Our experience with the time share business
In 1988 we were for the first time on the island of Lanzarote which is one of the Canary Islands belonging to Spain, but they are situated close to the African coast. The islands are very attractive in the winter because of their mild climate. Lanzarote is covered with volcanos which makes it a very unusual place. During our first visit we did a tour of the island and were impressed by the nature, the contrasting white buildings and artistic decorations that were initiated by the native, but international well known artist, Cesar Manrique. In the video below you can get an impression of the impressive nature of the island.
Having seen all that and being very impressed, we were invited to visit the Lanzarote Beach Club, a 5 star resort. It turned out that the invitation had the purpose to convince us to buy a time share, i.e., some holiday weeks at the Beach Club. We thought it would not harm to have a look. We did a tour of the resort and saw the accommodations. Then we asked ourselves whether we would like to have some weeks in this luxurious resort on this unusual island. The advantage was that we would have every year, around Christmas time, an apartment for which we didn´t have to pay anymore. Besides that, because this may become boring, there was also the facility via two agencies, RCI and Interval International, to exchange our weeks at the Beach club for the same weeks elsewhere in the world without paying for the accommodation. The price they asked for a time share of three weeks at the Beach Club was 12.000 Euros. It looked like a good decision given what we got for our money as the video shows.
It was a nice resort and the accommodation was very well done, only the golden door knobs and faucets should have made us suspicious. Since we did not see much risk in this deal, we decided to buy a time share for three weeks at this Beach Club.
Was there indeed no risk involved?
The next year we went for the first time for three weeks to the Beach Club. We enjoyed the life there and explored the island more than before. It remained spectacular. The year thereafter, we started to exchange our accommodation for a time share elsewhere. We went that year to Guanajuato in Mexico and also to Mexico City. This was a fantastic experience which required repetition. So next year we went again to Mexico and it was nice, although Willem became immediately ill and remained so during the stay. In the meantime we got a message of the Beach Club that the maintenance fee that we still had to pay had doubled from 100 to 200 Euros per week. This was a lot, but not so disturbing that we started to worry. The next two years we went to Algarve in Portugal. That was also nice, but now we started to worry about a further increase of the maintenance fee. This did not stop us from another trip to Mexico. This time we wanted to see Acapulco about which we had heard many good things. Unfortunately it was a bit disappointing. However more worrying was the further increase in the maintenance fee.
The next year we went for the first time for three weeks to the Beach Club. We enjoyed the life there and explored the island more than before. It remained spectacular. The year thereafter, we started to exchange our accommodation for a time share elsewhere. We went that year to Guanajuato in Mexico and also to Mexico City. This was a fantastic experience which required repetition. So next year we went again to Mexico and it was nice, although Willem became immediately ill and remained so during the stay. In the meantime we got a message of the Beach Club that the maintenance fee that we still had to pay had doubled from 100 to 200 Euros per week. This was a lot, but not so disturbing that we started to worry. The next two years we went to Algarve in Portugal. That was also nice, but now we started to worry about a further increase of the maintenance fee. This did not stop us from another trip to Mexico. This time we wanted to see Acapulco about which we had heard many good things. Unfortunately it was a bit disappointing. However more worrying was the further increase in the maintenance fee.
It gets out of hand
I suppose that you already understand what was going on. The maintenance fee continued to rise and we could not do anything about it. So we continued to book trips to other time share accommodations. First we went to Puerto de la Cruz on the island of Tenerife and the next year to Florida in the USA. There we visited the Dali museum in St Petersburg.
Our last exchange trip went to the beach in the Dominican Republic. At that moment the maintenance fee was so much increased that we could also book a holiday apartment and flight for the same price. We had to pay for only 3 weeks, but there was also a British travel agency who had bought 27 weeks. They got in trouble, since their customers were not willing to pay the price, they had to ask, just not to lose money.
I suppose that you already understand what was going on. The maintenance fee continued to rise and we could not do anything about it. So we continued to book trips to other time share accommodations. First we went to Puerto de la Cruz on the island of Tenerife and the next year to Florida in the USA. There we visited the Dali museum in St Petersburg.
Our last exchange trip went to the beach in the Dominican Republic. At that moment the maintenance fee was so much increased that we could also book a holiday apartment and flight for the same price. We had to pay for only 3 weeks, but there was also a British travel agency who had bought 27 weeks. They got in trouble, since their customers were not willing to pay the price, they had to ask, just not to lose money.
Fighting back
Selling the time shares with such high maintenance fees was impossible. The only option was to organize the owners of the time shares and have a meeting with the Direction of the Beach Club about the maintenance fees. This was indeed what the British owner of 27 weeks did. With the help of a lawyer he organized a Beach Club owners association. The first question the lawyer was looking into was the ownership of the resort and the official documents about the rights of the time share owners. The official documents were created according to the law of Guernsey. In principle the owners could organize a meeting with the direction, but the document stated that the direction represented all potential time share owners who not yet had bought any weeks. This rule meant that the direction always had a majority of the votes. Finally our lawyers tried to start a criminal case against the direction, but also that was not successful and costed again money.
The end of the story for us
In the end we wrote to the Management of the Beach Club that we could not afford anymore the maintenance fees and that we wanted to give up our right of the weeks in the Beach Club. This was possible if we paid a limited amount for administration costs. We were happy to get rid of the contract but did not suffer too much. We enjoyed the trips we had made based on this system. The trips to Mexico we would not have made so easily as we did with this arrangement.
After that this time share adventure was finished, we went occasionally to new time share projects to see how they arranged it and how the accommodation looked like. Of course, they all had golden door knobs and faucets, and some were very nice, but we never considered anymore to buy any time share, no matter how much they tried to push us.
Selling the time shares with such high maintenance fees was impossible. The only option was to organize the owners of the time shares and have a meeting with the Direction of the Beach Club about the maintenance fees. This was indeed what the British owner of 27 weeks did. With the help of a lawyer he organized a Beach Club owners association. The first question the lawyer was looking into was the ownership of the resort and the official documents about the rights of the time share owners. The official documents were created according to the law of Guernsey. In principle the owners could organize a meeting with the direction, but the document stated that the direction represented all potential time share owners who not yet had bought any weeks. This rule meant that the direction always had a majority of the votes. Finally our lawyers tried to start a criminal case against the direction, but also that was not successful and costed again money.
The end of the story for us
In the end we wrote to the Management of the Beach Club that we could not afford anymore the maintenance fees and that we wanted to give up our right of the weeks in the Beach Club. This was possible if we paid a limited amount for administration costs. We were happy to get rid of the contract but did not suffer too much. We enjoyed the trips we had made based on this system. The trips to Mexico we would not have made so easily as we did with this arrangement.
After that this time share adventure was finished, we went occasionally to new time share projects to see how they arranged it and how the accommodation looked like. Of course, they all had golden door knobs and faucets, and some were very nice, but we never considered anymore to buy any time share, no matter how much they tried to push us.
"Money makes the world go round"
Some general information about the time share business
These activities have given the time share trade a bad name. It is very attractive for a sophisticated criminal organization to get involved in this business because of the large profits. If a week is sold for 4000 Euros and one can sell 50 weeks in a resort consisting of 100 apartments, the potential value is around 20 millions. Given this amount, it is easy to build a resort with a lot ofprofit and to hire some lawyers to protect you against possible opposition. In this case the trick with the maintenance fees is still not included.
It will be clear that after some time the system had to be changed and now it is not so attractive anymore and one is not bothered anymore with such “very attractive offers”.
These activities have given the time share trade a bad name. It is very attractive for a sophisticated criminal organization to get involved in this business because of the large profits. If a week is sold for 4000 Euros and one can sell 50 weeks in a resort consisting of 100 apartments, the potential value is around 20 millions. Given this amount, it is easy to build a resort with a lot ofprofit and to hire some lawyers to protect you against possible opposition. In this case the trick with the maintenance fees is still not included.
It will be clear that after some time the system had to be changed and now it is not so attractive anymore and one is not bothered anymore with such “very attractive offers”.