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In September of 2012, the original founder of Timeshare Consumer Association, Sandy Grey published predictions on where he believed the timeshare industry would be in 2022.

Unfortunately, Sandy Grey passed away many years ago and the website has passed through a few hands since then but now we believe it has landed in the right ones!

His first prediction was “If timeshare has a future it will be very different from the past”.

In the timeshare industry there is such a serious amount of money at stake that Grey anticipated that there would be no change from the industry to turn it into a healthy body. “The industry is dying from self-inflicted wounds!” Even if the resorts or groups are bought by a company who would want to change it for the better, there are other aspects to consider.

Grey predicted that by the time 2022 came around the industry will have near enough phased out. With the original timeshare owners getting older they won’t want to travel as much. This also goes for the timeshare salespeople who will be heading into retirement rather than into the offices.

Further on, Grey then stated his predictions as to what he believed timeshare in Europe will look like in 2022. Only two years to go and it appears that maybe he wasn’t far off after all.

The primary point he makes is that “Most of the rogues will have gone.” This is true already, as some of the so-called “rogues” have gone to prison while others have jumped ship from the industry.

“Far fewer resorts will remain – especially in mainland Spain and the Canaries” Resorts and groups are being taken to court left right and centre, and with less and less people willing to buy into timeshare it leaves the greedy timeshare body owners with less to feed on. In turn, many resorts/groups have gone into liquidation. Most recently being Silverpoint Vacations.

“Business performance of the industry will be comparable to that of hotels with similar margins, modest investment return criteria and similar risks. No more obscene profits.” Websites such as Booking.com and Air B&B offer the same holiday luxuries Worldwide as timeshares do. The two industries probably are making similar amounts of money now. If not for the inescapable maintenance fees, the hotels would likely be making more money each year than resorts of the same area.

Grey went on to finally saying that “Ownership numbers are unlikely to exceed half a million. A shadow of its former self!” Although there may be less people choosing to purchase timeshare, the problem lies in owners trying to exit from their unwanted timeshares as so many people just can’t find a way or they get scammed by a bogus company. Huge amounts of contracts are in perpetuity and others have a time period that may be of 40 years for example and therefore still ongoing. We estimate there to be around 600,000 timeshare owners currently in Europe.

Sandy Grey could definitely foresee the direction in which the industry was headed. Many of his predictions have already turned into today’s reality.

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