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"Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom." - Eugene O'neill - Fairy tales have always been a major part of our lives and the lives of our children. We, the supposed adults, most often identify our fairy tales along the lines of Walt Disney while the young ones think more of Harry Potter or Lara Craft: Tomb Raider. In these contexts we identify with the first of the definitions found in the handy Webster's: "a narrative of adventure involving fantastic forces and beings." We most often choose not to acknowledge the second of Webster's definitions: "a made-up story usually designed to mislead." It's just in our nature to want that verse in the song which goes something like: "Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you're young at heart..." to be true. The reality is that we are much more familiar with the second-class fairy tales that are designed to take advantage of human weaknesses, both mental and physical, than we want to admit. Truth is that three distinct parts of all fairy tales are evident in all of us. They are fear, vanity, and greed. Fear makes us all vulnerable to the fairy tales which offer miracle cures for all sorts of medical problems and how they play on the desperation of those afflicted and their love ones. Vanity makes us all vulnerable to the age-old search for a cure to old-age and the proliferation of balms, lotions and creams that will remove wrinkles, dissolve fat, restore hair loss and enhance breast size. Then there are the potions, elixirs or doses which will remedy various and assorted ailments from ingrown toenails to migraine headaches. Fear and vanity mostly involve the hope and dream side of Fairy tales; it is greed that brings out the two-headed monster in all of us. Greed is the one idiosyncrasy in our nature which is often found in both the listener to a fairy tale and the teller of that tale. The listener becomes mesmerized by the huckster's tale of wealth to be gained by little effort and the huckster is greedy for the few coins remaining in the listener's pocket. The most vulnerable among us are those whose line between actual need and greed has become blurred. Most often they have so few coins that the eventual loss of them by way of a fairy tale seduction may seem insignificant; however, to those who practice cunning the accumulation of the coins becomes meaningful. In the Timeshare / Vacation Ownership arena the best examples of this fleecing may well be found in the fringes of resales. I use the word fringes because almost always these fairy tales have nothing to do with the actual resale of an interest in a Timeshare / Vacation Ownership plan and everything to do with shearing a few hundred dollars from each member of the herd by way of such potions, elixirs or doses as listing fees, appraisal fees, and marketing fees. As we all know, these hundred dollars here and that hundred dollars there have added up to millions and millions. When we think of fairy tales, we most often think of harmless entertainment where eventually Dorothy clicks her heels together and returns to Kansas or Beauty and the Beast live happily ever after. When we think of hucksters we perceive the street corner shell game, a selection of "Rolex" or "Cartier" watches from inside a trench coat or "Cher" in the back of a traveling wagon show. We almost never think of fairy tales being told by major publicly-held entities such as Banks, Savings & Loan institutions, Stock Brokers, Accounting firms, Drug companies, or Timeshare / Vacation Ownership plan Developers. Have we already forgotten the fairy tales told by Charles Keating and friends as they bilked thousands of senior citizens out of their retirement money?
Once upon a while far, far away in a land called Time an extremely wealthy individual by the name of Usedto Fleecing owned a beach. Fleecing decided for his shear pleasure to offer others the opportunity to share some of his beach in Time by starting a Club called Submission. As Usedto was used to doing, he began to recruit wizards experienced in tall tale telling and clubbing people, to do the foul drudgery. As he was Usedto Fleecing, he knew that by having his Town Crier go from town to town shouting out the lure of six figure incomes, many sheep would flock just in time for him to start Submission. Lo and behold, many hotness pushers were covetousness of the lure offered and went to Time to get the particulars. Upon arriving at the correct place in Time, the several wizards were granted interviews with Usedto and those who wished to share in the shear pleasure of Clubbing people on the beach into Submission, were informed of the Fleecing methods to be implemented. These Fleecing methods included a contractual agreement between themselves and Usedto which, if accepted, required the share time sales wizards to become independent contractors without benefits, with elastic commissions, imaginary spiffs, reserve & charge back provisions, and non-compete clauses. Enough of these share time sales wizards were overcome by avidity that they became the first to be fleeced but not the last. Usedto Fleecing got a lot of shear pleasure in cutting these deals because that's the way he became extremely wealthy long ago. While Usedto was not averse to allowing those who had been Clubbed into Submission to share his beach so that the Fleecing Family Fortune could be furthered, he fostered the Club so that its faithful followers felt free to fantasize about flexibility and frequent forays for a few days to fancy facilities in far off places; however, in fact, this fairy tale was really farfetched. Furthermore, the Fleecing method contractual agreement fostered upon those who fell for the fan-fare of future funds actually featured factors which facilitated a fiefdom for Fleecing and contained very few factors which were favorable to the fruition of funds finding their way from someone as fleet-a-foot as Usedto to anyone foolish enough to fix their name to such a foolish document in the first place. In this Fairy Tale there was no Prince Charming or Super Hero to come to the rescue and facilitate the Happy-ever-after. It did make effective use of the "F" word
Once upon a time, just over 20 years ago, there was this land situated deep in the Sonoran Desert known as the Valley of the Sun. In the center of this land was a mountain and near its southeastern base was about a dozen acres of prime property on which a dream was about to be realized. To the west of this location lay a great city named after that legendary bird Phoenix and to the east lay the West's most Western Town named after a chaplain by the name of Scott. While Scottsdale is known for such annual events as the Parada del Sol ( believed to be the world's largest and longest horse-drawn parade), and beginning in 1955 the Arabian Horse Show, it was not known far and wide as a tourist destination. While there were already several Resorts in the area, there was not a Timeshare Resort. Everyone who knew the developer of this proposed resort believed him to be crazy because without a tourism base it was highly likely that this controversial type of resort would not survive. However, survive it did. During its first 10 years it survived the original developer going bankrupt and being taken over by a Savings & Loan Bank. Now, many would tell you that if this fairy tale indicated that a Savings & Loan Bank stepped in and helped save the day, it would truly be a fairy tale, however that's exactly what happened. The Savings & Loan was able to almost finish the resort improvements before it, too, was abolished by the RTC. As fate would have it, the last act of the RTC on behalf of the Resort, was to sell the Savings & Loan's remaining interest to the principal lending institution in the timeshare business (which is currently in reorganization). That lending institution did, in fact, finish the resort improvements. All in all, it took 3 different marketing firms, 4 different developers, 4 different general contractors, 4 different management firms, 7 phases, and 8 different interior design firms to complete this little fairy tale resort. In February of 1990 the last of the 5,661 Interval Interests at Scottsdale Camelback Resort were conveyed and a 100% sellout had been achieved. What, after years of struggling to survive in the desert heat, caused this special place not only survive, but also excel? It really began way back with the developer's belief in the fairy tale and because of the belief of three unique groups of people who also believed. First and foremost, one of these groups evolved out of necessity. The original developer had been forewarned by his peers that the tourism market was not strong enough to support a Timeshare Resort in the valley, however he boldly spent his marketing funds attempting to prove these nay-sayers wrong and this folly contributed greatly to his demise. The Savings & Loan bank had its customer base in the people who lived in the valley and thus were receptive to a plan to market the resort to those who lived in Arizona, with a strong emphasis on the exchange benefit of timesharing and the country club aspect of day-use. Members of this group knew the resort intimately, recognized the value of its location, visited it several times each year, believed in its long-term potential and made up 87% of its original owner base. To them it was not a fairy tale, but real bricks and sticks that they could touch and feel, not only physically but also emotionally. Collectively this group made up the Owners Association. Because of the existence of the first group, individually, collectively and emotionally, the second group also evolved into a force to be reckoned with. Because the ownership base included so many who made their homes in the valley and who were passionate about both its history and its future, the opportunity to elect quality individuals to serve in the leadership positions within the Owners Association were abundant. The Owners Association assumed absolute control of the resort and its improvements in February of 1990 and 27 men and women who volunteered to serve and were subsequently elected to the Board of Directors since then, brilliantly guided this embattled entity out of potential demise into a bright and stable future. While serving only 5 at a time, their effective stewardship and fervent belief in the fairy tale was uniform. They would not and did not allow the dream to disappear into the heat of the afternoon Arizona sun. Without the efforts of the final group, this structure would be little more than assembled bricks and sticks on a plot of ground, whose fate would be to eventually become so much rubble, destined to blow away with the next desert sand storm. For 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and entering into their 2nd decade, the men and women who made up and make up the management and staff of the resort have dedicated themselves to making the dreams and expectations of all who venture into their embrace realities beyond any fairy tale which could be envisioned or told. They are the maids, housemen, engineers, pool attendants, secretaries, custodians, desk clerks, bookkeepers, cooks, bartenders, food servers, and reservationists. They call bingo, clean the toilet, replace the light bulb, do the laundry, sort the mail, answer the phone, collect the trash, make the change and book the jeep tours. They are supervisors, shift leads, directors, and managers. They do these things both in front of and behind the scenes, and generally do the thousands upon thousands of routine tasks which are necessary and vital but often go unseen or unappreciated. Most would think that it must take an army to accomplish all that must be accomplished, however at Scottsdale Camelback Resort all this and so much more has been and still is delivered consistently and graciously by a dedicated staff of about 62. They are the dream makers, the slayers of dragons, and the genie in the bottle. Final thought Most often those who would be sorcerers, dazzlers, beguilers, fabricators and/or tricksters operate in the short term because their selfishness and dependence upon wizardry, razzle-dazzle, cunning, tales and/or ruses is soon exposed, and their accomplishments begin to disappear in the light of day. In truth there is a thin line between illusion and delusion, between charm and deceit, and between prestidigitation and witchcraft. Like the Gypsy, those who practice such ruses most often become migratory and leave a trail of dupes, from resort to resort. The tall tales they spew in the back rooms of our sales centers are not fairy tales, they are ugly confessions of those soon to be departed. Most often those who would be heroes, champions, victors, role models and/or nobles operate in the long term because of their unselfishness and propensity toward assisting others in achieving fulfillment. In truth these luminaries seek and find permanency in areas where the opportunity to serve is abundant. The incidents that they convey to others are most often about the part they played in the realization of someone else's dream and the satisfaction they achieved from that encounter. The relating of these events may well take on the semblance of a fairy tale because in almost every instance a happy-ever-after ending is achieved. Scottsdale Camelback Resort has survived and prospered these twenty plus years because Board Members such as
Fred, Ron, Mary, Bernie and Benton (who currently serve in that capacity) strive to maintain the standards set
by their predecessors. Because of associates such as Clark, Eric, Jennifer, Jeff, Gerry and Louis
whose service exceeded a decade; Lori, Robin, Cristela and Jerome who have survived the seven-year itch; Ramon,
Bertha and Reyes with five or more years; and the balance of the staff who believe fairy tails can be achieved,
not just conceived. |
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Jerry Sikes, RRP / CHA, is President of Professional Resort Operators, Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona. He has 35 years in the Hospitality Industry / 25 years in Timesharing, and is the current Co-Chairman of ARDA Arizona as well as Chairman of the Arizona Timeshare Management Association. Jerry is a frequent guest speaker regionally and nationally on all aspects of Timeshare Management and a frequent contributor of articles for industry publications. Email: boyjerry@cox.net Phone 480-947-3300 Fax 480-947-6853 Web site: http://www.protimeshare.com |
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