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How did you decide on "THE" resort

Warmwishes

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Other than making numerous trips and spending time and cash to stay at a resort or reading reviews any suggestions how to shorten the list of potentials for a timeshare purchase. I would like to visit each, but if we are taking advantage of a presentation discount they usually stipulate that you are not to visit other resorts for that purpose? I have already shortened the list to about 6 all in PV but getting impatient and still afraid of missing a jewel.
 
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vacationtime1

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There is no "THE" Resort; one size does not fit all.

Wherever you buy, buy it resale. Do not buy at the presentation. And prepare yourself; these presentations are high pressure sales pitches.

Understand that Mexican timeshares sell on the secondary market for pennies on the dollar -- if that.
 

Warmwishes

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I am focused on resales, I think I would need a lottery win to buy at a presentation. Wife and I have only started traveling the last few years at 50, and fell in love with Mexico, I just don t want to spend too many years checking places out.
 

Janann

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Do you want to spend most of your annual timeshare allotment at your home resort, or do you plan to trade to other resorts most of the time? If you are planning to trade a lot, then the most important part of the home resort is the trading power and the pricing.

I have owned with HGVC for around 15 years, and I have never stayed at my home resort. I am in HGVC for the points rather than stays at one particular resort.
 

Passepartout

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There are so many really nice resorts in Mexico that you really can't go too far wrong. We love Mexico and have been going there for 40+ years and we DO NOT own any timeshare there. We simply exchange or rent. Read the TUG reviews, Fall in love with an area- it looks like you've pretty much done that with Puerto Vallarta- nothing wrong with that. By the second or third time there, you'll have scoped out places to exchange or rent into.

You can usually just walk in and get a tour of a property, but with their predatory sales practices, they will make it uncomfortable, so be strong and DO NOT BUY!

My usual tactic is to have some 'for sale' ads for their property from eBay or others and just tell the sales weasel to match the price. They can't and that usually shuts them down.

Jim
 

Warmwishes

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Thanks for all the input, very incouraging, I appreciate it. Keep it coming.

Murray
 

geist1223

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Royal Solaris San Jose del Cabo
Why have you limited yourself to PV? There are lots of nice areas in Mexico.
 

easyrider

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Regarding Mexico, the first thing in our search was to eliminated all of the All Inclusive Mandatory resorts. The second thing was to eliminate all of the very large and small resorts. The third thing was to eliminate any resort that only had one resort available for us to use. All of our picks included mf consideration , locations on the beach, amenities, flights and season of use.

What we decided on was the Villa Group because of the 6 ocean front locations in Puerto Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta, Cabo, Cancun and Loreto that we could reserve in winter. Our other timeshares are similar with many resorts we can use without trading. We decided on Worldmark and Vacation Internationale which both have resorts in Mexico and many other locations.

Bill
 

Warmwishes

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I don t see it as limited, I have enjoyed every time I was there and look forward to going back.
 

Warmwishes

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But it does make sense to find something that offers other locations. The Villa group is on our short list.
 

oldbuyer

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Sleep at a couple candidate resorts a few nights as a rental so you are not restricted to go on another's presentation while in town. If you like the resort they would be happy to tour you on day 2 or 3 otherwise move on to a presentation at a 3rd candidate. That way you can cover 2 or 3 in a week and you have slept at 2 of them to compare.
 

easyrider

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I use youtube to see resorts that I'm thinking of visiting or thinking about buying. Read reviews to see how people like it at trip advisor, tug reviews and complaint boards. Ask in the forum questions on types of memberships, fee's and what ever. The Villa Group has 3 main types of memberships with different mf's, amenities and seasons. I have premiere and gold memberships. Resale point memberships are worthless because they revert to premiere membership but retain the cost of the point membership.

Another way to do Mexican resorts is to buy a good trader like Worldmark and join RCI, II and SFX to trade or grab getaways.

Bill
 

David Beckett

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I have little experience in Mexico but can give some insights into our own decision process buying elsewhere.

My wife & I had been going to the south of Portugal for 5 or 6 years, knew the area fairly well and knew that was the area we wanted to spend our vacations. We had narrowed our search down to two specific geographic areas in the Algarve and then started to look at either fractionals or timeshares there. There are a lot of options available there and narrowing it further to a specific resort was actually the hardest part. When we got our list down to 2-3 resorts we did a trial run in each and decided on our first/second/third list. Then we went shopping. Not actually looking for the cheapest but more on a comparative basis, i.e., resort #1 is our outright favourite but costs 20% more than #2 - is that premium justified? That sort of basis.

As has been pointed out repeatedly, buying directly from the resort is the most expensive way to go. We did our shopping on a few resale sites and ended up buying 2 "Gold" weeks at Pine Cliffs (Olhos d'Agua area in the Algarve) through a resaler at approximately 40% of the retail price being charged by the resort. Our decision about going through a resaler was made easier by the fact that they are a pretty solid organization and I could talk to other clients that have dealt with them, and even one of the timeshare owners who were selling through them. That's a huge plus!

End result is that we have been very happy with our decision and there have been no regrets. It took us 2 years to get to where we are but the 'no regrets' part is huge! We are pretty happy there so since the initial purchase we have added another week to our holdings at Pine Cliffs and are thinking about adding another (4th) week once all this COVID crap is over.

So...my own personal advice:
1) be absolutely certain of the general area you're looking at
2) build a list of candidate properties and rate them objectively & comparatively
3) do a "test run" at each to confirm your choices (and if any of them tell you not to take that step you shouldn't necessarily cross them off your list immediately but you should definitely think about 'why' they are saying that)
4) go shopping
5) enjoy!
 

csxjohn

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The very first thing I consider before buying any type of timeshare is how easy will it be to get rid of when the time comes? If you see tons for sale for $1, good luck trying to unload it when you are ready to.
 

silentg

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Buy a resale in the USA, then exchange to Mexico. I haven’t traveled to Mexico except on a cruise that stopped there. Cozumel. The only country outside of US that we have a timeshare is Ireland. We used to own South Africa but returned it to the resort years ago.
Good Luck and hope you find a good deal at a place you enjoy. Let us know.
 

DeeCee

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We based our decision on 3 things. 1) Where we want to go/when we want to go the most (buy where you want to stay most of the time), 2) ease of ability to get there (short flight or drivable within a day), and 3) price - bought resale direct through Marriott - legacy week. Love the resort, the distance to get there and the price to purchase.

That was our deciding process. Good luck with yours.
 

simon63

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I bought at Fiesta Americana Los Cabos, first retail and after add resale, but the last years we only visit Cancun, we feel more confortable with an small resort where evrything is close, with nicer beach and location, despite of being older and less elegant than Cabo. The staff is very important, in Fiesta Americana are trained to make the guests feel very confortable than other resorts that I have visited.
 
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deslagle

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I always check with TUG reviews. The little unseen problems are pointed out and the ratings are something I consider highly.
I ended up buying years ago at Windjammer Landing Beach & Villa Resort (St Lucia) after seeing 3 timeshares in the caribbean with 9.0 or higher ratings and
the resale priced were low. We have enjoyed that resort and go every other year. They reopened this November after Covid closure and I was impressed with their
Covid precautions. My spouse and I were in the 4th Van/Taxi to arrive the first day they opened. TUG was the reason I considered the resort and have been a member since then.
 

easyrider

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The very first thing I consider before buying any type of timeshare is how easy will it be to get rid of when the time comes? If you see tons for sale for $1, good luck trying to unload it when you are ready to.

Hardly anyone considers the end game, imo. One nice thing about Mexican resale timeshares are the right to use are usually 50% or more used up. The first resale premiere memberships we bought are beginning to expire in these next couple of years. By the time we are 70 all of our Mexico memberships are gone.

Bill
 

VanX

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Hardly anyone considers the end game, imo. One nice thing about Mexican resale timeshares are the right to use are usually 50% or more used up. The first resale premiere memberships we bought are beginning to expire in these next couple of years. By the time we are 70 all of our Mexico memberships are gone.

Bill

I entirely agree with the RTU strategy of no lifetime deed and a defined end date. If all is factored into the price you break even early and then enjoy the membership for what it gives you with external exchanges and the primary resorts if you want to stay there.

We’re very happy with a number of RTU memberships expiring over staggered years and knowing we can add more as we please and sunset some of them.
 

Blondie

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Look for flexibility in terms of when you can book, and how long you can keep your points active. Raintree lets me book one year out. My brother has Mayan and cannot book until six months out. Also, I can rollover my unused points for two or more years- more liberal since covid... Some resorts do not allow that. We go to PV and love it. The marina is so nice and quiet but has everything we need including restaurants and bars. Raintree has a network of other resorts we can book into as well. Many Canadians we speak to get good non stop flights to PV- in the US not so much. Also, Mexico is pretty cheap... Just remember, the unit they show you is unlikely to look like the one you will be staying in!!
 

Warmwishes

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Thanks everyone, so when owning resale TS sounds like most revert to an "entry level" TS, is it possible to then buy resale points to use with that resale TS, and will it ever be possible to upgrade that resale TS?
 

bjones9942

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Lindo Mar, Puerto Vallarta; Lake Tahoe Beach & Ski, South Lake Tahoe
When I purchased my unit in Puerto Vallarta, I did a lot of research. I read hundreds of reviews of properties in the area and visited their websites. I used this site and RCI to get more info about the properties and then was able to discard the resorts I wasn't interested in (I'm not a 'ultra fancy' person, nor do I want AI). Got rid of all the Nuevo Vallarta resorts pretty fast! One resort kept popping up with good reviews (Lindo Mar), so I dug into that one resort. After a while I decided it fit all of what I was looking for, so I set up an ebay search and waited for one to come on the market. I looked at the for sale units here as well. After about 6 or 7 months, a unit appeared on ebay and I snatched it up. It wasn't $1, but it was less than $100. It's been several years now and I'm still happy with the property. It's also one of the few Méxican timeshares that isn't right to use, and the resale market within the circle of owners is fairly good - if I ever decide to sell, I think another owner would be happy to take it off my hands.

My first timeshare, the Costa de Oro in Mazatlán, *is* a right to use and the contracts I have there are up next year. That was one of the factors that led me to buy as I figured if I didn't like it, the contracts would be up in a few years and maintenance fees there are crazy low, so I wouldn't be out too much $$$. Found out I do like it there, and even more in Mazatlán generally, so I moved there. Now I bank the weeks and trade them for Acapulco :)
 
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