AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye Timeshare sales

OK buddy, Capt. Jeff. Points well made. But to further the argument, let me respond. Now I advance this with the premise that what is being sold is legal and no laws are broken in the selling process. For this discussion I will not even concede that the sales person has any moral or ethical obligations to determine whether the buyer can afford, needs, deserves, wants, will be happy with the purchase for the rest of their life or anything else. The buyer is the only person that has all of the knowledge necessary to make those decisions and it rest solely with the buyers personal responsibility to do so. Now I happen to personally believe there is a need for morals and ethics in sales, but that has been found to be hard to legislate and the market place is much better suited to handle that.

My position in this discussion is that the sales person's only job is to get the buyer to sign on the bottom line and his income is solely dependant on that. That is why I brought up selling cruises. I do not believe it is your sales peoples job to determine whether the cruise business is good or bad for Belize and therefore whether or not they should sell a cruise that stops in Belize.

For you to suggest that the timeshare sales person has any obligation other than to sell at the best of his ability his product - in a legal way- would seem to also suggest that your salespeople, or any sales persons, would have similar obligations. I do not see that as their responsibility.

The decision to buy, and the responsibilities that come with that, lies solely with the buyer.
Caveat Emptor, Caveat Emptor, Caveat Emptor!!!

I further dispute your position as it seems to be based on no timeshare sale ever having a happy purchaser. I know personally people who own timeshares and are happy with their purchase. Further, I think you might be the one to exaggerate in attempting to make your point by inferring that everyone who buys a timeshare is investing their life savings. Reality is they are probably spending about half of the timeshare cost on their current vacation, or at least a substantial portion of it. Probably not close to their life savings. I don't think you are giving these people enough credit.

And, the last cruise I took was about the same cost as a weeks time share in many places.

to end this post .in my opinon all time sales people are bad and crooks #1 there are vey few people that like time share almost none . #2 and no#3,if your friends are happy with a bad investment or are happy what they bought, good for them they are the only ones on the planet who liked the deal they got from time share ....I rest my case. will say no more on this as we both went back and forth on this ,way too much . the capt just livin the dream ..

No problem, buddy. Sometimes I enjoy "food for thought" just as much as you and I enjoy food for the body.

I've been railing against timeshares for decades, in public as a newpaper editor and and magazine editor, and privately, not that it does any good -- timeshares work because there are suckers born every minute and because with so much cash in the deal timeshares can afford to spend a ton on sales commissions and marketing.

Sure, there are timeshares that make some sense, especially if you buy on the secondary market, just as there are whores with hearts of golds ... but most don't and most aren't. (For one of my editorials on timeshares in Belize, see http://belizefirst.com/bfjan/timeshareshome.html which dates back to about 1998.)

The worst thing about timeshares is not that some poor fool gets suckered into spending a few thousand bucks. If it didn't happen with timeshares it would with something else.

The worst thing about timeshares is that what they do to a destination. The timeshare touts and the scum developers, who take a $1 million property and try to turn it into a $16 million property through multiple sales, turn off tourists and drive away quality tourism. It happened in parts of Hawaii, in Cozumel and elsewhere in Mexico, in areas of the Caribbean like St. Maarten, and elsewhere. Eventually government wises up and drives the scum away, but by then they've done a lot of damage. By then, though, the timeshare properties have owners spread throughout the world, and the timeshare properties deteriorate and eventually go into bankruptcy.

Happily, so far timeshares in Belize have been fairly benevolent. They are basically a way for hotel owners to get new revenue at the margins rather than as a central source of income. That may change as more sophisticated timeshare scum come to Belize.

--Lan Sluder
www.belizefirst.com

So, Lan, Kaui and Maui (USA) have driven timeshares away? Actually the timeshare industry saved Hawaii and put Cancun and Puerto Vallarta on the map. The Royal Group founded Cancun as a international destination (1972) that produces billions in revenue per year. Have you ever heard of SECOFI? Do a web search.

Timeshare models are NOT for hotel owners. It's an entirely different animal.

Speaking of whores ....

The father of MY Nation, NOT yours, the Right Honorable George Price, coined the term "Tourism is Whoreism!" He was the first Premier and Prime Minister of Belize and left office in 1993, just over a decade ago. Becareful of who you call a whore, if you exploit this land for any reason, 1 day or 99 years, you are selling out to tourism dollars. FORTUNATELY this policy has changed, FOR NOW. Thos who opened the doors to tourism opened the doors to timeshare.

As with all my posts on all forums, don't tell US how to live.

We are bourn with this dream (you are newcomers) which you want to live (Capt Jeff: "live the dream").

We can do just fine without your two sense.

SIN

Larry, Kathy, Warren ... thanks for a healthy debate. We can agree to disagree on some things with the overall benefit of Belize in view.

We are all still learning down here.

This is a good thing.

RALPH AND SAID - WE STAND BEHIND YOU THROUGH THIS TIME OF TURBULENCE!

SINH

SIN, some of your comments are very interesting. It is a great shame that you choose to hide behind a pseudonym.

BTW, I think it was the Government of Mexico and the World Bank who put Cancun on the map. Cancun is there despite timeshare, not because of it.

But, we must harken back to the post that started this thread "In Mexico it (timeshare sales pressure) has gotten so bad that we don't want to go there again."

Chris: YES, that I agree with. And yes, we went a bit off track here.

I do not condone the "hawking" of people off the street.

This is unecessary if you have a good "in-house" program that caters to current owners and exchangers. This works if you have a Vaction Club.

Yes, I would hate this Isle to be full of marketers bothering nice folks who paid good change to enjoy the laid back life of SP.

If doing thimeshare, do it the right way and leave the folks not staying in a timeshare alone.

Newspaper and other ads work for this.

SIN

Hehehe.

It gets down to brass tacks. Lots of pseudonyms, lots of slings and arrows, very little substance from those whose names are not known.

I've been to enough time share "sales presentations' to know when to make sure I'm not there...wherever they are.

I do know of one couple--exactly ONE--who told me of the "great deals" they've gotten buying four time share contracts on the secondary market from original buyers who were disheartened and not satisfied with their original purchases. They may be great deals for them as their repurchase amounts were fractions of the original charges.

Bargain shoppers may be rewarded. Just don't go for any deals (like a free $2500 in a foreign country) that look to be too good to be true. What are the chances?

And my references go to Mark Twain. I think I can find the original attribtution of his quote in my library, but I'm tired. Chances are, if the issue were forced, he'd admit he cribbed it from Proverbs.

Live, love, learn et.al.

Isn't the pseudonym the idea behind a chat forum?

Does democracy release the names of those who vote?

SIN