We were on a vacation in the Bahamas, on Paradise Island. We were approached by a sales rep of Royal Club Hotels on the beach who promised us a ride to cable beach, breakfast and a tour around town in exchange for one hour of our time.in addition, he offered us a gift certificate for $100 to be used for various activities on the island and a 4 day / 3 night package to be used at one of their resort in Mexico. All we had to do was bring a major credit card with us.
Well, the 1 hour turned out to be 4 hours and essentially half of our day on the beach. We were taken to the Wyndham hotel where we were were offered breakfast. The sales rep did some calculations and estimated that our trips over our lifetime would cost us $300,000. Later, we were shown around the hotel by the sales rep who promised us the following:
1) Luxury Suites at all our stays for the rest of our life
2) Excellent meals on every trip
3) Guaranteed rates for a lifetime
4) Limousine transportation with champagne to and from the airport
Among many more lavish promises. Each time we asked the sales rep a question, he told us to write it down and direct the question to his manager. This is very important to note as you will read later. After being shown around the hotel, and the staged rooms they had prepared, we sat down with the Sales manager who was told that we would be spending $300k on vacations over the next 30 years. Then, he began by telling us that we would be able to secure all our vacations for the next 30 years for half that price, that they were not a timeshare corporation, that we would be purchasing credits that would be used towards future vacations.
Our major concern was the cost of flights since the credits could only be used for hotel stays. He assured us that in the next 2 years we could use credits towards flights. We asked him about unused credits and he replied that we could simply sell them and make thousands by doing nothing. They tried to get us to make a deposit of $16,000 on our credit card. We told them that we did not have such a high limit, then they reduced it to $11,000 then $6000. We kept refusing, saying that we would be purchasing a house soon and that we didn't realize that signup required a downpayment.
The sales manager finally withdrew, saying that he was sending in their quality assurance rep to review his performance. Well, that was not the case, it was their last attempt, to have her figure out the real reason we didn't sign up. She then tried to get us to deposit $2,500 for a trial membership. We asked to see a copy of the contract, or if we could take it for our lawyers to review. They refused, saying that it was confidential and only for member review.
We are both very educated and saw right through this scam. Here is how they work.
1) A sales representative shows you around, making promises of luxury vacations - and will paint beautiful pictures for you. He/she has no authority to hold up these promises, thus he will refuse to answer any of your questions.
2) A Sales manager will sit with you and try to get you to buy in. He, on the other hand will not make any promises. He will refer you to the vacation handbook and show you what you can use your credits towards.
3) They have you sign a contract which states that any verbal agreements not expressly provided for in the contract are not upheld. They will promise you everything and delivery nothing, except price increases in fees, and poor service after you sign the contract.
Please beware of this club. If you sit down and work the numbers, you will find that it is a ripoff to sign anything with them. You are much better off searching discount sites and booking all inclusive packages where everything is guaranteed, including your flight. With any vacation, the majority of the costs are in the flight, which they make no provision for. Some of them appear very sincere, and will try to appeal to you even by showing you pictures of their deceased children. Whether true or not, they use some very indecent sales tactics. Buyer Beware.
Smiles
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
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