The following is cribbed from the BBC website:

A holiday timeshare club which offers children supervised study during term time vacations has been dubbed irresponsible by a teaching union.
Club Las Calas in Lanzarote says families wanting to make use of lower term-time prices could ask teachers to set their children holiday assignments.

The not-for-profit club's staff would give pupils materials and assist them as they work in a safe environment.

The National Union of Teachers said the scheme was "abusive of education".

Surrogate school?

But the chairman of Club Las Calas owners committee, Adam Johnson, said the private members' holiday club was simply offering a practical solution to an ever-present problem.

It recognised the fact that many parents took holidays in term time because of the high prices charged by travel firms and airlines during school holidays.

He added that the prices could be as much as 100% higher.

Mr Johnson said: "What we feel is that since the government says children can have up to 10 days authorised absence - parents who wish to could offset that loss of term time by helping them undertake learning activities.

"We are not seeking to provide a surrogate school in Lanzarote, what we are saying is our parents need to go to the school and agree something that your children can usefully do whilst you are on holiday.


The Lanzarote timeshare also has a children's activity room

"It's about giving the schools the opportunity to set the assignments."

He suggested children studying Spanish could practise their language skills with the club's Spanish-speaking staff.

Those studying geography could see what volcanic landscape was like by visiting the island's dormant volcano, he said.

However, he admitted that the scheme was not "entirely altruistic" as the timeshare, which is owned entirely by its members, was booked out during school holidays and not so busy during term time.

A spokeswoman for the National Union of Teachers said the idea was very irresponsibled.

Cheap breaks

"Exceptional circumstances allow schools to give authority for children to be taken out of school in term time - but it's exceptional circumstances not so that their parents can go and lounge on the beach.

"This club would have no knowledge of the child, would not know where the child's development was.

"It's abusive of education and there's no help to the child."

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills confirmed children could take a maximum of 10 school days authorised absence in any school year but only in exceptional circumstances.

He stressed it was not an automatic right that parents should expect and it is up to each head teacher to decide on a family's circumstances.

He also pointed to its Every Lesson Counts campaign which highlights incentives available to families who book their breaks early for the school holiday periods.

A dedicated website provides links to key early booking deals on domestic and overseas holidays by major companies such as Thomas Cook, Airtours, BA Holidays, Virgin Holidays, and the Co-operative Group.

Booking fees for British Airways flights on the four global distribution systems could quadruple.

The carrier is thrashing out deals with the GDSs, and sources close to the negotiations have told Travel Weekly agents are facing a £2 per sector booking fee or the removal of the bottom six fare classes from systems.

BA is keen to reduce its annual GDS bill and has not ruled out ditching one of Galileo, Worldspan, Sabre or Amadeus.

The introduction of charges in the existing three-year deals, which all expire at the end of next month, were hugely unpopular among agents when introduced in 2004.

Only Sabre did not introduce booking fees, while Galileo started charging 50p per sector, Worldspan 45p and Amadeus 95p per sector on BA's bottom four fare classes.

The Sabre contract is the first up for renewal and could give an indication of what to expect from the other three. Sabre demands full content from airline suppliers, meaning it could be forced to introduce a booking fee.

Vice-president Reet Wiseman said: "We have full content agreements with 300 airlines and want that to continue."

Business travel agents, horrified at the prospect of BA pulling the lowest fares out of the system, are bracing themselves for a massive rise in fees.

Advantage Focus Partnership technology manager Jon Smiles said: "The renegotiation will cause the biggest upheaval of 2007."

Guild of Travel Management Companies chairman Paul Allan fears other airlines could follow BA's lead.

"It's time the parties concerned realise the damage they could be causing to this industry," he told members at the Guild's Annual General Meeting this week.

BA, Worldspan, Galileoand Amadeus all refused to comment.

More than 150 senior business executives representing the main players in the region’s burgeoning timeshare sector are set to meet at the industry’s event, Vacation Ownership Investment Conference (VOIC) which will take place in Dubai in March 6 2007.

According to David Clifton, Interval International’s managing director EMEA and Asia and a prime supporter of the conference, the Middle East is perceived by experts in the vacation ownership industry as having incredible potential: “This is a sector that, once understood, brings enormous value to the table of everyone involved – the investor, the developer, the operator and, ultimately, the consumer,” he said.

Clifton stressed that VOIC is an interactive forum structured to encourage delegates into an action-packed dialogue geared to help drive strategic growth and business development initiatives in the Middle East.

“VOIC is designed to ensure that delegates gain invaluable insight into the world of timeshare, vacation and fractional ownership with a case study-look at reasons for its continued growth. We will debate which markets are poised for explosive growth, why timeshare is an enticing and profitable proposition and we will highlight how hospitality companies and independent developers have entered and succeeded in the industry,” he added.

Turing to the holidaymaker, Clifton attributed the continually rising consumer interest in vacation ownership to the flexibility of the timeshare product, the variety of quality timeshare resorts offered at different price ranges and the innovative products and services introduced each year.

He also noted that new variations such fractionals and private residence clubs are gaining in popularity.

NJR Development and Hyatt Corporation today announced that construction of Clearwater Beach's newest resort condominium, Aqualea Resort Condominium Hotel and Residences, is officially underway. Once completed, the 250 suite luxury resort condominium will be part of a full-service, beachfront resort managed by Hyatt Corporation and offer not only the simplicity of virtually carefree ownership, but also the elegant amenities and services of Hyatt Resorts. The units will be available for fee simple purchase from NJR Development by individual owners who are free to use them at their leisure or, alternatively, place them into an organized resort management and rental program.
"This is an innovative project for Hyatt and we are looking forward to expanding our management presence in Florida," said Nick Pritzker, Vice-Chairman, Global Hyatt Corporation. "The property has a great location on Clearwater Beach and will be a great addition to our collection of Hyatt Resorts."

"We have already seen a tremendously positive response in the market," said Neil Rauenhorst, president of NJR Development, the developer of Aqualea. "And in two short years we look forward to delivering a project with vacation home suites that will allow our owners and their families to live a luxurious and hassle-free lifestyle on one of the most beautiful beaches in America. We know, too, from the numerous buyers who have already made their selections during the initial pre-sales period, that they understand and appreciate the sophistication, reach and power of Hyatt's international marketing program, for those who wish to avail themselves of that enormous feature and benefit."

With its expansive white sand beaches, sparkling Gulf waters and gorgeous year-round weather, Clearwater Beach has emerged as one of the most attractive and hottest beach scenes on Florida's west coast. Aqualea property owners will be surrounded by luxury in their very own elegantly appointed suite in the heart of the community's new BeachWalk re-development project -a visionary plan featuring a festive beachfront village of pedestrian-friendly shops, boutiques, restaurants, water sports and public attractions. Additionally, owners will also have access to many amenities typical of a Hyatt resort including:

Two resort-style pools- A signature Hyatt restaurant- Poolside bar and grill- A StayFit@Hyatt fitness center featuring state-of-the-art Life Fitness cardiovascular and weight equipment- Beach concession area with towel and beverage service- An authentic, culturally-rich Hyatt Pure professional spa with treatment rooms & massage services- Exclusive membership in the White Orchid Beach Club- Meeting rooms, ballroom and business center- Secured parking area for unit owners- Private poolside cabanas with A/C, cable television, lounge chairs and bathrooms

Upon the opening of the resort, all units will be completely furnished with full kitchens and be "live-in" ready. Inspired by tropical island design, each individual floor plan, the furnishings will include seating arrangements in the living area with a couch and/or chairs, a full kitchen with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, granite bath countertops, tile floors and carpet, dining table with chairs, granite bar countertops with bar stools, balcony furniture, artwork, silverware, linens, plates, towels and similar items. In addition, each unit will tout data, telecommunication and entertainment technology, including flat screen televisions, high speed internet access, WIFI access, cable television, in-room pay-per-view movie systems, door access control systems and fully integrated telephone system.

To learn more about Aqualea Resort and Residences, visit www.AqualeaResort.com, call 1-866-500-2363 to schedule an appointment with a sales representative or visit the sales center located at 301 South Gulfview Boulevard, Clearwater Beach, Florida. NJR Development is the developer of the condominium residences. The residences are not owned, developed or sold by Hyatt Corporation or any of its affiliates. Hyatt Corporation, or any of its affiliates, does not participate in the marketing or sale of the residences, or the preparation of any marketing materials for such sale, and is not responsible for the content presented in any such advertisements, marketing materials, including, but not limited to, any advertising claims, marketing practices and data collection, use and privacy practices.

Hyatt Place, Hyatt's innovative approach to the select service hotel concept, is making brand history with five hotels breaking ground throughout February near Seattle, WA; Orlando, FL; South Bend, IN; Reno, NV; and Jackson, MS.

"These groundbreakings help set the stage for the brand growth we'll see in the first quarter," said Jim Abrahamson, senior vice president, acquisitions and development, Hyatt Corporation. "At the end of March, we will not only have these five new-build hotels underway, we'll have a total of 50 converted Hyatt Place hotels open throughout the country."

The hotels scheduled to break ground through February include:

- Seattle/Downtown, WA - the 158-room hotel, being developed by Kauri Investments and InterMountain Management, is scheduled to open Summer 2008 as part of a mixed use complex located at 600 Denny Way

- South Bend/Mishawaka - located just outside South Bend at the southwest corner of Main St. and Day St., this 117-room hotel is being developed by First Hospitality Group and is scheduled to open Spring 2008

- Orlando/Lake Mary, FL - situated just outside Orlando at I-4 and Lake Mary Blvd., the 128-room hotel is being developed by Sunshine Hotel Group and is scheduled to open Fall 2007

- Jackson/Madison, MS - located just a short distance from Jackson at Interstate 55 and Old Agency Road, the 127-room hotel is being developed by InterMountain Management and is scheduled to open Spring 2008

- Reno Airport, NV - InterMountain Management is developing the 127-room hotel, which is scheduled to open Spring 2008; the hotel is located at the Reno International Airport at 1790 E. Plumb Lane

Every Hyatt Place hotel will feature a wide range of new services and amenities to help guests seamlessly continue their everyday life in an environment specially crafted to help them be more productive, relaxed and fulfilled. Similar to what travelers might experience at home, guests can spread out in their spacious, contemporary guestrooms, taking advantage of free Wi-Fi access while stretching out on the eight-foot Cozy Corner sectional sleeper sofa or working at an oversized work desk in an ergonomic chair. They can also catch the evening news, the big game or the latest feature movies on the 42-inch flat panel, high-definition television offering 11 channels of high-definition programming in addition to more than 30 channels. Hyatt Place guests can stay connected through the innovative Hyatt Plug Panel, which allows guests to connect their own entertainment media to the high-definition TV, including laptops, MP3 players, DVD players or any other portable device. Hyatt?s signature Grand Bed also ensure guests enjoy a peaceful night?s sleep in the bedroom area.

Hyatt Place hotels also feature the Gallery, an innovative welcoming arrival area where guests are personally greeted by the Gallery Host, a dynamic new position in the hospitality industry that encompasses everything from guest check-in to giving personal tours of the hotel. In the Gallery, guests will also find a self-registration kiosk, an intimate coffee and wine caf? and bakery, free Wi-Fi, a TV den and an e-room with free access to a public computer and printer. Guests at Hyatt Place may purchase signature hot breakfast entr?es along with Starbucks specialty coffees or enjoy a free continental breakfast. Hyatt Place also offers a variety of freshly prepared, caf? quality items, including made-to-order entrees, sandwiches, soups, salads and pizza which guests can order 24 hours a day, seven days a week via a touch screen menu in the Guest Kitchen or from the Gallery Host.

Travelers are already raving about Hyatt Place Chicago/Lombard/Oak Brook, located just outside Chicago; Hyatt Place Scottsdale/Old Town; and Hyatt Place Atlanta Airport-South and Hyatt Place Atlanta/Perimeter Center. There will be 120 Hyatt Place hotels open by December 2007, including locations in Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa, Miami, Orlando and Detroit, in addition to other key business and leisure markets throughout the country.

A divided planning commission yesterday voted to give a conditional go-ahead to the developers of two resorts slated to be constructed just south of the Waipouli Beach Resort completed last year.

Four of seven commissioners approved construction of the Coconut Plantation Village and Coconut Beach Resort, which combined could put 535 timeshare units, 12 hotel rooms, a restaurant and more than 900 parking spaces just south of the Waipouli Beach Resort.

But the vote did not completely clear the path for the developments, which have long been zoned for resort use but which many residents have said violate the culture and rural nature of Kaua‘i.

“While it is resort zoned, type of resort is up for grabs,” Commissioner Imai Aiu said as the board hammered out more than a dozen conditions that must be undertaken before construction and habitation can move forward.

Those conditions could change the vision developers have of their projects, chipping away at everything from landscaping plans to the size of the buildings.

“The massiveness — it just blows me away,” said Sandi Kato-Klutke, a commissioner who voted to approve the project. “In the design review, hopefully I’m still here.”

The approved permit applications call for the developers to appear before the commission during a design review process where Aiu, who voted to approve the projects, said he would advocate for downsizing.

“I really think it’s far too big for Kapa‘a Town,” he told developer representatives reluctant to commit to any reduction in units. “It’s a Po‘ipu-type of hotel. I have to have latitude to make this smaller.”

The commissioners also asked the developers to make commitments that include minimal grading of land and the creation of a landscape that will not draw on potable water.

A joint $5.4 million commitment to traffic mitigation will likely be earmarked for a road that will link Wailua Houselots with the bypass, easing traffic congestion in Kapa‘a Town.

“Without this project the county would lack the funds to do anything about the traffic problem whatsoever,” said Walton Hong, a Kaua‘i attorney representing Coconut Beach.

The conditions also call for the extension of the multi-use path currently being created along the coast.

Those conditions do not satisfy 1,000 Friends of Kaua‘i, a nonprofit group opposed to rapid growth on the island.

The group filed a lawsuit against the county last week, charging that the Planning Commission cannot allow the projects to move forward without an environmental assessment.

Gregory Meyers, an attorney representing the Friends, said the lawsuit will proceed, and a judge could overturn the approvals the developers gained yesterday.

“We are saddened by the Planning Commission’s decision, but remain confident that our complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief seeking an environmental assessment before these projects are allowed to proceed will be favorably decided by the 5th Circuit,” Meyers wrote in a statement yesterday.

The hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 13 at 1 p.m., he said.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership, the world's largest vacation ownership company, today announced the acquisition of the Fechin Inn in Taos, New Mexico from Taos Lodging Associates Limited Partnerships. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The hotel, located near the historic Taos Plaza, will be developed as a timeshare resort and will undergo renovations in the coming months. Once complete, the resort will become the second New Mexico property in the company's portfolio. Wyndham Vacation Ownership entered the New Mexico market in the summer of 2006 by opening its first sales center in Albuquerque and also recently acquired 22 units at the Riverside Lodge and Cabins in Red River that will be converted into timeshare units.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership, a member of the Wyndham Worldwide family (NYSE: WYN) , is the world's largest vacation ownership business as measured by the number of vacation ownership resorts, vacation ownership units and vacation ownership interests. Wyndham Vacation Ownership includes marketing and sales of vacation ownership interests, consumer financing in conjunction with the purchase of vacation ownership interests, property management services to property owners' associations and development and acquisition of vacation ownership resorts.

Through its three primary consumer brands, Wyndham Vacation Resorts, WorldMark by Wyndham and Trendwest South Pacific, Wyndham Vacation Ownership has developed or acquired over 140 vacation ownership resorts throughout North America and the South Pacific that represent more than 18,000 individual ownership units and more than 750,000 owners of vacation ownership and other real estate interests. Wyndham Vacation Ownership, headquartered in Orlando, Fla., is supported by more than 14,000 employees globally.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts yesterday said its plans to overhaul its Waikiki properties include rebranding the Moana Surfrider hotel as a Westin and shifting the entrance to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

The moves would be part of Starwood's refurbishment plans, announced in September, for its four Kyo-ya Co. Ltd.-owned hotels in Waikiki.

The renovation project, which will include the Sheraton Waikiki, the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, will cost some $400 million and run through 2009, said Cheryl Williams, Starwood regional vice president of sales and marketing for Hawaii and French Polynesia.

Starwood's project joins a wave of Waikiki renovations that includes the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Walk project the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center refurbishment.

"While Outrigger is reaching the end of their journey, Starwood is just beginning," Williams told attendees at the 2007 Tourism Forecast for the Travel & Tourism Research & Marketing Professionals as well as the Pacific Asia Travel Association.

The June 1 rebranding of the historic Sheraton Moana Surfrider into the Westin Moana Surfrider will coincide with guest-room renovations, a lobby facelift and other upgrades.

A full-service spa will go into the Surfrider Tower and a Westin Kids Club will be added to guest offerings.

The historic Royal Hawaiian Hotel also will undergo extensive renovations.

The entrance of the hotel will be moved mauka to accommodate the expansion of the resort's Royal Gardens and a new porte cochere will be added to welcome guests.

Starwood also is considering renovating the hotel's pool deck and beach region as well as its Surf Room Restaurant, Mai Tai Bar and Monarch Room.

The expansion of the Abhasa Waikiki Spa's outdoor treatment rooms also is among the planned renovations.

"There will be dramatic upgrades to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel to restore it to its original grace and beauty," Williams said.

Meanwhile, the 1,400-room Sheraton Waikiki is in the process of getting upgrades to its porte cochere, lobby and check-in area. Shopping and food and beverage venues also will be improved. Starwood also is working on designs for a fantasy pool and open air-recreation center that will utilize the open space freed up between the Sheraton Waikiki and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel as a result of other renovations.

Changes to the Princess Kaiulani are still tentative, but owners have discussed creating a multi-level shopping village and elevated pool.

Other plans under development include the possible demolition of the hotel's Princess and Kaiulani wings, its pool and retail building fronting Kalakaua Avenue to make way for a 240-unit timeshare.

The remaining parts of the Kaiulani hotel, including the completely renovated guest rooms in the Ainahau Tower, would remain a free-standing Sheraton hotel.

El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Jerald Lasarow sealed in court Wednesday his denial to review a motion by the city to review moving out Lakeside Landing before its April 8 deadline in a high-profile eminent domain case.

The South Tahoe Redevelopment Agency had asked the judge on behalf of Lake Tahoe Development Co. to revisit a previous order allowing the Highway 50 retailer to stay because of the hardship it placed on deadlines to build a $410 million convention center complex due for groundbreaking in May. The developer, led by Stateline's Randy Lane and Carson City's John Serpa, wants to use the building to sell units for the project's two hotel condominiums.

The matter was heard a week ago, with Lasarow somewhat leaving the door open for the city to argue again. But after reviewing it over the weekend, he entered into a conference call with the parties' attorneys on Monday to give them an idea of his intention to stick by the earlier ruling.

"After doing the research, I came to the opinion I wouldn't reconsider or modify (the ruling)," he said in court. "The previous ruling will remain."

City Attorney Catherine DiCamillo said she was glad the judicial matter concluded in a fair manner.

The Oakland-based attorney on the other side of the aisle, Claudia Gorham of the law firm Meyers Nave, said she expected the official ruling for her clients - John Maxhimer and Margaret Kovarik-Maxhimer.

"With all honesty, we're willing to work with the agency and developer," she said.

Gorham had told the Tahoe Daily Tribune the Maxhimers intend to leave the location that lies in the 12-acre site between Highway 50, Cedar, Friday and Stateline avenues. But they need enough time to unload their inventory for the busy winter season.

Lakeside Landing is one business in five parcels left pending for Lake Tahoe Development Co. to buy. The others include the Shirt Stop, Pub Tahoe, Taco Bell Paradise Timeshare, Shoreline Ski and Snowboard and Union 76.

Almost 200 owners of timeshare units at Atrium Beach Resort in Simpson Bay have joined the injunction filed in the Court of First Instance in December against Festiva Resorts, headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina, and Atrium for what they consider an illegal increase of maintenance fees and assessments.

The injunction will be handled in Court today, after Judge Frans Vennix had given parties two weeks’ time to try and settle the matter outside the Court.

The timeshare owners are expected to pay the new fees and assessments no later than January 31. They consider the demanded increase to be too high, and in breach of their contracts. Festiva maintains that the amount is needed to repair and upgrade the resort.

Festiva Resorts mailed out a newsletter in November 2006, in which the timeshare owners were informed that the Annual Maintenance Fee (AMF) was being increased by 10 per cent, and that due to severe negligence by the previous Atrium management, it was also necessary to bill an additional assessment equal to twice the AMF. Festiva took over the resort in October 2005.

However, according to the litigants, their contracts are very specific as to the AMF, which they say cannot exceed the yearly Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the Netherlands Antilles on any given year. There are no allowances for assessments, they uphold.

“Festiva was obviously not prepared for the onslaught of letters, e-mails, and phone calls expressing their blatant disregard for our contracts,” Donna Parrish, one of the Atrium Resort owners, wrote in an e-mail sent to The Daily Herald this week.

“They quickly added an item number to the Atrium Rules and Regulations booklet that included their right to bill assessments whenever the need arose. They claim it should have always been there and couldn’t understand why we didn’t have a copy. This document is nothing more than a standard informational item you would find in any hotel room around the world. It is not a contract,” according to Parrish.

The main objective of the lawsuit is for the Court to uphold the initial contracts as valid. “It is imperative that objective is met. Without it, every timeshare owner in St. Maarten is in jeopardy. So in a sense, our group is not only representing the owners of Atrium Resort, but also of every timeshare owner on the island.”

The first court hearing scheduled for January 12 was for the sole purpose of having an injunction filed to prevent Festiva from disallowing owners who hadn’t paid the AMF above the CPI and the assessments the use of units. Prior to that hearing, Festiva sent a letter conceding that it would allow the use of the units until the case was settled.

All of the litigant owners are paying the 2006 AMF fees plus a CPI index of four per cent, as required by their previous contract, with a due date of January 15.

Festiva is making statements that previous management didn’t maintain the Atrium and that almost everything has to be repaired or replaced. Parrish and her husband have been coming to the Atrium every year since 1999 and own three weeks in a one-bedroom apartment there. They have several friends in other units of each type available (studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments).

Parrish: “All of us agree that the units have been maintained and that management has always been quick to respond when an item needed repair.” The apartments and studios have been provided with new appliances, hurricane shutters, and new air conditioners since 2001, the owners state.

“While the cruise ships are big business for St. Maarten, so are the timeshare owners. If the courts in St. Maarten allow these developers/owners/managers to financially abuse the timeshare owners, they will eventually stop coming to the island. In the 1970s and 1980s, the timeshare industry had a lot of bad publicity and consequently suffered a negative outlook. This will happen again if these companies aren’t stopped,” Parrish wrote.

An ignored hotel property in the U.S. Virgin Islands is about to come back to life. The Grand Beach Palace, a 290-room resort hotel on St. Thomas, has been snapped up by Wyndham Vacation Ownership from Palm Resorts Holding Co. with plans for a $40 million transformation of the property into a 143-residence condominium timeshare development.

With Wyndham Vacation Ownership's $40 million redevelopment plans and its paying a reported $31 million on the purchase, the company will have invested a total of $71 million in the project.


Wyndham's new destination has not yet been officially named but the property, consisting of 13 buildings, was known as the Renaissance Grand Hotel until Palace Resorts--which sold the property to Palm Resorts just last November--acquired it in late 2003 and renamed the Grand Beach Palace. The hotel, located on a 25-acre parcel along the beach and only one mile from the 300-room Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort & Spa (pictured), was originally developed in the mid-1980s and has sat vacant for over two years.

"St. Thomas is an extremely popular destination for our owners," Lisa Burby, senior director of Wyndham Vacation Ownership, told CPN. "The conversion of the Grand Beach Palace is another step in our plan to showcase the Wyndham brand throughout the world."

Miami, Fla.-based Wyndham Vacation Ownership, a member of the Wyndham Worldwide family, has a portfolio of 140 resort properties across North America and the South Pacific accounting for an aggregate 18,000 fully furnished units. The company just made its entrée into the Waikiki market with the opening of its 195-unit Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk this month, and earlier this week, it announced the purchase and planned conversion of Taos, N.M.'s Fechin Inn. The St. Thomas development is expected to open its doors late next year.

British Airways (BA) will resume talks with the Transport & General Workers Union (T&G) today to prevent cabin crew strike action.

The cabin crew branch of the T&G plans on striking on Tuesday and Wednesday, causing problems for air passengers across the world. A total of 1,300 BA flights have been cancelled, a move predicted to cost the airline millions of pounds.

Further action is also planned by the T&G for two three-day periods in February.

However BA chief executive Willie Walsh and T&G general secretary Tony Woodley are expected to meet today after talks on Friday failed to reach a resolution.

BA state that they 'remain committed to pursuit of a negotiated settlement before next Tuesday' but have listed its flying schedule online so customers can 'allow sufficient time for alternative travel arrangements to be made'.

Over 8,100 cabin crew voted to strike in a postal ballot of nearly 11,000 T&G members. The 96.1 per cent in favour of strike action in the ballot, which saw an 80 per cent turnout, was seen to demonstrate employee dissatisfaction with pay and promotion within the airline.

British Airways yesterday cancelled 1,300 flights at Heathrow and Gatwick next Tuesday and Wednesday because of a planned strike.

The stoppage by 11,000 cabin crew will ground 950 services to and from Heathrow and 350 at Gatwick. The majority are shorthaul domestic flights and to Europe but about 150 are on long-haul routes.

BA warned of more cancellations on days either side of the strike dates because crew and aircraft will be out of place. Winter holidays and planned business trips are in ruins.

More than 150,000 travellers are booked to fly BA on the two days. The company ordered the shutdown after emergency talks between BA and the Transport-General Workers' Union broke down. Heathrow will be turned into an aircraft "car park" causing serious disruption for passengers using other airlines.

British Airways say -

"The cabin crew branch of the Transport and General Workers Union has notified British Airways that it plans to strike on Tuesday 30 January and Wednesday 31 January.

The T&G has notified the airline it also plans to take further action on February 5,6 and 7 and February 12,13, and 14.

The airline remains committed to pursuit of a negotiated settlement before next Tuesday but wants customers to have early warning of its flying schedule to allow sufficient time for alternative travel arrangements to be made."

The following flights will not be affected by any strike, and are scheduled to operate as normal.

Flights between Manchester and New York JFK with flight numbers between:
- BA1500 - BA1503

Flights operated by British Airways subsidiary BA Connect, with flight numbers between:
- BA1504 - BA1999
- BA4000 - BA4249
- BA4320 - BA4449
- BA7600 - BA7949
- BA8700 - BA8770

Franchise carriers (GB Airways, BMed, Loganair, Comair, Sunair) and flights operated by our codeshare partners with a BA flight code, with flights numbers between:
- BA3320 - BA3329
- BA4250 - BA4319
- BA4500 - BA7599
- BA8200 - BA8299
- BA8450 - BA8497
- BA8771 - BA8999

In your flight booking details, there should also be information about which airline you are flying with, usually indicated in a section labelled 'Operated by'.

Customers due to travel on Tuesday 30 or Wednesday 31 January whose flights are cancelled have the following options:-

Rebook on another British Airways operated flight subject to availability as outlined below:

From their original point of departure to their original destination
From their original point of departure to an alternative destination
An alternative point of departure to the original destination or
An alternative point of departure to an alternative destination
At any time, provided a seat is available in the same cabin as originally booked.

Conditions

For Shorthaul passengers rebooking to/from an alternative origin and/or destination they must be rebooked onto shorthaul BA Mainline/BA Connect operated services only, at no additional cost to the customer.
For Longhaul passengers rebooking to the nearest alternative gateway to their original destination must be rebooked onto a longhaul BA Mainline operated service only, at no additional cost to the customer.
The change in booking must take place no later than two weeks after the original flight.
Transportation between the original and alternative points of departure / the original and alternative destinations is at the customer’s own expense.
The passenger will be booked into the same booking class, or where applicable, the lowest available class within the same cabin of travel.
Travel must be completed within ticket validity or within three months from the original flight, whichever is longer.
The return flight, if applicable, can be rebooked at the same time, and no extra fare is payable

Refund of the original British Airways flight (this is only applicable to flights due to depart on either Tuesday 30 or Wednesday 31 January 2007), plus any parts of the journey not made which are on the same ticket as the original flight.

Up to date information can be found at http://www.britishairways.com/travel/flightops/public/en_gb

The Planning Commission tonight will consider a proposal by the Anaheim Marriott Suites hotel, which is in Garden Grove, to convert its 371 units into hotel condominiums.

The concept is flourishing in states such as Florida and Hawaii, developer Mark Hyatt said.

Buyers would own the unit as a condominium, but could use it only four weeks a year, he said. The rest of the year, the suites would function as hotel rooms that would be rented out to others.

"It's a solid investment in a growing part of Orange County," Hyatt said. "It's an opportunity to own a piece of the Marriott, and owners can use it like a timeshare while enjoying all the amenities of a hotel."

City staff members are recommending approval because of the financial gain that could come from the expected $93 million in sales, said Lee Marino, senior planner.

Each unit could go for up to $275,000, depending on the real estate market, he said.

The project woud go before the City Council if the Planning Commission approves it.

The Marriott Suites hotel, blocks from Disneyland, is in a city-designated resort area on Harbor Boulevard where city officials envision hotels, shops and eventually two theme parks.

Hyatt said the hotel-condo project timeline would depend largely on the real estate market.

"We've already done quite a lot of work on the project," he said. "But whether it makes sense in this market remains to be seen."

The Finnish company S Group will open a five-star spa hotel on Vasilievsky Island this summer. On Jan. 5, SOK signed an agreement with Holiday Club Resorts acquiring business operations of the Holiday Club St. Petersburg spa hotel, which is being built at Birzhevoy Pereulok.

Total investment in the hotel and spa is 60 million euros. At a press conference on Tuesday managers of both companies expressed confidence in their ability to outdo competitors in the hotel and health and beauty treatments markets.

“We know that Pribaltiiskaya Hotel has an aquapark, but it is for the most part aimed at children. Our concept is not focused on slides and children’s entertainment. We follow the classic concept of body care and treatment,” said Juhani Jarvenpaa, President and CEO of SOK Holding Oy.

The total area of construction is 25,000 square meters. The hotel will be located inside an elite residential and office complex that is being constructed by local company LenSpecSmu.

The hotel will offer 271 double rooms, 5 suites and 26 timeshare apartments for two to six people. The complex will include two restaurants, four bars and a cafe, a bowling alley and a gym, 12 conference halls and 30 heated parking spaces.

The hotel is being constructed from scratch, while the spa center will be located in a former warehouse built in the 19th Century. The spa will offer health and beauty treatments, nine types of sauna, jacuzzis and a 165-square meter pool.

According to the 20-year investment agreement, SOK will manage the business operations of the hotel, spa and restaurants while the premises will remain the property of London & Regional Properties.

Holiday Club Resorts will focus on developing timeshare business. “We set ourselves the goal of creating the largest chain of timeshares in Europe by 2010,” said Kimmo Hellgren, senior vice-president for sales and marketing at Holiday Club Resorts Oy.

At the moment, Holiday Club Resorts owns timeshares in Spain, Sweden and in 12 locations in Finland serving over 30,000 clients. Following the new strategy, Holiday Club sold 6 hotels in Finland to S Group last year.

In October, S Group announced the construction of two four-star hotels in St. Petersburg — Sokos Hotel Vasilievsky also located on Vasilievsky Island (255 rooms) and Sokos Hotel Olympic Garden on Moskovsky Prospekt (348 rooms).

In this project, the spa was designed to bea special attraction for the hotel. It will be capable of serving 400 people at a time. The managers expect that about 1,500 people will visit the center daily.

“Hotel guests will be only a small part of clients. We aim to attract city residents. We know that hydrotherapeutic procedures are very popular among Russians. In Finland, we had to hire Russian personnel,” Jarvenpaa said.

A day at the spa will cost from 25 euros to 30 euros. A room in the hotel will cost 240 euros and 420 euros in the low and high season respectively. LenSpecSMU will complete construction of the hotel in June. The spa will start operating in the fall.

“Locating a hotel of such a class in the historical center of the city is the only possible option. Vasilievsky Island suffers from problems with transport access, however historical architecture could compensate for the inconvenience for the hotel clients,” said Sergei Bogdanchikov, head of the consulting department at the London Consulting and Management Company.

Bogdanchikov saw constructing the hotel from scratch as an advantage. “It will provide maximally convenient planning and technical equipment, which is impossible if a historical building is being reconstructed,” he said.

Bogdanchikov estimated the pay-back period at 10 years to 11 years and the profitability of the spa at about 15 percent a year.

It could become the first European standard spa in the city. Nevertheless, Bogdanchikov said that the profitability of the complex would be lower compared to shopping centers because of larger expenses for equipment and qualified personnel.

Other experts questioned the viability of the concept.

“If the hotel is constructed with a wellness spa it could never pay off,” Nikita Savoyarov, head of tourism consultancy ET Consult, said.

“It would be rational in countries that have a long tradition of consuming wellness spa services, like Spain, Italy or France,” he said, adding that Russia lacks such a culture, and local sales managers are not used to selling such services.

Savoyarov indicated that educating personnel or “importing” them from abroad would be an expensive exercise.

Considering price policy most of the city residents will prefer local sanatoriums that can be found in abundance in St. Petersburg and its suburbs, he said.

“St. Petersburg has a deficit of good pools, but in this building the pool is likely to be small and narrow. Electricity and water purification will cost a lot,” Savoyarov said.

He also considered the location inconvenient. “That’s not the place to build a five-star hotel,” he said.

The Consumers Association of Singapore, or CASE, received a record 20,175 complaints last year, up from just 12,000 five years ago.

The consumer watchdog says this signals a better appreciation among consumers of their rights.

Timeshare complaints top the list with 2,363 complaints last year.

Other complaints involve motor cars (1,435 cases), electrical and electronic products (1,299), travel (1,177), contractors (1,143), education (1,130), beauty (1,018), real estate (991) and maid agencies (957).

For the first time, unhappiness about mobile phones made the top ten list.

Last year there were 911 complaints about mobile phones, up 64 percent from the previous year.

Most of the consumers' complaints were related to malfunction, misleading ads and unsatisfactory after-sales services.

Since the Consumer Protection Fair Trading Act came into effect in 2004, CASE has been receiving more complaints from consumers every year.

CASE is also working with the Trade and Industry Ministry to strengthen enforcement of the Fair Trading Act against recalcitrant traders.

Yeo Guat Kwang, President, CASE, said: "This is the first time we have more than 20,000 cases a year. In the past we normally have 12 to 15 thousand cases a year. I think the main reason is we've opened up more channels and we've made it more convenient for consumers to actually bring their cases or disputes to us to assist. Last year we set up a branch at French Road and also set up a new system where even if they didn't join us as a member, we also take up their case for them to actually resolve their dispute with their traders.

"We need to enhance the enforcement because at the moment we're only able to propose to the traders to sign a voluntary compliance agreement. In most of the cases we found that there're a small number of those who make use of these loopholes to just drag on the case and continue to mislead or making misrepresentation. We're in the process of discussing with the relevant authority to see how we can enhance and strengthen the enforcement efforts."

Airlines have warned of chaos at airports next month when many passengers will face demands to pay additional air passenger duty on fares booked before December.

Those on carriers that want the money face a torrid time – queuing at check-in only to be redirected to a ticket desk to pay the APD and then rejoin the check-in queue.

General secretary of the board of airline representatives Mike Carrivick said: “It’s bad news, passengers may have to queue three times. If people are unhappy there’ll be customer service problems.”

The industry remains furious with the Government for giving less than two months’ notice of the doubling of APD from February 1, with the total bill put at £100 million.

First Choice will distribute leaflets to passengers asking for help to pressure the Treasury to drop the increase by sending a protest postcard.

Carriers’ terms and conditions allow them to pass on the retrospective tax, but the Package Travel Regulations mean tour operators must pay it. The Federation of Tour Operators is still considering whether to mount a legal challenge.

Ryanair performed a U-turn and has e-mailed passengers demanding retrospective APD after earlier saying it would not pay. Among other airlines:

- British Airways will pay the extra APD for passengers.
- EasyJet, Monarch Scheduled and Flybe have asked passengers asking for the extra.
- Virgin Atlantic and BMI intend to claim the money, but have yet to decide how.
- Jet2.com has warned its terms allow it to deduct the money automatically.

Birmingham International Airport managing director Richard Heard has died after a branch fell on his car during storms in Shropshire this morning.

The accident happened on the B4373 Bridgnorth to Broseley road. Another car was also involved in the accident, but the driver was not hurt.

Heard has been managing director at the airport for two and half years after starting the job in the summer of 2003.

A statement from the airport said he “bought strong leadership with a human touch”.

London’s parks could be turned into temporary campsites offering affordable accommodation for the 2012 Olympics with hotel prices expected to soar.

Minister for creative industries and tourism Shaun Woodward is concerned people on low incomes who do not live within easy commuting distance of the capital will not be able to afford vastly inflated London hotel prices during the Olympics.

Determined to make sure the whole country is able to experience the London 2012 atmosphere, he is proposing the capital’s parks are turned into temporary accommodation shelters made up of caravans and tents.

The MP for St Helens South, which has four of the poorest wards in the country, encouraged the tourism industry not to focus on catering for high-spending overseas visitors at the expense of more modest spending British nationals.

“The hotel prices [during the 2012 Games] would be higher than most of my constituents could afford,” he told delegates at the Travel Society Prospects 2007 event in London last week. “There are lots of parks in London where high-standard accommodation sites can be offered that are not expensive.”

Woodward added the world needs to see the whole country enjoying the 2012 Games, which he estimated would have a global audience of 4 billion, if it’s to be a success and create a tourism legacy greater than that of recent host cities Sydney and Athens.

“The Olympics is a great opportunity. The UK is competing in a tourism race and it’s one that we can win,” he added. “We have to make sure everybody is able to come and watch the Olympics.”

Woodward did not reveal how well the idea has been received in Government.

However, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport – which is responsible for tourism – does oversee London’s parks via the Royal Parks Agency.

The Ritz-Carlton hotel chain is in talks to take over Fort Lauderdale's Lago Mar resort, a deal that would mark a milestone in the city's bid to become a luxury destination.

Executives with both companies described the negotiations as extensive and substantial. Bill Marriott Jr., chairman and chief executive of Ritz-Carlton's parent company, Marriott International, visited the 10-acre oceanfront property this month.

Ritz-Carlton would manage the property in a contract with owner Walter Banks and his family. The deal hinges on a $100 million expansion of the 204-room hotel, including razing most of the buildings on the complex and adding between 70 and 110 units, Banks said.

''They tell us we're their first choice'' for a Fort Lauderdale location, Banks said of Ritz-Carlton.

The venture would give Ritz-Carlton a resort between its Palm Beach property and the three it runs in the Miami area. It also would bring Fort Lauderdale its most prestigious brand yet at a time when the city is welcoming an influx of upscale hotels.

Two of Starwood's five-star brands, W and St. Regis, are opening hotels along Fort Lauderdale's beachfront. Two hotels bearing the Trump brand also are slated for the same area.

''I think Fort Lauderdale is well ready for a Ritz-Carlton,'' said Nicki Grossman, Broward's tourism director. ``We have earned that right.''

Banks, whose parents bought the resort in 1960, said the new upscale hotels on the beach are bound to cut into his business.

Though rates and occupancy remain healthy -- the average guest paid $240 a night there in 2006, with 80 percent of the rooms sold -- Banks has been working to modernize the 1952 resort. He added a spa three years ago and plans on replacing tennis courts -- an anachronism for most modern hotels -- with a man-made lagoon.

The construction needed for a Ritz-Carlton transformation likely would take three years, Banks said. A Ritz-Carlton project could include a real estate component, Banks said.

He declined to discuss details, except to say as many as 40 of the 315 units contemplated for the hotel could be sold as residences. Banks said none would be sold as condo-hotel units.

The Lago Mar site, about two miles from Fort Lauderdale's commercial beachfront, could be an attractive site for a Ritz-Carlton Club, the chain's upscale timeshare product.

Marketed as ''fractionals,'' each condominium-sized unit is sold off in three-week increments, and owners can trade their time for stays in other Ritz-Carlton Club properties. Ritz-Carlton plans a fractional club in Miami Beach as part of a condominium complex there, with fractional shares in a two-bedroom unit selling for about $250,000, executives said.

Hyatt Regency Indianapolis is excited to announce the groundbreaking of their $11-million renovation. The redesigned hotel will include an additional 10,000 square feet of meeting space, an Italian/American restaurant, cosmopolitan lounge, Starbucks coffee shop and sophisticated lobby. A renovation ceremony will take place January 25, 2007 at 3:00 PM to kick off the fabulous changes set to take place at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis.

“We anticipate the additional meeting space and enhancements to the property will attract meeting planners and business travelers who appreciate the hotel’s prime location,” said Brian Comes, General Manager. “With the construction of Lucas Oil Stadium and Convention Center expansion, the investment will support the developments being made throughout the city and improve Hyatt’s already strong presence in the market.”

The new Hyatt Regency Indianapolis will offer even more space options for meeting planners with the creation of an 8,000 square foot ballroom with a magnificent atrium foyer. Located on the third floor, this flexible, column free space will accommodate up to 1,300 people and will complement the current Regency Ballroom’s 9,400 square feet.

In addition to the ballroom, four new meeting rooms will be created. The two rooms located on the third floor will total 1,430 square feet. Large windows will bring an abundance of natural light and scenic views of the Indiana Repertory Theatre. The second floor rooms will offer an additional 1,750 square feet of meeting space and include an executive boardroom.

An Italian/American restaurant, trendy lounge, and Starbucks coffee shop will be located on the lobby level. The restaurant will feature an exciting open-air, exhibition kitchen where chefs will showcase their culinary talents at breakfast and lunch. The bar will have a sleek design and feature over 20 plasma television screens for ample viewing. Lounge area seating will create the perfect spot to mix business with pleasure. Finally a full service Starbuck’s coffee shop will offer a variety of flavored coffees, fresh baked goods, fruit and snacks any time of day.

The transformation culminates in the hotel lobby with the installation of new stone flooring, carpeting, and furnishings providing a more contemporary atmosphere with comfortable lounge seating. Additional check-in kiosks will be added in response to current travelers’ demands along with a redesigned front desk. Glass escalators will be installed in the center of the atrium to complete the look of the new lobby.

The renovation is scheduled to start on January 21, 2007 and is due for completion by mid-July. To learn more about this exciting hotel enhancement plan please visit www.indianapolis.hyatt.com.

RCI Global Vacation Network, a leisure-property consultant and unit of Wyndham Worldwide Corp. (WYN.N: Quote, Profile , Research), said on Wednesday China's timeshare real estate market is set to soar, fuelled by individual and corporate investment.

China currently commands only a sliver of RCI's global business of offering vacation units to members, but could become the company's top market in Asia in as little as three years, executives told reporters.

"China has everything," said Allan Yip, the director of marketing for Asia. "It has outbound traffic, inbound traffic and a domestic market," he said.

RCI has over 4,000 affiliated resorts in 100 countries and nearly 4 million members. But Asia accounts for only 130,000 members, with nearly half of that coming from India.

While the company had only 7,000 members in China now, the country had a potential 500,000 members based on income, lifestyle and vacation history, it said.

"If we are successful in our strategies China will be our biggest market within three years," said Ivor Clucas, RCI's head in Asia. "If not, I'd say within three to five years."

RCI, which calls itself the global leader in vacation exchange, signed a deal with Hainan Airlines Co. Ltd. (900945.SS: Quote, Profile , Research) (600221.SS: Quote, Profile , Research), the mainland's fourth largest airline, last year to help the Chinese company develop and manage its network of 16 resort properties sprinkled across the country.

RCI employs 350 people in Asia, a number that could triple in three years due mostly to growth in India and China, it said.

Most hotel brands see growth of under 10 percent overall, but are growing their timeshare business at four times that pace, said the RCI executives. RCI's parent Wyndham owns Ramada, Days Inn and Baymont hotel brands.

However, along with the rapid expansion, RCI has also had to endure growth pains in Asia.

Over the past two years, RCI has had to disaffiliate 30 properties in Asia, or about 20 percent its total in the region, due to poor management or other infractions of their agreement.

"Some them were big properties with a lot of members, so it does hurt, make no mistake," said Clucas. "We have had a cleanup process to go through in Asia, and are still going through."

By severing ties with developers or managers who did not perform up to RCI's standards, the company was positioning itself for longer-term growth, said Clucas.

Even China's fast changing regulatory environment was not seen by RCI as a negative.

"There is zero regulation, no policies against ownership of timeshares," said Stephen Chen, RCI's general manager for China.

"We are literally speaking in a policy vacuum in China," he said. "Any policy would be more than welcome, that is what we are striving for."

Shares of Chinese property developers fell sharply on Wednesday after the government said it would begin collecting a long-expected land appreciation tax from next month.

Shanghai's property sub-index <.SSEP>, which had quadrupled since mid-2005, tumbled 9.28 percent.

Strict, nationwide imposition of the tax, which has been touted for years, follows a series of steps taken by the government last year to crack down on speculation in the country's property sector, which is viewed as overheated.

NATIONAL park planners have approved a revised proposal for a new leisure centre on the west shore of Windermere.

The application had been made by Pullwood Bay Estate for facilities at their timeshare development. These include refurbishment of the existing boathouse, erection of a new swimming pool/change building and reinstatement of a tennis court.

Planning permission was granted in 2004 for the conversion of the main property into 13 timeshare apartments, but permission was refused last March for the creation of leisure facilities, including refurbishment and extension of the boathouse, because it would be “harmful to the character and appearance of the lake and lakeshore by virtue of its design, siting, scale and bulk.”

Principal planning officer David Buylla said the revised application “attempts to address the reasons for refusal of the earlier proposal”.

British Airways has cut its fuel surcharge on long-haul flights of less than nine hours by £5 to £30 following a sharp fall in the price of oil.

But the reduction merely mirrors action taken by some of its rivals more than three months ago, and BA will retain a £35 surcharge on flights longer than nine hours as well as an £8 surcharge on short-haul flights.

The oil price has fallen from a high of $80 a barrel last summer to below $55 this week.

Virgin Atlantic and Air France-KLM reduced their surcharges in September, when Air France also promised to mirror any fall in the oil price that lasts for a month or more.

However, BA’s surcharge is included in fares from the outset and not added merely at the point of booking. It appears as an item in a breakdown of the price.

All airlines acknowledge that customers pay for the cost of fuel whether it is incorporated in the fare or shown separately.

TUI UK became the first major tour operator to axe fuel supplements on prices in December. For legal reasons, tour operators refer to the additional charge for fuel they add to holiday prices at the time of booking as a supplement. Airlines are not bound by the same regulations and call it a surcharge.

Travel Weekly revealed today that the Office of Fair Trading has promised a "substantive announcement" on fuel supplements charged by holiday firms next month.

Airport operators could be forced to pay more for security as police attempt to recover the costs of beefed up security prompted by last summer’s terror alerts.

Nine police forces and police authorities responsible for patrolling the country’s largest airports are meeting airport operators tomorrow over the costs of security.

British Airports Authority pays £38 million a year for police control at Heathrow - £10 million less than it costs Scotland Yard.

Gatwick, Stansted, Birmingham, Manchester, Prestwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Heathrow area all obliged to pay for airport security under the 1982 Civil Aviation Act.

British Airways cabin crew have voted overwhelmingly for strike action in a dispute over pay and rules on reporting for work when sick.

More than 90% of the 8,000 T&G union members backed a walk-out, threatening the first strike by BA crew for 10 years.

Airline and union are due to meet this week in an effort to reach a deal. The union must give seven days notice of any action and has yet to decide what this might involve.

But the two sides appear way apart, with the union complaining of a breakdown in relations. It claims BA has capped pay rates at £10,000 a year below previous levels and complains crew members must report for work when sick.

Union general secretary Jack Dromey said: “The airline has gone too far. BA must rebuild trust by negotiating rather than imposing change.”

BA expressed disappointment at the threat of disruption. It also faces opposition among cabin crew and check-in staff to a deal on pensions agreed with its trade union forum last week.

Pilots’ representatives have welcomed a deal to plug a £2.1 billion hole in the airline’s pension fund by asking staff to retire later or pay higher contributions. But lower-paid staff in the general union GMB and T&G are opposed.

Passengers on some airlines could lose their flights because of new taxes coming into force in February, despite booking and paying for them in advance.

British Airways has pledged to cover the extra tax for passengers who paid for their tickets before the February 1 deadline when the increased levy comes into force.

But budget airline easyJet is asking passengers to pay up before Monday and Ryanair has warned those who do not meet the extra charge will not be able to travel.

Chancellor Gordon Brown announced the higher air passenger tax in his pre-Budget speech in December but it does not come into force until next month.

Air passenger duty will rise from £5 to £10 for economy-seat passengers taking domestic and European short-haul flights, and from £20 to £40 for economy-seat travellers on long-haul flights. Business and first-class passengers will face bills of £40 for short-haul flights and £80 for long-haul.

British Airways (BA) is spending £11 million on covering the extra cost for passengers due to travel past the deadline who have already booked and paid for tickets.

A BA spokeswoman said most tickets they sell are paid for at the time of booking, which is when the tax on their flight is calculated. These passengers will not be affected by the increase because the airline has pledged to pay the extra duty on those bookings.

Only the "very small amount of people" who are booked on fully flexible tickets will be affected because they can pay later, she added. The spokeswoman said: "There were rumours at the time that people would have to pay the difference at the airport but that is absolutely not the case."

But other airlines are not meeting the extra cost to their passengers. Ryanair has e-mailed all of its customers to warn them about the new tax and those who do not pay it will not be able to fly, chief executive Michael O'Leary said.

Budget airline easyJet is also asking its passengers to pay the tax in advance of flying. Toby Nicholl, from the airline, told the BBC: "It is absolutely chaotic. Come February 1, there is going to be a lot of uncertainty. It is not just easyJet where we are asking for money in advance. There will be an awful lot of airlines walking up and down the check-in aisles with buckets collecting the tax."

British Airways was facing industrial action on two fronts yesterday after leaders of thousands of ground staff rejected a pensions deal and most of the airline's cabin crew opted to walk out over new working practices.

More than 11,000 stewards and stewardesses are understood to have voted for stoppages over a "breakdown in industrial relations" which could ground the overwhelming majority of BA flights this month.

In a separate dispute over pensions, shop stewards belonging to the GMB general union, which represents check-in staff and baggage handlers, decided unanimously to reject a proposal to deal with the airline's £2.1bn pensions deficit.

Ed Blissett, a senior official at the GMB, said the union was "extremely angry and disappointed" about BA's plan because it disadvantaged the lowest paid in comparison with the better-paid pilots. The union, which says it has 4,500 members at the airline, will recommend members that vote against the BA blueprint in a consultative ballot and opt for industrial action.

By contrast, representatives of the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) unanimously accepted the proposals which involve later retirement, increased contributions and a £800m one-off cash injection into the pension fund by the company. The 3,000 members of the association will be urged to vote for the proposals in a ballot which ends on 9 February.

Amicus, which represents thousands of engineers at BA, said its shop stewards will meet on 22 January to decide whether to accept the proposal. A subsequent consultative ballot will take about three and a half weeks.

A spokesman for the Transport and General Workers' Union, which represents cabin crew and ground workers, said the organisation's officials were still involved in meetings with shop stewards and would decide whether to recommend the deal in the middle of next week.

A spokesman for BA said the company was disappointed by the GMB's decision. "We have just concluded 16 months of talks by accepting a proposal put forward by the trade unions," he said.

"The GMB is the smallest of the four trade unions that make up the BA Forum which issued a joint statement last Friday undertaking to recommend the proposal."

The airline said it welcomed the decision by leaders of Balpa to recommend acceptance of changes to future pension benefits.

BA said the proposed deal was aimed at securing a final-salary pension arrangement for 33,000 members of the pension scheme.

The separate ballot result among BA's 11,000 cabin crew is due to be announced on Monday, but it was known that after ballot papers were counted yesterday that there was a clear majority in favour of strikes over a range of issues.

Cabin crew have accused Willie Walsh, the chief executive of BA, of introducing "macho management" practices, pushing staff to work when unwell, driving down wage rates and eroding terms and conditions.

Management has been talking to stewards' representatives about cost-cutting measures as part of its drive to axe expenditure by £450m by March next year.

A scorpion stung David Sullivan on the back of his right leg, just below the knee, then continued up that leg and down the other, he believes, before getting him again in the shin.

It wasn't what he was expecting on a flight from Chicago to Vermont.

Sullivan, a 46-year-old builder from Stowe, was aboard the United Airlines flight on the second leg of his trip home from San Francisco, where he and his wife Helena had been visiting their sons. He awoke from a nap shortly before landing and noticed something strange.

"My right leg felt like it was asleep, but that was isolated to one spot, and it felt like it was being jabbed with a sharp piece of plastic or something."

The second sting came after the plane had landed and the Sullivans were waiting for their bags at the luggage carousel. Sullivan rolled up his cuff to investigate, and the scorpion fell out.

"It felt like a shock, a tingly thing. Someone screamed, 'It's a scorpion,"' Sullivan recalled. Another passenger stepped on the two-inch arachnid, and someone suggested Sullivan seek medical help.

He scooped up the scorpion and headed to the hospital in Burlington. His wife stopped at the United counter and was told the plane they were on had flown from Houston to Chicago. The Sullivans surmised the scorpion boarded in Texas.

"The airlines tell you can't bring water or shampoo on a plane," Helena Sullivan said. But the scorpion did make it aboard, she said.

United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said the incident "is something that we will investigate and look into. We're very sorry for what happened. Our customer safety and security is our No. 1 priority."

Such incidents are not unheard of. An American Airlines flight was delayed for an hour in Toronto on Sunday after a passenger was stung by a scorpion that had made its way on board. Paramedics treated the man when the flight from Miami landed. The delay came when officials searched the aircraft to ensure no other critters had stowed away.

Scorpion stings are rarely fatal, except to babies or older people with health problems, said Dr. Stephen Leffler, director of emergency services at Burlington's Fletcher Allen Health Care hospital.

"We don't see many scorpion bites in Vermont," Leffler said.

For a healthy adult, a scorpion sting can mean numbness or shooting pain extending out from the sting, or flu-like symptoms, which Sullivan said he had the next day.

He said he hadn't seen the recent movie, "Snakes on a Plane," starring Samuel L. Jackson.

"I'm pretty selective about what I see," Sullivan said. "Maybe I have to see it now."

Worldmark, The Club purchased the 212-unit Cypress Point Vistas, at 5275 W. Tropicana Ave. in Las Vegas, for $30.74 million, or about $145,000 per unit.

The 182,425-square-foot multifamily complex is spread over 20 separate buildings. Worldmark is in the process of renovating Cypress Point before marketing the property as individual timeshare condominiums. Amenities currently include a clubhouse and a pool and a spa.

This property was never listed on the market and had a 120-day escrow period.

Chris Bentley of The Bentley Group Real Estate Advisors represented the seller, Cypress Pt Las Vegas Apartments LLC. Patrick Sauter of The Sauter Cos. represented Worldmark.

The long-running dispute at Macdonald Hotels' flagship Loch Rannoch property may be nearing resolution, after it was confirmed discussions to buy the hotel were under way.

After years of wrangling, Timeshare Management Services, which runs the Loch Rannoch Highland Club (LRHC) next to the hotel, is discussing an offer - believed to be between £3m and £5m - for the property.

LRHC members had originally taken Macdonald Hotels to court after they were barred from using the hotel's leisure facilities when Timeshare Management Services took the management contract away from the hotel group in 2003.

Bill Gent, senior vice-chairman of the LRHC committee, said the court proceedings had now been postponed pending the discussions.

"We are merely discussing the possibility of a purchase with Macdonald," Gent said. "If we can reach an agreement, that would then have to be put to the vote by our timeshare members."

Last year Macdonald Hotels failed in a bid to buy back the management of the 85-property timeshare resort, after insufficient owners responded to its take-over offer.

A spokesman for Macdonald said: "There is a mood to try to resolve this issue and I think that will happen this year, but there are other more important priorities for the group - such as the sale-and-leaseback programme on 23 properties."

The Loch Rannoch hotel barred timeshare members from its leisure facilities.

Resorts Group, Inc. purchased Resorts USA Inc., including Fernwood Hotel & Resort, from Rank Group, plc for $32.5 million.

The sale, completed on Dec. 15, included Fernwood, the Villas at Tree Tops and Fairway, Minisink Financial Corporation and Outdoor World. Financing for the purchase was provided by Textron Financial Corporation, a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company and Whitebriar Financial Corporation.

Resorts Group partners include CEO, W. Andrew Worthington; CFO, Kevin Lavelle; COO, Mark Turner; Vice President of Marketing, Gina Bertucci; General Counsel, Thomas Casale; Director of Sales, Kurt Rawding; and Vice President of Timeshare Marketing, Josh Herschlag. Joining the ownership team is Harry Van Sciver of Whitebriar Financial Corporation.

Worthington said, “We were successful in completing the transaction because of the commitment of the executives of Resorts USA who wanted to participate in the ownership of the new company.”

“We were fortunate to have had a long history doing business with Harry Van Sciver of Whitebriar Financial. That relationship made it possible to put together our financing with Textron Financial and Whitebriar. We are pleased that Harry has joined us as a principal in Resorts Group where he will offer his expertise in the operation of Minisink Financial,” he added.

Fernwood Hotel & Resort is a 440-acre four season property located in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. The resort, in business for more than 70 years, includes a 125-room hotel with 60,000 square feet of banquet facilities, an event center that seats up to 2,000, an indoor video game area, a Winter Fun Center with snowtubing and horseback riding, an 18 hole par 71 golf course, seven indoor and outdoor pools, fitness facilities, canoeing and rafting on the Delaware, several venues presenting live entertainment and a family activities center.


The Villas at Tree Tops and Fairway, located adjacent to the hotel, is comprised of timeshare units ranging from one to four bedrooms and is one of the largest vacation ownership properties in the Mid-Atlantic region with over 17,000 member families. It is known for its diverse year round amenities and family-friendly atmosphere. In total, the Fernwood and Villas properties welcome over 500,000 guests annually.

Minisink Financial Corporation is a loan servicing and collections company specializing in third party loan and maintenance dues servicing, automated payment processing and delinquent collections. They also provide and support file custody, lock box, back-up servicing, disaster recovery and multi-lingual customer service and collections.

Whitebriar Financial is a Massachusetts company that specializes in financial transactions for the resort, timeshare and travel industry. Van Sciver said, “As an ownership group, we have all worked in the travel and resort industry for most of our careers and are proud to represent a reversal in the industry trend where large corporate giants are buying out locally owned resorts. This is the opposite - local people who have lived and worked in the area most of their lives now own the Resort.” Textron Financial was established in 1962 to provide commercial financing for distributors of its parent company Textron Inc. and its family of well known brands—names like Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft and E-Z-GO golf cars. Today, with offices throughout the United States and Canada, they are a diversified commercial finance company with more than $10 billion in managed receivables and more than 35,000 customers who have benefited from their asset-based lending, distribution, resort, aircraft, golf and structured finance solutions.

Resorts Group sold the Outdoor World campgrounds to a subsidiary of Texas-based Privileged Access. Worthington concludes, “This multinational transaction took months to put together. Now that it is completed, we are moving forward with the execution of our business plan to continue to be one of the leading privately owned resort and timeshare properties in the country.”

Civil rights campaigners have pledged to fight US plans to keep the fingerprints of British tourists on a criminal database.

British and EU visitors will be forced to have all 10 fingers scanned as they enter the country, according to The Observer.

This information would then be shared with intelligence agencies, including the FBI.

Critics say the scheme will turn law-abiding citizens into terror suspects.

Britons visiting the US already have their credit card and email accounts inspected by American authorities following a deal struck between the European Union and the US Department of Homeland Security last autumn.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil rights group Liberty said: "The UK has pioneered the flawed notion that the more intrusive and unwieldy the database of innocent people - the safer the country.

"As if it didn't have enough of its own problems, the US government now appears to be following suit.''

The Foreign Office confirmed the fingerprinting scheme was being put in place.

A spokesman said: "This is really a matter for the US authorities. Obviously as with any country there should be discussions as to how this should progress.

"This appears to still be in the planning stage and we cannot comment further until we have had the chance to discuss this with our US counterparts.''

US Airport scanners currently take two finger prints from travellers.

The move to 10 prints is due to be introduced in the summer. The changes will make it possible for this information to be compatible with the FBI database.

Critics warn errors in inputting finger printing data could leave some travellers victims of false match.

Travellers were also expected to face increased delays and queuing as a result of the scheme.

But the Department of Homeland Security insisted the intrusive new rules would not deter travellers from visiting the US.

A spokeswoman said: "That was what people said when we introduced the two-digit system, but that has not happened.''

The civil rights movement have accused the US and EU authorities of using terrorism as an excuse to introduce intrusive surveillance schemes.

Passengers who have already booked with some scheduled airlines should expect to be invoiced for unpaid Air Passenger Duty following the Government's decision to double the charge from February 1.

The British Air Transport Association puts the industry’s retrospective tax bill at £100 million.

Monarch Scheduled and EasyJet both plan to collect any unpaid tax. However, British Airways will absorb the £11 million cost rather than levy passengers, and Ryanair has told the Treasury it will not pay the retrospective tax and is prepared to go to court.

A Ryanair spokesman said: “We are not collecting it from passengers.” The carrier had 450,000 passengers booked at the time of Brown’s announcement, amounting to a bill for £2.25 million.

EasyJet said its 800,000 forward bookings left it with a bill for £4 million. Monarch has 180,000 advance bookings and faces a bill close to £1 million. Managing director Tim Jeans said: “Unpaid APD could be flagged at check-in and people directed to our ticket desks.”

BMI is likely to absorb the cost of the tax. A spokesman said: “Collecting APD at airports would be challenging.”

Shire Hotels is forcing smokers to quit the habit six months early after today announcing a smoking ban in all its properties.

The official Government-backed smoking ban, which will see the practice outlawed in all public places, is not due to be introduced until July this year.

However, the hotel chain is now banning smoking in all the bedrooms, public areas, bars, restaurants and meeting and events rooms of its six properties, leaving die-hard smokers with only designated external areas in which to smoke in.

Shire Hotels managing director Ian Harkness said: “This move was borne mainly out of our desire to promote healthier lifestyle options to our guests - a consistently top priority for us - and has been supported by a marked decrease in reservations for smoking rooms.

“We decided that January 2007 was the perfect time to implement this as it will give our guests an added incentive to try to quit before the national ban on 1 July 2007.”

P&O Cruises is to have a second 3,000-passenger ship enter its fleet after parent company Carnival signed an agreement with Italian shipyard Fincantieri.

The new ship, that will enter service in 2011, will be the same structurally as the new Ventura, the largest ship ever built for a British cruiseline that will increase P&O Cruises’ capacity by 30% when it enters service next year.

P&O Cruises managing director, David Dingle said: “This latest order results from the strong continuing growth of the cruise market in the UK. Each of the new ships that we have built for Britain has increased the demand for cruising through a reputation for innovation, style and customer service.

“Our projections indicate that we will require further new capacity to meet this additional demand by 2010.”

The new ship will cost €535 million and is the 20th newbuild currently on order by the world’s largest cruise operator Carnival which has put back the delivery date for a new Carnival ship that was announced in December.

Chairman and chief executive of Carnival Corporation Micky Arison said: “It had been our intention all along to schedule delivery of the P&O Cruises ship for 2010 and the Carnival Cruise Lines vessel for 2011.

“However, because we completed the agreement for the Carnival newbuild first, we temporarily placed it in the first available shipyard slot pending finalization of the P&O Cruises agreement.”

EasyJet has cancelled all flights to and from Bristol International Airport this morning following concerns about the newly resurfaced runway in wet weather conditions.

The decision was taken following “extensive discussions” with Bristol International Airport and the Civil Aviation Authority. Customers can claim a refund on cancelled flights or a free transfer onto another EasyJet flight within the next month.

Three British tourists have been injured, one seriously, in a coach crash near Grenoble in the French Alps in the early hours of this morning.

The coach, that was operated by SkiPlan, was travelling between La Grave and Mizoens. The operator relies mostly on direct sales although a spokeswoman admitted “a few” bookings are made through agents.

She added the coach, which contained a party of 46 British tourists, crashed at around 5.30am this morning when it hit black ice before crashing into a road barrier between La Grave and Mizoens.

It was transferring the party at the end of their holiday from the resort of Vars in France to Grenoble Airport.

Three people were injured in the crash and all were taken by helicopter to a hospital in Grenoble. Two have already been released and have rejoined the group while a third remains in hospital with “serious injuries”. A spokeswoman declined to say what these were.

She added: “All other party members were fit to travel home. They have been transferred to another coach and have arrived at Grenoble Airport, where they have checked in to return to the UK on the original flight which has been delayed to accommodate them.”

British Airways and officials of the Transport and General Workers' Union have denied that unofficial industrial action by baggage handlers lay at the root of the Christmas luggage crisis at Heathrow.

About 4,500 bags continued to sit at Heathrow Terminal 4 awaiting distribution to BA passengers late on Thursday, down from 7,500 the day before. Astonishingly, some of the bags have been delayed since before Christmas.

BA blamed a combination of difficulties – a system failure leading to a baggage belt breakdown on December 17 was compounded by extensive flight cancellations and delays caused by three days of fog on December 20-22, and a further baggage system breakdown on December 29. The delays affected flights at both Terminals 1 and 4.

But a source blamed unofficial action by BA baggage handlers, resisting the introduction of new work practices.

BA acknowledged it has begun to change the way its baggage handlers work as it prepares to combine operations at the two terminals for the move to Terminal 5 in 2008.

But a BA spokesman said: “We have no record and have not been told of any unofficial go slow. We think our industrial relations are OK.”

A T&G spokeswoman added: “The problems were entirely due to the legacy of the fog problem before Christmas compounded by a system breakdown. There is no suggestion of industrial action.”

BA said it aimed to clear the backlog by the end of this week. However, a source suggested it could be a week before every passenger is reunited with their bags.

Heathrow handles about 250,000 items of luggage per day. BA said it handled almost one million passengers and baggage over the Christmas holiday. About 20,000 suffered some kind of luggage problem.

British Airways has joined EasyJet in cancelling all services from Bristol International Airport amid concern about the safety of the runway, which is being resurfaced.

EasyJet cancelled all flights early today, saying it was unhappy with the surface in the rain, and BAConnect followed mid-morning after diverting an inbound flight from Paris to Birmingham.

Charter carrier XL.com has also suspended flights from Bristol until further notice, transferring passengers to Cardiff. It is asking clients to check in three hours before departure to allow for the transfer.

EasyJet and XL are among four carriers to have registered concerns about the runway since resurfacing began in November.

An XL spokeswoman said: "We had a pilot land on January 3 who was not happy with the surface and said it could present difficulties if wet. The aircraft took longer to brake to a halt than it should have."

The Civil Aviation Authority is monitoring the situation. But a spokesman said: "We are satisfied safety standards have been met."

No one from the airport was available to comment, pending release of a statement.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership, the world's largest vacation ownership company, today announced the opening of Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk -- the company's 13th Hawaii-based resort and first in Waikiki. The 195 unit timeshare property is a major component of the highly anticipated Waikiki Beach Walk complex -- the largest re-development project in the city's history. Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk, which will be affiliated with the company's FairShare Plus portfolio of vacation ownership resorts, exceeded more than 3,000 individual pre- construction sales prior to opening.

"We've seen a growing demand for timeshare resorts in premier resort locations so we're very excited to unveil Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk in this highly sought after vacation destination," said Franz Hanning, Wyndham Vacation Ownership president and chief executive officer. "With more than 3,000 pre-construction sales, Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk is already well on its way to becoming one of our most successful resorts ever."

Formerly the OHANA Reef Towers hotel, Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk is the culmination of an extensive two-year, $54-million renovation.

Boasting the warm colors and tropical ambiance of the Hawaiian Islands, the resort features 195 units including 95 one-bedroom, 83 two-bedroom and 17 two-, three- and four-bedroom luxurious penthouse style Presidential suites. Situated within two 15-story towers, each unit features a fully equipped kitchen, whirlpool bath, washer/dryer and a flat-panel television with DVD player. The resort also offers owners and guests a variety of amenities including an expansive sun deck featuring an outdoor swimming pool and whirlpool spa, a spacious exercise facility, family recreation room and a computer library.

"We're delighted to have Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk be an integral part of this much anticipated redevelopment project," said David Carey, president and CEO, Outrigger Enterprises Group. "Waikiki Beach Walk is an extraordinary hospitality, retail and entertainment complex that truly encapsulates the ultimate Hawaiian vacation experience."

In addition to the wide variety of shops, boutiques and restaurants, Waikiki Beach Walk will offer a myriad of other exciting activities, including a full schedule of cultural activities and musical events -- including ukulele lessons, hula lessons, lei making, story telling, wood carving and well-known musical acts.

Marriott submits design proposal for timeshares at old Radisson site

Plans submitted to the city of Marco Island for the conversion of Marco Island’s Radisson Hotel to timeshares operated by the Marriott corporation show a detailed picture of what will be the newest addition to the island’s beachfront skyline.

Large glass walls will give the four tower structures housing 219 timeshare units a flowing effect, Marriott officials hope, making the property more contemporary looking without departing from the architecture of other beach properties.

“We’re updating the look to be an accompaniment to the area,” said Ed Kinney, a spokesman for Marriott Vacation Club International, the Marriott company’s resort wing.

Marriott purchased the Radisson, at 600 S. Collier Blvd., with designs on using the property for timeshares. This summer the Marco Island City Council allowed Marriott to do just that, narrowly passing plans to give the company leeway to convert the property from a hotel.

Minor deconstruction of the Radisson began Thursday with large-scale work starting Jan. 15. The work will leave some skeleton of the hotel left from which the Marriott will build.

In August, the council amended the city’s land development code to allow the Marriott to raise the height of the Radisson to 150 feet from 125 feet.

The plans call for structures larger than that, but still allowed by code, city officials said.

Two of the four proposed towers will rise higher than 150 feet, with the tallest being 165 feet from the ground.

According to the city’s code of ordinances, “height limitations do not apply to spires, belfries, cupolas, water tanks, fire towers when operated by a branch of government, ventilators, chimneys or other appurtenances usually required to be placed above the roof level.”

No occupancy will be above 145 feet, 8 inches, according to the plans.

City planner Bryan Milk said a cursory look at the plans showed them to be within the code, but he will submit them to greater scrutiny before the public meetings required for the property’s conditional use.

The hearings will be before the planning board and City Council and are expected to begin in February, Milk said.

In its development plans, the Marriott took advantage of a clause in the city’s comprehensive plan that will allow for more units on the property. The company will be providing a 20-foot public beach access point along South Collier. When completed it will likely be the island’s fourth public access area.

Collier County operates the South Beach and Tigertail beach access points and the city approved construction of a 15-foot easement along South Collier in April. There won’t be parking or restrooms at the Marriott beach access.

By providing that access to the city, the company gained the ability to build an additional 23 units.

To ensure that the beach access is completed to the city’s liking, Milk said that he planned to have the public hearings for the easement and the Marriott project at the same time.

“They should go hand-in-hand,” Milk said.

Milk said that safety concerns will delay the construction of the beach walk, but added that he won’t authorize the Marriott’s final certificates of occupancy until the pathway is completed.

Councilman Chuck Kiester, who voted against the project in the summer, said the towers’ height and additional units due to providing the beach access didn’t bother him as much as the original decision to give the project hotel unit status instead of condominium unit status.

The city allows for the development of hotels at 26 units per acre and condominiums at 16 units per acre.

“To me adding another 23 units pales in comparison to what giving hotel density status allowed for,” Kiester said.

The plans call for 185 two-bedroom units with the remaining 34 being three-bedroom “penthouse” units. Shared amenities will include four pools, four spas, a hammock garden, a fire pit, a bocci ball court, a shuffleboard court and a small market.

In August, council also maintained that the Marriott must have as an average a minimum of 7 percent of its rooms available to the general public throughout the year. Kinney said that the current plans allow the property to “stay within excess of that.”

The Marriott’s target to begin sales is October with a showroom ready by that time. The building will accept its first residents in January 2009 with 2012 as the project completion date.

“The five years will go by pretty quick,” Kinney said. “This operates a little bit different than a hotel. When you finish a hotel, you open it and everyone walks in. We’re building here based on sales pace and the phasing is based on design parameters.”

Bulldozers have now replaced go-carts on the Daytona Beach Boardwalk.

Construction crews are demolishing the half-century-old building that used to house an arcade, which is being replaced with a $115 million condo-hotel timeshare, designed to revive the beachfront area, and keep the tourism dollars in Daytona Beach.

Some longtime residents are sad to see their memories bulldozed to the ground, but community leaders stress the importance of changing the city's oceanfront landscape.

Construction on the hotel is set to begin next summer; it could be finished by 2009.

A british owned timeshare resort in the Canaries is to use the offer of a special educational programme for children — including nature walks and practising Spanish — to lure parents into taking their offspring on holiday during term time.
Club Las Calas on the island of Lanzarote says the scheme will make it easier for families to take advantage of cheaper air fares when demand is lower outside the school holidays.

Critics say it is further evidence the travel industry is ignoring calls from the government and teachers to curb the use of special deals for families during term time, a practice they blame for children missing lessons.

Last year hundreds of £50 fixed penalties were issued to parents of state-school pupils who took unauthorised time off for family breaks.

Adam Johnson, chairman of Club Las Calas, said parents should obtain permission from teachers, who would then set coursework to take away with them.

The resort’s leisure centre manager has been given the task of overseeing the education programme and ensuring children complete their work. Johnson plans to introduce the scheme this summer.

It has angered teachers and unions. One school head said her staff would “hit the roof” if they were asked to provide holiday coursework.

“We wanted to make it easier for schools to release children in term time by offering to provide some form of educational activity on the island when they are on holiday,” said Johnson. “We are not surrogate teachers, it is not a surrogate school. It will offset the fact the child is out of school during term time.”

Club Las Calas has 147 apartments, four swimming pools and a leisure complex.

Under the scheme, children studying Spanish could practise their language skills with the club’s Spanish staff. Those studying geography and geology might go on nature walks around the island’s dormant volcano, filling in a fact sheet. The scheme will cost £13 to £20 per child for a one-week stay, depending on age.

Under government rules, children can take a maximum of 10 school days authorised absence a year under “exceptional circumstances”. It is up to headteachers to decide what constitutes exceptional circumstances, but few accept the need to take cheaper holidays as a reason.

Pam Barber, head at the state Lancaster Girls’ grammar school, said: “My teachers would hit the roof, and there is no way a teacher is going to say ‘yeah I’ll set work so they can go on holiday.’”

hotel from the leisure chain with which it has been in dispute for five years.

Macdonald Resorts Limited has placed a £3m price tag on the Loch Rannoch Hotel and nearby timeshare owners - numbering 3,200 - are in advanced negotiations to buy it.

Timeshare Management Services Limited (TMSL), acting for Loch Rannoch Highland Club which operates extensive timeshare facilities next to the hotel, has revealed the deal in a members' newsletter.

The negotiations have been confirmed by Macdonald but the price has now risen to £3.25m, which may prove a stumbling block for a quick sale of the hotel at Kinlochrannoch in Perthshire.

One timeshare owner, who asked not to be named, said: "Hopefully, it will bring an end to what has become a sorry situation and is affecting what is a highly successful timeshare operation."

Taken private in 2003, Macdonald Hotels' latest annual figures show a pre-tax loss of £30.3m on turnover of £168.5m in the year to September 29, 2005. But the group has publicly denied it is being forced to sell up to 20 of its 65 hotels to free up cash. A Macdonald hotels spokesman predicted a busy year ahead for the chain, pointing to an ongoing £150m-plus expansion and refurbishment programme.

A switch in ownership of the Loch Rannoch Hotel would end years of wrangling centred on the use of the hotel's leisure and marina facilities.

The timeshare owners and families have been barred from using the facilities, including the hotel pool, since the club switched a lucrative management contract away from Macdonald to then newly formed TMSL, run by former club members, in 2003.

Macdonald took the owners to court over back-fees plus costs amounting to around £1m, with no final outcome.

Macdonald Hotels' chairman Donald Macdonald told Scotland on Sunday: "Discussions have been very amicable and we are keen to find a solution to this situation. The hotel needs a resort and the resort a hotel."