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Vidanta Grand Luxxe

mike53

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Hello.
I (we) have been TUG members for a few years and have several timeshares which were purchased resale for probably $5 each at more less decent resorts. Nothing too fancy. We traded into Vidanta Grand Bliss Riviera Maya few times through II and my wife has fallen in love with the place. Recently we decided to bite the bullet and bought into the Grand Luxxe NV. A 2br Master Suite.

Although we did purchase directly from the developer, which I said I would never do, after a couple of days of negotiations (thank goodness it was raining) we received an acceptable offer and at least for now do not have regrets.

It did take a few conversations with the contracts people to really get a handle on the deal and beyond the nonsense of sales.

Now that all is done I still have a couple of questions.

1 Is it difficult to get reservations for resident weeks at what I understand to be off-season times in either NV or RM? June and September? That’s when we generally travel.

2 Although I don’t picture going at Elite time, Christmas/Easter, how likely or unlikely is it to get a reservation at these times with the SFX preferred weeks?

3 I’m assuming that it is really hit or miss getting a reservation for the Registry Collection resorts but is the trading power for the Grand Luxxe and the points cost to exchange into a resort correctly shown in their exchange grid?

4 What will be the next sales pitch when we return?

I probably will have many, many more questions as time goes on but any answers or comments (besides not buying) would be appreciated.
 

T-Dot-Traveller

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Congratulations -

glad you had the time & knowledge to meet with Member Services and negotiate .
You will not have regrets based on resort quality , service & staff .

I can see no issues :since you & your spouse agreed it made vacation sense & the buy in cost was something that you could afford .
 

bizaro86

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How big a group do you travel with, and when do you like to go? I've had pretty good success trading into very large units (Grand Luxxe 4 bedrooms) during fall. If you go offseason, I would expect trading to be pretty easy. If you don't have a large group, would it be dramatically cheaper to continue trading in? This depends largely on the MF of your existing units, and how many people you'd need to pay the (steep) daily fee on.

Maybe trading in stops working, but I'm relatively confident that Vidanta would still be willing to sell you a developer week then.

YMMV, and if you're happy with your purchase my opinion might be worth what you paid for it.
 

mike53

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Congratulations -

glad you had the time & knowledge to meet with Member Services and negotiate .
You will not have regrets based on resort quality , service & staff .

I can see no issues :since you & your spouse agreed it made vacation sense & the buy in cost was something that you could afford .
Yes, it was a bigger chunk than an ebay timeshare but not quite the same level as those too.
 

mike53

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How big a group do you travel with, and when do you like to go? I've had pretty good success trading into very large units (Grand Luxxe 4 bedrooms) during fall. If you go offseason, I would expect trading to be pretty easy. If you don't have a large group, would it be dramatically cheaper to continue trading in? This depends largely on the MF of your existing units, and how many people you'd need to pay the (steep) daily fee on.

Maybe trading in stops working, but I'm relatively confident that Vidanta would still be willing to sell you a developer week then.

YMMV, and if you're happy with your purchase my opinion might be worth what you paid for it.

We generally will be going here in June with a family 6 -8 depending on vacation schedules for my son and daughter and their children and smaller group in the fall. We're retiring this fall so more trips to use our weeks here, as well as our other units in Hawaii and the St Martin will be well utilized.

As for the daily fees, do they apply to owners? Another thing I was unsure of. But just like a trade, to avoid the high fees I have time to do the updates.
 

mike53

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Yikes. Another presentation. What a scary thought!
 

bizaro86

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Owners don't pay the daily per person fee, which is a big savings on a larger group.
 

mike53

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That’s what I though but thanks for the confirmation.
 

T-Dot-Traveller

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Yikes. Another presentation. What a scary thought!
We generally will be going here in June with a family 6 -8 ........We're retiring this fall

As for the daily fees, do they apply to owners? Another thing I was unsure of. But just like a trade, to avoid the high fees I have time to do the updates.

With a group of 8 - you save a net of $ 1260 per week
( $30 x 8 x 7 days = $1680 / - 25% credit - restaurant etc= $ 1260)

A 2 bedroom GL should work fine for 8.

*******

IMO - I would not go to a presentation - there is no need .
You tell them : “you own & you are happy with it & need to use for a while .”

We have owned Mayan Palace for 12 years and have gone 4 times AND never upgraded (no need - IMO)

The nice lady will say - which day do you want to book “ YOUR presentation” Tuesday or Weds -
I respect their process & people - BUT - just because they ask , does not mean I have to go.
We politely decline after listening & chatting , thank her & go enjoy vacation

Vidanta - is growing and keeps adding “ new levels” - ie The Estates” . They will ALWAYS want to sell
you something . IMO - they use the sales money to fund the growth ,(rather than borrow from a bank).
 

Eric B

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...

Now that all is done I still have a couple of questions.

1 Is it difficult to get reservations for resident weeks at what I understand to be off-season times in either NV or RM? June and September? That’s when we generally travel.

2 Although I don’t picture going at Elite time, Christmas/Easter, how likely or unlikely is it to get a reservation at these times with the SFX preferred weeks?

3 I’m assuming that it is really hit or miss getting a reservation for the Registry Collection resorts but is the trading power for the Grand Luxxe and the points cost to exchange into a resort correctly shown in their exchange grid?

4 What will be the next sales pitch when we return?

I probably will have many, many more questions as time goes on but any answers or comments (besides not buying) would be appreciated.

1. It's not a problem getting reservations with Vidanta during June or September in either NV or RM. I haven't had any problem getting reservations in Grand Luxxe even in the high season in February in NV. If you are going to be traveling in those months, it would be worth looking into exchange availability using your other timeshares; even with the daily resort fees it might be less expensive overall going that way than paying the usage fees, which are a bit on the steep side. The only downside I've seen is that in RM they restrict access to the GL Pool, Custom Burger restaurant, and Beach Club to owners using their weeks, although they'll let you use them if you attend an update/sales pitch.

2. I haven't had a problem getting a Christmas week reservation using an SFX privilege week for Grand Luxxe NV. I haven't tried in RM yet, so I'm not sure about there, but NV has a lot of available units. Vidanta gives a lot of availability at the Grand Luxxe suite level to SFX, including during the elite weeks; for any higher level units you would wind up calling SFX, then they would have to call Vidanta to make the arrangements. That should not be an issue if you're just at the suite level, though.

3. The Registry Collection program for Vidanta changed last March although they haven't publicized the details of it yet. At the Grand Luxxe suite level, you would get two exchange weeks for a deposit of one week into Registry; one of the exchange weeks would be good for any Registry Collection resort without restriction with regard to credits or the exchange grid and the other would be good for an RCI exchange through Registry. For the RCI one, not all of the RCI resorts show up in the Registry portal, but it seems to be a select group of them from my browsing. Of particular note, you can exchange your GL suite deposited with Registry for a higher level Vidanta one in the off season as they are available. Registry has availability in the Lofts, Spas, and Residence units at GL NV and the Spa units in RM. Given that you plan on traveling to GL in June or September, you would be best off calling Registry and confirming the details of how the program works at your level and considering using that method to get improved level access in GL without investing anything more. There are no resort fees for Registry exchanges, although you'll have the same type of issues with restrictions in RM for not using your own week. The Registry exchange fee is $299, and the membership fee is something like $399/year, which are a bit expensive, but a lot better than the cost of actually upgrading w/Vidanta.

4. My guess would be a pitch at the Spa level if you told them you typically travel with 6-8 people. We upgraded to the 1 BR loft level with an addendum allowing us to use the 2 BR spas as a sister resort. They're starting to build out the Estates, which is the next level after the GL Residence ones, so they might pitch that, but that would be skipping a level for you. The other possibility is the GL East Cape, where it looks like they actually started building this year based on the pictures available in google earth/maps.
 

Eric B

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With a group of 8 - you save a net of $ 1260 per week
( $30 x 8 x 7 days = $1680 / - 25% credit - restaurant etc= $ 1260)

A 2 bedroom GL should work fine for 8.

*******

IMO - I would not go to a presentation - there is no need .
You tell them : “you own & you are happy with it & need to use for a while .”

We have owned Mayan Palace for 12 years and have gone 4 times AND never upgraded (no need - IMO)

The nice lady will say - which day do you want to book “ YOUR presentation” Tuesday or Weds -
I respect their process & people - BUT - just because they ask , does not mean I have to go.
We politely decline after listening & chatting , thank her & go enjoy vacation

Vidanta - is growing and keeps adding “ new levels” - ie The Estates” . They will ALWAYS want to sell
you something . IMO - they use the sales money to fund the growth ,(rather than borrow from a bank).

The capacity for a 2 BR GL suite is 6 adults plus 2 children, so it would work find for 8 as long as 2 of them are children. Also, if they're are children in the group, their resort fees are 1/2 the adult ones, so you'd have to adjust the numbers to account for that.

I do agree with Tom about the point on upgrading; if you like what you've got there is no good reason to change it. We do go to the updates, though, in order to learn what is new with the Vidanta system. Unfortunately, the sales folks are not always up to date on what is happening, so exchanging information here is quite beneficial. Also, they aren't allowed to advise you on how best to use your ownership. For example, they wouldn't provide you with the information on the Registry exchanges because it would detract from a sales pitch to a higher level particularly for someone like OP that travels there in the off seasons.
 

pianoetudes

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Is it difficult to get reservations for resident weeks at what I understand to be off-season times in either NV or RM? June and September? That’s when we generally travel.

When making reservations at off-season, ask for promotions. Usually they have 1-level upgrade promotion, i.e. pay 1-BR and get 2-BR, or pay studio and get 1-BR. If they do not have promotions, request an upgrade or ask to speak with the supervisor who is authorized to make the upgrade.
 

mike53

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Hi guys. Thanks for all the information.
Any more comments are welcome as I'm just starting to learn.
 

Eric B

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Vidanta has several levels of membership based on the resort hotel, unit types, and numbers of weeks. For the resort hotels it goes from Mayan Sea Garden, Mayan Palace, Bliss, Grand Mayan, Grand Bliss, Grand Luxxe, The Residence, and the Estates. On my last update they indicated there was another level between Grand Bliss and Grand Luxxe called Deluxxe that is comprised of the Jungle Luxxe units in Riviera Maya and some new units in Nuevo Vallarta. There are also the ones going in the park in NV that are associated but different; they are the Celebration and Kingdom of the Sun units, but I don’t have a lot of details on those. For most of the resort hotels there are studio/hotel units, 1 BR suites, and 2 BR suites. Things get more complicated at the Grand Luxxe level and up; you can peruse the additional types on the Vidanta web site. A member can trade into other hotels at the level they own and lower in general, though there are different details depending on the contracts.
 

T-Dot-Traveller

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Are their clear distinct levels of Vidanta ownership? If so, what are they?

Sea Garden - 6 month ARP last sold to gringos in 2010 or so
Mayan Palace - 6 month ARP / multi-contract owners with profile A - 12 month ARP
Bliss - same sq feet as MP / different decor -
Grand Mayan -ARP varies ( some 6 month some 12 month - IMO )
Grand Bliss - (IMO) mostly 12 month ARP

Entertainment Collection - SG- MP- Bliss
Grand Entertainment Col . GM & GB
Cascade - inside the NV theme park / likely open 2019
Kingdom of the Sun - inside the NV theme park / likely open 2019

Grand Luxxe - generally 12 month ARP / various levels from studios to 4 bedrooms

The Estates : new - not yet opened

An owner of a Vidanta RTU contract cannot reserve levels above their contract .
You can book levels below your contract , and your addendum may spell out the cost or
unit size / weeks for your MF payment .

Many contracts since 2007 have the addendum -" no go/ no pay " (ie) MF on use only .
 
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NiteMaire

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Vidanta has several levels of membership based on the resort hotel, unit types, and numbers of weeks. For the resort hotels it goes from Mayan Sea Garden, Mayan Palace, Bliss, Grand Mayan, Grand Bliss, Grand Luxxe, The Residence, and the Estates. On my last update they indicated there was another level between Grand Bliss and Grand Luxxe called Deluxxe that is comprised of the Jungle Luxxe units in Riviera Maya and some new units in Nuevo Vallarta. There are also the ones going in the park in NV that are associated but different; they are the Celebration and Kingdom of the Sun units, but I don’t have a lot of details on those. For most of the resort hotels there are studio/hotel units, 1 BR suites, and 2 BR suites. Things get more complicated at the Grand Luxxe level and up; you can peruse the additional types on the Vidanta web site. A member can trade into other hotels at the level they own and lower in general, though there are different details depending on the contracts.
For some reason, I knew you'd respond. I almost commented "Cue Eric B". Two others I thought of are T-Dot and pittle. I really enjoy reading your insights. If not for the price, I would also be a Vidanta owner.
 

Eric B

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Well, there really should be some kind of guidebook to using Vidanta. Only problem is the frequent changes to the rules. Tom was right there behind me, anyway.
 

pittle

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Well, there really should be some kind of guidebook to using Vidanta. Only problem is the frequent changes to the rules. Tom was right there behind me, anyway.

The rules change almost daily now! I think it is because they also started "customizing" contracts to get you to upgrade or buy, so everyone's is different. Be sure to scan your contract and save it as a PDF so that you have it when you need it!

I started noticing small changes when we bought a re-sale that was sold 6 months after we bought our original unit and the MF, we close to $100 per month higher than ours for the exact same unit. We bought another resale that was in-between and it was very similar to our original contract. It was not long after that that they changed the % that the MF could increase each year, and went to 10% of the original contract for transfer fees instead of 1 MF. Then it was 5 MF for transfer fees and now is 10 so there are few resales available. We had some that had the 12 month out reservation and some that were 6 months out. Some allowed you to keep the Vacation Fair Week with a resale, and some did not. We had 6 weeks and 5 contracts, so I was able to catch on to the differences. Now we just have one contract, and there are even more differences because of customization.

We have owned Sea Garden, Mayan Palace, Grand Mayan and Grand Luxxe. We felt that Bliss and Regency were just Mayan Palace units with different furniture and cost more. They threw in some "extra" stuff like Sea-Pak & Sun-Pak that let you book in the summer months at Sea Garden or Mayan Palace at a discounted rate. We got both of those plus Golf, Profile A, and accrual when we upgraded to Grand Mayan, so why would we want to pay more for the same unit with different furniture? We skipped Grand Bliss because we did not want to have 2 under-counter refrigerators. We like regular sized ones. Grand Bliss units are nice if you are OK with 2 small refrigerators. We used one for food and one for beverages on our last vacation. The deck was larger than Grand Mayan.
 

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For some reason, I knew you'd respond. I almost commented "Cue Eric B". Two others I thought of are T-Dot and pittle. I really enjoy reading your insights. If not for the price, I would also be a Vidanta owner.

Looks like you were right...! All three of us....
 

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I will say, I find the Vidanta timeshares to be one of the more complex ones to figure out. I thought I was fairly saavy, but by the time our "60 minute" 4.5 hour presentation was done, I was thoroughly confused about what you actually were getting.
 

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I will say, I find the Vidanta timeshares to be one of the more complex ones to figure out. I thought I was fairly saavy, but by the time our "60 minute" 4.5 hour presentation was done, I was thoroughly confused about what you actually were getting.

It’s not just the complexity, but also the lack of transparency on how things work with Vidanta and all of the associated exchange systems. Much of the information I’ve learned has been by feedback from representatives regarding recent rule changes such as the Registry Collection program. Those rules changed in March, but I still haven’t seen even a partial written version of them.
 

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At the Grand Luxxe Rivera May, what is the difference between a 2 bedroom that sleeps 4 limited kitchen, and a 2 bedroom that sleeps 6 with full kitchen?
Thank,you
 

pittle

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At the Grand Luxxe Rivera May, what is the difference between a 2 bedroom that sleeps 4 limited kitchen, and a 2 bedroom that sleeps 6 with full kitchen?
Thank,you

The Suite is basically a 1 bedroom unit that will sleep 4 with 2 people on the sofa beds. It has the same kitchen as a regular 2-bedroom Master Suite that will sleep 6. Some of these units have 2 beds in one room and the other has a king bed while others have 2 rooms with king beds. Their is also a 2-bedroom Villa. The Villa has a sitting room in the lock-out side that has a sofa bed too. But, neither of these have full kitchens that include an oven

You have to get into the higher levels of Grand Luxxe to have a full kitchen.
 

Eric B

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Don’t think there are any 2 BR Grand Luxxe units that sleep four. What exchange system are you looked MF at? According to Vidanta, the 2 BR GL suite sleeps 6 adults plus two children and that’s the lowest 2 BR GL unit type. The other 2 BR GL units are the villa, the spa and the loft and they also sleep 6 + 2.
 
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