Vidanta Trade Cost

[guitarlars]

My last visit to Cabo we made a last minute trade to the GM. It was only a studio but we were fine as there were only the two of us.

The one thing that chapped my hide was that we were charged a $750 fee when we arrived as a resort or room charge. Part would be waived if we attended their tour (no way) and we recovered about 1/4 of the fee as an offset for our resort charges. This was probably on the site but my love didn't see it when she booked, we wouldn't have stayed there if we had been aware.

What is Vidanta's current scheme regarding the add-on fees? I stopped going to Vidanta properties as the surprise fee left a bad taste in my mouth. Seems that if you pay for your timeshares maintenance, pay the trade fee and then add the Vidanta fee you are paying through the nose and could probably just book through a hotel site cheaper.

I like the Vidanta resorts and have stayed at many over the past twenty years, but the uncertainty as to how they are going to fleece me has kept me from booking another Vidanta stay.

If anyone knows how they are determining the added fees and the amounts it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[NiteMaire]

It depends on the exchange company you use. Based on the amount you list, I presume you exchanged through II. For some reason, Vidanta's fees on II can be/have been ridiculous. It's varied over the last few years. Sometimes it's by room size, sometimes it's per person, and it may have been a one size fits all at some point as well. I believe it started as a $75 flat fee.

How is it determined? I presume it's based on what Vidanta negotiates with the exchange company, which is probably based on what Vidanta thinks they can squeeze from traders. It's varied on II over the years. I presume the changes are Vidanta tweaking to maximize. It's gone down at times...again I presume it meant Vidanta was unable to capture enough exchanges at the higher rate. Truth be told, I'll put up with a resort fee into the properties as long as it's reasonable. Even with a hefty resort fee in the hundreds, it may still be a worthwhile trade.

Vidanta's resort fee through SFX is still only $75. I'm not sure what it is in RCI; RCI held out for a while at $75, but I think the fees are higher now. I'll defer to active RCI members.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

My last visit to Cabo we made a last minute trade to the GM. It was only a studio but we were fine as there were only the two of us.

The one thing that chapped my hide was that we were charged a $750 fee when we arrived as a resort or room charge. Part would be waived if we attended their tour (no way) and we recovered about 1/4 of the fee as an offset for our resort charges. This was probably on the site but my love didn't see it when she booked, we wouldn't have stayed there if we had been aware.

What is Vidanta's current scheme regarding the add-on fees? I stopped going to Vidanta properties as the surprise fee left a bad taste in my mouth. Seems that if you pay for your timeshares maintenance, pay the trade fee and then add the Vidanta fee you are paying through the nose and could probably just book through a hotel site cheaper.

I like the Vidanta resorts and have stayed at many over the past twenty years, but the uncertainty as to how they are going to fleece me has kept me from booking another Vidanta stay.

If anyone knows how they are determining the added fees and the amounts it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

1) The Vidanta resort fee varies by property & suite size ( number of bedrooms) and is listed on RCI or II or similar, when you are doing your exchange.

2) Most Vidanta owners (since 2005) have an an addendum that does not require a MF payment unless you book a week. This effectively means that almost all weeks in exchange companies are developer owned weeks.

3) I have RCI weeks - there are currently 3 available exchanges to,Grand Mayan RCI 7905 San Jose del Cabo
all are studio-hotel rooms and the resort fee is $ 250 for that size accommodation.
Thanksgiving week 2020 is 9 TPU (check in November 22)
Christmas week 2020 is 12 TPU ( check in December 20)

4) There are TUG members who have traders that cost them $15 or less per TPU ( average is likely $ 30-$40)
that would mean a trader could have a net total cost of $ 624 for Thanksgiving ( $135+$ 239+$250)
and $669:for Christmas. Both of these dollar figures are less than a Grand Mayan owner would be paying.

5) Vidanta (IMO) see exchangers as a pipeline to feed their Vida Sales Machine and is willing to list very low TPU costs to encourage a steady flow.

7) Vidanta likely gets some dollar split on the TPU value and $ 0 on the exchange fee.
Net net - very little $ .from these payment you make. The resort fee is designed to give cash flow to their hotel side for the overhead of your stay.

8) IMO - The SFX resort fee is lower- likely due to a different revenue split
in the contract between Vidanta & SFX.

9) The following is current information:
Grand Mayan NV 7491 - Thanksgiving week
1 bedroom - 9 TPU / resort fee $ 600
2 bedroom 12 TPU / resort fee $ $950

Grand Mayan RM 6973 -Thanksgiving week
1 bedroom -9 TPU - resort fee $ 450
2 bedroom -12 TPU - resort fee $ 700

 

[guitarlars]

1) The Vidanta resort fee varies by property & suite size ( number of bedrooms) and is listed on RCI or II or similar, when you are doing your exchange.

2) Most Vidanta owners (since 2005) have an an addendum that does not require a MF payment unless you book a week. This effectively means that almost all weeks in exchange companies are developer owned weeks.

3) I have RCI weeks - there are currently 3 available exchanges to,Grand Mayan RCI 7905 San Jose del Cabo
all are studio-hotel rooms and the resort fee is $ 250 for that size accommodation.
Thanksgiving week 2020 is 9 TPU (check in November 22)
Christmas week 2020 is 12 TPU ( check in December 20)

4) There are TUG members who have traders that cost them $15 or less per TPU ( average is likely $ 30-$40)
that would mean a trader could have a net total cost of $ 624 for Thanksgiving ( $135+$ 239+$250)
and $669:for Christmas. Both of these dollar figures are less than a Grand Mayan owner would be paying.

5) Vidanta (IMO) see exchangers as a pipeline to feed their Vida Sales Machine and is willing to list very low TPU costs to encourage a steady flow.

7) Vidanta likely gets some dollar split on the TPU value and $ 0 on the exchange fee.
Net net - very little $ .from these payment you make. The resort fee is designed to give cash flow to their hotel side for the overhead of your stay.

8) IMO - The SFX resort fee is lower- likely due to a different revenue split
in the contract between Vidanta & SFX.

9) The following is current information:
Grand Mayan NV 7491 - Thanksgiving week
1 bedroom - 9 TPU / resort fee $ 600
2 bedroom 12 TPU / resort fee $ $950

Grand Mayan RM 6973 -Thanksgiving week
1 bedroom -9 TPU - resort fee $ 450
2 bedroom -12 TPU - resort fee $ 700

Thank you for the information. It confirms my opinion that a Vidanta trade is just a generally bad deal under the current scheme. Vidanta appears to have, in essence, converted all the timeshares into hotel rooms by allowing owners to waive the fee if the do not stay at the resort. The problem I see is that all of the other timeshares don't follow this model, so we are trading timeshares on which we have paid our maintenance and other fees for a Vidanta unit where we get to pay the Vidanta owners fees as well.

In the case of our stay we used a certificate, so I did not pay maintenance on that as it was essentially a freebie, and I might consider doing this again in the future, but I will never trade a unit I am paying maintenance on into Vidanta. Their scheme, while great for them and possibly for the owners (doubt it, but trying to be diplomatic), is not going to work for me, particularly in light of the overbuilt nature of Mexico timeshares. I can almost always find something in Mexico and save myself the Vidanta resort fee.

Also, at least in Cabo, the new "Beach Club" is too obnoxious to endure - horrible music played at uncomfortably loud volumes and piped straight onto the pool area has ruined what had been one of my favorite resorts. I don't know if the other beach clubs are doing the same, but if so it pretty much destroys any chance of having a quiet vacation.

 

[dioxide45]

7) Vidanta likely gets some dollar split on the TPU value and $ 0 on the exchange fee.
Net net - very little $ .from these payment you make. The resort fee is designed to give cash flow to their hotel side for the overhead of your stay.

Does RCI even have any value in the TPU? Those are weeks they got for free. The inventory cost them nothing and they aren't paid when TPU are deposited. The only revenue would be exchange fees. I suspect Vidanta doesn't get anything in return from RCI or II in the way of cash unless it comes from a getaway or extra vacations booking.

 

[Eric B]

Does RCI even have any value in the TPU? Those are weeks they got for free. The inventory cost them nothing and they aren't paid when TPU are deposited. The only revenue would be exchange fees. I suspect Vidanta doesn't get anything in return from RCI or II in the way of cash unless it comes from a getaway or extra vacations booking.

I believe you're correct about that (Vidanta not getting anything from exchanges). There are some resort companies that I believe get something back for the developer deposits, for example, with Vacation Villages, I believe they use the TPUs generated for their extra vacation certificate programs, which are run by a separate entity named something like "Resort Rentals, LLC." They might get some cash back from RCI extra vacation bookings as well. Vidanta has the Vida Lifestyle program that can give lower cost or free timeshare stays to their members, but it is run by ICE in conjunction with SFX instead of RCI or II. I believe that Vidanta gets a share of the "luxury upgrade" fee that SFX charges for bookings, which can amount to ~$299 or so - SFX does have the lower resort fee for exchanges there.

Bottom line for me is that it would be quite foolish to use a high-cost TS week to exchange into Vidanta; you can do fairly well with a low-cost one, though you may miss out on the higher tier Grand Luxxe units. If you want a higher-tier one, RCI platinum is a good way to go for non-Vidanta owners as is II even for Vidanta owners. You do have to be judicious with what you exchange to get there, though.

BTW, the resort fees do not come near to what Vidanta owners pay for usage fees for their own weeks. YMMV.

 

[pittle]

BTW, the resort fees do not come near to what Vidanta owners pay for usage fees for their own weeks. YMMV.

I recently saw a chart of Vidanta MF for 2020. A Master Unit (aka Studio) MF are $950.

Of course those who bought at the GM level years ago do not pay that much, but that is the starting price for 2020. The MF for a 2-bed GL was significantly higher than what we pay.

 

[siesta]

I'm surprised they haven't lowered or waived the fee in the current travel climate.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

I'm surprised they haven't lowered or waived the fee in the current travel climate.

They will lower it by half **- iF YOU GO to a sales presentation.

** based on prior TUG reports and personal usage data.

 

[shorep]

We changed to 'no stay/no pay' MF at Grand Mayan when it first came out, the price if we wanted to use was near $1400,that is the top part of steep,we now have emails that mention 'free week' stays,very nice resort is all I can say, a few buts during the stays, we avoid it, plus it is rather remote, not like Lagunamar where there is local amenities