Is there a new Hyatt program?

[korndoc]

I am at an all inclusive Secrets resort in the Dominion Republic. It is only 1 year old and really nice. To get $400 worth of massages for my wife and I we sat through their presentation. (Massages and associated hydro-therapy hour were wonderful and definitely worth the effort).
But I pressed them to finish the presentation so we could resume our vacation and never really paid attention to the sales pitch as I told them we were absolutely not purchasing anything.
But upon reflection afterwards……As I recall this was not a typical timeshare. Points were never discussed. For a fee of $23,000 you would get up to 4 weeks of vacations at any of their all inclusive resorts such asSecrets or Dreams. Plus discounts at any Hyatt resort, unlimited. We would be interested in taking our kids and grandchildren to the Mexican all inclusive resorts in Cabo or Puerto Vallarta. Does the initial fee REALLY get us 4 weeks in these resorts each year? I can see how a few years of that could pay off the initial price. Ongoing Maintenance fees were never discussed
All the discussions in TUG refer to points and maintenance fees but this program seems different. We are here until Saturday so I have time to go back and ask further questions and make a purchase if you Tuggers feel this is really new and worth considering.
Thank you,
Jeff

 

[BJRSanDiego]

4 weeks for $23K buy-in ?? And how much in annual maintenance fees? Have them show you on-line that they can do that. I suspect that it is either a lie or a gross exageration. Maybe they'll show you how you can reserve the worst time of the year in a hotel-room size unit in a poorer resort.

The mantra on Tug is to never buy retail.

If you want to know what a DR resort is worth, check eBay or redweek dot com.

 

[zentraveler]

The fact that for $23K that maintenance fees were "never discussed" an neither were points sounds unlikely to be any sort of reasonable deal and as BJRSanDiego states, retail is never really is any sort of reasonable deal. Be careful, do some research and don't sign anything. I am sure others will weigh in.

 

[dioxide45]

Were you at one of the all-inclusive resorts? This sounds more like a travel club and no relation to Hyatt Vacation Club or Marriott Vacations Worldwide (the company that owns Hyatt Vacation Club). These travel clubs usually don't have an annual maintenance fee. They are rather a method to pre-purchase vacations at a slight discount over paying cash through a travel agent. I did a presentation with Palladium Hotel Group. Their pitch was similar, but 10 weeks for $12,000. When you traveled you still had to pay the all-inclusive fee. Basically you are signing up to save about 40-50% off the regular rack rates. Though you have to add back about $1200 per week for the upfront cost. That's not a huge savings. Perhaps the 4 weeks they were pitching you were 100% free, to AI fee required.

 

[korndoc]

Thank you for your replies. We are going back in an hour or so to ask more questions. But it does seem like a vacation club offering discounts on travel. The fellow that first sucked us in at the lobby has been very helpful in a lot of other things. We bumped into him this morning on the way to breakfast so we asked him a few questions. It does seem to be a discount oriented vacation club. When we do see the closer again later this morning he is suggesting we ask about ocean views and 30 day "free" vacations (ie, no further fees). Right now I am thinking after the 30 days you pay for rooms at a discounted rate (I assume that number is based on the upfront money you give them today). Also, she talked about getting condos through RCI but Hyatt is associated with II. What's that about?
So I think this comes down to is there really 4 weeks of "free" all inclusive resorts (Secrets, Dreams and Ziva) and if so, is there a maintenance fee? And finally how fast is the return on investment.

 

[korndoc]

This seems to be listed under World of Hyatt

 

[Eric B]

Sounds like the Universal Vacation Club. See this thread:

Unlimited Vacation Club

Hyatt bought this and on the Hyatt Globalist site folks were talking about getting Hyatt globalist status with certain levels of ownership.I tried doing a search on this as I had never heard of it. Does anyone know anything about this program.

tugbbs.com

@Luvtoride would be worth reaching out to as he indicated he is an owner.

 

[korndoc]

Thanks for the link. That is exactly the program. I will follow up with my questions there.
Jeff

 

[Tucsonadventurer]

I think you pay for food though and that gets pricey as a per person deal