Its a valid point though...there are way too many timeshares available, so many that there are thousands more for sale then could be bought on the resale market....
We need to move towards a shift in the market somehow...If that is everyone who wants to sell putting their TS's in a viking ship so that the resorts that no one wants have to rethink their models...maybe closing down some floors....maybe its not a bad thing...
Do you really believe that MF's should be almost twice what we can rent them for? Do you like that no TS has any resale value? The market is beyond saturated and unless we start dumping these weeks back onto the resorts through Viking Ships....They'll keep building and selling
Ride -
As has been stated in another thread the development of any new timeshares has virtually been extinguished, The few that are actually under construction may, or may not, ever be completed or even actually sold as timeshares. That part of the equation has been dealt a death blow by the lenders who now realize the market is fully saturated - maybe 200% - and will no longer back the massive money needed to build new resorts.
The developers aren't backing down though. They have, by design or accident, realized that they can make far more money without the massive capital risk by basically repackaging what already exists and is available to them "in trade". The best collect money as well as the deeds to the existing units, get the buyer to pay thousands to buy into a new "club" or "convert" to points, get to charge overhead for the club/points system, get the improvements to the resorts paid for by the owners/members and, in their best scenario, get paid handsomely to manage those resorts. Win, win, win, win, win & more for them - and little or no cash required!
Only the "pure" timeshares sales models, notably like Wastegate, that lack any true points or club are left exposed in the new world order. The Wyndhams, Marriotts (VERY late to the game but thay may have snuck in at the last moment and then jettisoned the losing, money hungry parts to the likely ill-fated spin off they recently rammed down owners throats), Hiltons and even Diamond, who may have really lucked into a windfall, are poised to reap the benefits of recycled properties and a never ending revenue stream if handled correctly. No need for PCC's or Viking ships - these groups have a truly legal way to get paid to take weeks from owners, pay the fees, improve the resorts and get a big payback for themselves. It may in fact end up being the very model that, unfortunately, makes the vast majority of resorts viable going forward.
I still see the ideal situation as an owner controlled / operated resort with an affiliation to one or more of these large name points/club systems as the answer. These types of resorts can meet the required standards of the "names" but at a far lower overall cost without the names overhead, required captive contracts and management. It will be a fight to keep the independence but those that do are likely to be the true values in timeshare in the next few decades.
The PCC / Viking Ship plans are being exposed more and more as the frauds they are and soon will be forced out of the picture. The fact remains that owners bought into a pseudo real estate obligation and they will have to honor the deal, find someone to take it over or suffer credit hits to abandon it. Once that gets cleared up - and it will one way or another - the base value of the underlying vacation use will eventually win and be appropriately priced. (The days of paying the same fee for off season, low demand time will be gone - the prime times will pay premium fees based on use value or points and the other times will pay reduced values equal to the use. That has to happen and is being done across the board either by plan or by delinquencies picked up by the prime time owners). Overall it is that basic change to a fair cost/value system that will right this right this previously sinking ship IMO.
Mixing in the old "the developer cheated me so why not hurt them" argument doesn't work. As Denise correctly states those borderline crooks are long gone - the developers of today are just consolidators and aren't hurt but may actually be helped when owners choose to walk away from their obligations. It really does only hurt the true owners who end up paying the costs one way or the other for those that choose to default. It doesn't hurt those rightfully hated developers one bit anymore. They made the money years ago. Those that exist today are a much more savvy group that know the tricks and how to make - not lose - money on owners frustrations with the past abuses. It is up to owners to minimize their exposure. Paying thousands to scammers or sticking other owners with the problem is not the best answer for anyone.