P.R. Laws tit. 31, § 1256d

2019-02-20 00:00:00+00
§ 1256d. The reservation system

(1) The reservation system of a vacation club having non-specific vacation club rights, or of a timeshare plan having nonspecific timeshare rights, shall be subject to the requirements for subordination or other financial assurances set forth in §§ 1254—1254b of this title. Prior to offering vacation club rights or nonspecific timeshare rights, a developer shall create or provide a reservation system, including all appropriate computer hardware and software which is necessary to satisfy owners reasonable expectations concerning the use and occupancy of the accommodations, based upon the developer’s representations and the terms and conditions of the vacation club or timeshare plan documents, and establish rules and regulations for its operation. In establishing such rules and regulations, the developer shall take into account the anticipated demand for use and occupancy of the accommodations in view of the size and type of each accommodation, each component site location (in the case of a vacation club), the time of year, the projected common expenses from year to year, and all other relevant factors, and shall use its good faith best efforts, based upon all evidence reasonably available to the developer under the circumstances, to maximize the collective opportunities for all the owners of vacation club rights or nonspecific timeshare rights to use and occupy the vacation club’s or timeshare plan’s accommodations. Such rules and regulations shall also provide for periodic modification of the reservation system’s demand balancing criteria by the developer or the managing entity in order to reflect as accurately as possible actual patterns of reservation requests and use and occupancy of the accommodations by owners from time to time.

(2) The person(s) authorized by the vacation club or timeshare plan documents to make additions or substitutions of accommodations to the vacation club or timeshare plan pursuant to § 1255b of this title, shall owe a fiduciary duty to each owner of a vacation club right or nonspecific timeshare right to act in the collective best interests of all such owners in connection with any such addition or substitution and to adhere to the demand balancing standard set forth in subsection (1) above in ascertaining the desirability of any proposed addition or substitution and the anticipated impact thereof upon the practical ability of owners to reserve, use, and occupy the accommodations.

(3) Prior to offering any vacation club rights in a vacation club or nonspecific timeshare rights in a timeshare plan, a developer shall provide to the Company satisfactory evidence of the existence of the vacation club’s or timeshare plan’s reservation system and shall certify to the Company that such reservation system is fully operative.

(4) Any agreement between a vacation club or timeshare plan and a reservation system provider must state that, following a termination of the provider’s contract by either party, the reservation system provider will, in the vacation club’s or timeshare plan’s managing entity’s sole discretion, either:

(a) Permit the vacation club or timeshare plan to utilize the reservation system for a transition period of up to nine (9) months in the same manner and at the same cost as the vacation club or timeshare plan utilized the reservation system prior to the termination in order to afford the managing entity a reasonable opportunity to obtain a new reservation system and arrange for the transfer of all relevant data from the old reservation system to the new reservation system as described in subsection (b) below.

(b) Promptly transfer to the vacation club or timeshare plan managing entity all relevant data contained in the reservation system, including but not limited to the names, addresses, and reservation status of accommodations at the vacation club’s component sites or timeshare property, the names and addresses of all owners, all outstanding confirmed reservations and reservation requests, and such other owner and component site or timeshare property records and information as is sufficient, in the reasonable discretion of the managing entity, to permit the uninterrupted operation and administration of the vacation club or timeshare plan for the collective benefit of owners of vacation club rights or nonspecific timeshare rights therein. All reasonable costs incurred by the reservation system provider in effecting such transfer shall be reimbursed thereto and shall constitute common expenses of the vacation club or timeshare plan.

(5) The vacation club or timeshare plan managing entity (in timeshare plans having nonspecific timeshare rights) shall prepare and file with the Company, not later than April 1 of each year, a report which, at the managing entity’s option, includes the information contained in one of the following subsections:

(a) Based upon actual data derived from the previous calendar year, the amount of time (in days, weeks, months, or years) in advance of the initial use period of an owner’s desired occupancy of an accommodation which the managing entity reasonably and in good faith estimates that an owner must submit a reservation request in order to obtain a confirmed reservation for each component site of the vacation club or for the timeshare property. To the extent relevant, such information shall also reference any differences in estimated advance reservation time based upon accommodation size and type and the time of year in which such use and occupancy is sought.

(b) In chart, summary, or other format acceptable to the Company:

(i) The total number of owners of vacation club rights or nonspecific timeshare rights as of December 31 of the previous calendar year.

(ii) The number of accommodations at each component site or timeshare property having nonspecific timeshare rights that were available for use and occupancy by owners as of December 31 of the previous calendar year.

(iii) For each component site or timeshare property having nonspecific timeshare rights with respect to the previous calendar year, the total number of reservation requests properly submitted in accordance with the reservation system’s rules and regulations that were received, the number of such reservation requests fulfilled, and the number of such reservation requests denied. Such information shall be accompanied by a complete and accurate description of the criteria used by the managing entity to determine whether a particular reservation request was submitted in accordance with the reservation system’s rules and regulations.

A copy of such report shall also be mailed or delivered to each owner of a vacation club right or nonspecific timeshare right not later than April 1 of each year.

History —Dec. 26, 1995, No. 252, § 6-105; July 5, 1996, No. 66, § 25.