RDO turns up the heat on Resale and Holiday Club Fraudsters
Brussels 29th March 2010 - As part on an ongoing campaign to help stamp out fraudulent practices targeted at timeshare owners, RDO (Resort Development Organisation), the trade body for timeshare and fractional ownership, is calling for consumers to come forward with their complaints. Of particular interest are complaints from people who have been invited to a presentation either to discuss ways in which to dispose of their timeshare or to join a class action scheme, but are then persuaded to sign up to membership of a holiday club of which they had no former knowledge. A deposit is frequently taken and...
Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Directive
My apologies to those of a literary bent and my misuse of the quote "Cometh the hour, cometh the man"- which for those of you remotely interested is attributed to Mark Twain but there is some doubt about whether he said it. The reason it came into my head was as a result of the series of Council meetings and the RDO Board last month. Most of the time in the Legislative Council meeting in January was, not unnaturally, taken up with detailed discussion of the implementation of the 2nd Timeshare Directive in the 27 EU Member States, the stages reached...
Fractionals in Europe – Crisis, what Crisis?
I came away from the annual Fractional Life Summit in London last week both encouraged and depressed. The former, because at this the third I think of these events, we actually had timeshare developers on a panel informing the summit how they had successfully upgraded their timeshare owners into fractionals - not that revolutionary you may feel, but a big step forward for the summit, which had at its previous 2 gatherings studiously avoided any reference to timeshare or the new legislation now in force in the last 7 days, which applies equally to most fractionals as it does to...
Arrests of Suspected Fraudsters in Tenerife
On 1st December 1st 2010, the Spanish National Police arrested 25 people who were behind 10 fraudulent timeshare resale companies operating from Tenerife. Most of the arrested people are Germans and their victims, timeshare owners, share the same nationality. It is reported that when contacting timeshare owners, the gang claimed to work in conjunction with notaries and even adopted the names of existing public notaries – but with subtle changes - using this as a hook to persuade their victims to part with money. The Spanish National Police conducted searches at six different locations, finding over 100,000 personal details of European timeshare...
2010, A Year to Forget?
I was at a meeting recently and we were discussing the year from a business perspective and the other person, talking about the performance of his business said "I am going to forget 2010 as a year, business was so poor". After the meeting I set to considering whether this applied to RDO, as we all know that economically across the Northern Hemisphere we have all been struggling out of the banking crisis, shoring up the euro and preparing ourselves for some years of austerity - no wonder that in Asia where things are considerably better, they refer to it...
Selling Timeshare Safely
When it comes to selling your timeshare, unless you do your homework properly you can end up losing money to unscrupulous companies, so our advice is well worth following. And in the meantime, don’t be rushed into making any decisions you will later regret – a cold call could leave you significantly out of pocket! Your first step should be to check to see if your resort or developer offers a resale service or uses a recommended resale agent. If it does not, you have a number of options available, including selling your timeshare privately or using a resale company to sell...
Consumer alert – EquitySecure.co.uk
We have been made aware that timeshare owners are making complaints that they are receiving unsolicited phone calls from Equity Secure, a company that operates using a website but does not appear to have office in the UK. This firm purports to secure ‘equity release from your timeshare commitments' and owners are informed that the law is to change in January next year, which will result in a doubling of their maintenance fees. There is no truth whatsoever in this statement and owners should be on their guard about this claim, scare tactics to persuade people to pay a fee to sign...
What is Fractional Ownership
Fractional ownership enables people to own an interest in a luxury property (often in an exclusive holiday resort or glamorous city centre location) that they might otherwise be unable to afford. It is equally attractive to those who can afford to purchase property outright, but do not have the time to use or maintain it all year round. It is commonly sold in anything from quarter to one twelfth shares, with periods of the year being allocated on either a rotational basis or a mixture of fixed and floating periods within a season. As well as having all the benefits of...
RDO to crack down further on illegal operators 2011, following success of last year’s anti-fraud cam
Consumer protection is top priorityIn 2010, 32 bogus companies operating on the fringes of the timeshare industry were forced to close down following the efforts of the Resort Development Organisation's enforcement team - and those efforts look set to continue full steam ahead this year....
Supporting Timeshare Owners – The Timeshare Partnership Trust
A new trust fund has been established by The Resort Development Association (RDO) to help timeshare owners protect their resorts from local or national legislation or disputes that may impact negatively on their resort. The new self-funded trust is called The Timeshare Partnership Trust and will provide grants to resorts to help safeguard the timeshare holiday experience for owners. The Timeshare Partnership Trust is run by a grants committee comprising one representative from the RDO Secretariat, one from TATOC (the Timeshare Association) and an RDO chairman. This committee will review applications from owners associations throughout Europe for grants to resolve issues, such...