Tuesday 10 July 2012

Club La Costa...a shifting Landscape!

Its been some time since we posted on here and its mainly because we've been busy growing our Members Forum at www.clcmembers.co.uk.  We've over 5000 Members there now and we consistently get 70-80 new members each year.

CLC is a constantly moving organisation, and in many ways much better than the fly by night scammers that are rife on the internet and on locations internationally.

We had the release of their new product last year, called the FPOC (Fractional Property Owners Club) which is a Fractional product, meaning that you can own and investment in Bricks and Mortar and stand the chance to get a return of your investment.  However, FNTC,who is the Trustee of FPOC, say that this model should never be one advertised as an investment, which certainly presents a challenge for CLC and perhaps they will comment on this in the future.  I do wonder what FNTC would say, if it heard from prospective or existing members attending presentations, that they were being sold an investment opportunity, albeit, without any guarantees of a return.    We do wonder why many people would take up such an option, but nonetheless, many do so, as we can determine from the experiences shared on our Members Forums at www.clcmembers.co.uk

FPOC, from owners feedback, is apparently not actually Bricks and Mortar but is in fact a Rights Access Product, as denoted on the contract that members have discussed.  Lets hope this isn't a Mis Sell as we all know where that can end up, but if in doubt we would advise you get a good solicitor to look this over, if you have any concerns.

Most people who have been members of former products are being invited to presentations, where you'll be given a discount off the cost of moving over to the FPOC product.  You can have some advantages, the most obvious touted as a "chance" of getting a return on your product after a 16 - 19 year agreement, but they will discount this to the point that you could be paying around £7-£10k for a two, three or four week Rights Access.  Sound familiar....i.e. get about 4- 6 weeks holiday with your Vacation Club Points and if your membership is too low...Bronze, Silver, Gold....etc, then we an upgrade you and sell you a few extra points meanwhile.

It doesn't look like VC has a future in my humble opinion and this I see is the beginning of the end, although that could take about 10 years.  CLC openly admit they don't push Vacation Club Points anymore but if you ask, you can purchase them.   You can also purchase them from Members Selling them at the www.clcmembers.co.uk Forums, where members advertise to each other, but also you can BID for a deal at the www.holidayauctions.org.uk site, where rental and sales are available from CLC owners as well as many other people outside the CLC Portfolio.

However, think on.  CLC have now began to sell direct holidays to the resorts that many owners believed were exclusive to them, but now anyone can have access without the investment of a VC or FPOC Ownership.  How do they do this I hear you say?

Try these for size:



Yes, they are selling weeks, that many members can never get for exchanging their Points.

You do have to ask the question, is it worth buying into their programmes or just booking a week direct from them, which according to many members, is cheaper and more weeks are available.

Food for thought...We'll be back!

Friday 15 April 2011

Club La Costa offers a Scorcher at £59




Although there may just be a few weeks at this price, and Terms and Conditions apply, this will surely hurt the people who pay a lot of Money to become a Club La Costa Owner.

We can surely applaud CLC for looking to use up its inventory, but at what cost?

Will owners bring pressure to bear on CLC. Will it affect the Brand Name?

Any thoughts welcome?

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Club La Costa Tells its Members of the New Leisure Division

We learn now that Club La Costa explains to its Vacation Club Owners that they have nothing to fear from the New Leisure Division. This Division is headed up by Richard Carrick in a Non Executive Role. See The Link http://www.rciventures.com/2011/03/club-la-costa-raise-rentals-profile/

Now this must surely cost some consternation about owners because many report on the CLCMembers.co.uk Website, that whilst the new Direct Sales Customers (without large Membership Fees) are able to book quickly, those longstanding Members can't even book the resort over a two and three year period.

It remains to see how that is going to go down, but according to Club La Costa, despite a difficult climate its still maintaining its Dynamic Edge and experiencing tremendous success with its CLC Estates Division. It would appear that all the new inventory is not part of the Vacation Club Inventory and doesn't impact on existing Club Owners.

Now I personally think that its sending a Mixed Message here. How can those who've paid Thousands of Pounds for Exclusive Access, now believe they are in an Exclusive Club. Many of the Resorts are the same places of those being offered cheap weeks in some cases, Prime Time!

Fair Enough, CLC is sitting on a lot of New Inventory and should be encouraged to fill it, that makes perfect business sense, but what about all those people who have been the Mainstay of its Company Growth.

Does anyone care?

Wednesday 23 March 2011

Diamond Resorts having the same problem as Club La Costa Owners

Not only has Club La Costa started allowing "Anyone" access in Peak Time to what was previously an Exclusive Club Membership, but Diamond Resorts are doing the same as you'll find out if you click the Post Heading Title!

How will owners feel about this when they've paid Thousands of Pounds to join "the Club"

I think that perhaps they should make some concession to those Club Members. After all, they are the ones who have made the Companies the size they are now. Is this any way to Treat them.

There doesn't seem to be any communication with Members about this, and/or reasons given.

I suspect its a sign of the Times!

Friday 18 March 2011

Club La Costa Looking for New Trading Partners?

I read this today on TTG Live

Here's a Copy!
Holiday club operator Club La Costa is looking for trade partners as it launches a new business targeting mainstream holidaymakers.

The company, which runs 28 resorts in the UK, Austria, Spain, Turkey, Australia and the US, currently manages 250,000 holidays a year for its members and guests.

Now it is planning to open up its resorts to the mainstream holiday market and is looking to work with the UK travel trade to sell stays at the resorts.

Former Hoseasons chief executive Richard Carrick has been advising Club La Costa over the last few months and helped in the appointment of his former Airtours colleague Martin Andrew as commercial and distribution director for holiday sales at Club La Costa.

Andrew said: “I'm very familiar with the real estate and holiday club marketplace, as well as general holiday sales and given the quality and range of Club La Costa product, I look forward to launching it on the UK mainstream market.”

The company is expanding this year with a new resort opening in Orlando followed by another property in Turkey in 2012.

Carrick said: “Significant success has already been achieved in developing trade partnerships to sell Club La Costa's inventory to holidaymakers.
“It will be Martin's role to drive this still further, particularly with the new resorts.”

We've seen a lot of activity over the last 12 Months, where CLC is selling directly to the Public and obviously its good for them to market the Products and The Brand. However at what point does it affect the existing base of customers, who've paid a tidy sum of money in most cases, to gain exclusive access to their inventory.

I'm sure we'll be discussing this on the CLCMembers.co.uk Forums, but of course we're open to comment from anyone here!

Monday 14 March 2011

Golf Deals with Club La Costa

We've been informed by Club La Costa that they do offer Golf Deals where Clubs are near their Resorts. We were able to get confirmation directly from Club La Costa's interface with our Site's Members.

Here are a Few Examples:

*Trenython Manor: £28.50 a round at Carlyon Bay (as opposed to £47)

*Duchally Country Estate: various offers at Gleneagles, 50% off at Whitemoss, 20% off at Crieff

*Hustyns: a Golf booklet is available to guests with various discounts available at Llanhydrock, St Mellion, etc.

*Costa del Sol resorts: a list of discounted rates to 12 of the most popular Golf courses on the Coast is available in Reception through our partner Vacation Care.

Saturday 12 March 2011

CLCMembers 3rd Annual Conference

We are holding our 3rd Annual Conference at the Holiday Inn, Great Barr, Birmingham on the 14th of May.
Pre Registration is via the CLCMembers.co.uk forums, or EMAILING ME  Anyone not Pre Registered will not be allowed entry.

Club la Costa are coming to the event for the 2nd Year Running and have been especially helpful this year by offering a Free Holiday to one Lucky Membership.

Winner to receive a week's accommodation in a Two Bedroom Unit or smaller at one of Club La Costa resorts of California Beach Resort (Santa Cruz Suite or San Diego Suites), Hustyns (Three Bedroom Unit), Trenython, Duchally,Monterey Royal or Alpine Centre. Subject to Availability. To be taken within 18 months of Prize Draw. Does not include flights, travel or food. 

And so it finally Starts...The CLCMembers.co.uk Blog


With Club La Costa themselves utilising more and more Social Methods, we at www.CLCMembers.co.uk thought it was about time we should do so as well.   We think its important that anyone coming over a Club La Costa Holiday or Presentation, where they may be invited to purchase a product, that those Prospects should be fully informed of what they are buying into.

We've been around as an Owners Group since 2003 so if you want to know anything about us, then please come and join our Members Forums.

We'll be honest with you up front and tell you that to get Full Access to all Areas of the Forums, it requires an Annual Membership Fee of £5.00.  2 and 3 Year Options are available which lower it to £4.  We also have a Guest Membership of £1.50 which has limited access.  All these sums go towards the Maintenance of the Site.  There are no Adverts flying around, so its nice, clean and tidy and we have in excess of 4000+ Members as I write this Intro Blog.   We keep the site Structured and operate on a very professional basis.   Club La Costa themselves are also on the Site, in their own Forum.  This allows us to take their official views from Members Services and discuss it amongst ourselves.  So its a Truly Consumer Based site, funded by those who Subscribe without any influences or connections with other Companies.

Members sometimes Rent out the use of their Points, Fixed Weeks and Properties and there are Resort Reviews and Discussions also available.  You can read the Reports from AGM's and find out the history of where it is today, and where its come from.   You can talk with other members and take views as well as contribute your own thoughts and experiences.  We'd love to hear from you and hope you'll join us.

I will report more news here from time to time and hope that you find it all very helpful.

Admin