It’s fair to say that the majority of UK owners have their timeshare in European resorts with Spain topping the list, however due to the popularity of American resorts especially those in Florida more and more Brits are buying American timeshare.
The incredibly attractive resorts, slick sales presentations and the general euphoria that surrounds being on holiday often encourages people make hasty decisions they would otherwise not have made, given time to pause and reflect.
Owning a slice of Micky Mouse or the glitz of the Las Vegas strip or the possibility of rubbing shoulders with the stars in Hollywood is too good to refuse, but what happens when the reality of the purchase dawns? What happens if a change of mind comes into play and future dream holidays become a nightmare? Don’t worry, you can get out, or can you?
How do resorts respond?
It has to be remembered that many Americans view timeshare ownership in an entirely different light to their fellow owners across the big pond. Percentage wise a lot of American owners are happy with their timeshare, so the desire to exit is not uppermost, however life circumstances often change and there may be a need to get out, this is where the problem starts.
It is pretty well standard practice that American resorts and developers would rather “rearrange” ownership than facilitate an exit. Aware of exit problems there are various websites created by the industry such as www.responsibleexit.com and www.arda-roc.org the problem is that both these sites are funded by the timeshare industry so the question must be asked, where do their loyalties lie? Are they with the industry or the consumer? Below we will look at the advice offered by both sites.
On the homepage of the website there is no direct mention of how to exit a timeshare, or anywhere else we could find. Naturally there are warnings on the site such as:
“Timeshare Exit Companies May be Scamming Customers”
Search as we did, there is no section that offers advice on how to exit timeshare, very odd considering this organisation is supposedly for the benefit of owners. On the home page there is a proud statement:
“Join our coalition of 1.6 million-plus timeshare owners across the country.”
That says nothing really as we will discover below. They do however say:
“We support greater regulation and transparency for timeshare exit companies.”
All in all the Resort Owners Coalition is of little or no value to timeshare owners wishing for exit advice. Also it should be pointed out those owners at resorts that are members of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) are automatically paying a subscription to ROC in their annual maintenance fees. And as per the above this number of members tops 1,600,000! So there are effectively 1.6m conscript members.
Whilst this website is certainly more in tune with answering questions relating to exiting ownership, it is far from user friendly. The homepage is a testimonial of all the companies they work with. The list is like a who’s who in the timeshare world. The developer links are active but when clicked they are filled with platitudes such as:
“If you feel that your Club Wyndham timeshare no longer meets your travel needs, make Wyndham your first and only call for guidance and solutions.”
Why is there no definitive statement on how to exit? We will look at this later.
There are various sections with useful questions but the answers leave a lot to be desired:
The first answer above suggests a search of the site, we tried and couldn’t find any options mentioned. Regards point two, the suggested solution is to put your ownership up for sale and this is hardly an exit.
Why no clear advice
Actually this is quite a simple question to answer. American resorts and developers use exit enquiries to “up sell “meaning if you spend more money you may not need to exit. By way of example, Diamond resorts state:
“Diamond Resorts encourages timeshare owners who may be interested in adjusting their contracts to contact their developer for options.”
Sorry I didn’t want to adjust I just wanted out! To be fair, Diamond is not alone. Whilst we published the following in an earlier article, we thought it was right to give it another airing.
ARDA-ROC (American Resort Development Association-Resort Owners Coalition) during their 2019 annual conference the then Chairman Ken McKelvey stated:
“The best thing we can do with exit (is) judicial foreclosure, ruin the credit and enforce the contract,” McKelvey said, according to minutes of the April 10 meeting of ARDA’s Resort Operations Committee. “Each developer should have an exit strategy office within (their) call center, also this can be opportunity to up sell. Only 40-50% (of owners) actually exit after reaching the office of exit.”
So what can we conclude from this, well it’s patently obvious that this so called “consumer” site doesn’t give a fig for the timeshare owner. On the assumption that half the owners who contact the resort actually want to exit, this never happens as they are cajoled into buying more of the same.
Exit companies
Before we enter this arena, let’s start by saying, if all timeshare developers and resorts had fair exit policies then there would be absolutely no need for exit companies but until that utopia arrives, exit companies will be a necessary tool in the armoury of those wishing to get out of their timeshare once and for all.
Regular visitors to this site will know that there are many fraudulent companies operating in the field of timeshare exit. The American market has more than its fair share. Law suits are flying in all directions in the States with Diamond leading the way in their quest to stamp out fraud, for this we commend them; however there are good guys out there. The problem seems to be that the timeshare industry seems hell bent on tarring all with the same brush.
Commenting on a recent court case involving a suit brought by Diamond we publish the following:
“We’re unfortunately seeing a significant rise in the number of exit company scams that are preying on timeshare owners,” said Mike Flaskey, CEO of Diamond Resorts. “Our top priority is protecting our members from unscrupulous companies who try to take advantage of them.”
We would venture a quick question to Mr Flaskey might be;
Why are so many Diamond members turning to exit companies in the first place? If sensible affordable exit policies were in place and those who need to exit are allowed to leave with no duress or up selling, surely the problem created by fraudulent exit companies would disappear.
Europe and the UK V America
It is patently obvious that apart from the quote attributed to Winston Churchill “The English and Americans are two peoples divided by a common language.” There are certainly major differences that divide the contractual terms between American and European timeshare ownership contracts. We will be investigating these in future articles and would request your assistance. We would like to see copies of American ownership contracts in order to make meaningful comparisons. If you would be prepared to share your information we would be most appreciative. More on this in a future article.
Final thoughts
Maintenance fees are the lifeblood of timeshare resorts in consequence, the more people allowed to exit, the less the income but this should not an excuse to hold customers to ransom. In all other businesses, if the customer base is shrinking then development, progress and improvement is required to once again boost customer share and increase sales, if this fails then the business fails. Customer centric companies will win all the time.
Thorntons the chocolate retailer this week announced the closure of its 61 shops with the associated job losses. In a statement:
“The company said it had been badly hit by the pandemic, which forced its stores to shut their doors during the crucial Christmas and Easter holidays.
“The obstacles we have faced and will continue to face on the High Street are too severe,” said Thorntons retail director Adam Goddard.”
Have they gone out of business? No, they will reposition the company as an online platform and move on.
Imagine if they had a business model akin to timeshare which forced all their customers to pay for Easter eggs each year whether they wanted them or not and also increased the price every year then tied them into buying their product for life. Well of course this would never happen, they wouldn’t have a single customer willing to accept those terms, so why do timeshare developers and resorts think they can get away with it?
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