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Lazy River coming to Vidanta Riveria Maya (2017)

RussellSun

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RussellSun - did you buy an actual unit or just the Trial Package? I cannot tell from your post. You have several thoughts running in the same paragraph.

Rooms are assigned on your equity value - $$$ that you have spent to get to the level you currently own. There is a pretty complicated method that also includes how long you have owned with them. There are 3 levels of ownership at the Grand Luxxe depending on these factors. As someone who has owned numerous units at all levels of Mayan World since 1999, I think that it is a fair enough system for owners. Someone with multiple weeks will get the better room assignments than someone with one week.

Yes, we own Grand Luxxe owners. We have not yet been back as a Grand Luxxe owner yet. We had a bad experience when we purchased our Grand Luxxe but purchased it anyway due to the Grand Luxe's reputation and the units are beautiful. We hope we will have a better experience on our upcoming trips. We have several trips scheduled in high season. We hope we will be treated better than on our initial trip, when we were not yet owners. The negative experience with the sales team is still fresh on our minds. We are afraid and cautious by the way Vidanta operates for many reasons.
 
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rpennisi

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So, when you were not given the best of locations you were "only" GM owners? What Phyllis (Pittle) explains above as to how room assignments are given, shows that Vidanta does have a system that Tom (TDot) also explains as well.

Being a Mayan Palace owner, when I get a Grand Luxxe in a trade, I know that I am going to not get the plum room assignment. I don't blame Vidanta for that, because to me, it makes sense that I didn't put out the big bucks for a Grand Luxxe ownership.

Unless you bought the highest GL level they are offering, most likely you will not get the best room assignments in the future as well.

While I agree that the sales people can be nasty and rude, the staying at Vidanta resorts has nothing to do with the sales department and how they treated you. Many before you have complained bitterly about the sales practices, but own and enjoy, nevertheless, their stays in Vidanta run resorts.

In your last sentence, you wrote you were "scared but the way Vidanta operates for many reasons". Do you mean scared or scarred...afraid (scared) or damaged (scarred) by the sales experience? Just curious.
 

RussellSun

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So, when you were not given the best of locations you were "only" GM owners? What Phyllis (Pittle) explains above as to how room assignments are given, shows that Vidanta does have a system that Tom (TDot) also explains as well.

Being a Mayan Palace owner, when I get a Grand Luxxe in a trade, I know that I am going to not get the plum room assignment. I don't blame Vidanta for that, because to me, it makes sense that I didn't put out the big bucks for a Grand Luxxe ownership.

Unless you bought the highest GL level they are offering, most likely you will not get the best room assignments in the future as well.

While I agree that the sales people can be nasty and rude, the staying at Vidanta resorts has nothing to do with the sales department and how they treated you. Many before you have complained bitterly about the sales practices, but own and enjoy, nevertheless, their stays in Vidanta run resorts.

In your last sentence, you wrote you were "scared but the way Vidanta operates for many reasons". Do you mean scared or scarred...afraid (scared) or damaged (scarred) by the sales experience? Just curious.

Afraid and cautious - I changed the words in my post. One thing that scared me during our first stay was they had people in the lobby of the Grand Mayan hanging out who were pretty rude and the check-in desk at the Grand Mayan Nuevo Vallarta was also disorganized and rude. It was a terrible experience to go to the reception desk. We were okay once they upgraded our room to the ocean view side and the furniture was in slightly better condition - but still run down and scratched. We liked the Nuevo Vallarta property overall. We had to go to the sales presentation to get the better room so we went. They sold us a Grand Mayan contract at first but we realized we did not like Grand Mayan as the days went on so we went back to rescind Grand Mayan and we asked about Grand Luxxe. It was just such as horrible sales process. I still don't know how we managed to upgrade at all. We spent 2.5 days of our 7 days in the sales office. I won't repeat the awful things the sales people said to us. Insult after insult about us. I am afraid to go back to an owner update meeting. I am wondering if they will be mean and insulting again if we do not upgrade or because we did not buy the most expensive Grand Luxxe package. We have the means to upgrade but we are afraid to upgrade. We also own 3 other upscale vacation clubs so we aren't sure how often we will use Grand Luxxe given there are only 2 locations right now. I know East Cape is coming at some point. We are going to Cabo for Christmas so we will get an idea if we like it there. We will never go to Acapulco if the put a Grand Luxxe there. I was there years ago and have no interest in returning. Unless they expand outside of Mexico, Grand Luxxe will have limited appeal as a brand. It will not become a Ritz Carlton or Four Seasons until they are worldwide. So my thought is why pour more money into a company that is geographically limited and treats members poorly during the sales process. All my other vacation clubs have treated me like royalty during and after the sales process. Why does Vidanta need to abuse people and insult them? Do they not realize this will affect their brand image long term? Even if we end up buying, it has still rubbed me the wrong way. I hold a grudge. My upcoming visits better be excellent to make up for my last visit. I do not mind if I made a bad "investment" in Grand Luxxe since it will expire in 10 years anyway. But I am really cautious about upgrading now unless they wow me and treat us really well going forward.

The reason I think Vidanta's computer system is poor is because we are excellent sales prospects but they misclassified us as poor sales prospects. The sold us the wrong product. They should have put us in a better room from the start and moved us to Grand Luxxe right from the beginning. The probably could have sold us a more expensive Grand Luxxe on Day 1. If they were more sophisticated in marketing, they would have done this. Instead, they treated us like crap, put a sour taste in my mouth and undersold us what I consider to be a cheap Grand Luxxe package that I do not really like. However, now I do not want to upgrade because I do not want to spend more money with them. They had their one shot and blew it.

I am scared they are going to use this sales tactic again. Put us in bad Grand Luxxe rooms and force us to go to an owner update meeting to get a better room. I think that is such bad customer service.

And this is the worst part for Vidanta and Grand Luxxe...I am a Grand Luxxe owner. I have no intention of changing that. I may end up upgrading. However, I will never forget the awful sales experience. I will forever tell this story and warn people to be careful. When I give out Ambassadors certificates or take friends and family with me, I will warn them. In fact, I do not want to give out Ambassador Certificates because I question if it is unethical since I know how abusive the sales process is. This is hurting the brand and it is hurting us as owners. It is devaluing our membership. And here I am, as an owner, writing about it. I should be a happy owner but I am still stinging from the sales experience and afraid to go on my next two vacations at the Grand Luxxe. I am afraid at what tricks they may use to get me into a sales presentation again and what they may say if I say no.
 
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T-Dot-Traveller

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I will think about your post and try to add information that will help .
 

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Afraid and cautious - I changed the words in my post. One thing that scared me during our first stay was they had people in the lobby of the Grand Mayan hanging out who were pretty rude and the check-in desk at the Grand Mayan Nuevo Vallarta was also disorganized and rude. It was a terrible experience to go to the reception desk. We were okay once they upgraded our room to the ocean view side and the furniture was in slightly better condition - but still run down and scratched. We liked the Nuevo Vallarta property overall. We had to go to the sales presentation to get the better room so we went. They sold us a Grand Mayan contract at first but we realized we did not like Grand Mayan as the days went on so we went back to rescind Grand Mayan and we asked about Grand Luxxe. It was just such as horrible sales process. I still don't know how we managed to upgrade at all. We spent 2.5 days of our 7 days in the sales office. I won't repeat the awful things the sales people said to us. Insult after insult about us. I am afraid to go back to an owner update meeting. I am wondering if they will be mean and insulting again if we do not upgrade or because we did not buy the most expensive Grand Luxxe package. We have the means to upgrade but we are afraid to upgrade. We also own 3 other upscale vacation clubs so we aren't sure how often we will use Grand Luxxe given there are only 2 locations right now. I know East Cape is coming at some point. We are going to Cabo for Christmas so we will get an idea if we like it there. We will never go to Acapulco if the put a Grand Luxxe there. I was there years ago and have no interest in returning. Unless they expand outside of Mexico, Grand Luxxe will have limited appeal as a brand. It will not become a Ritz Carlton or Four Seasons until they are worldwide. So my thought is why pour more money into a company that is geographically limited and treats members poorly during the sales process. All my other vacation clubs have treated me like royalty during and after the sales process. Why does Vidanta need to abuse people and insult them? Do they not realize this will affect their brand image long term? Even if we end up buying, it has still rubbed me the wrong way. I hold a grudge. My upcoming visits better be excellent to make up for my last visit. I do not mind if I made a bad "investment" in Grand Luxxe since it will expire in 10 years anyway. But I am really cautious about upgrading now unless they wow me and treat us really well going forward.

The reason I think Vidanta's computer system is poor is because we are excellent sales prospects but they misclassified us as poor sales prospects. The sold us the wrong product. They should have put us in a better room from the start and moved us to Grand Luxxe right from the beginning. The probably could have sold us a more expensive Grand Luxxe on Day 1. If they were more sophisticated in marketing, they would have done this. Instead, they treated us like crap, put a sour taste in my mouth and undersold us what I consider to be a cheap Grand Luxxe package that I do not really like. However, now I do not want to upgrade because I do not want to spend more money with them. They had their one shot and blew it.

I am scared they are going to use this sales tactic again. Put us in bad Grand Luxxe rooms and force us to go to an owner update meeting to get a better room. I think that is such bad customer service.

And this is the worst part for Vidanta and Grand Luxxe...I am a Grand Luxxe owner. I have no intention of changing that. I may end up upgrading. However, I will never forget the awful sales experience. I will forever tell this story and warn people to be careful. When I give out Ambassadors certificates or take friends and family with me, I will warn them. In fact, I do not want to give out Ambassador Certificates because I question if it is unethical since I know how abusive the sales process is. This is hurting the brand and it is hurting us as owners. It is devaluing our membership. And here I am, as an owner, writing about it. I should be a happy owner but I am still stinging from the sales experience and afraid to go on my next two vacations at the Grand Luxxe. I am afraid at what tricks they may use to get me into a sales presentation again and what they may say if I say no.
You don't have to go to any further updates, unless you want to go. My advice would be, just say no, and take the room assignment that you are given. In the future, you may want to try to bargain for better room assignments, but my guess is you will once again be insulted by the sales staff. Unfortunately, it's what they do. It has hurt their brand with some TUG folks, but their "methods" work for them, because folks keep buying and upgrading.
 

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The reason I think Vidanta's computer system is poor is because we are excellent sales prospects but they misclassified us as poor sales prospects. The sold us the wrong product. They should have put us in a better room from the start and moved us to Grand Luxxe right from the beginning. The probably could have sold us a more expensive Grand Luxxe on Day 1. If they were more sophisticated in marketing, they would have done this. Instead, they treated us like crap, put a sour taste in my mouth and undersold us what I consider to be a cheap Grand Luxxe package that I do not really like. However, now I do not want to upgrade because I do not want to spend more money with them. They had their one shot and blew it.

I do not think that they do credit checks for all exchanges. They just lump all "newbies" in the same group - "fresh meat". Now that you are an owner, even if you exchange, they will know it. :)
 

tschwa2

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I also think they almost never start non owners out with the Grand Luxxe hard sell, it is usually only to owners who have upgraded before or already at grand Mayan or higher. Starting out with a $500,000+ price tag for Grand Luxxe and then coming down to the $80,000 or so price tag would just turn too many non owners off. With current owners they can start with those prices but at least through in the "equity" of their current ownership to soften the blow.
 

richontug

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I book into Grand Luxxe through lowest level (SFX exchange). I have been on 2nd floor and ground floor ( see photo to left) but I don't care as GL is so good - also ground level is closer to coffee in morning!
 

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RussellSun, I wouldn’t be too concerned about them putting you in a bad GL room; it looks like you bought a penthouse loft membership based on your other posts and they are all in the same building on the same floor. We were told they all have ocean views as well. Having that kind of membership and understanding the location of the different unit types gives you control over where you stay to a certain degree. Things can be less certain if you downgrade to a different unit type, but as noted elsewhere, they should recognize your membership level and take that into account in where they put you. We have to be realistic, though, and only expect something that exists (i.e., don’t expect a 2 BR loft at the top of NV bldg 3 or 4, they aren’t there).
 

Eric B

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Also, I don’t think there are any bad GL suites, but that’s a subjective call. I’ve seen some issues posted about elevators to the 4 BR units, where a unit is only served by a single elevator, which could be quite bad (and was for the folks posting about it).
 

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I also think they almost never start non owners out with the Grand Luxxe hard sell, it is usually only to owners who have upgraded before or already at grand Mayan or higher. Starting out with a $500,000+ price tag for Grand Luxxe and then coming down to the $80,000 or so price tag would just turn too many non owners off. With current owners they can start with those prices but at least through in the "equity" of their current ownership to soften the blow.

Yes I see your point for most people.
 

RussellSun

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RussellSun, I wouldn’t be too concerned about them putting you in a bad GL room; it looks like you bought a penthouse loft membership based on your other posts and they are all in the same building on the same floor. We were told they all have ocean views as well. Having that kind of membership and understanding the location of the different unit types gives you control over where you stay to a certain degree. Things can be less certain if you downgrade to a different unit type, but as noted elsewhere, they should recognize your membership level and take that into account in where they put you. We have to be realistic, though, and only expect something that exists (i.e., don’t expect a 2 BR loft at the top of NV bldg 3 or 4, they aren’t there).

No we bought a studio loft membership with an option to upgrade to the penthouse 1 bedroom loft. I do not like the studio lofts. We only bought it because we like the usage of the 1 bedroom suites from April 15 - Nov 15. I do not like studios. We are considering an upgrade but having trouble communicating with sales to answer basic questions about the upgrade and what is included.
 

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I book into Grand Luxxe through lowest level (SFX exchange). I have been on 2nd floor and ground floor ( see photo to left) but I don't care as GL is so good - also ground level is closer to coffee in morning!

Yes that is a pretty jungle view. I agree. I guess I have a warped opinion because they put us in a parking lot/construction view room at Grand Mayan in our first stay with broken furniture and a green pool. I did anything to get out of that room, including going to the sales presentation and signing my life away. LOL!!!
 

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You don't have to go to any further updates, unless you want to go. My advice would be, just say no, and take the room assignment that you are given. In the future, you may want to try to bargain for better room assignments, but my guess is you will once again be insulted by the sales staff. Unfortunately, it's what they do. It has hurt their brand with some TUG folks, but their "methods" work for them, because folks keep buying and upgrading.

It will not work in the long run, especially if outspoken people start writing to AAA who evaluates them and awards the 5 Diamonds. The AAA inspectors should attend their sales presentations. Supposedly AAA evaluates resorts undercover, from what I understand. If AAA or Consumer Reports was treated like we were and it got written up, the Grand Luxxe brand would be destroyed and our membership would lose all value. Vidanta has a very short term view of how to make money. Disney and Marriott also sell a lot yet they do not use high pressure. Disney is the #1 timeshare in the world with the most loyal members and consistently all their resorts are rated AAA 4 Diamond and deserve it. Their best resorts rent on Expedia for $1000 - $2500 per night, much more than Grand Luxxe right now. Grand Luxxe is being devalued on Redweek, TUG and VRBO for cheap rentals at discounted weekly rates (not much more than the member rate). Disney Vacation Club is not negotiable and they do not play games. If they can't sell you something because it is sold out, they direct you to buy it resale. Even if you buy resale, you still became a Disney Vacation Club member and are treated equally, with just a few restrictions if you can't buy the home resort direct because it is sold out. You can combine resale points with direct points and get full benefits that way. Disney seems to be the best timeshare company on the market for many reasons. Grand Luxxe needs to get its act together and become a world class brand and company.
 
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T-Dot-Traveller

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The reason I think Vidanta's computer system is poor is because we are excellent sales prospects but they misclassified us as poor sales prospects. The sold us the wrong product. They should have put us in a better room from the start and moved us to Grand Luxxe right from the beginning. The probably could have sold us a more expensive Grand Luxxe on Day 1. If they were more sophisticated in marketing, they would have done this. Instead, they treated us like crap, put a sour taste in my mouth and undersold us what I consider to be a cheap Grand Luxxe package that I do not really like. However, now I do not want to upgrade because I do not want to spend more money with them. They had their one shot and blew it.

I do not think that they do credit checks for all exchanges. They just lump all "newbies" in the same group - "fresh meat". ...... . :)

Well said -

< Vidanta grows on a diet of a "fresh newbie (gringo) meat" and always has / and most of us were there once >
 

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LOL - I am always "fresh gringo meat" and fall for the wow factor every time!
 

pittle

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LOL - I am always "fresh gringo meat" and fall for the wow factor every time!

Well - Grand Luxxe does have the WOW factor.

It is true that since it was a new concept back in 2008, Grand Luxxe and Grand Bliss were only offered to existing Grand Mayan owners because they would credit you with your "equity" towards an upgrade - like some others, I think it was because these units were so expensive. They were very upfront about that with owners. MP to GM, GM to GB or GL, GB to GL was the progression for a very long time. I am surprised to find out that they are offering GL to newbies. Maybe so many MP & GM owners have upgraded that they can now open it up.

As I said many times on TUG for years - we had no intention of upgrading our 6 weeks of MP & GM ownership since we had the no pay unless you go on all but 1 contract and were perfectly happy with what we had. But with 5 contracts, we had to pay a "Renovation fee" for one of the contracts each year. They all expired at different times and when they offered us two GL 2-bedroom units for a price that was close to what we were obligated for reno fees through our current contracts, we jumped on it. (Many TUG folks were shocked when I posted that we had upgraded!) But, we no longer needed 6 weeks per year since we moved to AZ. When we lived in the Mid-West, it was something that we did use in February and with family for Thanksgiving. We sometimes used the VF weeks too!

FYI - Since you like really nice places - check out Buganvilias Vacation Club in Puerto Vallarta. We own an Imperial Sky Suite there for Thanksgiving week each year. That is another prime property and has maybe the best location in town. We used our eBay Buganvilias purchases to upgrade there too. Our fixed week for 15 years cost us more than our GL upgrade, but our grown children love the location and we have the top floor of the Tower building looking towards town. (It is the model whenever owners are not there.) It is as upscale as GL - we have 2 kitchens and 3 full bathrooms. Our MF for a 2-bedroom unit are less than 1/2 the price of a GL 2-bedroom unit. Our grown kids love going there and think it is funny when they push the button for 25 because invariably someone makes a comment - "You are staying up there?" I think they like to say "yes - in the end unit!" We go for family vacation in PV each year and can get bonus weeks for the price of the MF so that every couple/family has their own space. Our unit is home base for the 2 of us and another couple. We like it because it is not all-inclusive and is an easy walk or short taxi ride to pretty much everywhere in the area. You should look at that sometime. It is the timeshare part of the Sheraton - just on the south side of the Sheraton entrance. It is not affiliated with Sheraton Hotels, but you can use the hotel pool and they share the beach and Palapas.

You can see photos by clicking on my link by my signature. Hubs did a nice video once. There is an album for Sky Suites too.
 
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Well - Grand Luxxe does have the WOW factor.

It is true that since it was a new concept back in 2008, Grand Luxxe and Grand Bliss were only offered to existing Grand Mayan owners because they would credit you with your "equity" towards an upgrade - like some others, I think it was because these units were so expensive. They were very upfront about that with owners. MP to GM, GM to GB or GL, GB to GL was the progression for a very long time. I am surprised to find out that they are offering GL to newbies. Maybe so many MP & GM owners have upgraded that they can now open it up.

As I said many times on TUG for years - we had no intention of upgrading our 6 weeks of MP & GM ownership since we had the no pay unless you go on all but 1 contract and were perfectly happy with what we had. But with 5 contracts, we had to pay a "Renovation fee" for one of the contracts each year. They all expired at different times and when they offered us two GL 2-bedroom units for a price that was close to what we were obligated for reno fees through our current contracts, we jumped on it. (Many TUG folks were shocked when I posted that we had upgraded!) But, we no longer needed 6 weeks per year since we moved to AZ. When we lived in the Mid-West, it was something that we did use in February and with family for Thanksgiving. We sometimes used the VF weeks too!

FYI - Since you like really nice places - check out Buganvilias Vacation Club in Puerto Vallarta. We own an Imperial Sky Suite there for Thanksgiving week each year. That is another prime property and has maybe the best location in town. We used our eBay Buganvilias purchases to upgrade there too. Our fixed week for 15 years cost us more than our GL upgrade, but our grown children love the location and we have the top floor of the Tower building looking towards town. (It is the model whenever owners are not there.) It is as upscale as GL - we have 2 kitchens and 3 full bathrooms. Our MF for a 2-bedroom unit are less than 1/2 the price of a GL 2-bedroom unit. Our grown kids love going there and think it is funny when they push the button for 25 because invariably someone makes a comment - "You are staying up there?" I think they like to say "yes - in the end unit!" We go for family vacation in PV each year and can get bonus weeks for the price of the MF so that every couple/family has their own space. Our unit is home base for the 2 of us and another couple. We like it because it is not all-inclusive and is an easy walk or short taxi ride to pretty much everywhere in the area. You should look at that sometime. It is the timeshare part of the Sheraton - just on the south side of the Sheraton entrance. It is not affiliated with Sheraton Hotels, but you can use the hotel pool and they share the beach and Palapas.

You can see photos by clicking on my link by my signature. Hubs did a nice video once. There is an album for Sky Suites too.

The Imperial Sky Suite sounds amazing. I will check it out. I assume it is much more expensive now than when you bought it. We have 4 timeshares now so not sure we are ready for another but who knows - they get addictive.

I was not aware the Grand Luxxe charges renovation fees. Do they do that every year? That has not been disclosed to us.
 

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I have to attest to what Phyllis is saying about the Buganvilias Sky Suites. We have an EOY studio in that building and trade it into RCI for a one bedroom suite in one of the adjacent buildings. Two years ago, I wandered over to the 25 story building and walked around the Sky Suites and was very wowed! I would stay there if I had the choice, rather than the NV Grand Luxxe because of its location in PV. Will be at the Buganvilias in January, but we are not that impressed with their one bedroom "Flintstones" suites, but love the location. I don't know if there is a way to trade into their Sky Suites, but I wish there was.
 

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The typical GL contract written now is for 10 years right to use, renewable 9 times for the cost of one usage fee, thus lasting 100 years. There are older ones that were for 25 years, renewable 3 times for the 100 years, with a higher renewal cost (I’ve heard 5 x the usage fee). The renewal fees are typically referred to here as renovation fees. Should be something in your contract about that.
 

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The typical GL contract written now is for 10 years right to use, renewable 9 times for the cost of one usage fee, thus lasting 100 years. There are older ones that were for 25 years, renewable 3 times for the 100 years, with a higher renewal cost (I’ve heard 5 x the usage fee). The renewal fees are typically referred to here as renovation fees. Should be something in your contract about that.

Thanks for posting this Eric ,

Here is a further clarification - The " renovation fee" in pre -2011 contracts ( the 25 year ones ) is an extra MF payment due at year 5-10-15-20 . At year 25 - a 5 x current MF payment is required to renew for another 25 years .

Vida Sales is "famous" for including the "phantom"5th ( 25 year reno / extra MF )"cost " AND the 25 year renewal when trying to upgrade owners with older contracts to the 10 year ones by selling the concept of upgrading- to save paying the reno fees . They also will show you how much you "owe " based on a yearly MF increase of 5% for inflation . In the 11 years since we bought (2006) the actual increase has been about $20 per year ( MF $ 500 to $ 715 for 2017 ) which is much lower than 5% .

Owners of older contracts also can recall the famous upside down math writing in presentations / during the years when Casey Owens headed up the timeshare sales arm of Grupo Mayan .

IMO - the net dollar cost over years 1-24 is about the same between the older & newer contracts.

In Pittle/ Phyllis upgrade to GL - she and her husband used real math to estimate the actual dollars they would owe and paid that amount (not the Vida math calculation)
 
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Hankmoon

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Thanks for posting this Eric ,
Here is a further clarification - The " renovation fee" in pre -2011 contracts ( the 25 year ones ) is an extra MF payment due at year 5-10 15-20 . At year 25 - a 5 x current MF payment is required to renew for another 25 years . Vida Sales is "famous" for including the "phantom "25 year reno / extra MF "cost " when trying to upgrade owners with older contracts to the 10 year ones by selling the concept of upgrading- to save paying the reno fees . They also will show you how much you owe based on a yearly MF increase of 5% for inflation . In the 11 years since we bought the actual increase has been about $20 per year ( MF $ 500 to $ 715 for 2016 ) which is much lower than 5% .

In Pittle/ Phyllis upgrade to GL - she and her husband used real math to estimate the actual dollars they would owe and paid that amount (not the Vida math calculation)

So does this mean if the “renovation” fee is not in your contract, they can’t add one out of the blue? We have a 10 year usage fee for renewal since we have the 10 year contract. There is no mention of renovation fees.
 

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Vidanta Member Services honors what is written in YOUR contract . ( including any negotiated addendums )
They do not arbitrarily make changes .

Older (25 year renewal) contracts had stipulated reno fees every 5 years . 10 year contracts are structured differently .
 
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pittle

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Renovation fees were in the original MP & GM contracts. You paid an extra MF per unit every 5 years on the anniversary of the contract - supposedly for renovation of the units. Because we had 6 weeks, that meant we had to pay at least one extra MF every year until the contracts were ready for Renewal, and at that time, it would be 5 MF to add 25 more years (and still had the 5 year reno fee). At least we bought all but our first MP for pennies on the dollar and used some to leverage a great deal on 2 GM 2-bedroom weeks and eventually to Grand Luxxe. Mayan World has provided us some great vacations since we found them in 1999. :) Now there is a Renewal fee every 10 years, so it is somewhat better. ;)

Headed toward PV tomorrow! We will spend the first week in Conchas Chinas -WIVC. Not as fancy as Mayan World or Buganvilias, but sometimes we like to explore new places. We owned at a place that awesome potential in Conchas Chinas, but gave it up and they were not keeping it up and it was not finished. The units were spectacular in the beginning but they ran out of money and maintenance and furnishing suffered. Thet are selling the units as full ownership condos as the timeshare folks are bailing. They still keep a few units for the few remaining timeshare owners, but the MF went up significantly and we could rent a bonus week at Buganvilias for less than what they wanted and have amenities. Win some and lose some!
 

Hankmoon

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Renovation fees were in the original MP & GM contracts. You paid an extra MF per unit every 5 years on the anniversary of the contract - supposedly for renovation of the units. Because we had 6 weeks, that meant we had to pay at least one extra MF every year until the contracts were ready for Renewal, and at that time, it would be 5 MF to add 25 more years (and still had the 5 year reno fee). At least we bought all but our first MP for pennies on the dollar and used some to leverage a great deal on 2 GM 2-bedroom weeks and eventually to Grand Luxxe. Mayan World has provided us some great vacations since we found them in 1999. :) Now there is a Renewal fee every 10 years, so it is somewhat better. ;)

Headed toward PV tomorrow! We will spend the first week in Conchas Chinas -WIVC. Not as fancy as Mayan World or Buganvilias, but sometimes we like to explore new places. We owned at a place that awesome potential in Conchas Chinas, but gave it up and they were not keeping it up and it was not finished. The units were spectacular in the beginning but they ran out of money and maintenance and furnishing suffered. Thet are selling the units as full ownership condos as the timeshare folks are bailing. They still keep a few units for the few remaining timeshare owners, but the MF went up significantly and we could rent a bonus week at Buganvilias for less than what they wanted and have amenities. Win some and lose some!

How do you bail on a time share?
 
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