I am another unfortunate TravelSmart customer with the membership from 2017.
Travel Smart unilaterally changed the old benefit system with points and special/bonus weeks to some discounted rate with eliminating agreed upon terms and conditions and, hence, breaching the contracts signed before 2021.
Travel Smart has used pushy deceitful and inappropriate practices for selling their membership which, as I understood later, eventually brings zero value to their customers. Their straightforward lies on the “would be” benefits that I was promised such as RCI or Owners link only add up to the frustration. They would not initially tell you that some resorts do not have Diamond Club or use TS point system, such as in Cuba and Planet Hollywood. They would never disclose that no one will meet you for personalized check-in if you arrive after 8pm to their resorts because they have already left. They would never have any room upgrades for you despite of this being promised in the contract and will always say – it’s subject to availability, and there will be NO availability for you ever unless you pay them extra with cash. And they love cash! Everything they offer as their “Member services” is easily available to all other customers without paying thousands for this “VIP vacation treatment”.
There are better and cheaper opportunities of other travel companies offering vacations which do provide much more positive experience without lies and aggressive practices that Travel Smart uses with its customers. I deeply regret making a decision to become a member of the TS in March 2017 as I feel like being a victim of TravelSmart pushy selling practices and promises that never came true.
I had horrific experience with Travel Smart affiliated resorts few last times that I visited them specifically the last one in Planet Hollywood in Cancun which I will always remember as a worst nightmare for my entire family.
There are no reasonable cancellation options of the membership besides the first few days after the purchase. The situation of the customer can change. Someone might not like to travel at all anymore or feel like it for personal reasons. There are members of TS that I know which have their spouse deceased and unwilling/unable to travel due to financial and/or psychological reasons. Travel Smart offers no consideration of these matters and just continues to push for money payments without any value offered.
They also have been sharing their clients information including email/phone and address with third party fraudsters who up to this day contact me to offer selling my membership to them which is another scam on top of what Travel Smart already is.
If you stop annual membership payments which increase substantially every single year, Travel Smart will be spamming you on a weekly bases or even few times a week with both voice messages and threatening emails about late fees and reporting your “account credit” (which it is not because membership fees is not considered a credit). Meanwhile they will be procuring your credit card information from Visa or Mastercard even when you withdraw your authorization for it in writing. Eventually they might offer you to “transfer your membership” for $300 and paying all late fees without disclosing to whom this transfer will be happening and on which terms so that they can get some more money from you in the end.
I am also aware of the fulfilled re-imbursement request in 2018 from Travel Smart to my friend who was a TS member and found herself in a similar situation such as myself. She regretted a decision to purchase a TS club membershipand requested a re-imbursement which was fulfilled by TS despite no such conditions in her initial contract. So TS had acted against the conditions initially signed in a TS contract.Why similar approach can't be used for others?