When the Timeshare Advice Centre ran a recent poll about availability when booking timeshare resorts, the results were shocking
Timeshare availability poll
With all the latest publicity surrounding timeshare owners and their difficulty when it comes to booking their preferred dates and resorts, the Timeshare Advice Centre ran a poll to find out what the situation was for owners.
The aim? To discover how satisfied owners actually are when making the accommodation bookings that they paid for.
Those participating in the poll could select from the main resorts said to have been affected, including Marriott, MGM, CLC World, Diamond, Silverpoint, Azure and “other”.
They then choose from six options ranging from “I always find availability” to “I’ve given up trying”.
Revealing results
The results from the poll were as follows:
- I always find availability: 0.48%
- I sometimes find availability: 2.12%
- I rarely find availability: 61.10%
- I never find availability: 30.56%
- I’ve given up trying to request availability: 5.74%
Availability is a big problem
It’s clear from the results that timeshare owners are suffering from some important availability concerns.
In fact, 91.66% of owners responded that they either rarely get their preferred availability or never get it.
And an important 5.74% of respondents have given up completely.
As for the owners that don’t have problems with availability, this was a very small percentage. Fewer than 1 in 20 owners responding to the poll managed to find availability all the time.
Unhappy owners
Andrew Cooper, our CEO of European Consumer Claims (ECC), says: “Even the amount of people who say they ‘sometimes’ find the availability they want is telling.”
Just 2% of owners said that they sometimes manage to get availability, and over 60% of respondents said they rarely manage to get availability. Cooper says that “there is not much difference between those two words except connotation.”
For those owners who describe their success rate as “sometimes”, this suggests ambivalence. Those who describe their success rate as “rarely” implies they are not happy.
Modern travellers want more
The fact is that timeshare is no longer suitable for many modern travellers. They do not want to be stuck with the dated and expensive timeshare model any longer.
Instead, they want to enjoy greater flexibility to visit new destinations on the dates they want to, and timeshare does not make sense for them.
Free advice
If you want to get out of your timeshare ownership and you want some free and confidential advice, get in touch with ECC today. You can also find out whether you might be able to claim compensation.