Westgate Resorts, David Siegel

Dec. 22, 2011

What Do Westgate Resorts And The Wall Street Protesters Have In Common?

Westgate Resorts Produces Jobs, The Protesters Want To Tax Them More

We read this article about Westgate Resorts during the time Wall Street protesters were protesting against the very wealthy in our country and couldn’t help but think how uninformed they are. My wife and I are not wealthy, we are retired and live on a modest retirement income. It’s enough to enjoy 3 weeks of timeshare vacations every year because we budget carefully every year.

When we read the following story about David Siegel, the wealthy developer of Westgate Resorts, we could not help but think of how unintelligent the protesters appear to be. I have never worked for a poor person. I have always worked for someone who could afford to pay me. “Let’s tax the rich,” the protesters say while they are sleeping on public property in tents along with their laptop computers. And then you look at David Siegel, Owner of Westgate Resorts, and his current situation.

He has had to lay off over 5,000 of his Westgate Resorts employees and halt construction on his expensive home, leaving many contractors out of work. He stopped flying his corporate jet resulting in more employees laid off, and he sold off another development in Las Vegas meaning more jobs lost. So, the point of this article is that protesting and taxing the rich will not solve the problems of the Wall Street protesters. Instead, this is what the Wall Street protesters. They should be protesting the complicated tax structure of our over- burdensome government, not private wealth builders in this country.

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Four years ago, David Siegel was one of Central Florida’s biggest names, with brisk time-share sales at his Westgate Resorts, a growing portfolio of properties, and a 90,000-square-foot home under construction.

Today, he is contending with lenders who have stepped in to call the shots on everything from how much he gets paid to whether he can sell time-share units at his new Las Vegas tower. He has slashed his workforce in half, and he is looking for a buyer for his unfinished Windermere home, dubbed “Versailles.”

The man who was often called Orlando’s Time-share King is now coping with a decidedly scaled-back business empire and lifestyle. The time-share industry took a hit along with the residential housing market, logging sales last year that were 40 percent off the 2007 peak.

He says demand for Westgate Resorts time shares is still strong and blames his company’s troubles on the credit freeze that has halted his stream of financing.

“We never stopped being profitable, but the banks that we are dealing with are in trouble, so they’re not funding us,” he said. “We had to cut the company in half. The demand is incredible. We could do twice the business we’re doing if we had financing.”

That’s a big “if” and one that so far has proven elusive as Siegel has fought to manage the fallout from the recession.

At the end of 2009, he opened PH Towers Westgate, which is connected to the Planet Hollywood resort in Las Vegas.

Now, however, the building is being used as a hotel because sales of time-share units there have been blocked by Siegel’s bank on the project.

“The lenders won’t fund our sales and we can’t afford to sell there until we get funding,” he said.

In the past, Westgate was able to borrow against the mortgages of time-share buyers, but that has dried up.

He said that that is one reason new construction he had in the works has gone from $2 billion three years ago to zero today.

His more than 12,000 employees has been whittled to 5,500. He said lenders have cut his salary in half.

He still owns the Gulfstream Jet he once used to fly between Orlando and Vegas but says, “We can’t use it because the bankers don’t want us to.”

Today he flies commercial.

And he won’t be moving into his planned palace with 13 bedrooms that was originally designed to include an ice rink, bowling lanes, and a children’s playroom with a stage for live performances.

“It was a magnificent home,” he said. “Did we need it? No. Did we want it? Yes.”

The unfinished house, which was put up for sale last year for $75 million, has generated some inquiries, but no takers.

“I’m very frugal,” Siegel said. “That house kind of makes me look the other way … now that money is so tight I squeeze every penny.”

So Siegel, his wife Jacqueline, and their eight children, will stay put in their 20,000-square-foot home in the exclusive Isleworth neighborhood.

He remains proud of his company’s charitable giving through the Westgate Resorts Foundation, which has raised $10.8 million since 2001 and last month gave away 1,000 vacations to military personnel who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lean times have meant he’s cut back there, too, however. Tax forms for the charity show that Siegel contributed more than $300,000 in 2007 and 2008 and $60,000 in 2009, the most recent available.

He’s hoping for a thaw in the credit markets or other streams of capital that can help his company grow again.

Through it all, laying off so many employees has been the most trying.

“Affecting all these families has been the worst thing I’ve gone through,” he said. “I hope a lot of them I can hire back over the next few years.”

We believe that David Siegel will make a comeback.

The protesters will continue to protest and my wife and I will continue to vacation at Westgate Resorts when we have that opportunity.

via Beth Kassab: Time-share king David Siegel looks to overcome financing hurdles – OrlandoSentinel.com.

A Great Vacation at "Westgates Branson Woods"

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Westgate Resorts, David Siegel
Westgate Resorts, David Siegel
Westgate Resorts, David Siegel

Westgate Resorts, David Siegel

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