# Possibly buying a club melia option membership



## Forrestt (Apr 9, 2013)

Hey everyone, I have been looking through the forums, and online regarding the Club Melia membership. My wife and I went on our honeymoon in december of 2012. We went to Paradisus Cancun. While we were there we met with a sales rep regarding the club membership. I think we were oversold on some of the benefits and I just wanted to get people opinion on the club. We were looking at getting the 27000 point membership. Here is my problem, I know that by joining the club, we get the exclusive check in area and the rooms may be a little better.But when I compare the costs of booking the trip through the club and then comparing it to a package on expedia, the expedia package comes out cheaper, usually by 5 or 600 dollars. My example i would use is for the travel dates of May 19th 2013 through May 26th 2013. Expedia had a package for 2600 including airfare for 2 round trip and all inclusive meals and drinks (i checked the other day so its probably different now).
I called the club melia rep to check on the options needed for the room, the studio would be 19000 options, which would leave me with 8000 options left. 
The cheapest flight I could find standalone ranged from 870 - 1200. The all inclusive for 2 would be around 1300 at 84 per person per day. The maintenance fee is about 661 and the net work fee was another 110. So that would be about 3300. Does anyone know what the conversion rate for 8000 options to the melia reward points and then to sky miles would be? I would be flying from NYC to Cancun. Sorry about the wall of text and thank you in advance for your responses and help. I really appreciate it so much.


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## Forrestt (Apr 10, 2013)

Gotcha, my main concern is am i better off getting the club because I have no idea of whether or not ill be able to get a flight with the remaining options converted to points converted to miles, or just booking through expedia when I want to go. The sales rep made it sound like when I was going to book, going forward i would just go through club melia, but I called a few of the booking reps and they all said to book that in reality I should book my flight online myself as there is no fee and its usually cheaper. Great customer service on that end being so up front and honest, however I am really having a hard time seeing the added value for the extra 600. I want to see if someone who is a member may be able to chime in and give me their experiences with the club in regards to flights and the all inclusive and such, and maybe if there are any benefits on the resort, that being a member, I may be overlooking. Thanks again so much.


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## Passepartout (Apr 10, 2013)

It's still not clear to me if the OP bought into the developer's lies. If so, we're sorry. Today, it's almost ALWAYS cheaper to rent than to buy. Especially true when regarding Mexican TSs. Expedia- or any of the many consolidators is your friend. 

Forrestt, we continue to hope you didn't buy. All the best, and Welcome to TUG.

Jim


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## Forrestt (Apr 10, 2013)

Thanks for the response, No I havent actually bought it yet. I did put a 400 deposit down in December with the remaining deposit supposed to be paid in the end of may. Are there any benefits at all to owning, If they threw in the all inclusive or actually did a decent discount for the flight, this wouldnt be an issue, but I cannot really justify paying the 600 more.


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## Forrestt (Apr 11, 2013)

Any other opinions? Anyone with a Club Melia membership, I see that rentals tend to be cheaper, im trying to see if there is anything i am overlooking, Where do you guys book airfare, that is what is pretty much killing me (well that and the all inclusive fees lol). Thanks again

Mike


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## Passepartout (Apr 11, 2013)

We just don't find all-inclusives all that attractive. There are just too many  good restaurants and attractions in Mexico to be 'chained' to whatever ANY resort can offer. For airfare, we just book it like a trip to anywhere. Use Expedia- or Orbitz or whatever. Sometimes there are charter outfits- like Sun Country, or near-charters like Spirit whose schedules will work. In your situation (L.I. resident) you have multiple departure airports to check prices from. The good deals are not all from JFK.

It's for the above reasons- plus the fact that you can often rent for less than the cost of MF, without any commitment- that currently I'd recommend against BUYING into ANY Mexican timeshare.

The ONLY exception I might consider would be a resale for very low price from like eBay of a RTU that expires in 10-15 years at a non AI (for owners) resort. 

My $.02 worth.


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## DazedandConfused (Apr 11, 2013)

a quick google search is not good news

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177574

http://sol-melia-vacation.blogspot.com/2013/01/sol-melia-vacation-in-2011-my-family.html

http://timeshare-relief.pissedconsu...club-melia-timeshare-scam-20100806192686.html

http://www.timesharescam.com/timesh...ist/24-sol-melia-timeshare-complaints/page:2/

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/sol-melia-vacation-club-connecticut-c338212.html


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## Forrestt (Apr 11, 2013)

Thanks so much, the all inclusive is a mixed feeling for me, we enjoyed it while we stayed, we didnt really venture off anywhere, just stayed at there resort and relaxed. I would like it, but again Im not too familiar with the costs down there for meals, as it was my first time. Im checking the charter airline, ive never used them, I have checked up on spirit already. Thank you so much, and thank you for the links, im about to start checking those out  Thanks again


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## Karen G (Apr 11, 2013)

Forrestt said:


> Thanks for the response, No I havent actually bought it yet. I did put a 400 deposit down in December with the remaining deposit supposed to be paid in the end of may.



Consider the $400 your cost for a timeshare education. You got off a lot cheaper than many, many others! As you have already discovered, going through Expedia or other such companies to buy a package deal of airfare/hotel/all-inclusive often is more economical than saddling yourself with an ownership, especially in a Mexican all-inclusive vacation "club."


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## SMHarman (Apr 11, 2013)

Forrestt said:


> Any other opinions? Anyone with a Club Melia membership, I see that rentals tend to be cheaper, im trying to see if there is anything i am overlooking, Where do you guys book airfare, that is what is pretty much killing me (well that and the all inclusive fees lol). Thanks again
> 
> Mike


For airfare if you are regularly looking to head to CUN look into the Chase BA Avios credit card, sometimes with 50l-100k account opening bonuses.  You need less Avios points to get to CUN from JFK on AA than you do AAdvantage miles.


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