September TARDA Newsletter: More on Arbitration – Holiday Inn “Disengages” with Silverleaf Resorts – an Update on My Resort Co Op
Categories: Monthly NewslettersSeptember 30, 2025
Views: 14
Should I Self-advocate or Arbitrate?
Holiday Inn Club Vacation to Remove Six Resorts from their Portfolio of Properties
Steve and Cindy – A timeshare treasure turns to tragedy when a beloved Holiday Inn fixed-week in Panama City, that the family had owned for 30 years, unknowingly was converted to points. The family had no choice but to default and forfeited a family reunion that included mom in Hospice at Home care.
ARBITRATION
Timeshare members and owners are grateful to attorneys who have donated their time to share their expertise. PodTV’s Timeshare Solution or Surrender airs live in 123 countries on ROKU, Amazon Fire and several other platforms.
On Episode 82, September 22, attorney Conner Spani talked about the pros and cons of arbitration. We learned of differences between states that can affect outcomes. Aku and Mary shared their timeshare experiences.
We are also grateful to Pod TV producers Marc Lee, attorney Nick Paleveda, and producer and co-host Kimberly Calhoun. It’s hard to believe 83 Episodes have aired since February 26, 2024.
All episodes can be accessed from the drop down menu by episode number.
https://podtv.tv/timeshare-showcase
Holiday Inn Club Vacations (HICV) Downsizes Five Silverleaf Resorts
In 2015, it was announced that Orange Lake Resorts, through Holiday Inn Club Vacations, acquired Silverleaf Resorts, but now is in the process of closing or transferring operations for most Silverleaf Resorts.
Silverleaf Gone Awry is an advocacy effort that, according to their website, was “created to bring owners of Silverleaf resorts past and present together to fight for what is lawfully ours.” https://silverleafgoneawry.com/
According to Silverleaf Gone Awry, resorts downsized include: Fox River Resort, Hill Country Resort, Piney Shores Resort, Villages Creek Resort, Timber Creek Resort, Apple Mountain Resort
Steve and Cindy – Pod TV Episode 78 – Holiday Inn
According to Steve and Cindy: Our family was devastated when we were informed that our September reservation at Holiday Inn’s Panama City Beach Resort was canceled, especially since Cindy’s mom in Hospice at Home care was looking forward to it, as she has for the last 30 years. We had told our sales agent we didn’t want to change anything about our Panama City week when he convinced us to purchase points. He said no problem, “We will leave your week (37) alone, and add the other two.” This was to equate 300,000 Holiday Inn points.
We spoke with an industry expert and we were informed that if we were current on maintenance fees for the fixed week, it is illegal to deny us usage if we had to default on the points purchase. We called the front desk and told them this and that we would take them to small claims court to be refunded our maintenance fees if we could not check in. The front desk said we could use the week. Cindy broke down in relief, only to receive a later call threatening us that our family would be arrested if we showed up. The caller said that “everything is under the umbrella of one owner number.” In other words, even though we had paid 2025 maintenance fees for our fixed week, the reservation was canceled because we apparently had “converted” our week to points.
At the presentation, we had asked our sales agent if we could cancel, worried about possible medical expenses and were told we could cancel at any time, not disclosing that we could not have an outstanding loan. When we did indeed have escalating medical expenses, we were left with no choice but to default on the points purchased, but thought that would not affect our fixed week.
In May of 2025, Christopher B. at Holiday Inn’s Horizons department referred us to Timeshares Only, that charges an upfront listing fee, knowing that a timeshare with a loan outstanding is impossible to sell, according to licensed resale brokers that do not charge an upfront fee:
Hello Cynthia,
Holiday Inn Club Vacations does not have an internal resale department or buy-back program, so as an alternative you may proceed with one of the following options, each of which may help you. Be advised, these are only suggestions we provide for owners to help them during this process. Holiday Inn Club Vacations Incorporated are not affiliated with this company.
- Timeshares Only is an online resale company with features that benefit consumers looking to sell (https://www.timesharesonly.com/about ).
Timeshare User Group produced this YouTube video warning about Timeshares Only and other listing agencies that charge an upfront fee:
We had attended a presentation in Gatlinburg, TN at Holiday Inn’s Smokey Mountain Resort in October of 2024. Cindy’s mother had a Holiday Inn Tropical Breeze 2 BR corner balcony (week 37) located in Panama City, Florida that she purchased in the early 80s. In 2023, when her health declined, she deeded the week to Cindy. Our sales agent brought up how my mom had to pay maintenance fees for ten years, yet was unable to use her week because of hurricane damage, explaining that we would be protected if we purchased points, as we would be part of a trust.
We purchased 125,000 points for $22,990, financing $23,309.36 at 17.29%, including closing costs. We were informed that our week was equivalent to 176,000 points, but we needed 300,000 points to have good trading power. We agreed to purchase 125,000 additional points, assured we could cancel at any time.
When expenses mounted, we contacted the sales team to explain our situation. They told us they would let us know in 3-4 weeks what options were available. After 4 weeks passed, we were told it would be another 6 to 8 weeks. The answer was there were no options.
Our sales agent had also said it would not be a problem refinancing the timeshare. We learned that banks don’t refinance timeshares.
The following is what our account indicates. We received a proxy voting form in the mail for Panama City and in it, it stated that we own week 37, unit 210. I don’t know if this means we still have a deeded property or if this is old information.
Holiday Inn Exchange Program Membership Agreement
We would like to have our eligible years of occupancy on all existing Timeshare Periods converted to Holiday Inn Club Points
RESORT # of points Club Conversion Yes/No
Panama City Beach Resort Unit 210 176,000 yes
Smokey Mountain Resort 110,000 yes
Tahoe Ridge Resort 15,000 yes
My Resort Co Op
https://volqa.com/myresort-co-op-vacationer-tier
Vacation Ownership Advisor https://voaworldwide.com/
To end on a positive note, My Resort Co Op offers an option to perpetual timeshare contracts. The program is a three year program with three different tier memberships. One of TARDA’s board members joined the program, signing up for the lowest tier, and has booked two stays utilizing 44,000 of their annual point allotment of 48,000 RCI points.
The fee for My resort Co-Op for the first of three years was $1,239, and $963 for the second and third year. A $299 RCI exchange fee was paid for each of two reservations. In checking Booking.com to compare the total cost for the two trips, the total cost through MyResort Co Op was $2,036, with 4,000 RCI points left to use in 2026, compared to $2,955 if the two trips were booked online.
The personal consignee service, Vacation Owner Advisor helped with the selections. The total point equivalent cost for the first trip, a Space Coast beach resort stay booked for May of 2026 was, including the RCI $299 exchange fee, $869. Comparing this cost to Booking.com, booking online, the trip would have cost $1,919 plus 12% tax ($243) = $2,162.
The My Resort Co Op cost for the two trips = $2,036, with 4,000 RCI points left
The online cost for the two trips would have cost $2,955.
Get Involved!
That’s it for September. We appreciate those who have donated their time or treasure to support our efforts. Contact us if you would like to join our efforts to affect positive change for the betterment of all.
https://tarda.org/get-involved/