Street Talk International Archives

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.

STREET TALK INTERNATIONAL: Week of October 3 - October 9, 2003 Street Talk is a compendium of tips, facts, gossip, rumors, speculation and editorial comment. PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY E-mail: news@thetimesharebeat.com | Email: street@thetimesharebeat.com Lost & Found Women in the Biz Street Talk Back Issues Street Talk International Archives Last week we had some interesting responses to our question in the USA Street Talk about what Cendant has done for the timeshare industry, good and bad. The following opinion came in late on Thursday, and instead of adding it to the pile we decided to start a new, but related, topic. Give us your opinions, pro and con... --" Regarding RCI / Cendant's Plundering of Weeks Owners: As a 7 year veteran of timeshare sales, I am sickened by RCI's blatant plundering of so many innocent owners. It was a relatively simple concept for so many years when better resorts commanded higher prices and better trading power (and for most, it worked pretty well). It is now time for developers in this industry to toss aside petty rivalries and form a new alliance to offer a new exchange organization for those owners that liked things the way they used to be. A simple cooperative effort that will offer comparable exchanges for a much smaller fee. Let RCI feed on those that choose to be abused. But I hold for the day that a major player (like Starwood, Marriott, etc.) has a chief executive that realizes that this industry will survive and prosper only if we can offer old fashioned value that genuinely offers fairness and exclusivity to all of it's members. The age of information technology could make this new alliance a reality in a very short period of time." YOUR COMMENTS Oct. 4: --" Frustrating, isn't it? The solution to the problem is not another self-serving exchange alternative to RCI, however. Viable alternatives already exist. Besides, a developer consortium as operator of yet another exchange can be viewed as equally suspect. Nothing prevents a resort from switching affiliations except the Homeowners Association itself, if the property has matured, or the developer if a property is actively being marketed. Notice that the keys to Cendant's success lay in the acquisitions themselves. The common denominator is point based based programs, with or without individual deeds. Those without, whose members 'own' shares in a club (Worldmark) are already conditioned to the vague notion of generic points. Although based in real estate ownership as a whole, no one member can complain about a cloud on their title. Likewise with Fairfield, but these owners have to be sold individually. Everyone else (affiliated with RCI) is a one-on-one sale. The genius of Cendant's implementation was the use of independent sales and marketing contractors to sell RCI points to all those who actually held a deeded interest in a resort (Sunterra). Where else in the timeshare industry are sales and marketing costs a profit center? Without one cent of cash outlay by Cendant, independent contractors began pitching from Cendant's bible to the flock. They were permitted to keep anything over a modest administrative fee to Cendant. That translated to 2-3 thousand dollars per " upgrade" . Cendant got the deed, and a couple of hundred bucks, the I.C. got a couple of thousand, and the timeshare owner got the shaft. A nationwide mass coverage sales blitz was launched to saturate the marketplace with a sales force, one-on-one with prospects, and it did not cost Cendant a dime! The brilliance of it leaves me breathless ! Marriott, Starwood and the like have no interest in Cendant or their business practices. They are busy expanding their own brand of ownership. The resort developers that find a Cendant proposal attractive do so for monetary reasons. Greed is a motive that you can trust." Oct. 5: --" Since RCI and II were invented timeshare sales reps have been selling their program for them without receiving a penny for it. You could say that a world-wide mass coverage sales blitz was launched at the time to saturate the marketplace with a sales force, one-on-one with prospects and it did not cost either company a dime. Why should Cendant change what was already working? Credit Jon and Christel DeHaan with the original brilliance. They were the first to get very rich from the labor of sales reps who never got paid for it." Oct. 7: --" Right you are about I.I. and RCI memberships: they just happen. Sort of like a utility company. But it is an arrangement of convenience. Sales reps are not there to sell II or RCI memberships, they are paid a commission to sell timeshare. It just so happens that the buyer will probably need the exchange membership, and point of sale is the best time and place to get it. There is probably a quid pro quo with the developer and the exchange, but the reps don't get a piece, directly. I understand the point the prior poster makes about the exchange getting a built in sales force at no cost, but the comparison to the Cendant effort is not nearly the same thing. RCI points is the principal product that is being sold, and the sales people are being paid well, and directly, to do it. It just doesn't cost the product owner any money to do it, and there is no cash outlay which must be recouped. Re: Jon and Crystal DeHaan, I wish I would have thought of it. It was brilliant. Only in retrospect, though, does it seem so obvious an idea. It's the vision thing that's brilliant." Oct. 9: --" The fact remains that for well over a quarter century RCI and II have both been benefitting from the labor of sales reps without having to pay them a penny, and they have no cash outlay on their part to recoup. Yes, it has been to sales reps' benefit to sell the exchange product, but the primary beneficiary has been the exchange companies and THEY DON'T PAY US FOR IT." AND: --" Again, right you are. Again, there is probably a quid pro quo with the developer and the exchange. So, since that is the flow of the money, the developer should pass some on to the sales person. The sales rep does not work for the exchange, s(he) works for the developer. And, guess what the employer would say? How about.. " you are being paid, for all of it, the week, the I.I./RCI enrollment, the document review and button-up, etc., it's all in there, it's called a commission. It's easier that way. Don't beleive me ? We can subtract it by line item if you wish." You get no argument from me, I'm all for getting paid on everything, that's fair. But, careful what you ask for. Tell me how you reallyyy feel when you are hit up, every time, with the extended warranty pitch at Circuit City and Best Buy. Just when you thought the sale was over, even if you enjoyed the experience, you leave with a bad taste over the whole thing. Do you want your tour leaving with a recision rights document under their arm, after that final message? I think it's best to leave sleeping dogs lie . Trust the employer,... it's in there." CANADA BRITISH COLUMBIA: VICTORIA: $37.5 million in quarter-share real estate (88 fairway and clubhouse villas) changed hands in 5 hours at Bear Mountain Golf and Country Club on Sept. 27. When Bear Mountain is built out it will be anchored by two 18-hole golf courses designed by Jack and Steve Nicklaus, and will include residential properties, a resort hotel, 110,000 square-foot club house and a retail village. The timeshare sales exceeded all expectations even though three previous real estate sales earlier this summer -- all single-family home lots -- also went like wildfire. We'd bet the champagne was flowing at the end of that day... E-mail street@thetimesharebeat.com

ASIA

SOUTH KOREA: The Reverend Moon Sun Myung, 83, has apparently decided to retire in Yeosu, South Jeolla province, according to the JoongAng Daily newspaper. The Tongil Group is about to start work on a large resort town in the province, the sources said. The Unification Church, which the Reverend Moon, has a business relationship with Tongil, which also acquired the Yongpyeong resort earlier this year. Tongil has already submitted business plans to the Yeosu municipal government, in which it laid out a plan to establish a resort town of 68 acres in Hwayang-myeon, Yeosu. The development will take 10 years and include a global cultural town, golf courses and timeshare condominiums, which will be built first. E-mail street@thetimesharebeat.com

UK & EUROPE

ENGLAND: DORSET: Are you ready for the Boat Club? The newly launched company offers everything from dinghies to super yachts, including one owned by Formula 1 racer Eddie Irvine. Members pay £ 7,500-£ 10,000 per year, which gives them points that can be traded in for an average 15 days on board. It's still not cheap, but it's still cheaper than ordinary yacht charter, and the price covers all the extras from mooring fees to insurance. If you fancy turning up at Cowes Week or St Tropez in your own floating hotel room, check out www.boatclub.co.uk. (Warning: this is an annoying entirely " flashed" website, so be ready for it.) E-mail street@thetimesharebeat.com

CARIBBEAN

ST. MAARTEN: Immigration authorities pulled a " flash" raid on Sept. 30 and rounded up 35 people, most of them residing and/or working illegally in the country. At least 5 of them were OPCs who had residence permits, but had failed to comply with the laws governing the conditions of the issuance of their permits. A report on the OPC operators' activities will be compiled and submitted to the Lt. Governor, requesting that their permits be revoked and that they be deported from the island. Oops. THE BAHAMAS: NASSAU: Lock Resorts has announced the signing of a Sales & Marketing contract with Coastal Resorts Ltd to handle the sales & marketing of Nassau's only Private Residence Club at Whispering Wind. The first phase of 5 private residences will offer a maximum of 60 private owners villas with an average size of 3,500 square feet overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Ownership prices ranges from $125,000 to $175,000 per 28-day fractional interest, based on residence type and season. Owners will also be able to exchange into other fractional properties through Interval International. You can find out more about it here: Coastal Resorts Ltd Announces Private Fractional Ownership Club in Nassau, Bahamas E-mail street@thetimesharebeat.com

SOUTH PACIFIC

FIJI: BEQA: There's a little luxury dive resort on Beqa for sale, only 16 beachfront bures and 9 lagoon bures, on 12 acres. It is not a timeshare resort, but for the right company it could be turned into one. Maybe a nice fractional property, a private residence club, whatever. It's name is Marlin Bay Resort, and we've been daydreaming about how nice it would be to market a property like that. Someone buy it and give us the contract, OK? We'd like to live there for awhile... http://www.bayleys.co.nz/listing.asp?LID=15369

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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.

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