In the last few weeks, our Team has been filled with many questions about the timeshare organization known as Accor Vacation Club Asia. Accor Vacation Club Asia is part of the Accor hotel chain, which is also owned by Accor SA.
Many of these questions arise because these companies send annual recycling bills, even if the member clients are not on vacation.
the timeshare company demands money not to go on vacation. To get privileges members, they have to pay a fee for not vacationing and to make matters worse, there is no contractual protection, independent restrictions, or public scrutiny of how quickly these maintenance costs can increase.
One of the Asian timeshare companies we investigated last year is demanding that its fees increase 4000 percent above inflation!
We do not see any public records or independent audits overseeing Accor, even though Accor has spent money from invoices to members, they don’t care whether the member is on vacation or not. this is very worrying considering the company charges around AUD 60 million per year and the company is listed. we can’t get an accurate figure on the Accor bill, because we press have had very little transparency by Accor about which bank they charge their members for.
One of the members we will call, “Vivienne” according to him, was “forced” to buy $ 19,000 dollars and then “forced” to pay nearly $ 600 dollars a year, not for a vacation. But not because he has no desire but because (quote), “after seven or eight attempts to order in the last ten years, it’s impossible to order what you want”. The Australian Consumer Group, ‘CHOICE’ investigated Accor and its booking system and claimed it was “confusing without a clear picture of the value of any vacation”.
ABC News seeks to protect the public from Accor’s seeming to put money first and warn the public about real-life reports that news channels, including the Australian financial ombudsman, find the Accor Vacation Club, are “misleading and fail to give due consideration” when people inquire about fees and bills. them with the Club.
We have been asked by a growing number of Accor members to investigate a company in the UK (with an Indonesian partner) called ATS, which claims they are, “Asia Timeshare Specialists”. In this business the old adage, “no news is good news” stands out. We have found no complaints about this company to date. Operating in the UK for resale, we recognize that all timeshare resale companies must be able to prove they have, a ‘proven track record of sales’ under the appropriate section of UK regulatory regulations
Painful news for Accor vacation club we see, whom are sending emailed literature to their members discouraging resales in the strongest terms. Well of course they would, looking at the value of their, something for nothing fund. One document we were provided by a concerned member from Accor stated, second hand resales would not be approved by Accor.
This is in complete contradiction to Accor’s training of sales staff where the fact that a member can sell second hand is one of benefits in the sales pitch . One staff member suggested to, “try and sell on Gumtree”. Again, enforcing the low level training that second hand resales are a technical possibility. So while the grass roots company line by Accor staff to the public is, you can resell your timeshare. Which the contract does not prevent from happening. This is in complete contrast to the executive level of the company where its money comes first and even legitimate resale companies are allegedly libelled by Accor in what can only be taken as protecting its primary interest in collecting tens of millions of dollars every year rather than providing the life changing vacations that’s promised by sales staff to its members.
We will investigate this further. Meantime, we invite any Accor member to email our investigation at [email protected]. Both with Accor and selected resale companies and let all our readers know the results of our findings. Watch this space.
