Arbo Valley Travel and Tours

 

This is why the smart money is on a motorhome holiday for 2009.

 

If the exchange rate does not improve before the summer then a motorhome holiday in the United Kingdom makes good financial sense.

 

If the exchange rate should improve in the pound sterling’s favour then you could still take your already hired motorhome to Europe and make the most of getting more euros for your money. Countries such as Spain and also the former Eastern block countries such as Croatia have great cheap campsites and meals out are inexpensive.

 

Better fuel prices:

 

It is worth noting that economic and political circumstances surrounding America and the Middle East have meant that fuel prices have stabilized during the autumn of 2008. Petrol and diesel are less expensive than they were a few months ago, a situation which looks likely to last into 2009 and a factor that is very important if you are considering a touring holiday.

 

Investing in the United Kingdom:

 

If you do “holiday at home” in the United Kingdom you will be helping to keep small businesses in your own country afloat. You may be helping other people just like you to provide for their families. You will be making a “greener choice” too by not flying to your holiday destination.

 

When you hire your motorhome in the United Kingdom and you pay in pounds sterling, you are not affected by fluctuations in the European exchange rate.

 

Families love motorhome holidays:

 

Children love camping holidays but sometimes Mums and Dads find the “under canvas” variety somewhat lacking in luxury!

 

With a motorhome you have warm, dry shelter if the British climate turns damp.

(Mind you I have been rained on more in Spain and France during camping and caravanning holidays than ever in Great Britain!)

 

You have your own toilet and shower facilities on board, especially useful if you have toddlers and babies. Older children actually like the novelty of using the campsite facilities.

 

You can pack everything you will need, including toys and games for the children, into your hired motorhome, to make it a home from home for your family. Flying abroad with young children and all their paraphernalia is becoming a nightmare in terms of baggage restrictions, surchages etc.

 

You can prepare cheap excellent meals in the motorhome kitchen with food bought from local supermarkets if you are trying to keep to a low budget.

 

Children make friends so easily on a campsite and often the bigger sites have events planned to entertain them too. You do not have to spend loads of money taking them to theme parks every day of the week.

 

Modern motorhomes are compact and easy to drive on most roads after a short practice.

You can carry bicycles on the back for light supermarket runs and simply for enjoyable family bicycle rides.

 

Most families have to accommodate each other’s varying tastes and enthusiasms. With a motorhome you are free to divide your holiday into different stops. You could spend a few days chilling on the coast, then travel to the one of the National Parks. You could stop off in one of the classic resorts such as Blackpool to satisfy the children’s yearning for arcades, slot machines, fun fair rides and candy floss!. Think of the possibilities of a motorhome adventure around Scotland or Wales.

 

Flexibility:

 

A real bonus is that if you end up in an area or on a campsite that just doesn’t suit you or your family’s needs, you can simply pay up for the time you have stayed and move on somewhere else. Just think of the times you have booked self-catering accommodation and descriptions have been misleading, equipment hasn’t worked etc., leaving you stuck somewhere that you don’t like for a fortnight.

 

On the road:

 

One of the joys of travelling by motorhome as adults or with children is that you can pull off the road or motorway, use your toilet, brew up a cup of tea or coffee, make some food without being held to ransom by exhorbitant service station prices.

 

When you feel you need a break from driving, you simply stop and park up.

 

While we are reluctant to encourage wild camping for environmental and safety reasons, a motorhome is well equipped to cope with an overnight stop of this nature should circumstances arise.

 

Motorhome hire for weekend festivals in the United Kingdom:

 

Enjoy the summer festivals in luxury!

 

Until recently many motorhome hire companies were reluctant to hire out motorhomes for these purposes. They were concerned about damage and the fact that often it was groups of younger people who hired motorhomes for these occasions. However the best motorhome companies are now more broadminded about this area of the market as they have very strict insurance policies in place to protect the interests of all parties. Indeed the motorhome hire company is likely to demand a large deposit against risk of damage and possible higher cleaning costs,

 

What better way to begin your summer than a June holiday in the West Country of England before the crowds become too much, culminating with a weekend at Glastonbury festival?

If you’d like to find out more about motorhome hire you can call 0800 612 8719 (This is a free call from the UK) anytime of the day or night to get a quote which features the largest range of campervans and motorhomes available for hire in the UK

 

Would you like to take a vacation in the near future? If you would and if you have yet to choose a vacation destination, you will want to take the time to examine Hawaii. Hawaii is known as a popular vacation destination. One of the many reasons for that is because all that you can do and see while on a Hawaii trip. Although you do have a number of different options, you will want to take a close look at Hawaii tours.

Before focusing on a few of the many Hawaii tours that you can take on your next Hawaii trip it is first important to focus on your overnight accommodations. As important as it is to plan out what you want to do and see while in Hawaii, it is extremely important that you first make your travel plans. These plans should include your airline reservations, overnight accommodation reservations, and possibly car rental reservations.

In addition to having a number of different options, in terms of Hawaii activities and attractions, Hawaii is also popular among tourists as there are so many places for you to stay. When vacationing in Hawaii, your overnight accommodation options include hotels, vacation resorts, Hawaii vacation homes, vacation condos, vacation villas, and vacation apartment rentals. When choosing a Hawaii vacation home or another Hawaii vacation rental to book a stay at, you may want to take a look at your wants. For example, if you are interested in enjoying the beautiful Hawaii beaches, a beachfront Hawaii vacation home or a rental with an ocean view may be your best option.

Once you have made all of your Hawaii travel arrangements, including your Hawaii vacation rental reservations, you will then want to start focusing on what you want to do and see while on vacation. That is what is nice about Hawaii tours. They not only allow you to participate in fun activities, but they also give you the opportunity to explore a number of popular Hawaii attractions. For example, if you choose to rent a Hawaii vacation home on Big Island, you can enjoy a nice hiking adventure, while exploring the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park at the same time!

Speaking of hiking, hiking is one type of Hawaii tour that you will want to examine. What is nice about hiking is that it is activity that many already enjoy and find peaceful. Depending on which Hawaiian Island you choose to visit, you may find a wide array of landscape and scenery. As previously stated, Big Island is famous for the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Additional views that you may enjoy on foot include scenic gardens and waterfalls.

All Hawaii tourists are encouraged to take a Hawaii helicopter tour. Hawaii helicopter tours come highly rated and recommended. Although you are able to explore many parts of the Hawaiian Islands by car, foot, bike, or even ATV, some of the most beautiful areas are only accessible by air. Whether your next trip to Hawaii is intended to be a family vacation, a fun adventure with friends, or a romantic getaway, a Hawaii helicopter tour should be on your list of things to do in Hawaii.

Hawaii boat tours are another Hawaii activity that you will want to examine. Many Hawaii boat tours are offered as one day chartered voyages or you can even take a dinner cruise off the coast! If you are interested in enjoying a fishing adventure or if you would like to sightsee in the waters, a charter boat tour may be your best option. When it comes to boating on the Hawaiian Islands, you will find that your options are virtually unlimited.

The above mentioned Hawaii tours are just a few of the many that you will find available. Additional tours that may be of interest to you and your traveling party include Hawaii ATV tours, Hawaii bus tours, Hawaii submarine tours, and Hawaii horseback riding tours. As a reminder, if you have already booked a stay at a Hawaii vacation home or another Hawaiian vacation rental, be sure to examine Hawaii tours that are located near your Hawaii vacation rental, like your Hawaii vacation home. Doing so may be able to save you both time and money.

Far and away the most common questions received by Timeshare Consumer Group are related to getting rid of one’s timeshare. Most individuals describe stories of purchasing their vacation property on impulse and as a result of high pressure sales tactics. The buyers learn later that the timeshare wasn’t what they expected…especially in regards to rising maintenance fees and surprising “special assessment” fees. The buyers attempt to resell their timeshare through various means but all of them prove fruitless.

We’ve found that when faced with a timeshare that becomes a liability, most consumers turn to one of two types of companies – the first are listing services, which place your timeshare on the resale market for a fee and do little else. The second type of company offers what is called a “title transfer” – you pay a fee, and the company takes the timeshare off your hands. Since we have gotten several inquiries about specific title transfer companies over the last few months, we thought we’d take a look into the seldom-plumbed depths of this industry.

What title transfer companies claim to do is arrange to transfer ownership of your vacation property to a business entity that can manage it better than an individual. Unfortunately nine times out of ten this premise is too good to be true. In many cases these companies are no better equipped to handle a worthless timeshare than the average consumer.

In our research, however, we have discovered that a handful of these companies actually do help timeshare owners disentangle themselves from ensnaring contracts. Other companies are essentially scams, no better than the timeshare resort representatives who sell the properties in the first place. But distinguishing between the two can be risky business.

For those of you who might be researching one of these companies, we offer this test. The following are 5 questions that you can ask a representative of a company offering to take your timeshare for a fee – the better the answers you get, the more likely that the company is worthy of your business.

 

Why do I have to pay an upfront fee?

Some companies may not refer to their upfront fees as actual “upfront fees,” and distinguishing a worthwhile price from a scam is critical. In timeshare resale a common fraud tactic is for an agency to charge timeshare owners an upfront fee without the promise that their timeshare will actually be sold – leaving the owner with both resale costs and the timeshare fees they had to begin with! Many of the listing companies we spoke of earlier fall into this category.

Other companies charge a fee and immediately upon receiving it begin transferring ownership of the timeshare out of the customer’s hands (the “title transfer”). Obviously the latter is a satisfactory explanation for these fees, although caution should be taken – read the contract to ensure that the company in question is prepared to legally transfer the timeshare. You also might still be responsible for maintenance fees on your timeshare while the transfer is taking place; however, a good title transfer service will make accommodations to reimburse these fees.

In any case, we have found that there is a difference between an “upfront fee” and a genuine title transfer service cost; with the latter you are paying another entity to relinquish the burden of an unwanted timeshare.

 

What are you going to do with my timeshare? If you can sell it, why can’t I?

This is a very important question, and we have discovered that most debate over the title transfer industry concerns how a company handles this.

The best of these businesses work with a legitimate title transfer service that has copious industry connections. Assuming the company is not a scam, what the timeshare owner is paying for is the security of jettisoning their timeshare immediately without having to worry about the difficulties of the resale market.

A legitimate title transfer company – ideally, the first stop on your timeshare’s journey after signing a contract – will deal with timeshares in bulk. Very often they cut deals with resorts and can return a timeshare to its original corporate owner since they handle dozens of properties at a time. Other title transfer representatives we spoke to claimed that these properties can be sold to large companies for corporate events, or to travel agencies as “resort stock”.

Occasionally timeshares such as these wind up on Ebay with no reserve, leading to controversy; however, it’s important to remember that these properties are rarely sold at a profit, and a resale option such as ebay is only one in a long list that a title transfer company might employ (Ebay is also something of a listing company itself, since users are charged for their placed items).

Much is made of the fact that even legitimate title transfer companies might sell your timeshare. What is not as often discussed is that most of the resale options they utilize are unapproachable by average consumers.

 

Will I have to continue paying maintenance fees, etc until the timeshare is sold?

This is easy. The answer should be an emphatic no. If you are in any way expected to continue paying for your timeshare after ownership is transferred, the deal is likely a complete scam. Sometimes transferring ownership can take time – 3-6 months, our contacts say – but this should be stipulated clearly in the contract.

Less-than-legitimate companies will not have the industry connections mentioned above and simply cannot manage your timeshare any better than you can. In some of these cases the timeshare owner pays an upfront fee and the title transfer company moves their property into a kind of ownership limbo – where, unfortunately, the original owner is still responsible for maintenance fees, etc. These situations are common and can be difficult to predict if a title transfer company embellishes their true ability to manage hard-to-sell vacation properties.

 

Can you take any timeshare, regardless of the quality or circumstances?

This is another tricky question. The fact of the matter is that some timeshares cannot be taken by title transfer companies for any number of reasons – maybe the timeshare resort won’t let the original buyer out of their contract. Maybe the timeshare resort is embroiled in some kind of legal difficulty and all the contracts are frozen. There are a number of potential situations.

But if you ask a title transfer company representative this question, the answer should be “no, BUT…”. He or she might then explain why your particular timeshare can be transferred. You should be assured in writing that a title transfer is possible on your timeshare before signing a contract or paying any amount of money – many companies say they can take any timeshare, when in fact they cannot.

 

Can you provide testimony from satisfied customers?

The easiest question of all! As with any company, you should always check their rating with the BBB before committing any sum of money. The BBB will also list any outstanding complaints that have been registered: most companies have complaints on file, but only the most upstanding resolve these issues in a timely manner. The best timeshare title transfer companies – as with the best timeshare resorts – also have a long list of satisfied customers that have given positive feedback over the years. You might ask the company for a video or hand-written testimony.

 

Finally, it is challenging to hold one’s own in any sales environment – as most timeshare owners know, after sitting through resort presentations. Many company representatives are trained to evade difficult questions and get you to sign contracts as quickly as possible. But when looking to e
scape from a timeshare contract the consumer should have a very different experience – if you feel you are being “sold” something, as you were when you originally purchased the timeshare, that is probably a good indication that the company is not worth your time or money. Companies that are honest, however, and offer you realistic options to getting out of your contract are probably going to make good on their claims. Staying clear on your objectives and knowing the accurate information ahead of time will help you to stay intelligent and safe.

 

Copyright 2008, Timeshare Consumer Group. Originally printed here.