Vidanta: do I upgrade?

[tberman]

I have sort of inherited my parents' Grand Luxxe membership, along with my siblings. I say, "sort of," because my father passed away and my mom has dementia. My mom's POA helped get my siblings and I on the membership. We have a Luxxe 2-bed villa, red week, so not Christmas, New Years, Easter, or Holy Week, unless there's space. I'm visiting now and had a contract review today. My parents, over time and upgrades, invested $80K -! with Vidanta, yet we compete for high floor, ocean view. It's luck of the draw, and can't get these peak season weeks unless we are lucky. The equity goes down annually I guess? We have to renew with two weeks' fees every ten years (in 2024). They are offering pre-construction new thing - redone Mayan, turned into all ocean front, ocean views, larger SF, not competing with other memberships for the space. Only the 200 contracts they're selling, they say, and they will put the full $80K equity toward that purchase. If we don't take the deal, equity becomes only $30K- or so - and will be gone in 2 yrs., when we have to renew. Includes 4 weeks/yr. including two peak season weeks. For that it's over $100K -! It's annoying to see the original investment disappear and also not get the privilege of ocean views, when my parents have owned since 2003 or so (starting at the Mayan before the Bliss was even a thing). Advice??

 

[rboesl]

You don't say if this is something you and your siblings will continue to use.

But, you personally have not given Vidanta any money. Plus, the money your parents put into it is already spent.

Their statement of "equity" is negotiating smoke and mirrors. And, it's unlikely that after spending the additional money to "upgrade" that you will get priority over any other owners for views.

For the most part rooms are assigned when you arrive. Not before. Vidanta has built to have availability for peak season. The key to insuring you have a unit for times like Christmas and New Years is to book at least a year ahead. I have yet to call reservations for a unit for just about any time of year ( have never tried for Christmas/New Years) and been told there was nothing available.

Use what you have. Their resorts are very nice. And decide when renewal time comes if you're getting what you expected. Any offer you have now will be available then or something that seems even better. Vidanta is always selling the next new thing before it's built.

 

[tberman]

You don't say if this is something you and your siblings will continue to use.

But, you personally have not given Vidanta any money. Plus, the money your parents put into it is already spent.

Their statement of "equity" is negotiating smoke and mirrors. And, it's unlikely that after spending the additional money to "upgrade" that you will get priority over any other owners for views.

For the most part rooms are assigned when you arrive. Not before. Vidanta has built to have availability for peak season. The key to insuring you have a unit for times like Christmas and New Years is to book at least a year ahead. I have yet to call reservations for a unit for just about any time of year ( have never tried for Christmas/New Years) and been told there was nothing available.

Use what you have. Their resorts are very nice. And decide when renewal time comes if you're getting what you expected. Any offer you have now will be available then or something that seems even better. Vidanta is always selling the next new thing before it's built.

Thanks so much for the advice. My family uses it but so far my siblings haven't. We don't use it every year though; we like going various places, but we love it when we come. I really appreciate your response.

 

[Eric B]

I have sort of inherited my parents' Grand Luxxe membership, along with my siblings. I say, "sort of," because my father passed away and my mom has dementia. My mom's POA helped get my siblings and I on the membership. We have a Luxxe 2-bed villa, red week, so not Christmas, New Years, Easter, or Holy Week, unless there's space. I'm visiting now and had a contract review today. My parents, over time and upgrades, invested $80K -! with Vidanta, yet we compete for high floor, ocean view. It's luck of the draw, and can't get these peak season weeks unless we are lucky. The equity goes down annually I guess? We have to renew with two weeks' fees every ten years (in 2024). They are offering pre-construction new thing - redone Mayan, turned into all ocean front, ocean views, larger SF, not competing with other memberships for the space. Only the 200 contracts they're selling, they say, and they will put the full $80K equity toward that purchase. If we don't take the deal, equity becomes only $30K- or so - and will be gone in 2 yrs., when we have to renew. Includes 4 weeks/yr. including two peak season weeks. For that it's over $100K -! It's annoying to see the original investment disappear and also not get the privilege of ocean views, when my parents have owned since 2003 or so (starting at the Mayan before the Bliss was even a thing). Advice??

There are advantages and disadvantages to owning with Vidanta and the same would hold true for upgrading an ownership like yours. What they have offered you as an "upgrade" is essentially a remodeled Grand Mayan unit with furnishings like those used in Grand Luxxe, but on the footprint of a Grand Mayan unit, which is smaller than what you currently own. It would have the advantage of the location nearer to the beach and the Grand Mayan pools and Lazy River, assuming that you are actually able to reserve a week there - IMHO there will be the same problems with the reservations for these units as there are for the rest of the resort because they do seem to sell more contracts than they can actually book rooms for in the peak seasons unless you are lucky enough to get through early on the day reservations open.

I would discount the declining equity argument. The Vida Vacations outfit that actually sells the contracts is set up separately from Vidanta, the developer, and has certain costs they target to get folks to pay to upgrade and will say just about anything to try to persuade you to pay what they want you to pay. As a whole, Vidanta does a historically good job of running the resorts, though it has slipped a bit during the current pandemic, but Vida Vacations has a horrible reputation for their sales tactics. I believe that the GL 2 BR Villa is a good level to be at, particularly when all it costs is the renewal fees every ten years and usage fees when you want to use it.

 

[tberman]

There are advantages and disadvantages to owning with Vidanta and the same would hold true for upgrading an ownership like yours. What they have offered you as an "upgrade" is essentially a remodeled Grand Mayan unit with furnishings like those used in Grand Luxxe, but on the footprint of a Grand Mayan unit, which is smaller than what you currently own. It would have the advantage of the location nearer to the beach and the Grand Mayan pools and Lazy River, assuming that you are actually able to reserve a week there - IMHO there will be the same problems with the reservations for these units as there are for the rest of the resort because they do seem to sell more contracts than they can actually book rooms for in the peak seasons unless you are lucky enough to get through early on the day reservations open.

I would discount the declining equity argument. The Vida Vacations outfit that actually sells the contracts is set up separately from Vidanta, the developer, and has certain costs they target to get folks to pay to upgrade and will say just about anything to try to persuade you to pay what they want you to pay. As a whole, Vidanta does a historically good job of running the resorts, though it has slipped a bit during the current pandemic, but Vida Vacations has a horrible reputation for their sales tactics. I believe that the GL 2 BR Villa is a good level to be at, particularly when all it costs is the renewal fees every ten years and usage fees when you want to use it.

Thanks so much. You and the other Tugger who responded are aligned. So helpful. On the side of the unit, they're combining units so they will be bigger than current units with three full baths for two bedrooms, but it doesn't negate your general point. I really appreciate it.

 

[tberman]

I meant on the "point" about the unit, not "side."

 

[Eric B]

Thanks so much. You and the other Tugger who responded are aligned. So helpful. On the [point] of the unit, they're combining units so they will be bigger than current units with three full baths for two bedrooms, but it doesn't negate your general point. I really appreciate it.

Here's the floor plan for the unit they provided during a sales presentation to us a few years ago:

Here's the Grand Mayan NV 2 BR floor plan from the Vidanta web site:

While the new floor plan does show 3 baths, the columns and the plunge pools do correspond between the two different plans and I haven't seen any indication that they modified the structure of the building. Last I had heard, these were only going in the upper floors of the northern building, too. This is similar to what they did with the old Bliss units in Riviera Maya, changing them to Grand Luxxe Jungle or Deluxxe 1 BR units on the footprint of the Bliss/Mayan Palace 2 BR units, but there they reduced the number of bedrooms.

This may be a case where the sales folks either don't know or are willing to misstate the facts. Our sales rep when we were showed this said they would all be oceanfront units that ran all the way through the building even though there is clearly an entry from the back of the unit that indicates there's a hallway and the current building has units on both sides. That's another change that would have forced major structural changes to the building that were not evident on a subsequent trip. I lean towards evaluating what I can see is going on as well as what statements Vida Vacation makes, influenced by their incentive to make a sale. YMMV.

 

[tberman]

Wow. You are organized, to have that so quickly. They told me they are moving the hallway to be in the back, allowing for rooms to all face the ocean, but again, doesn't negate your overall point. The Sheraton in town like like it's designed with no windows facing the street side so they can have all ocean views. My husband thought the redone building might look like that. They wouldn't let me take the floorplan print out nor take a photo of it.

 

[Eric B]

Wow. You are organized, to have that so quickly. They told me they are moving the hallway to be in the back, allowing for rooms to all face the ocean, but again, doesn't negate your overall point. The Sheraton in town like it's designed with no windows facing the street side so they can have all ocean views. My husband thought the redone building might look like that. They wouldn't let me take the floorplan print out nor take a photo of it.

That's sort of what they indicated to us re: moving the hallway. I guess they could do that since the internal walls are likely not load-bearing, but the structural elements at the back end of the floor plans also seem to correspond as well as the proportions for the width and depth of the units. Granted, we don't have access to the blue prints, if there are any for the remodeling, but as a farmer I've become accustomed to identifying BS and believe that it exists here. We chose not to upgrade to those units when they were offered to us. We also own at the Sheraton Buganvilias and are familiar with how the units there are set up - they were designed that way in the first place.

Edit: We just didn't ask if we could take a photo of the floor plan. They left us to talk over the offer with the floor plan and the magic numbers they wrote upside down and we just assumed it's ok.

 

[tberman]

That's sort of what they indicated to us re: moving the hallway. I guess they could do that since the internal walls are likely not load-bearing, but the structural elements at the back end of the floor plans also seem to correspond as well as the proportions for the width and depth of the units. Granted, we don't have access to the blue prints, if there are any for the remodeling, but as a farmer I've become accustomed to identifying BS and believe that it exists here. We chose not to upgrade to those units when they were offered to us. We also own at the Sheraton Buganvilias and are familiar with how the units there are set up - they were designed that way in the first place.

Edit: We just didn't ask if we could take a photo of the floor plan. They left us to talk over the offer with the floor plan and the magic numbers they wrote upside down and we just assumed it's ok.

By the way, when was that $990K offered? Now they show $1.3M. Or, at least that's what they showed me.

 

[Eric B]

By the way, when was that $990K offered? Now they show $1.3M. Or, at least that's what they showed me.

March 2020

 

[chemteach]

What are the current maintenance fees for the Grand Luxxe 2 bedroom units? I went to a Vidanta presentation Cabo, and they said fees are currently $1900 per week. That's double what I spend to stay at places just as nice as the GL 2 BR units, so it was easy for me to say, "No" at the presentation. They tried to offer me the vacation club for $2000, but that was also easy to say, "No" to.

 

[tberman]

What are the current maintenance fees for the Grand Luxxe 2 bedroom units? I went to a Vidanta presentation Cabo, and they said fees are currently $1900 per week. That's double what I spend to stay at places just as nice as the GL 2 BR units, so it was easy for me to say, "No" at the presentation. They tried to offer me the vacation club for $2000, but that was also easy to say, "No" to.

I think it's more than that. Over $2K. But you aren't also paying a different maintenance fee nor exchange fee.

 

[tberman]

Have you ever successfully rented out

There are advantages and disadvantages to owning with Vidanta and the same would hold true for upgrading an ownership like yours. What they have offered you as an "upgrade" is essentially a remodeled Grand Mayan unit with furnishings like those used in Grand Luxxe, but on the footprint of a Grand Mayan unit, which is smaller than what you currently own. It would have the advantage of the location nearer to the beach and the Grand Mayan pools and Lazy River, assuming that you are actually able to reserve a week there - IMHO there will be the same problems with the reservations for these units as there are for the rest of the resort because they do seem to sell more contracts than they can actually book rooms for in the peak seasons unless you are lucky enough to get through early on the day reservations open.

I would discount the declining equity argument. The Vida Vacations outfit that actually sells the contracts is set up separately from Vidanta, the developer, and has certain costs they target to get folks to pay to upgrade and will say just about anything to try to persuade you to pay what they want you to pay. As a whole, Vidanta does a historically good job of running the resorts, though it has slipped a bit during the current pandemic, but Vida Vacations has a horrible reputation for their sales tactics. I believe that the GL 2 BR Villa is a good level to be at, particularly when all it costs is the renewal fees every ten years and usage fees when you want to use it.
[/QUOTE
Have you ever successfully rented out a week or more of your weeks?

 

[Eric B]

Have you ever successfully rented out

Not at Vidanta. I do know some folks that do, but they get the elite weeks (Xmas or New Years).

 

[tberman]

I'm not sure if I sent that properly. There was a weird glitch. Have you ever successfully rented out your unit?

 

[tberman]

And I guess you don't know what the success likelihood would be then for not Christmas or New Years -?

Not at Vidanta. I do know some folks that do, but they get the elite weeks (Xmas or New Years).

 

[Eric B]

I'm not sure if I sent that properly. There was a weird glitch. Have you ever successfully rented out your unit?

You sent it with the question above the quote rather than below. I have not rented out Vidanta weeks. I do know some folks that do, but they get the elite weeks (Xmas or New Years).

 

[Eric B]

And I guess you don't know what the success likelihood would be then for not Christmas or New Years -?

The folks I know that rent Vidanta weeks out essentially approach it as a business full time. Not sure what their return on investment is, but my opinion is that there are other timeshare systems that are easier to rent out and easier to deal with the reservations or have fixed weeks. There are a few other ones that I have rented out stays with.

 

[tberman]

Thank you.