You love to travel. Check. You love to find travel bargains. Check. You get a phone call or text inviting you to become a member of a travel club. Checkmate. You lose!
Travel clubs generally require an advance payment of some sort that will entitle you to “special discounts” with airlines and hotels. We categorize them as a scam because you’re expected to pay money upfront in order to get some kind of special deal. The problem comes when you try to get your special deal. Suddenly, the travel club is inaccessible or unreachable. The deals are limited to low-demand locations and off-season times. Ultimately, these deals are all the same: they will take your initial payment and then make excuses that lead to you making additional payments. The bottom line: you’ve given them your money but have little recourse when they fail to honor their promises.
Amongst the worst offenders are a travel club memberships. Consider the following stories:
“My husband received a mailer claiming it was a tour and travel focus group, which was no focus group, but a pitch for the travel club. We were offered a “complimentary 3, 5, or 7-night cruise for two adults…including complimentary airfare…” We got the certificate for that we needed to activate for the cruise (among other options) but it did not include the “complimentary airfare” – that was a separate option. “
“Attend a fun and informative 90-minute VIP tour of our vacation club. We will show you how to save money on travel and the secrets the travel websites don’t want you to know.· One person must be at least 28 years of age.· Must bring a major credit and photo ID. Debit cards, check cards and gift cards are not considered a major credit card.· Must have a minimum combined household income of at least $60,000 USD per year. We invite you to a [censored] hotel in XXXXXX to show you presentation.”
Sound familiar? These offers come with many restrictions And they will keep your ID and credit cards.
Or how about this complaint about Beacon Travel:
“We went to their presentation, which promises a free 7 day cruise or other vacations if you attend. They were not pushy or annoying, but the document they gave us does not work when trying to activate the offer. The second $500 hotel card they gave was useless – saying the code has already been used. Lisa talked a good game, but turned out to be a total fraud! DO NOTWASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS SCAM”
Or this one lodged with the Better Business Bureau:
I am writing to seek your assistance in addressing an ongoing issue I have encountered with Beacon Travel as Im seeking a refund for services that were misrepresented Misrepresentation of Services**: Services provided did not match the description or quality we were promised.**Failure to Deliver**: The product/service failed to meet the standards outlined in our verbal agreement, rendering the product of no value.I attended a timeshare presentation on October 4 at 4 PM. During the sales pitch we were promised that if we signed up for their wholesale travel membership, we would receive prices that were 50% lower than those available on Expedia or ***********. We paid $5000.00 via check (#***) and $274.00 via debt card and all we got was a copy of the check and a copy of a sales slip (attached)We were not given a copy of the contract at the time of purchase, and we were not granted access to our account membership untill after the cooling-off period making it impossible for us to verify whether the goods and services promised were actually available. This preventing us from being able to cancel before the cooling-off period. Finally after gaining access to our account and conducting a thorough search, we discovered that the discount was not even close to 50% off *********** or ***********. -only around $100. This insignificant amount is of no value because using this membership also requires members to pay additional fees to the hotel, rendering the product essentially worthless to ************ a member of the community who believes in fair treatment and consumer rights, I would greatly appreciate it if you could investigate this situation and bring attention to the challenges consumers face when dealing with corporate entities that fail to uphold their end of the agreement.
My husband and I attended a presentation by the company 9 months ago. They showed a very convincing presentation where their company could provide us with discounts of around 50% off what other places charge for traveling. This could be cruises, stays at hotels or resorts, etc. The only thing they didnt guarantee a discount on was on airfare. They showed a cost comparison between their website and others to prove their point. We decided to sign up with them so that we could afford to go on nice vacations. They charged us $3,000 for the membership. We paid $600 down with a $199 processing fee and then have been paying $100/month with a $5 fee. The first flag was them not taking our first monthly payment and having to call a few times to get it going. Then a few months ago I got an email talking about renewing my account which made no sense. I made a comparison myself a few different times with cruises. Our savings would only have been about $50-200. This is significantly less than what we were shown. Had we known this, we wouldnt have signed up. I then looked up the company with the BBB and saw the other complaints. We cant afford to have the issues everyone else has experienced. I called the company and tried to cancel my account, but was told I couldnt because there are still payments on my membership. Theres no cancellation policy in anything I signed. Nowhere does it say I am required to pay the entirety of my membership. Theres an annual fee for their service as well and I asked how I would know they wouldnt charge me. The guy I spoke with said that it will be sent to their team for cancellations. He said I could deactivate my account and he would walk me through it, but later said that same team would handle it. I have tried to get credits through my bank, but have been unsuccessful.
Dangers of Travel Membership Clubs
- If they contact you via a cold call and invite you to a “presentation” in exchange for the promise of free travel to a location of your choice. This is going to be a high-pressure sales pitch that is designed to separate you from your money.
- Hidden Fees: They will offer “too-good-to-be-true” exclusive discounts. But they won’t tell you about taxes and other fees that will be added to whatever you pay.
- No Refunds: Once you pay for your membership, refunds will be very difficult to come by. They may give you 3-5 days for a “buyers remorse” refund, but that’s about all the time you will get to determine whether their promised discounts are real or not.
- Fine Print: If the membership terms take up more than one page, then be very careful. If there’s any fine print in whatever you sign, you can be sure that it’s been drawn up by their attorneys to limit your rights.
Warning from the Experts
Experienced web analysts and travel experts are right to warn consumers about travel membership clubs like Beacon Travel. Websites such as Scam Detector, Scam Advisor and Trust Pilot will tell you whether their website is safe.
Expert travel sites will often warn against travel clubs that require upfront fees. For the reasons we describe above, you are assuming most all of the risk that the club will be offering you really good deals. And your resource is very limited if they don’t meet your expectations. LIke shady timeshare deals, these travel clubs are made to look attractive, but a little digging reveals the rot beneath the claims.
If you really want to search out good deals, use the buying power of membership clubs like Costco or Sam’s Club.
Our Conclusion
If you are interested in attending a “seminar” from any travel membership club, we urge you to take the following steps before attending:
- Don’t give them any personal information until you’ve heard the pitch. You’ll be hounded by them and they could easily sell your information to other scammers.
- it is crucial to ensure the legitimacy of a travel club before entrusting them with your hard-earned money and travel plans. Verify the credibility of a travel agent, by checking their registration with relevant authorities, read reviews from previous customers and enquire about their affiliations and accreditations. Check to see if they are members of ABTA,
- Verify any relationships they have with key trade partners including big name brands such as NCL Cruises, Virgin Voyages, Gold Medal, Travelpack, Audley Travel and more.
- Do a Google search on the company and see that they are frequently featured in newspapers including leading industry travel publications such as TTG and Travel Weekly.
- Scour Yelp, Trip Advisor, Better Business Bureau and other consumer travel blog sites and check to see the nature of any complaints against these clubs.