Hello,
I would like to comment on Karen's excellent report re developments and her recent experience at Riviera Maya. We were there from October 25 to November 1 and just missed Ida. Our experience with the sales staff mirrors Karen's. First of all we wanted to check on the status of the Luxxe development. We arranged to meet with our salesman from two previous purchases of Grand Mayan weeks. We figured we had some type of \"reasonable\" relationship with him since he made a substantial commission on his sales to us. Thus we believed that we would get some reliable information in a minimal amount of time. So we arranged for an owners meeting. Little did we know what we were getting into. My wife is still ticked off about the amount of pool time and shopping that she missed.
Enrique met us and was accompanied by his manager Jack who proceed to dominate our breakfast meeting. We were given the hard sell to buy more Luxxe weeks and turn them over Wyndham to rent. As soon as I heard rent I knew it was a sham. We had heard the rent pitch on two previous occasions. We tried renting our weeks through two companies recommended by Grupo Mayan. We never heard a word from them after paying our fee to list our weeks.
I think the ultimate goal of Grupo Mayan is to sell real estate to its time share owners. They are willing to give you a generous sum in so called equity as a down payment in one of their real estate developments. A few years ago we took a family vacation to the Mayan Palace in Puerto Penasco. On our owners tour they offered us the opportunity to buy a villa in the 23,000 acres they were developing for approximately 300K. Our existing Grand Mayan weeks would be the down payment. I asked the salesman about this concept. He told me the company makes more money on a 300K villa than it does on a 70K time share. When I related this story to Jack he told me that these same units are now selling for 550K. By the way two couples that were with us in Puerto Penasco did buy villas.
After our breakfast meeting we were not through with Jack. He took us back to the sales office where he was going to share some \"secret\" information with us. My brother calls the sales office the \"torture chamber\". Jack told us that each Grupo Mayan resort was going to have a casino. We were then offered this opportunity to purchase additional weeks by two other sales people including a last ditch effort by signing a release. In other words by signing this release we will lose this wonderful opportunity. I told them their approach was all smoke and mirrors. Sound familiar?
We never did get a tour of the Luxxe construction. I tried to locate it by walking up the beach. I thought that it might be visible from the beach like the one in NV. Not seeing anything I came away with the impression that construction hadn't started. I was glad to see your pictures. By the way how many buildings are under construction? I know that there is a three story limit on construction. Do you have any other information to share about this development?
I agree that the properties and amenities are great. The sales tactics are poor. My son has a good position in marketing and went on a sales presentaion last summer in PV and was not impressed at all with the salesman and his pitch. We will continue to have great vacations at the various resorts. I don't think that I can ask my wife to attend any more owners meetings even if she has to give up that generous 10% discount on food and beverages. Her time in the sun is more important to her than a free lunch. I look forward to hearing more from you about our mutual Mexican adventure. Best regards, Don
I would like to comment on Karen's excellent report re developments and her recent experience at Riviera Maya. We were there from October 25 to November 1 and just missed Ida. Our experience with the sales staff mirrors Karen's. First of all we wanted to check on the status of the Luxxe development. We arranged to meet with our salesman from two previous purchases of Grand Mayan weeks. We figured we had some type of \"reasonable\" relationship with him since he made a substantial commission on his sales to us. Thus we believed that we would get some reliable information in a minimal amount of time. So we arranged for an owners meeting. Little did we know what we were getting into. My wife is still ticked off about the amount of pool time and shopping that she missed.
Enrique met us and was accompanied by his manager Jack who proceed to dominate our breakfast meeting. We were given the hard sell to buy more Luxxe weeks and turn them over Wyndham to rent. As soon as I heard rent I knew it was a sham. We had heard the rent pitch on two previous occasions. We tried renting our weeks through two companies recommended by Grupo Mayan. We never heard a word from them after paying our fee to list our weeks.
I think the ultimate goal of Grupo Mayan is to sell real estate to its time share owners. They are willing to give you a generous sum in so called equity as a down payment in one of their real estate developments. A few years ago we took a family vacation to the Mayan Palace in Puerto Penasco. On our owners tour they offered us the opportunity to buy a villa in the 23,000 acres they were developing for approximately 300K. Our existing Grand Mayan weeks would be the down payment. I asked the salesman about this concept. He told me the company makes more money on a 300K villa than it does on a 70K time share. When I related this story to Jack he told me that these same units are now selling for 550K. By the way two couples that were with us in Puerto Penasco did buy villas.
After our breakfast meeting we were not through with Jack. He took us back to the sales office where he was going to share some \"secret\" information with us. My brother calls the sales office the \"torture chamber\". Jack told us that each Grupo Mayan resort was going to have a casino. We were then offered this opportunity to purchase additional weeks by two other sales people including a last ditch effort by signing a release. In other words by signing this release we will lose this wonderful opportunity. I told them their approach was all smoke and mirrors. Sound familiar?
We never did get a tour of the Luxxe construction. I tried to locate it by walking up the beach. I thought that it might be visible from the beach like the one in NV. Not seeing anything I came away with the impression that construction hadn't started. I was glad to see your pictures. By the way how many buildings are under construction? I know that there is a three story limit on construction. Do you have any other information to share about this development?
I agree that the properties and amenities are great. The sales tactics are poor. My son has a good position in marketing and went on a sales presentaion last summer in PV and was not impressed at all with the salesman and his pitch. We will continue to have great vacations at the various resorts. I don't think that I can ask my wife to attend any more owners meetings even if she has to give up that generous 10% discount on food and beverages. Her time in the sun is more important to her than a free lunch. I look forward to hearing more from you about our mutual Mexican adventure. Best regards, Don