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| Street Talk is a compendium of tips, facts, gossip, rumors, speculation and editorial comment provided by The Timeshare Beat as an outlet for the free expression of its readers
and for their entertainment. The Timeshare Beat makes no assertion as to the veracity of the items contained herein.
If erroneous information is inadvertently
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" The theory of a free press is that truth will emerge from free discussion, not that it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account." -- Walter Lippmann Street Talk is a compendium of tips, facts, gossip,
rumors, speculation and editorial comment. Email: street@thetimesharebeat.com
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• IN LOS CABOS: Effective March 19, Merry Thomas was appointed director of sales and marketing for Grand Baja Resort and Spa. Monica Lujan is now a sales manager at the Mission La Serena sales center. Terry Harker has been appointed sales manager at Playa Grande. Terry formerly held the same position at Club Regina.
E-mail street@thetimesharebeat.com
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Accor Premiè re Vacation Club (APVC) has purchased the National Trust and Heritage Council-classified Basildene Manor in Margaret River, Western Australia. They paid $4.5 million for it, with a similar amount scheduled for extensions. The circa 1912 manor is set on 14 acres amidst the vineyards
of the Margaret River region and boasts 17 suites as well as a main hall, lobby, cellar lounge, terraces, reading
room, conservatory, pool, sun deck, tennis court, lakeside pergola and meticulously manicured gardens. APVC is on a roll! E-mail street@thetimesharebeat.com
BARBADOS: The famous Casuarina Beach Club, with 24 years of award winning environmental practices and service under its belt, is now in the process of being sold and will close on June 1st 2005 to reopen at a later date under new ownership. " Casuarina is located in the parish of Christ Church
on the south coast of the island, adjacent to the St. Lawrence gap. The elegant 167 room apartment hotel is set
amongst eight acres of abundant tropical flora of vivid beauty. The gardens are met by the soft coral sands of
a 1500 foot stretch of beach and the brilliant blues of an inviting Caribbean sea." Anyone know who the new owners are, and will this resort finally go timeshare? BVI: An Interval International-affiliated resort, purchasers were promised membership at the resort until 2070. Now they are being told, in effect, too bad so sad --you own nothing. A letter dated 23 February, purportedly written on behalf of the members of the Prospect Reef Resort Vacation Club by Bruce Lynskey, was sent to the Chief Minister on 11 March. Lynskey wrote that the club comprises 540 unique contracts with some members holding multiple contracts, bringing the total number of members, taking couples into account, to more than 1,000 people. The letter essentially presented proposals for Government’s intervention to resolve the Club members' concerns, and threatened certain actions if they were unable to reach what they termed a “very fair settlement”. The Government's position seems to be that the timeshare members
purchased from the resort's former owners, not the Government, so they'll have to take it up with " the person or persons with whom they had entered into timeshare
agreements" . However, Opposition Leader Hon.
Ralph T. O'Neal said that he worries that " this Prospect Reef thing will end up in court as long as Americans
are involved." The timeshare holders are planning
to take the story to the media with the headline “Government
Swindles Millions from Tourists" . Mr. O'Neal said
that the Americans will do what they say, they will use the media and the financial and tourism sectors will suffer. It's not a pretty picture. Stay tuned. Someone want to fill us in on who's running things and just how well you really are doing?
BVI- TORTOLA: Will Ritz-Carlton
partner up to build a Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Club/Residences, a golf course and marina on Beef
Island? Could be. See the press release from the Hong
Kong Bourse: Heads
of Agreement in Relation to the Proposed Establishment of Ritz-Carlton Resort, Tortola, British Virgin Islands
ONTARIO: TORONTO: Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Chicago-based developer Jerry Fogelson, and Indian Wells, California city officials and have announced that the proposed Miles Crossing development in Indian Wells will be home to a Fairmont Residence Club, featuring condos, villas and a 46-room, " four-diamond-plus" hotel where rooms could go for as much as $1,200 a night. The Fairmont development would have 39 villas, 46 units in the hotel and 12 townhomes. The condominium units are expected to go for $500,000 to $900,000, and owners would have the option of putting their units into a pool for rental when they are not using them. Those units would rent for more per night than the rooms in the hotel. The Miles Crossing development - located along Highway 111 and bounded by Miles Avenue - is slated to be part of a 600-acre site that will also include an upscale shopping center complete with at least three restaurants, a drugstore, office space and dozens of high-end boutiques. BRITISH COLUMBIA:
CABO SAN LUCAS: Real Resorts Group, which bought the Plaza Less Glorias property some time ago and renamed it Costa Real Cabo, is taking that property all-inclusive. Not yet included in the mandate, apparently, are the timeshare owners. Last month a notice was sent out to the timeshare owners that in one week there would be a meeting in Cabo to vote on the issue, and enough of them actually managed to show up to object to the proposal (an additional mandatory $30 per day per person). The company hasn't given up yet, though, saying that they feel in the future all owners will agree. So you owners had better keep your ears to the ground, lest you mysteriously miss some notice or other... Real Resorts Group operates Eight hotels with 2,316 guest rooms. The company is owned by Mexican national Fernando Garcí a. PUERTO PENASCO: A recent press release from ILX Resorts confirmed that the company intends to open a resort in Rocky Point. No further details were given, but we can't help but wonder if they are joining up with developer Larry Large to build his proposed 150-unit timeshare near Sandy Beach? In other exciting news for the town, Mexico Presidente Vicente Fox made an appearance there to kick off construction of the new 375-mile 4-lane coastal highway that will stretch all the way down to beyond San Carlos. The first Phase will connect from Rocky Point to EL Golfo de Santa Clara (north of Rocky Point), then up to San Luis which is on the border with Yuma, Arizona. The next phase is supposed to go to Mexicali which will really open Sonora to the California crowd. The highway construction begins at the Laguna del Mar and Costera junction of the current highway. Let's see: A new 4-lane highway, and a new international airport
set to go in near the Mayan Palace... Hmmm. Better build some more and better hotels and timeshare, boys and girls. Well, it's not a secret but the ultra exclusive Diamante Del Mar
project is certainly not well known to the general public. Located south of the dusty little town of San Quintin,
you can see the private runway off to the west of Hwy. 1 outside of El Rosario. Phase I of this project includes:
jet port, Fazio Golf Course, golf practice facilities, pro shop, Private
Residence Club, Villas, private homes and home site
development, infrastructure/engineering development and a 3.5 acre Hacienda which will include swimming pools,
tennis courts, fitness center, dining facility and Member suites.
The place is reportedly over half sold already (to the
rich and famous).
IRELAND: A couple of weeks ago we asked about the proposed sale of Knocktopher Abbey, and how that would affect timeshare owners there. Well, more information is now available and it's a mess, in our opinion. Seasons Estates, a subsidiary of Seasons Holidays is offering the property “for sale with vacant possession” for €3.5m. Vacant possession means it's free and clear and nobody lives there or has a claim to it. The 300 or so American and Irish timeshare owners beg to differ. When some of them discovered the proposed sale of the property (yes, we helped them find out about it and we're not sorry), they were outraged. They are now taking legal action and have " sent suitcases full of documentation to a solicitor in Kilkenny" . At least 65 American owners were up in arms about a year ago when Seasons began trying to force them to give up their fixed, deeded 99-year leases to join Seasons' points club instead (See Street Talk Intl. May 16-03). It got ugly. Some finally gave in, others refused to join, and many refused to pay maintenance fees (which had increased from €215 to almost €700 since Seasons took over) as long as Seasons was refusing to honor the terms of their original contracts. Leslie McCann,
a Seasons director, told the Sunday Times that many timeshare holders’ leases have been dissolved without their
knowledge because they hadn't paid their maintenance fees. He said there are only 16 genuine owners left so the
abbey is already almost entirely owned and paid for by Seasons and he believes the remaining leaseholders will
“see sense” and allow Seasons to dispose of the property. Not bad, not bad...
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| Street Talk is a compendium of tips, facts, gossip, rumors, speculation and editorial comment
provided by The Timeshare Beat as an outlet for the free expression of its readers and for their entertainment.
The Timeshare Beat makes no assertion as to the veracity of the items contained herein. If erroneous information is inadvertently included and a correction to this information
is subsequently sent to The Timeshare Beat, the correction will be prominently published. Opinions published within Street Talk are the opinions of the authors thereof and are
not necessarily the opinions of The Timeshare Beat. THIS COLUMN CONTAINS OPINIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS, STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THIRD PARTIES. THE TIMESHARE BEAT DOES NOT REPRESENT, ENDORSE OR GUARANTEE THE TRUTHFULNESS, ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY OF SUCH CONTENT POSTED BY SUCH THIRD PARTIES, OR ENDORSE ANY OPINIONS OR RECOMMENDATIONS EXPRESSED BY SUCH THIRD PARTIES. ANY RELIANCE ON CONTENT POSTED BY THIRD PARTIES WILL BE AT YOUR OWN RISK. CHANGES ARE PERIODICALLY MADE TO THIS COLUMN AND MAY BE MADE AT ANY TIME. See our Terms and Conditions |
