“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander!”
 
A bit of shorthand for saying people in similar situations should be treated, well, similarly.  And a good parallel for today’s update.
 
We’ve shared oh so many stories about how Capital Vacations makes it difficult to qualify for its exit programs …
 
…and then still charges buyback fees ($14,000 in one case) and renegotiates “settlement fees” on the fly ($15,000 in another case), 
 
It’s become pretty clear Capital Vacations treats its timeshare owners according to two principles: 1) you can’t just give your timeshare back if you want to exit and 2) you have to pay everything you owe (and then some) before leaving.
 
So, you could have knocked us over with a feather when we came across this lawsuit where Capital Vacations is trying to dodge its own obligations as timeshare owner by…wait for it…giving back its timeshare interests and refusing to pay the maintenance fees it owes!
 
You can read the court filing yourself – but we’ll save you the trouble. 
 
The St. Maarten Sea Palace Timeshare Owners Association, which governs a timeshare property in the Caribbean, contracted with Capital Vacations to manage the property and to handle sales and marketing (S&M). 
 
As the lawsuit explains: “Under the terms of the S&M Agreement, the Association is obligated to give the Capital Vacations Entities clear and marketable title to 500 timeshare interests, referred to therein as VOIs, which Plaintiff has done.”
 
In plain English, part of the compensation the Sea Palace provided to Capital Vacations was to hand over ownership of 500 weeks’ worth of timeshare interests to Capital Vacations. 
 
That means Capital Vacations owns those interests, just like any individual timeshare owner – and is subject to the same obligations as any individual timeshare owner.
 
“The language in the S&M Agreement serves to confirm that the Capital Vacations Entities carry the same obligations and responsibilities as all owners within the Association, specifically as to the payment of annual maintenance fees.”
 
Seems clear enough…until the Sea Palace became “increasingly dissatisfied” with Capital Vacations’ management and decided not to renew the contracts.
 
That made Capital Vacations honking mad! So, it hatched a plan to exit its obligations.
 
“To the surprise and dismay of the Association, the Capital Vacations Entities have made it clear that the termination or nonrenewal of the Management Agreement and the S&M Agreement for an additional 3-year term, will result in the termination or nonrenewal of the S&M Agreement AND that upon the termination of the latter, the Capital Vacations Entities intend to simply dump all of the 500 VOIs they presently own back onto the Association and cease to pay the maintenance fees associated with those VOIs, effective immediately.”
 
In other words, even though Capital Vacations is obligated to pay annual fees on the 500 timeshare interests it owns REGARDLESS of whether its contracts with the Sea Palace were renewed, Capital Vacations is now saying it will just give the timeshare interests back and stop paying maintenance fees.
 
Something it never allows individual Capital Vacations owners to do!
 
And, since we’re talking about more than $209,000 in annual fees, that’s causing a whole gaggle of problems for the Sea Palace.
 
“The Capital Vacations Entities also have expressly acknowledged they understand that the effect of ceasing to pay maintenance fees as required could result in the financial ruin of the Association and in fact, that they have threatened to do so for the express purpose of coercing the Association to renew both the Management Agreement and the S&M Agreement, and the Rental Guarantee Agreement.”
 
To recap: if you’re a Capital Vacations owner, you need permission to exit your timeshare and you have to pay up.  But if you’re Capital Vacations, you can just wing it and fly away. 
 
It’s time to remind Travis Bary, the co-president of Capital Vacations, that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Let’s email him at tbary@capitalvacations.com and tell him Capital Vacations needs to keep paying the maintenance fees it owes.
 
Capital Vacations’ tactics should be ruffling the feathers of Jason Gamel, the President and CEO of American Resort Development Association (ARDA), the trade association for the timeshare industry.  Let’s email him at jgamel@arda.org to see if he believes all timeshare owners have the right to give back their timeshares and stop paying fees whenever they want, the way Capital Vacations does.
 
Do you think Capital Vacations’ precedent-setting move will get other timeshare companies flocking to their side? Use this list of ARDA VIPs to contact your company’s leaders and find out.
 
Does your timeshare company’s behavior get your dander up? Tell us why at info@timesharefacts.com. 
 
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