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Anfi del Mar

If you have been to Gran Canaria, and especially on the south side of the island, you’ve probably heard of Anfi del Mar. Many people associates timeshare with something negative. I also belonged to that category at that time a few years ago. In 2002 my parents traveled to Gran Canaria on holiday, and one evening my mother called me and asked if I could help her with a transfer to her account. They had in fact signed a contract at the “Lyng Centre,” which many people called Anfi del Mar in the early years. My parents had gone in the timeshare trap…I thought.

I knew that the contract gave them 10 days to change their mind, so I thought I could persuade them to get out of the deal as soon as they get home. But they did not listen to me! Instead, they convinced me to travel to Anfi del Mar and see for myself. Then, in February the following year, I was on the plane to Gran Canaria for the first time. A place I never really wanted to go.

Bjorn Lyng – honorary citizen of Gran Canaria

I picked up my baggage, jumped into a taxi and said… I’m going to Anfi del Mar. The taxi driver suddenly looked at me with more respect, took my suitcase and opened the door for me. Then he started to tell me about Bjorn Lyng and all he had contributed to the island. And praised the Anfi del Mar project far into the clouds.

Half an hour later I stood at the reception at the Monte Anfi, waiting to check-in. I have to say that I was slightly impressed by the place, it was the first time I stayed at a place that luxurious. The apartment was delicious and I had to call home and say…ok, I’ll admit that I like this place.

To make a long story short, this was the first of many trips to Gran Canaria. Two years after my parents bought their share, I also bought a share. That way we became member of Anfi Vacation Club and could take advantage of their points system. The points system serves as a kind of account, which each year inserted a number of points you can allocate as you wish.

How the system works

We, I and my better half, have since then upgraded our membership several times, we have a total of five weeks available each year, or in other words, approximately 46,000 points available per year. These points can be used in several ways. There are lot of other places in the world where you can use these points. And you can also choose different solutions inside the Anfi system. We have invited our parents down a few times and then we choose to spend our points on two two-bedroom apartments for two weeks. A two-bedroom costs about 10 to 12,000 points per week. However, if we choose to travel alone one year, we can choose a studio or one-bedroom apartment to 4000-6000 points. If we could stay away from work that long, we could have been at Anfi del Mar in 10-12 weeks with the last option.

The points can be used as said in many other places than on Gran Canaria and Anfi del Mar. A few years ago we used points for a week in London, at a place called Odessa Wharf. Now this summer we have been in Paris and paid both the hotel and a two-day pass to Disneyland with points. You also have the opportunity to exchange weeks in the RCI system, the world’s largest time-share organization. I’m not sure how many places that are associated with RCI, but the directory was about the size of a phone book.

From skeptic to a “believer”

If you have read this far, you’ve probably understood that my skepticism about timeshare is far gone. That is, there are timeshare sellers to stay far away from, but when it comes to Anfi del Mar, I have no objections anymore.

One thing I can say for sure, and that is with a membership in the Anfi Vacation Club, you have the opportunity to travel many places in the world and stay at the finest hotels at half price or even less. If you’re wondering if I have some profits to write about the place, I have not. I just want to say that the Anfi del Mar and Anfi Tauro do not deserve to be compared with time-share projects that are engaged in fraud. We have been members for almost 8 years now and have no plans to sell our shares! But we are very much looking forward to our next vacation at Anfi del Mar.