Ultimate Vacations

This company is a marketing company for timeshare sellers. The company solicits via internet sites, direct mail advertisements and seminar sales. The company frequently uses free vacation offers in their advertising as buyer incentives to induce recipients to attend timeshare sales presentations. The travel certificates awarded are fulfilled by a third party promotional company.

Travel certificate offers may vary. Some certificates include lodging in a hotel or timeshare resort for a certain number of days and nights. Other offers include airfare or a cruise, or provide one complimentary ticket with the purchase of a second. Vacation or travel incentive offers usually require deposits, or processing fees upon redemption. In California, the company offering the incentive can not ask for any money in connection with the offer directly. The travel redemption company can not ask for more than a $50 refundable deposit. The deposit is required to be immediately refunded when the recipient arrives at their travel destination.

In California, laws enacted to protect consumers contain specific requirements for advertising and marketing travel related incentive offers. Any solicitation, whether by mail, phone, or internet must make specific disclosures on the terms and conditions of the offer available to consumers. If direct mail solicitations are used, the front of the solicitation must display the name and address of the company, a general description of the business, purpose of the mailer, and the length of time the presentation will require. It also must clearly disclose the odds of receiving each incentive offered if there are more than one, and must clearly state if the offer is subject to specific restrictions, qualifications or conditions, along with a statement of where the information can be found. Other disclosures such as black out dates for travel, previously undisclosed fees, eligibility qualifications such as martial status or income; and deadlines or expiration dates, are required, but not necessarily on the front of the solicitation.

We routinely advise consumers to get all details of the offer in writing. Don't rely on verbal promises my salespersons. Read and understand all contract terms and conditions. Our experience with this industry has been that consumers experience problems with scheduling the vacations, accommodations are misrepresented, or deposits are not returned.