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Which would be better to own?

SteveHCMM

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We currently own a EOY Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay Mazatlan Jr Suite. We have been lucky in the fact that every time we stay at a PB we are upgraded to a 1 bedroom.

Now we are considering owning another week (don't get me started with Belaire).

While in Cabo last week we saw Hacienda Encantada. The level 2 sales guy showed us the trading power of their JS, which they claim is a "Premier" II resort. It appeared as though we could trade it for a 1, sometimes 2 bedroom at a high demand resort such as a Westin Hawaii.

Is this realistic?

Which would be better for trade through II, the Encantada or something like a Grand Mayan 1 bedroom?

Thanks for any input.
Steve
 

aliikai2

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Any good US resort is going

To out trade any premium Mexican resort, period. We own lots of Mayan and Grand Mayan weeks, and with RCI we get better trades using almost any of our US ownerships.

With II trying to grab a premium 2 bedroom like a Westin in anything besides really off season with any prime trader is going to next to impossible.

Why?

Because the Westin folks are paying around $1650-$2200 per week in annual fees, so the are going to split their units into 1 bed and studios, try to rent the 1 beds and deposit the studios to try to get back their costs.

Marriott owners do the same thing, except some of their resorts only have 2 bedroom units.

Currently the Mini systems , WM, Diamond, VI, have great trade power in II, and unless you are planing to use the Hacienda Encantada most of the time, save some money and get one of them for trading.

jmho,

Greg

We currently own a EOY Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay Mazatlan Jr Suite. We have been lucky in the fact that every time we stay at a PB we are upgraded to a 1 bedroom.

Now we are considering owning another week (don't get me started with Belaire).

While in Cabo last week we saw Hacienda Encantada. The level 2 sales guy showed us the trading power of their JS, which they claim is a "Premier" II resort. It appeared as though we could trade it for a 1, sometimes 2 bedroom at a high demand resort such as a Westin Hawaii.

Is this realistic?

Which would be better for trade through II, the Encantada or something like a Grand Mayan 1 bedroom?

Thanks for any input.
Steve
 

Karen G

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Once owned these: FirstFairway@Walden X 2; Lawai Beach; ManhattanClub; PuebloBonitoRose; 4 South Africa--now timeshare-free
unless you are planing to use the Hacienda Encantada most of the time, save some money and get one of them for trading.
I agree with Greg. Don't buy anything from a developer if your primary purpose is to trade it away. It's much too expensive, and if you buy something at a brand new, luxurious resort you'll be hard-pressed to get anything of equal value in a trade.

Now, if you want to return to the same place year after year, you love the resort and the location, and you can't see yourself wanting to go anywhere else but there--maybe a developer purchase "might" be justified.
 

nazclk

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Encantada.

I think it was www.myresortnetwork.com had one for $4700 and open to offers if you really want one. As other posters have said, don't buy a Mexico timeshare to trade with. A california Coastal, would be a better buy for that purpose. Listen to Greg the master trader.
 

SenorOjO

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Please, Please, be be very leary of representations of sales agents at sales presentations. The only way you can know for sure of the trading power of a unit is by trying to do and exchange. Sales Agents will thell you that you can exchange their units with ones in hawaii or Paris. They have heard that line all the time. Be leary. The exchange process is very tricky and nothing is guaranteed. Much more goes into the exchange process than just that red units can be traded for other red units around the world.

Purchase a unit if indeed that is where you want to go yearly or every other year. Cause that is the only thing certain that you are buying, the Right to Use.

Also look at the resale market for the best deals. Several reputable resellers advertise with TUG. I bought recently through a resale. A 2 bedroom unit at Velas Vallarta for less than $1000 (with 25 RTU years on the contract. The person who I bought it from paid $25,000 four years ago and never used it. Paid maintenance fees for those 4 years totalling close to $4000 (for a total investment of $29,000).


Oscar
 

kcirbodmot

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Re: Any Good US Resort Is Going

To out trade any premium Mexican resort, period. We own lots of Mayan and Grand Mayan weeks, and with RCI we get better trades using almost any of our US ownerships.

Greg

While we have never had the advantage of owning at even one, let alone multiple, US-based Gold Crown properties, our experience has been 180 degrees the opposite - our PB Maz week clearly trades better than our US-based property did (and at the time we owned in the US, the property was contending for GC status and VERY rarely did we not get the trades we sought). I think part of what you have to consider is where you want to go. The PB resorts seem to be strong traders when exchanging into other Mexico destinations.
 

SteveHCMM

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'Grand Mayan trades in RCI only."

I swear they said we had 5 options for exchanging. Through the Mayan, RCI, II, HSI & SFX. :confused:

"Don't buy anything from a developer if your primary purpose is to trade it away."

I won't purchase from a developer again :doh:

Please, Please, be be very leary of representations of sales agents at sales presentations. The only way you can know for sure of the trading power of a unit is by trying to do an exchange."

"Purchase a unit if indeed that is where you want to go yearly or every other year."

Of course I don't own a Hacienda Encantada week so I can't try to do an exchange, but the sales guy did log into II and show what one of their JS could trade into over the next few months, which looked pretty impressive. Of course this is the summer season.

I don't think we would return there every year. It is very nice but we already own Pueblo Bonito and love both Sunset Beach & Blanco in Cabo.

I guess my inexperience comes in because we have only seen and stayed at Mexican resorts in Cabo, Maz, & PV. PB only has resorts there. None on the Caribbean side. We would like to spice up the variety a bit.

I have heard that it is better to by foreign resorts over US, but I probably heard that at a presentation.

I like the Grand Mayans (not the JS, no kitchen) and the fact that they have a lot of locations, but have heard a lot of negatives about them. I'd rather use something other than RCI because I am not impressed with them.

Now I am confused. I want to buy at a nice resort that I will stay at on occasion, maybe with a few sister resorts for easy internal exchange, but I also want to keep in mind trading power and ability to at least get a little more than my maintenance fee if I need to rent a week here and there.

Thank you all for your advice.
 

drguy

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I swear they said we had 5 options for exchanging. Through the Mayan, RCI, II, HSI & SFX. :confused: ...
Now I am confused. I want to buy at a nice resort that I will stay at on occasion, maybe with a few sister resorts for easy internal exchange, but I also want to keep in mind trading power and ability to at least get a little more than my maintenance fee if I need to rent a week here and there.

Thank you all for your advice.

I also own at GM. We can trade through RCI, ICE, SFX and Heritage Collection (also an RCI program I think).
If you are looking at a small group type of TS, Monarch Grand Vacations may work for you. We recently bought resale points to give it a try. Haven't had experience exchanging or using them yet.
Guy
 

SteveHCMM

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I just learned about the II Travel Demand Index. Could anyone provide the score for Hacienda Encantada? What about Casa Dorada on Medano?

Thanks!
 

Carol C

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We currently own a EOY Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay Mazatlan Jr Suite. We have been lucky in the fact that every time we stay at a PB we are upgraded to a 1 bedroom.

How do you manage to get upgraded? I also own EOY, even years in a jr ste. I bought resale though. I've never had the luck to get offered an upgrade. On what conditions did you get offered a larger unit? What time of year do you go? Do you give a bribe at the reception desk or what? :p

Good for you, btw...but I want to have some of your kind of "luck" too! :wave:
 

funtime

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RCI stronger in Cabo

II and RCI each have their strengths and weaknesses. Although I generally like II better, II has very little presence in Cabo. RCI is much stronger in Cabo and the Pueblo Bonito chain is in RCI, not II. I echo what others have said about not buying retail. Check Redweek.com for sales for Pueblo Bonito at Sunset, Rose and Blanco. Funtime
 

x3 skier

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The level 2 sales guy showed us the trading power of their JS, which they claim is a "Premier" II resort.

Steve

How can you tell a TS salesman is lying about trading? He has a pulse.

Do your own research and ignore whatever they tell you except "good bye".

Cheers
 

Clintshare

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Pueblo Bonito

PB Maz and PBEB are indeed top drawer. And I'll echo "funtime" on the resale recommendation.
 

CaboColl

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From one I can tell, the travel demand index for all of the II (19 total) resorts in Cabo is a 38.
This includes both Premier and non-premier resorts.

They are all listed as "Mexico, Baja and the Northwestern Coast"
 

gmarine

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From one I can tell, the travel demand index for all of the II (19 total) resorts in Cabo is a 38.
This includes both Premier and non-premier resorts.

They are all listed as "Mexico, Baja and the Northwestern Coast"

The 38 isnt the actual Travel Demand Index. The 38 is just the number of the corresponding grid for that area.

To find the Travel Demand Index for a particular week look at grid 38 and choose the week and corresponding Travel Demand Index number across from it on the grid.
 

CaboColl

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I knew it sounded too easy the way I looked it up :)
Can you tell that I am a newbie?

Since I have already proven my lack of knowledge, I will continue....
Where do I find "Grid 38" ?

Thanks for the info.
 

gmarine

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I knew it sounded too easy the way I looked it up :)
Can you tell that I am a newbie?

Since I have already proven my lack of knowledge, I will continue....
Where do I find "Grid 38" ?

Thanks for the info.

The Travel Demand Indexes are listed in the beginning pages of each geographical area.
 

Jane Doe

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I swear they said we had 5 options for exchanging. Through the Mayan, RCI, II, HSI & SFX. :confused:



I won't purchase from a developer again :doh:



Of course I don't own a Hacienda Encantada week so I can't try to do an exchange, but the sales guy did log into II and show what one of their JS could trade into over the next few months, which looked pretty impressive. Of course this is the summer season.

I don't think we would return there every year. It is very nice but we already own Pueblo Bonito and love both Sunset Beach & Blanco in Cabo.

I guess my inexperience comes in because we have only seen and stayed at Mexican resorts in Cabo, Maz, & PV. PB only has resorts there. None on the Caribbean side. We would like to spice up the variety a bit.

I have heard that it is better to by foreign resorts over US, but I probably heard that at a presentation.

I like the Grand Mayans (not the JS, no kitchen) and the fact that they have a lot of locations, but have heard a lot of negatives about them. I'd rather use something other than RCI because I am not impressed with them.

Now I am confused. I want to buy at a nice resort that I will stay at on occasion, maybe with a few sister resorts for easy internal exchange, but I also want to keep in mind trading power and ability to at least get a little more than my maintenance fee if I need to rent a week here and there.

Thank you all for your advice.

First, Mayan has a lot of complaints from owners, but Grand Mayan owners seem to be pretty happy, but you are right RCI has gone down hill, they allow alot of 3 star hotels. I think II is better. the reason the other person has so much luck trading where they want to is not because they own so many weeks, but because Mayan is located almost exclusively on the tropic of cancer which is where? P.V., Cabo, Cancun, Carribean, Bahamas, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, and Hawaii are all within a stones throw of the Tropic of Cancer. The one thing on presentations they tell you that is true, own where everyone wants to go, so you can go anywhere you want. In the middle of February with 4 ft of snow on the ground, people go ski for a weekend, but they go to the beach for vacation, and not the california beach cause that water is COLD. They want Hawaii or Mexico or the Carribean. So where ever you buy, buy the tropic of cancer. It doesn't have to be Grand Mayan or The Enchantment (Hacienda Encantada) M resorts are luxury, but not beach front. Good luck trading M resorts in P.V. for Hawaii, they are in the mountains here. You for sure would not get ocean in Hawaii, which is why most people go to Hawaii.
 

SteveHCMM

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M resorts are luxury, but not beach front. Good luck trading M resorts in P.V. for Hawaii, they are in the mountains here. You for sure would not get ocean in Hawaii, which is why most people go to Hawaii.

This confused me a little, could you please clarify?
"they are in the mountains here." I thought Mayan was not in Hawaii yet.

Thanks,
Steve
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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In the middle of February with 4 ft of snow on the ground, people go ski for a weekend, but they go to the beach for vacation, and not the california beach cause that water is COLD. They want Hawaii or Mexico or the Carribean. So where ever you buy, buy the tropic of cancer. It doesn't have to be Grand Mayan or The Enchantment (Hacienda Encantada) M resorts are luxury, but not beach front. Good luck trading M resorts in P.V. for Hawaii, they are in the mountains here. You for sure would not get ocean in Hawaii, which is why most people go to Hawaii.

That''s simply not true. A week 7 at a western US ski resort are among the strongest trading weeks available. If the resort is also a top quality property at a major ski destination, it will be among the very elite properties.

Meanwhile, tropical resorts in Mexico during the summer are modest traders, and in fall are quite mediocre.

I've also routinely traded my So Calif December (New Years) beach week for Hawai'i and for coastal Mexico in February.

---------

In general, for trading purposes most Mexican resorts are only modestly good traders at best - only a handful (and Grand Mayan is not in that handful) are "top dog" traders. There's simply too much available inventory in Mexico; it's easy to trade into most Mexican resorts and to have top trade value a resort needs to be both in high demand and have low availability. Some Mexican resorts are notoriously bad traders, and almost any Mexico resort in off-season will trade poorly.

Similarly only a handful of Hawai'i properties are "top dogs". Same situation as Mexico - too much supply. Traditionally Hawai'i resorts have been stronger traders than Mexico properties, but with changes in airfares to Hawai'i that could change. Hawai'i is generally a bad location to own for trading purposes because the annual fees are so high, though. There are many other locations that have similar trade power but that don't cost as much to own.
 
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pammex

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You received a lot of fantastic posts....

I own Mayan Regency and it is not one of my best traders even for Mexico. I do own many other timeshares in Mexico, some of which I own many weeks. One I own in PV trades very well, it is a studio ( I do not like studios, but bought by husband resale, long story), anyway it almost always trades for a one bedroom.

I suggest as others say...buying resale in an area you like and will go to and also buying resale.
 
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