Got a spare $122.6 milion to spend perhaps on timeshare?

By Paula Moore. The Denver Business Journal

The Denver Marriott City Center, the metro area's fourth-largest hotel, is on the sales block again.

The 613-room hotel's Texas owner, Crescent Real Estate Equities Cos. of Fort Worth, put the hotel up for sale in 2004, then removed it from the market late last year. But the property is back on Crescent's roster of "properties held for sale," according to its Web site.

The hotel, located at 1701 California St. in downtown Denver, should sell for around $200,000 per room, or $122.6 million, according to hotel industry experts.

Many hotel owners continue to put properties up for sale to take advantage of a hot sales market prompted by availability of debt, low capitalization rates and strong performance by hotels, according to hotel experts."

There are a lot of people out there with money to spend on hotels," said Arvada hotel consultant Steve Hennis with Hospitium LLC. "They prefer to be in primary urban markets and in downtown locations."

Last year, hotel consulting firm HVS International of New York recorded more than 200 individual hotel sales of $10 million-plus per property, as well as another 123 hotels sold as part of portfolios. HVS has Denver and Boulder offices.

A publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT), Crescent also owns the 675,000-square-foot Manville Plaza office building next to the Marriott City Center. The real estate company's metro-area portfolio consists of seven Denver-area office buildings with 2.2 million square feet of space. In the Colorado mountains, the REIT owns the 275-room Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort & Spa in Avon, as well as the Main Street Station timeshare property in Breckenridge and new-home lots in Eagle and Silverthorne.

...prime assests are thinning out...

Denver Marriott for sale - Denver - MSNBC.com

technorati tags:timeshare, crescent, Denver, Marriott, for, sale

Timeshare giants Flexi-club and Club Leisure Group swindled millions

South Africa. Sheena Adams

Lies and misinformation are among the scandalous claims levelled against timeshare giants Flexi-Club and the Club Leisure Group, accused of swindling tens of millions of rands from clients.

The matter has been investigated by the Department of Trade and Industry, and CLG is currently the subject of a second investigation by the South African Revenue Service.

Unhappy clients from Flexi-Club and Club Resorts International (CRI), both of which are managed by a CLG subsidiary, have also amassed scores of written complaints and signed affidavits placing serious allegations at the feet of Flexi-Club managing director and CLG chairperson Stuart Lamont. Lamont has distanced himself and his companies from the allegations.

...first red flag pushy sales consultants...

IOL: Travel clubs rocked by claims of deceit

technorati tags:timeshare, con, Flexi-Club, Club, Leisure, Group, South, Africa

Not another timeshare scam

But weeks after paying, Gillian and John, a bin man, could not contact Universal. Their phones kept ringing out, so John visited their office but it had been closed down. Gillian said: "We want to warn other families."

The family are not Universal's only victims. Retired receptionist Kathleen McKenna, 58, and husband John, 63, paid £1995 for their membership in April.

Kathleen, of South Carbrain, Cumbernauld, said: "Our cheque was cashed. We contacted RCI but they had never heard of them." Universal sell holiday club membership not timeshare, so evade strict legislation.

Trading Standards have received more than 100 complaints about them and related firms The Travel Centre and The Holiday Company in Kilmarnock, which are also closed.

They are investigating as a matter of urgency as a firm based in Florida claims to have taken over the business.

...if it sounds too good to be true, then it is!!!

The Sunday Mail - NEWS - TUMOUR TOT KIERA CHEATED OF HOLS

technorati tags:timeshare, scam, Trading, standards, Millennium, Vacations, International