David A. Siegel, the largest private timeshare developer in Florida, has acquired a prime 50-acre tract near his Westgate Lakes Resort in south Orlando for $22.5 million or $450,000 per acre ($10.33 per sf). The seller, locally based Carter-Palm Parkway Land Trust, paid $12 million or $240,000 per acre ($5.50 per sf) for the dirt 13 months ago.

Siegel plans to break ground later this year on an estimated $30-million, 1,500-unit timeshare development that will also have about 80,000 sf of retail. The site is on Big Sand Lake off Palm Parkway. His 1,500-unit Westgate Lakes Resort is sold out.

Siegel’s Central Florida Investments holding company owns and operates 8,500 timeshare units, the second highest volume next to publicly traded Marriott Corp.’s 12,000 units throughout the state, according to GlobeSt.com research.

Siegel couldn’t be reached by GlobeSt.com’s publication deadline, but brokers who have worked with the developer in the past tell GlobeSt.com Siegel contracted to buy the 50 acres 11 years ago for about $5 million or $100,000 per acre ($2.30 per sf). However, Siegel decided the price was too high at that time, informed sources tell GlobeSt.com. Still, the developer bought another 12.4-acre tract in 1994 for $1.21 million or $97,581 per acre ($2.24 per sf).

Of his 100% return on the sale of the 50 acres, Daryl M. Carter, a trustee of Carter-Palm Parkway Land Trust, tells GlobeSt.com, “It’s all about supply and demand. The man upstairs is just not making this stuff [land] any more.”

Siegel has extended his timeshare holdings to Utah, South Carolina, Nevada, Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Virginia and Mexico.

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PLANS UNVEILED FOR FIRST MVCI RESORT IN THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

The timeshare division of the Marriott hotel group – Marriott Vacation Club International (MVCI) – begins construction this month on its first resort in the U.S. Virgin Islands on the island of St. Thomas. Due for occupancy in December 2006, Marriott’s Frenchman Cove is proposed to include 220 two- and three—bedroom villas on 13 waterfront acres overlooking Pacquereau Bay. Initial prices range from $14,300 to $70,900 per week of fee simple deeded ownership, depending on season and floor plan selected. MVCI has also launched a sales programme for the new resort.

INTERVAL OPENS A SALES OFFICE IN DUBAI

Seeking to capitalise on the expected growth of timeshare resorts in the Middle East, Interval International is opening an office in Dubai.

The exchange company, which already operates a sales and membership office in Egypt, says the new sales centre will be dedicated to working with developers and expanding the number of Middle East resorts and destinations available to members. Currently Interval has affiliated properties in Egypt and Lebanon and recently signed a deal with The Royal Club at The Palm in Dubai.

DUBAI COMPANY ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR A 300-UNIT TIMESHARE RESORT

Dubai Festival City, a multi-faceted property development on a 1,600-acre site, plans to incorporate a 300-apartment timeshare resort in the overall complex. Negotiations with potential operators are well advanced, said the company.

According to managing director David Glanville-Williams, timeshare is now a crucial element of any destination claiming to serve the needs of the entire hospitality industry. "Our aim is to deliver the most exclusive timeshare proposition in the region," he said.

Dubai Festival City comprises a mix of hotels and resorts, entertainment, dining, shopping, sport and leisure facilities, car dealerships, a marina, homes and offices.

Members of timeshare companies take legal action to recover money

Tired of holiday dreams that have gone awry, consumers are hitting back at timeshare companies with lawsuits, citing misrepresentation.

But some timeshare companies are now threatening to sue some of these consumers for voiding their contracts.

Started in the 1960s, timeshare is a holiday concept which has a group of people sharing the purchase cost of a vacation accommodation.

And members get to use it in increments of one week (or more) per year of use.

This accommodation can range from hotel rooms to condos, or even yachts and cruise ships.

Under the various schemes, members make a one-time downpayment of between $10,000 and $40,000 and get to stay at a premier holiday resort for a week once a year for a number of years.

That was the promise timeshare companies made to more than 15,000 members in Singapore.

But, as many of the members found out, the payments do not stop there.

Timeshare owners found they still have to pay an annual maintenance fee of a few hundred dollars for the resort shared.

Jean Yew, who paid $32,480 for a membership, said: "After paying 21k for timeshare, we still have to pay $300 in membership fees and this is ever increasing, up to $400. And in order to get out of this cycle, they asked us to purchase concept vacation club."

And some do spend another $8,000 to $20,000 buying into a concept vacation club or CVC - which also goes by other names - like vacation ownership schemes or holiday rewards club.

The scheme is supposed to help them access other timeshare resorts

But in 2003, this same group of consumers were asked to buy into the cashback scheme instead.

Adding up the dollars, a timeshare owner could have spent anything from $22,300 to $75,600.

Kenny Tan said: "They enticed me by giving me cashback, saying I can get back all my investments."

He paid $30,000 to join a timeshare scheme.

George K Krishnan, Former Timeshare Consultant, said: "Cashback scheme is just to tell people after a certain number of years, you can get money back and they guarantee you, they tell you how they put money into the FTSC index. Has anybody ever gotten any money back? No, not that I know of."

Frustrated by the endless rounds of payment, some have stopped their monthly payments on all schemes and started legal proceedings.

But a class action suit filed by 13 timeshare owners was turned down by the courts last September as each case involved different circumstances.

Undeterred, the plaintiffs are now proceeding with individual lawsuits.

Ng Soo Kok, who paid $25,000 to a timeshare company, said: "They are trapped in a rut. By paying the money they will be paying for a scam that they know it is, if they don't pay, they receive a letter from a lawyer suing them and it's really a hassle."

Lawyer Ismail Atan, Director, Gabriel Law Corporation, is representing five of them.

So far he has won one case against Leisure Marketing Group in January.

The court ordered the company to return his client $15,000 under the Consumer Act.

He said: "What this could mean is that consumers who had purchase such a product could go to courts and perhaps succeed on their own claims."

But the Consumer Association of Singapore says consumers should try to resolve their disputes with timeshare companies through CASE before seeing their lawyers.

Seah Seng Choon, Executive Director, Consumers Association of Singapore, said: "Certainly the successful court action by this member is going to encourage others to go to court but I would suggest that the consumer come to us first so we can help them to resolve the case without having to incur legal costs."

And this could be be more than $3,000.

CASE received a record number of over 2,700 complaints against timeshare companies last year.

And in the last three years, it helped resolve 2 out of 3 complaints. - CNA /ch

CONMAN TO FIGHT £6M BILL

JAILED timeshare fraudster John "Goldfinger" Palmer vowed to fight creditors after being made bankrupt yesterday.

Palmer, 55, believed to be worth £300million, owes £3.9million on a petition brought by 350 creditors.

But he has failed to pay nearly £6million, including £1.6million legal costs. He now faces having his Timeshare empire in Tenerife broken up to pay the giant bill.

Palmer, serving eight years at Highdown jail in Sutton, Surrey, is said to be "hopping mad". A prison source said: "The lawyers' bill has sent him over the edge. And the idea of his estates being sold is driving him up the wall. He'll fight."

Victims' law firm Irwin Mitchell said after the High Court bankruptcy hearing: "We're intent on selling his resorts."

Palmer, of Bath, was cleared of handling gold from the £26million Brink's-Mat robbery at Heathrow in 1983. He fraudulently sold timeshares to 16,000 people.