Back in January, Inside Timeshare published Irene Parker’s article “Attorneys General and Timeshare under Trump”, This was at the time of the now President Trump’s inauguration. In the introduction, we broke the news to our US readers of the plans Mr Trump had going through planning in Scotland, for a second golf course and the increase in the number of timeshare apartments.
This apparently came as a big surprise to our American readers, it would seem they had no idea that he was also involved in “timeshare”.
Below are three links to two major UK daily newspapers, the last link is around 9 months old, but shows the opposition that Mr, now President Trump faced from local people. In this particular article is the story of a quarryman who refused to sell his home to Trump, who described him as a “disgrace” for not wanting to sell him his “pigsty of a home”. I don’t know about you, but in the UK and especially in Scotland that type of remark about someone’s home is a total insult.
Now to Irene’s article.
What is ARDA-ROC Doing Today? An Analysis
By Irene Parker – March 24, 2017
After reading the March article “What is ARDA-ROC doing today?”
http://resorttrades.com/what-is-arda-roc-doing-today/
It seems a good time to revisit my $7 “voluntary” donation to ARDA-ROC. The word voluntary has a nice ring to it so for years when paying our maintenance fees, if I was asked if I would like to make the voluntary donation to ARDA-ROC, I said, “Sure.” Since then I have learned too much to ever answer in the affirmative again, unless proven wrong.
According to Lisa Ann Schreier, the ARDA board only lists one timeshare owner. Of the 23 board members, included are Frank Goeckel, Diamond Resorts, recently departed with a $2 million handshake and Franz Hanning, departed after the Trish Williams $20 million Wyndham Whistleblower verdict with a $3.4 million handshake.
http://www.ardaroc.org/roc/about/default.aspx?id=1354
Of the $816,068 ARDA made in political contributions, 74% went to Republicans and 26% to democrats. This breakdown was also provided by Lisa Ann Schreier:
https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00358663
Like it or not, timeshare is all about politics. President Trump, or his family, is going into the timeshare business. Pictured to the left of President Elect Trump is long-standing friend David Siegel, owner of Westgate timeshare. Given the current political climate it would not surprise me if the. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was spearheaded by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. That’s the organization that helped the Wells Fargo victims.
As Charles Thomas of Inside Timeshare previously reported,
“Well it is actually quite simple for those in Scotland, back in 2008 there were some very heated debates over Mr Trump’s plan to build an 18 hole golf course and resort in Balmedie Aberdeenshire. This met with considerable resistance from the local people, but eventually Trump won through.
The original plan was to build a 450-room hotel, a second golf course, 500 luxury homes and 900 timeshare apartments along with a second 18 hole golf course. In a recent article in The Guardian newspaper these plans now intend to double the number of homes and timeshare apartments”
Whether you are or were for or against now President Trump, it is clear he is on the side of the timeshare developer which has become a battlefield pitting owners against developers.
Now to our main attraction:
What is ARD-ROC doing today?
A breakdown for soundbite reading and request for more information:
In a perfect world the only thing ARDA-ROC would be doing today would be writing checks, sitting back and relaxing. But, it’s not a perfect world and so a typical day for Chairman Ken McKelvey goes something like this:
It is a Thursday and McKelvey started his day discussing a new wrinkle in the South Carolina transfer legislation that ARDA-ROC has been proposing.
I believe this is South Carolina House Bill 3647 tightening the language of timeshare transfers. In our last article we reported how the nature of the perpetual contract, rising maintenance fees and little or no secondary market spells a disaster for aging original owners if denied a voluntary surrender.
That was followed by a conference call regarding the proposed United States Virgin Islands timeshare fee.
This does sound like a benefit for owners because an extra $300 slapped onto an exchange seems exorbitant.
The day before was loaded with details regarding a Saint Maarten Parliament Timeshare Ordinance and its potential impact on consumers.I know nothing about the Saint Maarteen Parliament Timeshare Ordinance but it sounds ominous.
Along with a final draft of legislature in Florida regarding the sunset clause to help legacy properties gain reasonable voting requirements to extend into the timeshare agreements into the future. Whew.
This is Florida House Bill 818 concerning a reset to continue beyond the sunset provision.
And he’s just a volunteer who is happy it is not Monday.
The ongoing operations of ARDA-ROC is both reactive and proactive; on one hand they react to any proposed legislature, dealing with real estate or tourism proposed laws that have any tentacles that could possibly affect timeshare and on the other hand they write and lobby for legislature that could help timeshare owners.
This lobby effort sparked outrage among owner advocates. Did my $7 go to this effort?
“The bills (House Bill 453 and Senate Bill 932) have been sponsored by two politicians from Central Florida — deep in the heart of time-share country: Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, and Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland.
Both politicians have received money from time-share interests — an industry that showers cash on Florida politicians and committees, including $300,000 to the Republican Party of Florida and $150,000 to the Democrats,” reported Scott Maxwell for the Orlando Sentinel.
Throughout the year, ARDA-ROC has lobbyists on retainer in up to 25 states, and territories, and who according to McKelvey “we HOPE the only thing we ever hear from them is an invoice.”
These lobbyists monitor and pick through every piece of proposed legislature with a fine tooth comb, seeking things that are rarely specifically spelled out to say timeshare, but could be interpreted to have grand impact on it.
This from Advocate Michael Kosor:
The “fine tune comb” can be seen in the Nevada State Bill 195 that would have allowed an Association Board to terminate its management contract (the most important and costly agreement a board oversees), issued to them by the developer, without obtaining a majority owner vote – an impossible effort. ARDA-ROC identified the change and successfully lobbied to have it removed. This was clearly an owner friendly provision the industry did not support. Lobbyists (of ARDA and ARDA ROC, they use the terms loosely and interchangeably) suggested (vaguely and without discussion despite being an absurd assertion) the original language was “intended to protect timeshare owners” and should not be changed.
Senator Harris‘ efforts last session to get simple disclosure passed were met with real resistance by powerful industry lobbyists. For multiple reasons we have targeted in this Nevada legislation proposal only two primary issues – disclosure of a non-viable resale market, and the perpetual nature of the contract. Together, these two elements of a timeshare can produce a significant hardship and destroy any value a timeshare may hold.
And this is in addition to a fantastic group of State Directors who lead the lobbyist, make numerous visits to state capitals to ‘tell the story’ and our very strong and necessary presence with our capable staff in our Nation’s capital.
Who are the State Directors?
Writing retainer checks and relaxing is the hope because that means that nothing has been proposed that negatively affects the timeshare community, but without monitoring it the entire industry could be side swiped with fees, taxes and laws that forever change the situation, such as the USVI timeshare “fee” which could potentially be in excess of $300 week for all occupants. Imagine trying to exchange to the USVI with a new $300 fee, on top of maintenance fees and exchange fees, and travel costs. The three islands that make up the USVI quickly lose their appeal compared to other competing islands.
This does sound like something that will benefit owners.
Many times these laws don’t intend to even impact timeshare, which exists in a strange, hard-to-define, world of its own, operating in limbo between resort and real estate. So, ARDA-ROC has to carefully carve out the pieces of legislature that didn’t intend to affect timeshare, but is packed with the potential. If they had nothing to react to, to chip away from legislation or to fight for an agreement on such as tax breaks then they would be very happy. Maybe a little bored, but happy.
Non deeded points are not real estate. It is a “right to use” product like a country club membership except it can’t be cancelled. Owners are not owners. They are members. In most states, sales agents are licensed leading the consumer to think they are protected by real estate rules and regulations. They are not. This is another area of concern.
Then there are the proactive operations of ARDA-ROC. They work as the biggest opponent against the menacing transfer companies that have unfortunately dragged the term timeshare through the mud for years. When the economy fell and everyone was unloading their luxury expenses, such as vacations, transfer companies flew in and took advantage. ARDA-ROC has proactively worked every day to propose draft legislation and lobby for laws that protect timeshare owners and their associations.
This is treating the symptom. ARDA denies lack of a secondary market is a problem.
This from an Advocate Michael Kosor concerning Nevada State Bill 195:
As a general rule, ARDA-ROC will act in the interests of owners only when the issue benefits both the industry and owners. When the interests depart or conflict with the industry, ARDA-ROC is silent – deferring to industry interests. I can find no instance when they were on both sides of the fence as you might otherwise expect.
The most telling example concerns the limited and sometimes non-existent secondary market.
Mr. Nusbaum from ARDA is quoted in a June 2014 RedWeek article in reference to the lack of a viable resale market, “This is a legacy problem. People buying a timeshare today are buying it from multisite clubs that have management forever and sales teams forever, so the ability to recycle inventory will not be a problem in the future.”
I do not buy the absurd assertion the lack of a resale market can be attributed to legacy resorts. I also do not buy the argument he makes in the same article, that legacy BODs and BODs in general, lack the expertise to effectively manage TS associations “getting better managed at the top of the funnel, and we’re finding some solutions at the bottom,” said Nusbaum. ARDA’s solution appears to be to consolidate all TS deeds into perpetual leasing organization- the multisite clubs. The article is very instructive on what ARDA is doing.
Because timeshare owners are not primary property owners and typically live outside of the state or territory their vacation home resides they do not get the opportunity to vote on issues that could impact their resort.
Aren’t the HOAs stockpiled with developer members there to make sure the developer has the majority vote on timeshare boards?
This RedWeek article explains just how contentious board battles can get:
http://blog.redweek.com/2015/10/timeshare-owners-deny-diamond-takeover.html
So, if you are wondering what ARDA-ROC is doing today, it’s anything but just paying lobbyist retainers and relaxing.
Today, ARDA-ROC is looking out for timeshare owners.
Then why is this timeshare owners group so outraged that ARDA has been banned from attending meetings?
https://www.redweek.com/resources/ask-redweek/arda-roc-donation-in-maintenance-bill
They are trying to make sure owner’s resorts don’t get hit with fees so high that they cannot survive. They are making sure associations are not disassembled overnight. They are trying to make sure faulty transfer companies cannot wiggle through any legal loopholes to operate and harm owners any longer. Today they are writing, monitoring, lobbying, watching and protecting. Tomorrow will be different issues, different legislatures to discuss, different conversations, different states and territories on the table, but the purpose of the day will be the same as the day they began standing as strong as a rock for owners and associations.
In this last paragraph I see nothing about the limited and sometimes non-existent secondary market that any owner I talk with is most concerned with.
Owners who care enough about timeshare want ARDA- ROC to provide more transparency related to the breath and method of “owner” donations and support they claim to have.
Timeshare has long been suffering from a failed decentralized state regulation and legislative system where a lack of constituents and the eminence lobby power of the industry are able to exert influence – influence that would not otherwise be available on a national level – this is why ARDA lobbies so strongly to keep TS legislation at the state level.
This is the first part of a two part article. Next week we will reach out to ARDA-ROC and to some industry insiders to see if meaningful discussion and dialogue is even a possibility.
Thank you Irene and all those who contributed to this article, Inside Timeshare is proud to be working closely with our cousins across the “great lake”, sharing timeshare news. It gives us in Europe a great insight into this global industry, we also hope that it helps our American readers to understand what goes on elsewhere.
To end this piece today we bring you some news from our US friends which has not been highlighted in the Europe.
Back in February we mentioned news that we received of an apparent falling out between the RDO and TATOC, with many RDO members withdrawing their membership or reducing their contributions. But it would now seem that TATOC and Harry Taylor have a new friend, ARDA, the American Resorts Development Association. They recently attended the TATOC Annual General Meeting held at The Park Royal Hotel in Warrington between 3 and 5 March, which our sources revealed was not as well attended as previous years. At this conference ARDA presented Harry Taylor with a donation of $30,000. Ostensibly this is for the TATOC helpline which it is claimed is helping European owners of US timeshares. So Far there is nothing on the TATOC website in the news section about the conference or the donation.
Howard C. Nusbaum, RRP
President and Chief Executive Officer
Handing the cheque to Harry Taylor
The post The Friday Letter from America appeared first on Inside Timeshare.