ask-redweek-timeshare-resort-out-of-business

What if I am not interested in the other timeshare resorts? Is anyone suing the Plaza Resort? I would like my $10,000 back.

So, what would or could have happened if there were no buyers? Would it have had to declare bankruptcy, and would that have meant anything different to those owners turning in their deeds? Would the owners have been on the hook for fees in bankruptcy?

I suppose if you pay 5 - 6000.00 for timeshare week and get 20 years of vacations, you can walk away. But now a days you pay 20 - 40,000.00 and a little harder to walk away if bankruptcy happens. Someone else is going to come in and MAKE money and little people loose out

Nice article. Thanks for sharing.

I am in the process of possibly purchasing a timeshare week at a resort that was very popular in the late 80's and through the 90's. I noticed that the resort's HOA has a lot of units available for resale, supposedly deeded back from owners (age related and usage issues) who did not want to pay anymore annual maintenance fees. I have stayed at this resort as exchanges and rentals in the past! I personally sold a timeshare (at another resort) for the transfer filing fees just to avoid paying maintenance fees on my unit, that was falling apart more and more each year! I am also aware at the resort that I would like to purchase a week, that a few units are owned 100% outright by individuals. Is this a dangerous signal and how can I determine that this property is healthy and I won't be facing the same situation, shortly down the road like the one indicated in this article, ???

Come to Oyster Bay Beech Resort in St. Maarten...you buy a flex timeshare and all of a sudden they start selling off all the rooms for RED WEEK. That's January thru March, prime weeks. Now that's something to consider. Of course they guve you a chance to repay your entrance fee or screw you on the RED WEEKS. BTW They have approx. 10,000 weeks available and have sold 13,000 shares. They admit this fact and proud that if every owner wanted to come it would me a NO!

To Jeff Weir, We are Westin Starwood Vacation Property owners in Maui and Kaui, Hi. With the sale of the resort properties to Interval International and the hotel properties sold to Marriott we noted comments in the owner documents indication that as Westin Property owners we have access and benefits for the use of the hotel properties through their rewards program for an undetermined length of time. The basis of our original purchase and the added second property was to maximize the flexibility of location selection and use of the point system to insure a return on our investment. Now that our investment interest has been divided, without consideration we feel that we have been duped and irreversibly harmed. Are we stuck without recourse. Was this just another of our poor judgements??? Any feedback as a leading timeshare resource would be appreciated.

Steve York syork@yorkes.com

This is for the York family, who commented about the potential loss of hotel benefits as a result of Interval Leisure Group's purchase of the Westin and Sheraton timeshare properties (now known as Vistana), while Marriott bought all of the formerly Starwood hotels, which also include Westin and Sheraton hotels, plus other brands (see SPG.com for a complete list). It's a bit confusing to figure out the corporate changes, but the bottom line to your question is this: We are not aware of any "loss of travel benefits" as a result of the transactions. Starwood owners who also accumulated SPG points can still use those points for stays at Starwood hotels. In a year or two, Marriott may roll the SPG hotel rewards program into Marriott's own hotel rewards program. This week, in fact, Marriott emailed owners that they would earn triple points by using their Marriott branded credit card at Marriott and SPG hotels. Starwood sent out a similar message to its owners, which suggests that all of the benefits you signed up for are still in existence. If this changes, we will post an update here. Don't think you were duped or disadvantaged by these corporate moves, but we will keep an eye on them to evaluate downstream impacts on owners and hotel travelers.

This is for larryb39: Before buying a timeshare, call the resort's owner services desk to find out if they have an inhouse resale program for HOA-owned units. Then ask the following questions: what is the delinquency rate at the resort (if it's over 15 percent, the resort may be in financial trouble)? How many units are available for resale purchase and at what price? What are the maintenance fees and how have they increased (or not) in recent years? HOA's that DON'T gradually increase maintenance fees, by 2-4% a year, may not have enough money in reserves to cover occasional upgrades and renovations. Who runs the HOA board? Legacy week owners? A management company? A vacation club? A developer? Overall, get as much information about the resort's financial health before you invest in it. Finally, if some owners own 100% of some units, that suggests they are not only happy with it, but paying all of the maintenance fees --- for 52 weeks.

Hi I have an active posting but I can't see it when I search all timeshare rentals. What am I missing?

Thanks,

Lola

Lola -

Please click on this link to Contact Us at RedWeek Customer Support, and we will be happy to assist you. Or you can send an email to support@redweek.com.

Thanks,

Phyllis

Doies anyone know of a site to get a copy of an estoppel certificate?

Can someone tell me why they don't just terminate the timeshare and convert it into a condo and sell the 103 units. Each timeshare owner would then become a co-equal recipient and receive any profits that the 103 condo unit sales generated. In Florida a majority vote terminates the timeshare status and the timeshare is automatically converted into a condo for resale.

My timeshare company declared Bankruptcy. What legal rights do I have and can I file a claim with the court?

I remember reading this years ago and thinking something was fishy. Now we know.

www.renofraud.org

Thousands of people and millions of dollars. Wonder what Redweek thinks?

Thank you for this article, which gives many of us -- who just want out! -- hope. My husband and I made a bad financial decision buying our timeshare at Carriage Ridge (Wyndham) in Ontario, Canada, because we listened to the false promises, when actually it was just a terrible business model with all the power in the hands of the developer and stockholders, not the "owners." If I can get out of paying more maintenance fees and can protect my children from inheriting this worthless piece of real estate (for me -- not the developer), it will be a happy ending. I'm happy to say I had some good vacations along the way, but all in all, just get me out of this nightmare.

dianee163 wrote:

If I can get out of paying more maintenance fees and can protect my children from inheriting this worthless piece of real estate (for me -- not the developer), it will be a happy ending.

I know nothing at all about your resort or its' situation. I am responding only to point out that your children will not unwillingly inherit this real estate unless you have (very unwisely) already placed their names on the current deed. If their names are not already on the deed, making them "co-owners", they can very simply disclaim any such unwanted "inheritance" when that time comes.