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