The Resort Development Organisation (RDO) Code of Conduct

RDO was founded with the aim to enforce strong business ethics, promote transparent company practices and to foster rigorous adherence to legislation (Directive 94/47/EC, later replaced by Directive 2008/122/EC). The timeshare industry suffered a bad reputation in the past due to misleading and aggressive selling methods. Fraudulent practices have not been fully eradicated in this holiday industry. The primary objective of the code of conduct is to promote strong ethical standards and the delivery of high quality service. The code precludes members from using aggressive selling techniques and requires member companies to provide clear evidence that a robust complaint handling process exists at the resort.

Time share businesses.

On 1st January 2010 RDO’s new Code of Conduct came into force, the new Code reflects changes in the industry and legislation such as the EU Timeshare Directive, Rome 1, and the Unfair Commercial Practices Legislation which made certain aspects of the old Code obsolete. The new Code is accompanied by an Alternative Dispute Resolution Scheme (ADR) which allows consumers to have a cost effective alternative form of redress, in addition to RDO’s free-of-charge complaint handling service.

Fees are paid by consumers and member organisations for the arbitration schemes. Level of fee depends on the amount claimed.

RDO’s free-of-charge complaint handling service. Complaints are sent to RDO, who then contacts relevant members and tries to handle them. If this is not satisfactory, the consumer is informed that the dispute may be resolved with an ADR-scheme (Alternative Dispute Resolution Scheme).

Compliance with best practice standards set by the Code is governed by so-called Administrative Procedures. RDO members have an excellent track record in complying with the Code. The Membership of a company can be suspended in response to non-compliance with the Code of Conduct.