It’s Monday, the start of another week and a new month, which for our friends across the Great Lake holds a little importance. Tomorrow is the 4th of July, which you could call America’s Birthday, but more importantly for AIT, July also marks the start of Military Consumer Month.
It has become customary over the years and that includes the old publication, that Irene’s articles reflect the timeshare concerns of those who have served or are still serving. This week will be no exception, with Friday’s article “Why Timeshare Developers Target the Military.”
My personal answer is greed, out of over 300 reports and testimonies our volunteers have received, it has become clear that the sales agents play on the point of how they “deserve to have a bit of luxury”. The “false” respect to worm their way in has been evident, it is the old teaching of timeshare sales “Make yourself their best friend”.
Our last article “A Bluegreen Vacations Account Suspension You Won’t Believe”, has triggered a lot of comments not just here but on various social media groups. Although it is unusual for Timeshare Insider to reply to comments, the first received did need addressing.
This was the first comment: “They don’t want you profit at all. So unfair.”
Our reply: “This is not about making a profit, that is commercial use. We are talking about ordinary owners/members who may not be using due to personal reasons, being able to rent out their weeks to cover the annual fees. Too much emphasis is placed on “renting for profit” by sales agents, with the complicity of their masters. Timeshare is not “property, real estate or investment”, it is a holiday usage club, nothing more and nothing less.”
This is a type of comment the industry wants, it goes to prove their point that you want to profit from renting. somehow, I don’t think the commentator was actually paying attention to her thoughts, popping down the first thing that came into her head.
We know that the “selling to rent” pitch is commonly used, a scenario in which Silverpoint in Tenerife took to great heights. It is a sales pitch, pure and simple, designed to convince you that it will cover maintenance costs and make you a profit. Forget how much commission the sales agent will make, they’re not interested in that, only in helping you.
Moving back to Europe, the TCA published a brief summary of a Decree passed last July (2022) by the Junta de Andalucia, this allows hotels on the Costa del Sol to “enlarge their premises by up to 20 per cent and update their facilities to attract higher quality tourism.”
The TCA did comment that on the list they did not see a single local timeshare resort, with one of the most common complaints made by owners being “many resorts are looking tired and a little run down when compared to the past.”
Another nail in the coffin of the European timeshare industry, dwindling membership, complete lack of sales to new members and run-down resorts, all because they were greedy.
If the timeshare industry took notice of what consumers really want, behaved ethically and more importantly delivered on their promises, then they may have a chance. But asking a Leopard to change his spots is impossible.
We hope you all had a good weekend, with Baby Dog visiting it has been all go, he always seems to wait until I start to do something and then wants to play.
Irene Parker
The primary reason why timeshare Developers target active duty service members, is because they know if they default on a loan, they can lose their security clearances. This can lead to involuntary separation from service. In other words, a military career ruined. That we have heard recently from 11 service members who found their security clearances in jeopardy, because they believed sales agent who promised they could refinance (easily because they are military), sell, or rent to cover costs should set alarm bells ringing. Unfortunately, some attorneys general protect developers from consumers. It’s about the money, not our national security.