Timeshare Trends Blog

Salem, Massachusetts is the perfect place for a Halloween vacation. Salem is one of the most haunted cities in America and is an iconic witch-filled, ghost-filled town. The most haunted spot in Salem is now known as Gallows Hill Park. This is the site where the majority of accused “witches” were hung during the witch hysteria that gripped the town in 1692. Salem has been forced to embrace its tragic past, and today has turned its history of witches into its main industry. Police cars are adorned with witch logos, a local public school is known as the Witchcraft Heights Elementary School, and the Salem High School football team is called the Witches. Salem is definitely a hot spot for Halloween celebrations. From October 1 through November 1 you can join the Halloween festival in everything from parades to psychic fairs to tours of haunted houses.

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Acadia Village Resort has been forced into foreclosure by the city of Ellsworth, Maine. The city has been thrust into the vacation timeshare sales business after the resort developer and timeshare owners have fallen far behind on taxes for dozens of units. Beginning in April, Ellsworth officials began foreclosure sale proceedings on 66 timeshare units with each unit representing one week’s use of the specific property. Because of the way the resort was incorporated, Acadia Village requires city officials to collect one week’s worth of property taxes from the more than 2,000 partial owners. Timeshare owners represent about one-quarter of the city’s 8,000 property tax payers.

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Shell Management Hawaii, Inc. has been named one of the”Best Places to Work” in Hawaii for 2011. The annual event sponsored by ProService Hawaii and published annually by Hawaii Business Magazine honors businesses in its “Best Places To Work In Hawaii” program. Company data is gathered and analyzed by an independent research organization, the Best Companies Group, which conducts similar research in states throughout the nation. Honors will be given at an awards dinner in March.

With 292 employees, Shell Management Hawaii, Inc has been named in the large category. Shell Management Hawaii was ranked first in 2010 and fifth in 2009. Shell Vacation Resorts in Hawaii include the Holua Resort at Muana Loa, Kauai Coast Resort at the Beachboy, Kona Coast Resort, Paniolo Greens, and the Waikiki Marina Resort.

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Wyndham Vacation Ownership properties have now expanded into Vermont. The Smuggler’s Notch Vermont Resort has entered into an exclusive sales and marketing agreement with Wyndham Vacation Ownership and will serve as the exclusive sales and marketing agent for the sale of vacation ownership interests at Smugglers’ Notch, with sales expected to start by the second quarter of 2011.

Situated in the Green Mountains of Vermont, Smugglers’ Notch is a favorite family vacation destination featuring mountainside condominiums ranging from studios to five-bedroom homes, clustered around a village core. The resort is noted for its year-round recreational programs and facilities, including eight heated pools and four waterslides in the summer and more than 1,000 acres of skiing and snowboarding terrain in the winter.

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Timeshare units at this resort in Catskills, New York, face potential liquidation as approved by a bankruptcy court. A bankruptcy judge has ordered the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Nottingham Village Development Corporation to be converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation case. Concerned timeshare holders have already sought the help of the New York Attorney General’s Office in clarifying the situation for shareholders. The Attorney General has recommended that a coalition of shareholders pool their resources for legal counsel in the matter, in the event they were unable to individually afford legal fees. The timeshare setback is the latest blow to Friar Tuck’s financial struggles. In April, the neighboring Friar Tuck Inn was repossessed by Ulster Savings Bank, after the same court dismissed its claim for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

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While highlighting its significant market opportunities and competitive advantages, Marriott International has informed security analysts and institutional investors in New York, that its earnings per share of stock could hit well above the highest earnings achieved during Marriott’s most recent peak earnings year of 2007. The company expects to add at least 80,000 to 90,000 hotel rooms to its portfolio from 2011 through 2013 with additional opportunities for 22,000 rooms to open in Europe and Asia during that same period. Marriott has plans to adapt and expand current brands, such as Courtyard and Fairfield, to meet the growing needs of customers in markets worldwide. The company will also be expanding its new brands outside of the United States, including Edition, which just opened its first hotel on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. Marriott is also successful in the high-end timeshare market.

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Inn season Resorts has now joined RCI’s Global Network of resorts in a new multi-year affiliation relationship that will allow eligible InnSeason owners to become RCI members. Inn Season Resorts are located in Maine with two properties, New Hampshire with two properties, and in Massachusetts with five properties all located on Cape Cod.

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The West 57th Street by Hilton Club on Manhattan is now open and is the first resort in New York actually built as a timeshare property (the Manhattan Club was converted from hotel to timeshare). From the outside it looks like all of the other midtown Manhattan buildings. It has a glass facade, is 28-stories high, there’s a doorman, fitness center visible from the street, iPod docking stations, Japanese soaking tubs and hardwood floors. Interestingly, as reported in a recent article in the New York Times, most of the owners live within 200 miles of the city, and the resort features 161 units, each sold by the week and ranging from a $33,900 studio to a $125,000 penthouse.

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FRAUD ALERT

WE HAVE BEEN ALERTED TO A NEW FRAUD BEING PERPETRATED ON OUR CUSTOMERS.

COMPANIES ARE CALLING OUR CUSTOMERS AND ADVISING THEM THAT THEY WORK WITH TIMESHARES BY OWNER® AND THAT THEY HAVE A BUYER. THEY FURTHER STATE YOUR LISTING PRICE, THAT THEY ARE A FINANCE COMPANY, AND THAT THE BUYER HAS ALREADY DEPOSITED 20% OF THE PURCHASE PRICE. THEY REQUIRE THE PAYMENT OF A FEE FOR CLOSING AND FINANCE CHARGES.

THIS IS A FRAUD THAT IS BEING CONDUCTED WITHOUT OUR AUTHORIZATION. WE DO NOT WORK WITH ANY OTHER COMPANY TO SELL YOUR TIMESHARE. IF THE COMMUNICATIONS DOES NOT COME FROM US, IT IS FRAUDULENT.

IF YOU RECEIVE THIS CALL, PLEASE CALL BECKY GOMEZ OF TIMESHARES BY OWNER® IMMEDIATELY TO REPORT IT AT 888-707-8463.

THANK YOU FROM THE STAFF OF TIMESHARES BY OWNER

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Bluegreen has added the InnSeason Resorts South Mountain to its growing list of timeshare properties. Bluegreen has been contracted to manage the sales, marketing and operations of this well-established property located in Lincoln, New Hampshire.

This is Bluegreen’s first exchange property in New Hampshire. InnSeason Resorts properties include Pollard Brook in New Hampshire; the Falls at Ogunquit and Mountainview both in Maine; and the HarborWalk, Captains Quarters, and Surfside in Massachusetts.

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