TS Today - Creating a Vision for the Future of Vacation Ownership Issue #96 Nov/Dec, 2007 | Page 23

TimeSharing Today Page 23 Nov/Dec, 2007 were set to leave for our first week there in two days, we were horrified. We got the same story from RCI as Gary. We had no choice but to accept the lesser accommodations at the Mayan Palace. Once there, we were able to maintain our original accommodations at the Grand Mayan. I still don’t know if this was an RCI trick or Mayan Palace mistake. I have heard several people related similar stories at other Mayan Palaces on the west coast. D.S. Fritz We were disappointed when RCI cancelled our Grand Mayan Nuevo Vallarta reservations for April of this year because I owned at Mayan Palace. (We bought way back when it was Vidafel and only one resort.) Anyway, as an owner at Mayan Palace, I could not exchange into Grand Mayan ever. I used a Bluebeard’s Castle week to trade, as we own multiple weeks. So I am forever blocked from trading into that resort, which seems unfair. In contacting Mayan, they said that was RCI’s choice. RCI said it was Mayan’s choice. Whoever’s choice, we aren’t allowed to stay there...... ever A. Sweping The reason why timeshare exchangers prefer the Grand Mayan instead of the Mayan Palace can probably be best understood from the following report: We chose the Mayan Palace, Acapulco for our trade this year in February. We expected accommodations that were in line with a Gold Crown recognition and had heard so many wonderful things about the Mayan resorts, but what we received was definitely not what we were expecting!! TSToday Anywhere Kelly Prillaman of Salem, VA takes her magazine to the pool while on an exchange to Ocho Cascadas Resort in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico The two- bedroom unit we had traded into, ended up being two one-bedroom units side by side. Relatives were joining us for the first week to see how the RCI timeshare works and the Mayan Palace was not a good way to introduce them to timesharing!! The first morning showed the disrepair the units were in; the coffee pot did not work in our unit, although it was replaced by housekeeping quickly, but the stove and oven did not work in either unit. Our unit had part of the tile around the bathtub broken out and when lifting the shower control, it came out in your hand and water was spraying in every direction. The other unit was in similar disrepair where the showerhead sprayed in more directions then down on the person showering, and took all day to drain. When I went to the front desk and explained the problems and requested that they either repair the problems or move us, they said that they would move us but not until 4 p.m. at 5:30 p.m. they gave us two other rooms which were in no better shape than the first ones: the stove tops still did not work, and the one unit was not cleaned yet and looked like a total disaster area. All this after repacking all our belongings and having a porter move our luggage from one floor to the next! We went back to the front desk again saying this was not acceptable! Again, we were assigned two different rooms, both on the same floor but not anywhere close to each other. As these rooms were functional and we were tired of wasting a whole day moving, we accepted them. It was so disappointing, when having booked a twobedroom unit and coming down to two units not even close together. More problems became apparent as the week progressed. Numerous times we would go to the room only to be denied access as the keys quit working and we would have to go to the front desk again and again to be re-keyed. The kitchen had a haphazard collection of dishes, no salad bowls, (we had to use a pot to mix the salad in) no wine glasses in any of the 6 units that we were in. The grounds, the housekeeping, pool, and the restaurant staff were very good. The exterior of the resort was exceptional (pools, beach area, and common areas well kept and spacious). It could have been an excellent holiday had the units been as well kept and maintained as the rest of the resort. Robert Putz SAN FRANCISCO TIMESHARE RESALES SAVE 50% TO 70% CONTACT RESORT PROPERTY SPECIALISTS, INC. PHONE: [phone] E-MAIL: [email protected] www.timeshareresell.com www.tstoday.com for back issues, Resort Report Cards, articles on resorts and much more