Death of Marriott client while waiting for claim raises questions about timeshare giant’s strategy
Marriott timeshare claims
Timeshare companies in general have been ignoring laws created to protect consumers, and since 2016 courts have been awarding sizable amounts of compensation.
Marriott Vacation Club International is no exception. The latest annual MVCI report recorded $13 million in litigation costs, up 36% on the previous year. The report warned that Spanish court rulings increased the companies exposure to such litigation.
Currently ECC is managing a portfolio of 373 claims against MVCI of which 310 cases are in court.
The total value of these claims is nearly £8 million.
The passing of a client
Whilst Marriott Vacation Club International has in the past sometimes paid out their court awarded compensation to their clients in a timely fashion, like all timeshare companies they can delay and legally obstruct the process of paying the compensation awarded. The average time for any timeshare claim to complete is around 18 months, after all possible appeals have been exhausted by their lawyers.
Sometimes even longer.
Timeshare clients are often elderly and timeshare companies know as well as the rest of us that for the elderly, time is a more limited commodity.
In November 2024 Steven (name changed out of respect for the family’s privacy), a client of ECC with a compensation case against MVCI passed away at the age of 70. He is survived by his widow, who is able to continue with the claim. If Steven’s widow were to also pass on, the claim would likely cease. Saving a lot of money for Marriott.
Statistically a 70 year old living in the UK has a 25% chance of dying within the next 5 years. An 80 year old has a 35% chance.
Dame Angela Eagle
Dame Angela Eagle DBE is the Labour party MP for Wallasey and currently serving as Minister of State. Last year Dame Angela was leading a Treasury Committee meeting regarding a different timeshare product, but one that was similarly being challenged legally and with wronged customers seeking financial redress.
The above 16 minute segment, taken from the 2024 Treasury meeting shows Dame Angela vigorously questioning a representative from the Financial Ombudsman Service about suspect timeshare products and the banks who lent money to buy them.
Dame Angela describes the timeshare product as ‘dodgy’ seven times. She refers to it as a ‘con’ twice and uses the descriptors of mis-sold/mis-selling a full nine times.
Crucially, the 23 year Westminster veteran read the following acerbic question into parliamentary record, regarding the perceived tactic of delaying the financial redress: “These timeshare owners are quite elderly people. Are they hoping they’re just going to die in the meantime?”
Expert comment
Greg Wilson, CEO of European Consumer Claims (ECC) believes that last comment to be a telling one. “Dame Angela was talking about a different timeshare product, and not specifically referring to Marriott Vacation Club. But similar principles apply across the industry.”
“Mis-sold timeshare owners are generally an elderly demographic. When it becomes clear that a timeshare company has broken the law, it is morally incumbent on them to move swiftly in mitigating the harm done to their customers.
“There are hundreds of millions of pounds worth of compensation claims currently in process against the timeshare industry. The age of claimants and statistical likelihood of them dying before the process reaches conclusion can not have escaped the notice of these companies.
“Any legal delays, or appeals with no or minimal realistic merit have to raise the cynical question: ‘is it a deliberate strategy to drag the legal process out longer than the claimant can stay alive?’
“I sincerely hope that this is not the case. In that spirit I am calling on MCVI in Europe, as an industry leader, to get in touch with us and find a way to settle all of the outstanding claims quickly and to everyone’s satisfaction.”
What to do next
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