Anantara Vacation Club

[trader363]

Am staying in Phuket and signed up for a “seminar” for the Anantara Vacation Club, in exchange for a £100 voucher for our time. I’m expecting a very hard sell – Keen to get the HfP community’s thoughts on The Vacation Club and whether it’s worth it for you?

[colinc57]

When attending such events, be aware of what is the second hand price on places such as eBay …
https://www.travelandleisure.co.uk/search/?resort_name=Anantara+Vacation+Club_resort_id_AVCP

Is also a guide, although some people there list at prices based on what they paid not what they are worth. ( generally on AVC)

[NorthernLass]

Not worth it for £100 unless you’re desperate or actually considering buying. And if you are going to buy, be aware that it’s very much a buyer’s market and finely hone your bargaining skills. We are considering purchasing another week in GCM this year or next and are expecting to be able to negotiate a very good deal in the current climate.

[NorthernLass]

Having had a look it seems like it’s a points-based system. Be very wary of this as holiday “ownership” companies can and do devalue points at any time and you may well be stuck not being able to get the accommodation you want on the dates you want without buying more and more points.

[NorthernLass]

https://www.complaintsboard.com/anantara-vacation-club-misleading-information-c780436

[trader363]

Thanks very much for the feedback! We went for the presentation and surprisingly they weren’t as pushy as I expected. After hearing them out, it was clear it was an awful offer. £50k for 20k a year in their scheme for 30 years – no thanks.

What did attract me was this membership to RCI which gives you rock bottom rates at high end properties. Anyone know of a cheaper way to get RCI rates?

Thanks again for all the comments here and the links, very useful!

[Go197]

There is an offer in the Arrture Smart Traveller app (Plaza Premium lounges) for a 3 night stay in several Bali and Thailand resorts for £99, as long as you and your spouse attend a 90 minute Vacation Club presentation. They’ll also throw in enough Arrture points for a free Plaza Premium lounge visit.

[NorthernLass]

We’ve been RCI members for over 20 years. I’m not sure about “rock bottom rates” – they do hold extra inventory in a limited number of properties but only for certain dates and prices can vary a lot. It’s primarily an exchange company, though, so you have to own a timeshare to be able to join.
Our Spanish timeshare changed from weeks to points a couple of years ago (against my wishes but a majority voted for it, frustratingly). This has decimated its value for us, but we’ve had such phenomenal value out of it so far we’d still be ahead even if we never used it again. Our GCM week is still a week so far …

[trader363]

The guy giving the AVC presentation showed us examples of availability at some properties in Thailand for $120-140 /night and compared them to booking/hotels.com which had them for $1k/night. I suspect that was last minute availability and isn’t widely available all the time

[NorthernLass]

The main RCI site doesn’t give nightly rates, it’s normally 3/5/7 nights. These can be good value, but you can’t guarantee dates or destinations. For example, I have managed to book 5 nights at a Hampton Inn in Washington DC in December for well under £100 pn, but that was the only suitable property available on my dates and the options were 3 or 5 nights. We’re actually only using it for 4 nights, but that’s still a lot cheaper than booking via HH, so it just happens to suit us.
There is a section of the site called Wyndham rewards which acts more like a traditional hotel booking website, but I’ve looked a couple of times and found it more expensive than hotels.com. You’ve also still got the problem of needing to own a timeshare to join RCI, though there’s actually nothing to stop someone you know booking accommodation for you, in practice.