Hacienda Tres Rios Timeshare
We purchased a timeshare at Hacienda Tres Rios and feel that we were victims of misrepresentation. If you
will be travelling to this resort on some sort of promotional holiday I
strongly suggest that you read about our experience prior to attending your sales
presentation.
During our presentation, we informed
our salesperson that we were not interested in buying a timeshare at Hacienda Tres Rios as the travel time is too long from where we live. They informed us
that with the purchase comes membership in the RCI
timeshare exchange program and we would be able to exchange our week for any of
the other member hotels (more than 5,000 internationally) which had
availability. We did some sample availability searches which showed more than
100 choices for hotels or resorts in Hawaii. They assured us that since Hacienda Tres Rios has unique ecological features (the underground rivers or
sinkholes) it is a very desirable destination and has the highest exchange
power of member hotels so it can be exchanged for any of those. In fact, they
promised that with a studio suite at Hacienda Tres Rios we would be able to
exchange it for 2 bedroom suites at most other resorts due to the high exchange
power.
After we paid for the studio suite
($15,000) they did not grant us the membership to RCI which would enable us to
exchange our room for other resorts. When we demanded a refund they eventually
gave us the membership but we were disappointed to discover that the resorts
exchange power is actually very low. The same search for hotels in Hawaii (but
with Hacienda Tres Rios specified as our home resort) produced only 2
availabilities which had very low ratings and the value of the stays there were
not much more than our annual maintenance fee. This is a photo of the computer
screen in their showroom during our presentation and they assured us that we
would have access to any of these hotels (or similar selection). In reality our
room cannot be exchanged for any of these due to the low exchange power.
The sales presentation itself was quite
professional and not one of those high pressure horror stories which you may
have heard of. Indeed the resort itself is quite nice and you can have an
enjoyable stay; however, unless you particularly want to return to this resort
every year there is no value in the timeshare since you still have to pay for
the meal plan when you go to the resort and together with the maintenance fee
the cost to stay there after you have purchased a suite is similar or higher
than regular priced fare at most popular Mexican resorts. A quick online search
for timeshares for sale will show that resale value for this timeshare is very
low.
