I am in Cancun, MEXICO, and I have been solicited to become a member of the SUNSET GROUP vacationing time...?

Question

... share. Have you, or has anybody you know ever participated/ become a member of this promotion? If so, has this experience been positive or negative? I was told that as a member, I have the option of selling/ giving away my weeks to people who want to vacation in another part of the world with an affiliated hotel; have you, or anybody you know ever done this (sell your vacation time)? If your answer is yes, was it difficult to find a buyer? Were there any complications in booking this trip? Are there any things I should be aware of should I decide to become a member???

Answer 1

sounds like a standard timeshare. The deal is you own a week at that particular hotel. You can stay there, trade for another spot in their network, or sell your share for the year. Since it is in Mexico you can't own it forever and are probably given a 20 or 30 year sale. I'm sure they have told you the cost, but you can usually do better in the resale market. Where they get you is on the yearly maintenance fee, which pretty much covers all their expenses. The big price is the profit. A lot of people sell their timeshare week for $2-3000 after about 5-7 years. You can pick these up on the Internet and have all the benefits they described to you at a much lower cost. Ask them if they have any resale weeks available and that you are only willing to pay a couple of thousand for it. They may tell you forget it, but in the long run you can probably do better taking advantage of different promotional rates from resorts all over the world when you want to travel. Also I have found great vacation rates all the time at spincitytravel.com

Answer 2

HI,

My Bride and I bought into the Park Royal vacation deal. We received 30 days free stay the first year and another 15 weeks to use over the next five years. We really enjoyed the accommodations they are even part of the Royal Caribbean Cruise lines and this is offered as part of the package as well. The organization we joined has resorts world-wide and they are all **** to ***** accommodations.

We have not attempted to sell our vacation shares, however, we have used the 30 days on Cozumel with family and friends, and there was no problem at all in making the reservations. The resort will give you a membership number and that is all you have to use in making arrangements. If the resort has an all-inclusive charge you will have to pay extra for this part of your stay. Make sure you check out all the information on the resorts you would like to visit, some are real dumps and third world at best.

One of our friends has ask us about the program and if we would like to trade time. So I can't really answer the part about selling vacation time.

So check them all out.

Good Luck....

Answer 3

We did this.  Consider all the facts before spending money:

1.  You will have to pay a maintenance fee each year which entitles you to spend your week.  Basically this is the cost per year over and above the "initiation fee".

2. Depending on your "membership" some weeks may be blacked out - like Christmas and Easter.

3.  Consider the cost to fly to Cancun and compare that to a package deal which includes a hotel and air transportation.

4.  Exchanging timeshares generally requires an RCI membership.  When yours expires you will have to pay to renew it.

Casefully consider all your options before doing something like this.  It is NOT for everyone.  

You really should think about this and do a cost-benefit analysis before making a large commitment.  It is NOT easy  to get out of the contract once signed.  You may have to try to sell your membership at a significant loss and until you do, you must still pay the maintenance fee each year.  That can be as high as $400.00 or more with no guarentee that it will not increase in subsequent years.

Goo luck with whatever decision you make,