Why do they do that?

The simple answer is that it is a scam.

And if Sunterra admit to knowing LCI Travel then they would be responsible for some of it. Sunterra can blame the agent and the agent can blame Sunterra. That way they can give the customer the runaround.

Is the holiday real?

Of course the holiday is real. They wouldn't dare con you with that one. You would soon be telling all your mates about that one and they don't want you doing that.

So first of all what is the holiday?

It is what is called in the trade a "fly-buy".

A fly-buy uses accommodation that would otherwise be vacant. You will be sent to some Sunterra accommodation somewhere, and whilst there you will be subject to another high pressure sell which you have to attend. Hidden away in the small print is a clause saying if you don't attend then you will be liable for the full cost of the holiday. The resort reps (salespeople) will be constantly at you first of all to attend and then to buy Sunterra points.

That is assuming you get the holiday. Don't imagine for example there is a chance of getting any holiday at peak periods. The accommodation is all used up then.

And of course there are some interesting side tricks. For example. Where would you like to fly from? Doncaster? err......nope.........Manchester? .........err nope.
Glasgow? You would like to fly from Glasgow - fine, plenty of flights from there.

Or the main place - which is Gatwick.

You of course think that this is your bad luck and maybe you aren't flexible enough. But after 18 months you have lost your free holiday.

There are other tricks to this one of course. Fantastic savings on luxury accommodation is part of it. Remember it would have been empty otherwise.

Flights? They are simple. Low cost flights to the Costa del Sol. Except of course you can't use those and they don't either. So your cheap holiday will work out as expensive if you had booked it yourself. Flights to the Canary Islands or Portugal? Nothing like as inexpensive as you could have got yourself from the internet. Anywhere else? There isn't anywhere else.

In the next blog we will have a good look at Sunterra - a company that people might