ROYAL HOLIDAY VACATION CLUB Unscrupulous sales practices, illegal gifts per Mexico law, fraudulent contracts, Miami Florida

I'm writing to let as many people know what happened to me dealing with Royal Holiday and the unscrupulous aggressive sales practices they exhibit at their resorts, promised gifts offered in exchange for listening to their timeshare/vacation clubs that are illegal per Mexico law, the fraudulent contracts and claims of benefits not in writing.  

Then I experienced first hand staying at one of their resorts and as members it took 45 mins to check in when there were no others waiting in line at the general check-in desk.  Even though we were members we felt like we were being stalked on the property (i.e we went down for breakfast and upon leaving the restaurant our host was literally waiting there for us) with aggressive and badgering to sit down and discuss my membership.  

My gfriend got angry after telling her 3x that we were not interested until she was more assertive by telling her to "LEAVE US ALONE we're trying to enjoy our vacation!".  Yes, this was on our 2nd day first thing in the morning.    At Park Royal Cancun we experienced the elevators constantly out (not working) where we were FORCEd to walk up and down the stairs to our rooms.  

We even passed a couple of groups in the stairwell doing the same.   And to add insult to injury with our experience one of my guests got TRAPPED in their elevator for 35+ minutes.   That same guest was there celebrating their anniversary and the 3 nites they were there the air conditioning wasn't working whch I noticed looking at reviews of this property AFTER we left there has been numerous complaints from others about both elevator issues and lack of A/C.    

The GM at the resort named Jose Santacruz did NOTHING to remedy the problem.   He played off a good front by wanting to sit down with me to hear all of our complaints but after leaving the resort back in late Dec it is now 2 months later and no followup from him whatsoever.   Royal Corporate called to find out more details but as expected they did nothing.   I would NOT recommend this resort to anyone.

Regarding the above issues about aggressive sales practices, badgering people at the resort to listen to presentations, gift and fraudulent contract I will explain now.   Our other poor experience was at Playa del Carmen Royal Grand Riveria.   Beautiful resort but the same problems with the harassment of their employees.  

They erect timeshare booths near the entrances to the restaurants where you have to go past them.   They are relentless on trying to get you to goto their presentations.   AFter several attempts they started offering us gifts which I later found out it is illegal per mexico law to exchange gifts to listen to a timeshare presentation.  

Initially they said you can only listen if you're married.   We were not but they insisted we go.   When we arrived we told them again we weren't married but a manager stated we should listen.   After 30+ mins of listening we decided to leave but told we would not receive our gifts.   So we stayed awhile longer to get them.  

Toward the end I thought the vacation concept was different than the extremely negative perception of timeshares so I thought I'd try it.   While filling out the contract they put married.  I questioned it and they said it was ok because the lady I was with was not on the contract.   In a sense it was true that she wasn't nor would she be liable but after I left it dawned on me it was a fraudulent contract.  

If they were honest they would have changed right?   They made promises that you could save up your points to stay at better properties or upgraded rooms which I later found out in year 2 that was FALSE.  you have to use them by the end of yr 2 or you lose them.   Another false claim the sale person stated.  

Regarding the points THINK ABOUT THIS.   Why do you have to spend a minimum of $15,000.00 to join a vacation club when you can do everything yourself by going under any of the travel websites that don't cost a PENNY.   With that outrageous membership cost you really don't get any discounts on rooms.  

I've done a cost analysis on 10 different rooms and on average I noticed by doing it yourself you are still saving $120-300 by doing it yourself without any obligations.   yes, no fees, no maintenance dues, no harassment of sales or customer service dept which I experienced all the time.   There were a couple of months where I had customer service reps calling me 3-4x per month insisting that I call them so they can help me book a vacation using my points.    

With all of the above problems I personally experienced and have noticed numerous other people who've mentioned very similar problems with Royal Holiday I'm informing you to do your DUE DILIGENCE!!!!!!!   Like they say the grass isn't always greener on the other side.    One can always go spray paint the other side to make it look beautiful but when the rain and problems come the true colors come out.    

I'm building a website called SQUEAKY WHEELZ which should be up and running shortly showing the number of true complaints about Royal Holiday.   Consumers will be able to see a common theme of problems and the ones that I always hear/see on the internet are unscrupulous aggressive sales practices, offering of gifts, fraudulent contracts and benefit claims, no true savings and I'll post more as I continue to assimulate my findings.