Lagunamar Owner Update

[carpie99]

I still have no idea why I attend these presentations.

Favorite comments were ... you need to get in on these prices because once integrated with Marriott they will at least double ... the networks will be combined in the next 1 to 2 years and resales will be left behind ... once the networks are combined all of the Marriott owners will be requesting these Mexico resorts because they don’t have any etc. etc.

At least the sunrises have been epic.

 

[Maui_ed]

I still have no idea why I attend these presentations.

Favorite comments were ... you need to get in on these prices because once integrated with Marriott they will at least double ... the networks will be combined in the next 1 to 2 years and resales will be left behind ... once the networks are combined all of the Marriott owners will be requesting these Mexico resorts because they don’t have any etc. etc.

At least the sunrises have been epic.

Agreed - that is a beautiful sunrise!

 

[Sea Six]

I'll go to the update for the $100 resort credit. Covers the Fiesta or steak night.

 

[DannyTS]

If Marriott wants the Mexican resorts so badly (and i believe it does since it the CEO mentioned them at least twice in public), isn't that great for existing WLR week owners?
We are going tomorrow to the update. My wife arranged it, i wish she hadn't. Only for 75 minutes she was told. God bless.

This evening we went to Elefanta, accross the street on the Lagoon side. Great food, gorgeous sunset.

 

[DannyTS]

we went today to the update. Basically, their message is that we are missing the boat but they have a hard time describing this boat. They told us how much the MVC owners would love to come to Mexico, one of the few places where Vistana is present but not Marriott. According to them, this is going to create such a demand that availability is going to be a problem for week owners. When asked to elaborate they quickly backed down and switched to lower availability on Staroptions. At that point i did not insist any more, it was really a waste of time to go on.

The big question of course is the rate of conversion SO to DP and of course they have no idea. We went through a couple of options to convert our resale weeks to Aventuras. Another proposal was to give them back SVV Bella to get Aventuras and they would also convert one Lagunamar (that would stay Lagunamar)
Cheeky me, I started to ask if after all the credits they would have to pay us for the conversion.

The last guy, the "closer" did not even try to sell anything, he just reassured us that what we have is great. In his words, he just laid some ground for future sales in case, by a miracle, we change our minds in the next years.

The day was saved by an epic dinner at the Argentinan restaurant, Gambalache, accross the street right next to the ferries wheel. Not only the food was delicious, my wife loved the Argentinian wine so much that we bought two bottles to bring home with us. They sold it for 50% of the menu price so it came to about 14 USD a bottle. The owner of the restaurant produces this wine at his "finca" in Argentina according to the waiter.
The Lagunamar guests get a 10% discount of the whole bill.

 

[dioxide45]

The day was saved by an epic dinner at the Argentinan restaurant, Gambalache, accross the street right next to the ferries wheel. Not only the food was delicious, my wife loved the wine so much that we bought two bottles to bring home with us. They sell it for 50% of the menu price so it comes to about 14 USD a bottle. The owner of the restaurant produces this wine at his "finca" in Argentina according to the waiter.
The Lagunamar guests have a 10% discount of the whole bill.

We had a great meal at Cambalache last year. Would definitely go there again. We also like La Madonna just on the other side. No discount, but free welcome drink instead. Just make your reservation through the Lagunamar concierge.

 

[Sea Six]

One of my favorite wines is from Argentina. It's called Malbec, and is a blend between the Cabernet and Merlot. Perfect with a delicious grilled steak.

 

[DannyTS]

The more i think about the owner's update, the more I realize that they were talking about the fusion between the Vistana and Marriott programs as if it were a fait accompli, more a when rather then an if. As a matter of fact they mentioned a probable timeline, in 12-18 months from now.

 

[SandyPGravel]

Nice Picture!

 

[Tucsonadventurer]

we went today to the update. Basically, their message is that we are missing the boat but they have a hard time describing this boat. They told us how much the MVC owners would love to come to Mexico, one of the few places where Vistana is present but not Marriott. According to them, this is going to create such a demand that availability is going to be a problem for week owners. When asked to elaborate they quickly backed down and switched to lower availability on Staroptions. At that point i did not insist any more, it was really a waste of time to go on.

The big question of course is the rate of conversion SO to DP and of course they have no idea. We went through a couple of options to convert our resale weeks to Aventuras. Another proposal was to give them back SVV Bella to get Aventuras and they would also convert one Lagunamar (that would stay Lagunamar)
Cheeky me, I started to ask if after all the credits they would have to pay us for the conversion.

The last guy, the "closer" did not even try to sell anything, he just reassured us that what we have is great. In his words, he just laid some ground for future sales in case, by a miracle, we change our minds in the next years.

The day was saved by an epic dinner at the Argentinan restaurant, Gambalache, accross the street right next to the ferries wheel. Not only the food was delicious, my wife loved the Argentinian wine so much that we bought two bottles to bring home with us. They sold it for 50% of the menu price so it came to about 14 USD a bottle. The owner of the restaurant produces this wine at his "finca" in Argentina according to the waiter.
The Lagunamar guests get a 10% discount of the whole bill.

We love that restaurant and so convenient!

 

[TravelTime]

DannyTS, I love your photos!

 

[carpie99]

The water is insanely calm today

 

[TravelTime]

The water is insanely calm today

Now that is what I imagine when I dream of traveling to the Caribbean. It looks like that every day over at Isla Mujeres North Beach and parts of Cozumel as well as by the Intercontinental hotel since it is protected by the way the land juts around. Lucky you to be there today. DannyTS will be bragging today!

 

[carpie99]

Now that is what I imagine when I dream of traveling to the Caribbean. It looks like that every day over at Isla Mujeres North Beach and parts of Cozumel as well as by the Intercontinental hotel since it is protected by the way the land juts around. Lucky you to be there today. DannyTS will be bragging today!

We talked to people who went to Isla Mujeres yesterday and they said there was a lot of seaweed. We were planning that today but got lazy again.

We haven’t left the resort all week with the exception of two trips to the grocery store and a couple trips across the street for dinner and football.

 

[DannyTS]

Now that is what I imagine when I dream of traveling to the Caribbean. It looks like that every day over at Isla Mujeres North Beach and parts of Cozumel as well as by the Intercontinental hotel since it is protected by the way the land juts around. Lucky you to be there today. DannyTS will be bragging today!

i said i liked waves

 

[DannyTS]

The more i think about the owner's update, the more I realize that they were talking about the fusion between the Vistana and Marriott programs as if it were a fait accompli, more a when rather then an if. As a matter of fact they mentioned a probable timeline, in 12-18 months from now.

View attachment 8739

flashback memory from the same owners update. The package they were offering was Westin Aventuras. For 81000 SO the MF are $1088. I asked why they are $223 more than my 1 bedroom WLR ($865), same number of SO. I was told because they have more gold season in the trust which brings the average MF higher (since the gold 1 bd only has 44,000 SO)

if my estimate is correct and ignoring the other resorts in the trust, it means that the gold to platinum ratio in the trust is about 2 to 1 so probably the availability in the platinum season is not good.

 

[dioxide45]

flashback memory from the same owners update. The package they were offering was Westin Aventuras. For 81000 SO the MF are $1088. I asked why they are $223 more than my 1 bedroom WLR ($865), same number of SO. I was told because they have more gold season in the trust which brings the average MF higher (since the gold 1 bd only has 44,000 SO)

if my estimate is correct and ignoring the other resorts in the trust, it means that the gold to platinum ratio in the trust is about 2 to 1 so probably the availability in the platinum season is not good.

Trust based systems always seem to run higher, not just because of the mix of higher and lower MF weeks, but because of additional administrative costs associated with managing the trust. The trust needs to pay for all of the conveyances, recordings and management of administering the inventory. There is also a separate BOD that manages the trust. This is also why Marriott's DC trust points are so expensive.

As to the last point, even if the trust is low on Platinum Plus weeks, it should not impede any owners of Aventuras from booking them. It seems pretty easy to book in to Laguanamar except for perhaps the ultra peak weeks. Just checked and there is pretty good availability, even now, for February through April. Even for Easter week. Though if one is wanting to go to Lagunamar in Platinum Plus, it makes more sense just to buy a week there given the higher MFs of Aventuras and SVV. THough there could be an argument made to buy WKV to use the SOs at Lagunamar. Of course the upfront cost is MUCH higher than a voluntary Lagunamar Platinum week.

 

[DannyTS]

Trust based systems always seem to run higher, not just because of the mix of higher and lower MF weeks, but because of additional administrative costs associated with managing the trust. The trust needs to pay for all of the conveyances, recordings and management of administering the inventory. There is also a separate BOD that manages the trust. This is also why Marriott's DC trust points are so expensive.

As to the last point, even if the trust is low on Platinum Plus weeks, it should not impede any owners of Aventuras from booking them. It seems pretty easy to book in to Laguanamar except for perhaps the ultra peak weeks. Just checked and there is pretty good availability, even now, for February through April. Even for Easter week. Though if one is wanting to go to Lagunamar in Platinum Plus, it makes more sense just to buy a week there given the higher MFs of Aventuras and SVV. THough there could be an argument made to buy WKV to use the SOs at Lagunamar. Of course the upfront cost is MUCH higher than a voluntary Lagunamar Platinum week.

The availability at Lagunamar is decent with SO. However, I understand that the inventory for the Westin Aventura is kept separate so it might be much worse than what you and I experience when checking (i assume you do not own Aventuras either). If they do not have enough platinum weeks in the trust, the Aventura owners would just have a hard time getting what they want in the peak season. This is what i was referring to .

 

[dioxide45]

The availability at Lagunamar is decent with SO. However, I understand that the inventory for the Westin Aventura is kept separate so it might be much worse than what you and I experience when checking (i assume you do not own Aventuras either). If they do not have enough platinum weeks in the trust, the Aventura owners would just have a hard time getting what they want in the peak season. This is what i was referring to .

True, but an Aventuras owners has access to all of the SO inventory at eight months. So if what they want isn't there in Aventuras, it may still be easy to book at eight months.

 

[DannyTS]

True, but an Aventuras owner has access to all of the SO inventory at eight months. So if what they want isn't there in Aventuras, it may still be easy to book at eight months.

so the Staroptions inventory is shared. I did nor realized that but it makes sense of course.

This is why the sales people where telling me at the owners update that once the Vistana and Marriott systems merge (in 12-18 months) I will have a hard time to booking at WLR with my SVVBella SO. We intend to add few days with SO to every week reservation. Their point is that Cancun is one of the few places where there is no overlap so MVC owners will dry up availability.They showed me maps of both MVC and Vistana to prove it (like i did not know lol). This is why i need Westin Aventuras (according to them again), to be able to have home based priority in those truly scary times!

 

[TravelTime]

I thought Aventuras was not selling well. Is that correct?

 

[Tucsonadventurer]

There has been availability in interval and getaways for Lagunamar which is already available to Marriott owners. I use my Hyatt to trade in interval for Lagunamar rather than my Vistana SOs so I dont see it making a huge difference with overlapping the programs. It may make some but salesmen love to instill fear. If we listened to them all we would have bought new programs from Hyatt, Vistana and Marriott

 

[DannyTS]

There has been availability in interval and getaways for Lagunamar which is already available to Marriott owners. I use my Hyatt to trade in interval for Lagunamar rather than my Vistana SOs so I dont see it making a huge difference with overlapping the programs. It may make some but salesmen love to instill fear. If we listened to them all we would have bought new programs from Hyatt, Vistana and Marriott

they claim that most Marriot owners use the internal trade exclusively and that they do not bother with Interval. Besides, last time i checked on II there was nothing at Wlr for December, Jan, Feb until late March and those available April-June were studios, absolutely not enough for a family of 4 like ours

 

[DannyTS]

I thought Aventuras was not selling well. Is that correct?

As a week owner only, there is something about these programs like Aventuras and Flex that makes me uncomfortable. I like the idea of owning something, as illusory as it may be, than owning a bit of the common pot. With that being said when i was at the owner's update, they had cubicles and offices full of prospects, and based on what i could glance , based on the body language of both sales people and potential buyers, businesses seemed to take place so who knows?

 

[TravelTime]

I own weeks and points. Whenever possible, I prefer points program because I like the flexibility and benefits of points programs to be able to visit many destinations any week I want. I have enrolled my Marriott weeks. All my timeshares right now have exchange privileges of some sort, even though they are almost all purchased resale. This is just my personal preference. I am glad there is an active resale market for both weeks and points so we can get out of our contracts when we are done.