As we all know the current pandemic is wreaking havoc with the entire hospitality industry and timeshare resorts are no exception. It has come to our attention that Club la Costa resorts (CLC) have now deferred the originally published opening of their European resort till December 2020. In a memo issued by Juan Miguel Marcos Ramos, head of Human Resources at CLC, Snr Ramos stated that the quarantine measures imposed by the UK government on Saturday 25th July 2020 will undoubtedly have an effect on guests visiting from the UK. He went on to say that it was considered that most guests from the UK will cancel their vacations. From what we understand, in Spain, only California Beach on the Costa del Sol and CLC Paradise in Tenerife will remain open. According to Snr Ramos there has been a drop of 80% in bookings across the group as a whole.
CLC have been continuing their marketing efforts but it appears that there has been little appetite shown from potential new buyers. CLC state that many hospitality companies will not be able to survive the new challenges, however CLC are in a position to weather the storm long term but only if they take appropriate and responsible action now to reduce their exposure to costs and risks as soon as possible.
In a communication to all staff Snr Ramos states in bold and we quote:
“We have no choice right now; however we are doing everything we can to ensure that we reopen all our resorts as soon as it becomes viable once again. The world will eventually reach a level of equilibrium where travelling is normalised and we will be ready when it does.”
Quite obviously this action will mean that virtually all staff will be furloughed once again with no real idea of when or if they will have a job in the future. Because this news is so recent CLC have not even had the time to update their websites; no doubt they will at some stage.
If you are an owner at CLC in Spain and have a forthcoming holiday we strongly suggest that you contact your resort before leaving home as you may find the complex is closed.
Ownership of timeshare, not only at CLC, is becoming more fraught by the day. The move by CLC means that from the 14th March 2020 to some date in mid December 2020, their timeshare owners have not been able to access their holiday apartments, thus no holiday. Each person who has lost their holidays has still had to pay their maintenance fees. December is the month that the following year’s maintenance bills are usually issued, so as an owner you will be requested to pay yet another sum of money for a holiday that is still very uncertain.
One of the main grievances expressed by owners of timeshare since the COVID19 pandemic began is that they feel that having to pay full maintenance charges when their resort is closed or it is impossible to travel is very unfair. Had this money been spent on a conventional holiday that had to be cancelled because of the pandemic then refunds would be in order and achievable, but with the exception of a few smaller resorts, maintenance fees are deemed to be non-refundable.
£1000 is not an unusual sum to pay in maintenance charges for one week of timeshare, so it may be that owners will have to pay £2,000, covering 20/21 for absolutely nothing. As most timeshare resorts are apartment based, we are sure that you would agree that £2,000 goes an extremely long way for an similar apartment booked via Airbnb or Booking.com, so what exactly are the benefits of being a timeshare owner?
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