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I purchased against Rule 1 (don't buy from teh developer) last year, and now that I've used it I thought I'd post my experience/impressiion.
Disclaimer: I'm not an experienced Timeshare vet, I'm not as smart as most of you vets and I find the tone here to be condescending at times so don't expect much of a debate from me...I'm just here to report (cuz I said I would in some other VVV thread that I can't find now). I don't post here much...Don't read here much...take this w/ a grain. (I do get a $10,000 kickback on all VVV's I sign up, but THATS IT...no other interest
..... kidding of course).
We stayed at the Grandview in Las Vegas for a week (a week in Vegas is like eating 2 servings of a too-rich desert....thats prolly another thread). It was very new, very clean, housekeeping got into our place once during the week, the appliances were very nice, granite counters, tile, flat screens in the bedroom & living room, jet tub, king bed.
My only complaint was that on 2 occasions there was an unusually loud plumbing nose...water in a pipe behind a thin wall?
The location is 10 minutes south of the strip via I-15. Its across the street from a very new, very nice casino (South Point) complete w/ several restaurants, Century theater (16 screens), and a craps table that coughed up $325 during an unusual evening w/ "Phil" as the shooter (never seen a roll like that before).
The reason I violated Rule 1 is that this membership is not re-saleable. You can hand it down to your kids, but you can't sell it....so, to the best of my knowledge, its only available from the developer.
The points I liked were that instead of a maintenance fee there's a membership fee of $189. That fee is the same whether you own 1 week or 52. The cheapest you can find is $299 for a 2 bedroom for 1 week. We got $299 for the 1 week we just spent. The $299 is only available within 45 days, so if you don't mind spending as much as $799 you can book out many months in advance.
The downside is that the availablility is dicey....if you're flexible you're likely to do fine. IF you need distant planning then this isn't for you. We actually saw & wanted a resort a block off the strip (Summer Bay?). It was available for 299 during numerous weeks preceding our booking, but when we got to the 45 day mark from our vacation week it was nowhere to be found, but there were other choices. As it turned out, the Grandview was a delight & I'll return there in the future. I have to admit that I'd be nervous if I got a GREAT airline ticket deal for 6 months out & was waiting for the 45 day mark to pull the trigger.
We took a couple of tours while there; one at the Grandview & another at the II Planet Hollywood on the strip (just to get some tickets & buffet vouchers), and what struck me was that the maintenance fees and RCI/II membership fees made those properties REALLY expensive....way more than the VVV membership.....so to me, the flexibility necessary is rewarded w/ smaller cash outlay. I'm a "bottom line" kinda guy...add the fees together, divide by 7, THATS how much the Timeshare costs. VVV is as little as $70 a nite if you only own 1 week....goes down if you own more weeks cuz the $189 doesn't change.
Furthermore, I called the VVV folks to see if they had any hotel deals for a short trip we took in May. The gal asked for a price range, found us 2 Baymont inn rooms per our schedule, booked em, and emailed me the receipt/confirmation.....1 call. Very friendly & helpful. Now, did she get me a "cheaper deal" than I could've found? No. It was like an Orbitz deal or something...but I couldn't have found it cheaper, and she did the work for me while I drove home from work: done.
So.....is this the best deal on the planet? I dunno...prolly not. But its not rip off either. The peeps are nice, the one place we stayed was smashing. After the 2 VERY annoying (but lucrative) tours we called the VVV place to investigate expanding our package to more weeks. We're mulling it over now; prolly gonna pull the trigger.
Disclaimer: I'm not an experienced Timeshare vet, I'm not as smart as most of you vets and I find the tone here to be condescending at times so don't expect much of a debate from me...I'm just here to report (cuz I said I would in some other VVV thread that I can't find now). I don't post here much...Don't read here much...take this w/ a grain. (I do get a $10,000 kickback on all VVV's I sign up, but THATS IT...no other interest
..... kidding of course).We stayed at the Grandview in Las Vegas for a week (a week in Vegas is like eating 2 servings of a too-rich desert....thats prolly another thread). It was very new, very clean, housekeeping got into our place once during the week, the appliances were very nice, granite counters, tile, flat screens in the bedroom & living room, jet tub, king bed.
My only complaint was that on 2 occasions there was an unusually loud plumbing nose...water in a pipe behind a thin wall?
The location is 10 minutes south of the strip via I-15. Its across the street from a very new, very nice casino (South Point) complete w/ several restaurants, Century theater (16 screens), and a craps table that coughed up $325 during an unusual evening w/ "Phil" as the shooter (never seen a roll like that before).
The reason I violated Rule 1 is that this membership is not re-saleable. You can hand it down to your kids, but you can't sell it....so, to the best of my knowledge, its only available from the developer.
The points I liked were that instead of a maintenance fee there's a membership fee of $189. That fee is the same whether you own 1 week or 52. The cheapest you can find is $299 for a 2 bedroom for 1 week. We got $299 for the 1 week we just spent. The $299 is only available within 45 days, so if you don't mind spending as much as $799 you can book out many months in advance.
The downside is that the availablility is dicey....if you're flexible you're likely to do fine. IF you need distant planning then this isn't for you. We actually saw & wanted a resort a block off the strip (Summer Bay?). It was available for 299 during numerous weeks preceding our booking, but when we got to the 45 day mark from our vacation week it was nowhere to be found, but there were other choices. As it turned out, the Grandview was a delight & I'll return there in the future. I have to admit that I'd be nervous if I got a GREAT airline ticket deal for 6 months out & was waiting for the 45 day mark to pull the trigger.
We took a couple of tours while there; one at the Grandview & another at the II Planet Hollywood on the strip (just to get some tickets & buffet vouchers), and what struck me was that the maintenance fees and RCI/II membership fees made those properties REALLY expensive....way more than the VVV membership.....so to me, the flexibility necessary is rewarded w/ smaller cash outlay. I'm a "bottom line" kinda guy...add the fees together, divide by 7, THATS how much the Timeshare costs. VVV is as little as $70 a nite if you only own 1 week....goes down if you own more weeks cuz the $189 doesn't change.
Furthermore, I called the VVV folks to see if they had any hotel deals for a short trip we took in May. The gal asked for a price range, found us 2 Baymont inn rooms per our schedule, booked em, and emailed me the receipt/confirmation.....1 call. Very friendly & helpful. Now, did she get me a "cheaper deal" than I could've found? No. It was like an Orbitz deal or something...but I couldn't have found it cheaper, and she did the work for me while I drove home from work: done.
So.....is this the best deal on the planet? I dunno...prolly not. But its not rip off either. The peeps are nice, the one place we stayed was smashing. After the 2 VERY annoying (but lucrative) tours we called the VVV place to investigate expanding our package to more weeks. We're mulling it over now; prolly gonna pull the trigger.
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