The Timeshare Credit Crunch Saga: Part I December 5, 2008
Posted by Bryan Connelly in : ARDA, General, News & Events, RCI, Timeshare Rental, Timeshare Resale, Timeshare Resource, Travel, Uncategorized, Westgate Timeshares , trackbackThe credit crunch has not yet gone away. At BuyATimeshare.com we are seeing an increase in timeshare sales. Since the beginning of 2008, we have not seen a drop in people looking to rent and buy affordable vacation properties. With many others trying to pare leisure expenses, many owners are looking to sell their timeshares ‘today!’
In the meantime, big-brand resort developers are paring costs in the midst of a devastating collapse of the credit market that has all but paralyzed their sales activity. Companies like Central Florida Investments Inc. were forced to close its Westgate Houston Preview Gallery and has laid off all of its 106 employees. This is in conjunction over 3,000 jobs cut by Westgate. The gallery was one of many that offered a full-size model with a living room and kitchen, styled after Central Florida Investments’ timeshare properties.
The Houston location, which opened in 2004, was the first offsite sales center for Orlando-based Central Florida Investments. The company owns Westgate Resorts, which operated the preview gallery. According to documents filed with the Texas Workforce Commission, Central Florida Investments chose to close the Houston location late last month, siting similar reasons to what we have been hearing all year. “…Westgate has been unable to access its regular and customary borrowing sources and, as a result, does not presently have the cash flow to support its operations in their current form without these staff reductions.â€
