This is deja-vu all over again.
Our original TS purchase was for a timeshare affiliated with a major resort in the Poconos. Our reasoning, as newbies, was that a major resort was more likely to protect the value of the TS units than a stand-alone TS operator. This was many years ago and history has proved us very wrong.
Our TS was evenutally dropped by RCI. The reason was the resort had started renting out the units as "ski villas", resulting in the kind of overcrowding and drunken partying you could expect from groups of young skiers from NYC and Philly. The units were trashed and the resort had no interest in fixing them. Also, developers in the Poconos had started changing the time periods after we bought. Our white week was originally good from labor day to memorial day. After developers (at all the Pocono resorts) started inventing winter ski weeks which were red period and shortening the white period, we ended up with week that was good during the months of April and October and impossible to get into because of the short time period and the units being rented to resort guests. As it was a RTU, we walked away. I'm sure people who bought at other resorts, such as the Playboy Club in Great Gorge, NJ, had no expectation that such a famed brand would go out of business in only a few years.
BTW, we visited Friar Tuck some years ago and, based on the sad state of the resort and looks of the TS, along with its remote location, would never consider buying. Ten years ago Friar Tuck was generating most of its visitor traffic by having weekend concerts. We found the place dark, dog-eared and nearly deserted. I'm sure the only reason anyone would have purchased there was because they were convinced it was a cheap way to trade with RCI. From what I read in the newspaper article, the sales price was low and the MF is way below what it would logically cost to maintain the place.
