Comments on: Accor Vacation Club

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 01 May 2012 23:53:40 +0000

Good luck Al, there is no real market for second hand memberships, which underlines the poor product. I have been trying to sell my Silver membership for 2 years - would basically accept any offer

By: Al Thompson

Al Thompson — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:08:02 +0000

I have a APVC Bronze Membership for sale, never used , max 2 years worth of points accumulated. All fees paid up to date. $A1300 as is .
Contact agt@homemail.com.au.

By: AU76

AU76 — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 23:56:29 +0000

Hi Peter, re your question cancelling during cooling off period that was not a problem. We signed up at Twin Waters and I did some more research and we cancelled within the 7 days withou an issue. We did receive PDS and relevant information from them.
Cathy you can try and sell your silver, however you will probably only get as much as $3,000 for it. I recently purchased a 2nd silver membership for $2,000.
I think you are better of keeping it since you have used it a lot.

By: Carmen

Carmen — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:58:50 +0000

I also attended a presentation several years back while holidaying in Colorado - I seemed to experience everything everyone else has! Despite it seeming appealing we walked away - and Im so glad I did!

Since then I have come across another high end luxury travel and lifestyle company who market vacation memberships, and I am now working with them.

They have the timeshare option, but more importantly you buy your membership and you have access to over 4000 resorts and hotels world wide with no blackout periods. Its basically your own travel agent with weekly deals, vacation packages, golf packages, nightly stays, car hire and more available at less than wholesale prices. We can obtain such amazing deals because of the huge bulk buying power that the company has.

Check it out - have a look on my website and fill out the contact details - it will take you straight to the company website where they go into detail on it. Prices are a fraction - you can buy 1yr, 3yr, 5yr and lifetime memberships - starting at under $800.

Also - you can start your own business out of it for just $99 more - take a peak, the deals are amazing! (eg. Phuket $89 for 7 nights - 5 star resort, Hawaii $160 for 7 nights - 5 star property). Amazing stuff - and an awesome company to deal with. We also have a 5 day money back guarantee if needed - though Ive not seen anyone take it up to date!

Take a peek at my website, best membership offer Ive seen!

By: Deb smith

Deb smith — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 01:22:31 +0000

After being duped at the Twin Waters seminar no legal pds or cooling off period disclosed declined offer purchased a holiday package took 6 months to obtain Accor dining card numerous phone calls to obtain the promised goods. Recently attended a prsentation after a long flight from overseas. Asked to go away and consider the option my husband was extremely keen presenter female. J$$$$$ laughed and said you have had 12 months to consider ( in an extremely sarcastic tone) that did me no way would I sign before that so nice laughing sharing experiences. Etc so went away anyway and came back and said no.. Tone, friendliness gone. The next morning while waiting in the foyer for our taxi she came downs to get others for the presentation and gave us the most unprofessional glare.. So whilst still favorably thinking about this she certainly made us chane our mind forever. The sales pitch is extremely unprofessional and bogus, therefore should be reported to the governing body. Please regardless of if it’s right or wrong for you, selling doesn’t have to be unprofessional and unethical. Really shame on you Accor for endorsing theses practices.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:31:05 +0000

Hi,
WOW! i have been searching how to sell my membership & found all this very interesting!
I purchased A Silver 3000 Points a Year in 2007 (September)- i orginally paid $18000 (in Coffsharbour)
I called APVC this morning and the lady said i can sell it myself, she suggested ebay & gumtree.
I have stayed at Queenstown NZ, Wanaka NZ, Melbourne VIC, Darling Harbour NSW, Turtle Beach QLD, Freshwater QLD, Hunter Valley NSW - The most recent rooms i have stayed in, have all been renovated.
If anyone is interested in buying this or knows anyone that is interested, or knows where or how i can sell this.. Please Help!
You can contact me on cathy.keato@live.com.au or 0415378863

By: peter

peter — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:34:10 +0000

did any of you guys who cancelled the policy during the cooling of period had any difficulties with accor

By: AU76

AU76 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:18:55 +0000

Mick, I too sat through the presentation at Twin Waters 2 years ago, we signed up for Platinum and during the cooling off period I did some research and came accross the Redseason website which is very informative. I purchased a platinum from Redseason with 15,000 points on it and cancelled the purchase through Accor. In those 2 years we have made substantial use of our membership and because we are a family of 7 it has been value for money for us. Your $500 per day for a family is reasonably accurate when I consider the level of accommodation. I would probably place it in a range of $300-500.
We have used points overseas in Europe and locally and in NZ. With regards to discrimination in reality there is none that I have encountered. As far as Accor is concerned once you have the membership it is yours with all the normal benefits. I find booking via the phone the most convenient as the staff member can provide other options.
We have since purchased a 2nd hand silver from Redseasons to add some more points allowing us up to 2 weeks per year ie last year just before Christmas we were in Wanaka and Quuenstown for a week costing us approx 6000-7000 points having a 2BR in Wanaka and a 1BR plus a studion in Queenstown.

By: PM

PM — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:16:22 +0000

I have a 2nd hand platinum membership i purchased of eBay. I too did my due diligence before buying. I have made at least 7 bookings so far. I have never been or felt disadvantaged as a 2nd hand member due to restrictions or by AVC reservation staff.

AVC do not strictly enforce all the premier plus restrictions on 2nd hand members. The PDS details what the premier plus / developer benefits are. Please read the PDS instead of going by what you are told by sales staff. In my view the sales staff say a lot of white lies to get a sale.

AVC is probably the only timeshare company that does NOT discriminate 2nd hand members (at least in my experience for platinum members upwards).

The premier plus or developer benefits are so minimal that they are just not worth the premium price. I have made bookings at in demand properties like hunter valley and lake crackenback during school holidays in July and also during Christmas 12 months in advance.

You can get good deals for 2nd hand platinum memberships off eBay. Ensure the eBay seller is reputed (has good feedback).

By: Mick

Mick — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:21:55 +0000

I recently attended the presentation at Twin Waters. I had a pretty good idea what I was in for as had been in another timeshare for a fixed trial period for a few years. That previous experience was OK but I never planned early enough to get the better resorts so opted out after the 3-years.

I found the presentation at Twin Waters professional …. But one that you would expect for a sales pitch. The staff were friendly …. Even when we decided not to go ahead (though not quite as friendly) ….. But you have to do some due diligence first when being asked to commit to that level of funds. We thought that the product was probably a quality product (if platinum and above) but to require people to commit that level of funds after 2 hours of sales information and threatening that the premiere plus will never be offered to you ever …. Ever again ….. Devalues that product and it’s reputation. However I thought that my analysis may be helpful for those looking at doing it … And perhaps DJ and others can support or pick holes in my logic.

A platinum 5,000 package now costs about $30k with an $800/year annual club fee. 5,000 points gives you a week (depending on season etc). By my calculations, If you are someone who holidays at hotels/resorts etc you can probably get good deals for $300/night or $2,100/week (though i have just paid far less than that for 5 nights at Twin Waters). So, assuming constant prices, you would be making a saving of $1,300/year if you were a member, after paying the club fee. Ignoring effects of inflation …. The simple payback would be 23 years. In reality the pay back would be quicker as the cost of hotels/resorts will likely keep going up but the number of points per holiday remains fixed ….. However …. That’s still a long payback period!!!

If you then look at the fact that the club apartments are much better than the average hotel room (although my Twin Waters Resort normal room was pretty good ….. And ignoring some bad experiences of others) then you would probably have to say that the rooms are probably worth $500/night and can fit in kids too. If you are someone who regularly pays that much for quality accommodation then at that rate $3,500/week, the club saving would be $2,700/month and the simple pay back would be 11 years …. Not too bad ….. And after that you are getting good holidays (if you plan and book ahead 12-months) for the club fee only.

If you buy a second hand membership at a much lower price then the payback drops to just a few years!!!

I was told at the presentation that the resold or second hand premiere memberships were almost worthless as AVC discrimates between premiere and premiere plus memberships (those purchased on the day or by “special” invitation at the full price). One way that I was told that they discriminate is by not showing as much availability for properties even 12 months out ie premiere plus get priority for bookings. I would love to hear from anyone as to whether they believe this is correct or not …. I have not seen it mentioned in the above posts.