Club La Costa Malibu Mansions

Club La Costa Malibu Mansions

Fractional Owners first visit after joining CLC

Despite being promised 5* accommodation, if we signed up for the fractional ownership package priced at just under £14,000 and an additional maintenance charge of £500 per year, during our promotional visit in October 2011 we have been left feeling completely let down.

Our family, consisting of myself and husband together with our two grown up daughters and fiancé, were really looking forward to our holiday in August 2012, with high hopes and expectations after all the promises during our introductory holiday previously.

Our arrival, unfortunately, due to a flight delay was around midnight, the apartment we were allocated was not in the luxury part of the resort as we had expected but was in the promotional part, where we had stayed in the October and was accommodation in my opinion 2-3*. The furniture was old fashioned and living area was cramped and dark and for four not six as had been requested.

The shower in our ensuite was inaccessible for anyone over 5ft 4. The balcony had two loungers and chairs but was very small. We spent the next two hours trying to sort out the problem, however, we were passed to different people, as it was no ones responsibility to sort this out. We spent the night in the apartment and waited in vain for the promised manager to call the following morning. Three hours later we were given the option to move to another apartment which was more suitable for five adults, however only had one bathroom which was the downside especially as there was a horrible smell in there but it did have air conditioning in more rooms.

By this point we were still hoping the situation would be sorted out and we would be moved the following day to the California Suites or MalibuMansions. This was not to be as there wasn’t a single apartment available. Staff were not helpful in the matter but the cleaning department were excellent and promptly fumigated our apartment twice after we reported eighteen cockroaches in the bathroom and more in the bedroom.

This was ongoing during our stay but the management response was to expect this, I did point out we had travelled extensively over thirty years and had never experienced such a problem. During our times in the Reception area we were approached by other couples who were experiencing the same problems as ourselves.

We couldn’t wait for our week to be over when we moved on to a fabulous 5* villa we had booked through Owners Direct as we could secure two weeks at Club La Costa by going through RCI ( as it turned out what a bonus ) I emailed the Members customer service department during our week and had the opportunity to speak to someone on the telephone, but in my opinion were fobbed off constantly.

We were told we hadn’t managed our booking correctly but when we bought the package all we stressed was our requirement for luxury accommodation and we were constantly assured that even though, being in education, there would be no problem – we would have hundreds of resorts to choose from and the standards of accommodation would be 5*.. When booking in the March we had a choice of just two.

Since returning home, despite a number of emails, we have not had responses to specific questions relating to absolute promises made when we purchased the product. Purchasing this Fractional Destination package has been the worst decision we have ever made.