Playa Maria Beach Club in Mazatlan

[flexible Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close flexible]

Does anyone know about the new owners of Playa Maria Beach Club in Mazatlan.

My husband purchased from the original owner Luis Medina Z____. He still owns Marina Del Rey next door and a tower on the other side of Playa Maria Beach Club. He sold PMBC about February 2007 to a company that was also the major owner of Isla Mazatlan.

Isla Mazatlan had many problems. I 'was told everything is in the courts.' My best understanding is that the Mexican Bankruptcy Court sold PMBC.

We stayed at PMBC from 4-31 October. It wasn't until about October 30 that the new owners showed up, fired most of the staff except maids and the front desk personnel. There were meetings we saw for people who would be managing and advertising the restaurant.

There were a lot of improvements and painting accomplished in the last week of October so it is probably a good thing that it was sold.

Our neighbor the sign for "Playa Maria" was taken down about October 30. She thought the new owners company name sounded like Crown Bay. Also she believed they had a project being built in the Golden Zone in Mazatlan and also had a property in Puerto Vallarta and somewhere in/near Cabo.

We are in Nuevo Vallarta the next few months and I would like to see their property in PV if possible.

If anyone knows the name of the new owners, or their affiliated resorts I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

[flexible Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close flexible]

"Crown Resort" - a Las Vegas Company

A friend visiting Mazatlan just emailed that she was told "Crown Resort" a Las Vegas company purchased Playa Maria in Mazatlan from the bankruptcy court. She said she heard they were not honoring existing contracts unless TS owners upgraded. But she also heard they are also trying the resort again.

She mentioned they have a high rise project in the Golden Zone in Mazatlan but concrete foundation is barely in. When we were in Mazatlan in October we visited a new project in the Golden Zone that mentioned they purchased some of the Isla Mazatlan property from the bankruptcy court. They said it will also give them slips for people to dock their boats/yachts. Parts of Isla Mazatlan and Playa Maria were owned by the same developer.

I would really appreciate if anyone knows more about the Playa Maria contracts. We had 14 accumulated weeks and were able to use/bank some this year. But the reservations manager miscounted and told us we had 12 weeks. So if I could figure out who to contact I might be able to use the remaining two weeks to bank with Interval.

They don't reply to their old email address. Probably because they domain name was not part of the sale. Some other guests in October told us the phones were not in order. So I am not sure if they have new phone numbers.

Thanks.

[flexible Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close flexible]

Update

I was told by the resort next door to contact someone who's email used CrownBay | Condominio - Hotel Mazatlán Sinaloa México, Bienes y Raíces, Renta de departamentos y condominios as the domain name.

It redirected to CrownBay | Condominio - Hotel Mazatlán Sinaloa México, Bienes y Raíces, Renta de departamentos y condominios My best guess is this is the company that acquired Playa Maria.

I would really appreciate hearing from other owners at Playa Maria. We had deposited accumulated weeks with an exchange company. They were approved but the reservations manager is no longer employed.

Exchangers arrived for 22-29 Nov 2008 with no problem. But another couple arrived for 29 Nov-6 Dec 2008 and and the exchange company has told me the resort has not honored the agreed exchange.

Thanks

[Curious1 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Curious1]

Our experience at playa maria (now crown bay golf & marina)

On November 16, 2008, we arrived in Mazatlan for a vacation stay at the Mayan Palace Resort. We own at Mayan Palace and stayed there but decided to contact Playa Maria (another resort we own in Mazatlan) to request an owners update since we had not been to Mazatlan since December 2006.

We personally boarded a city bus on Tuesday morning, November 18, 2008 from Mayan Palace to the resort Playa Maria. When we arrived at the Playa Maria location, to our surprise, the resort name had been changed to Crown Bay Golf & Marina. We were enthusiastically greeted by a young man name Luis. We requested to speak with our previous salesman representative Oscar Ibarra whom we had been working with and we trusted. The young man, Luis stated that Oscar was off that day and would be in the next day, which was November 19, 2008. We scheduled the Owners Update for Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 8:30 PM expecting to meet with Oscar.

On November 19, 2008, we were picked up outside the Mayan Palace entrance by a driver from Crown Bay and taken to Crown Bay (formerly Playa Maria). We asked Luis if Oscar was in and he said "no Oscar was out today." (They kept saying that Oscar was off but I learned from another owner that Oscar has not been at Playa Maria for a year or so). He excused himself and suddenly a man appeared and introduced himself as the Customer Service Manager Frank Aguilar and stated he would help us.


We explained that we wanted an Owners Update and also mentioned that several months ago we had been contacted by someone name Tom about renting our weeks at Playa Maria and asked if that company was available.


Frank offered breakfast (the standard routine) and we discussed the fact that the company that had called us was not available. Frank mentioned that Playa Maria had filed bankruptcy and Crown Bay had purchased Playa Maria from bankruptcy. After finishing our breakfast, Frank walked us to the Sales Office next door to Crown Bay.


When we sat down with Frank, he did not have our contract at first & stated that they did not have all the owners’ contracts and were trying to locate the contracts. The only paperwork he presented to us was a copy of our Playa Maria contract and our Isla Mazatlan Lifetime Charter Membership Certificate.



We did not take any of our paperwork with us when we went to Mazatlan, which would not have made any difference. When we mentioned that we had copies at home, he went to one of the staff and came back with the copies. He started going over the figures and stated that if we renewed our contract with Crown Bay, we had $50,000 equity in our Junior Suite, they would give us 4 weeks, 50% Golf certificate, a furniture letter if we purchased a fractional ownership, after he finished calculating the total equity was $140,000. The catch was that we had to pay $7500.00 to keep our Playa Maria contract (we purchased on December 08, 2003 for 12,500.00) which now is the property of Crown Bay. He stated that our current contract with Playa Maria was zero. So, all the money we had paid to pay off ($12,500) the Junior Suite contract and a maintenance fee (paid off on 12/07/2004 in the amount of $4716.80 with a 20% discount for early payment) was void unless we renewed with Crown Bay.

We stated that we did not need 4 weeks since we owned at 3 other resorts and we are not retired so we did not want the 4 weeks and we did not need the golf certificate since we don't play golf. Each time we had an objection, he would excuse himself and pretend to call the owners (that was just smoke screen because the call was very brief).



At this point, I was so angry because I felt we were being screwed-why could they not grandfather our contract since the Playa Maria contract & all maintenance fees were paid in full? I left the decision up to my husband to decide because I was so angry; I left and went outside for a while.



To make a long story short, my husband finally settled on one week in a one bedroom unit and we were to pay the difference in our paid off maintenance fee (which was $268.00) and the new maintenance fee when we reserved. Plus we would have to pay a $99.00 association fee they called it which would give us the right as a member of Crown Bay Condo-Hotel & Residences Club to have access to all of our affiliated properties and developments and to cover the Club Use fees. We ended up paying $3500.00, paying 50% down and the balance in 60 days to keep the timeshare that we had already paid off! I felt they were willing to negotiate with us since it was my perception they needed the money because they expect to turn Playa Maria resort into a hotel environment with the golf clubhouse on the Playa Maria property.



Here are the new maintenance fees: Jr Suite $350.00 USD, Master Suite $550.00 USD, 2 bedrooms $850.00 USD, 3 bedrooms $950.00 USD, 4 bedrooms $1250.00 USD.



We would like to know if this is legitimate? Can a company that takes over another company for whatever reason make the current contract null & void and force owners that have paid off their timeshare contract and maintenance fees renew a contract as if one never existed? Frank kept saying they would honor our Playa Maria contract but if they were going to honor our current contract, I would think that we should have been able to keep everything as is except changing the new name to Crown Bay.



What a rip-off!



John & Mary Ellen
medanuser1949@aol.com

PS-We have emailed PROFECO to see what our options are. It will be interesting to find out what different owners have been offered.











-------------------------------------

[flexible Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close flexible]

On November 16, 2008, We requested to speak with our previous salesman representative Oscar Ibarra whom we had been working with and we trusted. The young man, Luis stated that Oscar was off that day and would be in the next day, which was November 19, 2008.

Thank you for your informative reply!

We last saw Oscar Ibarra at Playa Maria about February or March 2007. Then we saw him at Isla Mazatlan. Both Playa Maria and Isla Mazatlan were owned by the same company at that time.

We were at Playa Maria for four weeks in October 2008 and asked various people where Oscar Ibarra could be found. We eventually found him at Luna Palace (just South of Pueblo Bonito) in the mid town area. He said he had not worked for Isla Mazatlan for quite some time.

I will email you directly.

Georgeann@msn.com

[cowlespv Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cowlespv]

Playa Maria Bankruptcy

On November 23 we tried to reserve a week at Playa Maria and we greeted with the stall technique. After several days of trying to reserve a week, I was notified today that Palya Maria was bankrupt and has been purchased by Crown Bay.

Carlos Aguilar said that we would send me via email the information to renew or contract with Crown Bay. He said that all details of our contract will be honored by the new owners after we pay a nominal fee. If we do not pay this fee than we will loose everything.

We have paid the enitire purchase price of $7,000 for a 1 bedroom plus 50 bonus weeks to be used at our convenience. Our maintenance fee are locked in at $348. I do not want to throw away the $7000 but I am very concerned that this can happen again and again.

ken@e3pl.com

[MonIve Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MonIve]

Playa Maria

We just got back last night (Dec 1st) from a week stay at what was called the Playa Maria Beach Club. Yes, the new sign says CROWN BAY and they are apparently the new owners. We don't know much about them except they also have a big tower going up in the Golden Zone. The rumors on the street is that there a a number of very mad time share owners. Crown Bay is not going to honor any of the exisiting contracts, so if you own there, you will be 'encouraged' to 'upgrade' to Crown Bay. It seems you will pay more money and your maintenance fee is going to about double. Crown Bay bought all the Isla Mazatlan properties. The locals told us that since Isla Mazatlan declared bankruptcy, all the previous contracts are null & void. We are not owners there and got into the resort thru RCI. It's a great place and we wish all you 'old' owners good luck in dealing with Crown Bay!

[jenndow Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jenndow]

Isla Mazatlan/Crown Bay problem

We bought a 3 bdrm/4bath unit in 2006 at Isla Mazatlan for Januarys beginning 2010, but specifically unit 58. Problem is, last look showed that unit still unfinished (Jan 2008) and not even owned by the same group.

Does anyone know if Crown Bay bought all the units at Isla Mazatlan at bankruptcy? I can't get an answer from anyone at previously known addresses but will try the Crown Bay email mentioned here.

I'd be willing to coordinate an owner's newsletter if there are others in the same fix. Respond to private email or here is ok.

Jennifer and Dan
Jenndow@live.com

[hhanly Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hhanly]

We purchased our timeshare in November 2000 before Playa Maria Beach Club was fully built

1. 1 week in a Junior suite/ocean front for a total of $5150.00 for 25 yrs
2. Use period … 1 week floating in red plus 15 bonus weeks in a Junior
Suite and 5 bonus weeks in a master suite both in prime red time
3. The bonus weeks have the right to accelerate and accumulate and
exchange via Interval International
4. Maintenance fee frozen at $250.00 (they said that was given to
initial buyers only as an incentive … but looking at comments from
other PMBC timeshare owners they gave it to everyone …so PMBC
ownership was heading for trouble all along)
5. Luis Medina Zavala was the owner and Carlos and Karla were our
primary contacts.
6. New ownership 2008-assessment notice requested an extra 3% for
the Maintenance fee plus 18% tax.
7. $250.00 + $7.50 3% increase + $46.35 ...18% tax increase +
$303.85 US .We pay in Canadian funds so we pay more.


We consulted a lawyer (International Law) and he checked as to our legal status with Mexican authorities.

a) The new owners technically are legally bound by the original owner's
contract and should negotiate with the PMBC timeshare owners
but the lawyer advised the new owner could ignore the contracts.
b) Its each individual timeshare owner against the company with most
timeshare owners out of the country so were limited as to what we
can do and who to contact, resources etc.
c) Ethically if the new owner wanted to increase the Maintenance fee
they needed to … present a reasonable business case to the
timeshare owners and we had the option of choosing to pay the
extra fee or not … but it was in our interest to keep PMBC solvent
and in good condition.
d) Also advised to expect a Maintenance fee of $250.00 frozen for 25
years was “not realistic” (live and learn) so we should be flexible.
e) If all the PMBC timeshare owners were to unite in a "class action"
with one voice …we would have considerable power with many
resources and … the power of the press and the Internet … can
quickly change a companies policies and even affect gov’t policies.
f) Tourism is the fourth largest source of foreign exchange for the
country. Mexico is the eighth most visited country in the world with
over 20 million tourists a year.


8. After several letters’ with Carlos and his explanation that PMBC was
getting run down we paid the new amount as we found the needs to
be justified and d) above made sense.
9. We have never used our PMBC timeshare as we have used Interval
International to exchange to go to other destinations so we couldn’t
assess its condition.
10. The 2009 assessment notice requested an increase again to $350.00
Maintenance fee + $52.50 IVA tax = $402.50
11. We paid this amount.


Summary


We have been on some “All Inclusives” and a time-share is not financially feasible unless you take 2 weeks or more. You have some advantage of choice if you can get what/where/when via Interval International. II is not as good as it was as many resorts are going the All-Inclusive route.

We are at a point now on whether to keep our timeshare. Its induced us to travel since 2000, a great benefit, but we feel we are slowly being extorted and at the mercy of a foreign owner with a questionable support gov’t regulations.


Lessons learned:

• Never enter into foreign contracts without a lawyer
• If its to good to be true … its not true …i.e. $250.00 Maintenance fee
frozen for 25 years
• Someday these Mexican owners are going to kill their own golden
goose … some of our friends won’t go to Mexico because of crime and
shady dealings (While in an exchange hotel suite in Puerto Vallarta in
2007, I awoke to find someone in our suite. I played it such to let the
person escape but our patio and Jacuzzi doors were locked after that)
• Move on

[hhanly Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hhanly]

see my information dated jan 9-10 on the web site

[valerieh Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close valerieh]

Playa Maria now Torrenza?

My grandparents asked me to find other people who may have been affected by the changing of Playa Maria to the Torrenza Botique hotel. They had originally purchased their timeshare at the Playa Maria over 10 years ago, and the maintenance fees were set in their contract. After the new owners took over, they almost tripled the maintence fees! Obviously, that seems illegal, and my grandparents are trying to find a way for them to be forced to honor the original contract.

To make matters worse, because of the unaffordable maintenance fees, the Torrenza people said that they would sell my grandparents share if they wanted to buy into the main Torrenza time share instead (which has a much lower maintenance fee.) They agreed to do that, gave Torrenza $17,000 with the stipulation in the contract that they would sell their remaining weeks within 150 days. The 150 days has long past, nothing has sold as promised, so now they are just out a LOT of money.

Anyway, I wanted to find other people who have been treated unfairly by the changing of hands of the Playa Maria, and see if something can be done. I think there is more power in numbers.

Does anyone out there know if there is legal recourse for what is happening to the Playa Maria owners? Is it possible to start a class action law suit against these people?

Please send me a message if you've been affected by the changing of ownership of the Playa Maria, and/or if you have any information on how to proceed with getting them to honor the original contract. If Playa Maria can do this, are any timeshares safe???? I think the Mexican structure might make some changes if people began getting noisy toward what is happening.

[valerieh Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close valerieh]

Let's do something together?

We purchased our timeshare in November 2000 before Playa Maria Beach Club was fully built

1. 1 week in a Junior suite/ocean front for a total of $5150.00 for 25 yrs
2. Use period … 1 week floating in red plus 15 bonus weeks in a Junior
Suite and 5 bonus weeks in a master suite both in prime red time
3. The bonus weeks have the right to accelerate and accumulate and
exchange via Interval International
4. Maintenance fee frozen at $250.00 (they said that was given to
initial buyers only as an incentive … but looking at comments from
other PMBC timeshare owners they gave it to everyone …so PMBC
ownership was heading for trouble all along)
5. Luis Medina Zavala was the owner and Carlos and Karla were our
primary contacts.
6. New ownership 2008-assessment notice requested an extra 3% for
the Maintenance fee plus 18% tax.
7. $250.00 + $7.50 3% increase + $46.35 ...18% tax increase +
$303.85 US .We pay in Canadian funds so we pay more.


We consulted a lawyer (International Law) and he checked as to our legal status with Mexican authorities.

a) The new owners technically are legally bound by the original owner's
contract and should negotiate with the PMBC timeshare owners
but the lawyer advised the new owner could ignore the contracts.
b) Its each individual timeshare owner against the company with most
timeshare owners out of the country so were limited as to what we
can do and who to contact, resources etc.
c) Ethically if the new owner wanted to increase the Maintenance fee
they needed to … present a reasonable business case to the
timeshare owners and we had the option of choosing to pay the
extra fee or not … but it was in our interest to keep PMBC solvent
and in good condition.
d) Also advised to expect a Maintenance fee of $250.00 frozen for 25
years was “not realistic” (live and learn) so we should be flexible.
e) If all the PMBC timeshare owners were to unite in a "class action"
with one voice …we would have considerable power with many
resources and … the power of the press and the Internet … can
quickly change a companies policies and even affect gov’t policies.
f) Tourism is the fourth largest source of foreign exchange for the
country. Mexico is the eighth most visited country in the world with
over 20 million tourists a year.


8. After several letters’ with Carlos and his explanation that PMBC was
getting run down we paid the new amount as we found the needs to
be justified and d) above made sense.
9. We have never used our PMBC timeshare as we have used Interval
International to exchange to go to other destinations so we couldn’t
assess its condition.
10. The 2009 assessment notice requested an increase again to $350.00
Maintenance fee + $52.50 IVA tax = $402.50
11. We paid this amount.


Summary


We have been on some “All Inclusives” and a time-share is not financially feasible unless you take 2 weeks or more. You have some advantage of choice if you can get what/where/when via Interval International. II is not as good as it was as many resorts are going the All-Inclusive route.

We are at a point now on whether to keep our timeshare. Its induced us to travel since 2000, a great benefit, but we feel we are slowly being extorted and at the mercy of a foreign owner with a questionable support gov’t regulations.


Lessons learned:

• Never enter into foreign contracts without a lawyer
• If its to good to be true … its not true …i.e. $250.00 Maintenance fee
frozen for 25 years
• Someday these Mexican owners are going to kill their own golden
goose … some of our friends won’t go to Mexico because of crime and
shady dealings (While in an exchange hotel suite in Puerto Vallarta in
2007, I awoke to find someone in our suite. I played it such to let the
person escape but our patio and Jacuzzi doors were locked after that)
• Move on

I also agree that there is power in numbers. My grandparents are currently in contact with a lawyer regarding the increase in their maintenance fees, as well as another issue with Playa Maria/Torrenza (you can read my post in this forum.)

Did the lawyer you contacted advise on how to get a class action lawsuit going? There seems to be a lot of people online who have been affected by this. I was thinking also of trying to contact a news source to get some publicity and therefore apply pressure on the local government in Mazatlan to take action. If their main source of income is from tourism, they might care more than just getting some angry emails now and again.

[89lklk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 89lklk]

Playa maria beach club to crown bay

We have a number to the person in charge of the contracts with Playa Maria Beach Club. 800-381-9845

At least there is someone to talk to and they are addressing the situation.

Good Luck To All!