The Timeshare Scam, Part Two: 3 More Red Flags to Watch Out For

Holiday… celebrate! Anytime you go on a vacation, it should be an easy and breezy relaxing experience. Vacation club memberships provide these kinds of getaways, so you and your family can focus on quality bonding time while enjoying the sights and sounds of your chosen destination. Unfortunately, as we mentioned in our previous blog, “The Timeshare Scam, Part One: 3 Red Flags to Watch Out For”, not all vacation clubs are created equal. There are some shady timeshare scammers out there committing vacation club fraud. To help protect you, here are three more red flags, two of which include industry secrets, that you can use to determine the reel versus the real deal:

● Red Flag #4: If the reputation of the hotel or resort properties being offered is poor.

Resort getaway or resort – get away! The foundation of a wonderful timeshare membership lies in the premium quality of the vacation experience that it provides. A shady organization running a timeshare scam will always promise you a place to stay for a holiday. However, if the hotel or resort group that they mention has a poor reputation on hospitality review sites like TripAdvisor, Agoda, Booking.com, etc., then that’s an alarm bell and you should stay away.

The best vacation clubs, like AVLCI, are always publicly connected to top-ranked hotel chains, like the Astoria Hotels and Resorts group. When you search for their properties’ reputations online, they are highly rated by hundreds or thousands of hotel and resort guests who have stayed with them before. If you see that properties have 4 or 5 star rankings, then it’s a no-brainer to make the investment with that vacation club.

● Red Flag #5: If the timeshare certificate you are being given has no seal of authenticity.

Seal the deal! A secret, known only by people in the vacation club industry, is that legitimate timeshare certificates have high levels of security embedded within. One such measure is the original seal of authenticity that all legal vacation club membership certificates have. Using special security techniques, legitimate vacation clubs can check your certificate to tell if the seal is the genuine article or a counterfeit copy. If the timeshare certificate you are being offered does not have a seal and is a simple printout of text copy on regular paper, then be wary. Most likely, you are being offered a sham membership.

● Red Flag #6: If the vacation club is not officially partnered with a global vacation exchange network.

Secret’s out! A little-known fact about vacation clubs is that the legitimate ones are always connected to a larger global vacation exchange network. These networks are established by companies that are renowned worldwide for their stellar reputation. For example, Wyndham Destinations, which operates more than 9000 hotels and resorts around the globe, owns Resort Condominiums International (RCI), the top vacation exchange network in the world.

By itself, RCI has over 4,300 properties that are signed up to its vacation exchange network. Reputable vacation clubs, like AVLCI, always join networks like theirs because it allows for members to exchange their vacation club points or weeks to stay in other hotels and resorts abroad. A timeshare fraudster will never know about industry secrets like these, so make sure to quiz the ones offering you a membership about it. If they know about the global vacation exchange network and all the appropriate and specific details down to a tee, chances are they’re the real deal.

Armed with this info, we hope that it will be easier for you to discern between vacation club scammers versus the legitimate timeshare operators. After all, you have worked hard for the money that you will be investing in your vacation club membership. You should be sure that every penny of it will be in safe hands that will give you and your family the best getaway adventures for years to come!

AVLCI