The timeshare industry has a long and historied past of predatory practices and disregard for legal and ethical standards. When in the resort sales room, our clients tell us that they often feel as if they were speaking with sincere and caring people. These individuals are generally kind and comforting and make them feel at ease. What they do not realize, however, is that these individuals are often making false promises about what they are selling. When they try to work with the actual resort to plan, cancel, or rebook their vacation, they find the resort does not have that same caring attitude.
In a new and troubling revelation, we find that resort companies often do not even care about the customer when there is a public health issue that makes travel impossible in many cases. As best exampled in an article by USA Today in April of this year, one such customer shared her story.
The article follows the story of Vanessa Troyer. Ms. Troyer had to cancel a family vacation to a resort in Kauai due to Hawaii having issued an order mandating a 14-day quarantine for all visitors and residents arriving at its airports. She cancelled and rebooked the vacation for the following year, but learned that the resort charged her additional points for her vacation. “Troyer said she later discovered that instead of debiting her 444,300 timeshare points from 2020, Vistana used her 2021 points on the booking.” (Vistana is owned by parent company Marriott). The resort claimed or invented a “policy” that she was required to rebook the original points within 120 days of the original booking. This, however, was impossible as all of Hawaii resorts were booked solid for a year in advance.
Extreme restrictions on use have long been the general practice of the Resort Industry. While it has always been upsetting when we meet a client who has endured all they can with a resort, sometimes predatory timeshare sales, it is especially disheartening when the consumer is treated this way in a national pandemic.
At The Abrams Firm, we strive to help those who are caught in this type of fraudulent scheme get out of their Timeshare, their overly burdensome fees, and their predatory practices.
If you or a loved one has timeshare points or a deed, and you wish to cancel a timeshare contract and be free of its burdens, contact us at (360) 918-8196 for a free one-on-one consultation with a licensed Attorney.
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