Vidanta Upgrade Questions

[kckreardon]

Considering upgrading our Grand Bliss studio to Grand Luxxe Loft Studio. Need advice. We purchased the GB in 2013 with no maintenance fee unless use and a 6x upgrade to a 1 bedroom. This was without "trading in" other timeshares. Suffered through a sales presentation in Riviera Maya last year that ended with a Grand Luxxe Loft studio offered to us. We were wiped out after nearly 5 hours and the deal continuing to change so we walked away.

Considering an upgrade during an upcoming trip to NV. Would like to give them an existing non-vidanta timeshare to get rid of. We have seen mixed results on success in getting them to dispose of an existing timeshare and wondering if anyone has had a positive experience. Also curious to know what should be negotiated for in a potential upgrade and if anyone is willing to share a target price. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

What TS do you wish to eliminate from your ownership . It may be simpler to give away on TUG .
Then - if / when you are negotiating with Vidanta it simplifies the process .

All the SFX Vida weeks , Vida Lifestyles , Ambassador certificates etc make it complicated enough
without " who pays what " on a trade in .
There are various levels of Grand Luxe to sort out as well .

With Vidanta - you must buy from sales - read the contract - and use the 5 day rescind period
to negotiate with Member Services to iron out ALL the details .

You can thereby tailor the contract to meet YOUR goals .
This could take 2-3 full or partial days of your visit .

 

[kckreardon]

Thanks for the response and advice. It is a HGVC Valdoro ski week. It has some value but we now own a condo in the area and no longer need it.

 

[TUGBrian]

Im not sure ive ever read about a successful "trade in deal" offered by a mexican timeshare sales department.

every time the details come out, the owner either ends up owing two timeshares...or paid an absolutely ridiculous amount for the "Trade".

 

[pittle]

I can only tell you about our upgrade. We did this in Nuevo in 2013, so many things are different now.

First of all, before we went to the meeting, we figured out how much money we were obligated for with our current 4 Mayan Palace and 1 Grand Mayan contract. We had a total of 6 Mayan World weeks since the Grand Mayan contract was for 2 weeks. Each of these contracts had the 5 year Renovation Fee, and one still had the mandatory MF – the others were pay if you go. Once we had that number calculated, we decided that we would consider upgrading if the cost to upgrade was close to that and if we could keep our original Senior Certificates. (Those are a big deal when you are getting close to using them.)

We also no longer needed 6 weeks a year because we have purchased some other timeshares that we go to and not as many family members travel with us now. We moved to Arizona and it was not necessary to go somewhere warm in February. When we lived in Kansas, we went at least 3 weeks in February.

When we went to the meeting they started high and we kept saying no. By the time the 3rd Manager talked to us, his offer was very close to what we knew we would be spending for all our Reno fees. This was for 2 weeks of 2-bedroom Grand Luxxe. They agreed to keep us at the equivalent of the Profile A status we had and the original terms for Senior Certificates.

In 2014, we stayed at the Grand Luxxe in NV and went to the “informational meeting” and they tried to get us to buy another week. That cost was astronomical and we said no thanks and left after 2 hours

One thing you need to watch out for is the Maintenance Fees. When they were going to re-write our contract for 3 units, the MF were about $300 per week higher. They can start anywhere on a new contract for MF, so people who bought GL as pre-construction pay significantly less than those who bought in 2013 and those of us who bought in 2013 pay less than those who buy now. (Even with the 5% annual increase.) I learned this with all the resale weeks that we had – the MF were different according to when the contract was written for the same size unit.

The GL Loft will be significantly higher than the GB Studio. Just know how much you are willing to pay before you go to the meeting. You have a general idea what they are going to ask for since you went last year.

As for the “trade-in”, they will give you a really inflated price for that toward the cost of your new unit, but you could probably get the same price without the trade-in. They often give them back or assign it to a company that will sell it – you have to pay for the fee and the company may not sell it. Timeshares do not have any value. We bought our first MP from them in 1999 and then I bought many others on eBay for basically the cost of the transfer fees.

 

[richontug]

We bought into Mayan Palace RM several years ago. We have never been back.
We have been to Grand Luxxe for 3 weeks in the last 2 years through SFX.
It is a fantastic resort. We have been to upgrade presentations. Offers dropped 10 fold plus while we refused.
My main factors for not upgrading:
Concerns that there is limited availability for owners. (I would like current owners to comment on this)
MF are high, rental fees not much more.
I will continue to visit through SFX or rental.

 

[kckreardon]

Thanks to you all for this advice and insight. I really appreciate it. Sounds like I shouldn't count on them actually getting rid of our Valdoro timeshare. I might just leave that out of the negotiation altogether. Really looking forward to seeing the latest developments at NV.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Thanks to you all for this advice and insight. I really appreciate it. Sounds like I shouldn't count on them actually getting rid of our Valdoro timeshare. I might just leave that out of the negotiation altogether. Really looking forward to seeing the latest developments at NV.

I would leave it out.

If it has some value - say $ 2000 - you will essentially get nothing for it .

If it has $ 0
value , the transfer company has to be paid to put it on ebay etc for $ 1 - with all fees paid . ( either by you or Vidanta) If it is a net $ 10 K product like " The Collections "
or an exit package - you pay .

The trade in process is mostly sales smoke & mirrors to overcome the objections of someone who says " I don't need another Timeshare . " OK - we can take a trade in "Then they hook you with the - no MF unless you use .
IMO - their sales closing rate is quite good as a result,.

If you decide to negotiate an upgrade - make sure you read Mikenk prior posts.
He has posted a lot of really good information on Vidanta & negotiating with Member Sevices in the 5 day rescind window .

1)Since the contracts are 10'years ( registered week ) renewable 10 times as residence weeks - make sure you negotiate an addendum that at the 10 year renewal one of the weeks takes on all the rights & benefits of a registered week .

2) Make sure your ARP is at least 12 months . That way you can reserve peak Feb / March snowbird season . The profile A that Phyllis refers to was a 12 month ARP, on Mayan Palace units when most contracts were 6 months ( like mine ) When they upgraded to GL they made sure to negotiate that it continued in the new contract .

Have fun - if you go for it .

 

[PigsDad]

A HGVC Valdoro ski week is definitely worth some very good money. Depending on the size and which week, it could be worth in the $10's of thousands, so I would definitely not give it away to Vidanta or anyone else. You could inquire on the HGVC forum here for its worth if you are interested in selling.

Kurt

 

[pianoetudes]

Would like to give them an existing non-vidanta timeshare to get rid of

I do not recommend to give your HGVC. Vidanta will use third party company to sell your HGVC. I think the third party is charging higher fee and you pay the fee upfront (not after it is sold).

The idea of getting huge discount by giving away your timeshare is very murky.

 

[saabman]

Thanks for the response and advice. It is a HGVC Valdoro ski week. It has some value but we now own a condo in the area and no longer need it.

Check out ebay for Breck Valdoro sold units. Three just recently from $4K-5K. You won't need to give your unit away.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

I do not recommend to give your HGVC. Vidanta will use third party company to sell your HGVC. I think the third party is charging higher fee and you pay the fee upfront (not after it is sold).

The idea of getting huge discount by giving away your timeshare is very murky.

************
Agree -

- Vidanta does not want your timeshare . The trade in concept (IMO) was primarily created to turn "no " into "yes" when being pitched theirs .
AND it works .

that said - you can likely negotiate just as good a deal without a trade in .

It may require rescinding the next day - in order to come to a "final" contract with the Member Services team
( and a decent amount of your dedicated time to get it right - you have the 5 days of control - because you can rescind . )

 

[ccwu]

Thanks to you all for this advice and insight. I really appreciate it. Sounds like I shouldn't count on them actually getting rid of our Valdoro timeshare. I might just leave that out of the negotiation altogether. Really looking forward to seeing the latest developments at NV.

We were there in the presentation on 5/8/2017 during our two weeks stay in Grand Luxxe. They offered us about $300,000 for my HGVC premier elite 40,000 points toward the original Grand Luxxe $800,000 offer. We love our HGVC so we flatly decline it. They actually lower the price finally to $79,000 for Grand Luxxe. We rejected it. With or without your timeshare trade in, it does not affect much of the bottom price. I wrote the experience in here too.

 

[kckreardon]

Thanks again to everyone for the excellent advice. We arrive on Sunday and are looking forward to a great week in Nuevo! I will report back if we decide to pursue an upgrade.