First off, good morning to you all. I've never used this website before but I have frequented it once in a blue moon in the hopes of finding something interesting. I am married and my wife an myself are in the later halves of our 20s. We make a decent joint income and have enough to set aside for retirement plans. When we go on vacations we tend to spend between three and four grand and the locations have been mostly tropical resorts in the U.S. and Caribbean. We love traveling and hope to see more of the planet one day. The pipe dream is the Maldives and a Uniworld cruise down the Nile.
As the title implies, I'm curious about vacation clubs. Now having read a bit on this site, the majority of discussions surrounding vacation clubs tend to hover around the established forum sections like Disney and Hilton. However, I'm more interested in the ones that are perceived as more upscale: Anantara and UVC. My wife and I have stayed at two UVC resorts - Montego Bay and Punta Cana. Both were Breathless resorts, both were incredible. We did have to sit in for a presentation for one of them, but we expertly weaved our way out of the sales pitch even with the closer present (and got a bonus catamaran and snorkeling excursion for the time). Many of the discussions surrounding the UVC have been requests for help on getting out of the contract, and judging from those threads alone we made the right choice. As for Anantara, I have not found as many discussions except the ones pertaining to the end of their partnership with Hilton.
Now even with the negative feedback regarding the contracts I've found for UVC I cannot deny that we had amazing time at the resorts. I'm a numbers guy, so I'm always looking for the value in everything. Through some digging, I found that the Montego Bay resort was only $200 less than where we booked it from (Costco) but since I don't know what we'd have to pay to even be a part of that club I don't know if it would have even been a savings at the end of the day. UVC is hush about their rates as when I called them they said the only way to learn them was to attend a presentation...in one of their resorts. And I can't even recall how much they were offering at the presentation we attended at the Punta Cana one.
I have not quizzed Anantara over the phone as I assume they operate the same way but the allure of that vacation club is their access to the Maldives and other exotic locations, all (if not most) of which are listed as 5-star resorts. The allure of the UVC is Central America and the coming Mediterranean/Atlantic locations that are bunched together so members can experience multiple resorts and only pay for one. I don't pour over this website every day but I haven't found much in the way of posts from people who openly speak about memberships to either of those locations, let alone locations up for rent in the marketplace. Also, when I peruse the rentals, the vast majority of places listed are advertised for four people, often including a second bed. My wife and I do not vacation with other people and we are not even sure if we want children so the four-person rooms do not feel right for us.
It could very well be that I'm leaving something out of the equation. After all, there are many companies here that I'm sure offer a very similar experience to Anantara and the UVC that I am flat out not even considering, and I would love to be filled in about it. I am also curious on how the experiences from those companies differed or were equivalent to those two vacation clubs. I am aware of many timeshare pitfalls thanks to the knowledge this site has provided, and I would love to take advantage of this site's marketplace given the sheer volume of options. What I just need is a steering in the right direction.
Thank you for hearing me out and I'm anticipating whatever responses come my way.
As the title implies, I'm curious about vacation clubs. Now having read a bit on this site, the majority of discussions surrounding vacation clubs tend to hover around the established forum sections like Disney and Hilton. However, I'm more interested in the ones that are perceived as more upscale: Anantara and UVC. My wife and I have stayed at two UVC resorts - Montego Bay and Punta Cana. Both were Breathless resorts, both were incredible. We did have to sit in for a presentation for one of them, but we expertly weaved our way out of the sales pitch even with the closer present (and got a bonus catamaran and snorkeling excursion for the time). Many of the discussions surrounding the UVC have been requests for help on getting out of the contract, and judging from those threads alone we made the right choice. As for Anantara, I have not found as many discussions except the ones pertaining to the end of their partnership with Hilton.
Now even with the negative feedback regarding the contracts I've found for UVC I cannot deny that we had amazing time at the resorts. I'm a numbers guy, so I'm always looking for the value in everything. Through some digging, I found that the Montego Bay resort was only $200 less than where we booked it from (Costco) but since I don't know what we'd have to pay to even be a part of that club I don't know if it would have even been a savings at the end of the day. UVC is hush about their rates as when I called them they said the only way to learn them was to attend a presentation...in one of their resorts. And I can't even recall how much they were offering at the presentation we attended at the Punta Cana one.
I have not quizzed Anantara over the phone as I assume they operate the same way but the allure of that vacation club is their access to the Maldives and other exotic locations, all (if not most) of which are listed as 5-star resorts. The allure of the UVC is Central America and the coming Mediterranean/Atlantic locations that are bunched together so members can experience multiple resorts and only pay for one. I don't pour over this website every day but I haven't found much in the way of posts from people who openly speak about memberships to either of those locations, let alone locations up for rent in the marketplace. Also, when I peruse the rentals, the vast majority of places listed are advertised for four people, often including a second bed. My wife and I do not vacation with other people and we are not even sure if we want children so the four-person rooms do not feel right for us.
It could very well be that I'm leaving something out of the equation. After all, there are many companies here that I'm sure offer a very similar experience to Anantara and the UVC that I am flat out not even considering, and I would love to be filled in about it. I am also curious on how the experiences from those companies differed or were equivalent to those two vacation clubs. I am aware of many timeshare pitfalls thanks to the knowledge this site has provided, and I would love to take advantage of this site's marketplace given the sheer volume of options. What I just need is a steering in the right direction.
Thank you for hearing me out and I'm anticipating whatever responses come my way.