The whistle has blown, its full time but the score line is not what timeshare owners at Seasons resort Slaley Hall wanted to see. Back in November 2021 we published our first article surrounding the actions being taken by Seasons. Over the years, Seasons have invented different schemes aimed at selling various packages to timeshare owner such as the “Keys” membership. In exchange for a not inconsiderable sum, timeshare owners could buy a number of guaranteed holidays at the various Seasons resorts; the main selling point was the removal of any ongoing liability to pay annual maintenance fees, in other words, removal of their fixed week contracts, more on that later.
It’s fair to say that a relatively high number of traditional timeshare owners found the offer attractive so traded in their “weeks” for the new products.
The back story in a nutshell
Slaley Hall had a very active owners club, Slaley Hall Owners Club (SHOC). Like many older style UK resorts, SHOC had a constitution. As with any club, there may come a time in the future when the club no longer has any value so in most constitutions there is a clause/clauses covering the winding up of the club. SHOC was no different.
Club members have voting rights, as we understand it, one week owned gives one vote. Of the total of 1850 weeks, it’s estimated that 80% of the weeks are owned by Seasons, this figure is mostly due to a large number of owners buying into new schemes, such as outlined above, compounded by other weeks obtained due to owners exiting, death etc.
SHOC has a committee of 7, 4 of which being timeshare owners. The constitution allows Seasons to control three of the seven committee positions with four for independent owners. This balance is designed to safeguard owners’ interests from nefarious tactics by management companies or other entities.
The main problem stems from the winding up clause in the constitution. The constitution provides for the club to be wound up if 75 per cent of owners agree, with Seasons owning an estimated 80% the final outcome became clear.
Where it becomes interesting is the Directors of Seasons managed to engineer their son on to the committee. Jack Hurley, their son, became a lodge owner. Seasons then used the timeshare weeks it owns to block vote Jack onto the committee as one of the 4 ‘independent’ owners. After that, they installed him as chairman of the committee. Again, as with any club, the elected committee have the final say. In this case the “committee” agreed to wind up SHOC and sell the underling lodges. Using our football terminology above, until this move the score line was Owners 4, Seasons 3 but with Jack Hurley becoming chairman of the committee the score line changed, Seasons 4, Owners 3, you can now see where we quote “game over”
What happened next?
Naturally a considerable number of owners and other committee members were very unhappy to say the least. Believing the Special General Meeting was not held fairly and not within the rules of the constitution, the matter was referred to arbitration. The arbitration didn’t go well for SHOC and was referred to the High Court for leave to appeal, unfortunately for SHOC they were not given right to appeal so they are unable to keep SHOC in existence.
What now?
SHOC will be, or already has been dissolved. The leases on the lodges will be, or rather have already been put up for sale. The combined value obtained upon a sale and the residual assets of the club, after expenses, will be distributed to the remaining owners. Although we can’t put an accurate figure on who will receive what. As we stated earlier there are 1850 weeks, which include the 80% owned by Seasons. From preliminary figures TCA have seen, this equates to an average of circa £1,400 per lodge per week, excluding the surplus cash that is currently held in the club, Hutchinson trustees have stated that this cash will be distributed by relation to members’ annual maintenance fees.
TCA comment
Although much closer to home than our normal comment on the timeshare industry, it appears to be yet another example of developers running rough shod over their customers. Putting our two pence in, we are part defensive and part offensive.
We have been commenting for a long time that timeshare in Europe is nearly a spent product; singling out the UK it’s even worse. Timeshare developers have run out of ideas to join the ends of the financial circle. Many are sitting on sizable real estate assets so selling off the family silver is one way to complete the financial circle. In defence, selling assets is a way to buoy up the corporate accounts and keep a business afloat, in the case of Seasons, it’s the way this was handled that we find offensive.
The age demographic of the UK timeshare owner is somewhat older than say the USA. Our experience is that the UK owner is not so much in love with timeshare the product, but love the resorts. Only the other day we spoke with a gentleman who said he was very disturbed that Seasons wouldn’t let him book his 2024 stay at Slaley, he explained that he had had 20 years worth of fabulous holidays at the resort. He had been observing the stories surrounding both Slaley and Seasons, but stayed on the side lines, as all he wanted was his annual stay at the resort, well that’s now gone for sure.
We could venture many ways which Seasons could have gone about this in a way to achieve their business objectives but at the same time keeping their loyal customers happy, but it would be a waste of ink because, as they say, the stable door is closed and the horse has bolted and the final whistle has been blown.
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