beattytb6
Guest
My wife and I attended today a presentation at Club Velas in Puerto Vallarta. After declining to purchase, at the end of the presentation (which ended up being 3 hours and not 90 mins, which is about what we expected, so no surprises there), they offered us an "Entry Level" pre-paid package -- that basically gives you 4 weeks a year to use through Velas' proprietary trading system for 25 years. This internal trading system was called "Owners Link," or something like that.
If you include the annual membership fee to use Owners Link, total cost for 4 weeks/yr for 25 years equals $8,500 or $340/yr.
The kicker is: In order to actually stay in Club Velas or another resort listed in the Owners Link system, you have to deposit one of your 4 yearly weeks, + pay the "extra vacation" cost for that week. But no one could tell me what that extra vacation cost would be. They said that "It depends on the season," or "Could be $200 or more, depending on season and time of year." As a result, we declined to buy this "Entry Level" offer.
However, we could see ourselves coming back and staying at Club Velas if the price for a week wasn't bad, and they agreed to keep the offer open through tomorrow.
Question is: Any club Velas members here who could give me a sense whether Owners Link generally has good availability of weeks to choose from and how much a week at Club Velas would cost through this "Owners Link" maybe in offseason (July/August) as well as high season (Nov - Feb)?
Asking because if we could get a 1- or 2- bedroom each year for another $300 or $400 dollars -- we are thinking we might do it; partly because they said if we booked through owners link, we would qualify for the owners' all-inclusive price per day (which is a much discounted AI rate over exchanging through RCI), and that you don't have to pay the AI fee for the entire stay, and instead, as owners' could just pay the AI for one or more days that you want to use it; and also partly because a week in PV for $700 or $800 seems decent. But if the cost to trade and pay the "extra vacation" price is, e.g., $800 more or $1,000 more, doesn't seem worth it. I just don't know how much a week is through this Owners Link. Anyone know?
Any other thoughts or suggestions on Club Velas generally. Thoughts?
Also, I should add, this is not a right to use those weeks. There is no maintenance fees associated with them. This is why they said you have to pay the extra cost when trading through Owners Link.
If you include the annual membership fee to use Owners Link, total cost for 4 weeks/yr for 25 years equals $8,500 or $340/yr.
The kicker is: In order to actually stay in Club Velas or another resort listed in the Owners Link system, you have to deposit one of your 4 yearly weeks, + pay the "extra vacation" cost for that week. But no one could tell me what that extra vacation cost would be. They said that "It depends on the season," or "Could be $200 or more, depending on season and time of year." As a result, we declined to buy this "Entry Level" offer.
However, we could see ourselves coming back and staying at Club Velas if the price for a week wasn't bad, and they agreed to keep the offer open through tomorrow.
Question is: Any club Velas members here who could give me a sense whether Owners Link generally has good availability of weeks to choose from and how much a week at Club Velas would cost through this "Owners Link" maybe in offseason (July/August) as well as high season (Nov - Feb)?
Asking because if we could get a 1- or 2- bedroom each year for another $300 or $400 dollars -- we are thinking we might do it; partly because they said if we booked through owners link, we would qualify for the owners' all-inclusive price per day (which is a much discounted AI rate over exchanging through RCI), and that you don't have to pay the AI fee for the entire stay, and instead, as owners' could just pay the AI for one or more days that you want to use it; and also partly because a week in PV for $700 or $800 seems decent. But if the cost to trade and pay the "extra vacation" price is, e.g., $800 more or $1,000 more, doesn't seem worth it. I just don't know how much a week is through this Owners Link. Anyone know?
Any other thoughts or suggestions on Club Velas generally. Thoughts?
Also, I should add, this is not a right to use those weeks. There is no maintenance fees associated with them. This is why they said you have to pay the extra cost when trading through Owners Link.