Is this fishy?? Exclusive Lifestyle Passport

Shopping_addict_2

Hi Usman786

We are due to be going to the Costa Del Sol v.soon as well. We have been told there are no transfers included. The cheapest way I have found to travel is on the train. I googled Costa Del Sol train times and fares and found a really helpful site (can't remember the name sorry). If you aren't very confident travelling round Europe you could just jump in a taxi.

Regards.

usman786

Hi shopping addict,

Thanks for replying, I will just hire a car then as its the cheapest option as there are 5 of us going. Prices range from £54 to £87 for the week for a estate car from malaga airport.

We will be using the car for day outs too.


Usman786

PDC

blindman wrote: »

My advice is DO NOT pay for the "free " holiday unless you are really flexible with travel dates as they will no doubt offer you a destination you don't want or dates you can't go.

I wrote a post about our recent overall experiences and what they are really trying to sell you.

Once you part with the £29.90 "admin" fee + "airport taxes" (£50 see below)you may as well say good bye to it.
In your case that would be £80 x 4 + (£99 +£30) so about £450.00

Though

may mean that the infant only cost £30.00

You have an 18 month period in which to choose your 4 choices.
You must submit these choices within 14 days of getting the letter.
You can only choose 1 "greyed out" week (ie. school holidays)


Arrival dates vary per resort
Tenerife Friday
Spain Sat\Sun
Portugal Frid\Sat\Sun

So your "week" may start on the Friday or Sunday etc.

"During your stay you must take a hospitality tour"

Their web-site with details is here

Use the Login ELP01

Airport taxes
They can't give an exact figure so will average out what they think it will be.

From historical data they provide expect about £50.00 per person

Thats a very usefull post and good advice.

Its just a little suspicious how all the people who have 'just come back from a great holiday' have only posted once or twice never to be seen again.

usman786

I will be sure to tell you all about it after I return.

Usman786

kayhf57

grahamliv wrote: »

Well!!!
My wife and I have been on the Club La Costa (exclusive lifestyle passport) cheap holiday trip…

Well we arrived in the Costa Del Sol site and were given our keys to our two bed apartment overlooking the pool and thought..woooooooooooooo hooooooooooooo this is fab J

We thought we have taken the risk and guess what it had paid off, we had a call to say that we have been invited to a free buffet breakfast with a club la Costa chap. Sounds all to good well it happened we were met by this big Scottish guy who escorted us to the table and said help yourself, well being a bit peckish we did and several visits to the buffet counter, later he said as part of your visit you need to spend an hour having a look at what Club la costa has to offer..so we went with him for a tour and were showed some wonderful places we could stay on the resort and then ended up in the marketing suite where we were subjected to a hard sell again. We had pointed out that we were not interested in purchasing anything and were happy to go along…30 min’s later they gave up on us and then released us back into the sun to enjoy the rest of our cheap holiday!!
What to watch out for…

They will want you to take out there insurance that bumps up the cost, you will need to watch out for hard sell in the resort..apart from that go for it don’t let them break you down and enjoy the sun and a cheap holiday..

Like you we did a Club la Costa Prelude holiday, having signed up for only trail membership of 4 years.
We also had a good breakfast and talk about all the options open to us.
Luckily we didn't sign up (therefore no champagne for us!)
The cost of paying £800 maintenance a year plus £250 membership a year was only briefly mentioned.
All holidays are self- catering and flights and transfers have to be paid for.
The resort we stayed at in Tenerife was in a luxurious apartment.
If taking up this Prelude holiday, it is possible to take two other guests. Our booking agent in Spain told us that it was only us, as a couple who were eligible, so a second bedroom and bathroom was unused.
If you do this insist on taking the full quota of people.
Roll on our 'free' holiday (for having listened to their hard sell in England before we signed up!) to Costa del Sol in May.
I imagine we will get the hard sell again.
This holiday company is not suitable for my husband and I, both early retired.
On the plus side , I know of a family of five who really enjoy the benefits, so think carefully before you sign up.

colinp5

I had the routine over the phone and have today received my invite to the "hard sell". After reading all the comments I won't be going. The offer sounds to good to be true:T

welshman1

If your looking for cheap, cheerful and nasty this is your one. Otherwise keep your money in your pocket :mad:

Shopping_addict_2

We went on one of the 'free' holidays, it cost us about £60 each and the accommodation was lovely. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen and huge balcony overlooking the sea. We had to go on a tour of the resort, took about 4 hours, at the end we said we couldn't afford it. The salesman wasn't pushy or rude and we were left to enjoy the rest of our holiday. Well worth doing if you are flexible on dates and resorts.

Parag

I have been on one of these free holidays (except for booking fee of £29.50 and airport taxes, which at the time were £50, and are now £69.50), with my wife and children about three or four years ago.

We stayed at Costa Del Sol, in a beautifully furnished two bedroom apartment. It cost us £320 for the flights and accomodation, and we had to spend half of one day having a further presentation on the resort.

It was absolutely worth it, although we did not go on our first preferred date. But not a problem!!

If you have date flexibility in the next 18 months of receiving the holiday voucher after the presentation, and you can sit through 3-4 hours (although they say 2), I would say go for it. Get you shopping vouchers and a cheap holiday, in a quality place.

Don't forget, they are trying to sell you their service, so if they are going to show you around the resort, they want you to be in a nice place to start with.

We got invited again recently, and guess what, we went to the presentation, got our vouchers, and are booking our free (£400) holiday again - but flights and accomodation for £400 still seems a good deal. Lets see what we get this time!!!

Got to admit, we were tempted to sign up with them too, as they canofer some great deals as a member - just couldn't afford it at this moment in time!!!

ginaganinga

My wife and I went to the Club La Costa presentation in London last week, said "No" and ended up with the £25 vouchers and "free" holiday. One of the holiday options is Cornwall, which won't include airport taxes so should be a straight £29.50 each. Granted it's only a mini break but looking at the problems some people have had with international resorts it might be a good option. As my wife's a part time teacher we could only go during the school holidays if it was a full week, but we can be more flexible with the shorter breaks. Still ummming and ahhhhing as to whether we should go.

BTW our experience was just over two hours (we said at the start that our daughter was teething and we had to be out in two hours...) and it wasn't a hard sell but I think that the person 'selling' to us was well aware that we weren't going to buy...