Floating Week

If you have a floating week how is it determined which week you will have in any particular year?

you call up and make a reservation for whatever week you want. Sometimes the one you want is available, sometimes not -- depending on how far in advance you make your reservation, the time of year, what is going on in town (like the Jazz festival) etc.

You can also break your week up, but I think you cannot make reservations which include 2 weekends.

I hope you're not thinking of buying one of these from the developer (like I did). I paid $11,000 14 yrs ago and the same thing is listed here in resale for as little as $900. The annual fee is up to $600 now.

I LOVE Los Abrigados and own a week here. HOWEVER, I have two problems with the resort. We tried to use our week last year and never could get in, even tho we are an owner. We were switched over to Bell Rock. Now we are trying to use it again and no one is calling us back. I have heard they have oversold so even if you own, you have a difficult time getting to use your week-if I am wrong I would love to have support correct me with the TRUTH, not self-serving damage control. There was also said to be a class action due to this and I do not know the outcome of it. Perhaps that's why people are selling floating weeks so cheaply? don't misunderstand-it is a beautiful resort if you can get to use it, and I would love to sometime....

catharine2 wrote:

if you own, you have a difficult time getting to use your week-if I am wrong I would love to have support correct me with the TRUTH, not self-serving damage control. There was also said to be a class action due to this and I do not know the outcome of it. Perhaps that's why people are selling floating weeks so cheaply? don't misunderstand-it is a beautiful resort if you can get to use it, and I would love to sometime....

There was a class action lawsuit, which seems to have ended up badly. I got a notice (over a year ago) about a proposed settlement in which we (the suckers who bought timeshares) would each get something like $40 in credit that could be used at the resort (like at one of their restaurants or to buy cosmetics). The attorneys who represented us plaintiffs, on the other hand, were awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The greedy jerks who oversold the timeshares (ILX), essentially got off without any more damage than paying the plaintiff's attorney fees, and can keep on doing what they have been doing.

With the fees raised to $600 now, we are paying nearly $90/night to stay in a hotel suite that gets maid service only once every three days (and even then they don't replace the soap and shampoo). My unit had a drippy toilet that looked like something salvaged from a junkyard when I looked inside the tank. In my ground floor room the soundproofing was so bad I could almost hear the people upstairs farting.

Paid nearly $11,000 in 1993. Have seen these selling for $600. There are no honest people in the Timeshare business. They are all the scum of the earth - people who prey on the naivete of others.

samd12 wrote:

catharine2 wrote:

if you own, you have a difficult time getting to use your week-if I am wrong I would love to have support correct me with the TRUTH, not self-serving damage control. There was also said to be a class action due to this and I do not know the outcome of it. Perhaps that's why people are selling floating weeks so cheaply? don't misunderstand-it is a beautiful resort if you can get to use it, and I would love to sometime....

There was a class action lawsuit, which seems to have ended up badly. I got a notice (over a year ago) about a proposed settlement in which we (the suckers who bought timeshares) would each get something like $40 in credit that could be used at the resort (like at one of their restaurants or to buy cosmetics). The attorneys who represented us plaintiffs, on the other hand, were awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The greedy jerks who oversold the timeshares (ILX), essentially got off without any more damage than paying the plaintiff's attorney fees, and can keep on doing what they have been doing.

With the fees raised to $600 now, we are paying nearly $90/night to stay in a hotel suite that gets maid service only once every three days (and even then they don't replace the soap and shampoo). My unit had a drippy toilet that looked like something salvaged from a junkyard when I looked inside the tank. In my ground floor room the soundproofing was so bad I could almost hear the people upstairs farting.

Paid nearly $11,000 in 1993. Have seen these selling for $600. There are no honest people in the Timeshare business. They are all the scum of the earth - people who prey on the naivete of others.

I offered what I believed would be great accomodations at Los Abrigatoss to some friends for a weekend. My friend does not stay at fine hotels but he was honest in his assessment to me. The bed was worn out and they both developed back problems. The room was tacky and they were both disappointed. I called the resort and found out that they had stayed in a recently rennovated room. I can only wonder what qualifies as "rennovated" to Los Abrigatos. I call the Carriage House in Las Vegas where we have reservations the end of February to ensure that the room we are getting is suitable. ILX claims it is one of their resorts.... NOT TRUE. ILX only owns inventory. ILX is not what they present. We got our $40 gift certificates. The class action suit was a farce. Owners got squat in return... maybe it is time for another suit?

This is pretty much what I figured. By the way lawyers are also the scum of the earth, albeit rich scum. The average person does not have a chance. Has anyone actually been able to use their week at the resort?

catharine2 wrote:

This is pretty much what I figured. By the way lawyers are also the scum of the earth, albeit rich scum. The average person does not have a chance. Has anyone actually been able to use their week at the resort?

I bought a Jerome 1 bedroom through an owner on Redweek last fall. I did book our first week for the week of the Jazz on the Rocks festival in 2007 and got the week, but I did it a year in advance. Now that I'm reading all of the responses posted in this forum, I'm wondering if we did the right thing buying at Los Abrigados. We traded a week at our other timeshare, The Ridge Tahoe, last summer and stayed in a 2nd floor newly renovated Jerome unit and had a wonderful experience. Does anyone know when all of the rooms will be renovated?

How and when did you get the $40 gift certificate? I never got mine. It also really galled me that the attorneys got paid big buck for accomplishing essentially nothing for the plaintiffs. Another thing that really rubs me the wrong way is that every time you go to Los Abrigados you'll see copies of newspaper and magazine articles about what a great humanitarian Joe Martori (the guy who started LA and is probably the largest investor) is. Great humanitarians do not make their fortunes by taking advantage of naive people with misleading high pressure sales tactics. If you're interested this web address has some interesting information about alleged relationships between big business, politics, and organized crime in Arizona - http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg27665.html - a familiar name gets a lot of mention.

Lately I've been getting a lot of direct mail from companies puporting to "help" you get out from "under" your timeshare. No doubt another scam. There has to be a way to effectively fight back. We just haven't figured it out yet.

samd12 wrote:

How and when did you get the $40 gift certificate? I never got mine. It also really galled me that the attorneys got paid big buck for accomplishing essentially nothing for the plaintiffs. Another thing that really rubs me the wrong way is that every time you go to Los Abrigados you'll see copies of newspaper and magazine articles about what a great humanitarian Joe Martori (the guy who started LA and is probably the largest investor) is. Great humanitarians do not make their fortunes by taking advantage of naive people with misleading high pressure sales tactics. If you're interested this web address has some interesting information about alleged relationships between big business, politics, and organized crime in Arizona - http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg27665.html - a familiar name gets a lot of mention.

Lately I've been getting a lot of direct mail from companies puporting to "help" you get out from "under" your timeshare. No doubt another scam. There has to be a way to effectively fight back. We just haven't figured it out yet.

I guess that we got sucked into the articles that we read about ILX and Joe Martori when we visited this summer and that is partly why we felt that we couldn't go wrong in purchasing a unit at Los Abrigados. I really wish that we had the info from this forum before we proceeded with the purchase. I just hope and pray that we continue to have a better experience than all of you have had. What do you plan to do regarding your timeshare?

"What do you plan to do regarding your timeshare?"

For the time being I'll just keep on using it and just blow off what I chump I was to put $11K into the pockets of those sleazeballs. What I'll probably keep getting more and more pissed off about is the concomitant decline in service/accomodation and increase in maintenance fee that's been going on for several years. Also, I'll keep an eagle eye out for suckers who are up there on those sponsored weekend where they try to high pressure them into buying a unit -- and make sure I speak to at least one person and set them straight about what they are contemplating getting into.

Eventually, I will probably donate mine to a homeless shelter.

samd12 wrote:

"What do you plan to do regarding your timeshare?"

For the time being I'll just keep on using it and just blow off what I chump I was to put $11K into the pockets of those sleazeballs. What I'll probably keep getting more and more pissed off about is the concomitant decline in service/accomodation and increase in maintenance fee that's been going on for several years. Also, I'll keep an eagle eye out for suckers who are up there on those sponsored weekend where they try to high pressure them into buying a unit -- and make sure I speak to at least one person and set them straight about what they are contemplating getting into.

Eventually, I will probably donate mine to a homeless shelter.

I feel badly for you and I guess myself, too, if this is what I have to look forward to. Have you ever tried to trade your unit through II? I have not attempted to do that yet, but we have traded our other timeshare, The Ridge Tahoe, several times with good experiences at other 5 star resorts including even larger units at Marriotts. Granted, we did put our requests in way in advance and gave some flexibility to several different locations and resorts, but so far, we have had great experiences and Los Abrigados is still listed in II as a 5 star resort-----I sure hope that that doesn't change!

anitad10 wrote:

I feel badly for you and I guess myself, too, if this is what I have to look forward to. Have you ever tried to trade your unit through II? I have not attempted to do that yet, but we have traded our other timeshare, The Ridge Tahoe, several times with good experiences at other 5 star resorts including even larger units at Marriotts. Granted, we did put our requests in way in advance and gave some flexibility to several different locations and resorts, but so far, we have had great experiences and Los Abrigados is still listed in II as a 5 star resort-----I sure hope that that doesn't change!

I've done some OK trades in the past - a place in San Diego, Puerta Vallarta, in the UK. Right now I don't belong to either II or RCI. The way I see it, that's just adding another membership fee onto the annual maintenance fee, and then on top of that there is the extra bit they charge you for each exchange. That would be putting me out of pocket $800-900. For that kind of money I can find a pretty nice place to stay on my own, and with a lot more flexibility.

Just remember -- no matter how friendly, cheerful, and nice they appear to be -- anyone who has anything to do with the timeshare industry is a bunko artist supreme who deserves to be in prison for the rest of this life and in the 7th circle of hell in the next (if you believe in that stuff)

I have started quite a forum by asking the original question about what a floating week is. I now see that I have been thrown into a generalized statement as I am now to believe that I am the scum of the earth, albeit a rich scum. I should point out that as a Canadian lawyer who has never practiced law in the area of ambulance chasing I have never felt like scum. I am also not rich. I would point out that I have two weeks of time share in Whistler British Columbia, our annual fees are about $325 per year, I have owned since 1981 and it is a tremendous deal. I would have been happy to rent to anyone for only $600 a week but you would probably feel that you are further lining the pockets of scum. I hope that I am left out of this conversation from here on Thanks for answering my initial question A BC lawyer who will remain anon

Sorry to offend you-obviously since you are neither rich not scum you must not be an American lawyer. I'm afraid here people have a low opinion of them. I am also a lawyer, but do not practice anymore, due in part to the bad image and the hassle of engaging in a solo practice. In any case, you are obviously a good guy and exempt from any further generalization. Sorry again. To the initial question-much better to purchase a FIXED week in the time frame you will use most ( no sense to buy a week for skiing in August for example ) Then you have that weekend-But better yet, rent from RedWeek.com and rent from owners for about what your maintenance fee is as an owner-less hassle.

I got two time-limited certificates to use at LA-maybe that was it-silly me, I thought it was a gift. By the way, I gave my daughter a week at LA as a wedding gift-she got married at Sedona. She was shifted to Bellrock Inn and found it better-so I guess all is not lost-I think if you cannot get your week in LA they have to put you somewhere and most of the resorts there are nice. Also stayed at Poco Diablo and it was good too. Quiet, nice big condo, on the gold course, room to park etc. and only about five minutes from the center of town.

I don't think anyone here was implying that lawyers in general are scum or anything of the sort. The point was that the lawyers **who represented the plaintiffs in the class action suit against ILX** got themselves a big fee while obtaining nothing of value for their clients. And yes Ken it may be possible to find good value in timeshares IF you buy on the resale market and find that rare property where the management is honest enough to charge a reasonable management fee. This is not the case for those of us who bought from ILX.

All of the switching around from LA to Bell Rock, Poco Diablo, LA Lodge etc is interesting in and of itself. Our $600/year fee comes out to $87 a night. If you get on the net and go to something like cheaphotels.com you can actually book a room at those places for something like that price. So then the question becomes for us owners, what exactly did we get for our $10,000 or $15,000 or $17,000? I'll tell you what we got -- the privilege to further enrich that great humanitarian Joey Martori.

samd12 wrote:

I don't think anyone here was implying that lawyers in general are scum or anything of the sort. The point was that the lawyers **who represented the plaintiffs in the class action suit against ILX** got themselves a big fee while obtaining nothing of value for their clients. And yes Ken it may be possible to find good value in timeshares IF you buy on the resale market and find that rare property where the management is honest enough to charge a reasonable management fee. This is not the case for those of us who bought from ILX.

All of the switching around from LA to Bell Rock, Poco Diablo, LA Lodge etc is interesting in and of itself. Our $600/year fee comes out to $87 a night. If you get on the net and go to something like cheaphotels.com you can actually book a room at those places for something like that price. So then the question becomes for us owners, what exactly did we get for our $10,000 or $15,000 or $17,000? I'll tell you what we got -- the privilege to further enrich that great humanitarian Joey Martori.

"why doesn't somebody do something to help us poor idiot souls recoup some of our $"

Because it would be an exercise in futility, as long as property laws in Arizona are written for the benefit of the Joe Martoris of the world, not for your average honest and overly trusting human being.

If you had put your $27,000 into a CD you could have earned (at 5.25%) $1417.50 a year to spend at a hotel of your choice, and not have to worry about whether or not you can book "your week", not have to pay (for a 2BR probably) $1200 year "maintenance fee" (Martori enrichment fee). At a regular hotel you would also get your room made up every day, get new soap and shampoo every day, and not have people bugging you to come to some "presentation" about "new features" (more ways to separate you from your money).

There is only one way to get even in a small way: every time you visit and ILX resort keep your eyes open for people who are there on one of those special deals where they get to stay for $59 if they subject themselves to a high-pressure sales presentation. They aren't too hard to spot. Make a note of who they are and try to find a chance to speak with them discreetly, describing what you've learned about ILX through hard experience. Even if they already agreed to purchase a membership (they no longer sell real "time shares"), they should have three days to cancel the contract under Arizona Law.

Oh, and by the way, if you can get someone to actually buy your timeshare for $5K I promise to eat my socks!

catharine2 wrote:

I LOVE Los Abrigados and own a week here. HOWEVER, I have two problems with the resort. We tried to use our week last year and never could get in, even tho we are an owner. We were switched over to Bell Rock. Now we are trying to use it again and no one is calling us back. I have heard they have oversold so even if you own, you have a difficult time getting to use your week-if I am wrong I would love to have support correct me with the TRUTH, not self-serving damage control. There was also said to be a class action due to this and I do not know the outcome of it. Perhaps that's why people are selling floating weeks so cheaply? don't misunderstand-it is a beautiful resort if you can get to use it, and I would love to sometime....

I must say, I don't know what the problem is. I was able to book two units this year at exactly the time I was looking for. you must be applying too late