• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

ibnewt

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2012
Messages
7
Reaction score
1
Points
213
Location
SF Bay Area
Long time lurker on these forums and am thankful for all of the information on this site. Unfortunately, I found it after making our initial developer purchase from UVC in Cabo about 5 years ago. Have spent a lot of time on here learning how to best utilize our initial purchase (and subsequent resale purchases) and have been really happy with the results.

Just returned from a week at Grand Luxxe in Nuevo in a 1 bedroom via II etrade after deciding we did not want to do another Disney vacation with the kids. We decided to do the presentation against our better judgment, primarily for the offered room upgrade, from back of Tower 4 to the “ocean view” side, and the 10% discount since we intended to spend the bulk of our time at the resort and do not cook much if at all while on vacation. The upgraded room was actually a lagoon view (and on the first floor…) but was told no other rooms were available on the ocean view side because it was a very busy week.

Following breakfast we toured a few of the units at the Grand Bliss and made our way down to the sales floor for the Cirque video. Overall, we were very impressed with the quality of the properties and were also very intrigued by the Cirque relationship. After we had just sat down and were settling in our sales contact and the sales manager had a little conversation between themselves about running out of slots on available trade ins for our current properties but they would explain what they were talking about in more detail during our conversation. Their first offer was for a 2 bed GL, with trade in of our current properties (they can do that because of the tax credit I have seen referenced in other threads), which they explained were limited to the last few due to the success of the program, and first year credit for the ambassador program, it netted out to about $150K. I was kind of prepared for that but still was shocked at the amount. After a lot of back and forth it was down to $18K for a 2 bedroom at the Grand Mayan. We said thanks but no thanks and were then subjected to a couple of additional rounds of how can we get your business today… We told them they couldn’t, that we can pretty much do whatever we want to do with our current properties, including staying at GL, when they told us Vidanta was going to terminate all relationships with II, RCI, etc. which would mean we will not be able to exchange into Vidanta in the future. We told them there were plenty of other really nice properties in Mexico, including the UVC properties at which we currently own, thanked them for their time and thought we were on our way.

After leaving the sales floor, we returned to the Santuario and were subjected to additional sales pressure from the developer. They said they could offer us the GM 2 bedroom for $9000, with our trade ins because they did not have to pay the sales commissions if we bought directly from them and not the sales teams. We again politely declined when a final guy came in offering what appeared to be a RTU within a limited 150 day booking window for $2K plus use fees and $99 a year for their concierge service (which appeared to include subscriptions to II, RCI and SFX among others). This did not include the trade in of our current properties. We again passed, though my wife was tempted to say yes to just get out of there as our kids, who were along for the duration, were ready to get out to the pools.

All in all, we loved the Vidanta property in Nuevo and will definitely try to exchange again (or rent from current owners), though we will elect to skip the presentation in the future.
 

Karen G

Moderator
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
9,470
Reaction score
1,983
Points
749
Location
Henderson, NV
Resorts Owned
Once owned these: FirstFairway@Walden X 2; Lawai Beach; ManhattanClub; PuebloBonitoRose; 4 South Africa--now timeshare-free
Long time lurker on these forums and am thankful for all of the information on this site. . . .
All in all, we loved the Vidanta property in Nuevo and will definitely try to exchange again (or rent from current owners), though we will elect to skip the presentation in the future.

Congratulations on staying strong and resisting all the sales pressure!
 

Pandora67

TUG Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2016
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Phoenix Arizona
Resorts Owned
Orange Tree in Scottsdale AZ, Grand Mayan in Neuvo Vallarta
Just checking into Tugg. More questions and few answers from Pandora 67. After much research we now understand what we purchased when signing the buy out contract for Grand Mayan for five years. It seems we bought into Destinos Travel. Destinos Travel will book us into the Grand Mayan as owners. This became more clear in speaking with the Destinos group in Scottsdale AZ. It's something like Interval International, but more expensive. They offer all the international condos as promised, but they are under hotel headings, which is a bit underhanded. As far as Global contacting us or our timeshare, nothing happened going on 3 mos. We checked and it's still in our names. We simply paid our late 740.00 timeshare fees. As far as we are concerned if we paid 2017's fee it is still ours and they did not keep their promise. We will send nothing in writing. We are keeping it. I have no idea if this in any way voids any part of the contract or thousands in monies paid for the Grand Mayan contract. We did find in searching the contract, that they did give us an extra week which we hope to use in June. I have not responded to posts because I had nothing to add. My husband and I have a wait and see attitude. Has this happened to Tugg users before?
 

T-Dot-Traveller

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
4,644
Reaction score
3,592
Points
348
Location
Canada
Resorts Owned
Mayan Palace Regency
Taranova
Hi Pandora67,
Based on a few other TUG posts I believe Destinos has the relationship with Vidanta you described
and is sold at Vidanta as an " exit package "
I believe ( check with Destinos / and or Vidanta Member Services ) that you should not have to pay the $ 11 per person per day exchanger resort fee .

Use it and enjoy and probably keep your other TS since you are paying MF anyway
 

Pandora67

TUG Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2016
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Phoenix Arizona
Resorts Owned
Orange Tree in Scottsdale AZ, Grand Mayan in Neuvo Vallarta
T-Dot traveler. Now what is this new 11 dollar per guest fee no one told us about? This is on top of using the condo 2 bedroom for 1 week at 699.00? This just gets better and better! Destinos is our concierge and must be paid 99.00 a year for services. Is this like the Interval International exchange fee of I think 180-200 dollars which is an expected fee? Why do things have to get so convoluted? I would really prefer it all up front and in black and white. This Tug site is the only place to make sense of the chaos.
 

T-Dot-Traveller

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
4,644
Reaction score
3,592
Points
348
Location
Canada
Resorts Owned
Mayan Palace Regency
Taranova
RE : Per person / per day Exchanger Fee

THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO OWNERS - since you are accessing Grand Mayan / Vidanta as an owner via the contract Vidanta sold you , I would fully assume it does not apply to you.
Interesting that Destino is termed " concierge " .

It was instituted mid summer with II exchanges and in the Fall 2016 for RCI exchanges .
It was not a new fee , but rather a price change . Prior to the change it was a flat fee per exchange( not per person ) of $74 or so.

I think for you this gives more " value "to the contract -as the cost for an exchanger with 6
people in a 2 bedroom is $ 462 .

Note : NV and RM are $ 11 . Other Vidanta properties differ and are less $ .
.
 

Pandora67

TUG Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2016
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Phoenix Arizona
Resorts Owned
Orange Tree in Scottsdale AZ, Grand Mayan in Neuvo Vallarta
T-Dot Traveler: I take it if we trade to another Vidanta property we will be charged the $462 or thereabouts, for a 2 bedroom. It seems that they ring every cent from travelers. Example, Vegas. our two favorite places are Polo Towers + PT Villas, and The Grand Chateau. All have adequate parking. It seems the strip Casinos/Hotels will charge for parking when casino hopping. Bless UBER! We try to walk everywhere. Hotels charge a 20.00 dollar a night fee on top of the daily fee. This is yet another way to gouge the customer. I still bristle at luggage fees, especially if direct flights to your destination aren't available. American Airlines has introduced a no frills no carry on flight, even less frilly than their normal no frills coach seating. These are just ways to gouge a hard working public. We get less and less and are charged more and more. I wonder where it will end?
 

T-Dot-Traveller

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
4,644
Reaction score
3,592
Points
348
Location
Canada
Resorts Owned
Mayan Palace Regency
Taranova
Hi Pandora67,
IMO - because you were sold an ownership - you should NOT pay ( any exchanger fee) at any Vidanta
property when using Destinos as your concierge .

Where you would pay : is if you deposit your - Orange Tree Golf week into RCI and then use RCI to exchange into a Vidanta property . When you went last year there was a fee but I believe it was $ 74

The $ 462 is for 6 people / $ 11 x 7 days x 6 visitors .
If it is only you and your spouse then :
$ 11 x 7 days x 2 = $ 154

Nuevo Vallarta and Riviera Maya are $ 11 .
Other Vidanta locations are listed for less on the RCI website
.
 

Ty1on

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
5,119
Reaction score
1,952
Points
348
Also the fee is for adults only (I think they define that as 12+)
 
Top