Kings Creek Plantations review: Time share sales deceptive tactics

I bought into a Kings Creek time share in April 2019. I was enamored by the glitz and promises. I was impressed that others in our presentation group were returning to purchase additional time shares or upgrades. The salient points that swayed me were the 1) ease of resale, 2) ease of renting unused time share, 3) collaboration with Hilton for property exchange, 4) on site amenities, and 5) vast number of other exchange properties and their ease of access. All were falsely represented and I will address them one at a time.

1) Ease of resale: Agent assured me that due to the high demand for these properties Kings Creek would buy back my time share for what I paid if I ever decided to get rid of it. In fact, because of my hesitation, I was offered a property that the company just bought back from a lady whose spouse had died. That was easy! With a money back guarantee like that who wouldn’t buy? Wrong! I found out that Kings Creek does not buy back their properties and the only way I could unload mine was to “give” it back to them and pay an exorbitant recording fee. Check the internet, there are hundreds of owners trying to give theirs away.

2) Ease of rental: Agents we’re sure to cover my concerns about even renting my unused time share. They showed how by renting I could cover the cost of maintenance with $ left over. Heck, I should buy 2 timeshares - rent one to pay for the second! I was told that all of these persons who were staying 3 days and 2 nights for the presentation were using rentals paid for by Kings Creek to owners who offered them for rent. Wow, who wouldn’t buy with a guaranteed rental? Wrong! First time I called Kings Creek to offer my timeshare for rent I was directed to a third party agent who explained to me I could pay them a non-refundable fee and they would list it for me. I first had to reserve my week with Kings Creek then list that week with them. There were no guarantees of rental or that even if listed the whole week would rent. What ever time was not rented I had to use or lose. When I went back to Kings Creek for my “refresher” indoctrination I asked again about the rentals and explained my confusion. Again the agent assured me that was not the case and in fact Kings Creek had just negotiated a multi-million dollar contract with Busch Gardens to provide rental space for their guests. All I needed to do was give the rental person this name and I would be taken care of. Of course it would help if I had a “larger” time share that could accommodate a family. I did not upgrade and when I again called Kings Creek to offer my time share for eternal I was again told I had to use their third party service and no such agreement existed with Busch Gardens to their knowledge!

3) Collaboration with Hilton: I am a Hilton Honors member with lots of saved points. Agents told me how I could trade my time share days for nights at Hilton hotels and still continue to earn HH points. Wrong! First time I tried I was informed I had to use the Kings Creek concierge service (for a fee of course) to reserve a room at Kings Creek rate. Using this service would not allow me to collect Hhonors points and would cost more per night than if I made my own reservations.

4) on site amenities: My wife loves to swim and they do have a beautiful pool on site. Their pool appeared less crowded than the YMCA and if we dropped our Y membership the money saved could go toward Kings Creek fees. We tried one time to use the pool and when we arrived we were told it was closed for maintenance with no given reopen date. The pool was full of water with no persons in or around it. We never tried to use it again.

5) Other exchange properties: the agents were sure to tell me about the desirability of the Kings Creek site and how my weeks could easily be traded for any week anywhere else in their vast network of properties using Club Explorer or their international affiliate. (By the way did I mention that to use Club Explorer or this international affiliate you had to be a member and of course pay their annual membership fees?) They do have a great number of affiliated offerings, but each comes with a non-refundable “transfer fee” and separate cleaning fees. None of this is told to you until the first time you try to use it.

Bottom line is I took the loss and “gave” the property back to Kings Creek - paying their ridiculous recording fee (one could reasonably presume that being gifted a $12k+ property to be able to resale would have been enough! No, they will squeeze every dime out of you they can). I will never buy into Kings Creek again and will never recommend them to anyone. If you really want a Kings Creek time share, do an internet search for available properties. Buy one from a current owner who wants out. I guarantee you can find many for $1.00 or less. You could probably even negotiate them to pay you to assume their time share. Just recognize that after you become a Kings Creek “owner” you are legally “stuck” paying all the recurring annual fees into perpetuity - or until you can unload your property to another sucker.