Silverleaf resort was an old-style consumer-oriented timeshare company. We reported on them several years ago after their acquisition by Orange Lake Resort and wanted to follow up and summarize some of the more important issues Silverleaf owners are still facing.

Originally, Silverleaf was among few resorts that sold real deeded timeshare interest. These interests often came with the ability for owners to book no additional cost stays mere weeks in advance with the “Endless Escape” program. If you have tried to book anything recently, you know that the idea of booking just a few weeks in advance sounds like a fantasy. Everything changed for Silverleaf owners though when Orange Lake Resorts, who also was the owner of Holiday Inn Vacation Clubs (HIVC), took over.

Here is an interesting fact about Holiday Inn and Orange Lake Resorts. Orange Lake initially bought the name rights so they could pretend to be Holiday Inn. The Holiday Inn Timeshares had nothing to with your local Holiday Inn Hotels, like Holiday Inn Express. The twist came latter though when “Holiday Inn” (the name) came back and took over Orange Lake Resorts (the original owner). So now “Holiday Inn” does own Orange Lake and all of its former subsidiaries, including Silverleaf. Many Silverleaf owners will be shocked to learn it was not really Holiday Inn that initially bought Silverleaf. Despite this name-game twist, now all Silverleaf owners are under new ownership and unilateral rule changes by Holiday Inn that have left many owners disappointed.

Starting back in 2015 when the acquisition first took place people immediately started seeing restrictions that did not previously exist on their timeshare. For starters bookings started becoming more cramped and harder to obtain as people complained about Holiday Inn owners now also being able to book at the Silverleaf resorts, congesting booking. Whether this was the real reason that booking became congested was the subject of much dispute and many complaints. What users could agree on though was that booking got a whole lot harder. A second major change was when Holiday Inn effectively terminated the Endless Escape program by forcing previous owners to now pay per day ($25 for weekdays and $75 for weekends) for “Endless Escape” bookings which were previously free. All the while Holiday Inn was slowly convincing users to switch over from their deeded real estate in Silverleaf into a point system that allegedly would work better under Holiday Inn’s system. Now few if any deeded contracts exist in Silverleaf Resort and prior owners are at a loss for using their timeshare or getting what they were promised out of it.

If any of this sounds familiar you are not alone, Silverleaf has now amassed over 1,000 complaints on consumer complaint boards and has been the target of many lawsuits and class actions.

If you are a victim of their suspect sales practices and the deterioration of your contract rights with Silverleaf, you do not have to sit in silence. Contact a consumer protection attorney today to review your case. We here at The Abrams Firm (TheTimeshareLawFirm.com) are a team of licensed Attorneys who have been working in Consumer Protection for over 15 years. Your case may well qualify to be joined as a part of a multi-party, or class action. We offer Pro Bono (no cost) legal services to review your case and see if you qualify for either our litigation or divestment. Call now at (360)918-8196 or get started here.

 

Edit 3/29/2023: We have announced new class actions against many resorts, including Silver Leaf. Click Here to learn more. 

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