Utah proposing changes to timeshare act...

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

ARDA : States (Smart Forms) : Utah : Major Changes Proposed to Utah Timeshare and Camp Resort Act

The ARDA press release above talks about a new bill which has been introduced into the Utah House of Representatives which would make major changes to the current timeshare act.

Looks like it would create a uniform manner in which disclosures would have to be delivered to prospective buyers.. (Sounds good to me.. Perhaps no more hiding the required disclosures in electronic formats or buried inside the hundreds of pages of the condo docs themselves).

It also seeks to prohibit the sale of timeshare products structured as trusts, cooperatives or similar entities- which I expect would try to force developers to see a simple deeded product. Again- in my mind perhaps not a bad thing..

Currently, to my knowledge the only timeshares in the state that are sold in this manner would be the Worldmark, the Monarch Grand Vacations, the Marriott Destination Club, and perhaps the ORE products. I'd assume these existing developments would be grandfathered in, but would not be allowed to expand further in the state.

What are your thoughts on this?

With all the recent issues facing some of the non-deeded products (Destination Club failures, the Friar Tuck fiasco, Point to Point, Chateau World, and recently the news from the Pelican Club) is it just me or are traditional deeded products more stable for consumers?

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

THis is a good step as far as it goes.

What really needs to be amended in disclosure laws is forcing exchange companies to reveal to prospective buyers just how much timeshare inventory they rent out to non-members and the range of prices for that timeshare rental. This should be broken down into enough categories to make it meaningful. When the current disclosure laws were written, the big exchange companies were not in the rental business. I would bet such disclosures would either force RCI to put an abrupt end to its rentals schemes or put them out of business as developers fled to exchange companies which did not have this tar baby of rentals to the public. Rental disclosures by exchange companies should also be made VERY VERY promininent in their disclosure booklets.

Full disclosure laws would do much more than any court case to make RCI honest in its rental schemes.