Variations of the 'vacation ownership' model

"Holiday black market" on social media

Just type the phrase "Timeshare - Vacation ownership" on social networks, Facebook returns a series of groups specializing in buying, selling, exchanging, and advertising vacations with thousands of members participating. However, recently, many accounts have appeared looking for people "in the same situation and falling into the trap" when participating in vacation purchase packages.

Biến tướng mô hình 'sở hữu kỳ nghỉ'- Ảnh 1. — The contract to buy a holiday card worth 250 million VND, with a validity period of 15 years, has many provisions that are difficult to enforce in practice.

In early December, a personal Facebook account named Tu Minh posted: "Need to find more victims of travel companies that buy and sell vacations. The more victims there are, the more basis the police will have to investigate...". Immediately, a series of people in the same situation spoke up to confirm: "I have it", "I have it", "Ib (private message)"... An anonymous account said: "There are many victims who bought vacations from VTĐ Company, please let them sue". Some other people shared that they had been involved with companies like V, PLT...

To find out more about the tricks of vacation ownership scams, we contacted some victims. Ms. TTH (42 years old, Ho Chi Minh City) said she was invited to attend a "free travel experience event" at a hotel in the city center. The stage was elaborately staged, the staff continuously offered drinks, gave lucky draw gifts, the atmosphere was as lively as a fair. After the "sharing session to inspire people to get rich from travel", Ms. H. was advised on a "lifetime vacation" package worth nearly 120 million VND, equivalent to 7 nights/year at affiliated resorts. "At that time, they said to buy for investment, rent out with a profit of 12%/year, and can be easily transferred. Seeing the whole hall rushing to sign, I was also afraid of missing out", she said.

Three years have passed, Ms. H.'s vacation package has been almost frozen because it cannot be rented out, no one wants to transfer it, and if she wants to use the benefits, it is constantly reported as "full room". The amount of more than 100 million has become a total loss of investment. Ms. H. is not an isolated case. Across social media groups, posts about "cutting losses on vacation packages" and "urgently selling timeshares" appear more and more frequently, reflecting a complex market surrounding the vacation buying and selling model.

Biến tướng mô hình 'sở hữu kỳ nghỉ'- Ảnh 2. — A post in a timeshare group calls on victims to gather and file complaints against vacation rental businesses.

Most recently, on the evening of December 2, supermodel Ha Anh shared on her personal Facebook page that her mother was also a victim of "disguised timeshare". The family discovered the incident after her mother borrowed 20 million VND from relatives under the pretext of "paying extra to resell the resort card". After investigating carefully, Ha Anh and her sister were "shocked" to learn that their mother had spent 250 million VND to buy a resort card package from 2023. When they asked to withdraw this amount of money, the sales staff reassured them that the contract could be easily liquidated, just pay more money to join a resale group. The family reviewed the entire contract and looked up information online, discovering many negative comments related to the vacation sales activities of this enterprise.

On the morning of December 3, speaking with Thanh Nien reporter, supermodel Ha Anh confirmed that her mother had purchased a vacation package for more than 2 years, but could not use it and could not get a refund, even though according to the contract, she had every right to book a room and go on vacation. "The person who directly contacted my mother about the contract has quit her job. The phone number printed in the brochure and the contact groups cannot be reached. There were some phones that sent a message from the company, but when calling back, they said... they had dialed the wrong number," Ha Anh said.

Biến tướng mô hình 'sở hữu kỳ nghỉ'- Ảnh 3. — “Hand-written” spreadsheets showing interest rates, terms and benefits are used by consultants when convincing customers at seminars.

Her mother is currently living in Ho Chi Minh City, so contacting the company in Hanoi is difficult. The family plans to go directly to the place where her mother signed the contract to clarify the matter, because according to the feedback from many social network users, this office is still operating, with many elderly people coming in and out to do transactions every day.

Elderly people become "prey"

It is worth noting that the elderly are becoming the target of "hunters" by many companies selling "vacation ownership" products. Supermodel Ha Anh said that her mother is over 70 years old this year and learned about the vacation sales program after being invited to attend a "free vacation" seminar. "They said they were giving away vacation tickets for free, so the uncles and aunts came to listen. But in fact, when they entered the seminar, they were surrounded by the sales team to persuade them to buy the cards," Ha Anh said. Many people have reported on social networks that these programs have dense sales scripts, causing psychological pressure on the elderly. There were even cases where attendees who did not have enough money on the spot were "detained" for many hours until they transferred money or borrowed money. Only when their children and grandchildren called to protest and threatened to report to the police were they allowed to leave.

Biến tướng mô hình 'sở hữu kỳ nghỉ'- Ảnh 4. — Many social media users said they had been offered or caught up in a disguised vacation sales model, with comments specifically denouncing the business name.

The card package of supermodel Ha Anh's mother is stated to be usable only from 2025, meaning that the entire year of 2024 and almost the end of 2025 cannot be used. Ms. Ha Anh affirmed that the business violated the contract, the customer has the right to terminate the agreement and request a refund. However, how to liquidate the contract and recover the 250 million VND is still an unanswered question. "Not only to find a way to get the money back for my mother, I want to clarify this story so that my followers, as well as the community and my friends, do not continue to become victims of this type of "profitable vacation investment" model," Ha Anh expressed.

Yesterday afternoon, Ha Anh updated on Facebook that after sharing the story widely, her mother had received a full refund of 250 million VND. However, the supermodel also emphasized that not all customers are as lucky as her family, as many others are still struggling to find ways to reclaim their rights.

Previously, an 80-year-old woman in Hanoi, after purchasing a "vacation ownership card" for a large sum of money; when she discovered signs of irregularities and wanted to contact to clarify her rights, she traveled to the headquarters that the company stated in the contract at Lotte building, Lang Ha but could not find the transaction office.

The old lady said that contacting the company was difficult, and the phone numbers provided were not connected. Traveling and complaining for someone of "rare" age became too much, while the savings for old age were "stuck" for a long time. This case had attracted public attention and continued to be shared widely on holiday buying and selling groups along with similar stories.

What is vacation trading?

The "timeshare" model is a legal tourism product. Accordingly, customers buy the right to stay for a fixed number of days each year at a system of affiliated resorts, not buying real estate or land ownership. The term of use usually lasts from 10 to 30 years, depending on the product package, suitable for groups of tourists who have regular vacation needs, helping to optimize costs compared to booking individual rooms for each trip. However, recently, some "vacation ownership" business models (also known as "vacation ownership contracts") are showing signs of fraud. People are lured into buying contracts with unrealistic commitments, so they cannot rent or resell for profit. Common forms of fraud include inviting investments in seminars, using psychological pressure to get customers to sign contracts with unfavorable and non-transparent terms...

"Holiday black market" on social media

Elderly people become "prey"

Comment (0)