Some Questions to Ask at the Presentation

Start off by asking how long will the presentation last?

The offer says about two hours. Remember when you get to your cheap destination you will have to go through the presentation again.

When you are at the presentation abroad of course it will be much longer, at least three hours. So now you are going to be subjected to the high pressure sales for a total of five hours. And that is if they keep to time. Start objecting to things and you will find it takes a lot longer. Some people reckon it can take as long as eight hours when you are abroad. Ten hours to show you a holiday? It might take ten hours to persuade you something you don't want to buy of course.

Ask if it is timeshare. They will tell you at the presentation as they do on the telephone that it isn't. Brave customers will point out that timeshare is regulated at European level to ensure customers are predicted - with for example a cooling off period. So what they are selling you is unregulated. Ask what regulations apply to holiday clubs.

Why does it need to be a couple? You will note during the presentation that you are never left alone with each other. They don't want you conferring of course. But if you came separately then you could always say "I need to ask my wife/husband", and not commit yourself. No good to them at all.

Why do they describe themselves as a travel company? They aren't of course - travel companies sell travel. They say they want to show you a fantastic holiday and then you will come back and recommend it to all your friends. It is cobblers of course. What they want to do is get you into the clutches of their sales staff and sell you Club Sunterra. Calling themselves a travel company obscures this.

The letter - which ought to show their ATOL and ABTA numbers and doesn't - ask why not - says "We take pride in offering you only the best in luxurious self-catering accommodation throughout Europe". So ask them if they sell ANYTHING THAT IS NOT Club Sunterra. So all the best in luxurious self catering is Club Sunterra? Tony Blair go with them on holiday then?

Ask if any well known holiday companies use their accommodation. They will probably mention Thomas Cook. Ask if they still send people to Sunterra presentations. Thomas Cook had so many complaints they stopped doing it.

You wont be presented with your holiday by the way, at least not until you have endured the sales patter for two hours.

Why do they need to get you into their premises to do this? Why can't they just send you some brochures? You don't buy a package holiday like that You go to a travel agent and choose from some brochures. People are so nice they stay and listen to this and nod. Remember these people are highly trained sales people. Another reason is that these unregulated deals have to be done on business premises. if they are done in a hotel for example they can be challenged in court.
Ask if you can take the contract away and let your lawyer examine it. Of course you can't. Can you imagine spending a huge amount of money on a holiday club and not letting your solicitor examine the contract? So what do they say? Well they will tell you this is a one off special offer and will not be repeated. It is cobblers of course. There are three/four of these meetings each week. They tell the same story to everyone. The one-off special offer.

And by the way, don't make too much of a fuss. Some of the larger gentlemen in the room are known as "clumpers" - you can work out from the name what they do.

There is another well-known timeshare/holiday club trick by the way, which is to have a competition based on the numbers on your credit card. This is just to make sure you have a credit card with you. You wont win.