Anantara Vacation Club - the scam
I just wanted to bring peoples attention to the scam that is the Anantara Vacation Club. Replying to an advert a few years ago my family and I visited their Phuket resort and were treated to a free 2 night stay at a beautiful resort as long as we went along to the Vacation Club presentation. The salesman was very convincing and dressed the offer up in such a way that we missed some HUGE pitfalls from joining and spending a huge sum of money to do so. 1. We were never told that every January AVC charge huge (almost $2000) admninistration fees, these have been increasing yearly. So over the 30 years (length of the agreement) you end up paying more than double that which you initially anticipated. 2. At first you are lead to believe that the points will retain their value but instead the buying power of the yearly points you are given become lesser and lesser ie less points = less nights. 3. The hotels one is allowed to book, the AVC hotels is of far lesser quality than the premium Anantara hotels. Of course the Phuket resort where we bought the package was never offered to us again, it was merely the 'carrot'. 4. Customer service is awful and very unresponsive. I have asked for a refund but i have been told that of course this is not possible. STAY WELL CLEAR OF THE ANANTARA VACATION CUB, THIS IS A SCAM.