Villa Preferred Access - Conversion to Points System

I tried to search first before posting a new message to see if there is any history. I bought a timeshare onsite at Villa Del Arco about 5 years ago, one week, 1BR in the summer. I know I paid too much but enjoy Cabo and the property. Do have to plan many months in advance to get something scheduled which is kind of a pain.

For around $5,600 (original price $22K) they want to convert mine to a "points" bases membership and give year round access other than Christmas holiday I believe. They talk about the benefits of building up points for larger units or multiple smaller, etc., etc. Better availability, flexibility, yada, yada.

Honestly I have to believe this is not worth doing at this cost and the secondary market is still the place to go. However appreciate any feedback or experiences on this one. VIlla Group has some nice properties including some recently completed ones. I just want to make sure I am not overlooking something.

Not much good feedback on a google search but not sure that is just sour grapes from making a bad decision overall.

Thanks!

Diane

dianef101 wrote:

I tried to search first before posting a new message to see if there is any history. I bought a timeshare onsite at Villa Del Arco about 5 years ago, one week, 1BR in the summer. I know I paid too much but enjoy Cabo and the property. Do have to plan many months in advance to get something scheduled which is kind of a pain.

For around $5,600 (original price $22K) they want to convert mine to a "points" bases membership and give year round access other than Christmas holiday I believe. They talk about the benefits of building up points for larger units or multiple smaller, etc., etc. Better availability, flexibility, yada, yada.

Honestly I have to believe this is not worth doing at this cost and the secondary market is still the place to go. However appreciate any feedback or experiences on this one. VIlla Group has some nice properties including some recently completed ones. I just want to make sure I am not overlooking something.

Not much good feedback on a google search but not sure that is just sour grapes from making a bad decision overall.

Thanks!

Diane

It sounds like you own a floating week and have to reserve a week far in advance to get what you want. I believe, even if you buy into the points system, that you would still have the same problem that you have now in getting what you want. I would stay with what I already own. Most point systems are there just to part yourself from your bank account.

I agree with Jayjay. It's just more money for the developer. You will still have to reserve in advance and they will peopably want more money for fees every year. You can always rent a timeshare through this site or another one probably for less than the cost of the maintenance fees without the obligation of never ending fee increases.

I have the points system but upgraded through a salesman at Resortcom. I initially asked if they had a 1 yr no interest which they obviously will give you. Then at the signing I told them I'll pay it all now on a CC if they gave me they gave me a week of all inclusive for 2. The one advantage of the points system is you pay only the annual maintenance fee for the two br like normal, but if you use the points to get two weeks by downsizing you don't pay the prorated maintenance fees. that can pay for itself very quickly if you take two weeks a year instead. Need to verify that is still the case though. I upgraded almost 3 yrs ago. I paid about the same amount so it hasn't gone up at all. I have no regrets about upgrading.

Appreciate the feedback from all but glad to hear from someone who is a member that converted. It seems like there may be some advantages (lots of flexibility for sure) as long as you do not have a problem booking what you want.

I hate to put more money in it but the Villa resorts are fantastic. I am also dealing with the Resortcom office so hopefully if I move forward I can make a decent deal.

Hi Diane and all. I do not rec converting to the points system. For a select few I think there will be a benefit. For most others, save your money and keep or buy a gold membership.

First, if you have say a 1BR Summer, you convert to points that will give you a 1BR summer. You will not be able to go in the winter unless you borrow from the future, which means you then can not go to a 1 BR Summer in that future year. You Might be able to get a studio that year. This does not seem like a good return for an additional $5,000 or so investment.

Second, and I think the biggest scam of all by UVC, is that when they sell a new VPA membership, or get a Gold Membership to convert, is that the VPA membership immediately has ZERO resale market value. A resold VPA is stripped of all its points and is converted to a basic Premier Membership with a home resort of VDP-PV. As you may know, Premier Memberships can be bought for $0 and there are even adds where the seller will pay you $500 to take over the membership.

Third, I am at del arco right now, at the pool, and there are folks discussing the salesman offers, and some have purchased new 2,000 point VPA (that is about a 1BR Summer equiv) for $8,500

There are two fellas in the pool selling 1BR Summer GOLD memberships for $1.000 and another $ 2,000 for a winter. These I feel are very good deals.

I hope this helps everybody. We love the Villa group resorts and will enjoy them for many years. I just want to help everyone fully understand the product they are currently selling.

Steve. (13 year member of the group.)

Hi we recently purchased a VPA pkg 3wks ago in Nuevo Mexico. We would like to hear from someone that has been a member with this group for a while and have some unanswered questions that we would like directed to members only. We purchased the 1200 studio points and are not sure about a few things. We were told we could rent out timeshare thru suite getaways and then use the getaways thru Interval International. Please be so kind and respond to us...we are new to this and are thinking we got rooked. Sincerely Daryl/Lanna.

Steve, I lost track of this thread but am now at Villa Del Arco and went to the presentation update this morning. Same thing, $7,950 minimum cost supposedly to to switch to points system and get 3,400 points a year in exchange for my 1BR Summer.

Last September I was corresponding from someone with Villa Group to pay about $3,400 for the points system and getting 2,200 points a year, yada yada. Some pertinent questions did not get answered and finally I just stopped hearing from them.

The properties are great and I hear they are building more. I wish the sales tactics were not so underhanded. I simply do not know what to believe and wish I could find more reviews of current points users. It is probably going to be the same story, they just sell as much as they can however they can, get people to pay more for perceived upgrades, and come up with lame excuses when people complain that they cannot get what they want or expected.

I would love to hear from owners that bought or converted to the points system. Wish I could help you with your questions. No matter what, book well in advance to get what you want.

Hi I recently bought there in September 2016 when I got back to the USA I tried to login and create a profile and found out they gave him my account number is assigned to someone else so I'm in dispute with the property right now trying to get my refund I doing all the Google searching I can to read more about the bill at the Palmer

Yes, we have been dealing with a salesman from Resortcom to buy Points. They will not take our Gold Contract but will just sell us the points. You said that "at the signing I told them I'll pay it all now on a CC". Were you there in person or dealing with them on the Internet and phone? They want us to pay up front and then we will have the signing of the contract in 4 or 5 days.! We have always paid when we have signed a contract and agreed to the terms. Do you remember the name of the salesman? Marge

I bought two weeks on eBay years ago and use it fairly regularly. The one thing that irks me is that they won’t let me book into Loreto unless I go on the point system. Is there a workaround to this? I’ve got banked weeks, yet all they want to do is sell points.