You know what they say about anything that sounds too good to be true…

An Orlando timeshare resale company agreed last week to pay nearly $100,000 to consumers as part of a settlement to end the investigation into a series of complaints about the company’s practices. More than half the money will go directly to clients who complained to the Florida Office of the Attorney General, Bill McCollum. The balance of the money will go toward the cost of the investigation itself.

The Orlando Sentinel quoted McCollum as saying, “Time-share resale businesses are often mistaken for real estate brokers when they are simply providing an advertisement service to promote the sale of a consumer’s time share.”

The allegations, some of which go back 5 years, claim that the timeshare resale company made the promise that, if it could not sell your timeshare in 180 days, you would receive two free airline tickets to certain destinations. According to consumers who received the promise during telemarketing calls from the timeshare resale company, the tickets had so many caveats and restrictions that they were useless. Some customers of the timeshare reseller say they never received the tickets at all.

Other alleged false claims by the company included the timeshare resale company’s membership in the Orange County (Florida) Convention & Visitors Bureau and affiliation with the Orange County Convention Center.

What a Timeshare Resale Advertising and Marketing Company Should Do

A good timeshare resale advertising and marketing company should present all the information about your timeshare property to the largest possible market of potential timeshare buyers. They should be on the cutting edge of internet marketing strategies so that your timeshare resale or timeshare rental is advertised in a global marketplace of people who want to buy timeshare or rent timeshare.

More than that, any timeshare resale company should be able to tell you:

• • How many visitors come to their website each day. (Sell My Timeshare NOW averages more than 10,000 unique visitors to their website each day and over 30,000 total visitors.)
• • And the dollar amount of offers made to rent or buy timeshare they advertise. (Sell My Timeshare NOW averages over $800,000 a day in offers made to buy timeshare or rent timeshare.)

Not only that, but at Sell My Timeshare NOW, if your timeshare sells at the asking price or higher through any other source, bring us proof of the sale, and we will give you back the fee you pay to advertise and market your property with us. That’s a promise, and it’s one we keep.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

For everyone one who appreciates the traditional Yule stories of Father Christmas, you will be as fascinated to learn about tourism to the Arctic Circle and about the new Elf Academy in Rovaniemi, Finland, as I was.

I don’t pretend to know the verifiable details about the life of Santa Claus, St. Nickolas, Father Christmas, or Sinterklaas. I just accept that as long as I stay on the “Nice” list, there will be presents with my name on them under the Christmas tree and no lumps of coal in my stocking.

And while the exact location where Santa got his start, and the precise address where he resides today, are a little vague, the people of Lapland know that nowhere in the world is any closer to his home than the ice and snow of the Arctic Circle.

Officially, Lapland includes the northern parts of eastern Russia, as well as northern Finland, Sweden, and Norway, and there is Christmas-themed tourism in each of these countries. But it is Finland that attracts over a half million tourists each year, (a number that is steadily growing) who come solely for the purpose of getting a little closer to the magic of Christmas.

So what should one expect of a vacation to a place where the average temperature is 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and snow is rarely less than three feet deep? Apparently, the adventure begins with the elves.

Arrive in Kittilä on one of the flights that lands roughly every ten minutes from Britain or Ireland and you can expect to be greeted at the airport by elves dressed appropriately in red and green. Snowmobiles are the preferred form of travel as you make your way about the Christmas shops and the Christmas pageants. But activities include everything from skiing, to learning to drive huskies, reindeer safaris, hunting (hopefully not the reindeer), and cruising on icebreakers. Expect to dine on more figgy pudding and gingerbread than you ever imagined, as well as local Swedish specialties. And everywhere you go, expect to find elves.

The people of Lapland realize that tourism is critical to their economy. Training a new generation of elves in customer service is one of the best investments the region can make in itself. In Rovaniemi alone, over 500 people are employed as professional elves, certified by the Lapland Vocational College which runs the elf academy. Elf tasks include meet and greets, providing transportation, directing lost tourists, wrapping packages, answering Santa’s mail, and generally providing the “can do” answer to any need a tourist might have. Think of them as a concierge in a snowmobile, who happens to be trained in Arctic survival skills and reindeer herding.

A seasonal trip to the land of Christmas sounds like a way to create amazing memories. Taking your children or grandchildren to see the Northern Lights play across the winter sky seems far more memorable than the usual trip to see Santa at the mall. And for the times that Lapland doesn’t quite fit your vacation agenda, think about holiday themed fun right here in the US, when you vacation at a timeshare resort near Santa Claus, Indiana; Christmas, Florida (near Orlando); or North Pole, New York.

You probably thought my blog on Christmas Eve would be about hearth and home, and in a way, it is.

Over the past few days, Sell My Timeshare NOW has been trying to draw attention to the Natalee Holloway disappearance and to emphasize that the search must continue even though Aruban authorities have closed the case. And at this special time of the year, when we focus so much on family and our blessings, I want to also direct your attention to another family who continues to deal with the anguish of a missing child, the Kesse’s and their daughter, Jennifer.

Jennifer Kesse went missing on January 24, 2005 from her home, or near her home, in Orlando, Florida. If you know Orlando, the time and location make her disappearance even more puzzling. Jennifer was the proud owner of a new condominium, located almost directly across a busy four-lane street from Orlando’s most upscale mall. On two sides of the complex in which she lived are new stores, new restaurants, and typically lots of people and activity. To add to the mystery, investigators do not believe Jennifer disappeared in the middle of the night, but instead went missing on a busy Tuesday morning, during or very near the same time hundreds and hundreds of people were passing through the area in route to work or school.

Jennifer was employed by Westgate Timeshare and was possibly headed to work, or about to leave for work, at the time of her presumed abduction. The founder and CEO of Westgate timeshare, David Siegel, posted an enormous reward for tips leading to Jennifer’s return, hoping to flush out anyone with meaningful information. At this time, there are very few leads in this case; still the search goes forward and Jennifer’s parents continue to keep her story in front of the media.

As you celebrate your holidays, please hold in your heart and prayers the Holloway family, the Kesse family, and the thousands of other families who grieve a missing or abducted child.

This does not mean, however, that the search efforts of Texas EquuSearch come abruptly to an end. This search will continue. As the Texas EquuSearch team has stated, “Regardless, this announcement WILL NOT affect the search by the Persistence (the boat conducting the search). This announcement comes the day before the search team will begin the side scan sonar survey of the newly-mapped area.”

Not only does this search continue, but other private searches in the future will be conducted as long as the family and other concerned parties push to make them happen, and as necessary, underwrite the costs.

According to the Associated Press, “Prosecutors said the case could still be reopened if “serious” new evidence emerges. The statute of limitations is six years for involuntary manslaughter and 12 for homicide.”

Natalee’s family and friends deserve closure in this case. The person or persons responsible for her disappearance should be punished. Aruban tourism officials have complained that the people of Aruba, who earn their livelihood through tourism related services, are also paying a high price for the black mark this tragedy has left on the beautiful resort destination of Aruba. And the citizens of Aruba deserve the peace of mind of knowing that the criminal or criminals behind this act are behind bars.

Everyone loses when this case is not solved, but no part of this loss is as great as the loss of a bright and shining young woman, who should have had everything in life still ahead of her.