How to Rescind Vidanta Timeshare in USA?

Eric B · Mar 11, 2019

T-Dot-Traveller said:
1) you own Grand Mayan + Park Perks - Paid avg. developer price . / Welcome to TUG .

....

4) the "resell it to you" pitch is a common "thing" -
can be done for a lot less $ if you want it back . They start $$ high -

You can generally keep the trade in TS without paying them the $1800 or any other $$. Vidanta member services will tell them to back off. If anyone buying there looks at the actual contract or thinks back to the phone call verification with Vidanta corporate, there is never any mention of the trade in because it’s just a sales gimmick. You wind up putting up with some spam for a while because someone spread your contact info around, but that’s a feature of timeshare sales, not a bug.

haveasunnyday · Mar 14, 2019

T-Dot-Traveller said:
When I first found TUG - the concept of a trader that you never visited confused me .
That is why I mentioned in an earlier post -that you and your husband are / were thinking the " one size fits all " timeshare .

Since you already paid & own Diamond - maximize how to use your points .
then figure what could be added - via other ownership's.
as Nitemaire explained -his Colonies is dual affiliated(RCI & II) - Intervals International gets Marriott , Vidanta Grand Luxxe etc .

I will add one Vidanta addition -
TUG wisdom says it's " easy to exchange into Grand Luxxe " and for less than owning .

A lot of this availability is between May and mid December . Vidanta builds for peak snowbird & Mexican Holiday season - Christmas Week to Easter .
Their resorts are full during this time . The exchangers visiting during this period are "designated fodder" for their sales machine . They are filling developer time set aside for this purpose and the resort fee structure is a partial fee in lieu of an owner MF . The lower resort fee through SFX is likely because the contractual split of the revenue is different from RCI or II
Vidanta builds and staffs in pesos but gets MF revenue in USD $ - so this model of " peak season build " can work for Mexican developers like Vidanta .

Vidanta closed off most resale through high transfer fees on resale (since 2005 - 5 x MF or higher)
BUT they also added MF on use only - so there is no need to sell if you are not using .

If you ever again explore buying Vidanta -
1) only buy to use
2)peak winter access gives the best value
FYI - most contract do NOT include the 4 Mexican Holiday weeks - Christmas - New Years & the weeks on either side of Easter Sunday .
3) negotiate the best deal with sales - knowing that YOU control the process for 5 days

Your explanation makes sense why exchange fee during peak week is cheaper than owner's usage fee (more sales). I should have known better.

haveasunnyday · Mar 14, 2019

Rovy,
Vidanta started with trade in value of $130K retail price for my diamond resort, which sounded too good to be true. My husband was ready to give it away with $1 for Diamond 22500 points due to high maintenance fee, $4200 up front fee every year (many times, hotels.com was way cheaper than using our points + maintenance fee. we were very disappointed). Quickly at Tug, I learned it is simply one of sales strategy and I called Vidanta to take it out of my contract. They said it is only tax write off benefit for them and does not give them much value any way. It was not hard negotiation at all to get it back except the part that I felt stuck back with Diamond.

I am currently working with Vidanta for further changes etc. If I found my strategy toward cancellation ever successful, I will send a message to you. I am not sure if this will work though. They sent me several updated addendum etc indicating this privilege will go away if I disclose any of these info to others. We will see...

T-Dot-Traveller · Mar 14, 2019

Rovy said:
Hello All,
(I SHOULD NOTE, we also own 1000 Marriott Destination Points and haven't figured out how to best use them yet--thoughts?)
THANK YOU. Looking forward to productive guidance.
JR- "Rovy"

RE: start reading TUG Marriott forum -
It has very well verse Marriott owners with lots of specific knowledge on how to use .

FYI - I believe you can also rent Marriott points - both to recoup MF if your not using or
to add points for a specific booking that exceeds the amount you own .

If you decide to regain your Marriott MOC ownership -they can assist you there as well .

TUGBrian · Mar 16, 2019

so very glad you found us before losing $55k!

IamTink · Mar 16, 2019

haveasunnyday said:
*Sorry, I should title my posting as Keep or Cancel...

I am torn 50:50 if I will keep my contract or cancel.
After I return home and discuss this deal with my husband (he did not join my family's 1st trip to Vidanta. It was only myself and my son), he wanted to get out of it as we already own diamond resort points (22500, Hawaii collection, fully paid) and may not want to pay another 55K for one registered week + 2 residence week of Kingdom of Sun unit II at new park, Nuevo Vallarta (use fee is $1600). My 8 year old son really enjoyed Vidanta and I can see my family visiting Mexico at least one or two weeks a year. We can use sister resorts of Grand Luxx Loft, Junior Villa, Grand Bliss Master Suite, GrandMayan Master Suite if we don't use the park when they open (I purchased additional 5k full park premier pass package).

We used 15000 Diamond points (maintenance fee of 15000 points is $2800) to have a grand luxxe loft during Christmas week last year. My question is
1) how will you use your other timeshare points or resort to book at Vidanta? Aimfair rental price is around $2500-$3500 for renting the unit that I like (Grand Luxx one bed room or Grand Bliss Master Suite) and Vidanta resort is never open to the market (which I liked about its exclusivity). I want to know what other ways that I can go back to Vidanta if I don't own one.
2) what other resorts in other Caribbean resorts or South Asian resorts (Thai, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia etc) can you use via Vidanta SFX?
3) Is it true you can get 2 weeks in exchange with 1 week of Vidanta?
4) can you use both registered and residence weeks for SFX?

If I cancel my contract,
1) what other high value of resorts that I should consider buying at the TS resale market, which give an access to high end resorts? We live in midwest, USA and travel heavily to Caribbean (winter) and Asian countries (summer), Canada (Niagara Fall) and Tennessee (Smokey Mountain) during fall.
2) does any exchange resort cover all inclusive resorts in Caribbean?

I know I have so many questions but they are important for me to make a final decision. I really enjoyed our experiences in Vidanta much better than any other resorts of Diamond that we travelled including Las Vegas, Hawall, Florida, Sedona, etc. Initially, I was thinking to trade in Diamond but learned in Tugbbs that it does not give any better deal. Instead, I may keep and rent it out my Hawaii resorts.

Wh

haveasunnyday said:
*Sorry, I should title my posting as Keep or Cancel...

I am torn 50:50 if I will keep my contract or cancel.
After I return home and discuss this deal with my husband (he did not join my family's 1st trip to Vidanta. It was only myself and my son), he wanted to get out of it as we already own diamond resort points (22500, Hawaii collection, fully paid) and may not want to pay another 55K for one registered week + 2 residence week of Kingdom of Sun unit II at new park, Nuevo Vallarta (use fee is $1600). My 8 year old son really enjoyed Vidanta and I can see my family visiting Mexico at least one or two weeks a year. We can use sister resorts of Grand Luxx Loft, Junior Villa, Grand Bliss Master Suite, GrandMayan Master Suite if we don't use the park when they open (I purchased additional 5k full park premier pass package).

We used 15000 Diamond points (maintenance fee of 15000 points is $2800) to have a grand luxxe loft during Christmas week last year. My question is
1) how will you use your other timeshare points or resort to book at Vidanta? Aimfair rental price is around $2500-$3500 for renting the unit that I like (Grand Luxx one bed room or Grand Bliss Master Suite) and Vidanta resort is never open to the market (which I liked about its exclusivity). I want to know what other ways that I can go back to Vidanta if I don't own one.
2) what other resorts in other Caribbean resorts or South Asian resorts (Thai, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia etc) can you use via Vidanta SFX?
3) Is it true you can get 2 weeks in exchange with 1 week of Vidanta?
4) can you use both registered and residence weeks for SFX?

If I cancel my contract,
1) what other high value of resorts that I should consider buying at the TS resale market, which give an access to high end resorts? We live in midwest, USA and travel heavily to Caribbean (winter) and Asian countries (summer), Canada (Niagara Fall) and Tennessee (Smokey Mountain) during fall.
2) does any exchange resort cover all inclusive resorts in Caribbean?

I know I have so many questions but they are important for me to make a final decision. I really enjoyed our experiences in Vidanta much better than any other resorts of Diamond that we travelled including Las Vegas, Hawall, Florida, Sedona, etc. Initially, I was thinking to trade in Diamond but learned in Tugbbs that it does not give any better deal. Instead, I may keep and rent it out my Hawaii resorts.

IamTink · Mar 16, 2019

Not sure how true this is, but when I discussed with one of the reps at SFX a couple of years ago they told me I didn’t have to be an owner to sign up for their exchange company.
At the time this made me a little sick to my stomach since we don’t ever plan on staying at our home resort (Cascades/Mayan Palace, NV) BUT we did negotiate no maintenance fees unless we use it & get 3 Vida weeks we can use at SFX. Still learning how this all works (after 4 years). Not sure if you could still get the Vida weeks without owning @ Vidanta but for sure I have learned you NEVER buy at the presentation. A friend of mine actually bought one on eBay although I’d sure be hesitant to do that.
Good luck!!!

T-Dot-Traveller · Mar 16, 2019

IamTink said:
... when I discussed with one of the reps at SFX a couple of years ago they told me I didn’t have to be an owner to sign up for their exchange company ....

Still learning how this all works (after 4 years). the presentation. ......

. A friend of mine actually bought one on eBay although I’d sure be hesitant to do that.

1) IMO -without something to deposit into SFX you would likely limited to off season misc. leftovers.
RCI & II have these as well -Can be good value if location and week work for you .

2) Keep reading TUG & keep learning .

3) Vidanta removes MF on use only , bonus use weeks and other addendum on resale transfers.
Since 2005 contracts they also charge 5 x MF to transfer a contract on resale . If the seller paid - your friend got a deal / if
they paid (as the buyer) it likely cost them $ 4,000 +
.
<transfers to direct family are no charge / part of the 100 year potential life of the contract .>