timeshare news

Sharon Drechsler, a well-known and respected name in the timeshare industry has been appointed director of marketing at Sail Through Cancer, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt foundation. Sail Through Cancer is dedicated to encouraging boat owners to volunteer their time and the use of their boats in the Armada of Hope, a program designed to enrich the lives of cancer survivors.

Drechsler has operated her own public relations company, Drechsler Communications, for years, and represents businesses in the timeshare, travel, and boating industries. She is a contributing editor for Resort Trades and Resort Trades’ Management & Operations magazine. Sharon has also lived through the cancer experience with her husband Dick Drechsler, whose soon to be released book, Manning Up in Alaska, documents his experience.

At the time of his illness, Dick Drechsler, sold his business, Resort WIFI, (a high-speed, wireless internet provider that serviced the timeshare resort industry). He then used his love of sailing to help him battle his way through cancer. Surviving stage III neck and throat cancer, Drechsler made a 2600-mile sailing odyssey, which he chronicled first online, and now in his book Manning Up In Alaska. It was a journey he believes helped save his life and change his soul.

Sharon Drechsler’s first project will be promoting the book, which will be a principle fundraiser for the foundation. “Who can better help promote this cause that helps cancer patients and survivors than one who loyally stood by a loved one through their suffering?” says Wes J. Fox, member of Sail Through Cancer’s Board of Directors, in speaking of Sharon.

The numbers are in and they look good! Sell My Timeshare NOW is continuing with strong growth trends during the first quarter of 2009 even in the face of the challenging economy. The number of offers to buy timeshare or rent timeshare increased by 95 percent over the same quarter in 2008. The total number of offers to buy timeshare resales in the first quarter of 2009 was 54,125.

Noteworthy Gains in Timeshare Rentals

Sell My Timeshare NOW has measured dramatic
gains in the number of offers to buy timeshare
resales or rent timeshare.

Dollar amounts of offers to buy timeshare or rent timeshare were also up. During the first quarter of 2009, the offers totaled $136,831,174. This is an increase of 51 percent above the amount of offers received during the same quarter last year.

While timeshare rental offers are included in the above stats, they are interesting to break out separately. Offers to rent timeshare show an increase of 146 percent in the number of offers as compared the first quarter of 2008. Sell My Timeshare NOW saw 34,425 offers for timeshare rental during the first quarter of 2009, at a total of $34,782,223, which is an increase of 125 percent over the amount of offers made during the same quarter of 2008.

To read the full press release on the Sell My Timeshare NOW Statistical Synopsis, click here.

And to download the report in full, follow this link: http://www.sellmytimesharenow.com/media/pdf/2009-smtn-1st-quarter-layout.pdf

Allegations include fraud, lies, and deception in a tale that involves glamour, Hollywood stars, timeshares, and an unsolved murder.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has frozen the assets of companies run by Taiwanese immigrant and longtime Los Angeles resident, Danny Pang. Pang allegedly employed a classic Ponzi scheme where money from new investors was used to pay the investment returns of previous investors in an effort to cover a life insurance investment that was not paying off fast enough for the company’s needs.

In a civil lawsuit, the SEC alleges that Pang and his companies have raise hundreds of millions of dollars, much of it coming from investors in Taiwan. The actions of federal regulators came shortly after the Wall Street Journal ran a lengthy article that carried allegations from a former executive in one of Pang’s companies who claims Pang misused investors’ money, double billed them for legal and insurance costs, and lied about his academic credentials. The employee, Nasar Aboubakare, has a $50 million breach-of-contract suit pending against one of Pang’s companies. In the past, Pang has represented himself as a former senior vice president and high-tech merger adviser with Morgan Stanley, and as having an MBA from the University of California at Irvine; neither of which officials have been able to verify.

Little about how timeshares were involved in the scams has been revealed other than this statement that appeared in the OC Register: “Pang and his firm told investors that they would purchase life insurance policies at a discount and then collect the benefits upon the death of the insured. But the policies did not generate sufficient returns to cover all the costs. The SEC said Pang had his company pay the insurance investors with money from clients who invested in timeshares.”

Pang traveled in the highest social circles in Los Angeles and ran his companies, Private Equity Management Group Inc. and Private Equity Management Group LLC, from the nearby city of Irvine. His name frequently made the news as he engaged in fundraising and other civic efforts with Hollywood stars and media celebrities.

In 1997, Pang’s wife, Janie, was the victim of a murder that remains unsolved.

The economic downturn has revived talk in Congress about taxing Internet sales. Hear the latest on what is being discussed and how it could affect you.