Travel Advice – OFT bogus holiday clubs

Travel advice – holiday clubs: Holiday makers have been given a fresh warning against falling victim to holiday scams involving fake Spanish ‘holiday clubs’.

Every year large numbers of UK holidaymakers are tricked out of thousands of pounds at resorts across Spain such as Malaga, Marbella, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.

Our travel advice on this is simple,

If you are offered a scratch card and you win a ‘Holiday club’, throw it away, no fuss throw it away and keep on walking..

OFT research shows that 78 per cent of bogus holiday club victims are aged between 35 and 64. The average loss per victim is £3,030.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has warned that many are falling victim to bogus scratchcards (and of course you are a winner) which lure people into spending thousands of pounds for services which they could normally get at a travel agent.

Consumers are typically targeted by touts who hand out bogus winning cards to holidaymakers.

To collect their prize they are required to attend a lengthy presentation and persuaded into signing a contract for an ‘exclusive’ club on the basis of false claims about the price, range and quality of holidays available.

In nearly all cases, consumers find they have bought little more than access to an internet booking site offering the same service they could get at a online travel agent for free.

Holidaymakers who are approached by a scratchcard tout or who attend a presentation should consider:

• Do you have the time to sit through a lengthy sales pitch?
• Will the promises made by the salesman be in the contract and can you rely on them?
• Can you take away the contract to consider at your leisure or cancel later?
• Do you know exactly what you are getting for your money?

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, then the OFT advises to simply walk away.

Mike Haley, OFT Director of Consumer Protection, said: ‘Bogus holiday clubs ruin thousands of holidays every year leaving holidaymakers with large bills for near worthless holiday club memberships.

‘The OFT is working hard to raise awareness of the tricks used by these scammers and to ensure that action is taken to combat the worst offenders.’