The Securities and Exchange Commission, cracking down on scams targeting retirees, sued 26 people and companies for their roles in a $428 million fraud involving Mexican timeshare rentals.

Further bad news:

The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) has taken a timeshare company to court for breaching the Fair Trading Act. CASE is accusing Global Europ (Asia) of exerting undue pressure on its customers. 52 cases have been filed against the company and 21 of them remain unresolved. These included complaints that the company gave false information and pressured customers to buy its products

This is the second timeshare company CASE has taken to court. The first was Orion's Belt Network in October 2006, now being settled through an out-of-court settlement.

Well, finally the good news.

According to a just released survey by Interval International, a timeshare exchange company owned by IAC, timeshare has not just reached critical mass, but almost everyone has heard of timesharing. Findings in Future Timeshare Buyers: Market Profile 2007 shows that 91 percent of travelers know timeshare, which is up from just 68 percent seven years ago.

Further, ARDA notes nearly four percent of all U.S. households own timeshare, which is an increase from 4.1 million in 2005 to 4.4 million in 2006.

Hotel occupancy is down in some top vacation spots, not through lack of visitors, but because more travelers are investing in permanent options such as property and time shares in places they love.

The shift has not yet made a big financial impact on hotels, which are generally charging more for rooms this year, but some big chains are hedging their bets by jumping on the emerging trend themselves.