• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 31 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 31st anniversary: Happy 31st Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $24,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $24 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    Tens of thousands of subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Orlando Sentinel Article on cheap resale timeshares!

TUGBrian

TUGBrian

Administrator
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
24,406
Reaction score
10,632
Location
Florida
Interesting that is the exact same article.
 
many articles end up in papers across the country just like that. the reporter can have his story picked up in hundreds or thousands of papers if they are interesting enough.

Same thing happend to the story a few weeks back from the Minnessota Star.
 
A parallel Tug thread has a similar discusion . The more recent posts in the thread have the current germane links.


Richard
 
Last edited:
My takeaway from reading this, isnt that the media is finally getting it. Its that the developers are finally getting it.

To me the most interesting line in the article is the last line

"Management at Hilton said, 'We got them into this, now we need to develop an exit strategy to get them out.' And that's what we did," Anderson said

If the other majors would follow Hilton's lead. and support a secondary market it would go a long way towards putting the vultures (ppcs) out of business

Of course there will still be a problem disposing of blue weeks in the older resorts where the developer is long gone
 
I Resemble That Remark.

falmouth3 said:
Hey, that's our Alan Cole (AwayWeGo) who is quoted in that article.
Click to expand...
Correct.

Not only that, an NBC producer with the Today Show who read the Orlando Sentinel story now wants to put me on TV to talk about it.

They had planned on coming over with 1 of their TV cameras today, but they put it off till Monday.

Won't that be something ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
AwayWeGo said:
Correct.

Not only that, an NBC producer with the Today Show who read the Orlando Sentinel story now wants to put me on TV to talk about it.

They had planned on coming over with 1 of their TV cameras today, but they put it off till Monday.

Won't that be something ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
Click to expand...

After your face is on national TV discussing the advantages of buying resale and talking about how no one should ever buy full freight, it is going to be real hard for you if you go on timeshare tours for the freebies. You might be banned from all timeshare tours like the card counters are banned in Vegas. They might have your picture posted in every sales room of every Wastegate, Wyndham, Marriott, and Hilton timshare sales office in the entire USA. You might get escorted out of the presentation long before you get to go to gifting.
 
Last edited:
AwayWeGo said:
Correct.

Not only that, an NBC producer with the Today Show who read the Orlando Sentinel story now wants to put me on TV to talk about it.

They had planned on coming over with 1 of their TV cameras today, but they put it off till Monday.

Won't that be something ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
Click to expand...

Alan, that's really something! That tops our pic in the NY Times a few year ago. :cool:
 
Out There In Television Land.

rickandcindy23 said:
Alan, that's really something! That tops our pic in the NY Times a few year ago.
Click to expand...
I don't know about that.

And if the piece ever hits the airwaves, I doubt I'll see it. I haven't watched the Today Show -- or any morning TV -- since back in the B&W television days of Dave Garroway & J. Fred Muggs.

J_fred_muggs-5.jpg

-- hotlinked --​

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
Believe It When You See It.

Passepartout said:
Wow! Who'd a thunk it! Alan on the electric TeeVee.
Click to expand...
Nobody wants to know what I think about politics, economics, music, literature, science, history, health, travel, children, entertainment, movies, religion, food, family, philosophy, sports, medicine, computers, women, money, friendship, war, peace, or anything of serious content.

But get quoted in the papers just 1 little time about giving away a timeshare el freebo & network TV can't wait to get in on it.

So it goes.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
Looking forward to monday!
 
This article struck me as a real downer. No mention of the excellent vacation values available to those willing to learn the resale market. Neither does the article point much blame toward the the hard sell developers who have managed to sell more of this product than the market really wants to own. No mention of the fact that the developer that was proposing taking away benefits from resale owners is only exacerbating the problem by further driving down the value of resales. To the uninformed, I think it leaves you with the idea that the real problem is the resale market rather than the oversupply of units and the fact they are forcibly sold to people who aren't truly prepared for the commitment of owning.
 
tombo said:
After your face is on national TV discussing the advantages of buying resale and talking about how no one should ever buy full freight, it is going to be real hard for you if you go on timeshare tours for the freebies. You might be banned from all timeshare tours like the card counters are banned in Vegas. They might have your picture posted in every sales room of every Wastegate, Wyndham, Marriott, and Hilton timshare sales office in the entire USA. You might get escorted out of the presentation long before you get to go to gifting.
Click to expand...

I'd love to be banned from all timeshare tours!! But I would want my name flagged upon check-in...so they don't bug me at all! :)
 
Dave*H said:
This article struck me as a real downer. No mention of the excellent vacation values available to those willing to learn the resale market. Neither does the article point much blame toward the the hard sell developers who have managed to sell more of this product than the market really wants to own. No mention of the fact that the developer that was proposing taking away benefits from resale owners is only exacerbating the problem by further driving down the value of resales. To the uninformed, I think it leaves you with the idea that the real problem is the resale market rather than the oversupply of units and the fact they are forcibly sold to people who aren't truly prepared for the commitment of owning.
Click to expand...

And these hapless owners were further victimized by RCI who took their deposited weeks and rented them to the public without providing the owner with a comparable exchange (and charged them membership fees, to boot, for the disservice).

Most people were attracted by the promise of being able to trade their weeks for vacations all over the world. Had they been able to accomplish this, they probably would have remained happy owners, even after they realized they could have purchased their week for far less money on the secondary market. Many TUG members admit to buying their first week from a developer and subsequently acquiring more weeks via resale.

The changes recently implemented by RCI, as a result of the class action lawsuit, constitute a much needed improvement in the exchange program. But I fear it may be a case of "too little, too late" or locking the barn door after the horse (a/k/a perhaps a million former RCI members) has escaped.
 
Last edited:
Go get 'em Alan!

We had our "15 minutes" back in 1998 when we were featured in Page 1 of USA TODAY regarding our timeshare ownership in (then) Fairfield. Pictures of us at the Alexandria resort pool & everything! It was fun and hopefully someone got a bit better informed by it.
 
Plugging TUG On TV.

timeos2 said:
Go get 'em Alan!
Click to expand...
The producer showed up right on time -- even talked The Chief Of Staff into participating.

From time to time while I was on camera, I held up a little computer-printed sign in dark black characters spelling out tug2.net. The producer kept motioning for me to put the little sign out of sight, but after it was down a short while I held it up again. That little up & down sequence went on 3-4 times during the interview -- will be interesting to see whether the little sign shows up on screen at all or gets totally cut in the editing process.

The producer who showed up here said the story is being produced in New York by another Today Show producer. While I was being interviewed here, an Orlando FL TV crew was shooting video at the timeshare we gave away last year.

The Washington DC producer said she'll let me know when the piece is scheduled for broadcast. If she actually does let me know, I'll pass along that information via TUG-BBS in case anybody is interested.

When the interview was done, they set up the camera so it showed me looking at timeshare web sites on the portable computer -- TUG, Cypress Pointe Grande Villas, eBay timeshare listings, etc. We showed'm page after page of eBay completed listings of $1 timeshares (no reserve) -- some that sold & more that ended without getting any bids.

Once they've got me on tape, they've got me. Whether I come out looking like a sage or a dunce is completely a matter of how they edit the interview footage. Mox nix either way.

Off camera, the cameraman said he bought a Las Vegas timeshare 9 years ago, paid it off & faithfully paid annual fees, but never went there or exchanged it till this year.

Also off camera, the producer says a friend of hers signed up for a hard-sell timeshare tour in Las Vegas for the promised reward of a $100 American Express gift card. The friend's 90-minute presentation stretched to 3 hours & they kept handing her off to seller after seller before finally letting her go.

So it goes.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
AwayWeGo said:

From time to time while I was on camera, I held up a little computer-printed sign in dark black characters spelling out tug2.net. The producer kept motioning for me to put the little sign out of sight, but after it was down a short while I held it up again. That little up & down sequence went on 3-4 times during the interview -- will be interesting to see whether the little sign shows up on screen at all or gets totally cut in the editing process.
...
The Washington DC producer said she'll let me know when the piece is scheduled for broadcast. If she actually does let me know, I'll pass along that information via TUG-BBS in case anybody is interested.
Click to expand...

Please do let us know, Alan! I'm trying to remember, is the Today Show the one where you can see people on the sidewalk waving and peering in through the windows behind the live set? If it is, maybe I'll go into NYC that day so I can stand by the windows and hold up a big "tug2.net" sign around the time the segment airs, in case your sign gets edited out! :rofl:
 
FreeIn2010 said:
I'd love to be banned from all timeshare tours!! But I would want my name flagged upon check-in...so they don't bug me at all! :)
Click to expand...

I agree with you. I doubt I will ever go on another timeshare tour no matter what freebie they offer. It is a miserable experience to me and not worth the gift or the 3 hours they usually take away from my day. I just said it because Alan still takes a tour for the freebies on occassion, and after he is on national TV he might not be the most popular guest.

I would love to hear the salesman and sales mgr talking in a back room saying I swear that looks just like that son of a %$*$ from the Today show that told the whole country that timeshares aren't even worth a dollar. That is a timeshare tour I would love to be a part of. :hysterical:
 
Last edited:
Interview Attire.

tombo said:
After your face is on national TV discussing the advantages of buying resale and talking about how no one should ever buy full freight, it is going to be real hard for you if you go on timeshare tours for the freebies. You might be banned from all timeshare tours like the card counters are banned in Vegas. They might have your picture posted in every sales room of every Wastegate, Wyndham, Marriott, and Hilton timshare sales office in the entire USA. You might get escorted out of the presentation long before you get to go to gifting.
Click to expand...
In that case, when the camera was rolling I should have been wearing a special shirt.

The Chief Of Staff made a similar observation about being 86d from future freebie tours -- a small price to pay, if that happens, for the privilege of getting the word out on national TV about the true value of timeshare deeds.

At this point, though, no one with the possible exception of the producer knows exactly what will be coming out of my mouth on the Today Show.

Then after the show airs, it could result in instant notoriety among the fraternity of timeshare sellers on the 1 hand, or on the other hand it could be quickly overlooked & ignored & forgotten by pretty much everybody.

We'll see, eh ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
For Ginger Brownlow, a sales executive at King's Creek Plantation, a luxury time share in Williamsburg, Va., the challenge is competing with her own product when it's selling for half price on sites such as Tremblay's. Though her price includes the cost of marketing the resort and driving consumer demand, resellers are capturing some of that demand with much-lower prices.

"I'm selling it for 35 [thousand], the people on the Internet are selling it for 15 [thousand]. How do I compete with that?" Brownlow said.

But even as she looks for solutions — Brownlow favors restricting resale owners' access to certain ownership benefits — she also knows the resale market is essential because it allows existing time-share owners elsewhere to trade in their current units and upgrade to her resort.
Click to expand...


This is an interesting comment this Brownlow person said.. they want to limit owners access to certain ownership benefits.. What like "VIP" at Wyndham, they hosed that deal themselves by taking away all the good benefits of buying all the fricking points to get VIP status.. .. big whoop..

They just don't get it.. and never will.. :wall:

Good job alan..
 
snowcat59 said:
I was contacted by direct tranfers to get rid of my timeshare. They don't buy them, they have you pay a fee to take it from you. I was wondering if this type of company is a scam.:shrug:
Click to expand...

Sometimes it can be a scam. Some do what they say....take your money and the deed to your timeshare and rid you of future maintenance fees. Others take your money and never transfer the deed into their name and you are still responsible for the fees.

I'm sure plenty of other will chime in, but that is the jist of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top