdoor galas. With tailored banquet options and creative food and beverage menus, Wyndham Orlando Resort provides exemplary service and attention to every detail.

Westgate Owner David Siegel

Westgate Owners should read this article and watch the video. http://forward.com/articles/159145/the-biggest-mcmansion-of-them-all/?p=all

Monarch Resort Woes

If it hasn't happened already, Monarch owners will no doubt be receiving a call from Diamond Resorts to schedule an "owners" update.
Actually you will be attending a sales presentation telling you to pay big money to convert to Diamond or be stuck competing with Diamond Members for Monarch properties. Research Diamond Resorts before you do anything.

Victims sought in timeshare scam

Please check this article.

http://www.theunion.com/article/20120622/NEWS/120629921/1007&parentprofile=1053

Florida Passes Timeshare Law To Protect Consumers

Timeshare scams have been an ongoing problem and have reached the point that they are the largest consumer complaint made in many regions of the country. To help combat this growing problem, Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed a new timeshare law (the Timeshare Resale Accountability Act) giving consumers better protection against these scams which goes into effective on July 1, 2012.
The problem is that due to the current economic conditions, timeshare owners are finding it extremely difficult to sell their timeshare. Many of them find themselves in a situation where they can't get out of their timeshare even though they no longer want it. This has made them easy prey from scam artists who mislead them into thinking that they have someone who wants to buy their timeshare.
Once the timeshare owner bites, the scam artist then requests thousands of dollars in upfront fees for such things as title or closing costs. Once paid, the supposed buyer never materializes and the scam artists claim that they were merely offering advertising services for the upfront money paid.
While the new law provides a number of new consumer protections, the four main points are as follows:
1. Timeshare resale advertisers can't claim there's someone interested in the owner's timeshare without providing the purchaser's name and address.
2. Timeshare resale advertisers must provide a written contract for agreement of services that must be signed by the timeshare owner before it can collect any fees or engage in any resale advertising activities.
3. Timeshare owners have seven days to cancel any signed contract with a timeshare resale advertiser. If a timeshare owner cancels a contract, the timeshare resale advertiser has 20 to provide a full refund to the timeshare owner.
4. Any timeshare resale advertiser which violates the law's provisions can be hit with a penalty which may not exceed $15,000 per violation under the Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Political notebook: Bondi touts timeshare law reforms

Timeshare Resale Accountability Act, which protects timeshare owners from timeshare resale fraud in Florida.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2012/jun/23/political-announcements-collier-lee-counties-fla/

Timeshare owners warned to look out for buyer scam .

by Jordan Gray

Bio | Email | Follow: @KTVB

KTVB.COM

Posted on June 24, 2012 at 1:55 PM

Updated today at 8:28 AM

BOISE -- The Idaho Department of Finance is warning timeshare owners to be on the lookout for a scam involving fake buyers.
Department of Finance Director Gavin Gee said that All Net Escrow claims to be located in Eagle, Idaho. However, the business that is actually located at that address became concerned after someone walked in looking for escrow services. The DOF said that they have not licensed All Net Escrow in any capacity.
Gee said that All Net Escrow appears to be working with another company listed at a false address in Oklahoma City: Castle Wealth Management. While a Capital Wealth Management does exist, the DOF said that it is a legitimate business based out of Florida and not the one targeted in their investigation.
Timeshare owners with units in Mexico seem to be the main target of the scam. Gee said it works like this: Timeshare owners are contacted by Castle Wealth, who claim that they have a buyer for the timeshare and want to know if the owner is selling. All Net Escrow then sends account information to the owner, leading them to believe that funds have been received from the "buyer" and are being held in escrow.
The owner is then required to pay a "transfer fee" by wiring funds equal to between one percent and five percent of the sales price to a bank in Mexico. Owners are told this fee will be refunded once the transaction closes.
Gee said that at least one timeshare owner was presented with a fake escrow license fashioned to look like the ones issued by the DOF.
The DOF is asking that anyone who has been contacted by either of these companies call them at 208-332-8080 or toll free at 1-888-346-3378.

Diamond Resorts Proposes All-Cash Acquisition of Bluegreen for $6.25 per Share

Bluegreen Owners beware! You only have to google "Diamond Resorts Complaints" to see what a mess Diamond creates for it's owners.

Read the article here" http://www.marketwatch.com/story/diamond-resorts-proposes-all-cash-acquisition-of-bluegreen-for-625-per-share-2012-06-18

Timeshare Datashare: Resort Occupancy Remains Strong in 2011

Provided by ARDA International Foundation
According to the newly released State of the Vacation Timeshare Industry: United States Study, 2012 Edition, the timeshare industry reported an average 78.9% occupancy rate in 2011, compared with a 60% occupancy rate for the hotel industry. (Source: "STR Monthly Hotel Review: December 2011" Smith Travel Research)
Owners, their guests and exchange participants accounted for about 64% of available intervals. Renters accounted for another 12%, while marketing guests contributed another 3%. The percentage of occupancy related to rentals is up this year from 10% last year.
Occupancy Breakouts

Source: State of the Vacation Timeshare Industry: United States Study, 2012 Edition, conducted for the AIF by Ernst & Young

With numbers the industry is seeing, why can't you get into the resorts? The average is 21% vacant. With 3% being used for marketing guests, why are they letting potential members stay at the resorts and telling the owner there is no room for him.

What is Material Misrepresentation

material misrepresentation

Definition

Deliberate hiding or falsification of a material fact which, if known to the other party, could have aborted, or significantly altered the basis of, a contract, deal, or transaction.

Smartravel Hidden Camera

Channel 6 Investigates Smartravel

Sunshine Vacations Coming Under Heat From Unhappy Customers

COLUMBUS, Ohio --
Kenneth and Marva Green love being on the open road on their Honda GoldWing. She's a Columbus school teacher and they were looking forward to a summer of travel.
That's why they bought a ten-week vacation plan through Sunshine Vacations that offered resorts and hotels all over the country as long as it wasn't peak season. They paid half of the $4,000 fee and tried to use it.
"They said the peak seasons would be around Christmas holiday and Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July and that was it," said Marva Green.
The Greens understood that and planned their vacations around non-peak time periods.
"Whenever we call and suggest a date, it's peak season according to them. October is our anniversary, we wanted to take a week then they said, 'That's peak season.' We said what about after the holiday? We book something in February, oh that's peak season," said Green.
They also had the same experience when they tried to book in March or April.
The Internet is full of complaints against Sunshine Vacations, which changed its name to Sundance Vacations on June 1.
The Better Business Bureau of Columbus said it has received 31 complaints in the last three years and the Ohio Attorney General's office said it has received 13 complaints in the last two years.
The owner, David Wise, said he has met with the BBB and is determined to get to the bottom of the complaints. He also said that most of the complaints have to do with marketing issues. He also said thousands of clients have used Sunshine Vacations since its inception in 2002. He claims most people are happy with the company.
He also asked that NBC 4 contact the Greens and give them his personal phone number so he can get to the bottom of their complaints.
For additional information, stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com.
To submit a story idea or news tip, e-mail Stories@nbc4i.com.

http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2010/jul/06/sunshine-vacations-coming-under-heat-unhappy-custo-ar-135605/?referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt&rct=j&q=bowersock+sunshine+vacations&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CD0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.nbc4i.com%2Far%2F135605%2F&ei=UQiTT6aCMsWK6QGcx8m_BA&usg=AFQjCNGdxifjvZsHGdS4NpYow0w30DMLsQ&shorturl=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2Fh2peAc

Royal Holiday

Here is a video posted on You Tube, where the customer confirmed with a Royal Holiday employee that his contract was canceled. Yet they are not allowing him to cancel the contract.

More charges here in Florida timeshare fraud case

Four Florida men have been indicted here in an ongoing case involving a $30 million timeshare fraud, the U.S. Attorney's office said Wednesday.

John Robert Eddy, 29; Cloyd James Holmes, Jr., 50; Gino Christopher Marquez, 31; and Donald Meyers, 43 were indicted on a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud.

Prosecutors say that the men were telemarketers working for Creative Vacation Solutions and Universal Marketing Solutions, companies that falsely claimed to have interested buyers for timeshares.

More than 22,000 victims in the United States and Canada paid fees of up to several thousand dollars in “closing costs and related expenses” before finding out that it was a scam, prosecutors said.

The company sold no timeshares and spent nothing to try and sell them, prosecutors said.

Ten others have been charged in connection with the case, prosecutors said.

'Undercover Boss' star finds appearance brings unwanted attention

Diamond Resorts Chief Executive Officer Stephen Cloobeck has discovered his Sunday night appearance on CBS's "Undercover Boss" also came with some unwanted attention.

The reality television series episode, in which Cloobeck visited several of his Las Vegas-based company's resorts in disguise, gave dissatisfied owners of Diamond Resorts' time share properties a vehicle to vent.

More than 100 individuals claiming to be members of Diamond Resorts vacation ownership system sent emails to Cloobeck and the company Monday, asking for refunds and other financial remedies on their investment. Most cited comments made by Cloobeck to the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week in which he said he would return money to unhappy time-share owners.

The vast majority of the concerns focused on The Point at Poipu, a 219-unit time-share resort on the Hawaiian island of Kauai with 13,000 deeded owners. Last year, the homeowners association board asked owners to help pay an estimated $65.8 million to repair water intrusion damage to buildings.

Time-share owners at the development saw their annual maintenance fee payments double or triple, based on the vacation ownership points they had accumulated. Many owners told Diamond Resorts they couldn't afford the added costs.

"I contacted Mr. Cloobeck's office late last year to attempt to work out something," said Ken Anderson of Tucson, who owns two units at The Point at Poipu. "My wife and I are in our late 60's and could not afford the additional (approximately $7,000) costs over the next two years. That fee is over and above the normal maintenance fees."

Anderson said he offered to return his deeded weeks to Diamond Resorts at no cost to the company.

"They responded by saying they are not taking any weeks back at this time," Anderson said.

Angry owners created a website, poipuowners.org, to gather information. They also started anti-Diamond Resort campaigns using social media. Many of the letters sent to Diamond Resorts Monday, which were copied to the Review-Journal, were copied off the aggrieved owners' Facebook page.

Diamond Resorts, which has more than 200 properties in 28 countries, created its own website, poipufacts.com, to reach out to owners.

The company, according to the website, will pay the largest component of the assessment, nearly $10 million or 15 percent of the total cost of the repairs, which are expected to take five years to complete.

Diamond Resorts said it has communicated with almost 60 percent of the Poipu deeded owners and almost 35 percent of the members who own time shares in the company's Hawaii Collection. The company said it conducted five special owner informational meetings and has collected more than 63 percent of the first year's assessments.

Diamond Resorts took ownership of The Point at Poipu when the company acquired Sunterra Corp. in a $700 million buyout in April 2007.

The deal, which was financed by Credit-Suisse and a "sizable personal" investment by Cloobeck, made Diamond Resorts one of the time-share industry's largest companies. The company's corporate headquarters are in Las Vegas, where Diamond Resorts has two time shares; the Polo Towers on the Strip and the Desert Paradise Resort on South Decatur Boulevard.

In a statement, Cloobeck said the company has "worked very hard to be diligent" in communicating with The Point at Poipu owners in providing updates.

"We are empathetic toward the needs and circumstances of every owner and member," Cloobeck said. "In our role as manager of the resort we are in regular contact with owners and members, and we have worked to ensure the plans put in place have the least possible impact on owners and members both in terms of resort usage and financial responsibility."

On the television show, Cloobeck fixed and painted drywall, handled small maintenance projects, and checked in guests at a few of his company's time-share developments. At the end of the episode, when his identity was revealed to the employees with whom he interacted, Cloobeck bestowed gifts, including paying off one worker's mortgage.

Cloobeck called the experience, "unbeatable."

CBS declined comment on matter.

One letter writer, Jeff Moody of Southern California, told Cloobeck he was impressed with the compassion he showed his employees on the television show. He hoped the CEO would do the same with the owners of The Point at Poipu.

"During the recent recession my family has not been as successful and our income has decreased significantly," Moody wrote.

"For this reason the changes that have occurred over the last five years at the Point at Poipu with dramatic raises in annual fees and recent assessment have created significant stress and financial hardship in our family and so I would like to sell back our interest in the property."

WLOS ABC 13 News :: Top Stories - Festiva Layoffs

A tough Christmas for some workers at an Asheville resort and vacation company.
Managers fired more than 50 Festiva Hospitality Group workers lost their jobs when the marketing division was eliminated.
Festiva owns and manages hotels, time-share rentals, and homes in the Eastern States, and Carribean.
Workers say they were given no notice before the meeting Monday.
Managers did offer severance pay to some employees.
Hourly workers told us they would apply for jobs at some call centers in the Asheville area.

Tuesday, December 20 2011, 06:49 PM EST

timesharetricks@gmail.com

Pages