Pueblo Bonito "Members" actually pay higher than Non-members?

[PuebloBonito_PaidMember]

Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay Resort & Spa is really nice, although the beach is rocky and you can't go in the water in starting in May and summer because of the small stinging jelly fish. We paid $14,000 up front to be a "Member", and once we were ready to make a reservation, the price was $748 HIGHER than a non-member (exact same room, dates, etc)!

You may want to just call their reservation number and get both prices (Member vs. Hotel/Non-member) and you will find out you have been had! sucks, they shot themselves in the foot, we are never going back there. It would be interesting if this is the case with other people at other PB locations, or if you didn't know, now you do! Please do share if Non-member pricing for the same room and same dates are cheaper...

 

[oldbuyer]

Welcome to timeshare.

During the slow season, during a pandemic or a time of cartel violence you'll often will find rooms at nearly all TS resorts with lower costs than the members MF. The resorts would rather make a few hundred dollars net than have an empty room.
IF you want to travel in high (red) season and be able to plan a year in advance and if you want to get the benefit of the nicest rooms in the resort then buy a TS membership and get that.

If you are looking for a one off vacation during shoulder season or off season and only need a week with flexable dates then websites like Skyauction might fit your needs at a lower cost than TS membership MFs.

Once you know the ins and outs of timesharing you'll find you can buy a membership from an owner that no longer uses their contract they bought from the developer at the "retail" price.

This is how the industry works. Stick around and learn from the posts you'll see on Tug and if there is a resort you really enjoy and want to return to each year you might find what you really want at a more reasonable cost than buying from a developer at a presentation.

The developers charge the price they do because they have high costs of sales and defaults. Only 1 in 5 or 6 presentations buy and if the presentation goody package is $300 they have $1500 of cost they need to recover on every sale plus a sales commission of about the same so if you buy a 15k package the developer might net 10k. If you later rescind the contract or default they get zip and still have all the costs.

I'm not shedding tears for developers, It's a dirty business full of lies and questionable business ethics but this is what the industry is especially in Mexico.

 

[pittle]

WOW - we are also PBEB members. We actually bought our 1-bedroom-2 bath Master Suite from someone on eBay back in 2011 for $400, basically the cost of the transfer fees. We needed overflow for the place we owned next door. I got the 2021 MF bill Saturday. and it is $715 for a week. Hubs & I spent one week there on an exchange in 2010 and liked it. We have never stayed there since owning - we've had guests stay there and they loved it.

We have thought of selling it, because we do not go to Mazatlan anymore, but our younger son and his wife like to go periodically and pay me the MF to go there or make an exchange for them someplace else. I have also made exchanges for friends to use this week and they just pay me the MF & exchange fees.

Pretty much since 2015, we have exchanged this with SFX and for the $149 exchange fee, we can get a 2-bedroom 2-bath pretty much anywhere we want to go. We have used it for Grand Mayan, Grand Bliss and Buganvilias in the past few years to add an extra week to our vacations when at one of those. The cost is about the same as a bonus week at Buganvilias, but is less than the MF at GM or GB (but they treat you differently when on an exchange at Vidanta.)

We have spent a lot on timeshares over the past 30 years, but finally settled on where we like to stay and go there. We bought and sold many resales and then used those to leverage upgrades when possible. The best thing about having a timeshare is that it "makes" you go on vacation and you get to stay in a nice place. You never get your up-front money back. This is just how it is.