Your ARDA contribution made it harder to cancel

[simpsontruckdriver]

 

[Carolinian]

Some developer controlled resorts put a membership in ARDA as part of members' m/f's which is a huge conflict of interest. I have never heard of a member-controlled HOA doing that. Individual timeshare owners should not have to fund what amounts to their opposition. While I personally would never buy a week at a developer-controlled resort, the way to try to attack this would be for members whose resorts are funding this group to file a complaint with either or both the state Real Estate Commission (which regulates timeshares) or the state Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division.

 

[Maple_Leaf]

Some developer controlled resorts put a membership in ARDA as part of members' m/f's which is a huge conflict of interest. I have never heard of a member-controlled HOA doing that. Individual timeshare owners should not have to fund what amounts to their opposition. While I personally would never buy a week at a developer-controlled resort, the way to try to attack this would be for members whose resorts are funding this group to file a complaint with either or both the state Real Estate Commission (which regulates timeshares) or the state Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division.

Royal Dunes in Hilton Head is a member-controlled resort. Every year the management puts a $3 contribution to ARDA on the maintenance fee bill. It's voluntary so I just ignore it and pay the bill less $3.

 

[Ken555]

View attachment 71100

Please post a link to the original source.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[SueDonJ]

Some developer controlled resorts put a membership in ARDA as part of members' m/f's which is a huge conflict of interest. I have never heard of a member-controlled HOA doing that. Individual timeshare owners should not have to fund what amounts to their opposition. While I personally would never buy a week at a developer-controlled resort, the way to try to attack this would be for members whose resorts are funding this group to file a complaint with either or both the state Real Estate Commission (which regulates timeshares) or the state Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division.

My developer-controlled resorts put suggested ARDA-ROC contributions (which doesn't confer ARDA-ROC membership) on the MF's invoices, but they clearly state what the contributions are, they require opting in, and there are no penalties for those who opt out. I see no reason to file a complaint or challenge with any agency about them because the laws related to PACs allow the developer to do what it is doing. If ever there were a legitimate challenge 1, brought forth by an org with enough clout to proceed and 2, joined by a plurality of timeshare owners and 3, that didn't cost me anything to participate, then I'd consider joining in. But simply not opting in on my MF's invoices is enough for now.

 

[schreff]

Some developer controlled resorts put a membership in ARDA as part of members' m/f's which is a huge conflict of interest. I have never heard of a member-controlled HOA doing that. Individual timeshare owners should not have to fund what amounts to their opposition. While I personally would never buy a week at a developer-controlled resort, the way to try to attack this would be for members whose resorts are funding this group to file a complaint with either or both the state Real Estate Commission (which regulates timeshares) or the state Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division.

I agree and opine that too many blatant conflicts of interest are allowed in the timeshare industry.

 

[Carolinian]

Royal Dunes in Hilton Head is a member-controlled resort. Every year the management puts a $3 contribution to ARDA on the maintenance fee bill. It's voluntary so I just ignore it and pay the bill less $3.

Then it is simplier. The management company is probably tied to ARDA in some way. In that situation, I would contact all the HOA board members and point out that ARDA backs developers interests and those are often at odds with the interests of individual timeshare owners. The HOA board can direct the management company to remove that.

I remember years ago when "The Shadow" timeshare blog run by an industry insider used to sometimes report some of machinations of ARDA. That was enough to show that this group does NOT act in the interests of timeshare members, only developers. I hadn't thought about The Shadow in a while, but it is sad to no longer have its insider insight.

 

[TUGBrian]

still waiting on some examples where arda-roc has lobbied for owners OVER developers....

 

[CPNY]

My developer-controlled resorts put suggested ARDA-ROC contributions (which doesn't confer ARDA-ROC membership) on the MF's invoices, but they clearly state what the contributions are, they require opting in, and there are no penalties for those who opt out. I see no reason to file a complaint or challenge with any agency about them because the laws related to PACs allow the developer to do what it is doing. If ever there were a legitimate challenge 1, brought forth by an org with enough clout to proceed and 2, joined by a plurality of timeshare owners and 3, that didn't cost me anything to participate, then I'd consider joining in. But simply not opting in on my MF's invoices is enough for now.

It’s unfortunate how many people are unaware and just pay the bill. It shouldn’t rely on the owner to subtract the contribution from the payment.

Also, what about prepayment of MF’s? I’ve prepaid MF’s for interval exchanges when pulling forward. I pay the projected fee and in some cases I’ve overpaid and received a credit. They refused to increase the credit by $5.00 when I said I wanted to opt out of the contribution. They told me they didn’t have those capabilities.

 

[dioxide45]

Some developer controlled resorts put a membership in ARDA as part of members' m/f's which is a huge conflict of interest. I have never heard of a member-controlled HOA doing that. Individual timeshare owners should not have to fund what amounts to their opposition. While I personally would never buy a week at a developer-controlled resort, the way to try to attack this would be for members whose resorts are funding this group to file a complaint with either or both the state Real Estate Commission (which regulates timeshares) or the state Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division.

I beleive contributions to ARDA-ROC PAC would be covered under Federal Election Law and not something at the state level.

 

[dioxide45]

Please post a link to the original source.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Here is a link to the full statute;

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

 

[TUGBrian]

a response I got from an initial inquiry to the FEC.

i plan on submitting a formal complaint shortly:

ARDA fees seem to be not voluntary on all of my statements. Let's do a letter-writing campaign via email to Vistana about it. Join me, please!

And this relates ti Cindy's issue......

tugbbs.com

 

[dioxide45]

View attachment 71100

So is anyone actually able to decipher what this means? I would normally think the purchaser and transferee are one in the same, but the way this is written that isn't the case. Are they saying that if someone files bankruptcy and the timeshare is sold to someone else, that other person then takes on the obligations? Perhaps someone smarter than I in reading these statues can make sense of it?

 

[SueDonJ]

It’s unfortunate how many people are unaware and just pay the bill. It shouldn’t rely on the owner to subtract the contribution from the payment.

Also, what about prepayment of MF’s? I’ve prepaid MF’s for interval exchanges when pulling forward. I pay the projected fee and in some cases I’ve overpaid and received a credit. They refused to increase the credit by $5.00 when I said I wanted to opt out of the contribution. They told me they didn’t have those capabilities.

With the developer of my resorts (Marriott,) again, it's opt-in and clearly delineated, requiring the owner to choose between two totals (one with the ARDA-ROC contribution, one without.) In our online accounts the budget packages including the MF's invoices are linked right there on the payment page. It's fairly difficult to pay the ARDA-ROC fee unknowingly, unless an owner selectively looks only at the amounts and chooses to pay the higher amount without looking at anything else.

Also with Marriott, pre-payment of future years' MF's isn't required if usage is pushed forward via II deposits or Bonvoy Points elections or Abound Points elections. I can't think of any other ways to push usage forward into future use years but wouldn't expect MF's pre-payments to be a requirement for any other ways, either.

 

[SueDonJ]

Please post a link to the original source.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I don't know what the source is for the snippet copied/pasted in the first post but here's the Statute from doing a "Florida Statute XL, Chapter 721, Section 17" google search.

But isn't this something that's been in effect since 2021? @simpsontruckdriver, why bring it up now?

 

[CPNY]

With the developer of my resorts (Marriott,) again, it's opt-in and clearly delineated, requiring the owner to choose between two totals (one with the ARDA-ROC contribution, one without.) In our online accounts the budget packages including the MF's invoices are linked right there on the payment page. It's fairly difficult to pay the ARDA-ROC fee unknowingly, unless an owner selectively looks only at the amounts and chooses to pay the higher amount without looking at anything else.

Also with Marriott, pre-payment of future years' MF's isn't required if usage is pushed forward via II deposits or Bonvoy Points elections or Abound Points elections. I can't think of any other ways to push usage forward into future use years but wouldn't expect MF's pre-payments to be a requirement for any other ways, either.

For vistana, prepayment of MF were required to push forward star options usage and to confirm pushed interval exchanges.

Vistana doesn’t give two options in totals. They require you to type in a new amount less the 5 dollar charge or send a check with a new amount. Again, you have to take it upon yourself to do it. As funny as this may sound, What if someone cannot subtract 5? You don’t need to take a math test to buy a timeshare. It’s discriminatory!

Since Marriott is bringing Marriott’s way of doing things to vistana as it relates to removing club dues from the MF statements, why haven’t they given vistana owners the option of two payment totals? If they can cut the customer service phone line hours from being open 6 days a week to now only 5 days a week, I’m sure they can figure this one out too.

 

[SueDonJ]

For vistana, prepayment of MF were required to push forward star options usage and to confirm pushed interval exchanges.

Vistana doesn’t give two options in totals. They require you to type in a new amount less the 5 dollar charge or send a check with a new amount. Again, you have to take it upon yourself to do it. As funny as this may sound, What if someone cannot subtract 5? You don’t need to take a math test to buy a timeshare. It’s discriminatory!

Since Marriott is bringing Marriott’s way of doing things to vistana as it relates to removing club dues from the MF statements, why haven’t they given vistana owners the option of two payment totals? If they can cut the customer service phone line hours from being open 6 days a week to now only 5 days a week, I’m sure they can figure this one out too.

I agree, Marriott should change the ARDA-ROC suggested donations on MF's for Vistana owners/members to match what's been in effect for Marriott owners for decades. @rickandcindy23 has been dealing with a very specific issue related to this for years under Vistana and I don't understand at all why there still aren't any indications that Marriott intends to do something about her situation specifically but also overall. There's just no excuse for owners/members to suffer any repercussions at all for choosing to not contribute to a PAC. No excuse at all.

 

[CPNY]

I agree, Marriott should change the ARDA-ROC suggested donations on MF's for Vistana owners/members to match what's been in effect for Marriott owners for decades. @rickandcindy23 has been dealing with a very specific issue related to this for years under Vistana and I don't understand at all why there still aren't any indications that Marriott intends to do something about her situation specifically but also overall. There's just no excuse for owners/members to suffer any repercussions at all for choosing to not contribute to a PAC. No excuse at all.

Agreed, I forgot to remove it from one and prepaid it for another. 2 out of my 6 weeks received the ARDA fee and I’m still PO’d I gave them 10 bucks.

 

[artringwald]

Diamond/Hilton has always put a line item in the fee statement like this:

2023-ARDA-ROC Voluntary Contribution $7.00

They also put this in the instructions for paying the fees.

You are not required to contribute to ARDA-ROC as it is a voluntary line item and not a maintenance fee charge.

The problem is they don't give you an easy way to opt out. I've been trying to opt out since mid November, and my balance for each contract still says I owe $7. I've talked to the chat room twice, made two phone calls, and one email. They always say it will take a short while, but they don't do anything, so I have to contact them again. My next step will be the Better Business Bureau. I have to prepay my 2024 dues before I can book 2024, so I want to get the balance down to $0 before things are cluttered up by next years dues.

It a waste of my time and theirs. Why can't they just put a checkbox to opt out and save all the time and hassle?

 

[TUGBrian]

as mentioned in the other thread, marriott executives seem to believe there is nothing wrong with the current system of folks simply paying the balance LESS the "voluntary donation".

its all very disappointing for sure.

 

[dioxide45]

as mentioned in the other thread, marriott executives seem to believe there is nothing wrong with the current system of folks simply paying the balance LESS the "voluntary donation".

its all very disappointing for sure.

THe balance LESS the donation seems to work for me. I did it on two different bills this year and both have a $0 balance. My prepayment for next year also reflects this discounted amount. It doesn't work for cindy because past payments have included the $5, thus the prepayments are also including the $5.

 

[TUGBrian]

I still dont consider that "voluntary" if it requires me to do something above and beyond to prevent it from happening regardless of how trivial that action may be.

 

[CPNY]

I still dont consider that "voluntary" if it requires me to do something above and beyond to prevent it from happening regardless of how trivial that action may be.

I have a hard time doing math, I feel discriminated against.

 

[escanoe]

a response I got from an initial inquiry to the FEC.

i plan on submitting a formal complaint shortly:

ARDA fees seem to be not voluntary on all of my statements. Let's do a letter-writing campaign via email to Vistana about it. Join me, please!

And this relates ti Cindy's issue......

tugbbs.com

I think there is some confusion in this thread (I work as a lobbyist for an organization that has a PAC in my day job).

ARDA-ROC is an organization that lobbies. It is not a PAC. It does not have to follow FEC regulations.

Much of ARDA-ROC’s lobbying work as discussed in this thread involved state laws and lobbying state legislatures.

Also, the FEC only regulates PACs that contribute to federal candidates (those running for US House, Senate, or President.)

 

[dioxide45]

I think there is some confusion in this thread (I work as a lobbyist for an organization that has a PAC in my day job).

ARDA-ROC is an organization that lobbies. It is not a PAC. It does not have to follow FEC regulations.

Much of ARDA-ROC’s lobbying work as discussed in this thread involved state laws and lobbying state legislatures.

Also, the FEC only regulates PACs that contribute to federal candidates (those running for US House, Senate, or President.)

This is what our Vistana MF bill says about ARDA-ROC;