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Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta

shirlasker

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Does anyone know anything about a "senior rate or certificate" associated with owning at Vidanta?
I saw a timeshare for sale online at Vidanta that mentions that all maintenance fees drop after 75 and none after age 77?
 

Eric B

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Senior certificates were issued by Vidanta in 2005-6, I believe. They are only good for the named individuals on them and don’t really transfer with a contract; that is, they might transfer, but they don’t name you so are no good. Haven’t heard anything about any future plans to issue new ones.
 

shirlasker

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does anyone have experience with the Ambassador Certificates? Also how well does Vida Bucks work. We were given 5,000 Vida Bucks upon signing up, but looking at the site, most trips give you about $100vida bucks discount.

Is SFX a worthwhile site to trade or Third Homes?

How far in advance should you book to get rooms in Jan or Feb?
 

pittle

TUG Review Crew
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Location
Goodyear, AZ
Resorts Owned
Vidanta Grand Luxxe
Buganvilias Sky Suites
Pueblo Bonito Em Bay
Does anyone know anything about a "senior rate or certificate" associated with owning at Vidanta?
I saw a timeshare for sale online at Vidanta that mentions that all maintenance fees drop after 75 and none after age 77?

We have the Senior Certificates and the contracts specifically state that they are only for the original owners. These are not transferable even to you heirs like the regular contracts and Registered/Residence weeks are. When you use it, you must show your photo ID with your birth date on it. If not, you have to pay the MF.

These were only available for owners of Mayan Palace and Grand Mayan before November 30, 2006 and had to be applied for in person at one of the resorts within a specific time frame - about 18 months from November 2006. They did carry ours over when we upgraded to Grand Luxxe. At 75, the MF ar 1/2 price and at 77, free. I have heard that there were some other versions where they MF rate would freeze at a specific number when you are 77. Those only were offered for a very short time in 2014 or so. The people that told me about this would not upgrade because they wanted to keep the original Sr. Cert - we would not have upgraded if we lost our original one.
 

pittle

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
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Location
Goodyear, AZ
Resorts Owned
Vidanta Grand Luxxe
Buganvilias Sky Suites
Pueblo Bonito Em Bay
does anyone have experience with the Ambassador Certificates? Also how well does Vida Bucks work. We were given 5,000 Vida Bucks upon signing up, but looking at the site, most trips give you about $100vida bucks discount.

Is SFX a worthwhile site to trade or Third Homes?

How far in advance should you book to get rooms in Jan or Feb?

Do some searches in this forum. Up at the top below your name. These have all be addressed multiple times.

SFX is good for trading. We use it for our PBEB, but would never deposit our GL there.

Your contract will state whether you can book 6 months, 9 months, or 12 months in advance. There are various options. With 6 months, you have to call August 1 for February.
 

T-Dot-Traveller

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Location
Canada
Resorts Owned
Mayan Palace Regency
Taranova
Ambassador Certificates?
Vida Bucks

How far in advance should you book to get rooms in Jan or Feb?

Book as early as your contract allows .
GL & GB are usually 12 months / other brands are usually 6 months .
<lower cost Exit package / Privilege Week non registered week “buys” - usually have less ARP than 6 months .>

You can cancel or move the reservation up to 30 days before check in .

We have 6 month ARP in our Mayan Palace contract .
August 1 - I can book any Feb week / July 1 for Jan.

back in 2010 - when I knew nothing - I called in early Jan to book Feb .
We were able to book the Mayan Sea Garden in Mazatlan & had a great vacation .

Different Vidanta properties and brands fill for snowbird season at different rates ; mostly due to the number of units per location and owner preferences .

****
Ambassador Certs . can be good value for the user . They are designed for mostly mid April to Mid Dec
use , since the ARP booking window is 5 months ,to my understanding . There is no resort fee with Ambassador Cert. bookings / unlike an exchange .
You will get the “ owner rebate “ via a loaded prepaid credit card .
They are a perk of ownership that can be discontinued if Vidanta wishes ; so a bonus - not contractual .

Vida Dollars have limited value . Some owners have said they gain some value through using them ; others think they are a waste of time . (I do not have them)

I see Vida Dollars from the perspective of someone who uses gas station loyalty cards - They are free & I occasionally save a few dollars on chocolate or chips , BUT if I pay 8 cents more a litre x a 30 litre fill up - then the value is less than zero . I buy gas by price not for the points . I take the points because they are a bonus .
 
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Eric B

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does anyone have experience with the Ambassador Certificates? Also how well does Vida Bucks work. We were given 5,000 Vida Bucks upon signing up, but looking at the site, most trips give you about $100vida bucks discount.

Is SFX a worthwhile site to trade or Third Homes?

How far in advance should you book to get rooms in Jan or Feb?

We get the Ambassador certificates, but haven't given any to friends to use. They tout giving them to charities to auction off and I've seen some on eBay, no idea if they ever really get sold either way. The problem is that it's fairly easy to exchange into Vidanta outside of the high season.

SFX can be good for trading, but experiences vary. ThirdHome has some quite nice properties, but available inventory can be spotty. They seem to be building up a number of higher quality timeshare resorts as affiliates and we've gotten at least one decent trade coming up with them this year. There exchange fees are high and scaled to quality/season. Don't have enough experience with them yet to form a good opinion, but they seem decent for high end stays.

as Phyllis says, call on the first for reservations at opening time if you want January or February; they open reservations by months, not day-by-day.

Read up here; lots of good info shared by folks that have experience using timeshares to their fullest.
 

MoPops

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Resorts Owned
Grand Luxxe Nuevo Vallarta
Wyndham CWA, VIP Silver
We don’t cruise, so we’ve found vida dollars have zero value. The first Friday thing is a joke. We never used any ambassador certificates, just weren’t sure we wanted anyone to be subjected to the vida sales process. We love the resorts though. Great vacations.
 

Zib

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We have the Senior Certificate and just went in March 2019 for our 15th year with our FREE certificate! I'm 88 and my husband is 91 yrs! I think they hate to see us coming for free again, and again and AGAIN!! Hope to make it again next year but someday our kids will finish out our contract in 2036. We bought about 35 years ago at the old "Fidafel" Mayan Palace on the Marina. We upgraded to Grand Mayan when they built it in Nuevo but never upgraded again. It was so cheap to buy then and the maintenance fee remained so low. Three years ago we booked into the Sea Garden and Mayan Palace on the Marina P.V. because of the difficulty walking around the Vidanta grounds and the difficulty "escaping" out. We have been very pleased with Sea Gardens and Mayan Palace even tho really we miss the beauty of the Vidanta grounds! We love Mexico and think the best thing we ever did was to get "talked into" buying that timeshare!
 
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