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Avalon Vacation Club is a timeshare program in Cancun, Mexico, that is part of a larger management agency called the Vacation Store of Miami. It was previously associated with Avalon Resorts and their several properties, including Avalon Grand Cancun, Avalon Grand Panama, Avalon Reef Club Isla Mujeres, Avalon Excalubur Acapulco, and Club Baccara. It is now part of a hotel called Hotel NYX Cancun, which is also known as or was once called Avalon Grand Cancun.
We found a report on a website called Timeshare Consumer Protection Alerts and Advisories, or TCPAA, that noted the history of these resorts, seeing as it’s difficult to find much information elsewhere online. They note that “Avalon Resorts provides timeshare properties and enhanced memberships into their popular Avalon Vacation Club,” but also that the former owner ran into legal trouble, which changed the face of the resorts. Unfortunately it has some old, nonworking links, so it’s not as up-to-date as it could be.
But the information is still cause for concern. So if you have ended up saddled with a timeshare from this company, and want to cancel Avalon Vacation Club timeshare, you are certainly not alone and there are options you can pursue.
While researching this timeshare program, we found several complaints online, most of them not limited to Avalon Resorts’ past problems with bad management. Here are some of the most noteworthy comments and reviews we found for Avalon Vacation Club, Hotel NYX Cancun, and the Vacation Store of Miami.
From TripAdvisor:
- “We are members of Avalon Grand Cancun & we are wondering what is going on with the new management. We have not received any information. We found out it is no longer a part of the Avalon Resort group & has been removed from the website. We have tried to contact the vacation club manager, who had nothing to say! We are ready to start a class action suit because we have a contract, and as members, we are kept in the dark about this.”
From the BBB:
- “Due to Covid, my wife and I had to reschedule our honeymoon from 2020 into 2021. We paid the original price of what our honeymoon was supposed to cost in full amount of $1,970. The COVID pandemic forced us to reschedule our vacation (in which we were happy to keep with the same resort to try to help the company in this trying time period). Yet, Vacation Store Miami has now demanded we owe an additional $204 because they have increased the price of our already paid for vacation. When I asked for a refund, the employee told me they only allowed store credit. This action is trying to force us to pay more than what was advertised. This is also holding our money hostage by forcing us to take a “credit” that would be required to be used for a less quality room. This is terrible business ethics. We would like a full refund. I will never do business with or recommend this company ever again.”
From Yelp:
- “This place is so phony. They advertise prices they know will draw you in only to scam your credit card and personal information. Beware of identity theft if you give this company your information. I fell for it and now have canceled the cc I gave them and locked down my credit with the bureaus. DO NOT FALL FOR IT.”
Upon reading further it becomes clear that these unscrupulous practices are not limited to the COVID-19 situation. These companies have used whatever situation they can to scam people out of their money, including the changes in management and ownership.
Avalon Vacation Club Class Action Lawsuit
Another comment on TripAdvisor stated the following:
- “Just a hunch but the Avalon Grand likely got caught up in the trustee sell off of Michael Kelly’s properties, its former owner/operator, as part of a plea agreement he has made regarding some of his pending fraud charges in the U.S. referencing Time Share/ Vacation Club Fraud and Investment. The U.S. Federal Courts have been seeking any and all of Kelly’s assets in regard to the case(s) for reimbursement for victims/investors, many senior citizens, that Kelly ripped off to the tune of potentially hundreds of millions. The Avalon Resorts were just one of many Kelly businesses in the region acquired at the expense of the fraud. It would come as no surprise that the Avalon Resorts were sold off at auction, outright, piecemeal, or otherwise.”
The TCPAA page on Avalon Vacation Club affirms this:
- “Operated by Operadora Hoteles in Cancun, Mexico, Avalon Resorts experienced bad publicity when the resort owner, Michael Kelley, was tried for operating a Ponzi scheme in 2007. Since then, Avalon Resorts completed extensive remodeling to incorporate environmentally friendly features and focus on creating family retreats.”
Looking up the SEC press release “SEC Charges 26 Defendants in $428 Million Securities Fraud That Targeted Senior Citizens and Retirement Savings” will give you more information on this situation.
The class action lawsuits don’t stop there: in 2017, there was an Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and Trademark Infringement case currently pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida between Vacation Store of Miami and Heron Development Corp. (US District Court for Southern District of Florida – Miami Division Case No. 1:16-cv-20683-FAM).
You can search these terms for more information about the case, but essentially, the Vacation Store of Miami used several different domain names unethically to not only steal business from another company, but also to falsely appear as if they were associated with many other companies. One Yelp review echoed this quite recently, so apparently they are still doing this:
- “This is a scam company. The company creates websites that look like the hotel, so you think that you’re making reservations directly through the hotel. Unfortunately, I didn’t look closely enough at the website and realized the error when they emailed my confirmation. I’m trying to cancel reservations I made for July of this year (it’s May now), but I cannot reach the company through phone or email. Their phone number doesn’t even have an answering service to take messages. it rings and rings and then just hangs up. RED FLAG.”
So with all of this in mind, the bottom line is that if you have an Avalon Vacation Club timeshare, you definitely want to do everything you can to get out of it.
Avalon Vacation Club Official Exit Program
Unsurprisingly, we did not find an official exit program on either the Hotel NYX Cancun or the Vacation Store of Miami websites for the Avalon Vacation Club. The Avalon Resorts website — the old one — is not functional, so there is nothing to search for there.
You can get in touch with Vacation Store of Miami’s customer service by going to the Contact Us page on their website. That said, the reviews and complaints indicated that this is often an ineffectual route to take. You may want to explore what a timeshare exit company can do for you instead. While resale is sometimes another way to get rid of Avalon Vacation Club timeshare, you might consider the circumstances surrounding the companies that own these timeshares, and opt to hold the resorts accountable by getting them to cancel your contract instead.
Working with an Exit Company to Get Out of Avalon Vacation Club Timeshare
While hiring a timeshare exit company can sometimes be a more expensive route, depending on which company you choose to work with, it can also be a more complete solution. Reputable timeshare exit companies will work directly with the resort to get you out of your contract and cancel any of your remaining fees.
We are careful to only recommend timeshare exit companies that have a track record of success in getting people out of timeshares, and that use escrow for payment. Escrow matters because it means that the company doesn’t get paid until you are free from your timeshare. You can learn more about why escrow is important on this page.
Avoiding Timeshare Resale Scams
On this website, we are cautious about which companies we recommend because, just as with timeshares in general and programs like the Avalon Vacation Club, there are plenty of scams in the timeshare exit industry. Many timeshare exit companies promise timeshare owners that they’ll cancel their timeshare with a money-back guarantee, but never deliver on their promises and keep the money that they were paid.
To avoid scams in the future, make sure you pay attention to the following:
- Avoid any company that doesn’t have an online presence. That is highly indicative of a scam. Searching for online reviews of the timeshare exit company will help you figure out if this is a problem.
- Avoid a timeshare exit company with a low or with no BBB rating. Unaccredited companies are suspicious as well.
- Do not get involved with a company that has no record of success in getting timeshare owners released from their contracts.
- Try not to simply go with the first company you find, as they aren’t your only option, and there might be better pricing elsewhere than what you initially see.
- Make sure you get everything in writing. Moving forward with a timeshare exit company without a contract is not a wise idea.
The companies that we know to have good reputations and excellent ratings can be found on this page. All of them have been thoroughly reviewed, and we can attest that they use escrow for payment, and have great records of getting people out of their timeshares.