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My Mayan Palace Ts Tour In Puerto Vallarta

D

Daverock

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
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Location
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Let me share with you my ts sales presentation at the Mayan Palace in Puerto Vallarta. Yes, I know about the way they conduct the ts tour and have read all the warnings from other TUGgers but I had already been on their ts tour in Cabo so I had first hand knowledge and knew what to expect. BUT I NEVER EXPECTED THIS!!!

With an offer of $300 cash and no intention of purchasing, we decided to venture forward. Of course the ts salesman was very polite and ingratiating as he complimented my wife’s pin. Then down to business asking us personal questions such as address, occupation ts owned etc. He then came to a box on the form that asked how much we paid for our timeshares. I declined to give him the information stating that it was not necessary for him to know as it had no bearing on this purchase. He was very upset and said his manger required it. I held firm.

We then went for breakfast. It was a really good breakfast and I would recommend it. Towards the end of the meal he mentioned that the “busboys are not paid well and it would be nice for me to leave a tip.” I told him I was really upset that I would be invited to his timeshare for breakfast and then asked to leave a tip.” “I told him, ”When I invite friends over to my house and take them for dinner, I would never consider asking them to leave a tip.” “Its your place, not mine, so you leave the tip,” I replied.

Well that set him off. He berated my wife and I for being cheap and not leaving a $1 tip. This went on for 5 minutes and then he said he knew we would not buy from him. I asked him how he knew this and he replied that we didn’t tell him what we paid for our ts and we weren’t going to leave a tip. He knew the type and they don’t buy.

He became very irritated when I mentioned that he could always leave the tip. He got up and said that he didn’t want to continue with us and he was going to get our gift and we could leave. He got up mad and left us. My wife and I were shocked but were willing to sacrifice and leave early with our money.

15 minutes later he returned and told us we were stuck with him. He had to complete the presentation before we could be gifted. We continued on the tour. My wife and I did not talk to him. We went thru the model and said nothing. Finally he took us to the room where they unveil the prices. He reached for a large loose-leaf book and I told him, firmly, that the tour was over. We gave him 120 minutes, 30 more than were required and we had no intention of buying from him. He said, “you’ll leave when I tell you you can.” “The ninety minutes is approximate and I can keep you here all day if I want.”

I got up and went to locate the sales manager. I invited him to where my wife and I were sitting and my normally quiet wife blasted him about the salesman. Agreeing the ts salesman acted inappropriately, he said that he would let us go and sent us to be gifted.

Moral of the story: If you go to the Mayan Palace you must expect the worst but don’t let is upset you.
 
Wow, thats almost a comedy show! I love the part about the s/m knowing you weren't going to buy because you wouldn't tell him how much you paid for a t's and you wouldn't leave a tip! :D

Thanks for the chuckle.

Diane
 
C'mon..
You had no intention of buying. You only went for the $. You could have left a dollar or two for the busboy.
 
Even if....

rja said:
C'mon..
You had no intention of buying. You only went for the $. You could have left a dollar or two for the busboy.
Click to expand...

....you weren't going to buy. It wasn't the busboy/waiter's fault that your salesman was a jerk. And you were going to pocket a few hundred bucks.
 
Dave Rock good for you to stand up to the timeshare sharks. They enjoy belitteling people when they don't buy. There commission is about 5% of the sale certainly he could have left a tip, I am certain he also ate. Was it Pablo big muscle bound type.
 
wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am appalled!!!!! (sp?) We were asked to leave the tip when we toured Cabo Villas. We are owners at the Grand Mayan and we took our owner update tour in Nuevo Vallarta where they tell you all the new things happened with Mayan Resorts and try to get you to upgrade. Our salesman asked us to leave a tip asowners When we didn't upgrade our unit he made us feel so guilty. he made us feel as though they were doing us a favor by offering us a $6,000 upgrade. My husband and I joked that we should have said if only you didn't ask us to leave the tip we would have upgraded!!!!!! We swore we would never go through another tour again. We own with Raintree Vacation club and the owners update is just date. I have never felt pressured to upgrade my unit or do RCI points with Club Regina.

Good for you for letting him have it!! I would love to know how the Cabo resort is coming. Does anyone know?????When they will be taking reservations. I love the Mayan resorts- not the timeshare sharks!!!!!
 
Last edited:
The "leave a tip" crapola happened in Riviera Maya, too. We left one because the waiter definitely hung around to take care of us--the sales rep took so long to gather info and start our tour that the breakfast was being dismantled when we got to the restaurant, so we had to rush and had very little to choose from, and had to leave the tip to boot. And yes, she ate breakfast too.

Last tour I'll ever take with MP. We own resale and the pressure they put on us was horrendous. In a way it was kind of funny, though. We were mainly there because our friends wanted free golf. The package "offered" to them was $79,900 for a two-week MP deal. For us, they wanted us to turn in our low-maintenance 2+2 contract and fork over another $6500 for an upgrade to the Grand Mayan. Hard to figure how they thought they'd sell anything to our friends for $79,900 when at the same table they were offering us under $7,000.

Neither of us bought.
 
To tip or not to tip. I've had this conversation with my wife after the last tour we did at Playa del Sol Cabo. We had had breakfast before being solicited for the tour and after agreeing to tour we had to go through breakfast again. I had nothing my wife had some fruit and our son toast while the saleslady who was starving had her meal. She did the usual tip request and I left only a dollar since I didn't really get anything. Usually I would have left about $3 or $4. We both felt that we were asked for breakfast and were guest and should not be obliged to tip after talking later. I think we all feel obligated to tip, especially knowing how little the help is paid. maybe we should have the tip written into the tour slip with the other freebies.
 
ok...allright...

I have thought hard on responding to this thread.
But....If you are getting $300. plus a 40-50 buck breakfast,what the heck is so hard about leaving a buck or two (AT LEAST!!).Dont give me this crap about being a guest..blah, blah, blah.
You know exactly what this is and what you are in for..We know this because you have visited TUG more then once.
SPREAD THE WEALTH. even a little would not hurt!!
The waiters at the breakfast will wash your socks for you if you so requested! sheesh!!!
sally

p. s...And if you are going to say it is the point or the moral of it..I do not know what to to say to that.
 
I think you should have left a tip also. That waiter could have been waiting on a paying customer if he wasn't waiting on you. The salesman at the Royals asked us to leave a tip so MP is not unique.
 
I think giving the waiter a tip would have been the right thing to do. He is just an innocent worker. The workers make so little and rely on tips.
 
I don't think it's actually the point of tipping it's the point that your asked to tip. I think most people would leave one if not asked. The first tour I did I pulled a tip out before the salesman had a chance to mention it. He commented on how it's nice to leave a tip after I put it down. Most people are good hearted and will tip without being asked. We have to keep in mind it's part of the process and not let being rubbed the wrong way by a salesperson get in the way of doing the right thing. I do hate the fact that they make you do the breakfast even if you don't want it. Why would I want to sit through breakfast if I told you we just came from breakfast?
 
true

I do believe breakfast should be your choice.I wonder if you declined would you have a faster presentation? due to the fact your sales person really wanted THIER breakfast?
It could work the other way....the hunger pains in your sales guy might make him resent the fact that YOU are keeping him from his food!
This would make for a REALLY RABID MAYAN SALES PRESENTATION!!!
sally
 
also...

I would bet dollars to doughnuts that the asking to tip part,is a sales practice to see if the client is a real cheap #%$.This then would clue the sales person in,on how to deal with the individual.
sally
 
then again..

I will do only sales presentations that INCLUDE a meal!! Some the best buffets we have been to,were at timeshare speals. or (speels)???
sally
 
Same old story

Went through the same type of berating in Riviera Maya. However the sales staff did not expect to get the same in return. It is funny to be told that "you can't afford this place anyway" by someone who is working while I'm on vacaton. :)

We were offered $300 cash in PV and Cabo just this past week. My better half remembered the breakfast we had at our RM fiasco and wanted to go. I had to stand firm and remind her of the penalty for punching a person in Mexico during a t/s presentation. She qucikly changed her mind. ;)

In any event, when in the same situation we tipped our server / busboy. Though I found it odd that the salesperson did not. It's only a $1... but it was YOUR $1. Your choice. JMHO.

Kevin
 
Didnt have to tip.

We had the same wonderful experience at MP over Xmas but we didnt have to tip since after we got there they told us the resturant was closed and we didn't get any food. After the presentation plus two floor managers and one lurking outside the door I informed them that maybe we just weren't five star kind of people , and they told us to walk to the lobby which was quite a juant for gift. NEVER AGAIN
 
It is YOUR dollar yes!!

Hi kevin,I like my dollar just as much as you like your dollar. Getting that out of the way ,I think about a hard working ,lowly paid,family man of a waiter, who makes about as much in a day as you do in an hour.Right or wrong,WHERE IS THE LOVE BUDDY!!!
Here ....let me help you pry that 100 cents from the billfold.I just do not get the big deal of a buck or two. If you are making $300. cash,and a $50- $60. meal bill,for say two-three hours of your time,whats the big deal??You are thier employee,so to say..they are your sometimes cruel boss.Most people know that thier going down (hard sell) ave, do you think they are just going to give you $350.,and not do every thing they can to make the sale?
sally
 
sally said:
Hi kevin,I like my dollar just as much as you like your dollar. Getting that out of the way ,I think about a hard working ,lowly paid,family man of a waiter, who makes about as much in a day as you do in an hour.Right or wrong,WHERE IS THE LOVE BUDDY!!!
Here ....let me help you pry that 100 cents from the billfold.I just do not get the big deal of a buck or two. If you are making $300. cash,and a $50- $60. meal bill,for say two-three hours of your time,whats the big deal??You are thier employee,so to say..they are your sometimes cruel boss.Most people know that thier going down (hard sell) ave, do you think they are just going to give you $350.,and not do every thing they can to make the sale?
sally
Click to expand...

As I stated... when faced with the same situation in Riviera Maya, I tipped as I normally would. I did not like the fact that the salesman used the same type of "suggestion" as the one in the original post. And I found it strange that though he was served also... he felt I was the one who should leave the tip.

I don't mind the "hard sell" from pushy salespeople... just don't be shocked when I push back when they become offensive. Terms like "you can't afford this anyway"... or "you're very cheap" "low class" etc. should never be directed towards people when we choose not to purchase. That's what happens at a Mayan Palace presentation. No matter how much you love the company, this should not happen.

That said... if the OP did not want to tip because he felt his host should... it was well within his right not to tip.

Kevin
 
I agree....

name calling is child like,and personal remarks should be dealt with.If this would have happened to me, I would have stood on my chair in the main sales area and calmly repeated what was said to me. I would have mentioned the names of the sales staff.By doing this, I do think future name calling would be surely punished.This behavior would then be minimalized.Sometimes you just have to fight fire with fire ...IMHO
sally
A buck still should have made its way out of that tight billfold.(so you go home with..$349 instead of $350)
 
It all boils down to a simple matter of professionalism.....or lack thereof when it comes to MP sales staff. To me that points out other potential problems within the MP organization as a whole. The resorts are beautiful, too bad they can't let them sell themselves.

FWIW, I would have left a tip also but not because the salesperson suggested it. I also find that a bit wierd. Anywhere else the salesperson would leave the tip to butter you up.:confused:
 
Maybe there is an important issue buried in here about gracious tipping, but it seems quite secondary to the main issue, which is about the psychological relationship and manipulation that the salesperson and the sales strategy is working into the breakfast. It's all a setup, in part perhaps to see what type of person the "prospect" is, but mainly to get the prospects into a psychological space where they agree to small, polite matters first (which is true even if the salesperson her or himself doesn't understand the theory behind it). It's the same sort of psychology used on those innocent, compliant and polite people at check-in, getting them to agree to meeting later for something apparently gracious, but which will eventually be realized to be the hardnosed presentaton.

Tip if you want to spread the love and avoid the embarrasing conflict, but don't be fooled into thinking it is just another normal tipping situation. It's all about what the big picture is, getting you "onboard" with the salesperson and the pitch. Just a variation on sucking in the marks to the old shell game.
 
Dishonest? Which person is truly dishonest?

The salesman trying to scam you into buying?
or
The make believe buyer trying to scam the GM out of $300

If you had no intention of considering the purchase why would you put yourself through that situation? We all are very aware, thanks to this board, what a high pressure timeshare sales appointment can be like.

Leave a tip, collect your cash and get the hell out of Dodge.
 
I agree..

I really do.I wish I could write some without someone deleting my text
 
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