The Illinois Attorney General’s Office is cracking down on unsolicited timeshare messages. According to a press release issued on January 22, 2007, by Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General, the State of Illinois has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against several timeshare resellers. Those mentioned in the lawsuit were: C & C Global Enterprises, LLC; resortsellers.com; and Nella Pundit and Charles Rossop, the operators of webuyresorts.com and resortsellers.com.

The lawsuit alleges that beginning on or about November 3, 2006, “Illinois residents began receiving unsolicited text messages alerting them that, ‘We have someone interested in buying or renting your Time Share,’ and directing the recipient to logon to webuyresorts.com or resortsellers.com for more information.”

The Illinois Consumer Protection Division received 66 written complaints and an additional 190 telephone complaints from consumers regarding these unsolicited text messages. The sending of unsolicited text messages violates the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act and in the state of Illinois, the State Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. According to Attorney General Madigan, many of the consumers who complained to her office stated that they did not even own a timeshare.

The lawsuit also alleges that the defendants accepted payment for timeshare listing services and then fail to provide the listing, proven by the fact that the company did not ask the potential seller such pertinent information as the address of the timeshare or the unit number.

In a separate but related case, Cingular Wireless filed lawsuits in the US District Court in Atlanta, Georgia, that included charges against the operators of webuyresorts.com and resortsellers.com alleging that they transmitted unauthorized, deceptive, and unsolicited commercial text messages to Cingular customers with wireless phones. The messages, sent in October 2006, were all related to the selling or buying of timeshares.

If you believe you have been a victim of cell phone spamming by a timeshare company or any other industry, contact the Office of the Attorney General for the state in which you reside. And if you have questions about a timeshare company, timeshare reseller, timeshare by-owner listing service, or timeshare broker, check both the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General’s Office where the company is located to verify that there are few or no complaints against the company, and any complaints that do exist have been resolved quickly.

A free webinar promises a new look at the up-and-coming fractional industry.

NorthCourse Leisure Real Estate Solutions is a division of the RCI Global Vacation Network, that specializes in providing advisory services, research, and asset management to the leisure real estate industry. Their clients include ARDA, Walt Disney, Shell Vacation Ownership, Vistana, the Marriott Corporation, Hilton Timeshares and Hotels, the Hard Rock Café, Hyatt Timeshare, Fairfield Resort Timeshare and Trendwest Timeshare Resorts, to name only a few. On February 27, 2007 NorthCourse will host the seventh annual Fractional Interest Symposium as a free webinar.

Although this online symposium is directed primarily toward persons already in, or contemplating entering the fractional industry, many consumers will be interested in this discussion of the vacation ownership industry. The seminar is free, however, participants must pre-register and receive approval in order to listen to the 90-minute session.

Topics of discussion will include a general look at the latest industry facts and trends, including the findings from the 8th Annual Fractional Interest Report, which documents that the fractional industry in North America increased by 32 percent between 2005 and 2006. Other topics will look at opportunities for growth in the fractional market in the Middle East, Europe, China, and Australia.

Kevin Wallace, chief executive officer of NorthCourse Advisory Services, says, “Our latest research indicates that the fractional ownership industry is growing by leaps and bounds.”

If you are interested in learning more about one of the fastest growing aspects of timesharing, the fractional market, you may want to visit the NorthCourse website.

Were you among the millions who watched the Colts beat the Bears in Super Bowl XLI?

It is hard to say how many of the estimated 90 million viewers were there for the game, and how many watched for the halftime entertainment and the famed (or notorious?) commercials.

Either way, you perhaps saw Kevin Federline (ex-husband to Britney Spears) in an ad for Nationwide Insurance that promotes their current corporate message, “life comes at you fast.” In case you missed it, the commercial began with Kevin Federline in his rap-star glory and quickly segued to Kevin Federline, dishing out French fries at a non-descript fast food restaurant. Cute, and a surprise to many, that he agreed to the do the ad, which in many ways poked fun at his own media image.

~K-Fed’s Super Bowl ad~

But what I found most interesting from the much-publicized details of Federline’s stay in Miami is—of course—not his TV commercial, but his choice of accommodations. It seems that he began his Miami Beach stay at the Catalina Hotel and Beach Club. The Catalina is a South Beach classic that boasts a minimalist décor and describes their guest rooms as “glazed in white with popping hints of red”. Apparently, the rooms just weren’t popping enough for the ex-Mr. Britney Spears, because according to the “Celebrity News,” section of US Magazine online, Federline relocated.

On Wednesday, before the game on Sunday night, Kevin Federline, and presumably his entourage, moved into the penthouse at the Chesterfield Hotel Suites & Day Spa. The Chesterfield is a small boutique hotel, with 48 rooms and a prime location on Collins Avenue in South Beach. There is no report of whether or not the new accommodations proved satisfactory to Mr. Federline.

So for all of you who want to stay at a Miami hotel that boasts, “Kevin Federline slept here,” you now know where to book your next South Beach vacation. On the other hand, if you don’t want to use the former husband of Britney Spears as your guide for what to look for in great lodging and accommodations, you might consider a Miami Beach timeshare resale. In South Beach, vacation ownership options include the Westgate South Beach, the Crescent Resort & Spa, and the Hilton Grande Vacation Club. Other Miami Beach timeshare vacation resorts are the: the Clarion Suites Crystal Beach and Health Club; the Sagamore Suites Hotel; the Wyndham, the Signum Resort; the Simone Palace of Shushan, the Golden Strand Ocean Villas and the Sovereign Hotel.

You can enjoy timeshare vacations whether you own the unit or rent it directly from the present timeshare owner. They are incredibly easy to book, spacious, almost always include kitchen and dining areas, and are usually located conveniently close to everything you want to see and enjoy. And who knows? You might even find one that includes “popping hints of red” in the room décor.

Just though I’d mention – we do have a few Miami timeshare resales and rentals available.

This post is just a quick update – due to schedule constraints I had to take this past week off from blogging, and when I finally came back I was suprised to discover 300+ comment spams awaiting moderation. I was in a hurry, so I skimmed through the comments briefly before deleting all of them. If anyone who isn’t a robot has tried to post comments here, I am sorry, but your comment is probably gone. Please resubmit your comments and I’ll be happy to get back to you.

As you probably noticed, we’ve been juggling themes a bit lately, I have yet to settle on one I like. This is the first WordPress blog I’ve managed and I was surprised by the wide range of available themes. It’s kind of like a car – I’m shopping around for the right model, in a manner of speaking.

Expect a few technical tweaks in the coming weeks, but this shouldn’t pose an inconvenience. We should be on track to roll out a few podcasts in the weeks to come.

I do have some exciting news – we’ve finished crunching the numbers for 2006. During 2006, we generated $229,962,492 in buyer and renter offers. I am absolutely blown away by the traffic that we drive to SellMyTimeshareNOW. There is a clear need for a timeshare resale solution, as only we can provide. Look at these numbers. $229,962,492 in buyer and renter offers!

We’re only just getting started. There’s a huge market for timeshare resales and rentals, and I can only imagine the volume of offers our advertisers will receive a year from now.

I was honored to participate in ARDA‘s Fall Conference at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, DC. Most interesting to me was the think tank session dealing with timeshare resales. There is amazing growth in this sector.

Regrettably the timeshare resale market is not well documented. Previous studies (Ragatz and associates, etc) have delved into the resort sales industry, but the secondary market for timeshare has received little attention until now. I predict a great deal of change in the timeshare resales industry in 2007. It’s interesting to study the movers and the shakers in this business. It’s plain to see, as timeshare resales get more attention, that this sector of the industry is really going to take off in 2007. It’s exciting to be part of this business; my staff and I are making history. I’d love to share more but …you’ll just have to wait and see what develops.