Britain’s tourist body www.VisitBritain.com has compiled a handy list of tips on how to extend an even warmer welcome to visitors coming to the UK for the 2012 Olympics.

The guidelines are tailored to various nationalities, whose customs and etiquette may vary, or even contrast with, the British way of doing things and the idea is to create an even more efficient and helpful customer service that takes account of cultural needs.

Britain rates quite highly on the “warm welcome” front compared to other countries. It ranks 14th out of 50 in the Nation Brands Index for the quality of the welcome would-be visitors believe they will get when they come here, although we’re not as good as Canada, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands apparently. Read more

Aer Lingus has posted an operating loss of €19 million in the six months to the end of June, that’s a reduction of 80% on its operating losses during the first half of 2009.

The airline has resisted two takeover bids by Ryanair Holdings and according to chief executive Christoph Mueller, the improvements in performance are significant considering it’s been a tough year with unexpected losses due to the Icelandic volcanic ash crisis which hit Ireland and many of the regions the airline flies in and out of. Read more

Picture the scene: green fairways undulating across Scotland ’s legendary “golf country”  . . . forests tinged copper,  . . . in autumn colours a Cornish fishing village, lost in time . . .

Book a short break this winter and it’s the kind of scenery you could be waking up to. But what if the weather doesn’t co-operate? Then steal a few hours at the hotel spa or pool, or settle in with a glass of something good and finish the book you can’t put down while the rain pelts outside.

Long ago, the idea of a British holiday break might have conjured up images of chilly B&Bs with faulty heating, plastic tea-makers and fuzzy TVs, but thankfully most of those two star disasters have gone the way of the dinosaur. Read more

UPDATE!

The planned strike has been averted. See this article on GoTimeshare.org for more information: 

Ryanair has asked the Spanish government to help ease the effects of the Spanish air traffic controller strike which, if it goes ahead, will start August 18th and last three days.

The strikers are protesting at government plans to change their work hours and reduce overtime pay and more than 2,000 nationally have voted for the strike which could affect some two million passengers (many Spanish workers take their holidays in August and the strike couldn’t come at a busier time).

The dispute with the Spanish government has dragged on since February, when overtime hours and controllers’ pay were slashed. According to some reports, some controllers were earning as much as £290,000 a year, more than the Spanish prime minister Mr. Zapatero earns, and the government wants to increase their hours and shorten their rest breaks. Read more

If you have a cashback certificate, don't fall victim to scam that has recently come to our attention.

We've been told that members of the public who purchased a holiday club membership that included a cashback offer are now receiving calls from a separate company to inform them that their cashback certificate has not been correctly registered. As a result, they are invited overseas - usually Spain or the Canaries - to find ways around the problem and this is where, at their most vulnerable, people tend to be pressured into making decisions they later regret. Read more

The police in Spain have arrested a person behind fraudulent timeshare resale company Benedetti & Asociados. This company, which operated from offices on the Costa Del Sol, targeted Spanish timeshare owners and RDO has received a number of complaints about its activities this year. The arrest follows a report that RDO’s enforcement team sent to the police in Marbella.

RDO has established that Benedetti and Asociados SA was in fact a company that was dissolved in 1989 and this company was using its name. Timeshare owners were told that a corporate buyer was lined up and that they had to pay an upfront fee of €499. The sales failed to take place and the timeshare owners lost their money.

Members of the public who believe they may have been defrauded by this company should contact RDO's enforcement team on enforcement@rdo.org Read more

Jennie Thompson, MD of Malaga-based Leisure Solutions SL, and board member of the official timeshare owner-run Timeshare Association (TATOC) www.tatoc.org, is about to take up a new role as vice president of the British Chamber of Commerce’s Regional Committee of Andalucia.

Thompson, who is also an elected member of the BCCS Governing Council, has a wealth of experience within the timeshare industry and hopes her two-year post will help spread a positive message about timeshare. Read more

You've seen an advertisement or had a call out of the blue - something in itself to be wary of as your details have probably been obtained through a stolen database - and are now considering whether to join a class action against your resort developer or even exchange company.

So what's the reality behind these schemes; is this just another scam, a way of obtaining money from timeshare owners under false pretences?

From evidence collected by RDO's enforcement team, headed up by a former Spanish police inspector, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the majority of these schemes are bogus, their primary goal being to have people sign up to expensive Holiday Clubs, something that is never made clear in their initial contact with timeshare owners. This is a classic ' bait and switch ' tactic, something that is illegal under laws adopted in the UK in 2008. Read more

Between 2007 and 2009 the Spanish police and other enforcement agencies such as Trading Standards in the UK stepped up their efforts to tackle companies that were defrauding timeshare owners and the general public at large. This has resulted in the closure of almost 60 companies, some of which were wound up by the authorities and others ceased trading of their own accord, frequently due to pressure as a result of investigations that were being carried out. The list below details companies that have closed since 2007 and will be updated regularly. Read more

Contrary to the statement made by Claims Directive, a company located in Arguineguín Gran Canaria that claims to represent timeshare owners’ interests, the timeshare industry both in Spain, the rest of Europe and USA as well as other international territories is extremely robust.

Some of the world’s biggest hotel brands operate within the timeshare industry, such as Hilton, Marriott, Wyndham, Disney and Four Seasons. Timeshare owners recently reported high levels of satisfaction with their timeshare – 87% overall were “satisfied or extremely satisfied” according to a report by The Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute at the Nottingham University Business School.

The survey also reveals that there are 1.5 million owners in Europe, 48% of whom own in Spain, where there are 345 resorts. Furthermore, €3.2 billion was generated by the industry in 2007 alone, €957 million of which came from timeshare sales. Read more