Week of Sept. 3 - Sept. 9, 2004
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Street Talk International Archives |
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and for their entertainment. The Timeshare Beat makes no assertion as to the veracity of the items contained herein.
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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.
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CANMORE: A week or two ago the Province of Alberta charged " Royal Club International" , " Resort Condominiums International" , " RCI Canada Inc" , " Royal Club Resorts Inc.," and Royal Club's director, Andre Muran of operating without a license, misleading consumers and refusing to give consumers refunds. Altogether, 125 charges have been laid against the four companies and Muran under the Fair Trading Act for alleged misconduct involving timeshare and travel services. The companies and Muran face $$millions in fines as a result of 20 separate complaints and follow-up investigations conducted in the last 18 months. Muran, however, says his firm has been mislabelled and that cash owed to customers was returned before any government investigation began. He also says Royal Club's two-resort operation has incorrectly been labelled as a travel club, which sells memberships and offers travellers discounts for lodging and transportation elsewhere. He says his two resorts are affiliated with RCI Canada (RCI Points?) but his operation is not in itself a travel club. We confess to being a little confused ourselves, and wonder if Alberta is even more confused. Who would like to enlighten us? Meanwhile, RCI has issued the following response to the charges: --" Resorts Condominiums International, Inc. and RCI Canada, Inc. (" RCI" ) deny any charges set forth in the Complaint. RCI specifically denies that the RCI Points membership is an unregistered travel club and that the unregistered sale of this membership is a regulatory violation of the Fair Trading Act. RCI is an independent timeshare exchange company that facilitates the exchange of timeshare intervals for other timeshare intervals. RCI enters into affiliation agreements with resorts and those resorts, in turn, offer their timeshare purchasers the opportunity to become members in the RCI Points program. Membership in the RCI Points program is voluntary and RCI has no ownership interest in their affiliated resorts. The RCI Points program simply provides a system to use accommodations currently owned by the timeshare consumer and is not a travel club as it does not involve the future purchase of accommodations. We believe that when all facts are given full consideration, the charges against RCI will be dismissed." E-mail street@thetimesharebeat.com
UK: CORNWALL: The Lamorna Cove Hotel - once the home of the artist Sir Alfred Munnings - has become the first hotel in the South West to sell its rooms in a timeshare/condo hotel style scheme. The new owner is Aparthotel
UK, and they are selling 12 selected rooms or suites
with price tags ranging from £ 140,000 to £ 230,000. All bedrooms are en-suite, furnished and equipped
to a very high standard with television and internet connections. WEST NORFOLK: It doesn't look good for developer Feast Properties Ltd's plans to create a 100-suite timeshare leisure complex on the site of the Granaries at Station Road, Docking. A report, to be discussed by planners on Sept. 6, recommends that planning permission is refused. It's probably going to be a case of " back to the drawing board" to develop something the community will accept. LOCH RANNOCH: Remember last year when timeshare owners gave Mcdonald Hotels the boot and took over management of the Highlands at Loch Rannoch themselves? Mcdonald promptly barred the timeshare owners from the hotel and swimming pool, and there has been a lot of tit for tat going on ever since. Litigation over the entire mess is still ongoing, but the good news is that in its first year the new management actually made a modest profit in spite of lowering maintenance fees by 16.5%. If you want details, read this article in The Herald: Owners give Loch Rannoch more E-mail street@thetimesharebeat.com
Monterey Financial Services has successfully executed a $2.5 million financing transaction in Mexico with Grupo Costamex-Royal Holiday Club, becoming the only company that offers collections, loan servicing, and financing services in Mexico. Hot stuff. The way Royal Holiday Club sells its product, we'd bet Monterey will be doing a lot of collecting...  E-mail street@thetimesharebeat.com
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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 |
