Have you won a ‘free’ CLC World holiday?
Have you received a phone call from CLC (Club La Costa) to tell you that you’ve ‘won’ a free holiday? I’m sure most compers have – but be warned, this holiday is NOT a prize! It’s their way of convincing people to sign up to their expensive ‘timeshare’ scheme, trapping them in a 3 year (or 19 year) contract. But even though it’s not a real prize, is it worth accepting the offer?
Last year while in the queue to board my Tui flight to Tenerife I was approached by a woman with a tablet and asked if I would like to win a holiday. Being a comper, I’d usually say Yes, but this time I spotted the CLC logo and turned it down. You might have been offered the same opportunity at a travel show, shopping centre, or in an online competition.
Every entrant will be called by CLC (usually from the number 020 3393 2981) , and informed that they’re entitled to a free week’s holiday. They’ll check that you fit into their age bracket (usually between 30 and 70 years old) and have a combined household income over a certain amount – plus, you must be a couple living together.
It is possible to claim your free holiday without making the expensive mistake of signing up to lifetime of CLC. You just have to stand firm, say no and suffer several hours of intimidating discussion!
Attending the UK presentation
To claim your free holiday, you and your partner must agree to attend a ’90 minute’ presentation (this is more likely to be 2 hours or longer) at a CLC World Travel Centre – these are in Milton Keynes, London, Manchester, and the Cotswolds. CLC will insist you don’t bring your children along (it makes it more difficult for them to do the hard sell with kids there!)
You will need to pay a £90 deposit up front to guarantee your attendance (which will be refunded after you have attended the full session). If you’re not nearby, CLC will cover the cost of a night’s hotel stay. After attending, you’re entitled to a FREE week of accommodation for up to 6 people, plus you will receive either £50 or £75 of vouchers (Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Selfridges, Tesco, Amazon, Argos or Sainsburys).
Who are CLC World?
Club La Costa have resorts in locations all around the world – from Spain to Florida. Their aim is to get people to make a long term commitment (up to 19 years) to taking holidays in their resorts, paying thousands of pounds in ‘membership’ and ‘maintenance’ fees in regular instalments. You will only get the accommodation and will still have to pay for flights, food, airport transfers and insurance on top.
At the presentation they may talk you into signing up to a three year ‘trial’ but the destinations you can travel to will be limited. If you do commit to a long term membership, you’re likely to find that school holiday dates will have to be booked years in advance and the holidays you want simply aren’t available to be booked. Many people admit they felt bullied into signing up and then immediately cancel when they get home.
Costs of the ‘free’ CLC holiday
If you claim the free week’s holiday you will need to pay an accommodation guarantee deposit of £100 up front (which will be refunded when full travel details are confirmed). Supplements for travelling in school holidays are £29 per person. You’ll have to pay for your own flights and insurance. You will have to be very flexible – you may not get to travel on the dates, to the location or from the airport that is convenient for you.
The CLC holiday presentation
During your free week’s holiday you must attend a resort tour & presentation (if you don’t, the accommodation will be charged at standard rates). During the presentation CLC will again try to sell you the three year trial vacation membership scheme – stand firm and continue to decline the offer, no matter how tempting it may sound!
Real life CLC experiences
Below is feedback from members of my Lucky Learners Facebook group who have been to the presentations and free holidays. I would also recommend reading this thread on the MoneySavingExpert forum and the Trip Advisor reviews, so you know exactly what to expect.
“I ‘won’ a holiday about 10 years ago to Tenerife, back then you didn’t have to go to a presentation in the UK, just in the resort, which we did and it was probably the worst experience we have ever had on a holiday. They weren’t happy that I wanted to keep our young children with us during the “chat” (a very aggressive and intrusive series of questions). The sales guy who had been buttering us up all week changed to this aggressive very hard sell approach. My advice is to run for the hills if Club La Costa offer a free holiday… it is definitely not worth it and we would never do anything like that again!”
“I attended a CLC centre in London. It was more like two hours, and my husband had to go. We got M&S vouchers at the end. We didn’t go on the holiday because we couldn’t get the USA availability dates and they were trying to push us to go to Spain which we didn’t fancy. It’s totally timeshare. But if you go into it with that in mind, and if you’re pretty firmly not interested at the end it isn’t too painful.”
“We went to a presentation, received our £50 Sainsbury’s voucher and got a free week’s accommodation in Tenerife. We had to attend another presentation whilst we were in Tenerife, however the resort was very nice and we used it as a base for walking.”
“We went for a week to Malaga with CLC. We did the first meeting at Manchester which lasted nearly 2 hours but for the £75 Tesco card, was easier than doing a days work! We just had to keep saying no. Then when we went to Spain all we had to do was buy flights for us all and have a half day meeting there – breakfast was included.
“Go on the free holiday, then say at the presentation that you’ve been made redundant, you’ll be back at the pool within the hour!”
“I went on a CLC trip to Tenerife. Had to pay own flights and transfers. We had to go to the presentation for about 6 hours and it was very boring and wasted a day of the holiday. Other than that we got a nice apartment and weren’t given any hassle. If you can get cheap flights and don’t mind one very boring day then it’s ok for a cheap holiday.”
My advice
Personally, I wouldn’t get involved with CLC. I had one phone call from them a few years ago and since then I have avoided entering any of their competitions. If you’re the type of person who is easily swayed, then you may not be able to resist their sales pitch at the presentation or on the free holiday – and that could end up a very expensive mistake.
I’ve been entering competitions for over 20 years and I can assure you it IS possible to win a holiday that’s genuinely free! Holiday prizes – with no hidden costs – are given away regularly on radio stations and on brand websites.
See my blog post How to win a summer holiday for tips on winning a family holiday – and don’t let experiences with CLC put you off entering holiday comps. Just be sure to read the T&Cs first!
Have you experienced a CLC presentation or free holiday? Let me know how you got on in the comments!
We don’t get invited anymore (not in age range) but in 1990’s we managed at least 8 free holidays in Spain and Tenerife. Usually in the Spring so was a nice spring break. Airfares were included and on one trip gave us a hire car. The accommodation was 5 star. Some were presentations in England with a free gift for attending and some were presentations at the site. If the presentation was at the site the rep always took you out for lunch before driving back for a 90 minute presentation. Once you have done them once you know what questions to ask such as what are the maintenance costs and how much will they increase each year. Once you know where you’re going check out the prices for renting a privately owned apartment at the same address and then tell them that you can do it cheaper yourself. They don’t own every property on a site. They soon give up and realise you are not a customer. You can then enjoy a free holiday. If given the chance definitely accept.
Don’t know why all these comments are so negative. It really is simple. Go and get a free weeks accommodation and don’t sign up or sign up and have fun. It’s not rocket science. My wife and I are members (newish) and are relatively happy with it you don’t need to release a week to check interval the person who made that comment above clearly doesn’t understand how the product works. It’s also NOT a timeshare. We’ve been away with them twice, and have a yacht cruises booked around the Caribbean next year which we are highly look forward to 4 couples only all meals cooked on a lovely yacht in stunning waters. CLC will work for some it won’t work for others it depends on what YOU want and how YOU use it. Is it cheap? No. Do they claim to save you money? No. This is about getting a good quality of accommodation at many resorts around the world and access to 32,000 hotels most of them 4/5*. This is about being able to book a ni r 3 bed villa and go away with your friends and stay in nice apartment/villa and not fork out 2/3k for similar quality. My advice to anyone going would be keep an open mind. Don’t feel free pressured, ask lots of question and I’m means lots work out if it makes sense for you to sign up or don’t. Personally we like it and so far it’s worked for us. But we don’t have children and go away when we like. Furthermore our plan is to use interval more than their resorts.
Of course it’s a timeshare. Check your contact.
We went to the Cheltenham presentation, and unfortunately got sucked in to the trial membership, mainly based on the partnership with Interval International, opening up many more places you can visit. Been unhappy with them ever since. I’m normally very pragmatic with things like this, but due to the high pressure situation, I didn’t do the maths in my head quick enough and got pressured. Looking back on it now, it is definitely not worth the money. In addition to this, we’ve had an absolutely horrendous experience trying to book a holiday with Interval. You have to ‘release’ a week from CLC just to find out whether something is available, only to find out it isn’t, but then your week has gone from CLC! Something they don’t tell you in the presentation.
We are currently in the process of suing CLC for all our money back. I’ll let you know how it goes!
we are going through with financial ombudsman Dave, as we ‘joined’ 16 months ago and had them chasing us to book our first holiday and had to keep telling them we can only book when we know what our holiday dates are (work stipulate when we can book and what is available). We tried to get out of it after a couple of months as we felt too pressured and realised it wasn’t going to work for us but we were told it was too late we are tied in for 3 years.
We managed to ‘book’ two trips but could only afford the flights for the first one at the time, then COVID 19 struck and I had health issues. We had to cancel the two weeks we had booked as locked down, and chased the flight money. With my health and no travel insurance we cant get any for the next year.
I contacted them and asked again about getting out of it as I cant fly even without covid, but told no, but they would extend our contract till Nov 22, meaning we will have 14 months to take 6 holidays and pay for the flights, food etc, providing we can get travel insurance and I am well enough.
We asked about getting two weeks in the uk but told no, then a month later got told that we could have a week in the uk but only once we have booked our 1st one abroad!
the stress is not helping health and we are totally fed up with it all, and cant afford a holiday as we have to keep paying them each month!
We went to the finance company but they have taken 10 weeks and had got answers to questions I hadn’t asked saying you have already used them so cant get money back. I wrote again with all the information but have already waited 6 weeks and no response as they are waiting for CLC to get back to them, so we are now using the financial ombudsman but that will take anything up to 4 months, so 8 monthly payments will have been paid ontop of the other year, but at least the nightmare might be over.
good luck, let us know how it goes!
I don’t blame you.
See the following website:
http://www.clcworldscam.com
CLC World is most 3rd class and full of dodgy people.
They show you totally different pictures with what reality behind. I cant belived how UK gov letting them work decieving people.
Total fraud selling.
I’ve just been on a presentation to Cheltenham and we made it fun so the time went quick and it interrupted their sales patter and schedule ,we said no at the end and they got the message and we were first to leave with our vouchers and off to stay at a lovely hotel with dinner bed and breakfast and spa access, well worth the free night away inc food for 2hrs of time, knew what to expect as done it years ago. Used the free holiday accommodation in Spain before and was 5* just have to give them half a day and say no, its nothing for what the accommodation would cost u.
Looking forward to using my weeks accommodation again and just saying “NO”
I’ve just been on a presentation to Cheltenham and we made it fun so the time went quick and it interrupted their sales patter and schedule ,we said no at the end and they got the message and we were first to leave with our vouchers and off to stay at a lovely hotel with dinner bed and breakfast and spa access, well worth the free night away inc food for 2hrs of time, knew what to expect as done it years ago. Used the free holiday accommodation in Spain before and was 5* just have to give them half a day and say no, its nothing for what the accommodation would cost u.
Looking forward to using my weeks accommodation again and just saying “NO”
I’ve made a mistake and signed up with the £90 deposit. I called back immediately to cancel and sent an email but something tells me I’ll never see that money again.
We went to the CLC presentation in Manchester and didn’t sign up. Still got our Sainsbury’s vouchers and a week’s free holiday in Tenerife. We have no ties so got a cheap flight to Tenerife in early November. Lovely apartment complex in super location and winter sun was great. We had to attend a half day presentation but got a free full English breakfast. If you can agree first to say no politely then it is a good way to get a free holiday for the cost of half a day and a cheap flight. The apartments have well equipped kitchens so you can self-cater if you need to keep the cost down.
Definitely recommend it if you are prepared to say no politely.
Luckily my little bit of google research has saved us from a lot of earache and potential expense. I did think it was too good to be true. Thanks to all for posting your comments – we are not that desperate for a holiday thankfully. I phoned the phone number on the letter and quoted our ref number and said I would like to cancel. The nice lady confirmed my name and cancelled it there and then. She went onto say that if I changed my mind to call back, she was very polite I didn’t have the heart to say why we cancelled (she didn’t ask) as my mentally prepared speech was at the very least uncomplimentary.
Having read all of the above, I am very keen to back out of the presentation we are booked in to next week! My wife has deposited £90 which gets refunded after the presentation and you get a night in a hotel in London for this. My question would be, can I get this back , or do we take the night in the hotel and let them keep the money?
Just this very minute had a phone call – unfortunately I was not close to a computer to check the online comments. After a review of the comments, I have contacted CLC to ask for the £50.00 returnable deposit to be put back in my bank. hopefully they respond in a timely manner. If not, I will again put a comment on this site.
just got one today and said no guy keeps on and on so said yes but still not going if they want to wastemy time and can easily waste theirs total scam
Received “THE” call yesterday – sounded fantastic – off to Manchester next Wednesday (22/01) …..then found the reviews and this page ! CLC in for a surprise- not going – thanks everybody
Thanks for posting this – just had the lucky call too – personally free accomodation at a nice resort in the school holidays seems worth the hassle of a couple of hard sell meetings. I am very good at saying no. Looking forward to the trip!
Interestingly I started receiving numerous calls from a certain number after returning from a weekend jaunt to France. Usually because I’m always busy (and broke :), I tend to ignore unknown calls. I finally googled the number and imagine my surprise coming across this blog. My guess is organisations like CLC get sold peoples’ contact details. I will just have to continue to ignore the calls. Don’t have the time, patience or money to waste on such schemes as timeshare.
MGM Muthu Hotels are doing the same type of Holiday Wins at present on Facebook October 2019…. 30 wins in 30 weeks, and its not until you give all your details then they inform you that you need to attend a meeting whilst on the holiday to discuss the other resorts in the brand. It’s not in the terms either.
Just got a call too :)) from Manchester. They booked me in for Milton Keynes.
The thing is I used to win stuff so at a first thought I believed is genuine. But then I started wondering so I found this page which confirmed my worries. I’m not going aywhere then :))
omg
We just had a call from them now, about an hour ago.
Same speil, won a free holiday, go to Cheltenham and pay £90 refundable deposit. My husband was about to pay over the phone but I got very suspicious as I could hear a lot of background noise. I told my hub to ask for their phone number and say we would call them back with our card details, I entered the number into google and found lots of negative information about them.
Needless to say, we will not be handing over any money.
We are not interested in time share and I would hate to go on what is supposed to be a holiday and have to sit and listen to some person trying to sell us something.
Thank god we checked out the phone number
Received a call this week. Complete scam, just hang up. I am aware of these timeshare selling techniques. Even when you ask directly if it is timeshare , they say no, but that is exactly what it is. I gave the lady a hard time on the phone as I had a 2 hour drive in front of me on my lonesome, but I have to hand it to her she was persistent until I politely said I am hanging up now.
I thought I’d blogged about my experience of CLC in Costa Del Sol. Went along to a presentation for the “fun” of it (we already knew what to expect, but wanted to play along). They gave us the full spiel, tried to set us against each other, swapped sales people in and out, and all designed to keep you in their office as long as possible. We stumped them when it came to “how much do you spend on holidays” by answering with “we win them”. They started to get less amiable with a few questions about their sales techniques, scamming people etc. and after a while we were actually asked to leave – they assumed we were undercover reporters! Anyway we demanded our free bottle of champagne, which was disgusting.. made our excuses and left. Whilst it was fun for us, the sad thing is that they had several other couples in the offices and just trying to wear them down.
Thanks for sharing your experience Jason. I think a lot of us that are already aware of CLC and understand when a prize is really a prize would attend with the same attitude, but I do feel for the couples who aren’t a bit more comp-savvy and are more likely to get sucked in by their sales techniques.
They have just called me – I googled CLC Holidays and found you whilst on the phone to them. I politely declined my ‘free’ holiday and put the phone down!
THanks for this post. I got a call today, Friday telling me I’d won a weeks holiday. When I said I didn’t have time to discuss it, he said that the offer closed in one hour….put the phone down at this point.
Thank you do much for your informative post. I googled ‘won clc holiday’ and your post caught my eye. Luckily I read enough to end the call there and then. I’m so glad that you’ve written this to help inform people like me.
We have just returned from a clc holiday and the accommodation was amazing. We found the restaurant expensive but found cheaper places off site. They gave us free transfer to hotel n we sourced a cheap return via bartering with taxi driver. Well worth the afternoon wasted wi staff at the presentation. We said no n they brought the price down. Still said no but breakfast was free n lush. Kids came too. It truly was a 5 star apartment n we found lidl straight away to keep costs low. Cheap flights too but you have to stand your ground with them. They tempt you loads but we still declined. We didn’t want a holiday home at the end of it so they happily left us to enjoy our time there.
Its all a big scam to get you to invest in timeshare holidays. Nothings for free!
They tried to have me commit to attend a presentation in Milton Keynes next week and that the offer is only available until tonight, yeh of course it is?
Complete Scam – I thought I had genuinely won a holiday and I don’t win many things, so I thought this was the perfect end to my Tuesday afternoon.
Complete scam, talked to one lady then spoke to a second lady repeated the same information twice and told the call was recorded. It’s a free holiday offer up until July 2020, not a covert MI5 operation. The second lady then tried to get me to book an appointment to see a travel consultant. I said I could not give her a date and she refused to send me the paperwork for my so-called free holiday for six persons. I thought this sort of calling and misrepresentation was banned. Was a very professional scam, Machester number, a great call, I put the phone down and got a call back from a number withheld, they took me in, and I honestly thought we had won a holiday. Most disappointing…
I just got called by them this afternoon. I too agreed to the meeting and now reading the comments and having told hubby who’s said “we are not going” I am regretting it. How exactly do you cancel?
Just don’t turn up. Pretty easy.
Got a call from them this morning. Made an appointment for next week; but just read your comments to my husband whose told me there’s no way he’s going now. Thanks for the post Di.
I’m due to go on their 1 week holiday which I’ve “won”
Feeling a tad bit anxious mainly at the idea of going to be pressured by the Rep whilst in Spain!!
I booked my flights last year & tjis I was told made it that I don’t have to pay the £100 deposit
Won £75 worth of vouchers at the time too which was brilliant.
I’m excited &,grateful but just a little anxious of the CLC Team as I’ve heard they can be bullies somewhat. Lord help me!!
Well I think you know what you’re in for – but interaction with CLC will only be a small part of what should be a great holiday for you! Just be brave and say NO!!
There is another company that do this too. They’re called Karma. Specsavers used them for their recent Tuscany comp, but there have been a few others I’ve seen too. The big clue it’s nonsense is that they will call and say you have won a runners up prize of a holiday……….even though it’s still weeks/months before the end date, so the comp hasn’t even closed yet!
Karma partnered with Tyrrells crisps last year too. This Trip Advisor thread about them is worth reading! https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g294226-i7220-k9364355-o40-Karma_royal_group_promo_prize-Bali.html
I had a call from them years and years ago – probably about 20 years ago actually. They said I had won a “free” holiday but that it was just accomodation, I would have to get flights etc myself. When I worked it all out, it was probably more expensive than getting a package holiday so I declined.
There are times I’m glad to be single and poor!
Great informative post Di. I too had a call from them. When they call you , it all sounds amazing. I agreed to the meeting, told hubby about it when he got home, he said call and cancel, we don’t want to go through the hard sell. I’m glad I did cancel now after reading this.