All Inclusive Resorts

[Mongoose]

Do people actually pay the crazy high all inclusive resort fees. I was looking at one on RCI and the fees for 2 people were nearly $7K for 7 days plus the exchange fees and your deposited week. I can't imagine getting $500 per day per person out of an all inclusive. What activities would justify this? What am I missing?

 

[Ty1on]

The trick is to use an online travel agency to compare. We have found in general that OTAs are a better value than exchanges, but there have been instances where the exchange was slightly lower than OTA. We exclude points cost in that calculation because we consider it sunk.

 

[jp10558]

The trick is to use an online travel agency to compare. We have found in general that OTAs are a better value than exchanges, but there have been instances where the exchange was slightly lower than OTA. We exclude points cost in that calculation because we coniser it sunk.

What is an OTA? Or where are you looking?

 

[jp10558]

Do people actually pay the crazy high all inclusive resort fees. I was looking at one on RCI and the fees for 2 people were nearly $7K for 7 days plus the exchange fees and your deposited week. I can't imagine getting $500 per day per person out of an all inclusive. What activities would justify this? What am I missing?

I can't imagine getting $500 per person per day. Even the expensive places we just went in Myrtle Beach were at most $100 a person for dinner, so even if we tried, we'd be at something like $50 per person for breakfast, $75 for lunch and $100 for dinner. I'm not sure what else we'd do - The most expensive tickets I'd seen recently for anything I MIGHT do was $150 and so I'm working to hit $375 for a person for about the most expensive day I can imagine. Maybe Disney would put you over, but that's not Mexico.

 

[Ty1on]

I can't imagine getting $500 per person per day. Even the expensive places we just went in Myrtle Beach were at most $100 a person for dinner, so even if we tried, we'd be at something like $50 per person for breakfast, $75 for lunch and $100 for dinner. I'm not sure what else we'd do - The most expensive tickets I'd seen recently for anything I MIGHT do was $150 and so I'm working to hit $375 for a person for about the most expensive day I can imagine. Maybe Disney would put you over, but that's not Mexico.

A place like Grand Velas charges and gets that kind of money, even through OTA.

 

[Ty1on]

Online
Travel
Agency

OTA

 

[Mongoose]

I can't imagine getting $500 per person per day. Even the expensive places we just went in Myrtle Beach were at most $100 a person for dinner, so even if we tried, we'd be at something like $50 per person for breakfast, $75 for lunch and $100 for dinner. I'm not sure what else we'd do - The most expensive tickets I'd seen recently for anything I MIGHT do was $150 and so I'm working to hit $375 for a person for about the most expensive day I can imagine. Maybe Disney would put you over, but that's not Mexico.

I'm thinking some major amenities and excursions would have to be included.

 

[PigsDad]

A lot of drinking. At $15-20/drink, they can add up quickly. I couldn't do it, but I'm sure there are some that can.

Kurt

 

[jp10558]

Online
Travel
Agency

OTA

I'm apparently just a n00b here, but what is an Online Travel Agency? Do I just google that or are there ones that are "good"? What do they do for you that IDK, Expedia doesn't?

 

[Mongoose]

A lot of drinking. At $15-20/drink, they can add up quickly. I couldn't do it, but I'm sure there are some that can.

Kurt

In an old job I had insight into F&B costs in all inclusive. It was less than $12 per day in the Caribbean. The biggest issues were alcohol poisoning and employees stealing the imported food and substituting it for local. I actually had a picture I took of a skinned canine in a meat cooler.

 

[CaliSunshine]

Expedia is an online travel agency, at least in the original definition.

Anyways, I think what the deal is with a lot of these massive AI fees is they're preying on folks who don't read the fine print carefully. So, timeshare traveler goes to Mexico for the first time, sees a nice resort, "Hey honey, guess what? It's all inclusive." Flies, gets a rental car, drives to the hotel, finds it, and gets hit at the front desk: "Hi sir, please give us a credit card to charge 7,000 dollars for your stay." "Say what?" "7,000, it's in the fine print." "But, but, but, that's more than we paid for the entire vacation." "No worries, sir, if you sign up for a sales presentation, only 90 minutes, I'll cut it in half."

 

[CaliSunshine]

And it probably makes the grift easier when they are at the presentation:

"Beautiful resort, no?"
"Yes, but."
"All you can drink right? Here, have another!"
"Sure, but..."
"And wonderful food, right?"
"Yeah, but we can't come back again. 7000 dollars for a week of food and drink! I'd be in a hospital trying to drink that much."
"Ah, no problem, amigo. See, that 7000 dollars is only because you exchanged here. If you own here, you'd save 5000 dollars in all inclusive fees every time you came."
"Really?"
"Yup, owners only pay 2000. So in a sense, this package I'm selling you, would pay for itself after only 5 visits!"
"Wow! That sounds like a great deal. Honey, what do you say? Only 25K and we could come here for the next 20 years!"

 

[WorldT]

An example of what I like to call "Fuzzy math". People fall for it all the time.

 

[Luvtoride]

I would not book an all-inclusive through RCE and would only go to an All-inclusive from a reputable provider like the Hyatt Secrets (adults only) and Dreams (families) resorts. The logistics/ offerings of all-inclusives are much different than a regular time-share and they are more efficient to operate. I'm not "pushing" Hyatt, but if you check out some of their all-inclusives in Cancun for example you will find them quite reasonable (much less than $500 PP/day) and great properties and amenities.

 

[WorldT]

To each one according to their own. I don't eat or drink enough to justify any all inclusive for my family. Since I always have a rental car in Mexico, I am able to eat what I want, where I want, and when I want.

 

[CaliSunshine]

An example of what I like to call "Fuzzy math". People fall for it all the time.

Honestly, it's kind of brilliant. These Mexican timeshares aren't putting developer inventory into exchanges to send their "employee of the month" to Massanutten in a 2 bedroom in shoulder season. They're probably getting a very minimal, not even enough to quite cover expenses, cash payment from Interval and RCI and the main reason they do it at all is to get fresh meat for their sales teams.

So would they rather sell to a TUGger who's eplusing for the best possible trade, or someone who doesn't even bother to read the fine print?

 

[jwalk03]

Trading in RCI (or Interval) into a mandatory AI is always a terrible deal. If you want to book an AI check through places like Apple Vacations, Costco Travel, Southwest Vacations, Expedia, etc. You will find much better deals.

 

[Ty1on]

Expedia is an online travel agency, at least in the original definition.

I like to use booking.com. Also, we like the Barcelo/Occidental resorts for all inclusives, and my wife registered as a "member" on their website (completely free to do) and we get a 5 or 10 percent discount on their rates.

Also, if you can stomach a mandatory sales pitch, check out BookVIP.com. Really good deals there, with a major string attached (sitting through that hard sell).

As far as eating local, we enjoyed doing that when we stayed at El Cid on Cozumel, but when we are in Nuevo Vallarta (I'm not calling it N Nayarit yet), and we are 1-in-3'd out of Vidanta, we really prefer AIs, it is just simpler if more expensive. Also, nearly all the resorts there are AI mandatory.

 

[easyrider]

It's getting hard to find AI not required in Mexico. The price looks good with RCI until the AI is included. I looked at a unit at our resort and it was $11,000 for the week because of AI. The MF is about $850. I doubt that anyone does this.

Bill