So for those of you thinking about selling a time share, or possibly just want to understand some of what goes into the make-up of a time share listing for sale, The National Timeshare Owners Association, in conjunction with The Villages Timeshare Owners Group hosted their 6th Annual Timeshare Owners Regional Summit on Sunday, February 21st.
More than 130 involved timeshare owners were on hand to hear from the experts in the timeshare community, get unbiased information and share their experiences.
The event kicked off with the Community Panel. Moderator George Leposky of TimeSharing Today magazine fielded questions to Gregory Crist (NTOA), Bob Brooke (Villages Timeshare Owners Group), Frank Debar (Florida Timeshare Owners Group), Dave Heine (Timeshare Board Members Association) and Gary Prado (RedWeek.com). Among the topics were the passage of the owner-unfriendly HB 453 in Florida and its consequences, the importance of timeshare owners joining a timeshare community and remaining engaged and the need for ongoing unbiased education being provided to timeshare owners and prospective owners.
The NTOA polled the attendees of the 2015 Summit and merged that feedback into the topics that they knew they wanted to cover in this year’s Summit. A unique roundtable format was designed, allowing each attendee to hear from each of the presenters and allowing for a more personalized presentation.
Wes Sattenfield, the NTOA’s Executive Vice President with more than 35 years of timeshare management experience, tackled the issue of maintenance fees. He expertly handled a wide range of questions from owners and stressed the importance of carefully reviewing the annual bill and asking questions of the management company.
Timeshare resales are always one of the most hotly debated issues at an NTOA Summit and this year, attendees heard from Steve Luba of SellATimeshare and Gary Prado of Redweek. Pros and cons of each resale platform, i.e. broker, listing service, FSBO were discussed along with the importance of setting a reasonable resale price.
Many timeshare owners and prospective owners are easily confused by the terms vacation ownership, timeshare and vacation clubs. Thankfully, Alex Hodges of Capital Resorts and George Leposky were on hand to demystify the topic.
Brooke Brown from RCI and Corina Violette from RTX teamed up to help owners learn better ways of using their timeshare. Bringing these two companies together was a great way to demonstrate the NTOA’s collaborative structure, which gives members the information they want without being sold anything.
With daily stories of timeshare owners being the target of scams involving resale, rental and transfer, Lisa Ann Schreier of the NTOA and Dave Heine presented each attendee with 6 Red Flags that consumers should be on the lookout for. Number one of those “flags” was to avoid any company or individual who initiates contact. The NTOA’s Helpline at 1-888-ASK-NTOA is available to any consumer to double check on the validity of any company.
Summit attendees were invited to visit with each of the 6 exhibitor booths as Chicago Title, Costco, Dial An Exchange, RCI, Resort Travel & Xchange and weholi provided information and special offers. NTOA preferred vendors LightStream, FastPark&Relax provided door prizes along with Dial An Exchange and RCI
The Summit closed with the open-mic Town Hall Q&A session, facilitated by Fermin Cruz (weholi), where attendees could ask any question of any of the speakers, exhibitors or presenters. As in past Town Hall sessions, the questions were wide ranging and clearly demonstrated the need for consumers to remain engaged in the timeshare community long after purchasing.
The NTOA is committed to holding more Timeshare Owners Regional Summits in the weeks and months to follow. Have a suggestion for a future Summit? We’d like to hear from you!
