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Opinions of Great Escapes Travel Club
Question:
My wife and I listened to a presentation given by the Great Escapes Travel Club this evening. Can anyone who is a member tell me if this club is financially worthwhile? They have a hefty buy in price (several thousand) and claim they can save you big bucks in travel expenses over the years. Would any members please! share their thoughts. Thanks, Dana
Response:
http://www.wa.gov/ago/releases/rel_travel_040199.html Wayne
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> My wife and I listened to a presentation given by the Great Escapes > Travel Club this evening. Can anyone who is a member tell me if this > club is financially worthwhile? They have a hefty buy in price > (several thousand) and claim they can save you big bucks in travel > expenses over the years. Would any members please! share their > thoughts. Thanks, Dana
Response:
Paying now for future discounts is not necessarily wrong or a bad choice but it requires a great deal of research and thought, not only about the company selling it but on your own future travel plans. Before paying up front for "discounts", ask yourself the following questions: -Will the company I’m paying remain in business for perhaps the next 10 years or is there a possibility they will take my money, file bankruptcy and disappear? -Do they actually own any resorts/ships/facilities or are they only doing what any good travel agent can do…negotiate on my behalf? -Can I clearly see a payback of my upfront cost in less than 4 years? -If I can’t use it (sickness, death, whatever), is it transferable? I can see buying some sort of membership that offers a major discount off an enforced and realistic list price from a facility or group of facilities (resorts, ship lines, trip managers) that I have been to before and plan to use again at least once per year for the next few years. (For example, if a major cruise line that I’ve sailed with and liked said: pay us x thousand dollars now and we will give you a 75% discount on 15 days of cruising per year for the next five years and the membership was transferable and I was guaranteed not to shut out when I wanted to go, I would examine the offer carefully. If a resort, spa, or vacation chain made the same offer, I would also consider it.) But schemes that say:- pay us now and we will give you some sort of discounts in the future on something….no thanks. Just my opinion. Peter.
Response:
My in-laws bought a time share. They spent a lot of money and was thinking of all the money they’d save in the future. Well come to find out, after they bought the condo, they were checking on airfare. The airfare was a lot of money to get to the condo. So much so that they didn’t go for years. In fact, we joked that you could get a package deal through the airlines which included the hotel and airfare for less than just the airfare alone. They gave the condo to a son who is paying yearly maintenance fees on it and he doesn’t use it either. So they have only used this twice in all the years that they have owned it (at least 14 years). I don’t know what they spent for it but I’m sure it was in the thousands of dollars. That is just like the story of the canoe that someone bought figuring they’d save money. Bought canoe for $250. and had to haul it out of their apartment balcony and onto the roof of their car and then when they got to the campground, the canoes were only $14. to rent. Ready waiting at the shore. : ) There was also a Consumer Buying club in our area that was in business promoting the same type of thing. They went out of business. Hope this helps you make up your mind. Sue
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> My wife and I listened to a presentation given by the Great Escapes > Travel Club this evening. Can anyone who is a member tell me if this > club is financially worthwhile? They have a hefty buy in price > (several thousand) and claim they can save you big bucks in travel > expenses over the years. Would any members please! share their > thoughts. Thanks, Dana
Response:
Great Escapes Travel of Chico, A was sold a few months back to Mission Travel who I never heard of. Just visited their sit & it tells you the story. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > My wife and I listened to a presentation given by the Great Escapes > Travel Club this evening. Can anyone who is a member tell me if this > club is financially worthwhile? They have a hefty buy in price > (several thousand) and claim they can save you big bucks in travel > expenses over the years. Would any members please! share their > thoughts. Thanks, Dana
Response:
My wife and I listened to a presentation given by the Great Escapes Travel Club this evening. Can anyone who is a member tell me if this club is financially worthwhile? They have a hefty buy in price (several thousand) and claim they can save you big bucks in travel expenses over the years. Would any members please! share their thoughts. Thanks, Dana
Response:
http://www.wa.gov/ago/releases/rel_travel_040199.html Wayne
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> My wife and I listened to a presentation given by the Great Escapes > Travel Club this evening. Can anyone who is a member tell me if this > club is financially worthwhile? They have a hefty buy in price > (several thousand) and claim they can save you big bucks in travel > expenses over the years. Would any members please! share their > thoughts. Thanks, Dana
Response:
Paying now for future discounts is not necessarily wrong or a bad choice but it requires a great deal of research and thought, not only about the company selling it but on your own future travel plans. Before paying up front for "discounts", ask yourself the following questions: -Will the company I’m paying remain in business for perhaps the next 10 years or is there a possibility they will take my money, file bankruptcy and disappear? -Do they actually own any resorts/ships/facilities or are they only doing what any good travel agent can do…negotiate on my behalf? -Can I clearly see a payback of my upfront cost in less than 4 years? -If I can’t use it (sickness, death, whatever), is it transferable? I can see buying some sort of membership that offers a major discount off an enforced and realistic list price from a facility or group of facilities (resorts, ship lines, trip managers) that I have been to before and plan to use again at least once per year for the next few years. (For example, if a major cruise line that I’ve sailed with and liked said: pay us x thousand dollars now and we will give you a 75% discount on 15 days of cruising per year for the next five years and the membership was transferable and I was guaranteed not to shut out when I wanted to go, I would examine the offer carefully. If a resort, spa, or vacation chain made the same offer, I would also consider it.) But schemes that say:- pay us now and we will give you some sort of discounts in the future on something….no thanks. Just my opinion. Peter.
Response:
My in-laws bought a time share. They spent a lot of money and was thinking of all the money they’d save in the future. Well come to find out, after they bought the condo, they were checking on airfare. The airfare was a lot of money to get to the condo. So much so that they didn’t go for years. In fact, we joked that you could get a package deal through the airlines which included the hotel and airfare for less than just the airfare alone. They gave the condo to a son who is paying yearly maintenance fees on it and he doesn’t use it either. So they have only used this twice in all the years that they have owned it (at least 14 years). I don’t know what they spent for it but I’m sure it was in the thousands of dollars. That is just like the story of the canoe that someone bought figuring they’d save money. Bought canoe for $250. and had to haul it out of their apartment balcony and onto the roof of their car and then when they got to the campground, the canoes were only $14. to rent. Ready waiting at the shore. : ) There was also a Consumer Buying club in our area that was in business promoting the same type of thing. They went out of business. Hope this helps you make up your mind. Sue
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> My wife and I listened to a presentation given by the Great Escapes > Travel Club this evening. Can anyone who is a member tell me if this > club is financially worthwhile? They have a hefty buy in price > (several thousand) and claim they can save you big bucks in travel > expenses over the years. Would any members please! share their > thoughts. Thanks, Dana
Response:
Great Escapes Travel of Chico, A was sold a few months back to Mission Travel who I never heard of. Just visited their sit & it tells you the story. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > My wife and I listened to a presentation given by the Great Escapes > Travel Club this evening. Can anyone who is a member tell me if this > club is financially worthwhile? They have a hefty buy in price > (several thousand) and claim they can save you big bucks in travel > expenses over the years. Would any members please! share their > thoughts. Thanks, Dana