The Global Great Hotels Timeshare Mis-Sale

Global Great Hotels were founded in 1997, and indicate that they have an “exclusive” selection of luxury hotels at your disposal. For experienced timeshare owners some of the “exclusive” hotels such as Beverly Hills Heights and Hollywood Mirage will be instantly recognisable as those very hotels were previously owned by Resort Properties and Silverpoint Vacations SL.

The internet is awash with stories of timeshare scams being operated at these resorts, so maybe Global Great Hotels (GGH) hasn’t chosen its hotels very well? These resorts are managed by the Ona Grup, who also manage the resorts for Silverpoint Vacations members, and collect the maintenance fees each year. A search on Trip Advisor will list 11 other companies advertising availability at these resorts. It is hard to justify GGH’s claim that they are “exclusive”.

On reviewing the “product” page on the GGH website the product is promoted as:

“an investment for the future”, and goes on to state “this revolutionary system offers them a new, beneficial way to spend their holidays and make a profitable investment”,

”by making this investment, not only can you share these privileges with your loved ones, you can also use your ownership to make money. We put at your disposal special programmes to help you get more profit out of your investment as time goes by”.

Great care is needed because “The Timeshare, Holiday Products, Resale and Exchange Contracts Regulations 2010” and the “EU Directive 2008/122/EC” state that “timeshares” must not be sold as an investment.

We have clients who have told us that GGH had been packaging up a number of timeshare weeks, and selling them to consumers on the basis that these weeks could be rented out to generate an income each year, and that such timeshares could be resold at a profit. Marketing in this way would be in breach of the above regulations and Directive. These investment opportunities are so attractive that some consumers have been persuaded to borrow money on mortgage or take equity release products against their homes.

There is a link to an independent financial adviser (IFA) who appears to have worked for two different regulated mortgage brokers. One client has stated that this IFA asked them to pay a fee into his personal bank account as opposed to that of the company, despite sending emails from the company’s email address.

In addition, we have seen a copy of an email from the IFA confirming that he would receive a fee from GGH once the loan is completed. The rules that govern the conduct of IFAs state that an IFA must avoid conflicts of interest with their clients and should disclose any commission earned. We believe that in these cases the consumer would have a claim against the IFA.

If you believe that you were mis-sold timeshares by GGH or persuaded to borrow money on the strength of promises concerning timeshare investments then please contact Lincoln Green Solicitors Ltd on 0300 303 3819, as we may be able to recover your money under a “no win no fee” agreement.