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I give it a very low probability that this membership is worth anything more than a few six packs of beer. Maybe a keg at most.
Here's why.
There is a class of products in the timeshare industry that is a sort of "false vacation club." I say false because they aren't based fundamentally on underlying deeded property. They are based primarily on vacation sell off weeks that are aggregated by the company and only available when sell off inventory gets acquired. When that acquisition stops, so do the bargains. They will use popular resort names of timeshares and they will show you availability online for many different resorts. It will leave you with the impression that it is as good as owning a timeshare or a resort group. But, it's all done with smoke and mirrors.
These "false vacation clubs" often times position themselves as non-timesharing alternatives. On the surface, they look like they deliver very similar benefits to timeshares and at a fraction of the cost. But, when you look underneath the covers, you can see it for what it is, a scam to make your wallet a lot lighter.
These scam artists use the same timesharing sales and marketing techniques and they often times target timeshare owners. They offer a free gift of some sort to attend a vacation club presentation. The presentation spends a lot of time trashing timesharing and positioning themselves as a non-timesharing travel alternative. They make a comparison of a timeshare to their vacation club. They try to make their vacation ownership look like it is a lot more than what that owner's timeshare is.
One of the clever sales techniques they use is to say that they will offer you, say, 4 weeks of vacation per year for only the cost of the maintenance fees. And, if you choose not to use it one year, you don't have to pay at all. There are no maintenance fees. This is your first tip of a scam. Whenever something is too good to be true, it probably is. You just need to figure out their angle or scam.
In any event, they compare the club to a timeshare and price it as such as the opening price. $15000 for 4 weeks vacation instead of 1 week. Don't want to use 4 weeks per year? No problem. Just pay for one week for the cost of the maintenance fees.
So, how can this be? There are no maintenance fees because the club doesn't own these weeks. They are just sell off inventory that they are showing you that you can access via other means.
The sales presentation then asks if you own a timeshare. You do? No problem, they will take it in as a trade in. The price goes down $8k because that's what they offer you for your timeshare. Now you are down to $7k. Still to high? No problem, as today's purchase now incentive, they will drop it to $3000. Still to high? Okay, you get the last customer special. I need this deal and I am going to give you a smokin' deal, for just $1995, you can get out of your timeshare obligations, no more maintenance fees, and you can get up to 4 weeks of vacation per year only the for the cost of the maintenance fees. What a deal, right? Where do I sign?
Of course, you can get the same deal by simply signing up for an RCI membership and buy extra vacations or last calls. Many other exchange companies have the same type deal. So, at most, these "false vacation clubs" tend to be worth about the cost of a AAA membership. About $50 per year. I believe AAA is better because if your car breaks down, they will tow it for free, which is more than you'll get from one of these "false vacation clubs."
Get the details of the membership and we will help show you what is real vs. what is a scam.
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