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Vidante ownership & Vida dollars _HELP NOW!!

Have you been able to use Vida dollars to pay for 100% of any vacation, hotel or travel?

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No

    Votes: 9 100.0%

  • Total voters
    9

VirginiaKat

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If you're referring to the Vida dollars:

My assumption is based upon them acting like the SFX "dollars" (via the ICE website):

1) I've gotten some decent discounts on car rentals--especially Hawaii and one-way rentals (where you pick up one spot and drop off at another)
2) I've sometimes gotten a decent discount on a hotel room (these are NON REFUNDABLE and you won't get any points with the loyalty program and if it's Hilton, you don't get any of the benefits of your status--so keep that in mind). For example, needed a one night stay at the Hyatt in DFW. With my SFX dollars, I used "$40" to get the rate down to $80 (the cheapest I could find elsewhere was $120). Since we arrived at midnight, we didn't really need any "perks". Now that I'm Hilton Diamond, the free breakfast may be "equal" to the $40 (haha).
3) Sometimes you can get a decent deal on a resort--I was able to pick up a junior suite at the el Cid Ventus in June (yeah, I know) for two people WITH THE AI included for $800 and $5,000 "sfx dollars".
4) Rarely, but sometimes can get a discounted cruise. The big gotcha with the cruise discounts are that you can't (normally) combine any other published discounts or loyalty programs. However, they do sometimes let you combine the Norwegian "3 for free" or whatever with select sailings, and I was able to combine my MSC 10% discount (had to book it first, and then call and they had to call MSC and took the discount from the remaining balance owed). But you can't use like "I'm a Carnival Gold VIP" discount, or anything like that. More often you can get a better rate (but not always) with Cruise Compete or the like.
Thank you!
 
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Mexico is not a bad place to go. We have been many places in our 28 years of timesharing, but decided that we like Mexico the best. :) We have been to Hawaii numerous times, but it takes so long to get there and is so expensive. We found PV that has the same climate and we can get there in less time (especial now that we fly out of Phoenix 2.5 hours) and once we get there, the cost is less than at home! The people are friendly and gracious. Our family like PV the best and we have taken them to Acapulco, Riviera Maya, Cancun, Acapulco, Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerto Penasco. Once the family chose PV, we sold other timeshares and locked in on PV/NV.

Mayan World upper level units are pretty expensive to exchange though. You have to add the exchange fee to your cost to go elsewhere. AND - many places you go do not compare for your costs. :( We got into Mayan World in 1999 because we took a chance on an exchange in Acapulco using a 1-bedroom 2-bath Waikiki timeshare that we had. The Acapulco place was a dump! :eek: We bought at Mayan World because we could move there right away and save our vacation! :) We have never looked back and had some great exchanges when the MF were still under $500, we got really nice exchanges. Now that MF are 3-4 times that, I doubt that is still the case.

We now subscribe to the "Buy where you want to go" concept.

Welcome to TUG! :)
Phyllis, would you be interested in having my Bel Air Collection (fully paid for). It is now the Krystal Resort in Nuevo Vallarta right next to Villa Del Palmar and Riu. We owned it as a timeshare when it was Playa Del Sol and it was fully paid for since July 2003 but we prefer cruises instead now rather than resorts. My addendum to the timeshare was to make it a Vacation Club pay upon use so there is no maintenance fee and I agreed to a $250 transfer fee to release my hold on the use. So I would pay the $250 transfer fee and give this 2 bedroom lockoff away to anyone who wants it.
 

pittle

TUG Review Crew
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Vidanta Grand Luxxe
Buganvilias Sky Suites
Pueblo Bonito Em Bay
Phyllis, would you be interested in having my Bel Air Collection (fully paid for). It is now the Krystal Resort in Nuevo Vallarta right next to Villa Del Palmar and Riu. We owned it as a timeshare when it was Playa Del Sol and it was fully paid for since July 2003 but we prefer cruises instead now rather than resorts. My addendum to the timeshare was to make it a Vacation Club pay upon use so there is no maintenance fee and I agreed to a $250 transfer fee to release my hold on the use. So I would pay the $250 transfer fee and give this 2 bedroom lockoff away to anyone who wants it.

Interesting offer, but as we are getting older, we do not want to take on another ownership, even a free one. We have bonus weeks at the Buganvilias and Grand Luxxe. Thanks.

Maybe someone will see it and contact you.
 

Karen G

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Once owned these: FirstFairway@Walden X 2; Lawai Beach; ManhattanClub; PuebloBonitoRose; 4 South Africa--now timeshare-free
Phyllis, would you be interested in having my Bel Air Collection (fully paid for). It is now the Krystal Resort in Nuevo Vallarta right next to Villa Del Palmar and Riu. We owned it as a timeshare when it was Playa Del Sol and it was fully paid for since July 2003 but we prefer cruises instead now rather than resorts. My addendum to the timeshare was to make it a Vacation Club pay upon use so there is no maintenance fee and I agreed to a $250 transfer fee to release my hold on the use. So I would pay the $250 transfer fee and give this 2 bedroom lockoff away to anyone who wants it.
If you seriously want to give your timeshare away, post all the pertinent details on the forum for that purpose https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?forums/free-timeshare-giveaways-and-bargain-deals.55/
 

kckreardon

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Phyllis, would you be interested in having my Bel Air Collection (fully paid for). It is now the Krystal Resort in Nuevo Vallarta right next to Villa Del Palmar and Riu. We owned it as a timeshare when it was Playa Del Sol and it was fully paid for since July 2003 but we prefer cruises instead now rather than resorts. My addendum to the timeshare was to make it a Vacation Club pay upon use so there is no maintenance fee and I agreed to a $250 transfer fee to release my hold on the use. So I would pay the $250 transfer fee and give this 2 bedroom lockoff away to anyone who wants it.
Hello, I would like to know more about the unit, please let me know how to PM you. Thanks
 

Karen G

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Once owned these: FirstFairway@Walden X 2; Lawai Beach; ManhattanClub; PuebloBonitoRose; 4 South Africa--now timeshare-free
Hello, I would like to know more about the unit, please let me know how to PM you. Thanks
Click on the blue user name of any poster you wish to send a private message. Click on “start a conversation.”
 

natie_sunny

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Based on the Vida Vacations reviews people state that the company offers you Vida dollars, however they cannot be fully used. You can only partially pay. You get a small % off the price. Their program doesn't allow you to actually use the dollars completely.
 

hurnik

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Based on the Vida Vacations reviews people state that the company offers you Vida dollars, however they cannot be fully used. You can only partially pay. You get a small % off the price. Their program doesn't allow you to actually use the dollars completely.

Please note that I'm assuming they work like the SFX Travel Store Savings Dollars (the website looks the same)
Yes, so typically the example would be:
You have $7,500 SFX/Vida dollars

You find a cruise for say, $4,000
You can use maybe $400 of the $7,500 to get the cruise down to $3,600
You can't actually use all $4,000 of your $7500 for the cruise

Now resorts are sometimes different. (Note the "sometimes") I've had times where it'll let me use all of my SFX Travel store dollars and get the price down, but ironically I've never quite had enough to get a $0 resort stay. Also I've only really seen the "huge" savings for the El Cid resort (Puerto Morelos).

However, the more I explore the cruise section, it actually has decent value.
My sister wanted us to go on a Disney Cruise. The cheapest I could find online (Disney was like $4,100 direct) was around $3,850.
SFX Travel store let me use about $400 of my dollars to get it down to $3700.
I used cruisecompete and got it down to $3680. So not much cheaper, but really not a bad deal.

YMMV as every cruise was differently discounted.
 

hintok

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Westin Desert Willows
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Gandview RCI Points 122k
I have heard something, somewhere on TUG, that the first Friday of each month you can use all your Vida Dollars to apply to your travel purchase. Is this true? Or, maybe that was when I attended the presentation this month at Riviera Maya.
 
Last edited:

StructureGuy

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I have heard something, somewhere on TUG, that the first Friday of each month you can use all your Vida Dollars to apply to your travel purchase. Is this true? Or, maybe that was when I attended the presentation this month at Riviera Maya.

Yes, that's true but no it's not true. If you have invested a whole lot more money into Vida Life Styles then you are at the "chairman" level. At that point, you get to buy everything of any value on Thursday. So when First Friday rolls around us normal folks find that very little is left of the "free" vacations (unless you like Gatlinburg and Branson). I can however, buy all sorts of miscellaneous items I really don't want.

I currently have $26,500 Vida dollars I will likely never use.
 

Eric B

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I have heard something, somewhere on TUG, that the first Friday of each month you can use all your Vida Dollars to apply to your travel purchase. Is this true? Or, maybe that was when I attended the presentation this month at Riviera Maya.

That's more truthy than true, if you know what I mean. Even at the Chairman level, there are several thousand owners online competing for a limited number of items. I've occasionally scored a case of wine, etc. They also have certificates for inside cabin shorter cruises or low season resort stays, but they typically have activation fees that leave the discounted prices they regularly offer competitive in price.

Please note that I'm assuming they work like the SFX Travel Store Savings Dollars (the website looks the same)
Yes, so typically the example would be:
You have $7,500 SFX/Vida dollars

You find a cruise for say, $4,000
You can use maybe $400 of the $7,500 to get the cruise down to $3,600
You can't actually use all $4,000 of your $7500 for the cruise

Now resorts are sometimes different. (Note the "sometimes") I've had times where it'll let me use all of my SFX Travel store dollars and get the price down, but ironically I've never quite had enough to get a $0 resort stay. Also I've only really seen the "huge" savings for the El Cid resort (Puerto Morelos).

However, the more I explore the cruise section, it actually has decent value.
My sister wanted us to go on a Disney Cruise. The cheapest I could find online (Disney was like $4,100 direct) was around $3,850.
SFX Travel store let me use about $400 of my dollars to get it down to $3700.
I used cruisecompete and got it down to $3680. So not much cheaper, but really not a bad deal.

YMMV as every cruise was differently discounted.

Both Vida Lifestyle and the SFX Travel Store are run by International Cruise and Excursions (ICE) and much of the stuff offered in them are identical in items and prices. I'VE also used to run RCI travel, but I believe some other company got that contract recently. There are a few differences in the details of what they offer, but there is quite a bit of overlap. Note, in particular, that their price guarantees are for the price after the Vida Dollars or Savings Dollars, so don't expect really fabulous deals.
 

rboesl

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Grandview Las Vegas
Vacation Village at Bonaventure
Based on the Vida Vacations reviews people state that the company offers you Vida dollars, however they cannot be fully used. You can only partially pay. You get a small % off the price. Their program doesn't allow you to actually use the dollars completely.

This not entirely correct. On the first friday of every month Vida Vacations lists a selection of available resorts, cruises, etc. that can be paid in full using Vida Dollars. Of course the key is to find something you want.
 

rferrel1

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TO ALL: after meeting with the VLO we have cancelled our contract. I do believe in the end, we got a very good deal based on what is possible - however given that we have successfully traded here 3 times on RCI and even with our Mtce fees/RCI membership/RCI Exchange fee/Vida resort fee we are paying about $1,000 for the week here ... this is far below the $1,600+ use fee in the offer and we don’t need to put down another huge investment.

You no doubt made the right decision. I have used several contracts from Vidanta over last 25 years (sea Garden, Mayan Palace) with contracts I bought on resale at approximately 85-90% discount. Vidanta kills the resale value of anything you buy by assessing outrageous transfer fees if you choose to sell it. I'm told the transfer fees can run as high as $20,000 per contract. So I'm told that a good number of Vidanta owners are willing to give their contracts away just to be rid of them. Anyone who knows otherwise, please correct me.

Good luck!
 

rferrel1

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Phyllis, would you be interested in having my Bel Air Collection (fully paid for). It is now the Krystal Resort in Nuevo Vallarta right next to Villa Del Palmar and Riu. We owned it as a timeshare when it was Playa Del Sol and it was fully paid for since July 2003 but we prefer cruises instead now rather than resorts. My addendum to the timeshare was to make it a Vacation Club pay upon use so there is no maintenance fee and I agreed to a $250 transfer fee to release my hold on the use. So I would pay the $250 transfer fee and give this 2 bedroom lockoff away to anyone who wants it.


Did you find someone to take your timeshare? If not, I'd be interested. We go to PV annually.

Ron
rferrel1@hotmail.com
 

zendog500

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Hurnik, I am currently considering joining The Vida Lifestyles Preferred Membership and maybe the Elite VIP Status. Here are my detailed notes below , Maybe this will help someone, see TUGBBS link to my post:
 
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