Woody’s Weekend VPG: March 13, 2010
March 13, 2010: CELEBRITY RESORTS & CHAPTER 11: In which Jared Meyers claims he is owed nearly $700,000 in back pay
WESTGATE ANAHEIM GARDENWALK STILL VIABLE: But not until the end of this decade
ST. FRANCES MARKETING LTD FACES TRIAL FOR “BAD TRADING”: And the 5 accused bad marketers have all pleaded not guilty.
THE LEADING DEVELOPER OF LUXURY RESORTS IN CUBA: But after more than a decade, Leisure Canada hasn’t built a thing
ARDA’S HOWARD NUSSBAUM BELIEVES THE WORST IS OVER: From his mouth to God’s ear, as they say…
And finally, ARDA GOES YOUTUBE: For real, check it out!
CELEBRITY RESORTS & CHAPTER 11: It shouldn’t be any surprise to you by now that Orlando-based Celebrity Resorts LLC and 35 affiliates have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, wherein they will try to restructure their debts and come out healthy on the back end. The Celebrity Resorts LLC filing says they owe tens of millions in estimated liabilities but lists just two unsecured creditors: International Escrow Services of Atlanta and Resort Condominiums International (that’s an interesting one, don’t you think?)
But the filings for the affiliate companies listed PAGES of additional creditors. Yikes! And CEO Jared Myers said he is owed $680,812 in unpaid compensation. You can read the PDF file for the main bankruptcy here, if you haven’t already seen it.
Remember the recent controversy at David Walley’s Hot Springs Resort & Spa in northern Nevada, when Celebrity tried to apply a large special assessment against the owners and they retaliated by killing that deal and throwing Myers off the POA Board? (Read about it here and here.) Well, Quintus Resorts head hoohah Gary Grottke and the POA filed action in Douglas County District Court to appoint Quintus as receiver of the association’s assets and accounting records, citing “rather significant financial issues that the board has not been happy with.”
In retrospect, I wonder if Grottke knew or suspected the bankruptcy was coming? But what I really want to know is how this has affected the sales/marketing crews. Is everyone OK?
WESTGATE ANAHEIM GARDENWALK STILL VIABLE: Remember back in 2008 when everyone was riding high and ground was broken for the 400-unit Westgate Anaheim GardenWalk at the Anaheim GardenWalk mall development in Anaheim? Well, since then the economy started circling the porcelain bowl, taking timeshare with it. Everything was put on hold, Anaheim GW II, LLC, the equity partners who financed GardenWalk mall have defaulted on a $210-million loan and that property went to auction.
But developers of two luxury hotels in the development plan to proceed anyway, adding 866 rooms and generating an estimated 3,000 construction jobs and 1,300 steady jobs.
Meanwhile, the timeshare project, which has been approved by the city to be constructed atop the current parking structure, is apparently still a go– but not right now. Hotel developers were recently granted an amendment to their development agreement with the city, allowing them to begin hotel construction next year and to delay construction of the timeshare units until 2019. Don’t pack your bags…
ST. FRANCES MARKETING LTD FACES TRIAL FOR “BAD TRADING”: Back in Oct. 2009 five people connected to St. Frances Marketing Ltd, an Exeter, UK-based holiday marketing company, were charged by Devon Trading Standards with with 36 charges of unfair trading practices. All five were either present or past directors of St. Frances Marketing.
Now the fab 5 (Carol Small, Karen Henthorne, Mark Herbert, and John and Michael Girvin) are facing trial for 15 counts of unfair trading practices (aka: “Bad Trading”) and all five have pleaded not guilty. The company itself didn’t send a representative to court, so the judge entered a plea of not guilty for the company, too. The firm will face trial over the same 15 charges, whether or not a representative attends.
The date for the has not been confirmed, but it could be held on November 1, and could last up to five weeks. Of course there will be further court maneuverings in the meantime. The accused are out on bail at least until the next court hearing.
It’s good to see Europe and the UK getting serious about shutting down the scam artists…
THE LEADING DEVELOPER OF LUXURY RESORTS IN CUBA: And after more than a decade they haven’t built a thing? That’s what David Baines wrote about Leisure Canada in the Vancouver Sun:
The North Vancouver company boasts on its website it has “multiple properties currently under development including five-star hotels, over 4,200 hotel rooms, championship golf courses, and time-share condominiums.”
Earlier this month, the TSX Venture Exchange named Leisure Canada as one of its “Top 50″ companies.
“These outstanding companies are proven leaders in their respective sectors,” the company quoted TSXV president John McCoach in a release.
It was a huge leap to describe Leisure Canada as a “proven leader.” To date, the company has raised more than $46 million US in equity capital, but hasn’t built a thing.
Hmmm. It’s a very interesting article. You might want to give it the once over at http://www.vancouversun.com/…story.html
ARDA’S HOWARD NUSSBAUM BELIEVES THE WORST IS OVER: In a recent press release titled “Increase in Asset-Backed Securities Signifies Robust Recovery for Timeshare Market” ARDA Chairman Howard Nusbaum said, “This is another indicator that our market is resilient and that recovery has begun. The increase in delinquencies and defaults in the sector since September 2008 has been relatively modest especially when compared to other ABS classes, and we believe preliminary signs indicate that the worst is over.”
From Howard’s mouth to God’s ear…
ARDA GOES YOUTUBE: If you can’t make it to the ARDA Convention in Vegas this week you can get updates from its “Live From Convention” YouTube channel, which will feature daily postings from the meetings, forums and exhibit floor. ARDA promised updates from attendees about what they are learning and seeing during the week, and so on and so forth. I know I’M excited, how about you? http://www.youtube.com/TimeshareTammy (Yeah, I know… 
)
And that’s it for this weekend. See ya next weekend, and watch that VPG… Oh, and if you enjoyed this, tell a friend!
Published every Saturday, or whenever there’s something that hits Woody’s VPG-ometer.
Got any hot stuff you’d like to see exposed here? How valuable is YOUR gossip? Your confidentiality is guaranteed; just make sure it’s a real deal and verifiable… Email: woodysvpg@gmail.com
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Just wondering. You mentioned from “Howard’s mouth to God’s ear” Are you saying he has Cloobecks ear? Oh, that’s right. He just thinks he’s God.
Caribbean King Reply:
March 25th, 2010 at 10:16 am
HA! Good one! A legend in his own mind?