Welk Resort Group
ConsumerAffairs Accredited BrandWelk Resorts is a dynamic, growing, and respected leader in the vacation ownership industry. Independently owned and operated, Welk Resorts has built a foundation of innovation and hospitality.
With six luxury resorts across five sought-after vacation destinations in the U.S. and Mexico, all properties have earned top exchange marks from Interval International and RCI. Each Welk property is carefully designed with the needs of our Owners and guests in mind to provide unique, first-class accommodations and experiences.
286 Welk Resort Group Consumer Reviews and Complaints
A link has directed you to this review. Its location on this page may change next time you visit.
Welk Resorts contacted me and offered to give me a couple of nights free. They also talked to me for a 90-minute period and tried to convince me to buy. The salesperson, Steve, was very knowledgeable, nice, friendly and made it sound inviting. I also worked with the customer service in California for owner services, setting up reservations, questions and about my maintenance fee. They were always very helpful. Welk Resorts was nice and I had family living in one of the areas. I would like them to hurry up with the Hawaii location but they're working on that.
We're thrilled to hear you were pleased with your experience, Carla! Thank you for the kind review.
I was at the Orange County fair and Welk had a booth set up. We came to the presentation and I didn’t really know anything about Welk or about timeshare. It was my first presentation. They were talking about a free trip so that was kinda the motivation to get out there. The property was nice. We went ahead and got the trip, but that ended up being a scam.
FTP Vacations, the company that we had to call and put a deposit down on, was closed. They had a website that guided us through the process of paying the deposit, but when we actually called, the number was disconnected. Once we googled the company, it said that they were no longer in service and people are complaining about scam. So, we could never get our money back and we didn’t realize that until it was too late for us to even fight it with our bank. We lost out on $285. So, that was unfortunate.
For the second presentation I went to, we stayed in one of the resorts the night before to really get a feel for it. Customer service was always great. The people were very nice. When they're trying to sell, there has to be some kind of pressure but it was a little bit much the last time. They sent four people after we told the original person who was just kinda pressuring, and pressuring, and pressuring that it wasn’t a good time.
My wife and I first bought in 2015, an every other year ownership of 240k points. Enough for one week in a 2 bedroom in Branson, or a 1 bedroom at some of the nicer/more in demand Welk properties. Well, every other year ownership has some serious limitations, such as you can book a stay with rolled over/borrowed points a maximum of 60 days out. That was not very well explained initially and we had a hard time booking anything. The gifts they offer for sitting through a presentation rarely work out, this is partially Welk's fault for not offering better gifts, partially the gifting company to blame. In those first years, we would be on hold for hours trying to get answers over the phone.
In 2018 we upgraded to 240k every year. Yes, this increased our maintenance fees however it gives us a 15 month booking window for our annual points. Customer service has gotten 100% better. The longest I've been placed on hold is 5 minutes before talking to a real person. As far as availability, there is plenty! Right now, on 3/8/19, I can book a five night stay at Northstar or One Village Place in Lake Tahoe, the first week of December, in a 2 bedroom unit for 210k points. Or I could go stay at Cabo in the large one bedroom for 120k points. I could literally book these right now. Keep in mind, I'm a little fish in the Welk pond with only 240k points. Platinum ownership goes from 90k points all the way to one million. Welk also trades VERY well through RCI or still with Interval International. Welk pays for the RCI membership, and I paid for 2 more years of II because I like the bonus weeks.
My point is, I went from hating it and regretting purchasing, to loving it and learning to utilize it to its fullest. If you bought with Welk and aren't happy, there is a Welk Platinum Owner's group on Facebook, find us, and I will help you all I can. Coz I know the feeling of despair when you think you're stuck with an unusable "vacation ownership" that costs thousands that you can't use and can't get rid of. Been there, learned a lot, now love it.
Once again, my time at Sirena del Mar was outstanding. Nine days went by too fast. Just not enough time to spend not only at this beautiful resort, but with the absolute best staff around, bar none. I've been visiting Sirena del Mar since it opened in 2010. From that very first visit to this day, what has set the resort apart is the staff, both hotel and sales. The kindest, most attentive, and fun loving people around. They've become more than just waiters, bartenders, concierge, bellhops, deskmen to me, they've become friends, no, my second family. You meet them once and they remember you forever. Though people have left through the years, there are those that remain, and apparently instill the values of being great workers to anyone that has come to work there. There is always a smiling face to greet you, a fun poolside game to play, a well made drink to enjoy, and delicious food to taste.
When there is an issue with the room, service is prompt and courteous. There is also little things, like using colored rice to spell out happy birthday on the bed with palm trees on each side, along with a small birthday cake decorated and left to enjoy. Priceless! The grounds are kept immaculate, the pool has an amazing view of the arch that never gets old, herbs for the kitchen are grown on the property, and with so many unswimmable beaches in and around Cabo, having its own swimmable private beach is a treat.
My only complaint used to be the distance to town, only because of the taxi prices which led me to rent cars for the last few years since it was just about the same price, but now that Uber has come to Cabo, and round trip prices to town being just over half of a one way trip with the taxis, the need to rent a car may be gone. Hopefully the resort will keep its current policy of letting the Uber drivers drive up to the lobby area. It makes things so easy. I could go on and on, but there is a reason I visit here 3 times a year, and anytime someone comes with me, they see what I see, and can't wait to come back, as did my brother after our trip last week.
Lastly, if I do have to complain, it would only be that Welk should go ahead and just finish the 4th building at the resort, especially after learning that allegedly the property in Hawaii contains ancient burial grounds, thus making it impossible so far to get any permits to do any kind of building. I met maybe half a dozen couples last week that were all current Welk owners but had never been to Cabo. They were all saying that they couldn't wait to come back. It's already getting more difficult to book time here at this resort, and with more people discovering the resort weekly, IMHO, adding the 4th building would not only relieve some of the booking congestion, but it would also generate that much more revenue a lot faster than what it would take to get anything built in Hawaii. Other than that, I've already got my next trips planned for next May, and probably October as well, when I'll be able to spend time with my family.
We hope you remember your recent nine days with us forever! It's great to hear that you loved our staff and service and we appreciate all of your positive and constructive input. We hope to see you again soon.
I went to the Welk Resort for the first time on an exchange with RCI and have been going there since 2005. We mostly go to their location in Escondido and the place is nice. It’s clean and everything’s always updated and they do a really good job with that. Their pools are nice too. Another nice benefit that we have with them is that we can trade too and we appreciate Welk Resort being able to do that with us. We have a timeshare at Capistrano Beach SurfSide resort on the beach in Orange County and we like going there. Then, they became part of Grand Pacific Resorts, so now, I can book a week of my Welk Resort, do a trade fee and just get it to Grand Pacific. Then I can go and see some really nice coastal places in Hawaii.
We have 540,000 points and it’s about enough for us to do what we need to do with our family. But they’re always trying to get us to buy more and they’re pretty persistent about it. They hammer us when we tell them no and that we don’t really wanna buy anything more but that's the only bit of dissatisfaction I have with them. Other than that, I’m happy with Welk and we actually are gonna go to their Cabo location in November. You should check Welk Resort out if you wanna take vacations. However, it is an investment and we invested quite a bit of money into it, so it’s a long-term thing for us. If you just wanna do a vacation and go somewhere once every couple of years, it’s not something you should do. But we needed to be able to take vacations every year, so Welk Resort Group has been good for us and I would recommend them.
Thank you for your review, Michael! We're delighted that you love our on-site activities and our timeshare opportunities. Thank you for letting us know what keeps bringing you back.
We were at the state fair and they Welk Resort had a booth there. They told us that if we just sat in on it, we would get a trip to Hawaii. We’ve been to a few of their property choices and they’re nice. We really like them. Plus their reps seemed friendly. They weren’t too pushy but they walk you through everything, like how much things cost. I feel like they probably do over inflate their prices a little bit when they’re talking about how much things really do cost, but that’s probably their selling point on it.
They’re gonna tell you how much something costs at the highest peak that it would sell for. It’s like whenever there’s a drug bust for police, they tell you how much they got if they were to sell it out individually and for A-plus material. Also it was like whenever we went to Serena del Mar, they would tell us it was gonna cost thousands of dollars to go there for a week but if you do it at the right time, you can find it on Expedia for maybe $300 a night. I understand how they go about explaining it but that still doesn’t take away from the value that I see in the actual property.
Also whenever they do the owner updates they say it’s only gonna take an hour and a half, but that’s a straight up lie. It ends up being like three hours. So if they could really adhere to that hour and a half that they say it is, that would be nice. But I understand that they’re doing their thing. Nevertheless, we like Welks. We think it’s a good deal. If you wanna try to vacation, do it outright. It doesn’t work for everybody. Everybody has to find their own little way of doing things but for us it seems to work. I might end up saving money in the long run doing it.
- 1,781,268 reviews on ConsumerAffairs are verified.
- We require contact information to ensure our reviewers are real.
- We use intelligent software that helps us maintain the integrity of reviews.
- Our moderators read all reviews to verify quality and helpfulness.
For more information about reviews on ConsumerAffairs.com please visit our FAQ.
Do yourself a favor and stay far away from this timeshare group. They have smooth talking, sharp-looking sales people that share their wonderful stories about traveling the world, meeting different people, and beautiful places you HAVE to go see once you pay your timeshare. Not only that, they offer you "free" airfare as gifts to convince you to buy a timeshare. However, my husband and I have been owners for over a year and have watched the rates at Northstar Resort (where we purchased), ready to take advantage of our new home away from home. We were told we would have enough points for a week's stay and they even showed us the room. Well, not once during the last year have the rates dipped into our point range.
We purchased points to use in exchange for a week's stay and the points we purchased aren't even enough. Those gifts are not free, you still have to pay hundreds of dollars for taxes and they have guidelines that make it very difficult to take advantage of the gifts. We were gifted airfare for 3 different destinations and we have only been able to redeem one of them (the trip hasn't happened yet, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there will be no other issues). I don't recommend this company; they are very sneaky in the way they handle their business. They say they are very accommodating, but when it comes time to use your timeshare or gifts, they hit you with regulations.
I liked the amenities that the different facilities that Welk has throughout and beyond the country. I’ve been with them for seven years and the check-in procedures have been very good but I’ve had a little bit of unpleasant experiences with the owner’s lounge where they try to sell you more timeshare. That has not been pleasant. As soon as there was an indication that we were not interested in buying more timeshare, they wanna cut it off as quickly as they could and get on to the next customer who might be more willing to buy more timeshare in the company.
Welk Resort deceptive and exploitative. We were invited to tour a Welk Resort facility. After touring, we initially declined the opportunity to purchase as being of questionable value to our family. After a series of high-pressure tactics, and an insistence that if we were not satisfied we could sell the membership as a valuable asset, so we purchased a membership.
A little over a year later, we tried to schedule vacations to make use our membership. Despite advertisements of time available, there was no availability. When we attempted to use the exchange program, there was also no availability for our timeframe or locations of interest. We investigated and discovered that the resale value was little to none, and accommodations are available without membership at similar rates to the ongoing "maintenance fees".
We approached Welk regarding a sell-back of the timeshare, only to be told that we had to pay it off at full first, and that our perception of minimal resale value was correct. This "product" has had no value to us as consumers. We have spent $6163 to date, and received no value. Welk is demanding an additional $12,334.32 in capital payout of the timeshare, in addition to ongoing maintenance fees of $1222.50, for a product that we consider to have been marketed fraudulently.
They are threatening to turn the loan for the capital over to collections to ruin our credit rating, which we need to remain clear for financing our children's education. They have already turned over the maintenance fees to a collection agency. Welk fraudulently represented that this asset has capital value, which it does not, and had no interest in ensuring that we receive value for our membership. They are interested only in making the sale, and ensuring they get your money with no real obligation on their part. Don't fall prey to their dishonest scheme.
My daughter booked Welk Resort for us and we had a nice day. The people we dealt with were all friendly and professional and everything was clean. It's a beautiful and well-maintained place. There were lots to do and we had a great experience.
Not enough information is shared when we purchase additional time. Such as to use RCI we must prepay a year's dues in advance. I have had 2 bad experiences this past year, one in San Diego and one in Palm Springs.
The rooming at Welk Resorts was good. However, the food was very expensive at the resort and not as tasty as I would have hoped. Also, my bathtub was broken which had me a little frustrated. Still, I fixed it and other than that issue, the whole room was really nice. My wife and I enjoyed it. Additionally, Welk's team was very friendly and welcoming. Their team members were all really good and I like all of them.
1. Everything is great until you sign a contract and go for a second visit. Website is not easy to use. They have made a science out of making it difficult to book resorts.
2. Do not waste your time in going to the member "update". If you make it very clear that you do not and will not buy anything else, they still provide the high pressure sale. When you stop them the sales staff gets hateful. The only beneficial thing that we learned at our owner update was that the original salesman lied to us. I will never go to another update again.
3. The resorts are nice, but they do a very good job of making your membership as difficult as possible to use. Customer service is very poor and they get hateful when questioned.
4. If we could turn back the clock, we would have never bought into Welk Resorts. It's a legal scam! If you ignore our recommendation of not buying and buy anyway, take pictures and keep copies of all notes, sketches, etc. of their original presentation. It did come in handy for us.
Dear Future Consumers, If you are doing research wondering if you should invest in Welk Resort Time Shares please read my review and I will save you the time and effort/money in looking further into this decision. Instead of writing a very long review I will make this exceptionally simple. My family's invested level is the 2nd tier. There is only one tier above mine. I, in fact, doubled my investment to reach this level. At the time I signed the paperwork I was told that I "should never have any problems reserving the week I wanted at the resort I wanted because I owned this level of ownership." Well that is Wrong. Apparently all the inventory gets booked by the tier above mine.
Please note... I called the reservation line and was told I called "too early" I needed to call back. It was at that point that I find out that all the inventory was taken. If I had know this was going to be the case.... obviously I would have explored other companies that have larger inventory and certainly better customer support. Needles to say I have been the person contacting their managers (I am conducting 88% - 90% of the follow up). Please choose wisely and do A lot of research.
Very clean, very nice. Though we understand it is a family unit, we had great difficulty in enjoying a couple of nights due to the noise level from a room next door. Once moved, they were placed directly above us and the noise continued. We want to enjoy the quiet away from the noise when on our vacation. Everything else was super nice.
Having a lot of issues w/ RCI on points availability of booking. Needed to have Joyce in member services to assist us to straining out some of concerns... still no satisfied since Welks have encourage their use over Interval. My wife Beatriz ** is very concerned and frustrated dealing with Welks and RCI.
In November 2018 we brought two couples with us to the NorthStar Lodge. The staff was excellent! The Escape Room was a blast! Being between seasons we knew that not all of the amenities would be available. We enjoyed the movies and popcorn! Everyone had a fun time. The only negative I have, which cost two stars in the rating, was that after having hyped Welk Resorts to our friends, it was a bit of a let down that we were placed in a older unit which should be on the list for a refresh.
The resort had a beautiful view of the ocean and Land's End. The room was comfortable, clean, modern, and spacious. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The private beach was heaven. It would have been nice to have additional food options besides the one restaurant.
The hotel was clean, fun and modernly decorated. The one issue we had was our check-in agent wrote the wrong building on our key/map so we were on a wild goose chase but finally found our room. Would definitely return, the kids loved the water slide.
Our family has enjoyed the Welk Escondido resort for the past 30 years. It has become a tradition that is almost second to none as intentional time at a location of excellence. The facilities provide the opportunity to fix our own meals or have special meals out and about. The activities available on site are excellent, be it golf, swimming, tennis, working out, or craft/artwork.
Unfortunately, the unit we were checked into had bugs. I had to go speak with the front desk twice in order to get any action. Staff didn't offer apology or concern. Only ice machine was in the other building and required us to go into the parking garage. Would have liked in building or in room ice available. Kids club was excellent and the staff in that room was super helpful, energized and fun.
I cannot imagine going to Branson and not staying at the Welk Resort. I have been booking there since 1999 and my stays are somewhere around 24 visits. The resort is conveniently located but, in a location that is away from the traffic and noise. It is a beautiful, comfortable and affordable hotel with an amazing staff! Darin, Doug, Chris, Susan, and Valerie are like my family. The food in the restaurant is wonderful especially that breakfast buffet! I do not hesitate to recommend the Branson Welk Resort and personally, hey guys I will see you in Nov!
Love our fixed Villa unit in Escondido. Hate the pressure to attend a high-pressure sales presentation where we were belittled because we didn’t want to buy more. We are on fixed income. Want choice to simply pick up parking pass at check-in desk.
Welk Resorts/Fast Track Promotions is a bogus company. My husband and I attended the 2 hour consultation at North Star in Tahoe in November 2017. We were given a voucher for a 3 night stay at the Lakeside Inn & Casino in Tahoe. It is now May 2019 and we finally got a weekend accepted after being denied 8 times... It’s been over a year and a half. I call the hotel a week before our stay to make sure that FTP made our reservations. The reservations were there.
Now I’m here at the counter to check in and the front desk attendant said that my room was cancelled by FTP 4 days ago. I received no phone call from Welk or FTP. My husband and I drove over 4 hours to get here. They tried offering us a free 7 night stay in Mexico. Thank goodness we said no. Can you imagine paying for a flight and then showing up to your hotel in Mexico only to find out your reservations have been canceled by the company.
My husband and I went on their tour and to experience some freebies. It's impossible to book with their "free" vacation we never got to take advantage of. We ended up giving them $16,000 and purchased a time share with the agreement of paying $1,200 every other year for maintenance fees. My husband and I both have experience loss of jobs since giving them all this money. We have never been able to afford a vacation afterwards and asked them to cancel back in 2017. It is now May 1, 2019 and we are still not cancelled and they have put us in collections due to not being able to pay the maintenance fee, again we were supposed to be cancelled back in 2017. Please do not go on their tours, do not purchase with them. They are scam artists and will mess up your credit to get more and more and more money out of you. Would have given them 0 stars but 1 was the least option.
The Welk Resort conned me into attending this timeshare presentation under the guise that I was visiting a wedding venue - I had recently gotten engaged and they had set up a booth at a wedding expo. When I arrived it turned out it wasn't a wedding venue at all but a presentation to buy an overly expensive vacation product. My fiance and I decided to sit through it because the free trip though short sounded pretty great. I followed all the instructions to get the free vacation and left my deposit on the trip. Well a couple months later third party company they hire to give away the promotion closes and doesn't say anything to people like me left in the lurch. Welk Resort also won't take responsibility. Who knows how many people they've robbed!
We went up to Welk Resort for a vacation with my two brothers and we were there around five days. We also had tickets for a show. The sellers were fine and the price was very reasonable, and I was surprised how reasonable it was. If you book the show through the hotel, your ticket prices were about half. The hotel was fine and everything was perfect. The accommodations were perfect and I can't whine about them at all. The staff was very helpful. I had two brothers and their wives and everything went off without a hitch.
However, the sales was awfully high-pressured. They didn't take no for an answer really well. I asked specific questions, but they never were answered. Finally, we were staring down for two hours when we finally just got up and left. It got bent out of shape that we didn't wanna purchase. We had one young kid who was helping us for an hour and fifteen, then, all of a sudden, his boss came in and turned up the heat, and we did not appreciate it at all. I was very dissatisfied with my experience.
My wife and I heard about Welk Resorts and thought we’d try it. We stayed there and their people were excellent. Their professionalism and knowledge couldn’t be any better. We went down and stayed at Lawrence Welk twice now. The place was just the way it was laid out. It was very quiet and we had a nice time there. It’s not like a lot of places where it’s noisy and the drunks are running up and down the hallways.
I stayed in a hotel with the Welk Resort Group but they didn't have a room for us the last night we needed one, so they let us stay in the timeshare portion for one night. The reps were wonderful. They were very helpful, they listened to what we needed, and they did their best to accommodate us. We have nothing but good things to think about it and to say about it. When we stayed in Timber Ridge, that was absolutely wonderful and my sister didn't wanna leave it. The rooms, for the price, are very good as well.
Welk Resorts has very nice rental property choices and we rented one. It was convenient at the time and making the reservation was very easy. I liked the rooms and the suite that we had was very nice. It was a good experience.
I have a family that works at Welk Resorts Group so I chose to rent from them. The property was excellent. I liked that it was neat and clean.
Welk Resort Group expert review by Lisa Ann Schreier
Welk Resorts is a company that was founded in 1964 by Lawrence Welk. The company is known for providing upscale, luxury resort and hotel accommodations, and it has properties in Escondido, Palm Springs, Cabo San Lucas and Branson.
Selection of properties: The properties associated with the Welk Group Resorts are located in destinations known for great activities, landscapes and entertainment.
Flexible ownership options: The company offers customers a range of ownership options, so they can choose the purchase plan that best works for their schedule and budget.
Villa rentals: The properties that the company rents are villas, so guests have large size accommodations when they use their timeshare.
Online fee payments: Welk Resorts offers owners the ability to easily pay their annual fees online, making the process simple and convenient.
Platinum points program: The company has a platinum points program, which offers users the ability to take advantage of benefits the more they use their timeshare.
Best for: Large families, people who want a luxury vacation property and young professionals with disposable income.
Lisa Ann Schreier has been involved in the timeshare community since 1998. She is the author of, ‘Surviving A Timeshare Presentation...Confessions From The Sales Table’ and ‘Timeshare Vacations For Dummies.’ In addition to her blog, The Timeshare Crusader she is also the lead timeshare advocate at Elliott.org.
Welk Resort Group Company Information
- Social media:
- Company Name:
- Welk Resort Group
- Company Type:
- Private
- Year Founded:
- 1964
- Address:
- 300 Rancheros Drive
- City:
- San Marcos
- State/Province:
- CA
- Postal Code:
- 92069
- Country:
- United States
- Website:
- welkresorts.com