Just because there are so many reviews stating the club is difficult to reach, I sent off an email to the club asking about wholesale airfare. I used the email address listed in the package documents. I kind of expected this may have been an exaggeration from our sales pitch so wasn't really expecting much.
It took about a week and a half for them to respond but what the guy told me was that their Air Department re-opens in April but until that time, they are quoting the lowest market value. He said that I'd need to call their service desk with exact dates to get their airfares. I'm quite interested in finding out just what kind of flight pricing they can get us.
On tripadvisor I got in touch with someone who bought the package last April. They used one of their Bahia weeks in November with another coming up in April and they are very pleased with the service they are finding from being a member of this club. They haven't used their RCI membership at all yet so they had nothing to comment regarding it. It sounds like they booked their own air as well. This person also made comment to the fact that in the beginning they had no trouble getting in touch with any club staff but now it's pretty tough. They were thinking that the uptake may have been unexpected and they aren't properly staffed right now.
I also sent an email off to RCI to ask for our membership info prior to receiving the package and in a few days they sent it to me. I spent quite a bit of time fooling around on their site now in the member section and there does seem to be some pretty interesting vacations available. In particular, I am liking their Last Chance Vacations. It appears the trade in value for our weeks are pretty good so that's reassuring. We still have another 5+ months until I can actually throw a week in though so we'll see what happens then.
Since the scoop on the timeshare scene is pretty new to us, I've also found a pretty good time share user group where I'm learning all about the ins and outs of timeshare exchanges and stuff. It's the Timeshare Users Group (www.tug2.com).
I can't believe we bought into this on our first ever trip but am so optimistic for how this will shape our vacationing future!
4 comments:
Lenny, I too have recently purchased the Privilege club package and am worried that I got scammed. I was mostly interested in the flights/hotels from RCI rather than the GBP resorts themselves. Do you think you could post a little Start-up Guide on how to get started, what you need to get (there was some GBP website I had to request for access which I Haven't yet 3 weeks later) and I haven't received any word from RCI yet (going to call later today).
Please get in contact with me, I think you could really help me out here with this process! Michael.je.lam@gmail.com
VACATIONERS EVERYWHERE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE!!!! DO NOT buy into the Bahia Principe Privilege Clubs. They are a scam and a rip off. The sales rep will ask you many questions about your vacation preferences then use that information to tell you EXACTLY what you want to hear, which is FAR FAR from the what you will receive as a member. They make it very exciting, of course, with team cheers and applause as each person/family falls for their shady tactics. They even finish the transaction with glasses of campaign. A major distraction as you're signing and initialing your life away on an endless, messy, legally binding contract. Then you get home and you realize that membership, literally, has NO BENEFITS what so ever. You literally will not be able to book your vacation when and where you want to. And if you are lucky enough to get a reservation, you will be required to PAY even MORE money upon booking for a vacation that has been bought and paid for...or so you thought!! Customer service is nonexistent as well. Do no not become the victims of fraud and deception as my husband and I have. If you want to stay at Bahia Principe Resorts book your own travel or better yet go elsewhere. There is a copious amount of information from other "victims" on the internet stating that they too have been lied to and intentionally deceived.
RCI is even a bigger joke - is promoted as discounted vacation deals and given as PERKS for signing to your new BPP Privilege Membership. I think many people are under the impression that they are misunderstanding how things work because they aren't getting what they were promised OR they think they are navigating wrong. The cold, hard truth of the matter is that many of the things they were promised simply do not exist.
If by some miracle a person can manage to get any Customer Service at all, they still will not be able to help because you have signed a contract, which has literally tied up your entire vacation money/savings and has SEVERELY limited your options. Head in proverbial noose.
I am member and I just ended up booking a vacation through a local travel agency to a Beaches Resort because I literally could not book a reservation through my Bahia Principe Privilege Membership. If you look at ANY of the big name travel sites you will find there is abundant availability at ALL the Bahia Principe Resorts. As a matter of fact I could have booked a vacation at BPP - NOT using my membership - exactly WHEN and WHERE I wanted and at a CHEAPER PRICE. You have been warned.
Thank you, B. Wagner, great comments! Too late though for me, I already ate the bait! :(
Probably only members visit such blogs. That's because it's not obvious that one will have the chance to research blogs before signing. They simply promise you the rum and honey gift while on the beach or at the lobby, but never tell you why those gifts?
Anyways now that I'm a member I'm going to get full advantage for the money I paid. I think this blog by Lenny is a great start. Communicating with other members will help tremendously to exchange our experiences.
I purchase the Bahia Princcipe Privilege Club in Jamica and would like to know how I can cancel it. I am not happy with it.
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