Sunterra/GVC - Membership works for me! (The Grand Vacation Club (GVC))

Member Name: MaAlPi

Product:	The Grand Vacation Club (GVC)
Date:	12/08/06 (1921 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lifelong holidays in outstanding accommodation

Disadvantages: Higher maintenance costs than some other timeshare schemes

Sunterra is a flexible timeshare scheme. Instead of buying a week at a specific resort in the traditional way, members buy a number of points for a one off fee, and can "spend" that number each year. Ongoing annual costs take the form of maintenance fees.

Accommodation is "priced" per week in these points, with the number of points required for a stay varying depending on the duration, season (for instance August is high season in Spain, and February is high season in ski resorts), and the type of accommodation required. This means you can go in a one bed apartment for one holiday and a three bed for the next, which I have found extremely useful.

Last minute bookings (within 59 days) can be made at half the normal points "prices" for the chosen holiday.

Further flexibility is added in that it is possible to "bank" unused points for the following year, or "borrow" them from the next.

I was moved to join dooyoo after stumbling across some of the negative comments on this site about Sunterra/GVC, to offer a counterpoint.

I have been a member of Sunterra for 3 years, having initially bought points through a Sunterra presentation at Wychnor in Staffordshire and subsequently having topped them up via ebay purchases. We have just returned from a fantastic Las Vegas holiday which we just could not have afforded via the conventional package holiday route. Certainly the emotive language I see from others in some dooyoo submissions seems unjustifiable based on anything I have seen from Sunterra.

I have no experience of poor salesmanship of any kind, or even anything which could be remotely defined as high pressure. The only things I would suggest being aware of are

1. The high(ish) annual yearly maintenance costs,
2. The fact that the "last minute" reduced holidays are less likely to be available during school holidays - and that they get booked up quickly even at their full "points" price. However, that applied just as much to holidays booked from any high street travel agent!
3. That you have enough points to book the holidays you need. 40 GVC points (=4000 Sunterra points) as discussed by others will buy you next to nothing. Look at the points "prices" charged for the destinations you are likely to want to go to, before deciding whether you can afford to buy enough of them to justify membership. It's not rocket science, but be sure to base your decision on the assumption that you will need to "pay" full points "prices". Last minute holidays are often unavailable.

If you're thinking of this route to cheap, high quality holidays, I suggest the best path is to buy as few Sunterra points as possible from the company themselves, and then top them up via ebay (after making appropriate checks into any vendors).

I have certainly not regretted joining Sunterra.

Summary: I have not regretted my Sunterra membership at any time since joining 3 years ago.