After nearly a year of timeshare uncertainty, it’s maintenance season again. Despite quarantines, local mandates, travel restrictions and massive amounts of job loss, it appears most owners are going to be on the hook for another inflated timeshare maintenance bill.
According to a 103 page lawsuit filed in the District Court this past summer, hundreds of class members accuse Westgate Resorts (and other participating parties*) of withholding pertinent contract information and wielding “high pressure tactics” to register new timeshare owners. This follows a common trend that’s not limited to the American region.
Even though we specialize in ending owner obligations, our goal has always been to help buyers fully understand and properly manage their perpetual product. So today, we wanted to shed some light on the extra “baggage” that usually comes with a supposed timeshare bargain.
After pleading guilty in July, Manuel Parrado and Ronald Carapellucci also found themselves in prison for promising to sell timeshares fraudulently. Like many timeshare resale operations before them, the Floridan duo conspired with a number of immoral entrepreneurs to pull off the ploy.
Timeshare travel in America has always leaned heavily on political advantages when it comes to growth. For years now, we’ve been covering the effects of lobbyists on lawmakers and how the industry has essentially taken over major vacation destinations across the country…
In the beginning stages of the Coronavirus outbreak, it was difficult for many of us to know what to expect. Now that the pandemic has lasted most of 2020, millions of people have lost their jobs. If you think about it, the hospitality industry has probably been devastated the most.
Although a handful of people eventually resist timeshare work environments, many embrace the opportunity to make a lot of money. In turn, oftentimes they participate in unethical activity that hinders their ability to file wrongful termination or whistleblowing lawsuits should they lose their job.
Earlier this month, the Attorney General of Connecticut (AG), William Tong, and the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) issued a public warning regarding potential timeshare resale traps in the state. In the after effects of the COVID pandemic, it appears a growing number of con artists are looking to take advantage of grounded vacation owners.
When it comes to the timeshare industry, hypothetical situations are commonplace. From the purchase itself, to upgrade opportunities and finding a way out, the possibilities can be endless.
For a handful of timeshare companies, the recent pandemic has been a burden they’ve been unable to outlast. After operating in the red from 2015 to 2018, the Canadian properties at Carriage Hills and Carriage Ridge are set to close down on January 6.
Have you ever made a large purchase that turned out to be less than gratifying? How about a product that didn’t perform as advertised? In most cases, a consumer’s intuition is to return it –or at least making an exchange. But what happens when the purchase ends up being non-refundable due to a return policy that wasn’t promoted or ever explained?
To say the travel industry has been on edge in 2020 would be an understatement. Billions of dollars have been lost as travelers remain home. At the same time, unlike other tourism-based companies, the element of fractional ownership has given some resorts a unique ability to profit.
If the economy were to reopen soon, tourist destinations will more than likely become flooded with mass amounts of travelers – especially this holiday season. While it may be exciting to get back on the road, the euphoria of a vacation can cause ill-advised spending.
For years now, the general public has slowly realized that the elderly population is frequently targeted by convincing offers that are said to improve their overall quality of life. Timeshares have been no exception.
For more than half a year now, Americans have been limited in their ability to travel. The millions of people that look forward to annual spring or summer vacations have been grounded without much certainty on when the next trip will be.
