| Timeshare owners highly satisfied | | | | had no concerns, about buying and almost |
| | | | three-quarters would happily recommend it to |
| Companies and organisations involved in | | | | relatives and friends. |
| legitimate timeshare have hit back at being | | | | |
| wrongly tarred when mistakenly referred to in | | | | Club La Costa Resorts & Hotels, with more |
| the same breath as fraudulent holiday clubs. | | | | than 50,000 member families, the majority |
| | | | British, is one of the biggest players in |
| Sue McNicol, head of operations for the | | | | Europe. Major hospitality brands such as |
| Organisation for Timeshare in Europe (OTE), | | | | Starwood Hotels, De Vere, Hilton, Marriott |
| the industry's trade body, criticised UK | | | | and Disney have their own shared vacation |
| publication Travel Weekly for "incorrectly | | | | ownership divisions and recent entrants to UK |
| referring to timeshare when covering the | | | | timeshare include Butlins. |
| Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) recent | | | | |
| campaign warning consumers of the dangers of | | | | Timeshare attracts very few complaints - the |
| signing up to bogus holiday clubs"*. | | | | European Consumer Centres reported under 120 |
| | | | for the first half of 2006 compared to the |
| Timeshare, which has been legislated by the | | | | estimated 400,000 annual victims of holiday |
| European Timeshare Directive for the past 10 | | | | club fraud announced by the OFT. |
| years, is positively received by the vast | | | | |
| majority of purchasers. Such is its | | | | OTE, of which Club La Costa is a founder |
| popularity, there are now more than 1.45 | | | | member, has a substantial budget allocated |
| million timeshare owners in Europe, and the | | | | towards fighting fraudsters and works closely |
| numbers continue to grow. | | | | with the police and other authorities in |
| | | | Spain and the UK. |
| OTE consumer research findings released | | | | |
| earlier this year, involving 30,000 | | | | Complaining to Travel Weekly, Sue McNicol |
| respondents across the UK, Spain, Italy, | | | | noted her "disappointment", pointing out that |
| Germany, Austria and Switzerland, showed 96% | | | | the holiday clubs offered little more than a |
| rated timeshare over other self-catering | | | | holiday bookings service and, unlike |
| holidays, with purchasers citing the value, | | | | timeshare, do not tend to own or control the |
| quality, location and high services standards | | | | accommodation offered, are not bound by |
| offered by resorts, and slightly more said it | | | | legislation and very often fail to offer even |
| was as good as or better than staying in | | | | basic consumer protection. |
| hotels. A vast majority, 83% were happy, or | | | | |