Published Every Saturday. DEAD SKUNK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD AWARD: This week’s stinker is yet another timeshare resale firm operating out of Palm Beach County, FL. State agencies have received more than 10,000 complaints about scores of timeshare resale firms in the past three years, making it the No. 1 complaint to a fraud hotline. Ten of 17 companies subpoenaed by the Attorney General’s office in March were based in Palm Beach County. Read More…

Published Every Saturday. THE PAYOFFOUT: Who’s worse, an organization that uses donated funds to support Democratic and Republican political candidates without telling the donors? Or a company that fails to pay its employees wages owed? Take your pick. Read More…

Published Every Saturday. AND THE WINNERS ARE: The Australian Timeshare and Holiday Ownership Council (ATHOC), the representative body for the Australian Timeshare Industry, recently held its 19th annual National Industry Awards night, at a gala dinner designed to recognize the best of the best in each Member Company’s employees. The big winner of the night was Accor Vacation Club, taking five of the night’s major awards for Marketing, Innovation and Sales Team among others. Read More…

July 31, 2010: DEAD SKUNK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD AWARD: Convicted timeshare fraudster Gary Leigh was killed around 9:00am July 24 when he was hit by a car in Marbella, Spain. Leigh, who conned thousands of people out of their fortunes, died on the spot of severe cardiac arrest while cycling on the A-7 in Marbella. In an ironic twist, Leigh managed to involuntarily create one last mess for vacationers: The accident caused a massive traffic jam with many day-trippers stuck in traffic until late in the afternoon when the highway was finally cleared. Read More…

July 24, 2010: DEAD SKUNK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD AWARD: Timeshare resale fraud. Does it never end? Apparently not, if recent headlines from all over the country are any indication. This has been a problem for years, but with the current economic conditions impelling a swelling (nice alliteration, yeah?) of the ranks of timeshare owners who want/need to sell, the skunks have come out in full force to stink the place up. Read More…

July 17, 2010: CHEEZ IT! IT’S THE COPS! Florida’s timeshare fuzz (aka investigators with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services) made a surprise raid on an Ormond Beach timeshare resale call center on July 14, carrying off boxes of records and computers. The raid at Buy Owner Resort Marketing was apparently spurred by complaints filed with the State Attorney General’s Office from all over the country… Read More…

July 10, 2010: WHAT’S ON THE MENU THIS WEEK? CONSOLIDATED RESORTS BANKRUPTCY UPDATE: Making this short and sweet, the Consolidated Resorts bankruptcy is winding down and Artie Spector’s ASNY Company has been confirmed as the stalking horse bidder for the assets. Officially: “The Trustee and The ASNY Company, LLC (read Arthur Spector), a Delaware limited liability company have entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement… Read More…

July 3, 2010: WHAT’S ON THE MENU THIS WEEK? “THE TERM ‘SLOPPY JOE’ TAKES ON NEW MEANING ONCE YOUR TRIBE HAS DESCENDED INTO CANNIBALISM”: Remember the guy who is building a “network of underground shelters for the long-term survival of possible future catastrophes, in 2012, or decades beyond…”? Well, the always irreverent Stephen Colbert got wind of it and on June 29 he did a whole segment about it on The Colbert Report called Doomsday Bunkers… Read More…

(Published every Saturday) On the Menu This Week: OLD NEWS NEVER GOES AWAY: Never think you can outrun your past or negative news now that we have the Internets. Remember way back in 2005 when Las Vegas-based Braglia Marketing Group took it on the chin for for calling hundreds of thousands of names on the Do-Not-Call list to market timeshare vacations on behalf of Flagship Resort and Atlantic Palace in New Jersey? (Read more…)

(Published every Saturday) On the Menu This Week: HE SAID SHE SAID: Is the timeshare industry in Spain REALLY set to collapse? Well, it depends on who you talk to. A UK company called Claims Directive recently engaged in a brief skirmish of press releases about the subject with RDO (Resort Development Organisation). The subject? Whether or not timeshare companies in Spain and its territories violated the law by collecting deposits from new purchasers during the 10-day cooling off period mandated by the European Timeshare Directive of 1994… (Read more…)