# Sol Mellia Hotel Chain



## teamjd

I was just wondering why you don't include the Sol Melia Hotel chain timeshares in this section? I see reviews and inquiries in other sections (not many current ones at present) but they're there. Is it due to lack of member input, or does nobody but me know about it.


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## Monica

*Melia*

I'm an owner for Melia Playa Conchal in Costa Rica.  I'd like some information, also, about the Melia product.  Specifically, how does one get into Melia's for Christmas and New Years?  I'm trying to get into Gran Melia for Christmas or New Years, and can't find anything on this topic.  Can someone out there help me, please?


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## HDChrome

I, also, am a member of Melia Vacation Club. We own in Costa Rica. Did you know there is the "Sol Melia Vacation Club"(SMVC) and "Melia Vacation Club"(MVC)?  We are members of MVC. SMVC is expanding and doing great things. Melia Vacation Club(MVC) is stagnant.  Hoping they will add the Canary Island properties to the MVC like they have to SMVC. The properties are due to open in October.  My service company is Resorts Advantage and they suck!  As far as Christmas week you would be hard pressed to get anything during that week - the people that own paid a premium for that week when they bought their timeshare. You may find it for rent on TUG or put in a request in "wanted to rent". But, be prepared to pay big $$.


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## arlene22

This is the section for any hotel-based timeshares except Marriott. The reason for that, is that they are so big they warrant a whole forum unto themselves. 

As you have found out, if you just post a question here, it will be seen by owners in your system. Just 'cause we talk a lot about Starwood and Hilton doesn't mean we don't talk about others, too! 

I don't know anything about Sol/Melia Vacation Club, but I'm looking forward to learning more from your thread. You may also consider writing an article for the TUG advice section on the Melia Vacation Club, as there does not seem to be one for this topic yet.


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## teamjd

You have to have a "Prime" not "Gold" membership in order to get Christmas, Easter , New Years, or Holy Week.

Everytime I have been there, they have tried to upgrade me to "Prime" for about $6000   If you went to everyone of those holidays every year maybe, but for the occational trip your better off renting.

I've been with Melia Vacatiuon Club in Cancun for 10 years and have found them quite accomodating. I have to agree with you about Resorts Advantage the service company though. They don't seem to have the ability to make any decisions and are more order takers than a service company. 

An article is a good idea. I will look into it. I do know that they started an internal exchange program. I own at Gran Melia in Cancun. It allows me to do an internal trade for $20 at:

Paradisus • en Punta Cana, Melia Caribe Tropical, Melia Cozumel, Melia Panamá Canal, Melia Cabo Real, Melia Playa Conchal, Melia Azul Ixtapa, Melia Puerto Vallarta

I understand that where your home resort is determines your internal exchanges.

One of my complaints -The Gran Melia Cancun won't reopen until June, yet they wouldn't waive the $20 internal transfer fee to go somewhere else. That's really petty.


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## teamjd

From what I've gathered so far:

Melia Vacation Club  allows you to stay at your home resort and trade internally into other regional Sol Melia Resorts.

Sol Melia Vacation Club  appears to be a points based system that allows you to go to any of the Sol Melia Resorts world wide. I saw a chart on their website that gives a points break down for each resort, but I have no idea yet what it means. I have a call in to see about joining them. As soon as they call me I'll forward the details.

http://www.smvc.com/ for general info

-Dan


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## HDChrome

In my little bit of research of SMVC: yes it is based on a point system.  The resorts that are fee free to members are not all the Melia Hotel chain's collection, only a handful. Their Resort Collection has all the same resorts as MVC with the exception of the Canary Islands. They also have another category called the Urban Collection that have a few more offerings.  I've been going down to Costa Rica now for 7 years, in the past 6 years SMVC nor MVC has had a sales office there. As a matter of fact no timeshare service at all, like I found at their Puerto Vallerta property. At the Costa Rica property there are only 12 units allocated to timesharers. For owners it is difficult to get a date (i'm talking winter months) unless you call 11 months in advance. So now SMVC as I see it will also be booking these same units.  I really don't understand why they formed a whole new vacation club with almost the same name.  I'm quite interested in hearing what you find out about the new SMVC.  Do you ever get updates or correspondence from MVC? I don't - and that's my biggest complaint with them.  I call every so often to find out about new resorts that have been added.  I did sign up for the SMVC newsletter and get their updates via email.


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## ciscogizmo1

Talk about memories...  I stayed at Sol Melia hotel on my honeymoon.


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## teamjd

I called the SMVC number and here's what they said, There are two vacation clubs.

Melia Vacation Club is a one week timeshare club with a main resort where you joined and a limited selection of direct exchanges to other Melia Resorts in addition to RCI. I listed the direct exchanges connected to Gran Melia Cancun above. Check in/out is usually on Sat/Sun.

Sol Melia Vacation Club is a Globle Resort Club (my term). Your membership gets you points based on which resort that you join through. The points can be used for your resort stays, cruises, resturants, airline tickets, RCI exchanges and a few other things that I can't remember at this time. Membership includes an RCI membership and gives you the advantage of spliting up your week into smaller stays and gives you the option of any day check in/out.

The points for Gran Melia Cancun are:SMVC RESORTS - AMERICAS Season

           Hotel Studio 1 Bedroom Suite 1 Bedroom Master Suite 2 Bedroom
Platinum 27,000        38,000             50,000                       60,000
Gold      19,000         27,000             35,000                       43,000
          Wkend/Wkday  Wkend/Wkday   Wkend/Wkday           Wkend/Wkday
Platinum  6,750/2,700  9,500/3,800      12,500/5,000            15,000/6,000
Gold       4,750/1,900   6,750/2,700      8,750/3,500             10,750/4,300

The informatiom is from customer service on the phone, and the points are from their website. A sales rep is supposed to call me back and explain how much it will cost to upgrade and explain the use of points. At this time they are meaning less, not being able to compare them to other points based hotel clubs. I will update this as soon as I hear from them. With airfares so high to Cancun, I would be interested in this if the cost is not too high to upgrade. For example: I can get 1 wk July $1600 Marriott Casa Magna with air. Air alone: $1600 go figure?


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## teamjd

The sales rep called me the other night. As I thought, the SolMelia Vacation Club is a points based system similar to the Mariot, Hilton and Sheratons (modeled after them he says). The rep that called me is in charge of marketing and development world wide. Hence, he told me that he spends his time between Orlando, FL, Costa Rica, and Venice...what a shame   They are just starting to promote this new Club and are offering a sign up bonus. Here are the basics, but if you want more information e-mail me, and I'll send you the guys contact information. I don't want this to seem like a sales call. I have nothing to do with them other than owning  at the Gran Melia and wanting to find out more information. All the information is based on my 1 bedroom master suite at the Gran Melia Cancun. interestingly, I found out that there are 2 types of 1 bedrooms that they sell. The 1 bedroom suite and the 1 bedroom master suite which has a little more square footage. I found this out only because there is a difference in the amount of points assigned to each one. I found out that while my 1 bedroom at the Gran Melia sleeps 6/4, the 1 bedrooms in the new SMVC are rated and trade 4/4. The good thing is that I got a price from them of what they consider my timeshare to be worth, $4600 with (20 yrs RTU left) or rather what they will credit me for towards the the new club. So, if that's what they'll pay, it must be worth a little more on the retail market should I decide to sell today. He says the trade-in price for my resort contains all fees associated with transfering and there are no other deductions to pay such as the ridiculous 10% of original purchase price ownership transfer fee that they charge.

Basically: 1 bedroom master suite 
The membership period is 50 years - family sharable and inheritable 

Platinum season - $22,900
Christmas, New Year, Easter, 4th of July,  Thanksgiving weeks - you are assigned one of these weeks for ownership purposes but can use all weeks.

Gold Season - all the rest - $17,900

Points for Gran Melia and 2 or 3 others are the highest - 35,000 Plat/27,000 Gold Options. You can stay 1 week or  days, any day check in. If you don't want to go you can trade into any of the other SolMelia Resorts or convert the points in to club points (MaS Gold card ) to be used in any of the 350 SolMelia hotels worldwide, airlines, resturants or RCI every other year, similar to Mariot I guess. It is supposed to be an executive level club with more benefits than the other normal club levels he said, but I don't know anything about the other clubs...maybe someone else can chime in?

They have a relationship with RCI for support, but the reservations are made directly with SolMelia other than RCI exchanges. They are presently running a promotion to include from 500,000 to 650,000 bonus points (worth about $4-5000 he says) for the Mas card with each new membership for the next 30 days or so maybe longer.

I hope this helps anyone who wanted to know more. If I was too specific in pricing feel free to delete what you must and accept my appologies in advance.

-Dan


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## teamjd

*The new Sol Melia Vacation Club.*

I can't believe that it's been almost two years and there hasn't been any interest in this club by any Tug members, or have I missed a new section on it or something?

Well just to update:

I haven't upgraded to the new club. Mainly due to lack of any objective outside information on them other than what I read in the trade papers. All of which seems to be glowing reports about the new Sol Melia Vacation Club seeded by their PR people. Does no one but me belong to this club? Does anyone know more than me about this? Please chime in.

I did receive another call last night about upgrading again. Basically the same offer which will expire end of this year. They tell me that they won't be offering credit for any unused portion of the remaining old Melia timeshare unit after that. They will use their own Office to book all the club accomodations and travel. You will only still use Resorts Advantage to book your unit if you stay with the old system.

Is anyone interested in more information?


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## AKFisher

I toured the Gran Melia - SMVC - a couple weeks ago while on vacation in Cancun.

They were low pressure after finding out that I have a resale RHC membership.

They offered a EOY 50 year membership to us. $14,000 for a one bedroom Platinum (weeks 1-52), plus $712 annual maintenance fee. I believe it was 50,000 points. You can "borrow" or accelerate points from the next year if you want to trade up in size for another unit, or take two weeks in one year instead of one. I assume that you would pay the maint. fee for the future year. I don't know if the fee is due annually or the year that it is used. I didn't ask more questions because I didn't want to buy.

We did take a trial membership for $2500 with 4 weeks to use within two years. We realize that we will probably use only 2 weeks, but we know that is cheaper than renting directly from the hotel for a similar size unit. One big negative so far - unable to log into their website yet to look at other locations available to us. Their customer service says that we are not "in the system" yet, and once we are uploaded into their system, then I'll be able to log in. What's the deal? They were fast to take our money. They should be fast to get us into the system! (Did I really expect it to be different!)

The master bedroom unit is a little larger, and has a sheetrocked wall and regular door separating the bedroom. The one bedroom unit has what looks like a Japanese paneled wall and sliding door to partition off the bedroom.

I'm curious how the old membership program works. If you have a one bedroom, does that mean if you trade internally you still get a one bedroom? It is easy to trade and get the dates/locations that you want? Any info can you can share with me would be much appreciated.


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## teamjd

*The old Melia Club*

They offered me $7200 for the remaining 18 yrs towards their price of $23K and maintenence of $656 for an upgrade into the Deluxe 1 bedroom in the new SMVC. It would upgrade me from my gold membership into their new platinum membership which would give me the 4 holiday weeks that I can't get now with the gold membership. At least now, I have an idea what my resort is worth. 

There are hardly any resales of Melia Resorts because most people including me are really happy with the service towards owners and the quality of the resort it self. (Besides, their high transfer fees are kind of a discouragement anyway.) The Melia Resorts cater to well to do European/So. America  families and politcians. Their theme at least the last time I was there maintains a low key relaxed atmosphere. Their are many Argentine and European politicians and dignitaries staying there because it is discrete and lacks the party central atmosphere.

As far as the old club, you can only do internal exchanges into 9 other Melia resorts in Mexico and So. America. You can do the internal exhange for a 1 bedroom and still get a 1 bedroom, but you might not get the max occupancy. For instance, my Melia Cancun 1 bedroom is 4/6. The internal exchange resorts might only have max 4 people in their 1 bedroom in which case you'd need two rooms for 6 people. The new club gets you hundreds of the Melia associated resorts and hotels worldwide. I think it's a better club, but I don't think that it's worth what their asking. I like the idea of being able to carry over the week into the next year if you don't use it as points. I was lucky in that they just restored my 2007 week that I would have lost since I couldn't get there or rent it this year. With the old club, you pay a $20 internal exchange fee for the other resorts. While I haven't used the internal exchange yet, I have made numerous calls for availablity to the other resorts for rental purposes and had better luck getting the dates that I wanted than I did trying to exhange into the same resorts through RCI (which has never been good to me.)

I'm am currently in direct contact with the rep for the new SMVC. If you have any questions that you'd like me to ask, post them quickly. I'm going to make up my mind real soon and won't be talking to her anymore.





AKFisher said:


> I toured the Gran Melia - SMVC - a couple weeks ago while on vacation in Cancun.
> 
> They were low pressure after finding out that I have a resale RHC membership.
> 
> They offered a EOY 50 year membership to us. $14,000 for a one bedroom Platinum (weeks 1-52), plus $712 annual maintenance fee. I believe it was 50,000 points. You can "borrow" or accelerate points from the next year if you want to trade up in size for another unit, or take two weeks in one year instead of one. I assume that you would pay the maint. fee for the future year. I don't know if the fee is due annually or the year that it is used. I didn't ask more questions because I didn't want to buy.
> 
> We did take a trial membership for $2500 with 4 weeks to use within two years. We realize that we will probably use only 2 weeks, but we know that is cheaper than renting directly from the hotel for a similar size unit. One big negative so far - unable to log into their website yet to look at other locations available to us. Their customer service says that we are not "in the system" yet, and once we are uploaded into their system, then I'll be able to log in. What's the deal? They were fast to take our money. They should be fast to get us into the system! (Did I really expect it to be different!)
> 
> The master bedroom unit is a little larger, and has a sheetrocked wall and regular door separating the bedroom. The one bedroom unit has what looks like a Japanese paneled wall and sliding door to partition off the bedroom.
> 
> I'm curious how the old membership program works. If you have a one bedroom, does that mean if you trade internally you still get a one bedroom? It is easy to trade and get the dates/locations that you want? Any info can you can share with me would be much appreciated.


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## AKFisher

I really like the Gran Melia in Cancun. It was so quiet and peaceful. I was staying at Crown Paradise, which has lots of very noisy activities. 

My question is, on every-other-year memberships, is the annual fee due every year? I assume the answer is yes, but would like that confirmed.

It's good to know that members are really happy with the service. Thanks for the information!


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## teamjd

*EOY maintanence fees*

Yes, you have to pay fees every year I was told, but for every other year accounts you would only pay half of the fee every year. If you have any other questions, you can contact Esmeralda she was very helpful and will not bother you after the call. Don't forget to mention that you found the information on TUG. Maybe she/they will start monitoring or better yet join TUG.  

Esmeralda Aguilera
SMVC Direct
4700 Millenia Blvd. Suite 240
Orlando, FL 32839 

Phone: (407)355-7473    esmeraldaa@solmeliavc.com


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## abdibile

Does anyone know if as an owner at one of the "old" Melia Vacation Club resorts you can exchange into Paradisus Palma Real in Punta Cana?

Thanks!


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## teamjd

Yes, you can. 
You must do an an internal exchange through Resorts Advantage of your home resort and pay fee of $50. (If it hasn't gone up yet). I was going to do just that for the spring recess in April, I had the reservation on hold, but the airfare from NY was prohibitive, so I cancelled.

Look further down in my older post, I listed all the resorts that you can exchange into.


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## Javier320

*Sol Melia Vacation Club...*

I´m from Spain and I had been very surprised last year when we saw our suite without all the toys and parcels that they promised to us when they show us the suite before entrying in the club.

I´m a owner at Palma Real (Dominican Republic) and I also asked to the network why their chairmains are so bullish with us, the clients, the persons that can speak with others persons about the reliability of the system.

And less than one year, they have changed the timetable for gold weeks restricting to a ridiculus number of weeks.

They created a new class called "platinum plus", they upgraded me without telling me anything about the change.

¿What can we expect in the next 50 years?

Webmaster, please made an acces for the Sol Melia Vacation Club.
Thank you.

Its tremendous.


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## teamjd

Javier320,

Welcome to TUG. I hope you will join and learn from the enormous amount of timeshare information here. 

How is the resort at  Palma Real? I've always wanted to go there. Is it as nice as the photos that are on the website?

There is not much conversation on this site about the Melia Clubs. Only a few people comment. I don't know if it is from a lack of owners or a lack of people knowing about the Tug site. I wish that I could get more members involved. Maybe that way we could all figure out what is happening with all the club changes and how it affects us. I seem to be the only one interested in talking about them, and I do not know that much at all  I haven't had a chance due to scheduling and the rediculous airfare prices to go back to Melia Cancun is a few years now. We have been vacationing at resorts that we can drive to in a few days instead.

I belong to the older Melia Vacation Club that has a 30 year membership, so I don't understand what you are refering to when you say "without all the toys and parcels that they promised to us " What did they promise you that you didn't receive when you went to the resort.

When you say "bullish", do you mean that the sales people were rude to you?

"changed the timetable for gold weeks " and "platinum plus" Do you care to explain the new membership with us so that we can understand what has changed?


¿What can we expect in the next 50 years? 
The best that I can say is that it will be what you make of it. All of the Melia's are  fine resorts. You will meet many good people there and make many new friends if you focus on the reason you are there...to have fun with your family.

I wish that I had found this Tug site before I purchased my Melia membership. I would have done things much differently. When I purchased my Melia membership, it seemed worth the money then so I feel I got a good deal. Could it have been better... of course, but you live and learn.

If you are unsure as to the change in your membership, I would definitely have them explain how they can change your contract without your approval. All timeshare contracts are very complicated. You should make sure you are comfortable with the rules before it's too late.

Good luck and please come back and keep us updated.


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## abdibile

teamjd said:


> Yes, you can.
> You must do an an internal exchange through Resorts Advantage of your home resort and pay fee of $50. (If it hasn't gone up yet). I was going to do just that for the spring recess in April, I had the reservation on hold, but the airfare from NY was prohibitive, so I cancelled.
> 
> Look further down in my older post, I listed all the resorts that you can exchange into.





Thanks, teamjd!

In your older posting I only see: Paradisus • en Punta Cana

Does that mean "all the paradisus in punta cana"?

There are several, corrext? I know about paradisus Punta Cana and pradisus palma real.

So owning in a cheaper location like Cozumel would enable me to vacation in the better resorts  like Paradisus palma Real? That sounds good....


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## teamjd

*Melia exchanges*

Here is a list of the resorts that I can go to with my Melia Cancun Timeshare. They sent me this list a while ago, so I cannot say if the prices are still the same, but the resort list is still good.


The following is a list of the resorts available through the Melia Internal Exchange Program. The total for 
every exchange is your yearly maintenance fees + a $50.00 internal exchange fee.The price of the 
resorts all inclusive plan is also included with every link ( subject to change with out notice) A link to 
your home resort is also included. 

Paradisus en Punta Cana••••
All Inclusive $66.00 per Adult per day•
Kids 2 – 12 years old $33.00 per child per day•
http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5889•

Melia Caribe Tropical (MANDATORY)••••
All Inclusive $30.00 per Adult per day•
Kids 2 – 12 years old $15.00 per child per day•
http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5896•

Gran Melia Cancún••••
Gran Meal Plan $83.30 per Adult per day••••
Kids 6-11 years old pay 50 % / younger than 6 years old /Free)••••
http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5836•

Melia Cozumel•
All Inclusive $317.00 USD per Adult per week•
Kids 2-12 years old pay $203.00 per child per week••••
http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5838•

Melia Panamá Canal•
All Inclusive $45.00 per Adult per day•
Kids 6-12 years old $22.00 per child per day••••
http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5906•

Melia Cabo Real•
All Inclusive $42.50 per Adult por day•
Kids 6 – 12 years old $21.25 per child per day•
http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5837•

Melia Playa Conchal•
All Inclusive $85.00 per Adult per day•
Kids 3 – 12 years old $65.00 per child per day••••
http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5891•

Melia Azul Ixtapa•
All Inclusive $36-54 per Adult per day / depending on season•
Kids 7-12 years old $22.50 -30.00 per child per day•
http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5842•

Melia Puerto Vallarta•
All Inclusive $30.00 per Adult per day•
Kids 7-16 years old $20.00 per child per day••••
http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5835•



I hope this helps.


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## abdibile

Hi,

I just got the same list after inquiring for it. All inclusive prices seem to have increased.

But with this list it sais US$ 20 per exchange, not 50. Got the list from Cabo Real, perhaps the exchange fee is different for different home resorts?

And unfortunately no Paradisus Palma Real ;-(


***

The following lists of the resorts are available through the Melia Internal Exchange Program. The total for every exchange is your yearly maintenance fees + a $20.00 internal exchange fee. The price of the resorts all inclusive plans is also included with every link 

o	All Inclusive rates are subject to change with out notice.
o	The rates provided are per person per day.
o	Rates are in USD currency

Paradisus Punta Cana  http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5889
All Inclusive Plan Optional
Adults: $80.00
Children 2 – 12 yrs. old: $40.00

Melia Caribe Tropical http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5896
All Inclusive Plan Optional Mandatory
Adults: $57.00
Children 2 – 12 yrs. old:$29.00

Gran Melia Cancún  http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5836
The Gran Meal Plan Optional (Minimum 3 days)
Adults: $83.30
Children 2 – 12 yrs. old: $41.65

Melia Cozumel   http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5838
All Inclusive Plan Optional 
Adults: $60.00 7 days / $65.00 3 days / $82.00 less then 3 days.
Children 7 – 12 yrs. old: $35.00 (No limit on days)

Melia Panamá Canal   http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5906
Meal Plan Optional
Adults: $50.00
Children 6 – 12 yrs. old:$25.00

Melia Cabo Real  http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5837
All Inclusive Plan Optional 
Adults: $52.00 3 days or more/ $70.00 less then 3 days
Children 6 – 12 yrs. old: $30.00 3 days or more/ $37.50 less then 3 days

Melia Playa Conchal  http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5891
All Inclusive Plan Optional
Adults: $85.00
Children 2 – 12 yrs. old:$65.00

Melia Azul Ixtapa  http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5842
All Inclusive Plan Optional
Adults: 700.00 PESOS (Varies depending on season)
Children 7 – 12 yrs. old: 350.00 PESOS (Varies depending on season)

Melia Puerto Vallarta http://www.solmelia.com/sol/hoteles/jsp/CHome.jsp?idSolRes=5835
All Inclusive Plan Optional
Adults: $48.00 7 days / $53.00 3 days / $58.00 less then 3 days.
Children 7 – 16 yrs. old:


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## Javier320

*Sol Melia Vacation Club (2)*

Hello,

The Palma Real Resort at Dominican Republic is near the top of the hotels. For me is on of the best (but I don´t know all the hotels in the world).

The problem in the staff of this Hotel is from the SMVC.

¿Why?

Because they show to the "could be" members rooms filled with parcels and they tell you "that will be for you if you become a smvc member. Why? Because you are the best for us."

And what we found when we arrive? Nothing.

They told me that parcels are only for Family Concierge members.

I remember paying close to 500 dollars for the maintenance for coming just one week per year. That´s not enought?

"Not that´s not enought" told me mister Reynaldo from the Palma Real´s SMVC. Yes, very rude man.

You become a smvc member and you are not and interesting person.

And now they eliminated Playa Conchal from the SMVC.

I had been there last year and we found excellent views but the beach is not private and is not like the typical Hotel Ressort closed to persons from outside. "watch out your personal belongings".
We found excellent persons from the miniclub and it has a big personnel structure.

And now the SMVC sent us the opportunity of "enrolling" new members from family and colleagues. Funny. How can explain these things to a friend? 

Dear SMVC you must respect us.

Why you didn´t put in your last magazine the changes in the schedule for golds weeks and platinum and platinum plus? You don´t find these things extra importants for us? The members? Yes we must know.

The ressorts are very good but the service to the smvc is very bad for what they promised to me and whant the same service as Family Concierge, I don´t want to pay for things that they (Family Concierge) don´t pay.

I will come back to the Palma Real in two months. I will see whats had changed.

I must admit that the personnel from the Lounge is very good, mister Dionisio.

I ´ve tried to explain my complaints to the SMVC chairmains but I found no answer from them. I tried with the network and no answer.


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## abdibile

Is it possible to exchange into Palma Real through RCI or II?

I do not see it in the RCI resort directory or on RCI.com.

But as I have a South African week I also have aSouth African RCI account and in that one I could do an ongoing search (ich my account was not transferred to the US) for:

SMVC @ Paradisus Palma Real

Does anyone know how to searhc for that resort on RCI.com?

Thanks!

abdibile


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## teamjd

Hola Javiera320,

I'm sorry to hear that your experience with the Melia Vacation Club hasn't gone as well as you expected. All of the resorts that I have seen or read about are beautiful. We have to assume that the service will be just as beautiful. There is no excuse for any staff member to insult your integrity or be rude to you. If you have not received satisfaction for your complaint, don't give up. Do not let it consume you in anger, but be persistent in getting your satisfaction. 

When I read through the TUG bulletin boards and other timeshare websites, I come across a lot of the same complaints:

1. I did not receive all of the benefits that I was promised.
2. There are weeks that I can not go to the resort that they did not tell me about.
3. Everytime I go to the resort, they want me to pay more and upgrade to something bigger.


This is very frustrating, and it seems to happen all of the time. The salesmen are really good. Most of them could probably sell snow in a blizzard or sell water on a rainy day  Their job is to part from us as much money as they can because the more we pay the more they earn, but they also know not to let anyone walk away with money in their pocket, so they talk fast and we don't hear all of the "that cost extras stuff" that they wisper to us. Do you think that the salesman misled you into believing that you would get the Family Concierge Service for free? I did not know what that service was, so I looked it up. 

From the Paradisius site - 

"Family Concierge benefits: 
When you choose to stay at one of our Family Concierge Suites you are also treated to the following amenities:

Private Family Check-in 
Paradise Kidz Beach-kit upon check-in with hat and T-shirt, floater, mini-tanning lotion 
Specially appointed Family Concierge Suites 
All day assistance of a Family Concierge (until 5PM) 
Included walkie-talkie for all day communication 
Exclusive family activities and sports: massages, swimming classes, water sports classes, etc. 
Personalized service for families"

I would be really excited if I thought that I was getting all of that included.
How much more did they want to stay in a Family Concierge Suite? For that much extra service, I would think that they would want a very high preimium.

You said $500 for maintenance. Is that for a Studio or one bedroom? I pay around $625 for my one bedroom at the Melia Cancun, and it goes up every year come rain or shine :annoyed: 


That is what makes the TUG website so great. If you read other posts in other areas, you will come to understand that you are not alone, it has happened before to someone. Someone here will eventually help to figure out how to deal with any problem that can come up. 

There is a lot of talk on the TUG site about other vacation clubs...Marriot, Hilton, Disney, Hyatt, VRI, Sunterra, Bluegreen, Shell, Westgate. We need to make enough noise to be recognized and not let the Melia Resort ignore member complaints. The Resort managers always pass on compliments to their corporate headquarters from their guests. We must find the right corporate channel to get your complaint heard. I have no doubt that when your complaint reaches the right person, it will be taken seriously because I believe that the Melia Corporation is a responsible one.

Just remember...as you walk along the smooth hot sand and enjoy your Melia membership over the next 50 years, once in a while you will stub your toe on a rock in the sand.  

I will e-mail the Corporate Sales manager that I spoke to earlier. I will invite her to read your post and maybe get her to subscribe to TUG to give us some direct corporate contact. It would be nice to have direct contact yes?

Abdibile: I will also ask if Paradisius Palma Real is affiliated with RCI or II


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## rsonc

I am in the process of purchasing a unit with the old club melia, my contract is for a 2 bedroom in Cozumel which only had a $50 transfer fee. I think it was called the 

I was told that my membership would allow me to go to the Paradisus Punta Cana for a $20.00 exchange fee and it is an optional all inclusive resorts (but I dont think you can order food or drinks if you dont purchase it but I am not sure). 

I am hoping they are correct since we want to use our unit for next year in Punta cana. 

Hopefully someone owns there and can answer your questions for sure. 

TIA
Susan


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## Javier320

I can t eliminated this message because its duplicated


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## Javier320

*Sol Melia Vacation Club*

Thank you teammjd.

Could be an interesting thing to contact a member of the Melia´s staff and can read what really happens because I still trying to have an answer.

I´m paying exactly 752 $ each year for a master suite al Palma Real and additional 600 $ each year to the network, that means paying almost 1300 $ each year before entrying to the ressort.

I´m sure that I´m not paying below the right price for the service.

I´m very happy with the ressort but no with the system.

They are still promising the top to the new members because I talked with them at Palma Real last october. And is the same. Lack of basic information.

If we share the lounge with Family Concierge is not because we are less. And talking about this point, I remember that the sallesman from SMVC told me that we would have walki talkis also...pure fantasy...nothing.

And complaining about small details, yes, but these small things gives sense to your status, because I paid for that.

I´m talking about things that not represents an amount of money, I´m talking about dignity. 

I must arrive to the Lounge of SMVC without hidding my person from the Family Concierge customers because Vacation Club let us to a lower status. I repeat, we are talking about respect and dignity, things that I´ve paid for.

From Spain.

Javier.


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## abdibile

Zes, zou should be able to exchange for $20 into Paradisus Punta Cana, but not into Paradisus Palma Real (which is a waz better resort).

But paradisus Punta Cana is also good, onlz not high class.

Have fun there!



rsonc said:


> I am in the process of purchasing a unit with the old club melia, my contract is for a 2 bedroom in Cozumel which only had a $50 transfer fee. I think it was called the
> 
> I was told that my membership would allow me to go to the Paradisus Punta Cana for a $20.00 exchange fee and it is an optional all inclusive resorts (but I dont think you can order food or drinks if you dont purchase it but I am not sure).
> 
> I am hoping they are correct since we want to use our unit for next year in Punta cana.
> 
> Hopefully someone owns there and can answer your questions for sure.
> 
> TIA
> Susan


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## Javier320

*Paradisus Punta Cana*

Hello,

I had been at Paradisus Punta Cana in 2006, it s also a very good ressort.
They told me that they built a special corner for SMVC members.
Try the japannese, and the french restaurant. It s a very good option.

The only problem are the waves when you pick the ship (catamaran) to acces to the beach.

Javier.


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## teamjd

*SMVC Request*

I have sent off an e-mail to the person I know at the SMVC. I am hoping that she will respond and help. We will just have wait for her reply.


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## MARYSOL_21

*SMVC*

I have been searching for an online forum for sol melia vacation club members....I find it odd that I am unable to find any club members! I joined the club last october at the Melia Caribe Tropical after almost joining Disney instead....(the decision was based on the tour of Paradisus Palma Real) 

There has go to be members out there somewhere!!!!!!


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## Bill4728

MARYSOL_21 said:


> I have been searching for an online forum for sol melia vacation club members....I find it odd that I am unable to find any club members! I joined the club last october at the Melia Caribe Tropical after almost joining Disney instead....(the decision was based on the tour of Paradisus Palma Real)
> 
> There has go to be members out there somewhere!!!!!!


If you click on the user list, then use seach on the far right, then advance seach you can put in "Melia" under TS owned and see what happens.

There are 10 TUG member which list "Melia" as a resort they own.


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