Lawmakers to rethink development of timeshares—Virginia community says “no” while Massachusetts town opens the door to developers.

On January 9, 2006, we told you about a controversy in Amherst County, Virginia over what appeared to be a single-family home. Area residents later learned the new construction, Pedlar Camp, was being sold in four-week blocks of fractional ownership. “No Timeshares Here!” read the signs posted in homeowners’ yards along the winding road up Banks Mountain, as area Virginians quickly made their opinions known to both developers and lawmakers. 

The result of community outcry was the February 22 decision by the Amherst County Board of Supervisors and County Planning Commission to implement an ordinance prohibiting the construction of timeshare properties in areas zoned as agricultural residential.

Pedlar Camp, with its potential twelve co-owners, was—per the ordinance—deemed to remain because its permits were issued before the implementation of the new ruling. The commission nixed all other planned fractional ownership vacation homes and timeshares, despite the position by developers that tourists would help boost the local economy.

But Pedlar Camp, it seems, was caught in a loophole.  While it could remain as timeshare property, the developers wouldn’t actually be able to use it as such. It seems that Pedlar Camp was not registered with the state as a timeshare before the ordinance passed and once the ordinance was in place, the registration application was denied. At least for now, if you want to vacation in this  particular nook of the Blue Ridge Mountains you can’t do it in a timeshare.

Pittsfield, Massachusetts residents have found themselves engaged in a similar battle. Pittsfield lawmakers, developers, and residents are united in their desire to shore-up a struggling local economy, but a proposed timeshare in Ponterril has become a point of controversy. 

For the present, already congested areas of the city will not be further built-out with timeshares, based on recent actions by the mayor and the city council to drop a provision that would have permitted their construction. But other areas (those zoned as R-43) will permit timeshare properties, recognizing that in so doing, they will be building the local tax revenue base and potentially holding property tax increases at bay for everyone.

Check with your resort before your college student heads for spring break at your timeshare.

If you own or have exchanged your timeshare week for one during the March to early May vacation season, you may be thinking of letting your college student put your timeshare to use during the Spring Break holidays. Before your son or daughter loads the car with luggage and friends and heads south, you should first contact your resort. Most timeshares do not permit underage youths to occupy a timeshare unit without an adult chaperone. And underage sometimes means 25, not 21, however in some places (Nassau in the Bahamas, for example) it can mean 18.

Another problem you may face is that college spring breakers are notorious for loading hotel rooms with as many bodies as can fit on the beds, couches, or floor to sleep. Your timeshare will not permit you to house more guests than the maximum number for which the unit is rated. In other words, if your timeshare sleeps six to eight people, then eight is the total number of guests who can stay overnight.

You should also consider your liability should your college student or his guests cause damage to property during their vacation days and nights. Even the most responsible young adult cannot control the actions of others during the high-energy, high-alcohol consumption activities that are typically associated with spring break holidays.

Cities including Ft. Lauderdale and Daytona Beach, along with many others, have tried to change their image as a spring break destination for college students. They have a justifiable reason for seeking to shed the reputation and lose this segment of business. Hoteliers have learned the hard way that the revenue associated with “breakers” just doesn’t justify the clean-up and repairs that follow.

Businesspeople fear Malta’s image is being marred.

Here’s one of those items I always like to report. Members of the General Retailers and Traders Union (GRTU) have asked officials in Malta to put a stop to pushy timeshare sellers.

The businesspeople of the GRTU generally support the presence of timeshares in Malta, recognizing that they bring thousands of tourists to the tiny island. But they are asking the Ministry for Tourism and Culture to set and enforce guidelines to stop Malta timeshare operators, street side hucksters and persistent OPCs (“OPC” stands for “off-property consultant”) from approaching tourists in the cities. Such aggressive tactics not only disrupt business in the area but also drive tourists away and damage Malta’s image as a serene vacation destination.

It is clear that everyone benefits when local governments clamp down on the bad boys of the resort sales industry. Let’s hope that Maltese officials are listening to the wisdom and common sense voiced by their business and tourism communities.

FBI called in to help with the search for missing timeshare employee.

Jennifer Kesse, a financial analyst at Westgate Resorts in Ocoee (Orlando) has been missing from her home for over six weeks despite manhunts and an all-out effort by police to find her. As previously reported on this blog and elsewhere, Jennifer is believed to have been getting ready to leave her home, or perhaps had already left, headed for work on the morning of January 24, 2006. No one has heard from her since the evening of January 23. Efforts to find Jennifer have produced few clues, despite the recovery of her Chevrolet Malibu found three days into the search.

Jennifer’s family has recently released new photos of her. We have all seen Jennifer’s warm smile in the images the media has publicized to assist the search. The link below will take you to a photo of Jennifer that is somber, perhaps looking more as she would appear under the circumstances of a kidnapping. Please take a moment to visit this website and study the photo.

http://jenniferkesse.net/new-english.pdf

Remember that Elizabeth Smart was found after nine months missing and having been taken by her captors to several states. Someone who had seen the Utah girl’s photo and thought they recognized her on the street made that critical call to the authorities.

As it says on the website established by Jennifer’s family, “Someone out there knows something that can help us bring Jenn home.”

http://www.jenniferkesse.com

1-800-423-TIPS