Return of the timeshare? The bargain ‘holiday’ where you can’t leave the hotel
Pay £200 for two weeks in the sun. The catch? You’ll be locked in the hotel for 10 hours or more listening to a bullying sales pitch.
Tony and Christine Birch paid £229 for what would have been a holiday that came with a ‘marketing presentation’ Photo: Christopher Pledger
The dreaded “holiday club” scam is back with a sinister twist.
Crooked online “travel agents” will sell holidays at supposedly luxury hotels, for as little as £220 a fortnight – boasting a wide choice of attractive destinations.
What you’ll actually get, however, is a less than five-star experience. For a start, you may not stay in a top hotel. What you are guaranteed to be put through, however, is a marathon hard sell.
Once on holiday, customers are forced to attend “marketing presentations” at the hotel that last for 10 hours or more. Failure to attend incurs a penalty of several hundred pounds.
It’s a new spin on a decades-old scam. So-called “holiday clubs” or “timeshare” schemes have been around since the Nineties, albeit in a different form. Back in the Nineties, tricksters would approach holidaymakers at beaches and clubs, offering some sort of freebie such as a meal or excursion.
Once their targets were safely captive, the con men launched a high-pressure sales pitch to convince holidaymakers to pay several thousand pounds for a timeshare in an apartment complex, where you buy the right to stay for several weeks in a year.
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These cost up to £15,000 a year and many came with onerous annual fees, exit penalties and other terms.
Although this ruse seemed to die away in the early 2000s, complaints to consumer group the European Consumer Centre have recently shown an increase.
They rose by 122pc over 2012 to 2013, up from 128 to 156. The most recent data, for the six months to July 2014, shows 60 people complained.
The latest manifestation of the tactic has shifted to home soil. Bogus firms are setting up convincing travel booking websites, backed by call-centre staff based in the UK. They even claim to be protected by the travel regulator.
Once the holidaymakers have booked, paid and travelled abroad, marketeers at their hotel will then try to get them to sign up to a timeshare.
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A travel firm called Sponsored Breaks cold-called Tony and Christine Birch from Heathfield in East Sussex last December, persuading Mr Birch to pay £229 for a two-week hotel stay in Australia or New Zealand.
After paying, he started to have doubts. A salesperson later called to say they would have to attend a “marketing presentation” while abroad. Tony’s daughter investigated the company online and suggested he ask for his money back.
Mr Birch admits that it was naive to part with his cash straightaway, but that the salesperson claimed to have already spoken with his wife. “I thought, well, if Christine has just spoken to them I am sure they are reputable,” he said. “Most holiday companies claim to offer some sort of discount, so I didn’t think anything of it.”
Assuming that the firm would abide by “cooling-off” rules, Mr Birch asked for a refund in writing. The rules entitle consumers to their money back, within seven days of making a telephone purchase, extended to 14 days if bought online.
Sponsored Breaks refused, and claimed it was exempt from such laws: “As we sell accommodation, as a company, we are exempt from having to offer a cooling off or cancellation period.”
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Adam Carr, consumer lawyer at Linder Myers Solicitors, said this could breach Consumer Contracts Regulations if the accommodation is considered as a “product”. He said: “The regulations do not apply to the purchase of ‘immovable property’ and rented accommodation for residential use, but it could be legally argued that the accommodation purchased is indeed a ‘product.’ ”
Sponsored Breaks, which claims to be based in London, refused to answer calls or emails. But in a mystery shop by Telegraph Money, a saleswoman said: “You will be offered something to do with cheap holidays, but you never have to take up the offer. You do have to attend presentations, if you miss it you would be charged £500. It’s in our terms and conditions.”
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk