VidantaReviews 78

If I had to summarize Vidanta in one word it would be Predatory. Their sales tactics worked on my elderly parents so they bought into a timeshare not understanding anything about it. I now accompany them to make sure they don't continually get scammed and the sales person told my 70 year old father he should come alone and not bring me. I wonder why. The place is pretty but everything is expensive and you do not ever actually receive anything they promise you. Save yourselves the time and the headache. But if you do go make sure to call and block sales from calling your room because they will, every hour, starting at 7 am. Disgusting

We had an elegant, magical, perfect and a beautiful wedding at this resort for our daughter. We've been vacationing at Vidanta Riviera Maya for at least 20 years. The resort has beautiful landscapes, professional and wonderful staffs, delicious food and drink, amazing entertainment with Cirque du Soleil, Salum (beachfront eateries bars restaurants), and Havana Moon (beachfront with live entertainment nightly) and several other wonderful restaurants for dinner. Our favorite is breakfast/brunch buffet at Quinto and Del Lago for $25 per person will keep you full until dinner. We love the pools and the beach, and of course miles of the boardwalk throughout the resorts with iguanas and local wildlife and beautiful jungle.
We've always looking forward to come back after each trip to our favorite Summer vacation destination. Thank you Vidanta and Maria L our wedding planner and all the staffs for a memorable beautiful wedding, and Josefina our photographer for the most beautiful pictures and slides show that made us cry with happy tears each time we watched.

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 bought in to the bait and switch timeshare presentation. When we arrived our room was small and we had to beg for an ocean view. Despite being represented that we would always have an ocean view and king size beds. Our guests were treated like second class citizens and were insulted and degraded. Unlike the pictures and representations made during the hard press sales presentation we were extremely disappointed. The resort did nothing to try and address these issues and the management was incompetent at best. WARNING DO NOT BUY ANY TIMESHARES AT VIDANTA. I intend on filing a complaint with the Mexican authorities fraud division.

The breakfasts are a bait. To trap you. The salesmen are very proficient at trapping you. Once you sign on, the rules change all the time. Then they get you into something more expensive. The food is outrageously expensive. Do not trust them. They are human barracuda! I would categorise as predatory and. Deceitful company.

There is a very aggressive attempt to sell you basically a time share that they don't call a time share. They try to convince you that you can make money on your purchase when in fact, you aren't.

Stay away if you can.

We were pulled into a vacation club presentation during our stay at the Grand Mayan in Riviera. Salesman are very pushy and very convincing. I also feel that a lot of what we were promised has not been delivered. We were told Vidanta World would be opening within the year of us signing up and that still hasn't happened. They try to upsale you at every turn. The "perks" you are given aren't even usable. For example we were "given" a certificate for a 7 night cruise for two. However, you have to pay $1,100 to redeem the certificate. Also, even though two of the four we would have been traveling with are children, we would have had to redeem a second certificate. The certificate is only good for certain cruises and also for an interior room, you can pay to upgrade though. Which seemed like a good deal because we were "given" $3,000 in cruise rewards that I was hoping to use to cover the cost difference. But nope! You can't use a certificate AND cruise rewards at the same time. Ok fine I will search the other cruises on the site and just use the cruise rewards. Also no good because once I found a cruise to book, I called and was told the full amount of cruise rewards cannot be used on a commercial cruise like carnival it can only be used on premier cruises that start at $9,000. So the most the cruise rewards would save me on a carnival cruise was MAYBE $150. I can't even begin to express how much I regret signing up for this stupid vacation club.

Our room stinks of mold. Asked for another room. Was told no. The food is mediocre and extremely expensive. Went into town to buy groceries. Spend most of your time riding around on the shuttle to go anywhere on the property. All they are interested in is selling you a time share for $28,000 US. After repeatedly telling them no, the price was down to $2,000. Also it is no cash. Everything is charged to your room. Asked for a bottle of water. Had to call the front desk and there was a charge for that! The maid doesn't ever sweep the floor. I will never return here

I was called and offered a promo vacation. This required a $250 deposit to be given back in the form of resort credits and a $114.84 insurance package. I paid all of the above. A week later, I hadn't received my email confirmation and called the agent back. I was told I didn't qualify and shouldn't have been offered the promo even though I wanted to keep it. They said they would refund my money. It took 60 days to get my $250 back but no response on the $114.84 insurance fees. I've called numerous times and they just keep saying it takes more time. It's now going on 90 days and they tell me the same thing, I'll call you back as we check into it. Although, I don't get call backs at all. They really don't value the customer and follow up with THIER vendor. I paid the money to them when they requested it. They should pay me and seek the refund themselves. They just don't have any concerns about helping me get what it mine. By the way, I am a Grand Luxxe owner, the top of the line. I would give them a zero if the rating would let me. DON'T buy a timeshare here.

We had our anniversary dinner tonight at bleu. The French restaurant at Nuevo Vallarta Vidanta plaza.
We love the ambience and the French bread is amazing.
That being said I don't think we will return other than for a bottle of wine and a loaf of French bread.
We had the rack of lamb for dinner. The lamb was so tough I could have used it to sole my shoes. We sent a piece back to the chef to taste and also told the manager.
Surprise. No apology no acknowledgment and no. Can we give you a dessert to compensate.
Just the bill and 930 pesos for inedible meat. The onion soup and the lobster bisque were good but I doubt we will return for a full meal again
Bah humbug

Vidanta now will Bribe you having to go to a time share if you dont go you will be given a bad roon. We have been a customer for 26 years. It seems that the longest you are with them the worst your treated. This is happing all the time now. Read these review before buying. I head another story when I was there a women bought a time share and when you be come 70 years old you don't have to pay any maintence fee when you go. She call them up to make a appointment and then said no availabel rooms.These people will lie to you about every thing

The sales representative and sales manager working for Vidanta told us several lies in their presentation. Their finance office went so far as to video record the sale closing to deny us any future claims for the promises the sales staff made. When we realized how they screwed us, we tried to meet with them face to face, but they both literally hid from us. The vidanta staff then claimed that their salespersons were independent contractors for whom Vidanta/Vida Vacations had no control over. We were fools for trusting these people. This has been the biggest financial mistake of our lives. My advice: tightly grip your wallet and RUN!

Hi, my name is Martha Reggie, and im a current VIDANTA Member, We purchased three years ago, we received a phonecall a couple months ago, from people claiming to be Vida Vacations, VIDANTA crew, they had all our personal information, emails, phone numbers, and even our contract number as well, so we did trust them, so they offered to us to rent some of our Timeshare weeks, of our Grand Mayan we purchased in Riviera Maya, we received paperwork from them with VIDA Vacations logos, and signatures as well.
Everything looks just real.
Then they asked us for money at front to wire and pay mexican taxes, CURP, IVA etc.
Then our maintenance fees,
At this point we wired $82,430 USD.
Then we noticed all were fake and this people were scam artists,
So we want to share this Bank Wire Account information so people don't trust this scam artists,
The Bank Account Names also includes the VIDANTA Names on it, so people wont trust as we did!
Date:
17/08/2023

Amount:
$18,420.00 US Dollars

WIRE INSTRUCTIONS

BENEFICIARY: DESARROLLO VIDANTA, S.A. DE C.V.

BENEFICIARY BANK. HSBC MEXICO SA BANK ADDRESS. AVE. PASEO DE LA REFORMA # 347,TORRE HSBC, COL. CUAUHTEMOC, CD.
MEXICO CP. 0650

BANK ACCOUNT. *******445

CLABE: **************4456

CODIGO SWIFT: BIMEMXMM

The moment we leave our room, we realize that we are profit units for Vidanta at all levels! The facilities are a satisfactory façade where one gets charge extra for absolutely anything and everything…

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!

Dangerous. Negligent. My family member was injured by an exposed, rusty nail at the edge of the main pool. The resort did nothing to accommodate this injury caused by their negligence. We were there after the death of a family member to grieve together, and this treatment by the resort only serve to add insult to our pain. Well, the workers are great, management is unethical, miserly, terrible. Do not stay here! Do not waste your money!

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.

Just purchased a report, for $17.95. Do not waste your money or time. The primary info I was searching for, was a titling timeline, from manufacture date to current. (1999 vehicle). Only showed that it was titled in MS, in 2006. Very limited info. Not nearly enough to make an informed decision on a vehicle purchase, compared to CarFax. Guess you get what you pay for.