# purchased grand luxxe yesterday, question- should I keep or rescind



## seema (Nov 10, 2015)

Grand Luxxe residence club loft pre-construction NV -originlal price before fees and taxes $143K.  Reduced by 2/3 through redemption of other timeshares. This is a red week.

Two loft one-bedroom units for 100 years, and third one for 10 yrs, Most reviews on the resort itself on tug or elsewhere quite good; most posts on sales pitch or customer service or on amenities and perks not so goo.

MIne include the Ambassador program, ability to accrue weeks, 2 Vida weeks for life, 2000 vida dollars, 2 year lifestyle concierge, 1 year registry collections membership.

Can exchange weeks through 2 for 1 or get upgrade through SFX. Free diamond SFX membership for two years.
Closest thing to maintenance fee is usage fee which gets?  Reimbursed  through a travel account.

Must pay usage fee every other year for the 10 yr unit.
Must pay usage fee? Every 10 years for each of the 2 loft units
I do not think that these fees get reimbursed to the travel accont.


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## Karen G (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> Grand Luxxe residence club loft pre-construction NV -originlal price before fees and taxes $143K.  Reduced by 2/3 through redemption of other timeshares.


If you have any questions whatsoever about whether or not you should rescind, RESCIND while you have the chance. Once the rescission period passes you won't have that option again. But, you will have unlimited opportunities to buy after you do more research and know exactly what you are getting yourself into.

If the $143K price was reduced by 2/3, are you saying you are paying about $47,000? Are you paying cash or are you financing this purchase?


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## mav (Nov 11, 2015)

Recind  IMMEDIATELY , then these boards.


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## seema (Nov 11, 2015)

I paid one-third down payment and rest oncredit at 10  percent interest.


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## Sugarcubesea (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> I paid one-third down payment and rest oncredit at 10  percent interest.



Rescind, If you have to finance this purchase you really should not do this... You can always buy this deal later...


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## seema (Nov 11, 2015)

My quests are on all benefits. How useful is each benefit?

I can ask a question on each and every benefit - what have tug members have found is the practical value of each benefit listed?

I  am surprised that they give free membership in 2 exchange companies for one and two year respectivly rather than permanently. I was hoping to exchange over half the time rather than stay at the resort. I  presume the loft is considered a studio unit for exchange purposes.


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## Jason245 (Nov 11, 2015)

If you paid more than 1 dollar you overpaid. . Get out while you can.

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## GrayFal (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> My quests are on all benefits. How useful is each benefit?
> 
> I can ask a question on each and every benefit - what have tug members have found is the practical value of each benefit listed?
> 
> I  am surprised that they give free membership in 2 exchange companies for one and two year respectivly rather than permanently. I was hoping to exchange over half the time rather than stay at the resort. I  presume the loft is considered a studio unit for exchange purposes.



Don't assume anything. Especially about exchanging. 



We have met people at the pool who were also told they would be given "credit" for the other timeshares and that they would no longer own them. That never happened. 

I suggest you rescind within your 5 day (Mexico) time frame and do some more research. I have a friend who purchased Grand Luxxe 2BR about 7 years ago and they are very unhappy. 

Think long and hard about purchase but once your 5 days have passed, you are stuck forever.


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## seema (Nov 11, 2015)

I did bring up the comments posted on tug when we purchased the unit.

Their  response is that unhappy people will always post but the vast majority of owners are happy and they will not post. If most owners were unhappy, why would they be making such profis and expandung such as building a Cirque du Soleil theme park at M.V. location.

They also quote that AAA 's only 5 diamond reward to a vacation club is the Grand Luxxe at N.V.


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## Jason245 (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> I did bring up the comments posted on tug when we purchased the unit.
> 
> Their  response is that unhappy people will always post but the vast majority of owners are happy and they will not post. If most owners were unhappy, why would they be making such profits and expanding such as building a Cirque du Soleil theme park at N.V. location.
> 
> They also quote that AAA 's only 5 diamond reward to a vacation club is the Grand Luxxe at N.V.


Wait... you read tug.. have seen or read all the articles that indicate the pitfalls of buying from a developer,  fully understand your obligations as an owner and are still questioning whether or not you should keep it?



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## seema (Nov 11, 2015)

Are there any happy tug owners of  vidanta resort units out there?


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## GrayFal (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> I did bring up the comments posted on tug when we purchased the unit.
> 
> Their  response is that unhappy people will always post but the vast majority of owners are happy and they will not post. If most owners were unhappy, why would they be making such profis and expandung such as building a Cirque du Soleil theme park at M.V. location.
> 
> They also quote that AAA 's only 5 diamond reward to a vacation club is the Grand Luxxe at N.V.



Seema, I just went to Redweek and looked up Grand Luxxe NV.  3 BR 2.5 Bath asking 10-15K
http://www.redweek.com/posting/R494526

If you REALLY want to own there, do some homework, see what transfers with change in ownership and then buy resale. 

Good Luck with your decision.


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## Jason245 (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> Are there any happy tug owners of  vidanta resort units out there?




Are you asking if people are happy visiting the resort or happy owning at the resort. 

You indicated that you plan on exchanging at least half of the time. 

Based on rough math you spent ~$50k to buy at a property that you don't even plan on staying at more than half the time for EXCHANGE purposes. On top of that you will have your MF costs. 

My understanding is that the terms of those contracts make it next to impossible to sell or get rid of even if you were trying to give it away. 

Let me put this another way:

Imagine you are staying at the resort and there are two units right next to eachother. Both are IDENTICAL in every way, except that the person in the unit on the right paid $50k and the person on the left paid next to nothing. 

Are you ok being the person on the right or would you rather be the person on the left?


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## gmarine (Nov 11, 2015)

The OP is a TUG member for 10 years is asking if spending $50K on a unit in Mexico is a good deal ?  And financing at 10% ?   Rescind and stop thinking about it. A timeshare purchase doesnt get much worse than this one.


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## silentg (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> Grand Luxxe residence club loft pre-construction NV -originlal price before fees and taxes $143K.  Reduced by 2/3 through redemption of other timeshares. This is a red week.
> 
> Two loft one-bedroom units for 100 years, and third one for 10 yrs, Most reviews on the resort itself on tug or elsewhere quite good; most posts on sales pitch or customer service or on amenities and perks not so goo.
> 
> ...


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## T-Dot-Traveller (Nov 11, 2015)

*Reasons to buy- or not*



Jason245 said:


> Are you asking if people are happy visiting the resort or happy owning at the resort.
> 
> You indicated that you plan on exchanging at least half of the time.
> 
> ...



Jason brings up good points as do others .

more thoughts 

Is the " trade in " written as an addendum to the contract - stipulating that the deal does not close until .. the transfer out of your name occurs .
If your trading in  a Marriott I am sure it goes through but if it is no name resort xyz you better make sure this promise is in writing .
There are TUG threads on this - re Vidanta resorts and it seems (now) that they do have a legit system in place to wholesale used TS - but make sure you have details  IN THE CONTRACT .

Their are some who always say " don't buy from the developer " and it generally makes sense - but Vidanta has been structuring contracts so that benefits do not transfer on resale and the " pay on use only" clause is a benefit. 
That said - you list Ottawa as home so I will presume you want to be in Mexico Jan / Feb - how far in advance can you book your 3 weeks ? I would want min. 1 year in the contract .
 TUG poster MIKENK who upgraded to Grand Luxxe about ? 2010 has said he made sure that  an addendum in his contract states that one of his "100" year weeks takes on all the benefits of the 10 year " residence" week after it expires.
I believe he also has it listed in his contract how this can then be transferred
to family ( children) with out incurring a contract transfer fee ,< most Vidanta contracts are now 10 x MF if sold ( to discourage E Bay $1 sales)> 
With this in place- you have bought 100 ( its really cold in Ottawa ) weeks at a per week cost of $ 470 Prepaid + MF / usage fee when used .If you or your heirs use it for 100 yrs.
ie  You do not want to find out that after the 10 year week expires that the resort only lets you book the (2) 100 year weeks - 45 days out - which means May & June are available ( not Jan /Feb) and at that time of year you would rather be at your cottage in the Ottawa River Valley  drinking a Labatt 50. ( and you paid $ 5000 USD  per week for 10 -Jan/ Feb  usable weeks )

The Vida dollar thing has been discussed on TUG and while they have some use value it is unclear how much of their existence is just so the TS sales force has another "benefit" to sell ( and confuse ) . I am not sure what " Ambassador " program is ?- perhaps a GL owner who has it can explain.

Some have posted " that buying Grand Luxxe to trade means your always trading down " and / or paying a higher MF to trade somewhere with a lesser. MF

Since Vidanta is RTU  and is structured  so that the developer is not competing with  resales{see above} - ask yourself how many guaranteed PRIME TIME  weeks am I partially prepaying now  and at what cost- and can I use them -- or is  trading , renting etc to get to that resort system occasionally a better option .

for disclosure <I own Mayan Palace (1+ VF wk pre 2010 contract) with the " no go -no pay" / 5% max increase MF/yr renew 25 yr / extra reno MF every 5 yr .- all good > bought from the developer before I found TUG - that said -if I had bought used some of those benefits do not transfer .

If you rescind - DO NOT TALK TO SALES -


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## pittle (Nov 11, 2015)

seema - the resort is awesome, but some of those 'perks" may not be.  Hubby & I chose not to upgrade to Loft units last year.  We did not see any value in the Vida Weeks, Dollars and Travel Club.  We were also skeptical of them "renting out some of your weeks for you"  They seemed to apply those $ to discounting the price you actually pay them for the purchase or upgrade.  I know some folks who do have the Vida $ deal, and it is kind of a shopping club.  My friend said he got some great headphones at a good price.  His wife was not so sure.  The deal with that is that you pay your MF and they give you points (Vida $) like a credit card does and you can use those to shop on their site with.  Key is - to get the $/points, you must pay your MF. 

The pay MF every other year was new to me.  Most have been that you do not pay unless you go.

Mayan World has always done a 1 or 2 year pre-paid exchange company and then you are on your own.  I think when they first did Registry Collection, they did 5 years.  We did not renew because we do not exchange very often.  With SFX, those bonus weeks are nice, but some are expensive - depending on where you want to go.  I have not deposited my GL, but did my PBEB.  I will use it next year to go somewhere or send my kids on a vacation.

The key is to *READ all of the fine print everywhere*.  Then make your decision.  Even as a long time Mayan World owner, I had to go back to and ask questions and get the answers in writing.

*Only you can decide it this is what you really want.*  I do agree that if you have to finance it, you might want to reconsider.  You will never get your money out of it. (Someone posted that you can by one for around $15,000, and I would be surprised if they sold it because you have to pay 10 current MF to get it into your name.)  

Depending on how old you are, you will need to figure that you might use it 20-30 years, so you are paying $1500-2000 per year BEFORE paying any MF for each week of vacation.  MF on a Loft unit are pretty high, so before you even step into the unit you have exchanged into, you will have spent about $4000 (not counting airfare).  

You will most likely still own those timeshares that you traded in.

After 25 years of timesharing, our motto is _*"Buy where you want to go, and go there". *_ We have done the exchange thing, but like specific resorts and we love to go to those, so we made a point to buy units in those resorts - whether resale or from the developer.


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## DeniseM (Nov 11, 2015)

The financing is a deal killer: Rescind

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## tschwa2 (Nov 11, 2015)

Vida makes sure you can't buy a similar product resale. This also means what you buy will have $0 resale value.  Not true about your Marriott Hawaii unit and trust points that you traded in.  

I wouldn't trust the smoke and mirrors about paying usage fees through travel account.  YOu will pay when you use it.

If you want to go rent from an owner.  You may pay a little more than usage fees but you will save a lot from the buy in fee and still get the perks.  

Sell your current TS and use that money toward renting if you want.  Exchanging through SFX or registry collection would be a very bad use of  Luxxe unit.


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## LannyPC (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> Grand Luxxe residence club loft pre-construction NV -originlal price before fees and taxes $143K.  Reduced by 2/3 through redemption of other timeshares. This is a red week.



Once you rescind, think about what you will do with the nearly $47,000 you saved, not to mention the interest that you would have paid.  On top of that (I see you are a fellow Canadian), think of what that works out to with the exchange rate.  You're now looking at around $63,000 CDN dollars plus interest!  And, without speculating, who knows what the exchange rate will be 10 years down the road.  All your MFs and possible special assessments will be in USD.

I will emphatically repeat what others have said.  Rescind!  Take the time to think about your purchase.  The fact that you are coming on these boards asking about your purchase shows that you are unsure.  If you are unsure about a $47,000 purchase, rescind while you have the *very limited, one-time only opportunity to do so.*  Remember, there will always be the same deal down the road if, after taking plenty of time to analyze this purchase, you decide to take on this deal.


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## visor (Nov 11, 2015)

DeniseM said:


> The financing is a deal killer: Rescind
> 
> Sent from my BNTV400 using Tapatalk


Agree. 10% interest rate in this current low interest rate environment?! That's horrible.


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## drguy (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> Are there any happy tug owners of  vidanta resort units out there?



My wife and I are happy Vidanta owners of a unit just like the OP purchased.  There are a lot of exaggerations in the "updates" when we attend, but we now have a dedicated salesman, so he knows how not to annoy us.
Yes, we overpaid for what we have, but enjoyment is not just about money.  For us, trading in our other timeshares and not having those required mf's has saved us more than we paid for our latest purchase.
Yes, the other timeshares were transferred out of our names and sold by the transfer company, but I had to keep in contact with the transfer company to make sure that it happened.
If in doubt, rescind.  Otherwise, enjoy your new purchase.


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## DeniseM (Nov 11, 2015)

IMNSHO - There is no timeshare on the face of the earth that should be financed at 10%.  

If you can't pay cash, then pass on it, and buy something that is affordable for you.


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## John Cummings (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> Are there any happy tug owners of  vidanta resort units out there?



We are very happy with the Vidanta resorts in Nuevo Vallarta and Riviera Maya having spent several weeks at both resorts. They are our favorite resorts by far.

However we are not owners and have always exchanged into the resorts with SFX. I would never buy any TS resort in Mexico. They have beautiful resorts but are very easy to exchange into.

If you want to visit the Vidanta resorts as well as others then buy a good quality resort with good trading power like Coastal California resorts.


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## tschwa2 (Nov 11, 2015)

Per other posts the OP owns Marriott's Ko olina and destination points.  He can exchange in through SFX or II but would lose the perks of ownership.  He could also probably rent what he has and then rent a Luxxe unit from an owner.


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## seema (Nov 11, 2015)

I will think abouut what you are saying and decide by Friday.

I will speak to the sales manager tomorrow about some of these issues.


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## Jason245 (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> I will think abouut what you are saying and decide by Friday.
> 
> I will speak to the sales manager tomorrow about some of these issues.


You are going back to the sales team. .. have you read nothing here?... I give up. ..

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## raygo123 (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> I will think abouut what you are saying and decide by Friday.
> 
> I will speak to the sales manager tomorrow about some of these issues.


Somehow, if you can find out;  if you buy a resale does all the benifits YOU wanted transferable to the new owner?  If so, even if responded with a no, 10 X MF is comparable much much cheaper than what you bought!  Rescind now you do not have enough answers.

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## raygo123 (Nov 11, 2015)

Oh, I traded in a Wyndham, when the transfer company call I got my Wyndham back for $500

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## DeniseM (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> I will think abouut what you are saying and decide by Friday.
> 
> I will speak to the sales manager tomorrow about some of these issues.



Do you really expect them to tell you the truth?  This is not the way to rescind…

No matter what they say, do you really think it's a good idea to make payments with a 10% interest rate?


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## John Cummings (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> I will think abouut what you are saying and decide by Friday.
> 
> I will speak to the sales manager tomorrow about some of these issues.



To me, none of those so called perks are worth very much. When it is all said and done what you really want is the ability to enjoy the resort and you can easily do that by exchanging into it. Your Hawaii Marriott resort is worth a lot more than the Vida resort.

You are throwing away a lot of money, especially paying a sky high interest rate of 10% and not gaining anything of significant value than you already have.


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## easyrider (Nov 11, 2015)

seema said:


> I did bring up the comments posted on tug when we purchased the unit.
> 
> Their  response is that unhappy people will always post but the vast majority of owners are happy and they will not post. If most owners were unhappy, why would they be making such profis and expandung such as building a Cirque du Soleil theme park at M.V. location.
> 
> They also quote that AAA 's only 5 diamond reward to a vacation club is the Grand Luxxe at N.V.



Yes, this product is unique in that the Cirque theme park, golf course, airport tram and marina will be a part of owning a Grand Lux. The resort is magnificent compared to most others. The resort restaurants are the best in the area, imo. The beach front is about as good as beach fronts get.

If you have the money to purchase this and feel you would be happy with this product, you should buy it. Many others have. 

I will eventually be renting a top tier unit here when the Cirque is up and running or possibly be trading in.

I was told there are no resales of the Lux. I haven't bothered to look as Im not interested in owning here for the same reasons as most of the other posters. 

Bill


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## PigsDad (Nov 12, 2015)

seema said:


> Grand Luxxe residence club loft pre-construction NV -originlal price before fees and taxes $143K.  *Reduced by 2/3 through redemption of other timeshares*.


I know this has been touched on a little previously in this conversation, but this highlighted phrase is of most concern to me.

If you are "trading in" other timeshares to reduce the cost, it has been reported here many times that these "deals" fall through several months after your purchase.  Basically a third-party is used to sell your old timeshares, and when that doesn't go through for some excuse (there is *always *an excuse), then the buyer -- YOU -- are suddenly on the hook for the *FULL PURCHASE PRICE*.

So, Seema, how will you feel when all of a sudden you now have a loan for $143K (minus your deposit) at 10% interest rate?

I can't fathom any timeshare worth anywhere close to that, but maybe I am missing something? 

Kurt


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## tschwa2 (Nov 12, 2015)

The problem isn't that the deal falls through and you are on the hook for the full amount.  The trade in is another smoke and mirrors.  You probably could have gotten the same price without the trade in.  The problem with the trade in is sometimes they have trouble getting the units out of your name and you end up owning multiple timeshares.  That only happens with very undesirable TS and/or TS with developers that make transfers very difficult.  

Neither scenario should happen for the OP.

Seema,
Happy Vida owners are ones that can pay off the unit without financing and that use their time at Vida properties 75% or more of the time.  If you think this TS will get you to equivalent non Mexican timeshares on a regular basis, you will be disappointed.


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## gmarine (Nov 12, 2015)

I'm reminded of a funny saying changed a bit to reflect the subject and omit profanity.

If you think financing a timeshare with an interest rate of 10% is a good idea please raise your hand. If you raised your hand use that hand to slap some sense into yourself.


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## willowglener (Nov 12, 2015)

Seema,

I traded in to Grand Luxxe twice in 3 years. Both times I used my 1-bedroom lockoff at Sheraton Desert Oasis (SDO) that I bought on ebay with measely $550 MF. First trade was to a 1-bedroom unit and second trade landed me a 3-bedroom unit. My point is, for your to purchase at Grand Luxxe, not only is it going to be difficult to unload when you no longer want to own it, you are also paying 10% interest (~$10K/yr) and MF (another couple thousand?). Since you already own other timeshares, why don't you just use those to trade into Grand Luxxe when you want? There is plenty of availability on II and I've heard on SFX as well.

Good luck.

Daisy


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## GrayFal (Nov 12, 2015)

easyrider said:


> I was told there are no resales of the Lux. I haven't bothered to look as Im not interested in owning here for the same reasons as most of the other posters.
> 
> Bill



There are 10-15 listings on Redweek right now for the NV property.  At considerably less then what the OP is spending.  Spending the money to rent here instead for the EOY usage that OP wants is a much better use of $$$$$


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## carl2591 (Nov 12, 2015)

remember the ole saying .. you can lead a cow to grass but not make them eat.. I say let them have this timeshare and all its cost.. sometime the person has to learn an expensive lesson to learn. 

Plus resend their TUG membership.. it, like the timeshare they are buying are worthless to them. 



Jason245 said:


> You are going back to the sales team. .. have you read nothing here?... I give up. ..
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk


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## bjones9942 (Nov 12, 2015)

This is the craziest thread I've read in months!


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## ilene13 (Nov 12, 2015)

We have exchanged into the GL 5 times in the past 3 years.  We love the resorts, but we would never buy there. Why-- on all of our exchanges we have met many owners who were unable to get the weeks they wanted.  In fact because they could not get into the GL so they were staying at the GM.  Yet we we had exchanged in.  The developer dumps a lot of prime season units into II.


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## rpennisi (Nov 12, 2015)

I have traded through II into GL, once a two bedroom in NV and once a one bedroom in RM.  Great units, but not worth the purchase price.

I think all of the above comments make sense, all good advice.  However, consider that the OP might not have a problem with funds.  I know there is a 10% interest cost on the purchase, but perhaps other investments cover that and more.

It's something to consider, because none of the arguments given here to the purchase seem to faze the OP.


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## TUGBrian (Nov 13, 2015)

certainly hope the OP comes around, its not every day you get the chance to make a decision and put 43 thousand dollars back in your pocket.


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## GrayFal (Nov 14, 2015)

ilene13 said:


> We have exchanged into the GL 5 times in the past 3 years.  We love the resorts, but we would never buy there. Why-- on all of our exchanges we have met many owners who were unable to get the weeks they wanted.  In fact because they could not get into the GL so they were staying at the GM.  Yet we we had exchanged in.  The developer dumps a lot of prime season units into II.



This is what has a
Happened to my friends who are one week owners....they could never get the time they wanted, Vida kept "changing" the rules about when you could call and reserve...and then they were repeatedly told as single week owners, they would never get into the oceanfront GL buildings or have an ocean view as these were reserved for multi week owners.  
And they purchased this after they were explicitly told by the friend they were traveling with NOT to go on the sales tour and certainly do not buy. They spent 100K on this ownership. 
And rarely use it. 

Those sales weasels are very very good.


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## therese (Nov 14, 2015)

*Recind*

Tell them NO and that you want your money back.  Guess what they will sell it to you for your down payment.  Do this if you don't want to buy from an owner.


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## azdave (Nov 14, 2015)

*Rescind!!!*



seema said:


> I will think abouut what you are saying and decide by Friday.
> 
> I will speak to the sales manager tomorrow about some of these issues.



TUG and these awesome people have saved me over $90k. None of the benefits make the developer purchase worth it. Stop thinking about it and rescind now. If in 2 weeks or whatever you still want to throw your money away I promise you they will again finance you at 10% with the same deal.


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## LannyPC (Nov 14, 2015)

rpennisi said:


> It's something to consider, because none of the arguments given here to the purchase seem to faze the OP.



I'm not going to categorically accuse the OP of being a shill but his posts in this thread are eerily following a similar pattern to this thread:

http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233739  where the OP pretended to be asking a sincere question about a questionable transaction.  TUGgers came on the boards to warn him but then he slowly steered the thread toward promoting a scam operation (likely his own).

This thread's OP seems to be ignoring and rebutting all the advice TUGgers are giving him to rescind this "deal" while slyly (or maybe not so slyly) trying to show how great this "deal" is and is perhaps trying to rebut TUG's conventional wisdom to never buy from the developer, especially in Mexico.

Hopefully I'm wrong about the OP and that he's not stooping that low, but we've seen this story many times here on TUG how shills try to infiltrate these boards.


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## Passepartout (Nov 14, 2015)

Well, re: post 26, the OP was going to make the decision on Friday. Friday has come and gone. Whaddya think? Did it go with the money safely in the OP's pocket or in Vida's greedy coffers? I'm betting Vida got another one.

Jim


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## DeniseM (Nov 14, 2015)

> I'm not going to categorically accuse the OP of being a shill but his posts in this thread are eerily following a similar pattern to this thread.



Seema has been a TUG member for at least 10 years, so it is unlikely that the OP is a shill...


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## seema (Nov 15, 2015)

DeniseM said:


> Seema has been a TUG member for at least 10 years, so it is unlikely that the OP is a shill...



I have indeed been a tug member for many years - and I have bought and sold timeshares - some from developers, and some on the re-sale market. 

Much of the advice I have used from tug.

Until my family and I stayed at the resort as a guest of my friend - she gave me a week to stay in a 2 bedroom unit at the Grand Luxxe tower 3 - floor 2 - facing the resort; in return I gave her a week to stay at my week at Marriott Ko Olina) - I knew nothing about timeshares in Mexico - and then in the past week, I read all the major recent threads on Vidanta, as well as the sticky threads on Mexican timeshares, including recision. 

Both her unit and my unit were 2 bedroom units.


HOWEVER, many of you may NOT like my next post.


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## seema (Nov 15, 2015)

I met the sales manager one on one on Thursday. He came on his day off just to meet me and deal with my questions and concerns, many of which have been expressed by others in this thread or other threads dealing with Vidanta resorts (of note- we went over this tug thread and some other tug threads, point by point!).

He dealt with ALL of my points to my satisfaction, and he was able to give a better purchase price than I stated in my opening post. However, due to a confidentiality agreement with him, I can not divulge any details of our discussion - except to say that all of the points in this and other threads were invaluable in allowing to get a better deal than many others tug posters have, when buying from Vidanta. I therefore did get a better deal than expressed in my OP (one indication of this was that the purchase price went down significantly from what I mentioned in that post).


PS-I was busy most of Thursday and Friday (enjoying myself at the resort and in PV), and I was travelling from PV to Ottawa Canada most of yesterday; so I did not have a chance to post until today. Of note, we were scheduled to fly from PVR to EWR to YOW yesterday - but because of the air travel issues in the NorthEastern corridor last night, our EWR to YOW was cancelled; we had to stay at EWR overnight, and we were re-routed to fly from EWR to YOW via YYZ today - so I am actually sending this and the previous post from a lounge at YYZ.


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## tschwa2 (Nov 15, 2015)

Well then TUG did its job.  Hopefully everything you wanted is clearly written in your contract and you are happy with the price you paid.

I think you will be happy if you want to visit Vida resorts most of the time.  Going elsewhere I think your Marriott timeshare and points would be more useful both as an exchange or renting out what you own.


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## seema (Nov 15, 2015)

I will now periodically over the period of time update my experiences with my pruchase and the use of my amenities. This is NOT my last post.

Also please see my next few threads which I will start, to get your experiences on some of the amenities?


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## carl2591 (Nov 16, 2015)

*Grand Luxxe, Vidanta Resort Mexico timeshare*

This is some of the funniest $hit i have read in years..  A long time TUG member talking with the Sales Manager, remember about how to tell when a salesperson is lying? the mouth is moving,, going over point by point concerns posted about this Vidanta resort at a cost of some 43K more or less. 

You got to love the level some will go to for justification of something they know in the core is not the best deal in any way shape or form.

At this point all I can do is laugh, say i hope this works out for you like you hope and wish i had 43K to waste on a timeshare that in 3 mins or whatever the resig period is after you sign the contract is worth exactly $1. US..  

Who was it that said a "sucker is born every min"...???  






seema said:


> I met the sales manager one on one on Thursday. He came on his day off just to meet me and deal with my questions and concerns, many of which have been expressed by others in this thread or other threads dealing with Vidanta resorts (of note- we went over this tug thread and some other tug threads, point by point!).
> 
> He dealt with ALL of my points to my satisfaction, and he was able to give a better purchase price than I stated in my opening post. However, due to a confidentiality agreement with him, I can not divulge any details of our discussion - except to say that all of the points in this and other threads were invaluable in allowing to get a better deal than many others tug posters have, when buying from Vidanta. I therefore did get a better deal than expressed in my OP (one indication of this was that the purchase price went down significantly from what I mentioned in that post).
> 
> ...


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## MN2Travel (Nov 16, 2015)

*Grand Luxxe*

We are owners at Grand Mayan and we like the terms of our agreement. We traded in 2 timeshares and although it took a long time, they are gone. I have seen rentals for Grand Luxxe for about 2000.00. As long as you don't want to go there every year, it is a good to rescind. We have not been back for 3 years and don't pay maintenance fees if we don't use. We have booked for March of 2016. We are interested to see the developments that they talked about when we were there last. They seem to be slow on everything except selling and building timeshares. They said a huge waterpark and amusement park would be there in a year. It appears it isn't there yet. We were presented the opportunity to trade up to the Grand Luxxe but did not take it because of the price, the fact that no one wants to go with us, and it was more than we needed. We decided enough is enough. I like the deal we have because we don't have to renew and our children don't have to worry about our timeshare. There are definitely some bad salesmen there but we have found a couple that I would trust. Always get everything discussed in writing. I took a paper and pencil and wrote it down and had the salesman sign it and also when we signed papers had the person processing stamp and sign. 
Good luck.


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## John Cummings (Nov 16, 2015)

The good thing is that the Vida resorts are arguably some of the best, if not the best, resorts there are in terms of elegance, amenities, and service. As I stated earlier, I would never buy there for the reasons I stated but I don't know what the financial situation is for the OP. I suspect it isn't too great based on financing it at 10% but that is not my problem.

I bought both of my timeshares from the developer because I wanted those specific resorts and there were no resales as the resorts were still under construction. However I didn't pay an arm and a leg and I paid cash for them.


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## presley (Nov 16, 2015)

The title of this thread doesn't match any of the additional posts by the OP. I think it should have been titled, "I bought and I am going to keep."
At any rate, we all know that people need to buy retail in order for the rest of us to buy resale. What's done is done.


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## TUGBrian (Nov 16, 2015)

It is certainly a very shocking thread...but when it comes down to it as long as you are an informed buyer, you wont get any flak from me about buying retail.

you are an adult and should be the only one to make financial decisions yourself...TUG merely exists to educate and point out the resale market provides huge discounts...as long as you are fully aware of that and still want to purchase new...we will wish you a happy ownership and congratulations on your new purchase!


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## Passepartout (Nov 16, 2015)

presley said:


> The title of this thread doesn't match any of the additional posts by the OP. I think it should have been titled, "I bought and I am going to keep."
> At any rate, we all know that people need to buy retail in order for the rest of us to buy resale. What's done is done.



All one needs do is scroll (or read) through the newer thread titled, Vidanta Update, to see the OP of this thread quoting all the exaggerations, obfuscations, and outright lies that the salesweasels told him/her to make the sale. Obviously, the Kool-Aid worked- and I'm sure the Vida sales staff has been watching this thread, and breathed a collective sigh of relief when the last chance for rescission passed. 

You're right Presley. Sooner or later another resale will be available for pennies on the dollar.

Jim


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## seema (Nov 16, 2015)

Remember, I signed the original contract for $43K.

But after negotiating with the sales manager, that price went down significantly (beyond which I am not at liberty to say by how much). So I paid quite a bit less than $43K.

I have also decided to amend the financing. I have found out that the interest rate(financed through a Mexican bank)  is based on Mexican, but not Canadian (remember, I live in Ottawa Canada) or US interest rates. 

So if you do a google search, you will see Mexican mortgage interest rates are in the double digit range. I confirmed this with several people in the Vidanta sales office; many have a mortgage on their new homes and they are paying more than the 10% interest rate charged to me if I were to have financed the the balance. I have therefore decided to pay the balance about 90 days from the purchase date; when doing this, I pay 0% interest. In terms of payment from personal funds; I will see if I can liquidate some assets to pay this balance; if yes, fine - if not, I do have a line of credit which I can use to borrow at less than 3%.


So the moral of the story is this: if I had maintained the purchase from the original sales agent, I likely would have gone through the pitfalls of a purchase from Vidanta, as mentioned in posts in this and other threads. 

But in large part due to tug, I decided to approach the sales manager after reading the posts on this and other threads; I conveyed the content of this and other threads (by the way, he was already aware of tug and had read in the past many of the posts on tug; the sales agent was NOT aware of tug) to him, and he did respond to each point to my satisfaction.

I have found out from this encounter and from other sales presentations at other timeshares over the last 2 decades (most of which I did not buy; but some of which I did buy); one will OFTEN (not always, Disney being one exception to the rule) get better terms (both purchase price and other terms of the contract) from a sales manager than from the sales agent. 

With all the problems that most of you experienced with your purchase from Vidanta, how many of you finalized the purchase after dealing with the sales manager, one on one (like myself). I would be interested in knowing how many of you after that type of encounter, were still dissatisfied? 

Because of tug, I was likely going to rescind- so the first thing the sales manager asked me when I met him on Thursday, was whether I was going to rescind. I answered in the affirmative, but I did say that I would give him a chance to change my mind on rescission - so I went over the points on this tug thread and other threads, and also my other points - over a period of close to 3 hours, - and I was then satisfied with the answers - so I decided to purchase the loft unit, with the amended purchase price and other amendments to other aspects as listed on the original contract. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to say what were the amendments to the contract; but I suspect if you got the deal that I got (and the deal I got has not been posted by anyone on tug), then I suspect that a certain percentage of yourselves would purchase (but I of course am certain another percentage would not purchase, for the reasons mentioned in the prior posts).


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## Jason245 (Nov 16, 2015)

seema said:


> Remember, I signed the original contract for $43K.
> 
> But after negotiating with the sales manager, that price went down significantly (beyond which I am not at liberty to say by how much). So I paid quite a bit less than $43K.
> 
> ...


As long as you are happy that is all that matters.  

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk


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## LannyPC (Nov 16, 2015)

Would it do any good to warn you about the upfront fee scammers who target owners of Mexican TSs saying they have buyers who are ready to pay you nearly double what you paid or rent from you for triple your MFs?  

Or are you going to fall for their lines too?  Anyway, like someone else said, I wish I had [insert your new purchase price here] to throw around at a product that was worth about $1.


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## AlbertaTravel (Nov 16, 2015)

*Lighten up*



LannyPC said:


> Would it do any good to warn you about the upfront fee scammers who target owners of Mexican TSs saying they have buyers who are ready to pay you nearly double what you paid or rent from you for triple your MFs?
> 
> Or are you going to fall for their lines too?  Anyway, like someone else said, I wish I had [insert your new purchase price here] to throw around at a product that was worth about $1.



like previous threads said its not our money.  If this person is happy then good.  If he has the money for this good.  i hope he enjoys his purchase.  Instead of complaining cause this person bought directly we should be thanking him and every other person who bought directly.  Just sounds like to green eyed monster in a lot of these threads.


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## ilene13 (Nov 17, 2015)

Although we do not own at the GL, we have done their sales pitch on our trades into the properties.  The most interesting was the first one where there were 7 different salespeople.  They first offered us a GL 2 bedroom for 375,000.  Then it came down to 49,000.  (For 2 weeks and assorted other types of weeks).  Then when we said no we were offered a 1 bedroom unit for 2 weeks+ assorted other weeks for 30,000.  I'd rather exchange into the properties.  They seem to change their prices on a whim.  Also, the OP is spending more money as the Canadian $ us not on par with the US $.


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## MuranoJo (Nov 17, 2015)

seema said:


> ...
> With all the problems that most of you experienced with your purchase from Vidanta, how many of you finalized the purchase after dealing with the sales manager, one on one (like myself). I would be interested in knowing how many of you after that type of encounter, were still dissatisfied? ...



Can't say I agree with some posts (standard TUG 'mantra' churn) that a Luxxe is only worth $1 and resale is the only way to go.  Heck, thought it was pretty well known that Vida had pretty much closed that resale loop with high transfer fees that almost kill a resale prospect. Could be the transfer fees are worth it, who knows.

Not sure I'd be willing to pay even $43k or whatever for a Luxxe, but that's simply because I have other things I want to do with my money.  However, if I really wanted to use the Luxxe every year or even rent it out for a tidy sum, I'd grab it at the right discount--even from the developer.

Full disclosure:  I own the lowly MP of Vida but am able to rent for 3-4x my m/f for my holiday weeks.  No plans to upgrade.


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## Jondan (Nov 17, 2015)

seema said:


> Grand Luxxe residence club loft pre-construction NV -originlal price before fees and taxes $143K.  Reduced by 2/3 through redemption of other timeshares. This is a red week.
> 
> Two loft one-bedroom units for 100 years, and third one for 10 yrs, Most reviews on the resort itself on tug or elsewhere quite good; most posts on sales pitch or customer service or on amenities and perks not so goo.
> 
> ...


Rescind....we purchased a unit, have never used it to date. We were offered a trade in with our starwood timeshares, which fortunatly we did not do. We paid the fees in the first year but via their exchange scheme only received about 2/3rd of the MF back. We now only have  to pay MFs when we decide to use the unit. We were so disgruntled with the purchase I was prepared to write off the deposit, we eventually downgraded units to save costs. Take a step back and look on line for resales. We are very happy with our Starwood timeshares, hard sell for this one blinded us, buy in haste, regret at leisure. Hope this helps.


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## seema (Dec 13, 2015)

I am interested if anyone else from TUG has  bought directly, on the re-sale market, any Vidanta unit here or elsewhere in Mexico.

If the Vidanta units are so cost-ineffective, then why are there enough owners from TUG of Vidanta units, forgetting the American/Canadian public for a moment.


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## tschwa2 (Dec 13, 2015)

They are cost ineffective to use them as exchange deposits to go elsewhere.  They are cost ineffective if you don't want or use the extra perks like the discounted golf (or free golf old contracts), messages, no MF's if you don't use, discounted and free mf when you reach certain ages (old contracts), etc. You can exchange in cheaper but you lose the perks and may end up in a unit next to construction as exchangers don't get any priority as to unit location.

If you want to stay there regularly and use the perks on a regular basis and have the discretionary income than buying may make sense even buying retail because you can't get the same product with the perks buying resale.  If you are looking to make money renting or trading to similar type properties during prime season through exchange companies then it doesn't make sense.  Yes you may be able to rent the right weeks for more than your MF's but not enough to cover the buy in cost.  

There are plenty of people who pay rack rate to stay in a Westin Maui studio at 3-4 times the MF's rate of the timeshare.  They do it because they have the money and that is where they want to stay.  That is the same reason that happy owners bought Vida Grand Luxxe units.  As I said earlier, those that buy for other reasons end up being the unhappy owners.


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## akp (Dec 13, 2015)

This thread stressed me out so much I could barely read it.


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## MNMomof3 (Apr 9, 2016)

*Trying to decide whether to buy can you help?*

See my thread about Grand Luxxe deal. Everyone is telling me DONT DO IT!


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## drguy (Apr 10, 2016)

MNMomof3 said:


> See my thread about Grand Luxxe deal. Everyone is telling me DONT DO IT!



I'll disagree.  If it brings you and your family pleasure and you can afford to purchase the unit, do it.  If not, pass and move on.
There are no trades available if no one buys from the developer at some point in time.  Developers may trade in units to bring in new prospects, but if no one buys, no more units will be developed.
We enjoy our Grand Luxxe Loft unit.


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