MIAMI – Despite a lengthy recession that hasn’t spared the hospitality industry, including in Florida, Wyndham Vacation Resorts invested $100 million and added 270 staff members in the past 18 months, even as other companies struggled to stay afloat.

Wyndham's Gold Coast-based chief executive officer Barry Robinson said the timeshare operator accomplished this goal by reacting cautiously when the economic downturn hit late in 2008.

Pennsylvania brings in new judge to hear case of resort tax assessment appeal.

POCONOS -- An out-of-county judge has been assigned to hear the appeal by Fernwood Resort on its tax assessment for hundreds of its Middle Smithfield Township timeshares. Retired Senior Common Pleas Judge Dwight Stine of Schuylkill County will hear the case.

NBC Radio Station WMBF is reporting that a group of neighbors in a luxury condo development are trying to find out if the new development firm that purchased their property decide to turn it
into a timeshare, as a way of boosting the home values.

So far, though, the developer is denying that.

The initial word is this move is being viewed as a possible solution to the hard times their property has fallen onto.

FORT LAUDERDALE -- A group of employees from a now-defunct Fort Lauderdale timeshare resale company pleaded guilty in federal court in December to conspiring to defraud clients who were attempting to sell their vacation rentals.

Thirteen telemarketers from Timeshare Mega Media and Marketing Group went before federal judges in November and December, pleading guilty to the charges, according to The Sun Sentinel
newspaper in Fort Lauderdale.

Faced with a late surge of nominees, Perspective Magazine has extended its nomination deadline until Dec. 21 for the Second Annual Perspective Magazine Awards Program. The awards, sponsored by Holiday Systems International, are aimed at timeshare industry professionals who want to nominate their favorite company or individual for outstanding global recognition of their products or services.