In 2017 we stayed at the Grand Mayan in Nuevo Vallarta. We had no intention of purchasing, but after a day long session, bought in to the tune of approximately $85,000. We love the resort and have traveled there about once a year taking family and friends. Many of them have returned by themselves because they enjoyed the facility so much.
So... what is the problem?

Each time we have visited we have been pressured at check-in by the withholding of our key and the "your room is not ready" excuse until the sales people try to browbeat you to attend a sales presentation where they try to upsell you. We liked what we purchased and had no intention of buying more so had to get nasty with them to decline the meeting.

This time we decided to attend the meeting as we were anxious to hear about new happening.
We made our reservations 3 months in advance. Upon arrival at the Grand Mayan we were given a 2nd floor room, backside of the building above a very busy, very noisy, work area. We begged for a better room and we're told flat out. "nothing is available". We later found out why they gave us a crappie room.

All that being said, we arrived at our "breakfast" anxious to hear what was new and to find out why the priority room assignment that was promised at time of purchase did not happen.

Now the "good" part. We were told that a conscious decision to put us in the crappie room had been made because our contract was about to expire! WHAT?

They proceeded to tell us that at the end of 10 years we were to loose our rights to stay at "our condo". That it reverts back to the company. All we need to do to keep using it is to "re-purchase" at the same rate. We give them another $85,000 and we can come here again. My husband and I both about passed out. When we purchased we were told that the 1st 10 years we had availability of 3 weeks a year. After that it would drop back to 2 weeks a year. We both remember it clearly. We do have a second option. We can pay $3000.00 and then would have access to the summer season only and the smaller less desirable resorts. If we don't do either of those we loose our entire $85 000, investment. I guarantee we would not have spent $85,000 for the opportunity to access the resort for 10 years. Of course you still had to pay the going rate. After all this they had the audacity to try to sell us the deluxe suites at the Grand Mayan. An Up-sell. Of course they started the meeting by saying it was not a sales meeting. They totally screwed us and were still trying to sell. Gave us $#*!ty a room and then expected us to cough up big bucks. What a crock.

We got screwed! Run away!

We purchased at the Grand Mayan, Nuevo in 2017 and soon after upgraded to the Luxxe. Returned in March 2020 just before COVID closed down Mexico and signed up for a Villa at $200K! WTF? These sales guys are really good. Well we cancelled the next day but guess what: we lost almost 2 days of our week in the sales office. Have also stayed in a 4-BR at the Residences with a rich friend. First of all despite what you may be told you can get a room at any Vidanta resort without being a member. Plenty of people are online offering their available week(s) for no profit. Went back to NV last week and swore we would not buy anything. You guessed it! Left with a $170K upgrade we do not want. Lest you think we are stupid people my wife is a retired banker and I am an MD/DMD and retired medical school associate dean. These guys lie and just have powers to sell that are to be respected. So we immediately rescinded this contract also and guess what! They offered a Vidant discount and we could have the $170K package for $140K. We said no thanks and then they told me I could extend my priority weeks with a contract for $32K. Might have been something I would have considered at the beginning but right now I will never return to a Vidanta resort again. We love PV but Nuevo has become a pain with traffic and we stayed in town for a few days in 2020 and had a great time. Someone mentioned the many pools at Vidanta in NV. They did not mention that the lounge chairs at many of the pools are filled by 9 or 10 am and everyone leaves their towels on the chairs even when they leave. Vidanta has refused to address that issue other than to tell people it is not allowed! Same posted mentioned the wonderful restaurants. Even the sales people will agree that the restaurants are mediocre at best. Best food is at the snack bar by the spa! They offered us a "free" contract into the Theme Park and a free contract for a luxury yacht with $$$ credit to use. From what I read the yacht credits cannot be used all at once so you would have to take one or two dozen cruises to get your moneys worth! This theme park has been under construction since we first bough in to Vidanta and no end date in site! We did visit phase 1 on the gondola and were impressed with the restaurants and the Ferris wheel. The parachute drop comes down so slowly my grandmother would complain! The parade was as hooky as I have ever seen and certainly not in any way "Cirque" acrobats.
So my advice: if you want to be in this part of Mexico go up the beach to Buserias, Punta Mita or Sayulita. Many gorgeous beachside resorts most of which are half the price of Vidanta. Lots of restaurants and shopping close by also. (Note that Bill Gates invested in Punta Mita years ago and it is pricy but everywhere else is reasonable) And do not under any circumstances attend a sale meeting at Vidanta. 10% off of food and drink (BTW: discount not applied to happy hour beverages!:-)) In our last two visits which are really only 6 days when you account for travel we lost 3 full days out of 12!

My wife and youngest son went to the Grand Mayan pool at 4:40 pm on a Friday. They sat down at an empty patio chair and a lady came out of the pool and shoulder checked my son to the ground accusing him of stealing her "reserved" chair. 7 months ago he had an almost complete spinal fusion due to severe scoliosis. She was yelling that was her chair even though there was absolutely nothing on it or under it. It's not ok to assault another guest, but especially considering what he has just come through. By the time I got there, 7 security members and the chief concierge Claudia could only try to whisk us away so that we wouldn't cause a scene in front of other guests (who saw what went down). When I asked her if anyone asked him if he was ok, Claudia told us that she didn't know our son was hurt because we didn't tell her. The first question on ANY scene where there's an assault is, "does anyone need medical assistance?" But she reversed it to blame us that we didn't tell anyone that my son was hurt. We asked for the police to be involved and were told that police do not come on to the property. Does that make you feel safe knowing that security isn't there for you because this is private property? Went to medical and they cannot assist in any way. They don't even have Tylenol for pain. I'd say that for a resort this size the medical dept is useless. But they were happy to send us to La Plaza to spend more money on simple medicine. What did the resort do about the assault, nothing. We reached out to our medical provider at home for their recommendations and had an immediate appointment for the day after we returned. Get back to our room and there's a smoke alarm going off in a room somewhere on our floor. We let a staff member know. He laughs, "we're probably all safe" and walks away.

On checkout I filled out and honest review on the iPad that they hand you. A Vidanta rep, Elizabeth Barrera, has since said, "the hotel is not responsible for the actions of other guests." From what we saw, other than you'd be an a-hole to do it, my guess is that you're welcome to push, shove, steal, assault as much as you'd like and the only ramification is that if the victim makes a scene, the victim will asked to leave. I absolutely have no trust in the security or medical team. We demanded the police be involved and were told that the police do not have authority on Vidanta property. We demanded that the other party be charged with assault. Nope. On-site security will only stand with their hands politely folded in front of them and won't say a word or get involved.

We've travelled all over the Caribbean. I don't understand why people come here. I agree that the property is lovely, but it's not worth the money. Food and drinks are far more expensive than need be. The people that we've dealt with have been sub-standard at best. There's no true service here — the only thing that has been made clear is that there's a "class" system and we're the bottom of it. If you purchased the biggest and best, why? Why not go anywhere else? Honestly, I can't say we'll ever go back to another Vidanta property. All it is is high pressure sales to separate you from your money. ANY other resort would be better.

We've reached out to multiple people at Vidanta and there has been no response. To me it looks like they know it's a problem, but they sweep it under the rug. These resorts are nothing but a scam. They promise you comfort and security, but at the end of the day they just want your money and won't stand behind anything they say. Trust in Vidanta? ZERO.

I am reaching out because we were lied to! We paid a total of $11,000 & I want ALL of our money back. If you have no problem lying to me now, there is no way that, would good conscience, I could continue with this company! I DO NOT TRUST YOU! We bought on October 3,2022 in Nuevo, Vallarta & got talked into being a part of the Ambassador Program at the very end after saying NO the entire time. You had to convince us to make this work with our finances and that included telling us that Hawaiin Vacations would be able to SELL our current timeshare, Worldmark. I received a phone call from Hawaiin Vacations last week to find out that in order to receive what we were promised we would have to pay an additional $3000 & they do not SELL our current timeshare. They can only have us deposit our points with them. We were verbally told that I would be able to get everything that the platinum package provides but they omitted to tell us it would cost us an additional $3000. After paying the $3000, the platinum package includes a reoccurring fee of $99 a year instead of $299 a year for basic plan, 100% inventory, 40 weeks on the platform that never expire, 4 authorized users on the account, 2 free cruises a year, airfare, prorated nightly room rates, gain full access to Hawaiian Vacations Maintenance fee protection & Platinum Rental Program which means Hawaiin Vacation would be our property manager, small brokerage fee, to advertise and rent out our units for us for the units we don't use to receive money back to make a profit. I also thought and was told that if we don't use our timeshare, we would be able to rent out our units on our own, to get cash back, through VRBO or Airbnb using Vidanta website pictures and descriptions BUT to do this there is a $3000 fee to initiate rentals through those websites and the lowest I can go to rent for a week is $850 - $1900 BECAUSE I'M NOT PLATINUM, which means NO PROFIT! Platinum for a week is $699 to $899 and I am currently $850 - $1900 for a week in the basic plan. Under the platinum plan at additional $3000 if we chose to rent out our units, we would make a profit... that one's a kicker because without the platinum package our weeks will cost is $850 for a room and $1900 for a suite for a week! Here is another issue I have and that's the Ambassador Program. We were told we were chosen because we live in Washington State, and they wanted more people from our State to check out the Vidanta properties. We were given 10,8-day 7-night accommodation certificates which include ground transportation from airport to resort. They stated for us to donate these 10 certificates to Make a Wish Foundation in Washington State and when Make a Wish Foundation auctions them off, we get paid for each certificate auctioned off. We could get up to $5000 a year if all 10 are auctioned off and any money collected gets put on a Vidanta visa which we would collect when we go on a vacation at a Vidanta property. We are supposed to get 10 certificates this year and an additional 10 certificates next year which could bring in $10,000 in 2 years. In the paperwork, there is no directions on how to donate these certificates to Make a Wish Foundation in order for us to get our certificate credits. I contacted Vidanta and requested help on the process to get a return email that states the following "Make a Wish Foundation & Vidanta Resorts are two separate and independent companies. Therefore, to receive accurate information regarding my request to donate certificates, I should contact Make a Wish Foundation in Washington State directly." WHAT! Vidanta is who signed me up for the Ambassador Program and now that I have questions you can't help me!? Nowhere in the paperwork does it tell you how to donate certificates to charity's nor is there any contact information for questions. I am left in the dark on how to donate and make sure that I get financial credit for the certificates I am donating. I don't want to donate, and take the chance that Make a Wish Foundation doesn't know anything about the program, and I do not receive the $5000 as was stated to me once all 10 certificates have been auctioned off. The welcome package for the Ambassador program does not mention CHARITYS. It only mentions friends, family, colleagues and also states that guests only pay the usage fee for the room type in our contract which without platinum it's $850 (room) to $1900 (suite) for a week depending on if they want an entire suite or a bedroom. That's a rip off for a week! Nobody is going to want a certificate for a week for that price therefore we won't get any money back. When we were sold this Ambassador package, we did the math and thought to ourselves that there was no way we could lose but this is farthest from the truth! I feel that we were frauded for their gain. We signed the contract, after being there 6 hours and wanting to leave, TRUSTING that what we spoke about was what we're receiving. Shame on us for trusting them! I will be going all over the internet to let everyone know to steer clear of purchasing ANYTHING with Vidanta properties because we feel we have been ripped off! I DEMAND ALL OF OUR MONEY BACK otherwise I will be very vocal about your lies on ALL PLATFORMS!

ResIt starts with the car rental agency wanting you to pay for insurance that is twice the cost of the rental car…but…if you go to a Vidanta 1 hour presentation, we will waive the insurance fee. The 90 minute presentation was 4 hours. Promises to transfer two other timeshares for a fee was our desire to purchase. The VIDAVACATIONS Rep signed that agreement, not the 3rd party TRM, but VIDAVACATIONS blames TRM. We received a week stay for future travel within a year. We went back and the rooms were just so/so and are in need of upgrades. The pool service was okay and certain servers were very good. Check-in was weird in that they wanted to change our room from a 2 bdrm to 1 bdrm and we had to attend another sales presentation. Painting outside our room, required us to keep our drapes closed for two days. There is a facility next to the pool, called Omni and they try to draw the young crowd. However, the music was so loud that you could even have a conversation with someone in a chair next to you. The sales rep said that the contract with the Omni would not be renewed after September, 2021…I hear that is not true. Well after 2-3 reminders to the sales staff about their commitment to transfer the other Timeshares, it took almost a year to start the process and we had to pay another year of maintenance fees. VIDAVACATIONS realized that they were in default of the contracts and agreed to pay the transfer fees. After continuing to fail to get these transfers completed, VIDAVACATIONS agreed to cancel the upgrade contract and return to the first contract. Still one Timeshare has been transferred and we have repeatedly demanded to have both contracts cancelled and ALL Monies refunded. We have also included the Mexican version of BBB to assist in the resolution. We DO NOT want to be associated with this type of company. This is a terrible company to work with and I have since heard form others don't buy Mayan or you would say "CRYING MAYAN". Now I know what they meant…too late and I am still fighting with with Membership Services to separate myself from this poorly run company. DON'T WALK but RUN from a SCAM Timeshare presentation at VIDANTA at all of their locations

I was persuaded to buy a time share with 100 years of membership in the spring of 2016. My mom and dad had a time share where they visit many places around the globe and that time share had access to the 8 places Vidanta has in Mexico. However they were not members at Vidanta but got pretty good deals through another independent time share. That's how I came to know them. The sales people sold me on the idea of investing around 37,000 - 46,000 for a 1 bed room Level called grand bliss. The original plan was to have 3 weeks scheduled any time I wanted, except months of December and April, for the long run. I would pay maintainable yearly fee for the first five years obligatory and then later no obligation except when I chose to visit one of the 8 beautiful places Vidanta has in Mexico. So if I decided to go three times I would pay 1000 only one time a year and my own consumption. I repeat: Only 1 maintenance fee/year and my own consumption. To make story short after paying the contract in 3 years. I realized that now I only had one week a year approved to go as part of the contract. So if invite some one to go as a guest that was it. I can not go that year. Originally they also sold me on the idea of having an investment I could sell in the market. You can't. Bc if you do it, they will not recognize the new owner and the problem will come back to you bc you sold something you shouldn't. So you are stuck in that "investment" fore ever, and if you try sell it you may end meeting false sales market croupiers that promise you a great return for your investment. Also I found out that people can attend any place as a none members and for 4 days if they want. Some of my friends have go that way paying to a realtor agency. My plan now is for a week a year only. So, I invested 40 grand for a place that only has that level in 2 places in Mexico and those 2 places are. Cabo's and Nvo Vallarta and are full sold to its maximum during the year. The sales guys mentioned grand bliss would be in other places as well. It has not been true. In other words for 1000 grand you can go many places in Mexico with out investing in something where you don't have a return on your investment and you are not owning anything except the joy you have while traveling to these beautiful places. So be very careful. You can lose there your son college education if you let yourself navigate in one of those sales meeting. Now that I asked them how can I get another week, they told me I need it to upgrade to another plan. By the way those sakes guys, manager etc. Are not there anymore.

I'm writing this review because the staff that sells the contracts are most of them liars. We got a contract in Puerto Penasco back in September of 2020 for about $******* + dollars, we had a planned vacation to Vidanta Riviera Maya for December 18th, 2020 & we arrived to the hotel there was no reservation, after waiting with our family for hours at the lobby they finally gave us a smaller unit than the one originally arranged for a family of 6!, in order for us to get what was promised they sold us another package making this freaking promises of the best rooms/ services for our big family, to top it off we wanted to see the options we had but the pressure is huge and they got us drunk (gave us drink since starting explaining the goodies... we ended up signing a new contract for freaking more than $100,000.00. When we realized what they charged us on the final bill and going over the contract, we called the customer service contact to cancel the contract (we did not use any of the benefits) everything used on this vacation was charged & paid off at the check out day. Anyways, they just gave us the round arounds and at the end they kept almost $30,000.00 dollars that we paid and they cashed it out. They said that money was not refundable under the Mexican laws. They wanted us to buy the least/ expensive package but we did't see the need to spend more money ($850 per week use?), since we did't sign this new contract they said that they were going to reactivate the previous contract of $100,000.00+ so that way we could fall into the "missing payments" category and for default they could keep our money $$$. We never received any partial refund or anything as stated on an email by one of the executives of Vidanta Group ( Alex Leehan) as of 05/08/2021
VIDANTA'S STAFF STOLE ALMOST $30,000.00!

PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM VIDANTA GROUP SALES EXECUTIVES!

I scored a two star as the taxi drivers are wonderful and most of the staff are really nice.
--We were excited about this trip. I booked it a while back before Covid. Had to reschedule twice. We finally made it. We always have a great time on vacation. By the third day on this vacation, we were ready to come home. We did the "hour long" presentation that took 6 hours. My husband caved in and we signed the papers. We wanted to get out of it, so we found out that we had 5 day. We were still there and made an appointment within our time there. When we showed up, two men dressed all in black was waiting for us where a lady usually is. They were very intimidating. When we were asked about how we were treated at the desk, I told her this. We had to go into the elevator with one of the guys. As soon as the doors closed, he looked at me and loudly said, "You told my boss I was mean to you?" After all said and done, three hours later; we signed the papers to get our money back. We did after we got home.
-- Now another reason we wanted to go home, for the first three days, we walked into our hotel, well at the desk just outside a person would question us why we were there, do we belong there, and when do we check out. I was upset as we were questioned. There are many hotels there. This one had no pool or places to do anything. I was confused why we were questioned.
--Lastly, we were told if we made a reservation for chairs by the pool they would be our all day. Well, third try we got chair by the pool. We were told after ordering drinks that our credit card had reached the $600 cap at $851.00. We told two people at the podium that what had happened and we would be back and we needed to update credit cards. We got an ok. We get back sooner than 20 minutes and our chairs have been given away. I'm so upset as all of the other things have happened first. They get the head person. She tells me that they give the chair away of someone is gone for over an hour. I made a stink and let her know we left for under 20 minutes. They talked to a family and got our chairs back. (We left our water in ice and that was taken. When we did get back, they took it out of the ice and gave us our water back.) This is saying that our stuff was there and there was no reason to touch our place as our towels and water was in place.
--This place was very expensive and a tourist trap. THIS IS A TIMESHARE AS THEY SAY IT IS NOT. You may be offered to pay $132,000 down to $33,000 for four weeks at one of their luxury hotels. Well, you are not buying anything. When you want to book a week, you now have to pay $1,800 for the week on top of your $132,000 payment that is due in 6 weeks.
--If you do decide to visit, take a taxi out in the city and enjoy your day and save your money. Buy a bottle of your favorite alcohol and find a way to bring it in the areas of the resort to drink. I asked for a can of Canadian club soda over ice. I added my bourbon on top and saved money after a few days. Hope this helps.