Seasons luxury lodges timeshare

Subie1233

Seasons luxury lodges

Does anyone have any thoughts on buying basically a timeshare in seasons luxury lodges although they don’t call it a timeshare
My husband bought 2 weeks at a luxury lodge in wales but primarily as an investment. They say if we don’t ever want to use the two weeks we will get approximately 6% returns after all costs.
I have reservations and we are still in the two week cooling off period.
How it works: we invest in a lodge lump sum £32k
Then pay maintenance fees £350 per year
They ask us either to book the weeks as our holiday or it’s put into a pool and sold through luxury lodges
Some weeks may be rented out some might not but the earnings are divided equally between all the owners who didn’t use their weeks
After 16 years we can sell the lodge and get our investment back or continue for another 16 years holidaying or renting it out and get no lump sum at the end.

[Deleted User]

Hello Subie1233,
My thoughts are that I would not even consider a transaction of this nature.I think you are correct to have reservations.
Regards,
Ann

fwor

Subie1233 wrote: »

After 16 years we can sell the lodge and get our investment back

I don't know the scheme you refer to specifically, but typically the catch here is that there is no "open market" for these lodges. Either you sell back to the people that operate the site, or you don't sell at all.

When you do have to sell - which might, depending on your circumstances, have to be earlier than 16 years, you have to accept whatever they offer you - and you can bet that they won't offer you £32k!

Other schemes have also had a bad reputation for ramping up the maintenance fees, because you are typically bound to pay whatever they say you have to pay - unless there is a term in the contract that restricts how much they can increase the charges.

JohnRo

Get out now while you still can, if indeed you still can.

What is about dodgy ultra risky, on a hiding to nothing, stuff like this that draws in punters like moths to a flame?

Twopints

Sounds similar to this:

Dream Lodge Group in administration

Aretnap

Here's what can go wrong

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5100470/dream-lodge-group

zagfles

I don't know anything about this particular scheme, but personally I wouldn't touch any such arrangement with a bargepole. But if you are considering it, consider the following:

Was this sold at a presentation where they wanted you to sign up on the night? Rather than letting you go away, think about it and get back to them? If so that's a big warning sign, even if they have a cooling off period.

They seem to be saying they'd pay about £1920 (6% of £32k) if you don't use the weeks. Do you think it's realistic to rent 2 weeks in Wales for that sort of amount - after costs? Is there any guarantee? If there is, is it worth the paper it's written on, eg if the company goes bust? How long have they been trading for?

Do they have the right to increase the maintenance cost, and if so are increases limited eg to some sort of inflation measure (whether that's CPI, RPI, or some more directly related inflation measure)? Or can they increase it by whatever they like?

What guarantee is there on getting the investment back after 16 years? Is there any backing for the guarantee or does it rely on the company still trading?

Be very careful about how you cancel in the cooling off period. I don't know how it works legally but I've heard stories about how some firms make it almost impossible to cancel in this period, not accepting they received a letter even if sent registered post, claiming it wasn't a cancellation (you might be able to prove you sent them a letter on a particular date, but how do you prove the contents?).

Note, I'm not saying this is a scam, it could be entirely genuine, however I would be extremely surprised if there wasn't an element of risk despite any supposed guarantees. A bit like these ads you might see on social media about investments giving a "guaranteed 12%" which they make out to be safe - they might not be scams but if not they are risky.

jimjames

How many holidays could you buy for £32k plus £350 per year?

It's not an investment, it's a way to lose your money I think.

After 16 years do you think that the lodge might need some maintenance? In 16 years your £32k will be worth a lot less due to inflation if you can even get it back.

If you want to tie your money up for 16 years then I would put it in a stock market fund inside an ISA that is fully FSCS protected and you should have a tidy some after that time that is all tax free.

masonic

Subie1233 wrote: »

Does anyone have any thoughts on buying basically a timeshare in seasons luxury lodges although they don’t call it a timeshare

Yes, I have some thoughts about it. None of which I can reproduce here

davenport151

Also be wary as i assume these lodges loose value over the years? I doubt whether you would get your original investment back.
Also if its similar to caravan/chalets does there come a point when a new lodge needs to be built?

Interestingly you occasionally see these types of thing for sale from the ridiculously high price of a small one bed house to a more reasonable £12,000.

badger09

My 1st thought is that you should make use of the 14 day cooling off period immediately.

My 2nd thought is that you should ignore the emails/phone calls etc offering similarly lucrative investments:cool: which will probably now happen on a regular basis

Walk away and invest your £32k in a regulated mainstream investment.