New developments in the context of financial contingencies and legal liabilities in the timeshare sector in southern Gran Canaria, the most lucrative fractional holiday property market in Europe. The Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court, under the opinion of Justice Nuria Auxiliadora Orellana Cano, has issued an order agreeing to review the defense strategy of Anfi Sales SL, the marketing subsidiary of the Anfi Group, a tourism giant whose hotel and timeshare complexes dominate the coastal cliffs of the municipalities of Mogán and San Bartolomé de Tirajana.
The holiday accommodation giant is seeking to overturn an unfavorable ruling by the Provincial Court of Las Palmas issued in July 2024. That ruling upheld the nullity of a sales contract signed on July 4, 2013, requiring the return of the amounts paid by a retail buyer. The lower courts in Gran Canaria had determined that the contract was void due to the lack of clarity regarding its object, a violation linked to the business model of the so-called "floating suite" or floating super network season, a system that sells holiday periods without assigning a fixed week of the calendar or a specific apartment number.
The core of the legal dispute lies in the interpretation of Law 4/2012 on timeshare contracts. Anfi Sales SL argues in its appeal that the Provincial Court infringed the sole transitional provision of said legislation by rigidly applying the doctrine of nullity due to indeterminacy to contracts entered into after 2012, but linked to tourist complexes whose operating arrangements were legally established before the 1998 reforms.
For tour operators based in southern Gran Canaria, a destination that generates a substantial portion of the archipelago's leisure industry GDP, the Supreme Court's ruling represents a procedural lifeline after years of severe strain on the sector's balance sheets due to massive litigation driven by transnational law firms. The Supreme Court acknowledged the need to rule on this matter with the explicit objective of "clarifying, refining, or confirming" its own precedent, in direct reference to previous rulings issued in late September 2025.
The decision to admit the case has been made provisionally, subject to the final review that will be reflected in the Supreme Court's final ruling. The order establishes a non-extendable period of twenty days for the plaintiff's legal representatives to file their statement of opposition in Madrid, during which time the case file will be available for review at the First Chamber's Clerk's Office.
The outcome of this ordinary proceeding, which originally began in the Court of First Instance No. 2 of San Bartolomé de Tirajana under case number 1231/2019, will be closely watched by investment funds and hotel groups with interests in the accommodation sector in the south of the island. A potential relaxation of the Supreme Court's legal doctrine would limit the volume of retroactive claims that have threatened the corporate viability of timeshare resorts on the Canary coast over the past decade. Conversely, a confirmation of the annulment would safeguard the termination rights of retail consumers, effectively ending the floating contract models designed during the region's real estate boom.
