Vidanta Vida Vacations

[Gesoriano]

We were fooled to buy this time share that promised to have the opportunity to invest if we are not able to use it yearly. At that time we had very young children and had told them it might not be a fit for us because we may not always have time off from work that works with kids’ activities and school. The sales pitch was convincing and we ended up buying in 2013 with a Golf Connections Club to “rent” our weeks. This turned out to be a big fraud. Fast forward, we ended up using this time share once since 2013 due mainly to unavailable dates, confusion during booking, about what we have and the pandemic in 2020. We ended up in its entirety about $27,000 and only used it for 1 week with an “upgraded” room in their Puerto Vallarta Mayan Palace accommodation. It was not the best room by any means to the ones we’ve had in various countries we’ve stayed in. They even tried to lure us to extend our “ownership” and let us know then that we were very lucky to have continued a membership from a founding member that we took over which was apparently unknown to us. We remembered all the hard bookings and calls so we decided to just pay the $800+ to have access for 10 more years and hopefully get something out of the $27,000 we lost. After their failed sales talk, which, by the way did not take 1 hour as promised but from 9-2:30pm taking up our whole last day of our vacation, the rep said “If you found it hard to book your weeks before, what made you think that it’s going to be easier this time.” So future buyers be very wary about this company. To us who have lived in Europe, Asia and the USA this is way too overpriced and have very deceptive sales practices.

 

[montygz]

I'm sorry you made these decisions. Your story is one that has been repeated countless times on TUG for years.

It was frustrating to read that after "losing" $27,000, you were talked into another spending another $800 after being held hostage by high-pressure salespeople.

There are ways to get value out of timesharing, but my advice for you is to never give them another penny and steer clear of anything remotely like this.

You may have thrown away $28,000, but it could be worse, much, much worse. That money is gone. Just move on and don't look back -- and don't do any sales pitches.

And beware, these people now consider you one of their best customers -- they will hound you. Don't pick up the phone, don't respond.

 

[Gesoriano]

I'm sorry you made these decisions. Your story is one that has been repeated countless times on TUG for years.

It was frustrating to read that after "losing" $27,000, you were talked into another spending another $800 after being held hostage by high-pressure salespeople.

There are ways to get value out of timesharing, but my advice for you is to never give them another penny and steer clear of anything remotely like this.

You may have thrown away $28,000, but it could be worse, much, much worse. That money is gone. Just move on and don't look back -- and don't do any sales pitches.

And beware, these people now consider you one of their best customers -- they will hound you. Don't pick up the phone, don't respond.

We firmly decided not to buy more from them anymore even when they kept lowering the price point for “so much” more. Our 3 weeks with 1 priority week” expired” last year. We opted to pay $800 to get resort access for the next 10 years and only pay when we want to or have a friend or family member use our 2 weeks per year. We no longer pay their annual fees.

Thank you for your thoughts and advise.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

We opted to pay $800 to get resort access for the next 10 years and only pay when we want to or have a friend or family member use our 2 weeks per year. We no longer pay their annual fees.

Are you sure you carefully read what you signed when you paid them $800? Because what you are describing here seems off.

 

[Gesoriano]

Are you sure you carefully read what you signed when you paid them $800? Because what you are describing here seems off.

It is clearly written in our original contract. The issues with this here actually are the difficulty in booking our weeks the past 10 years and the fraudulent claim that if we are unable to use any of our 3 weeks each year, we can rent them out through a third party they provided. This third party not exist or became “bankrupt” when we called to rent our weeks. Not paying the $800 to get access to their resorts for the next 10 years is like throwing away everything paid to them. We get to book and pay only for the week we use each time 2x per year.

 

[Patri]

We get to book and pay only for the week we use each time 2x per year.

Have you actually done this yet?

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

We firmly decided not to buy more from them anymore even when they kept lowering the price point for “so much” more. Our 3 weeks with 1 priority week” expired” last year.

Good plan - learn how to book and use what you already paid for

We opted to pay $800 to get resort access for the next 10 years and only pay when we want to or have a friend or family member use our 2 weeks per year. We no longer pay their annual fees.

Thank you for your thoughts and advise.

Good Plan - this gives you next 10 years to get more vacation use & then decide if it works for you.

Good morning @Gesoriano ,
Welcome to TUG.

I am a Vidanta / Mayan Palace owner who has booked a peak season week every year since 2010. We bought a 1 bedroom in 2006.
In my opinion you made the right move by paying $ 800 to renew your membership for the next 10 years.

As you probably know - the Vidanta program differs from most other timeshares.
1) There is no mandatory MF / Usage Fee . Instead you only pay when you book a week.

2) The contract is for 100 years but requires a renewal fee periodically. Contracts from approx. 2010 to 2022 have a 10 year renewal payment cycle.

3) Every Vidanta contract has a ARP period [advanced reservation point] when you can start booking future weeks.
My contract has a 6 months . For any Feb. 2025 week I can call reservations starting August 1 -2024.
Since we live in Canada and want to get away from winter I will be calling at 8 am when the phone line opens on Aug 1.

********
I am going to request that your thread be moved to the Mexican Forum where you can get responses from other Vidanta owners.
I will also send you a PM -Conversation & you can respond if you wish to ask questions.

 

[breadcrumbslife]

Sometimes the sales tactics can be very persuasive even when it's not the right fit long term. At least you were able to get some use out of it, even if it wasn't great value for the money invested. Hopefully others will be more cautious of similarly deceptive timeshare pitches going forward.

 

[StructureGuy]

I bought into Vidanta in 2018. I have never had trouble getting a room (even during high season) since I almost always make the reservation when I am first allowed to do so.