De Vere Group to take its first shot at foreign venture

DE VERE GROUP, the hotel and leisure operator, will today announce its first move overseas with a 20-year contract to manage a hotel and golf complex in southern Spain.

The company, which was once part of the old Greenalls brewing and pub empire, is to run a 150-room hotel and spa with an 18-hole championship golf course and beach club near La Manga, in Murcia.

It will pay €2 million (£1.4 million) for a minority stake in the project, which is due to open in mid-2008 as the De Vere Roda. The contract includes the right to develop timeshare at the resort in partnership with the developer, Roda Golf and Beach Resort.

The group has also secured the right to manage a second golf resort in Murcia, at Corvera, which is expected to open in 2009.

The golf course at the Roda complex is designed by Dave Thomas. Mr Thomas also designed the Brabazon course at The De Vere Belfry, the Ryder Cup venue near Birmingham. De Vere recently announced a £186 million sale and leaseback of The Belfry.

Carl Leaver, De Vere’s chief executive, said that the Roda contract did not include any guarantees for the owners, which was unusual. “We were not prepared to take the kind of risk associated with a guarantee in a new market like Spain,” he said.

Mr Leaver said that the resort would derive much of its business from British golfers. However, he would also try to develop new markets, which in turn would boost De Vere’s UK hotels.

He hinted that he was in early stage discussions on potential golf-based hotel projects in other parts of the southern Mediterranean but declined to discuss any details.

Timeshare Scams Can Bilk the Unsuspecting

With the arrival of spring, many families begin to browse travel advertisements in anticipation of summer vacation. Timeshare opportunities are one option that many vacationers find enticing. So, too, do scam artists!

The Better Business Bureau advises consumers who are thinking of buying or leasing a timeshare to exercise due diligence and avoid making a purchasing decision based on price alone. A timeshare is a major investment. By doing thorough research, consulting reliable sources, asking the tough questions, and getting all details in writing, you can improve your chances for a vacation that lives up to your expectations.

The BBB offers the following tips when considering a timeshare opportunity:

· Does it sound “too good to be true”? Be wary of “great deals” and low-priced offers. How many legitimate businesses can survive by substantially undercutting the prices of their competitors?
· Refuse to be pressured. Legitimate businesses do not demand that you make a snap decision. They welcome your questions and will encourage you to consult with experts and other reliable sources. Do not sign anything you do not understand.

· Ask detailed questions. Understand what type of timeshare you are being offered. Is yours a fixed-unit, fixed-week agreement, a right-to-use plan or a vacation club or points-based program? Are you agreeing to fixed time or floating time? Find out exactly what the price covers and what it does not.

· See for yourself. If at all possible, visit the resort. If this is not possible, consult reliable sources that are familiar with the area and the development. Call the businesses or places listed to confirm their participation.

· Get all information and details in writing. Make sure the written information reflects what you were told verbally by the salesperson. Are they the terms you agreed to? You might want to have a lawyer experienced in timeshare properties examine the agreement so that you know exactly what you are getting and how it will benefit you.

· Know whom you are dealing with. Do not give your credit card number or bank account information over the phone unless you know the person with whom you are dealing and have verified the legitimacy of the business they represent.

· Do not send money by messenger or overnight mail. Some “scam artists” may ask you to send them money immediately. If you pay with cash or check, as opposed to using a credit card, you lose your right to dispute any potential fraudulent charges under the Fair Credit Billing Act.

· When in doubt, say no! If you have any doubts about the trustworthiness of a company, trust your instincts. It is less risky to turn down the offer and say “no.”

· Check with the BBB. Before doing business with an unfamiliar or new company, check with the BBB.

Cendant Corp plans four new tourist resorts in NZ

The world's biggest real estate franchiser and hotel operator is poised to open four new tourist resorts here after taking over part of a Rotorua resort two months ago.

Timeshare operator Trendwest South Pacific, part of the New York Stock Exchange-listed Cendant Corporation, is planning to build resorts at Waipu Cove in Northland, Pauanui on the Coromandel and at Queenstown.

It hopes they will open within 18 months.

In a fourth deal, it has a management agreement with The Residence at Lake Tekapo, a resort under construction and due to open later this year.

On February 1, Trendwest took over managing 20 of the 70 units at Marama Resort near Rotorua.

The property is on the Ohau Channel between Lake Rotorua and Lake Rotoiti.

Trendwest spent $25,000 refurbishing each suite there.

AdvertisementAdvertisementMarama Resort was dogged by lease and rental guarantee issues in 2003, after the collapse of a chain of leisure resorts developed by Auckland's Taradale Properties.

Cendant is the world's biggest hotel franchiser and its brands include Ramada and Travelodge. It also owns the Century 21 real estate sales agency franchise worldwide.

Trendwest hopes to decide soon about a Queenstown site which it has an option to buy and develop a $30m 115-suite resort.

It plans to develop a $20m Coromandel resort of 70 units but is still looking for land for the Northland complex.

It plans to open at Lake Tekapo in September.

Barry Robinson, president and chief executive of Trendwest South Pacific, is based in Queensland but was in Auckland on Thursday to complete property deals.

Robinson said he already had an option to develop land alongside the golf course at Pauanui.

Trendwest Resorts uses its WorldMark tag to operate its timeshare resorts.

It claims more than 200,000 WorldMark owners who it says have access to resorts across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Fiji, Australia and now New Zealand.

Cendant is a Fortune 500 company specialising in the travel and real estate industries.

Sun-Seekers Secure Better Deal From Spanish Timeshare Company

If the business does not provide a cancellation form, then under English law it is committing a criminal offence and the agreement cannot be enforced.

Following action by the OFT, Spanish timeshare company One World Holiday Club, has pledged to give British sun-seekers a better deal.

The company promotes a timeshare product called Club Atlantis on behalf of its parent company International Holiday Marketing Ltd as well as a software package providing discounted travel bookings and accommodation at the Miraflores Resort on the Costa del Sol.

The OFT received numerous complaints that the company was selling the products unfairly by making misrepresentations such as:

* consumers would receive annual reimbursement for any unused entitlement

* consumers could sell the Club Atlantis product back to the company for the full purchase price at any time

* the annual fee would not increase without consent

* Club Atlantis products had to be purchased on the day of the presentation.

In addition consumers attending presentations for the Club Atlantis product were asked to sign documentation 'for Spanish tax and/or legal reasons' which effectively committed them to buying the Miraflores accommodation without their knowledge or understanding.

If consumers attempted to cancel their Club Atlantis contract, their deposit would not be returned, as they were told that the deposit paid was in relation to the Miraflores accommodation contract which could not be cancelled - in effect denying consumers their cancellation rights.

International Holiday Marketing Limited, One World Holiday Club SL and director of both companies Paul Porter have signed undertakings that they will describe the products clearly and will not make misleading or inaccurate representations or use harassment, coercion or undue influence in marketing their products.

They will also provide a seven-day cooling-off period for cancellations for products promoted by scratch card touts.

If the companies breach the undertakings the OFT could seek an injunction to enforce compliance with the relevant legislation.

The Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations (CMARs) 1988 came into force on 20 June 1988 implementing an EC Directive on misleading advertising.

The role of the OFT under the regulations is mainly to support and reinforce the controls exercised by other bodies where they have been unable to take effective action.

The OFT will step in only when these bodies have been unable to deal adequately with a complaint and where it is in the public interest that an advertisement is stopped by means of a court injunction.

The OFT can only act when a complaint has been received.

To come within its scope an advertisement must be misleading (i.e. it must deceive or be likely to deceive the recipient and affect their economic behaviour, or for those reasons harm the interests of a competitor), and be published, in connection with a trade, business, craft or profession, in order to promote the supply or transfer of goods or services, immovable property, rights or obligations.

The OFT can take action against anyone appearing to be concerned or likely to be concerned with the publication of a misleading advertisement.

'Advertisement' means any form of representations that is made in connection with a trade, business, craft or profession in order to promote the supply or transfer of goods or services, immovable property, right or obligations.

The Consumer Protection (Cancellation of Contracts concluded away from Business Premises) Regulations 1987, commonly-called Doorstep Selling Regulations (SI1987/2117) say that if consumers enter into a purchase contract for more than £35 during an unsolicited home visit, they are entitled to cancel that contract within seven days.

The Spanish Doorstep selling provisions (Law No. 26/1991, 21 November 1991, Contracts Entered into outside Commercial Premises) also apply where negotiations take place outside the commercial establishment of the business, being entered into either by the business or a third party acting on its behalf.

The business should provide a cancellation form, although a letter from consumers to the business will also be a valid cancellation.

If the business does not provide a cancellation form, then under English law it is committing a criminal offence and the agreement cannot be enforced.

Certain kinds of contracts, for example, some insurance contracts, are excluded from this legislation.

Different cancellation rights apply to credit agreements under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

Some businesses which sell to consumers in their homes belong to trade associations which require their members to offer other cancellation rights.

The Injunctions Directive (EC/98/27) is a piece of European legislation allowing effective cross border action to protect UK consumers.

Under the legislation certain consumer protection bodies, known as "Community Qualified Entities" (CQE), are empowered to apply to the courts or competent administrative authorities both in their own and in other Member States for orders to stop traders infringing the legislation implementing 10 specific consumer protection directives.

For the order to be granted these infringements must be shown to harm the 'collective interests of consumers'.

Timeshare buyers take the high cost road to Loch Lomond

TIMESHARES, once the stuff of Benidorm street hustlers selling sunshine by the week, have been given a new lease of life on the shores of Loch Lomond.

They do not come cheap. At up to £40,000 for an annual break of seven days, a prestigious "resort ownership" development was launched yesterday by the bonnie and highly exclusive banks.

De Vere, which owns the five-star Cameron House hotel by Loch Lomond, unveiled the £50 million Carrick project.

The 96 "units" - where a week’s stay will cost from £8,000, with use of a new spa and a championship golf course - are barely above ground level, but the company has advance sales of more than £5 million.

Almost all of the clients are British, and 70 per cent of them English. The remainder are Americans and a Portuguese with a love of Scotland and of golf.

Craig Mitchell, the managing director of De Vere Resort Ownership, said: "This is a long, long way from being hustled on a beach in Tenerife. This is the future."

The Carrick development and the Glenmore development at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire are the newest and most luxurious face to be put on an old picture.

Douglas Knight, De Vere’s director of sales, said: "The United States has gone down a road of ‘high street’ timeshare selling. We are following that to the best in the world."

He added: "On average, our clients are spending £20,000. Some have spent £60,000 on two or three weeks. And we have sold a week - at New Year time - for £40,000 for a four-bed unit."

A client’s money buys him or her a week’s entitlement for 99 years. It is heritable and can be passed on.

There will be ten two-bed units in apartment blocks and the remainder will be individual dwellings.

De Vere have spent £9.4 million on a spa and golf clubhouse to go with the course designed by Douglas Carrick, a Canadian, who, last year, was responsible for creating what are regarded as the first and second best courses in Canada.

Mr Mitchell added: "The name of the development is taken from the Gaelic for big rock, but it’s appropriate that Douglas’s name is the same.

"He’s a golf architect of immense stature and he has made something special."

Mr Mitchell said the course, which will open in June 2006, will be championship class, but he will not actively seek the big competitions.

He added: "De Vere has a strong association with golf through The Belfry, but the Carrick will be ‘pay and play’ and open to locals."

De Vere say a combination of the international cachet enjoyed by Loch Lomondside and their belief that holidaymakers become part of the community is a winner.

Mr Mitchell expects the development to generate £18 million in sales, which will have a beneficial effect on the local economy.

As well as the golf course, the spa resort will feature two restaurants, two bars, 15 treatment rooms, a swimming pool, a cycle track and a nature reserve.

Experts believe timeshare has emerged from a seedy past to become a growing and legitimate business.

A spokesman for Travel Trade Gazette said: "Timeshare may have been a dirty word to many - dodgy sales tactics, even dodgier salespeople and a depreciating asset.

"But timeshare owners are predominantly now aged 45 to 55, earn in excess of £75,000, own two cars and a house worth more than £350,000.

"De Vere posted a 14 per cent profit rise last year and advanced sales at the Carrick have hit £5 million in three months."

Why everybody wants their place in the sun

A record number of British people are pursuing their dream of moving to a foreign country.

Once the preserve of the super rich or the eccentric bohemian, living abroad, or at least the dream of it, has become something of a national obsession. For many Britons though, the fantasy of sipping wine and nibbling olives on a veranda at the end of sunny day remains just that, as the realities of isolation from family and friends, bills, schools and learning a foreign language dawn.

Research has shown, however, that four in 10 cling to the dream, going on to "actively search" for an overseas property. This has created a massive new market of buyers, many of whom are expected to visit an exhibition from the makers of A Place in the Sun opening in London this week

The Channel 4 series, which commands 3.5 million viewers, has spawned not only a magazine, but a rash of copycat television shows and publications pandering to those intent on renovating a rundown lighthouse in the Algarve or reinvigorating a mushroom farm in the Ardeche.

Government figures show that the number of Britons buying abroad rose 14 per cent last year - to 630,000 families. Those involved in the industry believe the figure is much higher. Darren Styles, publishing editor of A Place in the Sun magazine claims it is nearer two million, equivalent to 4 per cent of the United Kingdom's population. Research commissioned by the magazine puts the number of people seriously looking at 20 million. The reason for the clamour is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the weather. Six out of ten cite the sun as their primary motivation. Half see their purchase as a holiday retreat while others regard it as an investment. But, according to Mr Styles, nearly one in three potential buyers blames Britain's "decline" - issues such as high tax and growing numbers of asylum-seekers - as the main reason for their flight. "This is the highly profitable tract of Middle England so beloved of our Chancellor that is getting set to run," he warned.

Spain remains the most sought after overseas destination. Foreigners, mainly British, outnumber the Spanish in nine out of 15 coastal areas there. France - with its estimated 350,000 British-owned homes - is expected to overtake the Canary Islands in the next few years as second favourite. Despite the prospect of EU membership, Turkey is due to lose its number four position. The former Soviet bloc countries Croatia and Bulgaria are expected to join the top ten destinations.

The United States, particularly Florida, is widely predicted to remain the most popular long-haul destination, with the English-speaking nations Australia and New Zealand rapidly catching up.

The soaring number of Britons buying abroad is largely the result of the red-hot housing market of recent years. Figures from Barclays suggest that £57bn was released from the value of British homes in 2003.

According to Richard Donnell of the estate agents FPD Savills, the passage has been smoothed by the ranks of experts on hand. There are now readily available mortgages and currency fluctuation guarantees.

Crucially, recent years have seen the arrival of the budget airlines servicing previously isolated parts of south-west France, Spain and Portugal. The return of stability to the Balkans and the opening up of Eastern Europe has bought vast new swaths of property into the marketplace.

Another factor is that the UK boom has seen second homes in the UK priced out of the reach of many.

"Most people buying a second home abroad have one eye on it being a retirement home. In the meantime they can use it as a holiday home and an investment property. But the secret of a good experience is having someone out there who you know and trust who is just a phone call away, who can sort out anything that goes wrong," said Mr Donnell.

But dreams cannot last for ever, as the experience of the once booming timeshare market shows. Sandy Gray, chairman of the Timeshare Consumers Association, says he deals with 10,000 inquiries each year, the majority of them from disgruntled buyers. He believes there are 400,000 families in the UK that own timeshares, half of whom are dissatisfied with what they have bought and who have found themselves saddled with a share in a holiday home which has become massively diminished in value.

"The high point for the industry came in 1997-08 when the ban on the taking of deposits and the introduction of cooling-off periods came into force. People have now become deeply resistant to the idea. Mention timeshares and you can empty a room in five seconds flat," he said. Timeshare owners who pay an average £8,000 for a week's share, find this reduced to just £2,000 as soon as they have bought it. The reason is the massive marketing costs which the buyer cannot recover in the secondary market place where a week in a studio apartment in southern Spain can be worth "peanuts", said Mr Gray. Scandals have helped undermine confidence, and there are the additional management and swap costs, which - buyers of second homes beware - are paid by time sharers bored by going to the same destination on holiday each year. Dreams, it seems, can turn sour in the sunshine.

Channel 4 first broadcast A Place in the Sun in September 2000. Within three years, 15 similar property hunt programmes were planned or already in production on terrestrial television alone. Not only have they made stars out of their presenters, such as Amanda Lamb, but also of the ordinary couples who go in search of their dream.

Hundreds of hours of screen time have been devoted to the phenomenon - an average of two hours and 45 minutes a week. And it is not just restricted to TV, the circulation of publications which deal in homes abroad has also soared. The circulation of French Property News more than doubled in three years from 24,000 to 50,000 copies a month.

The Curran family, Costa del Sol, Spain

Gaynor Loughnane and Chris Curran bought an apartment in Mijas, on the Costa del Sol in Spain. They are flying out to furnish the property, with their two daughters, Naomi, 14 and Katrina, four, this week.

"We always wanted a place in Spain," Ms Loughnane said. "We have been there a dozen times or so but chose to buy in the Costa del Sol because it seems to be the best place for sunshine all year round and the best place to invest. It has two swimming pools so the children are excited."

The family will initially rent the apartment out and use it as a holiday home. They are keeping their house in Sale, Cheshire, where Ms Loughnane, 42, works as a business manager for T-Mobile, and Mr Curran, 45 works as a process manager for British Telecom.

"We wanted somewhere that we could keep sun-loungers without the need to rely on other people's property," Ms Loughnane said. "Mortgages and interest rates are cheaper in Spain. It's an investment."

In the longer term though, the family are hoping to move to Spain for good. "It would be ideal to move out permanently. There is a BT office nearby, and Chris has good Spanish, so he would be able to transfer.

"Naomi has only four more years at school so we will wait until she is at university to consider a permanent move. We would keep an apartment here so she had somewhere to call home, but Katrina would complete her secondary education out in Spain."

The family are excited about their investment. "Arranging a mortgage was easy. We have got a flexible mortgage, to pay off big lumps with bonuses from work.

"Now is the perfect time for us to invest. We have only £20,000 left to pay on our home in Sale and it is worth more than £300,000.

"The apartment is next to Mijas golf course and more are being built. I imagine most of the people buying property will be English."

The Rutland family, Poitou-Charentes, France

Stuart and Antonia Rutland abandoned their life in Dorset 18 months ago and moved to Poitou-Charentes in west France.

Their daughters, Finnella, seven, and Clarisse, three, have both started school in France. "Finnella is fluent for her age in French; she has soaked up the language so quickly," Mrs Rutland said. "There are no other English people in the village. Clarisse has started school - children start just before they turn three.

"People should not underestimate the language difficulties for adults. It doesn't matter how much bravado you have, the day-to-day becomes really tough.

"But we have great neighbours. We have been made to feel so welcome."

The family are renovating their 17th-century farmhouse, which they say is "a full-time job". Mrs Rutland's parents also moved to France in November, living just one kilometre away.

"People cannot understand why we chucked in our life, with company car and £21,000 salary for a life out here," she said. "The only reason we could do this is because of the increase in property prices. But it is more expensive than I had envisaged. I would warn people thinking of moving out to calculate an extra half again on top of what they think it will cost. Everyone has a dream, but people should think seriously before making it their reality. We did not rush into it, but I would certainly think more about the financial aspect.

"Stuart is registering to become an artisan, so he can work as an engineer. He has to be insured and cover various courses, then he is obliged to work for two years.

"It seems a stupid thing to have done, leaving friends and relatives. But so much in Britain doesn't seem English any more. Our council tax in one month is what the French pay for a year, and there is so much provision for non-British people, we could not see how we could get on."

The Kenny family, Kissimmee, Florida

Moving from Ireland to Florida made Garrett Kenny, 43, a multimillionaire through property development.

"Over the past two years property in Florida has appreciated more than 20 per cent a year," he said. "This year alone, the population of Florida is expected to increase by 350,000. So almost 1,000 people move to Florida every day. Florida is cheaper tax-wise and professionally I have done very well out here. People cannot build houses fast enough."

Mr Kenny moved from Dublin in 1996 and bought a four-bedroom house with swimming pool for $164,000. The house is now worth almost $340,000.

His property business has become so successful that he moved into an $800,000 house this January with his girlfriend.

He has no regrets about moving to a hotter climate: "Waking up every morning knowing the sun is shining is a good incentive to get up," he said. "I still visit Ireland and England because I have businesses based there. The only thing that people could miss over here is a decent cup of tea."

Mr Kenny thinks that the market is changing, as more Americans are joining the British in buying property in the sunshine state. "When I started working out here I was selling houses mainly to English and Irish people," he said. "Only about 20 per cent of the market was American. The weak dollar is continuing to drive the European market.

"Now, 40 per cent of my market is American - people who want to move from Boston or Chicago - because it is cheaper here. A lot of Americans come to live here between November and March to avoid the cold weather. But I would advise people buying property not to just jump in, but really find the right location for them."