There’s a Reason they Call it a “Time” Share – Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

On the second morning of staying at Puerto Vallarta’s Mayan Palace we of course received a timeshare phone call asking us if we had received our coupons for the week. Despite how negative many people view time shares, this was the reason we were staying at the Mayan Palace in the first place. My sister and her husband purchased a time share years ago which has allowed them (and me) the opportunity to enjoy so many fantastic resorts.

Whenever Kelly and Clayton stay at a resort they are invited to attend a 90 minute presentation. Every resort is different, but after finishing the 90 minute presentation you usually get something free or a discount towards a service. One time we were upgraded to an oceanview condo, another time they received restaurant vouchers etc.

This time the representative advised we would receive $25.00 massages, $10.00 pedicures and manicures, really good discounts off of Vallarta Adventures and a day pass at Nuevo Vallarta’s Grand Mayan. We decided this offer was too good to pass up so we booked the presentation for the following day.

We taxi’d over to Nuevo Vallarta at 9am. The Grand Mayan was HUGE. It was a ways away from the main road where the bus stops are, and you had to pass through a security gate in the taxi before you entered the Mayan Grounds. When we pulled up, I pretty much felt like a celebrity. Not because everyone was snapping pictures and asking for my autograph, but because it was SO fancy. I felt a bit ridiculous, I was dressed in beach clothes and had sandals on- prepared to spend the day relaxing by the pool.

We met with our time share representative and headed to the beach for a free buffet breakfast. The selection was amazing. Ricardo was nervous from the get-go as he had heard one too many horror stories from customers at his work place attending time share presentations. I on the other hand was excited to learn more, and Kelly- she’s just a professional and assured us they are not THAT bad.  My mom was with us as well.

We finished up breakfast and headed back to the presentation room where our guide started giving us the details of the program and the options available to us. Finally the opportunity came where Kelly could kindly decline. The representative called the manager to “sign us out” – he then encouraged the guy to explain the offer differently and left. We again denied. The manager returned and offered us an even better deal. We again, denied. This went on a couple of times until finally our representative walked us out to the front entrance. He was obviously not impressed that he didn’t make the sale, and you could tell his attitude was different.

He called over a shuttle to send us on our way to the taxi stand at which point we told him we had been advised we could have a day pass at the resort. He chuckled and said “You didn’t buy anything, sorry.”
I could feel my blood boil. Typical, after not 90 minutes, but TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY minutes we were heading back to our resort without what was promised.

We arrived at our apparent destination to a guy who greeted us and asked us casually what had happened with the time share presentation and lead us to where we were going to be presented with our offers… Only he led us into ANOTHER time share room. We all stopped dead in our tracks and said NO WAY, we want a taxi we are not doing this again after 4.5 hours of our day wasted. He assured us this wouldn’t take long. We sat. My mom must have had steam coming from her ears, she looked down and did not speak or pretend to be interested.  I on the other hand voiced my opinions as at that point my blood was surely boiling so rapidly it was about to cause a volcanic eruption.

He presented us with MORE offers. We again declined with much less patience than the last 10 offers. He called his manager over to “sign us out” and his manager again presented us another offer. I seriously felt like it was never going to end. We were all beyond frustrated. Finally he lead us to the taxi desk and as the guy was finally signing us out he confirmed what we were offered. The day pass was not on the list of ourse. I again voiced my irritation that we thought we were coming to enjoy The Grand Mayan for the day. He called on management and thankfully – they gave us one. (Mind you, at this point we were ready to give up on all things “Grand Mayan.”)

We headed back to the resort and enjoyed the pool.

What I have learned from this experience:

-Canada and the USA have very different Time Share “presentations” -they actually do last 90 minutes in most cases in the states and Canada.
-DO NOT waste your time attending a time share presentation in Mexico, unless you are genuinely interested.
-You’d be better off to barter with the owner of the service you are getting at a discount for attending the presentation vs. waste hours of your day. Time is money people, el tiempo es oro.
-The pedicure and manicures we received a ‘discount’ for ended up being cheaper for people walking in off the street.
-The Grand Mayan is much too big.  It was beautiful- just not for me.
-The Grand Mayan has amazing pool/water activities.
-I want to own a time share someday.
-Finally, the owners of these resorts make a killing off of tourists like us, yet pay their employees next to nothing (5.00 PER day) to provide outstanding service for all of us rich people to enjoy. (I do not know the rules of the Mexican government and if employers could pay more than the minimum wage of 5.00 per day if they wanted to… but I do know it’s not fair.)

*It’s important to note, these opinions are my own and based on the experiences of me and my family.  This is not to say EVERY time share experience is going to last over 4 hours or leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.*

Ricardo and I at the entrance of The Grand Mayan.  In the entrance of the Mayan’s everything is really dark with really cool sounds that echo.   These statue guys as you can see were HUGE.

The grounds at The Grand Mayan did not disappoint.

On our golf-cart ride back to the resort after breakfast.  Lots of chairs for lounging on the beach!

Breakfast Restaurant.

View from one of the show rooms.

Another view from a show room.

They had these lounge canopy beds in all different locations.  I would have loved to enjoy a nap on one of those!

One of the lounge areas where we got our Day-Pass bracelets.

Finally, what was promised!

 Not a good picture of us, but this little temple was where the water slide was located (on the other side) – so neat!

Ricardo agreed to go down the water slide.  I was amazed because he is normally very scared to do anything.  I begged him to go again and he told us his cheeseburger from lunch was in his throat from the small slope on the slide and he was not able to. LOL.  Finally my sister and I convinced him and to his surprise, the second time was much less scary. #ProudOfHim

They also had a kids play area and to the right, an adult wave pool and on the other side, a children’s wave pool!  This resort had everything in the water-pool department!

A shot of the lazy river that I was most excited about, it goes around the resort grounds.  I could spend everyday there.

Ricardo and I getting ready to relax on tubes in the river.  This picture is hilarious because after 1 year of showering in cold water you can tell I am still not used to it.  Ricardo on the other hand, he’s a professional!

Lunch Time! Mom and I shared this and a burger!  It was really tasty

My mom is quite simply the cutest EVER!

Finally, everybody at lunch!