Woody's Roadkill Cafe

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…

Scoop du Jour

PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY: July 30, 2010 — Time has a unique way of slipping by. Barely 60 years ago travelers were hearing about a new form of commercial transportation that was being introduced and in the blink of the eye the ‘Jet’ age was upon us all.

Today, there are more than a billion passenger trips made each year and it has been reported by several of the major airline manufacturers that not only is this trend likely to continue, it could triple over the next 15-20 years. [Read More...]

Morning Meeting

Published daily M-F. Sales Tip of the Day: REMEMBER: A good part of the TS sales presentation is all about ‘Sun & Fun’ and painting the travel and vacationing lifestyle picture. But at the end of the day this is ‘business’, and getting too chummy with a sales guest is something that should be avoided. (Read More) TODAY’S VIDEO: Bachman Turner Overdrive – Takin’ Care of Business

Off Topic

PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY, just for the fun of it, with a random picture every week. The first contribution for our new “Off Topic” category is for those of us mature enough to relate to it…
1978: Long hair
2010: Longing for hair
1978: KEG
2010: EKG
1978: Acid rock
2010: Acid reflux
1978: Moving [...]

New Affiliations

MANCHESTER, UK (July 29, 2010) — TATOC, the Timeshare Association, announced July 21 that Tenerife-based resort management company WimPen Leisure Management has joined as a Platinum Affiliate.
Originally part of the George Wimpey European Empire over 25 years ago, WimPen now provides more than 15,000 property owners at 13 resorts and communities with management services in [...]

Finance

PARSIPPANY, NJ, (July 27, 2010) — Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN) yesterday announced that it has completed a term securitization transaction involving the issuance of $350 million of investment-grade asset-backed notes. Sierra Timeshare 2010-2 Receivables Funding LLC issued $286 million of A rated and $64 million of BBB rated vacation ownership loan backed notes [...]