Pueblo Bonito Sunset… Buyer Beware
Pueblo Bonito Sunset in Cabo San Lucas is a great property. My wife and I spent a week there in the fall of 2019. The villas are comfortable and just about every unit has an ocean view. We purchased the all-inclusive package which I recommend, especially for first-time visitors. Free shuttles make regular trips from this property to central Cabo, making stops at Pueblo Bonito’s sister resorts Blanco and Rose where all Pueblo Bonito residents have day-use privileges. If you have the all-inclusive package you can eat and drink at for free at all three resorts.
That is the good news. The bad… make that horrible news, is that the company that runs these resorts is relentless at trying to sell timeshare intervals to anyone with a pulse. The sales effort starts the moment visitors enter the resort’s registration center. The sales people are polished and hard to resist but BUYER BEWARE!!!
We were offered $400 in resort credit just to attend a sales presentation, which we did on the second day of our visit. We were given a tour of the resort, including the beautiful 3 and 4BR premium villas at Monte Cristo which are very impressive. After the tour, the sales effort shifted into high gear.
Since we had expressed interest in the Monte Cristo units, our sales person started off offering a week’s ownership for just under $100,000, plus annual maintenance fees. We said no. Our salesperson then began to sweeten the deal and drop the price.
The buy-in price was immediately cut in half. Again we said no. Over the next few hours the purchase price dropped like the stock market in free-fall. In addition, they offered to buy a Hawaiian timeshare that we own for triple its value and apply those funds to the purchase price. Multiple discounts reduced the price even further. There was even a discount for being a military veteran or even having a family member who served, along with a senior discount, a first-time visitor discount and many others. After about an hour into the sales presentation, the buy-in cost bottomed out at about $8000. Again we said no.
Frustrated, out salesperson gave up and turned us over to the “Closer” who continued to reduce the price and add incentives. The final buy-in price dropped to an incredible $3500. We said no again.
Finally, after several hours, the sales pitch ended, or at least we thought so and we were walked to a different building to receive our $400 resort credit. Surprise, before receiving out resort credit we were handed off to Pablo, another closer who had a totally different pitch.
This guy claimed that he represented the developer, not the timeshare operation as he offered us the Passport Plus deal. Each time we said no, the price got lower and additional incentives were “thrown in”.
In the end we were offered 60 weeks at Pueblo Bonito over the next 15 years for $399 per visit with an acceleration clause that placed no restrictions on how many weeks we could book in any calendar year. We were told that we could choose between 1BR, 2BR and 3BR units, all at the same price, including those at Monte Cristo, if available. The up-front buy-in cost was $2,999. We were told that other than the $399 per week cost for any of the intervals we decided to use, there would never be any maintenance or other additional charges. We were also told that we could use, sell or give away any of our 60 weeks without restrictions or additional charges.
In addition, we were offered access to an unlimited number of weeks at many thousands of other resorts worldwide, all for the same $399 per week cost. Pablo showed us a large book that included many of the world’s best vacation properties and indicated that we would have access to any and all of the properties in this catalog. The only limitation mentioned was that we would have to book no further out than 90 days to get the units at this price. Booking a unit further out would cost “a bit more” according to Pablo. It turns out that that bit more actually meant double or triple the price.
The incentives did not end there. To further sweeten the deal, we were offered a 7-day cruise on virtually any cruise line for free. When I questioned Pablo on how he could afford to make this offer and have it apply to the cruise lines that usually travel on, (Crystal, Oceana, Viking, etc.), he responded with a story that the company was constantly trading timeshare inventory for cruise cabin inventory, so the cost to the company was basically nothing. Pablo could tell that I was skeptical so he added a $3000 a year bonus for each of the first five years, allegedly to cover any extra charges on the cruise or other off property getaway purchases.
My wife and I commented at the time that the Passport Plus package seemed to be too good to be true. In the end, we felt that a premium resort such as Pueblo Bonito Sunset would not risk its excellent reputation by misrepresenting the facts associated with the Passport Plus program, so we agreed to purchase the package.
When we returned to our villa at the resort, I began to research the Passport Plus package on the Internet. Wow!! I was surprised and alarmed by how many unsatisfied customers Pablo and his associates have accumulated over the past few years. According to numerous reviews, very few of the things that Pablo promised were actually true.
I learned that virtually no one who had purchased this package was ever able to book a week at a resort comparable to Puerto Bonito for the promised price of $399 a week. I also learned that the intervals that Pablo promised were usually available at Pueblo Bonito Sunset, were in fact, seldom if ever available within the 90 day window. I could find no one who had successfully used the cruise certificate to book a trip on a premium cruise line as Pablo had promised. I also discovered that while Pablo told us that there would be no additional charges to use the package during our 15 year term, there was a clause in the contract’s fine print that after the first five years, there would be an additional membership fee of $29 per year and that this fee could go up down the road.
Angry and disappointed, my wife and I visited the sales manager, Mitch McDonald at the sales office with the goal to have our purchase contract voided due to the numerous misrepresentations that we had uncovered. Mitch impressed us as a very nice person who appeared to be concerned about our satisfaction. He said that he would make some calls and see what could be done and promised to call us later that day.
True to his promise Mitch left a message in our room late that afternoon. Unfortunately, Mitch said that there was nothing that he could do to void the contract but promised that he would assist us should we ever have a problem booking an interval at Pueblo Bonito or any of the thousands of other properties advertised in your catalog. Sadly, the many lies that Pablo told us all but eliminated any trust that we might have that that Mitch or anyone else in his organization might be true to his or her word.
Disappointed and even angrier at this point, we visited Mitch in his office again the following day. He reiterated that he could not void our contract, saying that “his job was to sell timeshares and Passports, not to unsell them”.
When we pressed Mitch about the lack of available inventory issue, he said something that I actually believe to be true. Mitch said that his company has not opened any new properties since 2008 but during that time they have continued to aggressively market timeshare and Passport sales. As a result, he said, the demand often exceeds the available supply.
The timeshare sales process at Pueblo Bonito Sunset is by far to most aggressive and fraudulent that I have experienced. Given the fact that it was unlikely that we would ever be able to take advantage of all the promised incentives or even be able to book a return visit at the promised cost, we gave up trying to void the transaction and contacted our credit card company.
It turns out that timeshare sales fraud is such a common thing that some credit card companies have created an internal department specifically to deal with fraudulent purchases. We used a Chase card for this transaction and were quickly connected with the department they had created for this type of fraud.
We filed a dispute and the charges were put on hold pending the resolution of our request to have the purchase voided. The timeshare sales department at Pueblo Bonito Sunset was given 60 days to dispute our assertions about the fraudulent nature of the sales encounter.
I am not sure what happened behind the scenes during this period but in the end our credit card account received a full refund of the amount that was in dispute. I guess that the combination of our persistence and the exceptionally high level of fraud associated with the Pueblo Bonito sales effort tipped things in our favor.
Pueblo Bonito Sunset is one of the better Mexican resorts that I have visited. The facilities are great and guests are treated very well. I am looking forward to visiting again. That visit will absolutely not include attending a timeshare presentation, however. Hopefully others will learn from our experience and avoid the scam.
Pueblo Bonito Sunset in Cabo San Lucas is a great property. My wife and I spent a week there in the fall of 2019. The villas are comfortable and just about every unit has an ocean view. We purchased the all-inclusive package which I recommend, especially for first-time visitors. Free shuttles make regular trips from this property to central Cabo, making stops at Pueblo Bonito’s sister resorts Blanco and Rose where all Pueblo Bonito residents have day-use privileges. If you have the all-inclusive package you can eat and drink at for free at all three resorts.
That is the good news. The bad… make that horrible news, is that the company that runs these resorts is relentless at trying to sell timeshare intervals to anyone with a pulse. The sales effort starts the moment visitors enter the resort’s registration center. The sales people are polished and hard to resist but BUYER BEWARE!!!
We were offered $400 in resort credit just to attend a sales presentation, which we did on the second day of our visit. We were given a tour of the resort, including the beautiful 3 and 4BR premium villas at Monte Cristo which are very impressive. After the tour, the sales effort shifted into high gear.
Since we had expressed interest in the Monte Cristo units, our sales person started off offering a week’s ownership for just under $100,000, plus annual maintenance fees. We said no. Our salesperson then began to sweeten the deal and drop the price.
The buy-in price was immediately cut in half. Again we said no. Over the next few hours the purchase price dropped like the stock market in free-fall. In addition, they offered to buy a Hawaiian timeshare that we own for triple its value and apply those funds to the purchase price. Multiple discounts reduced the price even further. There was even a discount for being a military veteran or even having a family member who served, along with a senior discount, a first-time visitor discount and many others. After about an hour into the sales presentation, the buy-in cost bottomed out at about $8000. Again we said no.
Frustrated, out salesperson gave up and turned us over to the “Closer” who continued to reduce the price and add incentives. The final buy-in price dropped to an incredible $3500. We said no again.
Finally, after several hours, the sales pitch ended, or at least we thought so and we were walked to a different building to receive our $400 resort credit. Surprise, before receiving out resort credit we were handed off to Pablo, another closer who had a totally different pitch.
This guy claimed that he represented the developer, not the timeshare operation as he offered us the Passport Plus deal. Each time we said no, the price got lower and additional incentives were “thrown in”.
In the end we were offered 60 weeks at Pueblo Bonito over the next 15 years for $399 per visit with an acceleration clause that placed no restrictions on how many weeks we could book in any calendar year. We were told that we could choose between 1BR, 2BR and 3BR units, all at the same price, including those at Monte Cristo, if available. The up-front buy-in cost was $2,999. We were told that other than the $399 per week cost for any of the intervals we decided to use, there would never be any maintenance or other additional charges. We were also told that we could use, sell or give away any of our 60 weeks without restrictions or additional charges.
In addition, we were offered access to an unlimited number of weeks at many thousands of other resorts worldwide, all for the same $399 per week cost. Pablo showed us a large book that included many of the world’s best vacation properties and indicated that we would have access to any and all of the properties in this catalog. The only limitation mentioned was that we would have to book no further out than 90 days to get the units at this price. Booking a unit further out would cost “a bit more” according to Pablo. It turns out that that bit more actually meant double or triple the price.
The incentives did not end there. To further sweeten the deal, we were offered a 7-day cruise on virtually any cruise line for free. When I questioned Pablo on how he could afford to make this offer and have it apply to the cruise lines that usually travel on, (Crystal, Oceana, Viking, etc.), he responded with a story that the company was constantly trading timeshare inventory for cruise cabin inventory, so the cost to the company was basically nothing. Pablo could tell that I was skeptical so he added a $3000 a year bonus for each of the first five years, allegedly to cover any extra charges on the cruise or other off property getaway purchases.
My wife and I commented at the time that the Passport Plus package seemed to be too good to be true. In the end, we felt that a premium resort such as Pueblo Bonito Sunset would not risk its excellent reputation by misrepresenting the facts associated with the Passport Plus program, so we agreed to purchase the package.
When we returned to our villa at the resort, I began to research the Passport Plus package on the Internet. Wow!! I was surprised and alarmed by how many unsatisfied customers Pablo and his associates have accumulated over the past few years. According to numerous reviews, very few of the things that Pablo promised were actually true.
I learned that virtually no one who had purchased this package was ever able to book a week at a resort comparable to Puerto Bonito for the promised price of $399 a week. I also learned that the intervals that Pablo promised were usually available at Pueblo Bonito Sunset, were in fact, seldom if ever available within the 90 day window. I could find no one who had successfully used the cruise certificate to book a trip on a premium cruise line as Pablo had promised. I also discovered that while Pablo told us that there would be no additional charges to use the package during our 15 year term, there was a clause in the contract’s fine print that after the first five years, there would be an additional membership fee of $29 per year and that this fee could go up down the road.
Angry and disappointed, my wife and I visited the sales manager, Mitch McDonald at the sales office with the goal to have our purchase contract voided due to the numerous misrepresentations that we had uncovered. Mitch impressed us as a very nice person who appeared to be concerned about our satisfaction. He said that he would make some calls and see what could be done and promised to call us later that day.
True to his promise Mitch left a message in our room late that afternoon. Unfortunately, Mitch said that there was nothing that he could do to void the contract but promised that he would assist us should we ever have a problem booking an interval at Pueblo Bonito or any of the thousands of other properties advertised in your catalog. Sadly, the many lies that Pablo told us all but eliminated any trust that we might have that that Mitch or anyone else in his organization might be true to his or her word.
Disappointed and even angrier at this point, we visited Mitch in his office again the following day. He reiterated that he could not void our contract, saying that “his job was to sell timeshares and Passports, not to unsell them”.
When we pressed Mitch about the lack of available inventory issue, he said something that I actually believe to be true. Mitch said that his company has not opened any new properties since 2008 but during that time they have continued to aggressively market timeshare and Passport sales. As a result, he said, the demand often exceeds the available supply.
The timeshare sales process at Pueblo Bonito Sunset is by far to most aggressive and fraudulent that I have experienced. Given the fact that it was unlikely that we would ever be able to take advantage of all the promised incentives or even be able to book a return visit at the promised cost, we gave up trying to void the transaction and contacted our credit card company.
It turns out that timeshare sales fraud is such a common thing that some credit card companies have created an internal department specifically to deal with fraudulent purchases. We used a Chase card for this transaction and were quickly connected with the department they had created for this type of fraud.
We filed a dispute and the charges were put on hold pending the resolution of our request to have the purchase voided. The timeshare sales department at Pueblo Bonito Sunset was given 60 days to dispute our assertions about the fraudulent nature of the sales encounter.
I am not sure what happened behind the scenes during this period but in the end our credit card account received a full refund of the amount that was in dispute. I guess that the combination of our persistence and the exceptionally high level of fraud associated with the Pueblo Bonito sales effort tipped things in our favor.
Pueblo Bonito Sunset is one of the better Mexican resorts that I have visited. The facilities are great and guests are treated very well. I am looking forward to visiting again. That visit will absolutely not include attending a timeshare presentation, however. Hopefully others will learn from our experience and avoid the scam.
