# Vidanta Grand Luxxe



## mike53 (Jun 22, 2018)

Hello.
I (we) have been TUG members for a few years and have several timeshares which were purchased resale for probably $5 each at more less decent resorts. Nothing too fancy.  We traded into Vidanta Grand Bliss Riviera Maya few times through II and my wife has fallen in love with the place. Recently we decided to bite the bullet and bought into the Grand Luxxe NV. A 2br Master Suite.

Although we did purchase directly from the developer, which I said I would never do, after a couple of days of negotiations (thank goodness it was raining) we received an acceptable offer and at least for now do not have regrets.

 It did take a few conversations with the contracts people to really get a handle on the deal and beyond the nonsense of sales.

Now that all is done I still have a couple of questions.

1      Is it difficult to get reservations for resident weeks at what I understand to be off-season times in either NV or RM? June and September? That’s when we generally travel.

2      Although I don’t picture going at Elite time, Christmas/Easter, how likely or unlikely is it to get a reservation at these times with the SFX preferred weeks?

3      I’m assuming that it is really hit or miss getting a reservation for the Registry Collection resorts but is the trading power for the Grand Luxxe and the points cost to exchange into a resort correctly shown in their exchange grid?

4      What will be the next sales pitch when we return?

I probably will have many, many more questions as time goes on but any answers or comments (besides not buying) would be appreciated.


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## T-Dot-Traveller (Jun 22, 2018)

Congratulations - 

glad you had the time & knowledge to meet with Member Services and negotiate . 
You will not have regrets based on resort quality , service & staff .

I can see no issues :since you & your spouse agreed it made vacation sense & the buy in cost was something that you could afford .


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## bizaro86 (Jun 22, 2018)

How big a group do you travel with, and when do you like to go? I've had pretty good success trading into very large units (Grand Luxxe 4 bedrooms) during fall. If you go offseason, I would expect trading to be pretty easy. If you don't have a large group, would it be dramatically cheaper to continue trading in? This depends largely on the MF of your existing units, and how many people you'd need to pay the (steep) daily fee on.

Maybe trading in stops working, but I'm relatively confident that Vidanta would still be willing to sell you a developer week then. 

YMMV, and if you're happy with your purchase my opinion might be worth what you paid for it.


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## mike53 (Jun 22, 2018)

T-Dot-Traveller said:


> Congratulations -
> 
> glad you had the time & knowledge to meet with Member Services and negotiate .
> You will not have regrets based on resort quality , service & staff .
> ...


Yes, it was a bigger chunk than an ebay timeshare but not quite the same level as those too.


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## mike53 (Jun 22, 2018)

bizaro86 said:


> How big a group do you travel with, and when do you like to go? I've had pretty good success trading into very large units (Grand Luxxe 4 bedrooms) during fall. If you go offseason, I would expect trading to be pretty easy. If you don't have a large group, would it be dramatically cheaper to continue trading in? This depends largely on the MF of your existing units, and how many people you'd need to pay the (steep) daily fee on.
> 
> Maybe trading in stops working, but I'm relatively confident that Vidanta would still be willing to sell you a developer week then.
> 
> YMMV, and if you're happy with your purchase my opinion might be worth what you paid for it.



We generally will be going here in June with a family 6 -8 depending on vacation schedules for my son and daughter and their children and smaller group in the fall. We're retiring this fall so more trips to use our weeks here, as well as our other units in Hawaii and the St Martin will be well utilized.

As for the daily fees, do they apply to owners? Another thing I was unsure of. But just like a trade, to avoid the high fees I have time to do the updates.


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## mike53 (Jun 22, 2018)

Yikes. Another presentation. What a scary thought!


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## bizaro86 (Jun 23, 2018)

Owners don't pay the daily per person fee, which is a big savings on a larger group.


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## mike53 (Jun 23, 2018)

That’s what I though but thanks for the confirmation.


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## T-Dot-Traveller (Jun 23, 2018)

mike53 said:


> Yikes. Another presentation. What a scary thought!





mike53 said:


> We generally will be going here in June with a family 6 -8    ........We're retiring this fall
> 
> As for the daily fees, do they apply to owners? Another thing I was unsure of. But just like a trade, to avoid the high fees I have time to do the updates.



With a group of 8 - you save a net of $ 1260 per week
( $30 x 8 x 7 days = $1680 / - 25% credit - restaurant etc= $ 1260)

A 2 bedroom GL should work fine for 8.

*******

IMO - I would not go to a presentation - there is no need .
You tell them : “you own & you are happy with  it & need to use for a while .”

We have owned Mayan Palace for 12 years and have gone 4 times AND never upgraded (no need - IMO)

The nice lady will say - which day do you want to book “ YOUR presentation” Tuesday or Weds  -
I respect their process & people - BUT - just because they ask , does not mean I have to go.
We politely decline after listening & chatting , thank her & go enjoy vacation

Vidanta - is growing and keeps adding “ new levels” - ie The Estates” . They will ALWAYS want to sell
you something . IMO - they use the sales money to fund the growth ,(rather than borrow from a bank).


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## Eric B (Jun 23, 2018)

mike53 said:


> ...
> 
> Now that all is done I still have a couple of questions.
> 
> ...



1. It's not a problem getting reservations with Vidanta during June or September in either NV or RM.  I haven't had any problem getting reservations in Grand Luxxe even in the high season in February in NV.  If you are going to be traveling in those months, it would be worth looking into exchange availability using your other timeshares; even with the daily resort fees it might be less expensive overall going that way than paying the usage fees, which are a bit on the steep side.  The only downside I've seen is that in RM they restrict access to the GL Pool, Custom Burger restaurant, and Beach Club to owners using their weeks, although they'll let you use them if you attend an update/sales pitch.

2. I haven't had a problem getting a Christmas week reservation using an SFX privilege week for Grand Luxxe NV.  I haven't tried in RM yet, so I'm not sure about there, but NV has a lot of available units.  Vidanta gives a lot of availability at the Grand Luxxe suite level to SFX, including during the elite weeks; for any higher level units you would wind up calling SFX, then they would have to call Vidanta to make the arrangements.  That should not be an issue if you're just at the suite level, though.

3. The Registry Collection program for Vidanta changed last March although they haven't publicized the details of it yet.  At the Grand Luxxe suite level, you would get two exchange weeks for a deposit of one week into Registry; one of the exchange weeks would be good for any Registry Collection resort without restriction with regard to credits or the exchange grid and the other would be good for an RCI exchange through Registry.  For the RCI one, not all of the RCI resorts show up in the Registry portal, but it seems to be a select group of them from my browsing.  Of particular note, you can exchange your GL suite deposited with Registry for a higher level Vidanta one in the off season as they are available.  Registry has availability in the Lofts, Spas, and Residence units at GL NV and the Spa units in RM.  Given that you plan on traveling to GL in June or September, you would be best off calling Registry and confirming the details of how the program works at your level and considering using that method to get improved level access in GL without investing anything more.  There are no resort fees for Registry exchanges, although you'll have the same type of issues with restrictions in RM for not using your own week.  The Registry exchange fee is $299, and the membership fee is something like $399/year, which are a bit expensive, but a lot better than the cost of actually upgrading w/Vidanta.

4. My guess would be a pitch at the Spa level if you told them you typically travel with 6-8 people.  We upgraded to the 1 BR loft level with an addendum allowing us to use the 2 BR spas as a sister resort.  They're starting to build out the Estates, which is the next level after the GL Residence ones, so they might pitch that, but that would be skipping a level for you.  The other possibility is the GL East Cape, where it looks like they actually started building this year based on the pictures available in google earth/maps.


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## Eric B (Jun 23, 2018)

T-Dot-Traveller said:


> With a group of 8 - you save a net of $ 1260 per week
> ( $30 x 8 x 7 days = $1680 / - 25% credit - restaurant etc= $ 1260)
> 
> A 2 bedroom GL should work fine for 8.
> ...



The capacity for a 2 BR GL suite is 6 adults plus 2 children, so it would work find for 8 as long as 2 of them are children.  Also, if they're are children in the group, their resort fees are 1/2 the adult ones, so you'd have to adjust the numbers to account for that.

I do agree with Tom about the point on upgrading; if you like what you've got there is no good reason to change it.  We do go to the updates, though, in order to learn what is new with the Vidanta system.  Unfortunately, the sales folks are not always up to date on what is happening, so exchanging information here is quite beneficial.  Also, they aren't allowed to advise you on how best to use your ownership.  For example, they wouldn't provide you with the information on the Registry exchanges because it would detract from a sales pitch to a higher level particularly for someone like OP that travels there in the off seasons.


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## pianoetudes (Jun 23, 2018)

mike53 said:


> Is it difficult to get reservations for resident weeks at what I understand to be off-season times in either NV or RM? June and September? That’s when we generally travel.



When making reservations at off-season, ask for promotions. Usually they have 1-level upgrade promotion, i.e. pay 1-BR and get 2-BR, or pay studio and get 1-BR. If they do not have promotions, request an upgrade or ask to speak with the supervisor who is authorized to make the upgrade.


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## mike53 (Jun 23, 2018)

Hi guys. Thanks for all the information.
Any more comments are welcome as I'm just starting to learn.


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## Flasher42 (Jun 25, 2018)

Are their clear distinct levels of Vidanta ownership? If so, what are they?


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## Eric B (Jun 25, 2018)

Vidanta has several levels of membership based on the resort hotel, unit types, and numbers of weeks.  For the resort hotels it goes from Mayan Sea Garden, Mayan Palace, Bliss, Grand Mayan, Grand Bliss, Grand Luxxe, The Residence, and the Estates.  On my last update they indicated there was another level between Grand Bliss and Grand Luxxe called Deluxxe that is comprised of the Jungle Luxxe units in Riviera Maya and some new units in Nuevo Vallarta.  There are also the ones going in the park in NV that are associated but different; they are the Celebration and Kingdom of the Sun units, but I don’t have a lot of details on those.  For most of the resort hotels there are studio/hotel units, 1 BR suites, and 2 BR suites.  Things get more complicated at the Grand Luxxe level and up; you can peruse the additional types on the Vidanta web site.  A member can trade into other hotels at the level they own and lower in general, though there are different details depending on the contracts.


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## T-Dot-Traveller (Jun 25, 2018)

Flasher42 said:


> Are their clear distinct levels of Vidanta ownership? If so, what are they?



Sea Garden -  6 month  ARP  last sold to gringos in 2010 or so
Mayan Palace - 6 month ARP / multi-contract owners with profile A - 12 month ARP
Bliss - same sq feet as MP / different decor -
Grand Mayan  -ARP varies ( some 6 month some 12 month - IMO )
Grand Bliss - (IMO) mostly 12 month ARP

Entertainment Collection - SG- MP- Bliss
Grand Entertainment Col . GM & GB
Cascade - inside the NV theme park / likely open 2019
Kingdom of the Sun - inside the NV theme park / likely open 2019

Grand Luxxe - generally 12 month ARP / various levels from studios to 4 bedrooms

The Estates : new - not yet opened

An owner of a Vidanta RTU contract cannot reserve levels above their contract .
You can book levels below your contract , and your addendum may spell out the  cost or
unit size / weeks for your MF payment .

Many contracts since 2007 have the addendum  -" no go/ no pay " (ie) MF on use only .


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## NiteMaire (Jun 25, 2018)

Eric B said:


> Vidanta has several levels of membership based on the resort hotel, unit types, and numbers of weeks.  For the resort hotels it goes from Mayan Sea Garden, Mayan Palace, Bliss, Grand Mayan, Grand Bliss, Grand Luxxe, The Residence, and the Estates.  On my last update they indicated there was another level between Grand Bliss and Grand Luxxe called Deluxxe that is comprised of the Jungle Luxxe units in Riviera Maya and some new units in Nuevo Vallarta.  There are also the ones going in the park in NV that are associated but different; they are the Celebration and Kingdom of the Sun units, but I don’t have a lot of details on those.  For most of the resort hotels there are studio/hotel units, 1 BR suites, and 2 BR suites.  Things get more complicated at the Grand Luxxe level and up; you can peruse the additional types on the Vidanta web site.  A member can trade into other hotels at the level they own and lower in general, though there are different details depending on the contracts.


For some reason, I knew you'd respond.  I almost commented "Cue Eric B". Two others I thought of are T-Dot and pittle.  I really enjoy reading your insights.  If not for the price, I would also be a Vidanta owner.


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## Eric B (Jun 25, 2018)

Well, there really should be some kind of guidebook to using Vidanta.  Only problem is the frequent changes to the rules.  Tom was right there behind me, anyway.


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## pittle (Jun 26, 2018)

Eric B said:


> Well, there really should be some kind of guidebook to using Vidanta.  Only problem is the frequent changes to the rules.  Tom was right there behind me, anyway.



The rules change almost daily now!  I think it is because they also started "customizing" contracts to get you to upgrade or buy, so everyone's is different. Be sure to scan your contract and save it as a PDF so that you have it when you need it!

I started noticing small changes when we bought a re-sale that was sold 6 months after we bought our original unit and the MF, we close to $100 per month higher than ours for the exact same unit.  We bought another resale that was in-between and it was very similar to our original contract.  It was not long after that that they changed the % that the MF could increase each year, and went to  10% of the original contract for transfer fees instead of 1 MF.  Then it was 5 MF for transfer fees and now is 10 so there are few resales available.   We had some that had the 12 month out reservation and some that were 6 months out. Some allowed you to keep the Vacation Fair Week with a resale, and some did not. We had 6 weeks and 5 contracts, so I was able to catch on to the differences.  Now we just have one contract, and there are even more differences because of customization.

We have owned Sea Garden, Mayan Palace, Grand Mayan and Grand Luxxe.  We felt that Bliss and Regency were just Mayan Palace units with different furniture and cost more.  They threw in some "extra" stuff like Sea-Pak & Sun-Pak that let you book in the summer months at Sea Garden or Mayan Palace at a discounted rate.  We got both of those plus Golf, Profile A, and accrual when we upgraded to Grand Mayan, so why would we want to pay more for the same unit with different furniture? We skipped Grand Bliss because we did not want to have 2 under-counter refrigerators.  We like regular sized ones. Grand Bliss units are nice if you are OK with 2 small refrigerators.  We used one for food and one for beverages on our last vacation. The deck was larger than Grand Mayan.


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## Eric B (Jun 26, 2018)

NiteMaire said:


> For some reason, I knew you'd respond.  I almost commented "Cue Eric B". Two others I thought of are T-Dot and pittle.  I really enjoy reading your insights.  If not for the price, I would also be a Vidanta owner.



Looks like you were right...!  All three of us....


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## hurnik (Jun 27, 2018)

I will say, I find the Vidanta timeshares to be one of the more complex ones to figure out.  I thought I was fairly saavy, but by the time our "60 minute" 4.5 hour presentation was done, I was thoroughly confused about what you actually were getting.


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## Eric B (Jun 27, 2018)

hurnik said:


> I will say, I find the Vidanta timeshares to be one of the more complex ones to figure out.  I thought I was fairly saavy, but by the time our "60 minute" 4.5 hour presentation was done, I was thoroughly confused about what you actually were getting.



It’s not just the complexity, but also the lack of transparency on how things work with Vidanta and all of the associated exchange systems.  Much of the information I’ve learned has been by feedback from representatives regarding recent rule changes such as the Registry Collection program.  Those rules changed in March, but I still haven’t seen even a partial written version of them.


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## Flasher42 (Jul 1, 2018)

At the Grand Luxxe Rivera May, what is the difference between a 2 bedroom that sleeps 4 limited kitchen, and a 2 bedroom that sleeps 6 with full kitchen? 
Thank,you


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## pittle (Jul 1, 2018)

Flasher42 said:


> At the Grand Luxxe Rivera May, what is the difference between a 2 bedroom that sleeps 4 limited kitchen, and a 2 bedroom that sleeps 6 with full kitchen?
> Thank,you



The Suite is basically a 1 bedroom unit that will sleep 4 with 2 people on the sofa beds.  It has the same kitchen as a regular 2-bedroom Master Suite that will sleep 6. Some of these units have 2 beds in one room and the other has a king bed while others have 2 rooms with king beds. Their is also a 2-bedroom Villa.  The Villa has a sitting room in the lock-out side that has a sofa bed too.  But, neither of these have full kitchens that include an oven

You have to get into the higher levels of Grand Luxxe to have a full kitchen.


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## Eric B (Jul 1, 2018)

Don’t think there are any 2 BR Grand Luxxe units that sleep four.  What exchange system are you looked MF at? According to Vidanta, the 2 BR GL suite sleeps 6 adults plus two children and that’s the lowest 2 BR GL unit type.  The other 2 BR GL units are the villa, the spa and the loft and they also sleep 6 + 2.


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## Eric B (Jul 1, 2018)

pittle said:


> The Suite is basically a 1 bedroom unit that will sleep 4 with 2 people on the sofa beds.  It has the same kitchen as a regular 2-bedroom Master Suite that will sleep 6. Some of these units have 2 beds in one room and the other has a king bed while others have 2 rooms with king beds. Their is also a 2-bedroom Villa.  The Villa has a sitting room in the lock-out side that has a sofa bed too.  But, neither of these have full kitchens that include an oven
> 
> You have to get into the higher levels of Grand Luxxe to have a full kitchen.



The wall oven is in the 2 BR loft and up (so is the dishwasher, washer & dryer).  The spa units have just the cooktop & microwave.  Still haven’t felt an urge to bake or roast anything here, so we’re happy in a spa, villa or suite when we can get an inexpensive exchange, but the loft is awful nice.


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## Eric B (Jul 1, 2018)

Also, it’s not it just that the 1 BR & 2 BR suites have the same kitchen; they are the same kitchen since the 2 BR is just a combination of the 1 BR and a studio.


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## Flasher42 (Jul 1, 2018)

II. Attached see photo


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## Eric B (Jul 1, 2018)

what is the resort name?  It didn’t show up in the picture.

About a month ago Vidanta started bulk deposits into RCI that aren’t specific as to which level of Grand Luxxe you get and don’t provide very good clues.  For those ones, under resort ID RB71, they break the occupancy down as 8 people total, 6 with some privacy, rather than by adults and children.  My best guess is that they’re punting the unit type assignment until check in; they have a habit of incentivizing sales attendance with room assignment, though it may include ownership status as well.  I scored a number of those as exchanges next year because the total cost is quite low despite the resort fees and have my fingers crossed for upper tier units.


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## Eric B (Jul 1, 2018)

Looking at the symbols alone, my best guess is that II threw the Jungle Luxxe units in with the Grand Luxxe units and called them 2 BR units. They aren’t really; those sleep 4 but just have 1 NR & a living room that has a convertible couch.  The kitchen is similar to a Grand Bliss one, with two under counter fridges rather than a full size one, and a 2 burner cooktop rather than a 4 burner one.  You’d have to call II or Vidanta and ask to confirm what it means for sure; we aren’t in II, so I’m not fluent in their symbols.


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## NiteMaire (Jul 1, 2018)

Eric B said:


> what is the resort name?  It didn’t show up in the picture.
> 
> About a month ago Vidanta started bulk deposits into RCI that aren’t specific as to which level of Grand Luxxe you get and don’t provide very good clues.  For those ones, under resort ID RB71, they break the occupancy down as 8 people total, 6 with some privacy, rather than by adults and children.  My best guess is that they’re punting the unit type assignment until check in; they have a habit of incentivizing sales attendance with room assignment, though it may include ownership status as well.  I scored a number of those as exchanges next year because the total cost is quite low despite the resort fees and have my fingers crossed for upper tier units.


As an owner, they should reward with the upper tier units. However, as pittle has observed (maybe you as well), you'll probably be treated as just another exchanger.  Doesn't help their pitch to get me to buy.


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## Eric B (Jul 1, 2018)

Interestingly enough, the Vida vacations guy that hits you up after check in had a list of everyone checking in, where they exchanged through if applicable, whether they were owners, and at what level the ownership was by some coding he wouldn’t explain other than to say it represented how much you had “invested” in Vidanta.  We exchanged into a 2 BR Loft through Registry this time and they’re full at that tier this week, so I don’t think there was that much flexibility anyway.  We tend to do the updates anyway to try to learn the latest to the extent sales folks know what’s up and can share.  So far we’ve been upgraded from a 2 BR GL suite to a spa once and from a 2 BR GM to a Jungle Luxxe unit in RM (my folks canceled going with us so we were happy to take a 1 BR).  I’m at the point that I no longer attribute people doing nice things for me to my good looks, so I figure it’s ownership recognition, but will be interested to see how it works out with the generic GL RCI exchanges.  I’ll share what I learn when the time comes, but do have high hopes, though not expectations.  We haven’t had a bad GL room yet, and I’m not sure what would make one bad, but I spent a long time on submarines with stinky guys, so my judgement is suspect....


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## NiteMaire (Jul 1, 2018)

Eric B said:


> Interestingly enough, the Vida vacations guy that hits you up after check in had a list of everyone checking in, where they exchanged through if applicable, whether they were owners, and at what level the ownership was by some coding he wouldn’t explain other than to say it represented how much you had “invested” in Vidanta.  We exchanged into a 2 BR Loft through Registry this time and they’re full at that tier this week, so I don’t think there was that much flexibility anyway.  We tend to do the updates anyway to try to learn the latest to the extent sales folks know what’s up and can share.  So far we’ve been upgraded from a 2 BR GL suite to a spa once and from a 2 BR GM to a Jungle Luxxe unit in RM (my folks canceled going with us so we were happy to take a 1 BR).  I’m at the point that I no longer attribute people doing nice things for me to my good looks, so I figure it’s ownership recognition, but will be interested to see how it works out with the generic GL RCI exchanges.  I’ll share what I learn when the time comes, but do have high hopes, though not expectations.  We haven’t had a bad GL room yet, and I’m not sure what would make one bad, but I spent a long time on submarines with stinky guys, so my judgement is suspect....



That's positive news.  We, too, have never had a bad GL room.  

I realized they kept some sort of record on one of our trips to RM.  On one of our exchanges, we purchased the exit package then rescinded the next day  Two visits later they invited us for an "owners update" even though we weren't owners. When I told them we weren't owners, they told me they were offering it instead of the normal exchange presentation (apparently it's done on a different location with different salespeople) since I had previously purchased and recinded...interesting and not surprising they had records.


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## Flasher42 (Jul 2, 2018)

Eric B said:


> Looking at the symbols alone, my best guess is that II threw the Jungle Luxxe units in with the Grand Luxxe units and called them 2 BR units. They aren’t really; those sleep 4 but just have 1 NR & a living room that has a convertible couch.  The kitchen is similar to a Grand Bliss one, with two under counter fridges rather than a full size one, and a 2 burner cooktop rather than a 4 burner one.  You’d have to call II or Vidanta and ask to confirm what it means for sure; we aren’t in II, so I’m not fluent in their symbols.


I don't believe its a jungle unit as their is another option for jungle suites on Interval
Also. Has anyone bartered in exchange for the presentations and what have you received?


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## Flasher42 (Jul 2, 2018)

I exchanged for the 2 bedroom that sleeps six Oct 28-Nov 4 we will see what the give me.


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## Eric B (Jul 2, 2018)

Flasher42 said:


> I don't believe its a jungle unit as their is another option for jungle suites on Interval
> Also. Has anyone bartered in exchange for the presentations and what have you received?



10% off room charges and 1/2 off resort fees is fairly standard.  Ask for an owners' bracelet too; you'll need it for access to the GL poolpool, Custom Burger Restaurant and Beach Club.


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## Eric B (Jul 2, 2018)

NiteMaire said:


> That's positive news.  We, too, have never had a bad GL room.
> 
> I realized they kept some sort of record on one of our trips to RM.  On one of our exchanges, we purchased the exit package then rescinded the next day  Two visits later they invited us for an "owners update" even though we weren't owners. When I told them we weren't owners, they told me they were offering it instead of the normal exchange presentation (apparently it's done on a different location with different salespeople) since I had previously purchased and recinded...interesting and not surprising they had records.



I may have spoken too soon or said too many nice things about Vidanta.  It looks like they either took all the loft and residence units out of Registry & RCI or had Wyndham code member access to limit viewability of those to folks that own at that level or higher.  I suspect the latter because I’m here on a Registry exchange into a 2 BR Loft unit, which would allow them to link my Registry account to the fact that I’m a Vidanta owner.  It’s a bit too much of a coincidence for my taste; after all they provided the Registry account in the first place, so already had my account number.  I’m going to an owner update tomorrow and will give them the opportunity to explain what’s going on, but either they have no clue how to run an organization or don’t understand the effects of incentives they put in place.  It strikes me as presenting a horrible disincentive to sales to insist on treating non-owners exchanging into the resort better through higher level access without resort fees than they let owners have; it might be cured if an exchange in via RCI resort ID RB71, which doesn’t list the tier of unit you get, had the higher tiers set aside for members.  I still don’t know if that’s the case and won’t find out until I’m down here on one of those exchanges or Vidanta actually decides to communicate with its members/owners on how they should expect to be treated.

Someone had told me on TUG that there was a rumor about an upcoming communication from Vidanta this spring that would be of interest regarding how they are improving their customer experience.  It’s July now and spring is over, time for them to get off the dime and communicate.  Word of mouth and rumors aren’t a great way to do that; if it’s just a software glitch giving an owner the mistaken impression that their access via exchanges is being restricted because they own there, it would be a bad impression to leave a customer with, particularly when they are quite willing to share their opinions.  The word I had from Registry back in March was that they could not share the terms and conditions of that exchange system with me, despite my being bound to them, since it was Vidanta’s role to promulgate them.  As a result I can only probe the system and describe its response, which has changed in an unfavorable way.  Bottom line is I’m moving closer to Nite’s position that buying in for folks considering it would be a mistake.  Great resort to exchange into, but the opaque treatment of members is a major negative.  I’ll update tomorrow if I find out more.

Ok, looks more like it was either a software glitch or Vidanta updating their inventory with the exchanges.  I must admit that the lack of transparency is still annoying, but it seems more a poorly executed communication than anything else at this point.


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## mike53 (Jul 2, 2018)

I'm sure they must have some secret formula for room assignments. When we checked in last month we had reservations for two one bedroom Grand Bliss units. We were offered upper floor rooms at check-in even before we were sent to the sales counter for the update sales pitch. There they knew we had used II Certificates for our reservations.  The presentation was done in the very quiet Salum building rather than the large area nearer the GM pool. I'm not sure why were given the sales pitch there rather than with the masses of people in the other building. (


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## Eric B (Jul 4, 2018)

Eric B said:


> The wall oven is in the 2 BR loft and up (so is the dishwasher, washer & dryer).  The spa units have just the cooktop & microwave.  Still haven’t felt an urge to bake or roast anything here, so we’re happy in a spa, villa or suite when we can get an inexpensive exchange, but the loft is awful nice.



I’ve got to correct this; the 1 BR Loft also has an oven and a washer & dryer.  The oven is under the counter below a 2 burner cooktop.


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## pianoetudes (Jul 6, 2018)

mike53 said:


> I'm sure they must have some secret formula for room assignments. When we checked in last month we had reservations for two one bedroom Grand Bliss units. We were offered upper floor rooms at check-in even before we were sent to the sales counter for the update sales pitch. There they knew we had used II Certificates for our reservations.  The presentation was done in the very quiet Salum building rather than the large area nearer the GM pool. I'm not sure why were given the sales pitch there rather than with the masses of people in the other building. (


Salum is a new building dedicated for owners presentation. The other building near the pool, and you said masses of people, is for first time presentation. 

Sent from my HTC U11 life using Tapatalk


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## Eric B (Jul 7, 2018)

mike53 said:


> I'm sure they must have some secret formula for room assignments. When we checked in last month we had reservations for two one bedroom Grand Bliss units. We were offered upper floor rooms at check-in even before we were sent to the sales counter for the update sales pitch. There they knew we had used II Certificates for our reservations.  The presentation was done in the very quiet Salum building rather than the large area nearer the GM pool. I'm not sure why were given the sales pitch there rather than with the masses of people in the other building. (



According to the folks in sales the secret formula for room assignment is for the sales side and hotel side to meet weekly to go over the list of folks with reservations and the available units and assign the rooms based on a priority system.  They go by seniority order by the amount an owner has paid into Vidanta, location and type of ownership, platinum status, etc., for the reservations booked through Vidanta first, then they go through the exchanges.  In that category, though it wasn't really detailed in my conversations with them, they also have the information on level and type of ownership, if appropriate.  I imagine that they take that into consideration, along with things like the exchange company used based on any contractual details with them, leaving some wiggle room in the exchange category to shuffle folks around based on whether they agree to do an upgrade/sales presentation prior to actually giving them rooms at 5:00.  Nothing all that startling in the process.  If you have a high enough ownership status, they'll take your input for desired rooms, otherwise it goes by their ranking of desirability by location (closer to beach, higher, better view - Vallarta side or resort side).  There are some room-types that have limitations as to locations that can be assigned; that is, for example, all the spa units are in the upper floors of Tower 4 in NV, all the 2 and 3 BR lofts are in towers 3 & 4 on the 3rd floor and tower 5B on the 9th floor, and all the 1 BR lofts are in tower 5A on the 8th floor.  If you have a spa unit, the only thing that can really change is the floor and side of the building, but they do go through the selection process for that, of course.


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## NiteMaire (Jul 7, 2018)

Eric B said:


> I imagine that they take that into consideration, along with things like the exchange company used based on any contractual details with them, *leaving some wiggle room in the exchange category to shuffle folks around based on whether they agree to do an upgrade/sales presentation* prior to actually giving them rooms at 5:00.  Nothing all that startling in the process.  If you have a high enough ownership status, they'll take your input for desired rooms, otherwise it goes by their ranking of desirability by location (closer to beach, higher, better view - Vallarta side or resort side).


Completely agree, especially since that was the main carrot for us on our 1st trip to NV (4th overall into Vidanta GL).  They offered to move us from Tower 3 to Tower 1, 2BR, 6th floor, phenomenal ocean view on the resort side.  We weren't interested, but our guests wanted the view so we took it.  It was by far the best room view I could have expected as an exchanger (except for Punta, maybe--which was offered on our 2nd trip to NV). I was amazed our 6th floor room wasn't given to an owner.


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