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 STREET TALK
Week of November 21 - November 27, 2003
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"
The world's biggest after-hours timeshare watering
hole."
Street Talk is a compendium of tips, facts, gossip, rumors,
speculation and editorial comment.
This Column is Published Every Friday, with
frequent updates throughout the week
E-mail: news@thetimesharebeat.com |
Email: street@streettalkblog.com
" 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
click here for Street Talk International
It happens at least once every week. A call comes in from someone looking for financing
for a fractional project, or a timeshare project or even an upscale RV Park type of deal. " Do you have a list
of companies we could contact?" they ask. Well, yes we do. But we don't give it out.
Or someone in Hawaii looks up " Timeshare" in the Yellow Pages and calls us: " We want to buy a
timeshare here but we don't know who to approach. Do you sell timeshare? Can you recommend someone?" Well,
no we don't and yes we could, but we won't.
Not everything in The Beat is for free.
Email: street@streettalkblog.com
One of the often-unforeseen consequences of Points Clubs is the increase in housekeeping
costs associated with such programs. Instead of getting a solid cleaning once a week when Weeks owners check out,
Points members often check in for shorter stays-- meaning the cleaning must be done more frequently. This can become
a problem for smaller, independent resorts with limited budgets and a limited owner base. Amber Vacation Club
is a case in point (no pun intended): Over the past two years they have experienced such increased usage costs,
concurrent with a continual increase in costs to clean units and supply amenity packages. They have addressed the
issue by adding a housekeeping fee for second stays, that is any time you check into one of the resorts two or
more times annually. The first check in each year does not have a housekeeping fee. However, housekeeping fees
for second stays are now $30.00 for one bedroom units and $40.00 for two bedroom units.
Some resorts try to cover these increased costs by raising the maintenance fee for all owners, which seems patently
unfair to Weeks owners who do not cause these additional costs. How does your resort handle it?
Email: street@streettalkblog.com
| IN THE WESTERN Half of the USA: |
|
HAWAII:
OAHU:
•
We hear rumblings from Marriott's Ko Olina resort that Marriott thinks the sales people are making
too much money. Rumors say Marriott is going to change its pay structure there and also tie it to Customer Service
Scores that buyers and non-buyers get when they return home. This system has been used before in sales rooms, with
the net effect usually being a mass exodus of sales reps to greener pastures accompanied by a sharp downward spiral
in sales. We hear that enough people at Ko Olina are on edge that half the sales line has already been talking
to Starwood.
Ko Olina may not be alone, though, as we're hearing from other Marriott locations that in the 2004 budget sales
reps company-wide may expect big cuts (oh, sorry, adjustments), and 70% of their money being paid in quarterly
and yearly deferrals (oh, sorry, " bonuses" .) If this is true, we'd bet the farm (if we had one)
that there will be a stampede outa there by a lot of top talent.
Someone tell us the rumors are not true...
- YOUR COMMENTS
- Nov. 21: --" Marriott
Ko'Olina Beach Club will be docking comissions and
year end bonus for execs, if their customer survey scores are below 80. This is after a 60 million dollar year
and site $6500 VPG. We guess many of the 3 & 4 million dollar producers are headed to Starwood Maui. When will
Marriott stop messing up great teams? Any comments on CSS scores with Marriott? Is this legal to be judged on non-buyers?"
•
Farzin Ferdosi has been a busy man. His company, Rodeo Partners LLC,
has completed the acquisition of a certain number of condominium units in Waikiki. Ferdosi, who is happily
out of the timeshare business (at least for now) is the Principal and the Managing Member of Rodeo Partners.
The project is a fee simple high end Condominium Hotel consisting of a mix of Penthouse, 1 & 2 Bedroom and
Studio units, two swimming pools, two restaurants and a lobby bar. (We are not at liberty right now to give you
its name, but we know it and if it were in France we'd say Ooo la la.)
Rodeo plans a complete renovation of the units, to be offered as a whole ownership high end luxury Condo-Hotel.
•
Outrigger plans to add more timeshare units to its massive Beach Walk project
in Waikiki and has hired an investment adviser to help get their ducks in a row before approaching Wall
Street for funds. The company will begin its fund search in about a month and hopes to have financing in place
by the middle of next year. Then, the company needs to complete the rest of the permitting process and demolish
the buildings in time for construction in spring 2005. Will Fairfield get those timeshares? Imagine: brand
new purpose-built timeshare in the heart of Waikiki!
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
NEVADA:
LAS VEGAS:
•
Something smells odd about the auction of MPTV/Lake Trop's 8 acres
on Harmon and LV Blvd. Only 3 bidders showed up (no timeshare players), and with the lenient conditions needed
to meet the auction we are surprised that only one bid went in (which was accepted). If you missed it last week,
at a court-ordered bankruptcy auction on Nov. 17 Lake Trop L.L.C.'s property at 303 East Harmon Ave., just
east of Las Vegas Boulevard, was sold for the minimum bid of $10 million to Faramarz Yousefzadeh, the chairman
and founder of Sloan Capital Partners, LLC, according to a court clerk.
That is a valuable piece of land, with Fairfield right next door and more timeshare going in all around it (a veritable
timeshare alley), and we are curious as to why there were not more serious bidders-- especially from experienced
timeshare companies. Makes us wonder what's hiding in the closet... Is there something we don't know about that
makes it financially unattractive? What do YOU think?
And of course we wonder if Hurley Reed, MPTV's boss of everything, is still lurking in the shadows somewhere...
Question: Under bankruptcy law, does he have a window of time in which he could buy the property back if
he could meet the purchase price plus interest? Or something like that?
•
Will Pacific Monarch Resorts be sold to Bluegreen Resorts (or someone
else)? When Marriott's alleged new pay plan goes into effect, will Jerry Murphy (Polo Towers) say
thanks but no thanks and take his team to PMR's Cancun Resort? Will Berkley Group try to get Murphy
and his team? Who will get the contract to sell Station Casino's planned timeshare tower out by Red Rock
Canyon? Hmmmmmm?
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
OREGON:
BEND: As the $20 million renovation of the condominiums at the popular Inn
of the Seventh Mountain in Central Oregon nears completion, the resort has announced a real estate team that
will focus on the launch of fractional ownership for the resort. Anne McDonald was promoted to director
of sales and marketing for real estate, Reed McNeil and Peggy Slaton round out the team as Sales Executives,
and Rose Jones takes up the reins as the real estate administrative assistant.
On November 1, 2003, The Inn of the Seventh Mountain launched Limited Priority Reservations for fractional ownership
of its renovated condominiums, which has proved to be a resounding success. Fractions can be purchased in increments
as low as 1/16 share up to 6 shares or more.
The Inn is the closest lodging to the popular Mt. Bachelor ski area.
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
TEXAS:
SAN ANTONIO: We hear Fairfield in San Antonio has canned another Director
of Marketing. This is the fourth one in San Antonio in less than 14 months? Says one source: " Poor
Rick Pierce didn't even make the three month mark - we all hear that the reason that he was placed in that position
is due more to influence than experience (he has never been in marketing before). We hope that Debbie makes a wiser
decision next time and not one based on nepotism. The previous DOM, Isreal Perez (8 months), was doing a great
job and the only reason he was booted was to make way for Rick Pierce - what a waste of resources!!!"
- YOUR COMMENTS
- Nov. 21: --" Is
it not funny, that everyone thinks they
can be a marketing director. It is by far the highest paid position on my project. Being it is so complicated,
and takes far more experience than sales. I would not hire a DOM with less than ten years direct experience."
- AND: --" The
beleaguered little resort in San Antonio
had, and has, bigger problems than what a Director of Marketing could remedy anyway! It reminds me of when I go
to a carnival and try to " ring the bell" . I step up, take a tremendous swing, and then the Carnival worker
says " Ooooooohhh, pretty close! Let's see if this next guy can ring the bell" So, as they say in the
Carnival business, " Next!"
- AND: --" I
want to put my two cents in regarding
the problem concerning Faifield in San Antonio especially regarding Israel Perez. I know this guy professionally
and he was let go unjustly by Denny Brisson (the one that is a professional at typing up Excel spreadsheets and
has no clue about Marketing in the TimeShare Industry). Israel was called from New Orleans to straighten things
up and get the Marketing Dept. up and running in San Antonio. He did this in no time and had an excellent team
of OPC's under him and great numbers. Once he accomplished this, he was fired one day before a knee operation for
no reason, no writing up, nothing, just a call saying " You're Fired" . Isn't everyone at Fairfield supposed
to follow some sort of protocol?? Where is their Human Resources Dept.?? To say the least, since his firing, all
his OPC's left and San Antonio's Marketing Department is not what it was when Israel was running it, not even close.
At least Fairfield has their spreasheets with correct formulas or maybe not?? What a joke!!!"
- Nov. 22: --" Let's
get real, Timeshare marketing is simply
the ability to predict what the average qualified tour will respond to, beyond that, it is just reports and bills.
The self proclaimed marketing gurus out there give themselves way too much credit and will defend themselves to
the end, even if there are no tours."
- AND: --" As
a person who has been in the business
for most of my adult life it is really embarrasing that our business has come to this. Israel Perez is a really
great O.P.C. manager who without help from Fairfield Corp. still managed to produce a qualified tour. I firmly
believe that our business has lost: Credibility, Comaraderie, loyalty to the developer and most importantly the
family who has purchased our product. I for one am getting out of this businesss. What a shame we used to provide
a great service and bring families closer together with such a wonderful thing as a inexpensive and quality vacation.
Gentlemen and ladies you all can have it, as a future greeter at Walmart I'll see you around."
- Nov. 24: --" I
predicted 15 years ago that someday
Marketing Directors would command more money than Sales Directors. It appears that in some markets my prediction
has come true. Back when tours were $100.00 if you made a mistake and the cost went up 10%, no biggy. Now with
tours at $300.00 that's a $30.00 hickey and may be the difference between making money and losing money.
All of you out there who think marketing is
just number crunching, start yourself a marketing company, hire an accountant and start raking in the dough. With
the advent of the national DNC, a qualified DOM will become worth their weight in 3 carat diamonds. Now more than
ever we need to realize that if it's working today, it won't be in 2 years. So if you haven't started testing what
will replace today's tour flow 2 years from now, make sure your resume is up to date."
- AND: --" The
top marketing directors have always made
more than all but the very top sales and executive mangement talent... for good reason. Getting a good offer is
one thing. Recruiting, training and managing the small army coordinated to deliver and respond to that offer when
our whole industry has only barely peeked it's head out of the Paleolithic Period is a whole other ball game. Significant
pressures to perform - or else - have been added by the hungry mouths of sales people everywhere demanding to be
fed only the most qualified of prospects. Competitive factors in every major market have reduced individual response
rates and increased costs. The marketing director has to juggle all of the operational balls to keep it going despite
DNC, legal requirements, constantly changing demands from the development and sales teams, insulated budgets based
strictly on financial pro forma projections, staying current on advertising & technology, keeping partnerships
with the array of needed vendor providers as well as meeting human resource requirements in managing their various
department's staff. Good luck, if you're a great T.O., or outside executive manager wanting to break into the business,
thinking you can just jump into it and get things going all hunky dory in no time. Those reports may be a whole
lot less exciting than a motivating podium, but if your DOM isn't watching them like a hawk the whole deal can
be upside down in a matter of days. Sure...all it takes is just a great offer and a pep talk. You could put your
time where your mouth is and jump in the game and see how long you can keep swimming. Of course, if you really
think it's a no-brainer you could put your money up, too!"
- Nov. 27: --" Never
seems to stop... all those people having
to fuel the flames of a potential problem that Fairfield has solved by firing the " Heaters" in the resorts,
and Not Offering any SOLUTIONS to any problems-- be part of a problem or part of a solution. As for " No Heat,
No Eat" Bill Horn the VP at Branson, I worked for Bill years ago and he says a lot of things in jest but never
means them. Get a life"
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
UTAH:
PARK CITY: 8% of last year's winter visitors to Summit County own
a timeshare there, according to data compiled by RRC Associate of Boulder, CO. Commissioned by organizations
such as the Park City Chamber/Bureau, the Salt Lake International Airport, Ski Utah, the Salt Lake CVB and the
Utah Travel Council, RRC surveyed 4,400 skiers and snowboarders at 12 Utah resorts during the 2002/2003 winter
season. Data was broken down by location, allowing separate analysis of visitors to Summit County's ski resorts,
which include Park City, the Canyons and Deer Valley.
Lots of room to grow...
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
|
| IN THE EASTERN Half & Midwest of the USA: |
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
HAMPTON BEACH: Plans to build the Royal Shores Timeshare Hotel, an 88-unit
$20 million high-rise on Ocean Boulevard, appear to be in trouble. According to the Union Leader, options
to buy the land for the project have expired, and a foreclosure auction looms for developers Janet Reynolds and
her sister, Jean Beaudreau, owners of the Sea Castle Hotel. In addition, the town has imposed a tax lien of $25,451.86
on the property.
The Sea Castle Hotel is set to be auctioned off today (Friday) at a foreclosure auction. The action to foreclose
was brought by Manchester attorney John Allen on behalf of Westmount Financial Limited Partnerships, the mortgage
holder.
The proposed development was originally seen as one of several steps needed to extend the beach’s traditional 10-
to 12-week summer season. It was also hoped the development would spur the infusion of other new development dollars
along the beach. The project also included several upscale retail shops, a day-care center and a parking garage.
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
NORTH CAROLINA:
HATTERAS VILLAGE: Two months after Hurricane Isabel ripped up the only road leading
into Hatteras Village, transportation officials reopened N.C. Highway 12 on Nov. 18, and full public access will
resume Saturday, Nov. 22. But don't be in a rush to clamor into town-- the residents are still cleaning up and
trying to put their lives back together and aren't quite ready for tourists. But they need the tourists in order
to get the economy moving again, and to that end some motels and restaurants are eager to reopen for Thanksgiving--
hoping that even though the town doesn't look as pretty as it did, visitors will have a good time and remember
them for next year.
Timeshare resorts, too.
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
|
| Rumors Rumors Who's Got the Rumors? |
- •
Is there any truth to the rumor that Welk Resorts outside of San
Diego is expanding with 250 new timeshare units called Canyon Villas?
•
Is there any truth to the rumor that that Marriott Newport Coast
was served with a major lawsuit recently and top management changes are in the wind? We hear the charges are
sexual harassment/ discrimination and that wrongful firing could show up in the paperwork, too...
- YOUR COMMENTS
- Nov. 23: --" At
Marriott when one finds themselves in
a sexual discrimination problem don't they just resign and move to another Marriott property before the completion
of investigation?"
- •
Is there any truth to the rumor that a former in-house manager from Orange
Lake is going to become the new in-house manager at Star Island?
- YOUR COMMENTS
- Nov. 21: --" Yes,
the word around Orlando is Helene Volpi
will start on Monday, Nov. 24. Helene and Hillie Meyers (owner) are good friends and go way back. She was offered
this position @ 6-8 months ago but declined. This track is in need of some help and she may be the right answer
(Helene is presently In-house Director at Vacation Village at Parkway in Kissimmee)."
E-mail street@streettalkblog.com
|
| Quotable quotes: " If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking." —George S. Patton, Jr. |
| International: |
- MALAYSIA: Swiss-Garden International Vacation Club is growing
- THE UK: Macdonald Hotels & Resorts has introduced a new points
club
- UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Keep your eye on Dubai...
READ MORE in Street Talk International (Last Updated
Nov. 21)
|
| Idle Thoughts: |
- • What Business Week Online
has called " a brawl" is developing between Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp and Marriott
International. It involves a conflict about pricing between the two giants, with Marriott firing the opening
salvo by guaranteeing the lowest available rates at any of their brands on or off their own website while Diller
wants the lowest prices to be available on Hotels.com and Expedia. You can read about it at Marriott Shafts Diller, Starts Own Rate Guarantee What we are wondering is whether this " brawl" will spill over into Marriott's timeshare affiliation with Interval International?
• We guess that
maybe the hefty monetary punishment that California recently hit Trendwest for, um, `questionable' sales
and marketing tactics (which Trendwest did not admit to) may have upset parent company Cendant and Cendant
seems to be taking steps to avoid future penalties with both Trendwest and Fairfield. For instance, we hear Fairfield
Resorts is revamping their Member Services sales techniques. Reportedly, all Member Services employees nationwide
were advised there would be no pitching of " Errors" on the clients' reports, nor any status closed, declined
etc etc. That the Member Services personnel will only see members to ask them if they want to own more points if they decline the points they are to shake hands and let them go. Says one source, " WHAAAA is up with that?
What happened to the " No Heat No Eat" attitude of Bill Horn, VP of Member Servies for Fairfield Branson?"
- YOUR COMMENTS:
- Nov. 21: --" This
rumor is true... take a look at Fairfield
Williamsburg. A VP, manager and salespeople were fired for these same reasons. Has Cendant heard of takeaways???
Did they do the research on sales tactics and what is successful? Hope Cendant doesn't learn the hard way like
some brand name companies did in the beginning. Hey, if order takers were successful in timeshare, why pay top
dollar for salespeople?"
- AND: --" As
a former member of their crew, I wonder...if
they were really serious about making the changes ie: no more pitching of " errors" on the customer printout,
then why don't they just reprogram the computer to eliminate the offending phrase " ERROR...ERROR...ERROR" The posturing I've heard before."
- AND: --" Wait
til the Cendant know-it-alls see what
happens when they let all the VLO's go. The foxes will definitely get a free upgrade to the hen house at this point.
It's already being implemented at several sites."
- AND: --As
a former " extremely successful" In house rep
in Fairfield Williamsburg, I wanted to just go on the record that I believe the company understands " takeaway" and sales tactics, but that does not give anyone the right to deceive and or be fraudelent in the name of a $15900.
The owners, as the salespeople, are all people. It is not us against them. Not all top salespeople pitch heat or
deceive. Top salespeople who sell " the right way" deserve the high commissions while the others can consider
themselves theives. If you need to make an owner feel they cant use their benefits in order to get a deal, you
are in the wrong company. There are many (MANY!) top salespeople in Fairfield who don't pitch this crap. And there
are probably many great salespeople who have left our company because of people who do! If you can't pitch it clean,
do yourself a favor and move on, there are few places in Williamsburg who encourage and reward for deceit. It's
great Fairfield, not Cendant, wants to clean this up!"
- Nov. 22: --" In
response to the individual who feels
Fairfield/Cendant is being hypocritical by not removing the " error" screen from their system so it will
not print out the phrase on the owner's account summary - how typical of an insecure, incompetent individual to
make such a remark!First let me say, if you were correctly running the reports, you would not have the error message
on the page. Owners who own specific programs or products accounts are run from that screen 100 times a day without
the " error" message. Thus if there is still an " error" message on your sheets- you do not know
your computer program, or you are intentionally being deceptive. Of course, if one had, to say the least, minimal
product knowledge as well as had personally taken the initiative to learn the operational aspects of the product,
one would not need a crutch to be a successful sales representative. Fairfield has tremendously flexible and high
quality products that may not warrant " order taking," however it certainly does not require dishonesty
to sell. The benefits if explained properly generate plenty of enthusiasm on their own, which has proven to be
a much better selling emotion than anger or fear. Any large corporation will have good eggs and bad eggs- and eventually
those individuals too lazy to do their job correctly come to light. Why should Fairfield restructure an entire
computer program because a grown adult fails to respect their career and employer? This is not daycare where you
put things up on a shelf to keep a child who does not know better from experiencing undeserved consequences-this
is life! If you approach your job duties with disrespect and ignore company policy constantly-why be shocked at
the consequences?"
- Nov. 23: --" As
a former " Agent" of a California
branch (Trendwest), I hope they can at least let people know that 6,000 points does not guarantee them 2 weeks
a year, or that since Cendant owns Century 21 they will rent out their weeks for free. I hope full disclosure is
brought into consideration, along with their dual agency fiduciary responsibility! I need not mention " Investment" or that as an owner you have a better chance at an exchange because the completely owns all 53 resorts (lie). Hmm
is that what was meant by Deceptive Practices?"
- Nov. 24: --" Let's
talk about the real reason why in-house
reps at Fairfield Williamsburg and other Fairfield resorts have resigned themselves to pitching " Error Error" and other things. The Fairfield executive office continues to hand down ridiculously high budgets for the in-house
program. And then they conveniently turn there heads while applying constant pressure to the site VPs to get the
job done. Also, there are the corporate blood sucker " program managers" who are paid on what the sites
produce. So, the e-mails and pressure from them to get the job done is constant. In fact one exec was even heard
saying " if you are going to get fired, you might as well go out with money in your pocket." The Fairfield
executive office knew exactly what was going on at the sites. They did not attempt to change a thing until the
installation of the integrity hotline. Now the execs have the gall to act indignant and promise to clean things
up. Please!
I agree it is about time Fairfield starting caring about their owners and their vacation experiences. But, the
place to start the clean up is not at the sites. The clean up needs to start in Orlando!"
- AND: --" The
real truth is Williamsburg In-house
hasn't hit their budget for years. Other smaller In-house programs consistently would out write the veterans of
Williamsburg. It wasn't because of budgets pushed by corporate and anyone that was around this site the past few
years knows that Mary Reinhardt had things her way. We would be so grossly understaffed, yet Mike Powers could
do no wrong. The bottom line is integrity. Fairfield offers an awesome product and some people feel that to sell
this great product, they need to pitch heat. Everyone should be working as a team and quit pointing fingers!"
- Nov. 25: -" To
the last comments made this person doesn't
have a clue. Williamsburg In- house has never missed the budget except for this year because check ins are down.
My father always said if you don't know what you're talking about keep your mouth shut."
- AND: --" I
don't know what box the last person
has been living in, but this past summer WIlliamsburg was getting over 1100 arrivals per week from June through
middle of September. Year to date they are well over the budgeted amount of expected arrivals. The largest amount
for any of the Fairfield's sites yet they only had about 30 in-house sales reps. The front-line tried to help,
but they were understaffed too. Most weeks the site was only seeing about 40% of these guests. Marketing lost money
and the site salea revenue. You do the math or did your dad teach you that too?"
•
Who do you think will replace Bruce Rohman as Project Director at Marriott
Team Desert when he takes a Corporate position with Marriott in Orlando. Could it be Harry Camacho
or Robert Van Dyke?
- YOUR COMMENTS
- Nov. 25: --" Marriott
always axes the regional jobs first.
(ex: Ko'Olina Beach Club. Former VP in Orlando is taking the downgrade to PD Ko'Olina.) So in the desert, VD will
get the job over Camacho."
E-mail
street@streettalkblog.com
|
| People on the Move: |
- Robin Doran is returning to HGVC
Orlando as an in-house manager after a brief soujourn around Europe. We hear that salespeople cannot wait for
her famous " are you sure?" close to solidify many deals.
|
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