Warning About Your Orlando Timeshare Vacation Plans

While tourism may be taking a hit in some parts of the US, Central Florida (the Orlando-Kissimmee vacation area) saw a 3.4 percent increase in tourism in the first four months of 2008, over the same period last year. So for everyone who plans on enjoying a holiday in Orlando or an Orlando timeshare vacation, here’s an important word of caution.

Residents of Orlando (and other similar high-tourism destinations) know that restaurants, gas stations, and other goods and services often are priced higher, the closer you get to the tourist attractions. Gas has always been a few pennies higher near the theme parks in Orlando than it is in other parts of the town. And for the small difference, it rarely made sense for timeshare owners or other vacationers to drive the extra miles to fill up their tank with the more competitively priced fuel they could buy at stations further away from the tourist centers. But with the price of gasoline soaring, sadly some proprietors of gas stations in Orlando have decided to hit their customers where it hurts, with a double whammy.

This Could End Your Timeshare Vacation on a Sour Note

A few gas stations near the Orlando International Airport are taking the painfully high $3.65 a gallon (a price that will probably be even higher by the time you read this) current rate for gas in Central Florida, and hiking it up to over $5.00 a gallon. According to WFTV News, Suncoast Energy near Orlando International Airport, for example, is charging $5.19 a gallon for premium gas. If you have a 15-gallon tank on your vehicle it would cost almost $78 to fill up at that price and over $93 for a full tank in a car with an 18-gallon tank.

The owners of Suncoast Energy and other stations that are charging the high prices realize that people coming back from timeshare vacations and other holidays, who need to return a rental car before they rush off to the airport, usually need to refill the tank in order to return the car “full”. After zipping out to the airport on the toll road, planning to fill up the tank, turn in the car, and rush off to catch a flight, vacationers find themselves trapped, with little choice but to pump gas into the rental car at the tune of $75 to $100 to fill an empty tank.

It’s greedy on the part of these gas station owners, but it isn’t illegal. Let’s hope that local and state governments are able to stop this kind of price gouging. Let’s also hope that our federal officials come up with ways to help get the price of gas down for all of us.

Until then, be wary. Don’t let your Orlando timeshare vacation end on a sour note.