[2011] Exotic Travelers Questions

[mtm65]

Personal Message

All,

I have a time share with Exotic Travelers (had it since 2010) and I realize I do not travel enough to use it. Is there any way to sell these weeks (or the entire time share)? Since the weeks are not to your home resort how easy are they to sell/transfer?

tikyle, I sent you a PM last night. Please let me know if you did not receive it. Thanks, Mark

 

[MizzouBJ72]

Exotic Travelers and Flyback.com

Hello! Any comments from Exotic Travelers Club members who also purchased the Flyback.com package? I know it sounds too good to be true, but our Flyback deal gives my wife and I EACH $1,000 reimbursement, once per calendar year, when we fly into an airport to go to one of the Exotic Traveler Club destinations (Karisma Hotel properties) which are mainly in the Riviera Maya region. Our first year, we received the reimbursement ($2,000 minus a small transaction fee) rather quickly and easily. I am now waiting on reimbursement for year two travel (Dec. 2017) and year three travel (Mar. 2018), with correspondence indicating that the payments are being processed. The payment for the December travel, based on Flyback's publicized timelines, is overdue. The Flyback contract is for 10 years. If it continues to work like it did in year one, it is fantastic--far more reimbursement money than the actual cost of our airfare. We like the Karisma all-inclusive properties and other discounts and perks like limo travel to and from airport, etc. If anyone has experience with Exotic Travelers and especially with the Flyback program, I would appreciate hearing from you. Thank you!

Patrick

 

[VacationDynasty]

Exotic Travelers and Flyback.com

Hello! Any comments from Exotic Travelers Club members who also purchased the Flyback.com package? I know it sounds too good to be true, but our Flyback deal gives my wife and I EACH $1,000 reimbursement, once per calendar year, when we fly into an airport to go to one of the Exotic Traveler Club destinations (Karisma Hotel properties) which are mainly in the Riviera Maya region. Our first year, we received the reimbursement ($2,000 minus a small transaction fee) rather quickly and easily. I am now waiting on reimbursement for year two travel (Dec. 2017) and year three travel (Mar. 2018), with correspondence indicating that the payments are being processed. The payment for the December travel, based on Flyback's publicized timelines, is overdue. The Flyback contract is for 10 years. If it continues to work like it did in year one, it is fantastic--far more reimbursement money than the actual cost of our airfare. We like the Karisma all-inclusive properties and other discounts and perks like limo travel to and from airport, etc. If anyone has experience with Exotic Travelers and especially with the Flyback program, I would appreciate hearing from you. Thank you!

Patrick

How has the flyback program been working for you? What has your average wait time been for a payment?

 

[sjc07]

It looks like this thread is pretty old but I'm not sure where else to post and am hoping to get some input from folks. I just came back from a short vacation in the Cancun area where I ended up making an unplanned Exotic Travelers membership purchase during my stay at one of their resorts. Being fairly familiar with timeshare sales, I initially had no intention of spending time with their sales team until I was told that I could trade in timeshares as part of the purchase so I decided to sit through the presentation to learn more. My family has had 2 timeshares in FL for the last 15 years or so. We were able to get some good use out of them early on but as our circumstances shifted over the years (kids, etc.), so did our travel preferences, and we haven't gotten much use out of them for the last several years despite paying the recurring maintenance fees. I've tried listing them for sale on various sites at $1 price points with no success, and have talked to a bunch of companies that claimed to specialize in helping owners get rid of timeshares but never found one that seemed legit (most wanted money up front, shocker). So of course my ears perked up when the Exotic salesperson said that both timeshares could be traded in as part of the transaction, which would include ownership transfer (~$1000 fee for each, transfer would happen within 30 days after I provided the required docs) and a reduction of the Exotic membership price based on the equity of the timeshares. Besides that, the flexibility of the Exotic membership benefits was appealing to me -- no annual fees (though I recognize that booking any of the "home" all-inclusive resorts would cost extra), being able to use as many or as few nights from my total pool during any given year (vs. use it or lose it), and also being able to bank/exchange weeks at RCI, II, DAE simultaneously with good trading power. Regardless, the primary driver of purchasing the membership was the ability to offload the 2 timeshares.

I still have a couple of more days on my ability to rescind and want to make sure I'm not missing something important. So...a few questions:

I had never heard of Exotic Travelers until my trip a few days ago. Are there other vacation memberships that offer a similar type of deal where you can trade in timeshares towards a flexible travel model using nights/points/etc. and no annual maintenance fees? I'm wondering if there are other options I might have overlooked.

I've read the contract carefully and there were 1-2 issues that I needed clarification on. The salesperson has been responsive so far over email about them, but is it enough to have the clarification in email or should I push to have an addendum added to the contract?

Are there any red flags or potential pitfalls that I should be aware of?

I'd also love to hear from any Exotic members who went through something similar recently, whether it was a good or bad experience.

 

[geist1223]

The "trade-in" is actually fake. You still own them and they will expect you to continue paying the maintenance fees.

 

[sjc07]

The "trade-in" is actually fake. You still own them and they will expect you to continue paying the maintenance fees.

What if it's clearly stated in the contract that the membership sale is contingent upon the transfer of the timeshare ownership? It's not at the moment but I was hoping that might offer protection if I can get them to agree on it.

 

[mtm65]

What if it's clearly stated in the contract that the membership sale is contingent upon the transfer of the timeshare ownership? It's not at the moment but I was hoping that might offer protection if I can get them to agree on it.

I have heard the same thing geist1223 stated but have not personally tried it. I think you are playing with fire if you are going to try to have them add it and then try to force them to abide by the contract. This is Mexico you are dealing with. it will be costly and difficult to get them to do anything they don't want to do.

 

[LannyPC]

What if it's clearly stated in the contract that the membership sale is contingent upon the transfer of the timeshare ownership? It's not at the moment but I was hoping that might offer protection if I can get them to agree on it.

See what I've bolded and highlighted. If it is not in the contract, then it is not given to you. They are not going to amend the contract. We have seen and heard many others come on this board with the same story as you. They go to a sales presentation where the sales people promised a "trade-in" only to later say, "We don't want/need it," then the buyer is stuck with two TSs.

Rescind the purchase you just made and do it before time runs out.

 

[NachoDaddy]

The "trade-in" is actually fake. You still own them and they will expect you to continue paying the maintenance fees.

That depends. With Diamond Resorts, I actually traded in 2 weeks from non-Diamond resorts in order to complete a purchase. Granted, this was back in 2009 and I don't think they do this anymore, but they did accept trade ins and they were legally removed from my name back then.

 

[sjc07]

Thanks for the input all. I ended up sending the rescission note today. I've been conflicted these past couple of days and wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt because all the people I dealt with during the purchase process at their office were super professional, and seemed transparent and forthcoming. They even readily agreed to send me an addendum to address the concerns about the timeshare trade-in part, but I didn't receive it today...which is why I rescinded. I was also waffling because the cancellation clause in the contract states that the ~$1K "administration fee" isn't refundable, but I figure that's a small price to pay compared to the alternative.

 

[Grammarhero]

Thanks for the input all. I ended up sending the rescission note today. I've been conflicted these past couple of days and wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt because all the people I dealt with during the purchase process at their office were super professional, and seemed transparent and forthcoming. They even readily agreed to send me an addendum to address the concerns about the timeshare trade-in part, but I didn't receive it today...which is why I rescinded. I was also waffling because the cancellation clause in the contract states that the ~$1K "administration fee" isn't refundable, but I figure that's a small price to pay compared to the alternative.

Mind sharing the timeshare purchase price? As half of us initially bought developer timeshare, there is no shame.