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This past week, the city of St. Helena was sued after accusing a stand alone housing operation for being a timeshare entity. Pacaso, a five-home development project, claims to offer homeownership for up to 8 different tenets per each property. But the city hasn’t been buying it and on April 6th, Pacaso fired back.

As lockdowns and public COVID restrictions ensue, cities across the country are looking for ways to combat the tax revenue dips over the last year. Sadly, many destinations have struggled to overcome the exponential loss of tourism dollars. But the city council in Steamboat Springs, Colorado claims timeshare exchange taxes can help bridge the gap.

Now that travel restrictions have surpassed the year mark, timeshare corporations are full steam ahead towards loss recuperation. After ignoring loyal paying vacation owners and laying off tenured employees, the industry now has their eyes on tax laws. In fact, a recent proposal by lobbyists in Florida suggests a different method be used for property appraisals in order to decrease the tax burden of major resorts in the region.

The Herald Tribune recently published a question-and-answer series that touched on the difficulties of escaping timeshare agreements. In the article, they describe how a widow was struggling to find a way to abandon a timeshare left by her late husband.

Now that timeshare companies are looking to maximize future earnings, the race for the biggest pool of aspiring travelers has begun. Since the beginning of 2021, we’ve already seen Wydham merge with Travel + Leisure and Marriott’s PR to acquire Welk Resorts – even while timeshare owners struggle. This past week, Mark Wang, the President and CEO of Hilton’s Grand Vacations (HGV), made an announcement of his own.

Despite the obvious travel limitations, it would have been good to see the department go into detail on consumer’s need to “reevaluate personal budgets”. The impact of COVID as a whole has been a setback for millions. While some people are bummed about their vacant vacation, many don’t even know how they’re going to put food on the table – after years of abundance.

Timeshare travel can be one of the most intriguing, yet confusing products in the tourist marketplace. This is because consumers rarely search for them but fall for them rather quickly. The idea of a discounted vacation is just too good to pass up for most. Up until recently..