ARDA Contribution?

[JoeInMD]

Logged on to MVC to pay maintenance fees, this is my first time doing it, and in addition to the maintenance fee I see a $10 charge for an ARDA contribution. Does anyone know what ARDA is and why I have to give them $10 in addition to a $1,600 maintenance fee?!? Thanks!
Joe

 

[VegasBella]

Does anyone know what ARDA is and why I have to give them $10 in addition to a $1,600 maintenance fee?!?

Here is ARDA: http://www.arda.org/arda/home.aspx

It's the American Resort Development Association. They do various things for the timeshare community, some things are good for owners and some aren't.

If you want to not pay the $10 then you probably have to attend HOA meetings and make a case to change it to optional.

 

[Passepartout]

ARDA does little to nothing to benefit owners. I cross the line item off my MF (non-Marriott) bills and subtract the amount. They cash the checks.

Jim

 

[dioxide45]

You don't have to pay the $10, just leave the amount you wan to pay for that blank and you won't be charged. I paid our Harbour Lake MF and didn't pay it. It is no showing as no longer due.

 

[Fern Modena]

All they have to do is cross it off their bill or indicate they won't be paying the ARDA contribution. That is exactly what it is, a contribution, and it is NOT manditory. Ever. Some timeshares make it appear that way by making it where you have to cross it off rather than add it on. But it isn't, no matter how it looks.

I've been a timesharer for many, many years (like 1980 or so) and I've never, ever paid.

There is another post about ARDA "dues" recently which the OP could search for. I wrote a good post there about it as did some others.

Fern

Here is ARDA: http://www.arda.org/arda/home.aspx

It's the American Resort Development Association. They do various things for the timeshare community, some things are good for owners and some aren't.

If you want to not pay the $10 then you probably have to attend HOA meetings and make a case to change it to optional.

 

[curbysplace]

Check it out. ARDA is a lobbyist organization/PAC. It is a sister organization to the timeshare developer's lobbyist organization/PAC. My research shows most of the directors of the "owners" PAC and the "developers" PAC are the same people or very closely affiliated with each other by their respective employers or association memberships. My research also shows that almost every, if not all, of the owner's group's advocacy positions are identical to the developer's group positions. This tells me that what I perceive as an inherent conflict of interest really is a conflict of interest. I don't pay the fee and you are under no obligation to pay either. You can verify all this by looking at the group's website.

 

[BocaBoy]

Here we go again. It comes up every year. The fee is totally optional and I would never suggest whether any individual owner should pay it or not. That is an intensely personal decision. However, it is simply not true that ARDA-ROC does little for timeshare owners. They do a lot, and I am very glad that so many owners do choose to contribute. On this Board you seldom see the distinction made between ARDA and ARDA-ROC and you almost never see mention of the considerable work ARDA-ROC does on our behalf, especially in terms of taxation issues. I am afraid this is another example I see here all the time of the attitude that if a developer is involved in any way, the timeshare owners are getting screwed. It is just not true that developers and owners have no common interests.

 

[TUGBrian]

ARDA and ARDA-ROC seem to only fight battles that benefit both owners and developers. if you can find an example where either of these entities have lobbied for legislation that benefits owners to the detriment of developers, id love to see it!

now that said, there are certainly issues they lobby for that are indeed mutually beneficial to both developers and owners (the tax issue for one)...and if you feel the annual donation is worth that...then by all means contribute.

however given the stance they took on the recent florida house bill that was decidedly "anti owner", I certainly wont be donating to them or promoting them in any way.

and thats on top of the fact that ARDA still allows upfront fee resale companies in its membership ranks. If ARDA-ROC were truly fighting battles that were important to timeshare owners, their first course of action would be to urge their parent entity to cease that activity. This has been my biggest bone to pick with arda/arda-roc for EONS!

 

[davidvel]

however given the stance they took on the recent florida house bill that was decidedly "anti owner", I certainly wont be donating to them or promoting them in any way.

Well Brian, you better check your facts (sarcasm). ArdaROC spends a lot of html on its website attempting to show how great that legislation is for owners.

Methinks ROC doth protest too much!

 

[Jason245]

Well Brian, you better check your facts (sarcasm). ArdaROC spends a lot of html on its website attempting to show how great that legislation is for owners.

Methinks ROC doth protest too much!

Well.. if you count all thr developer owned intervals. .. then yes they are helping those owners out ..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[TUGBrian]

indeed, if its on the internet it must be true!

 

[pedro47]

Well Brian, you better check your facts (sarcasm). ArdaROC spends a lot of html on its website attempting to show how great that legislation is for owners.

Methinks ROC doth protest too much!

Brian question was can you name them or list them?

 

[Fern Modena]

I referred the OP (that's you, Joe in MD, it means "original poster") to our previous thread on ARDA, which was eight or ten days old at the time. I don't know if he did that, or even knows how. I'm guessing not to both, so here ae instructions on how to find it:

How to find info you want through a Google Search, simplified.

I didn't feel like reposting what I had said so recently, but you can find it there.

Fern

Logged on to MVC to pay maintenance fees, this is my first time doing it, and in addition to the maintenance fee I see a $10 charge for an ARDA contribution. Does anyone know what ARDA is and why I have to give them $10 in addition to a $1,600 maintenance fee?!? Thanks!
Joe

 

[BocaBoy]

ARDA and ARDA-ROC seem to only fight battles that benefit both owners and developers. if you can find an example where either of these entities have lobbied for legislation that benefits owners to the detriment of developers, id love to see it!

now that said, there are certainly issues they lobby for that are indeed mutually beneficial to both developers and owners (the tax issue for one)...and if you feel the annual donation is worth that...then by all means contribute.

Even if they only lobby for issues that benefit both owners and developers, that is a distinctly worthwhile activity that benefits us all. I personally think a healthy timeshare industry is vital to all owners. Contrary to many on this board, I personally believe that there are relatively few issues where what is good for one is bad for the other, and that goes both ways.

 

[JoeInMD]

Thanks everyone for all the information as well as links to go to for further research. I don't think I will be making the ARDA contribution this year and probably not in the future either.
Joe

 

[TUGBrian]

Even if they only lobby for issues that benefit both owners and developers, that is a distinctly worthwhile activity that benefits us all. I personally think a healthy timeshare industry is vital to all owners. Contrary to many on this board, I personally believe that there are relatively few issues where what is good for one is bad for the other, and that goes both ways.

and thats all fine and dandy, however the other side to that argument is when any issue that pits developers vs owner interests...it is very clear where arda and arda-roc will put its chips (and your donations).

 

[Jason245]

If they lobbied for the elimination of comission on developer sales (only hourly or salary employees can sell with no comp tied to sales). Elimination of any incentives to people for attending presentations and increase of recision to 30 days... then I would support them as they would be reducing lies, false promises, and the number of people who buy that really shouldn't buy.

Of course that is stuff that developers never go for..

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[GaryDouglas]

Better than nothing

I remember the last time that the County of Maui was considering raising our already ridiculously high percentage used to determine property tax (compared to other property tax types), ARDA was there to speak up for us. In this imperfect world, this was better than no representation at all...

 

[Fern Modena]

Yeah, but...in this case, as well as others, isn't it helping the Developers in a much bigger way than the individual owners? I think ARDA is representing their interests, and they should be paying for the lobbying.

Fern

I remember the last time that the County of Maui was considering raising our already ridiculously high percentage used to determine property tax (compared to other property tax types), ARDA was there to speak up for us. In this imperfect world, this was better than no representation at all...

 

[BocaBoy]

Yeah, but...in this case, as well as others, isn't it helping the Developers in a much bigger way than the individual owners? I think ARDA is representing their interests, and they should be paying for the lobbying.

Fern

How can you say that opposing increased taxation of timeshare owners benefits developers more than the owners? Taxation is probably the clearest example of an issue where their efforts are hugely beneficial to all of us.

 

[BocaBoy]

If they lobbied for the elimination of comission on developer sales (only hourly or salary employees can sell with no comp tied to sales). Elimination of any incentives to people for attending presentations and increase of recision to 30 days... then I would support them as they would be reducing lies, false promises, and the number of people who buy that really shouldn't buy.

So you think we should have laws against commissions? The same argument would apply to all businesses, like car sales, clothing sales, computer sales, etc. Almost all large companies have large sales forces paid on commission and the same issues apply. And we already have a pretty long rescission period. There are already many more protections in timeshare sales than in most things.

 

[TUGBrian]

not sure id call what is currently in place in most states "a pretty long rescission period" especially given that nearly all buyers are still on vacation for multiple days after they sign the contract.

there are many states where you could easily be out of your rescission period before you even returned home.

 

[Fern Modena]

Because if the taxes were too high, the developers wouldn't be able to sell any more timeshares. So it is very much to their benefit to make sure they aren't raised. I bet if it was somewhere that they weren't in sales, they wouldn't bother with it. Do you know anywhere where they did this purely for the benefit of owners? Not me.

Fern

How can you say that opposing increased taxation of timeshare owners benefits developers more than the owners? Taxation is probably the clearest example of an issue where their efforts are hugely beneficial to all of us.

 

[BocaBoy]

Because if the taxes were too high, the developers wouldn't be able to sell any more timeshares. So it is very much to their benefit to make sure they aren't raised. I bet if it was somewhere that they weren't in sales, they wouldn't bother with it. Do you know anywhere where they did this purely for the benefit of owners? Not me.

That is a bogus question because timeshares are in sales everywhere all the time. I also don't know of anywhere they did it where there were no owners, but that would be a comparably silly and bogus question to ask because such a place also does not exist.

Of course tax lobbying also benefits developers, but it is direct in my pocket. Can't get much more direct than that, and I think that arguing it helps developers more than owners to tax owners less takes away credibility from whoever makes that argument.

To me, it is a question of supporting things that give all of us a fair, healthy and balanced timeshare industry, and I am generally pretty satisfied with the issues ARDA-ROC supports.

 

[Fern Modena]

Good, then you can pay mine

Fern

That is a bogus question because timeshares are in sales everywhere all the time. I also don't know of anywhere they did it where there were no owners, but that would be a comparably silly and bogus question to ask because such a place also does not exist.

Of course tax lobbying also benefits developers, but it is direct in my pocket. Can't get much more direct than that, and I think that arguing it helps developers more than owners to tax owners less takes away credibility from whoever makes that argument.

To me, it is a question of supporting things that give all of us a fair, healthy and balanced timeshare industry, and I am generally pretty satisfied with the issues ARDA-ROC supports.