Timeshare Unzipped: The True Story of the Timeshare Industry in Central Florida

By Charles F. Dupuy

Timeshare Unzipped: This is the True Story of the Timeshare Industry in Central Florida written by Charles Dupuy

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781681398792

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Timeshare Unzipped

The True Story of the Timeshare Industry in Central Florida

Charles F. Dupuy

Copyright © 2022 Charles F. Dupuy.

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-68139-878-5 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-68139-879-2 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

About the Author

A sale representative and a sales manager approach a table near the center of the room. Sales rep Bob says, Harry, Helen, this is John who is my sales manager who would like to ask you a few questions.

Sales rep and John sits, and Bob the sales rep speaks. Bob looks at John and states, John, both Harry and Helen love our program. They also told me that they would use it if they owned it, but at this time, it just does not fit their budget.

John looks at Harry and Helen and asks, Is that where we are at this moment?

Helen says, At this time, with two kids getting ready for college, it's just not in our budget.

John looks at Harry and Helen and asks, Is it the deposit that is the problem, or is it the monthly payment?

Helen states, It is both the deposit and the monthly payment.

John asks, If these two items did fit, would you become our newest owner today?

The dialogue above is played out all around the world at time-share resorts every day. If you have ever attended a presentation and heard the above, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

Time-Share Unzipped

The True Story of the Time-Share Industry in Central Florida

Introduction

This book will cover the real story of how and why the time-share industry was formed and created. It will focus on why the Industry started and the development of the many time-share resorts in Central Florida. Along the way, it will cover topics like the way the product is sold, financed, and why developers charge such high interest rates. Several chapters will be devoted to the pioneers of the Central Florida time-share industry and their contribution to the industry overall.

This book is designed to allow anyone who has either toured a time-share resort or purchased a time-share to know the inside story about the industry. It will show both the pros and cons of owning a time-share and give an opinion as to where the author feels the industry is headed.

The author, Charles Dupuy, has been in the industry in Central Florida since 1983 and as such been in a unique position to not only watch the industry grow but also had the opportunity to work with most of the major players in the Central Florida time-share industry.

In the About Me section, the author will describe his previous background, how and why he got into the industry, and why he feels qualified to write this book.

The time-share industry in the United States added $68.7 billion to the U.S. economy as of August 2014. Sales volume of time-share in the United States was $7.6 billion dollars in 2013.

The first part of this book will outline the first time-share resort and its founders and the ones that followed.

After we have examined the development of the resorts in Central Florida, we will discuss why interest rates at a time-share resort are so high. We will also reveal the sales process and how a resort eventually makes money. I am sure that last statement has everyone confused, but in the world of time-share, the developer actually loses money every time he makes a sale.

Chapter One

The First Resort in Central Florida

To understand the first resort in Central Florida, we have to go back in time from today to the mid-1970s and the late 1960s. In the beginning, the time-share concept in Florida began in the late seventies as developers in South Florida were having a hard time selling resort condos because of the high interest rates brought about by the double-digit inflation during the Carter administration. Two of the real pioneers were Hillel (Hillie) Meyers and Arthur Zimand and his partner Don Saunders.

Mr. Meyers, in 1963, took a job providing land sales customers to the Miami-based Gulf American Corporation, which later became GAC and today is Avatar Holdings. GAC developed the communities of Cape Coral, Golden Gate Estates, and Poinciana near what would become Disney World. By 1967, Mr. Myers was the largest provider of customers to GAC with over 295 full-time licensed real-estate agents.

In 1973, Mr. Myers learned about time-sharing from Arthur Zimand and acquired an interest in the Caribbean International Corporation. Hillie quickly saw that time-sharing could be using the same OPC (off-property contact) that he used to get GAC its customers. The Caribbean International Corporation grew to have five rights to use resorts. In 1976, Hillie sold his interest in the Caribbean International Corporation and