Lion Resorts holiday club

[Newcastle1]

Having had a week or so to settle back into life at home after my hols I am not convinced at all Lion are anything other than real/genuine.

Im thinking of my own experiance of course and cannot comment on anyone elses,but this is my view,based upon the following facts.

When I was in Cyprus Lion resorts,were without a shadow of a doubt building at least two top of the range hotels/resorts,I know I was in one of them for my look around.If lion wernt real,what did I see? If it was a clever scam,they took a hell of a risk,as the site office was there every day when I passed it,surrounded by advertising boards stating what it was.When we were still on the island we phoned Lion,3 times,and got same answer to questions posed in a different way,Indeed one of the ladies actually asked if we wanted to book next years hols there and then with her.......again,risky business as she had no idea if I would have said yes.we then took this further again,and on our trip to polis we found the other Lion resorts hotel,and wandered around it,talking to the guests,and as said met two very nice ladies at random who reassured us they were there for there second visit,again thru Lion Resorts,once again,lion didnt know we would do that (indeed to be very fair,Lion actually told us that if we were in area to have a look,hardly going to advise that if they were not genuine.Finally,when we picked up out RCI booklet at the Lion offices,all the same people were still there,so theyre not fly by nights.Also having been back in UK and then having talked to RCI they (bearing in mind RCI are different company) tell me everythings alright and real.They also never forced the issue of a sale upon us,again they gave us the price and wandered off so we could talk.hardly pressurised selling!

In short I/we are 101% happy with what we paid our �3,495.00 for,and believe it to be a very good buy indeed at this stage............cant tell you about next holiday yet as were not there,but at this stage were totally happy.

If I could raise some sort of constructive critisism it would be this:Your never going to sell it in 90 minutes.

We were there for about 3.5-4 hours,in that time we took in a boat load of information...........its easy to forget information when you get that much.I know this as in my work, im a financial adviser,and my job can take a long time with clients making sure they understand the pros and the cons of each/every contract they sign for/require..............its amazing that a client who is 100% happy when they sign for there policy,having listened and nodded for 3 hours can suddenly ask a stupid question at the end,making me somewhat worried of what they are actually doing and understand.Information over load is very common.

One other bit of constructive critisism would be method of finding the potential clients,again a sticky question.ie if the lad had said "come here mate im a time share rep" I would have laughed at him,and walked away.We were in Turkey last year,and used to Turks chasing us around trying to sell us things,we thought Cyprus may have been same (totally different for the record for any one not having been to Cyprus,very laid back) so when the lad approached us in English,and we thought we were helping him out,...............looking back bit naughty?? anyway,turns out,That I believe hes done us a favour in the end.

For the record,Ive stayed at Hilton hotels in my time,anyone who hasnt seen the spec of the hotels lion are building in Cyprus should ask for some pics (didnt have my camera with me on day,or would email them to you) top quality.(my son may have some photies when I think?)

Finally I leave you with this (unless someone wants to talk to me??) Its been mentioned that watch dog have been involved with this at some point................think of how many big,uk based companies watchdog have been involved with over the years,many,many utility companies for example,not to mention banks ect,have we decided that these companies should be shut down? or have we as rational human beings accepted .........presentation too long,and too much info,as well as you can please everyone everytime,and theres usually more pessamists than optomists amongst us,also hysteria,breads hysteria.

[slh]

hi,

LION RESORTS..........

my parents are now at least one year in to their luxary pass ports!

i hope you cant sleep at night, i hope the guilt eats you up inside.
now this maybe gossip, but i did some digging around ito who owns and works for this company, apparently even their own staff dont get paid., and their has been some reported violence surrounding, people who work with them, i think it was a shooting. be very careful with this company.

to everyone who has joined, youve been had, sorry.

[waterloo]

Re: Lion Resorts Vacation Club

One of the things said by Lion Resorts is that you have to decide on that day and that there is no cooling off period on agreements.
I Emailed the Cyprus Consumers' Association on this point and this is their reply word for word (without my name)......

"Dear
In reply to your Email of 28th May 2008 to the Cyprus Consumers Association, please be informed that if the contract you signed with the Lion Resorts Vacation Club is indeed a timeshare contract, then according to the relevant national legislation there is a fifteen day "cooling off" period. The national legislastion is fully harmonised with the relevant European legislation on timeshare.
We remain at your disposal for any information you may require.
Kind Regards
Elena Papachristoforouu
Legal Advisor ECC Cyprus"

The Email address to contact this Legal Advisor is
epapachristoforou@mcit.gov.cy

Too late now for me to use this 15 day rule, but ....
(1) Is Lion Resorts Vacation Club a timeshare company ?
(2) Are they guilty of mis-selling if they are not informing customers of this cooling off period ?
(3) Are they right to take money straight away out of customer accounts if there is a cooling off period ?

I have replied to the Cyprus Consumers' Association saying that they should be concerned about the number of worries expressed by holiday makers in one of their major resorts about the selling practices of Lion Resorts Vacation Club.
They really should investigate and be in as position to safeguard holiday makers if necessary.

[blueye]

Hi everyone, one of my my worries with Lion Resorts is the so called "contract" that you sign. The "independent" legal adviser, who advised us about signing the contract at the time, lead us to believe that the document we signed was a contract for the holiday club. It was really an agreement for a holiday! It stated on the back of the document that there was a cooling off period. The only problem was.........the date they put on as our holiday departure date was actually the date that we left the current holiday we were on! When you've been worn down for so many hours and you just want to get back to enjoying your holiday you just assume things rather than getting into detail. I know that we should all be more vigilant, but you go on holiday to get away from stress and all the humdrum. That is why it's so easy for them to catch us out. Even if they made �300 on every potential holiday club member they are making a lot of money. I hope that the holidays do work out for people. I don't like the underhand and seedy way they deal with people. I know we should all act on instinct, and I think we do when we're at home and on the ball. I, personally think that Lion Resorts are, and will be proven at some point, to be a scam.

[rippedofbyLionResorts]

Similar experience Blueye and a mesage to anyone else - do not go near this company - they are simply con artists. They have robbed me of �500. No wonder they pay handsome commissions to their staff, they are ripping people off whilst they are in a good holiday mood, but try and get your money back - well their mood changes then.

[forsure]

My parents joined lions 18 months ago, I live in Sharm and am an instructor, im sorry but they have saved a lot of money just comming here please really �700 for 2 weeks all inclusive is a bloodey good price this included there flights, myself i used there rci membership 3 months ago to go to the moon palce in cancun it was bloodey fantastic holiday we met 2 couples who had paid �6000 for 2 weeks we paid �1900, from reading all the reviews it seems its only people who have never joined or even tried it are the ones who slag it off, it seems they fear the unknown really speak too people who are members not people who have no idea and are guessing, by law if Lion miss sell you anything then you will get a refund, this is fact.

[FullMonty]

I presume you say you are an instructor to cover up the fact that you are posting from Sharm.

I think you are an employee who has no concept of punctuation or grammar.

Not unusual in this business.

[rippedofbyLionResorts]

Forsure, I don't doubt that RCI membership can save you a whole load of money and I have no gripes with them as a company. What I do object to is the practices employed by Lion Resorts to essentially mislead people. If I was an RCI Director I would disassociate my company from Lion as they are using their benefits to increase their own bottom line and ruining RCI's reputation.

I agree, within any consumer law in Europe customers who feel duped have a right to a return of any monies changed hands. Lion should refund but they are sticking to their guns and refusing to at this stage. I would still urge people to avoid Lion like the plague but contact RCI and join them directly if they want discounted holidays.

[freaky alien]

My husband and I have been members with Lion Resorts for 4 years and have never had a problem! We have just returned home from Cyprus (through them!) They are still associated with interval international but have now joined together with a company called Karoushy brothers (unsure if this is spelt right!) They own member rooms in Paphos, Egypt, Thailand and soon to have 2 new hotels in Paphos area, we have actually been watching the progress these past weeks, with another 9 in the next couple of years!
We have never had a problem with them, infact we have become friends with our original sales rep and her partner who is our first point of contact on holiday if we do have a problem.
Joining their Vacation club has been one of the best investments we have made!
We went out to Cyprus for our honeymoon 3 years ago and the staff of Lion resorts made it an experience Ill never forget!
Next year we will be going back to cyprus with them and taking our family all 17 of them, and I know they will all have a great holiday with thanks to Lion Resorts.

[ledzepuk]

Hi Freaky Alien,
wished Id'e never looked at this site untill I read your review, we too are fully paid members of lion resorts, we havn't actually travelled with them but are talking with them at present with a view to going to capital coast next year as a family for my daughters honeymoon, they have been extreamly helpful and proffesional at all times..
The only thing i do find is that the web site we can access (leisuretime passport) does appear to be very reasonable for prices of accommodation but when the airfare is added if you want to go long haul bumps it up cos we are flying from the UK.
The website we were showed in Egypt when we signed was very different and showed very very cheap packages all over the world.
We have just returnrd from mexico (booked before we joined) we were invited to a travel presentation there we declined saying we already belonged to a travel club..... we were asked which one when i told him Interval International I thought he would slate the company but no... he actually said they were one of the best companies to be with, WHO KNOWS
Cheers Karen