Vidanta availability and rentals

[MoPops]

Question. During our update yesterday it was pointed out to us that we only have 2 years left before we will need to renew our 10 year agreement. It will cost us $8K at least to renew. We were offered (of course) to buy more weeks, in this case a legacy park loft, keep our benefits, it has 20 year renewals, with half the maintenance fees. So it would cut the $8K in half that we would have to pay to $4K. Price of the new contract was $18K, subtract from that, we would save $4K on our old renewal, so the net price would be $14K. Plus,, we could start renting. The nice sales person had a company in mind that would handle the rentals for us. Etc, etc, etc. I’m not convinced of the rental income..
So, the questions I’m ending up with are, pay the $8K renewal when it’s due, and live with just owning 2 weeks Residence which has shortened reservation windows (I think 10, or 6 months out), or just walk away entirely, and rent if we want to come back. Of course, I lose the initial investment in our GL 1BR. (Don’t know if I could write that off??)
Can I get January or February dates in RM, NV, and Cabo without a 12 month reservation window? (After I pay renewal)
Can I just rent February in the above mentioned resorts? If so, what’s the ballpark on cost per week? Salesperson says $7K.
We aren’t really sure what to do. We love the resorts. But we very seldom get a nice room. The food and drink prices are too high, but it’s still really nice. Ha!
Maybe we should just pay the $18K and get a new contract? (May not be an option as we walked out yesterday at 2 hrs) There are certainly other options as far as other timeshare companies. We are right next door to a Hilton timeshare that looks nice.
We are not interested in any more weeks. We really only like to come down 2 weeks in late January and early February. That’s it.. Too many other irons in the fire so to speak, to spend any more time here.
Thanks all for your thoughts.
MoPops

 

[bnoble]

I’m not convinced of the rental income..

A lot of people rent Vidanta units, so there must be some value there. But I always ask myself if renting were so easy and profitable, shouldn't the developer be building resorts for rent instead of resorts for sale?

Don’t know if I could write that off?

Nope. See this: https://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/income_taxes_and_timeshares_from_an_accountant.html

We are not interested in any more weeks. We really only like to come down 2 weeks in late January and early February. That’s it..

Then don't buy more weeks. Instead, your options are renew, or walk. I can't tell you which is better, because I don't own there and don't know the reservation patterns. I do know that I've been able to get exchanges into Grand Mayan using an AC in early February last year, so it can't be that hard to book something.

 

[MoPops]

Thanks bnoble, I had never thought about the write off. Just popped into my head as I was typing this morning. We still have two years to decide. It’s more difficult to decide when you’re here, and really enjoying it.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Question. During our update yesterday it was pointed out to us that we only have 2 years left before we will need to renew our 10 year agreement. It will cost us $8K at least to renew.

Hi @MoPops - $ 8K + sounds high for a Vidanta 10 year renewal.
Have you re- read your contract to make sure Vida Salesperson wasn't using TS Sales Math ?

I realize the formula is MF / Usage Fee in 2026 x 2 residence weeks
[ and newer contracts may me set at 1,5 x MF / Usage Fee per week]

We were offered (of course) to buy more weeks, in this case a legacy park loft, keep our benefits, it has 20 year renewals, with half the maintenance fees. So it would cut the $8K in half that we would have to pay to $4K. Price of the new contract was $18K, .....

So, the questions I’m ending up with are, pay the $8K renewal when it’s due, and live with just owning 2 weeks Residence which has shortened reservation windows (I think 10, or 6 months out)
Can I get January or February dates in RM, NV, and Cabo without a 12 month reservation window? (After I pay renewal)

Yes - My Mayan Palace has a 6 month ARP / booking window. I call Aug 1 - 8 am and have not had a problem getting Feb. weeks
[ sales uses the booking window as leverage to get people to upgrade. In my opinion - as long as Vidanta keeps building this is not a problem.
Also - you can reserve brands that are in your grid. So if you own Grand Luxxe and for some reason your preferred check in date had no availability
You could reserve Grand Mayan. ( also you could call reservations back closer to check-in & ask if GL is available due to cancellations etc.]

Can I just rent February in the above mentioned resorts? If so, what’s the ballpark on cost per week? Salesperson says $7K.

We are not interested in any more weeks. We really only like to come down 2 weeks in late January and early February. That’s it.. Too many other irons in the fire so to speak, to spend any more time here.
Thanks all for your thoughts.
MoPops

I have seen Red Week rentals for $ 7K - but ...../ and seen ones for less
1) The high dollar ones often are GL 3 bedrooms / lofts etc - the more unique suites with fewer existing units
a standard 1 or 2 bedroom GL is less & Grand Mayans are less.
2) A Red Week rental listing is simply a listing. Someone has to book it for the owner to make money.


Good news - you have 2 years to explore options.

 

[MoPops]

Hi @MoPops - $ 8K + sounds high for a Vidanta 10 year renewal.
Have you re- read your contract to make sure Vida Salesperson wasn't using TS Sales Math ?

I realize the formula is MF / Usage Fee in 2026 x 2 residence weeks
[ and newer contracts may me set at 1,5 x MF / Usage Fee per week]




Yes - My Mayan Palace has a 6 month ARP / booking window. I call Aug 1 - 8 am and have not had a problem getting Feb. weeks
[ sales uses the booking window as leverage to get people to upgrade. In my opinion - as long as Vidanta keeps building this is not a problem.
Also - you can reserve brands that are in your grid. So if you own Grand Luxxe and for some reason your preferred check in date had no availability
You could reserve Grand Mayan. ( also you could call reservations back closer to check-in & ask if GL is available due to cancellations etc.]

I have seen Red Week rentals for $ 7K - but ...../ and seen ones for less
1) The high dollar ones often are GL 3 bedrooms / lofts etc - the units with fewer existing units
a standard 1 or 2 bedroom GL is less & Grand Mayans are less.
2) A Red Week rental listing is simply a listing. Someone has to book it for the owner to make money.


Good news - you have 2 years to explore options.

Thank you!
You are correct on the 10 yr renewal pricing. Vidanta is raising the rates pretty substantially, but not that much. I don’t remember is the salesperson came up with that number or not. I pay 2x the rate. The contract offer would cut that in half, but the number is closer to $4K, or $2K savings.
Hopefully, we will still get our Jan/Feb dates after we go from 12 mos to 10 mos (post renewal). I looked here, and the vacation rental websites, rentals are certainly available. Right now, I’m pretty certain we will just renew. I think we will definitely come back to Cabo. Having a great stay.

 

[pittle]

I just renewed my two 2-bedroom Grand Luxxe weeks contract on December 30. I had 2 Registered weeks and 4 Residence weeks. I now have just 4 Residence weeks. My 10 year renewal fee was basically 2 Usage Fees since they were 1/2 of the current 4 Residence weeks. It was just over $5100.

I also have a Senior Certificate that extends to the Residence weeks, so I can use 2 of my remaining 4 weeks using that and paying no usage fees. If I want to go 4 weeks at GL level, I must pay for 2 of them, or I can choose two 2-bedroom and two 1-bedroom units at Grand Bliss and below each year. Per my documents, I can book GL weeks for January, February, and March 10 months out, Grand Bliss 8 months out, and Mayan Palace 6 months out.(Those are those resorts rules.) But, I already have a week at the MP Marina in PV for November 16-20, 2024 reserved. They booked me a Thanksgiving week 2023 at GL 2023 back in late August 2022, so who knows.....

When we upgraded to GL, we had two GM 2-bedroom weeks, 3 two bedroom MP weeks and one 1 bedroom MP week - a total of 6 weeks. We were not going that much because we also owned Buganvilias Sky Suite, and a Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay and 2 other places that have since gone belly up. Anyway, we figured out how much all the 5 year reno fees would be for those 6 weeks until the 25 year renewal fees came up on each of them. I also added the minimal annual increase. We decided that if an upgrade was close to that, we would do it and have fewer weeks. We also required that we could keep our Senior Certificates and no pay unless you go. Their number was within $1000, so we signed on the dotted line. Since we had all those other resorts, we did not use the GL, but just looked as it as the pre-paid reno fees. We only went to GL twice in our 10 years and the last one was using our Senior Certificate, we used the other week split up with a week in Acapulco GM last January and Puerto Penasco GM in May.

My "kids" thought the GL was nice, my brother liked the GB that I got him using an old deposit with SFX, but they all were not fans of just hanging out in the jungle. They like to just walk out the resort and wander around town. They said not to book it for them in the future. So, since it is no charge for me, I am finding a network of friends who like to travel and I can take them to Vidanta resorts.

Since I just turned 77, I have made reservations for 2 weeks in PV Marina - one week in April and another in Novmeber. I will most likely use 1 or both of the remaining ones at the Puerto Penasco GM, but may use one in Cabo San Jose. I plan to use the free weeks for as long as I can. It takes thae bite out of the $$$ spent since Febrauary 1999.

 

[MoPops]

We’re only 69. We had to decide if we liked looking for and planning weeks, at other places. I’m sure we’re still going to be traveling for a while. We own GL, but don’t stay in them that often. I think two times in the last 10 yrs. We’ve found GB to be nice enough, and at least at NV to be a lot closer to everything. I think we will just hit the easy button and renew. We know we like the resorts. Why roll the dice and end up trapped for two weeks somewhere we don’t like. I personally don’t like what they’ve done to food and drink prices, but we will work around those. Maybe they’ll figure out that tripling prices doesn’t necessarily result in increased revenue and or profits.
Thanks all for the replies.

 

[travelmomma39]

Vidanta is almost always available through extra vacations on RCI. If you get an RCI membership while you own a timeshare, then get rid of your timeshare, you can still continue using RCI for extra vacations and last call. For example, Grand Luxxe is on sale right now through extra vacations. We booked a 2 bedroom in June for $359 for the week, and they are running a special of zero resort fees if you haven’t been in the last 5 years. Hard to beat that deal! Drawback would be the 1 in 3 rule, so you couldn’t go every year or multiple times a year. But this will be our third time booking through RCI extra vacations, without owning any timeshare, and paying less than $500 for a week at Vidanta.

 

[Whitesand54]

We will probably just let our 2nd week go and keep one week. We bought into th4 never - never plan with Kingdom of the Sun at NV. We wanted to go see it in development last year as Geand Bliss owners and we couldn't go without sales person and we are pretty done with that. In Maya Riviera we almost missed our van to our flight due to lack of carts. Bigger is not always better.
There are other beautiful resorts that don't have so many angles. It can be exhausting. Thanks to travelmomma39. Best advice ever.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

I lose the initial investment in our GL 1BR. (Don’t know if I could write that off??) ... just rent February ... ballpark on cost per week? Salesperson says $7K.

I've never been to Vidanta. I prob will rent a week in the next couple of yrs, just to see. So, never had a sales pitch, never seen a contract, don't know the equation to decipher their approach to the IN / OUT of "owning", but the things I read on Vidanta threads amaze me.
" I lose the initial investment in our GL 1BR" = that started amortizing as soon as you got home. I'd say depreciating but, well, a couple of reasons.
"Don’t know if I could write that off??" = of course not. Can you write off your old car? (you could depreciate it if you used it for biz & had biz income). in this case, you don't even really own it, you have a RTU, right?
"Can I just rent February ... cost per week? Salesperson says $7K." = THis is a 1 bdrm & it is not ALL-IN, right? I'd be surprised if it is > $3000/wk, maybe $3500. I see the lower level Vidanta 1 bdrms for rent for $500-$600/wk every time I bother to look. Not ALL-IN? How can it be $7000? We can rent a 1 bdrm in the fanciest ALL-IN resorts in the Caribbean for $6000/wk.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

this will be our third time booking through RCI extra vacations, without owning any timeshare, and paying less than $500 for a week at Vidanta

my impression exactly. So, if my wife enjoys Cabo end of this yr, I may get her into a Vidanta 1 yr later. Or I may just do the same Cabo again.
Is the Vidanta Cabo on one of the non-swimmable beaches? Does any Vidanta have a swimmable beach?

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

my impression exactly. So, if my wife enjoys Cabo end of this yr, I may get her into a Vidanta 1 yr later. Or I may just do the same Cabo again.
Is the Vidanta Cabo on one of the non-swimmable beaches? Does any Vidanta have a swimmable beach?

Puerto Vallarta - Nuevo Valarta - Mazatlan- Puerto Penasco are all swimmable & I have done so at those 4 Vidanta locations
I believe Vidanta Acapulco also has a good beach for swimming.

I am not sure about Vidanta Cabo - Grand Mayan. [or Eastcape whenever it opens.]

I have heard the beach at Vidanta Riviera Maya is somewhat rocky

 

[hurnik]

No, the beach in Cabo (Vidanta - next door to Cabo Azul) is not swimmable. Very few places with resorts have swimmable beaches in Cabo, IMO. There are some sure, but not the vast majority, IMO.