RDO Chairman outlines priorities for 2010

RDO Chairman

A greater emphasis on protecting consumers and providing them with more information about timeshare will be the focus for the Resort Development Organisation (RDO) this year, as outlined by the organisation’s Chairman Richard McIntosh.

“Safeguarding consumers’ interests is our top priority,” said McIntosh, “and the work of RDO’s Enforcement team is more important than ever, as we face an increasing number of cases of owners being targeted by fraudulent companies which are making them part with more money.”

“That’s why we are launching a campaign to gather evidence of these cases of fraud, and we are asking our members to help us reach as many timeshare owners as possible,” he added. “It is important that the industry works together to achieve maximum impact.”



RDO urges suspected victims of fraud to come forward

RDO is asking consumers throughout Europe who think they may have been targeted by supposed class action schemes and fraudulent resale and holiday club operators to come forward and help the Enforcement team gather evidence to present a strong case to the police.

As part of RDO’s renewed drive to protect the consumer, the Enforcement team will be putting together a database with detailed information of all cases of suspected fraud, which will be presented to the authorities to help in their fight against crime. The evidence collection phase will last from now until June.



Consumer complaints continue to fall year on year

The number of consumer complaints received against RDO members has nearly halved during 2009, compared to the previous year. A mere 50 complaints against RDO members were received in 2009, with 93% of them resolved promptly and satisfactorily.



Work continues to meet deadline for EU Directive implementation

More than a year on since the European Parliament and Council of Ministers signed off the new EU Timeshare Directive, RDO is still waiting for drafts of how the new law will look in each member state. Most countries are working on drafts which should be published shortly.



New luxury golf and spa resort in Ireland for Interval

The K Club

Interval International has announced the affiliation of Firstlight The K Club and Spa Resort in County Kildare, Ireland, to its exchange network.

The resort is set on a one mile stretch of the River Liffey in 550 acres of parkland, and includes 30 ready-to-occupy luxury apartments and detached homes in a residential development called Ladycastle, as well as a luxury AA Five Red Star hotel in a restored 19th century Georgian mansion modelled after a French chateau.



Flying start for new timeshare social networking platform

Perspective Forum

Perspective Forums (www.perspectiveforums.com), the first standalone social networking platform dedicated to the timeshare and fractional ownership industry, is already attracting a good deal of interest and positive feedback from the industry just weeks after its official launch.

The new site, an initiative by Perspective Magazine said to combine the most popular features of Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, attracted more than 600 registered users in its first two weeks, generating more than 75000 page views and over 2000 friend requests.



Fractional industry gathers in London to focus on the future

Around 270 fractional property industry professionals and press gathered at the Marriott London Grosvenor Square on 18 and 19 February for the third annual Fractional Summit.

“This year we achieved our biggest attendance yet,” said Piers Brown, Founder of Fractional Life. “It was great to see so many new faces from around the world, as well as a bigger press focus, which is important for the growth of the marketplace. And seeing the amount of networking being done and business being created gave me a real buzz!”



Sol Melia Vacation Club joins The Registry Collection

Sol Melia Vacation Club has announced that three of its resorts are now affiliated with The Registry Collection luxury exchange programme.

The new affiliations are for Sol Melia Vacation Club at The Reserve at Palma Real and The Reserve at Paradisus Punta Cana, both in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and for Sol Melia Vacation Club at Gran Melia Palacio de Isora in Tenerife, on Spain’s Canary Islands



Official launch for fractional recruitment website

FractionalStaff.com, a new website dedicated to the recruiting of professional sales executives for the purpose of fractional property sales has been officially launched following a successful test-mode period since August 2009.

The site has already reached the top spot on Google for the search term “fractional jobs” and is attracting high quality applicants. It is a new service from industry publishers Perspective International, launched in response to an increasing demand for dedicated sales teams specialised on fractional property.



Marriott to suspend timeshare developments

Marriott International has indicated its intention not to invest in new timeshare developments in the current economic climate, after the publication of its 2009 fourth quarter and full year results showed a decline of 23% in timeshare contract sales year on year.