Aimfair Gatherings in Nuevo Vallarta
November 9, 2016 and November 16, 2016
Aimfair Gathering - November 16, 2016 at the outside seating area off the Luxxe Tower One bar. A bright reflection is reduced by artificial means. Please overlook this imperfection. This photo is uesed for both posts - November 9 and November 16.
Our 8th Annual Aimfair Gathering was a lively group! One fellow was loud and rude (He obviously was not a member of the Aimfair community; instead he heard about the Gathering at the pool and dropped in (no pun intended).), but otherwise, the gathering was well received and informative. Over 45 people participated, which is our largest Gathering to date. The meeting place was in the Punta bar area of Burger Custom Made at the long, high table. Unfortunately, our normal meeting place in the outside seating area off the Tower One Lobby Bar was taken at the last minute that afternoon. Regardless, Aimfair members and non-Aimfair members met for the first time, mingled and shared their ideas, experiences and other fun stuff and generally had a fun 1 1/2 hour conversation.
It was the first time a Vida Vacations representative has participated in one of our gatherings. Brett Estes, a retired, very experienced executive with Grupo Vidanta, who spent the prior 12 years as the head of all Customer Service for the company, is now the Director of Member Relations. The goal of his department is to find ways to "Improve The Member Experience" while on vacation at one of the resorts.
The format was casual and equivalent to a "Town Meeting", whereby participants were able to ask questions about issues that concerned them. Issues that were individual and personal were not encouraged. Brett volunteered to provide guidance personally at another time.
Following is a summary of the different discussion topics that were raised. Also, follow this link to view the results of a survey some ot the attendees completed: CN Dec162016 Gathering Survey Enjoy!
And now for the Aimfair Gathering the following week:
Aimfair Gathering – November 9, 2016
- Question: Addressed to Brett: What is your background and are the objectives of the new department you are heading?
- Answer: Brett spent more than 20 years with Grupo Vidanta, and most recently 12 years as the head of Member Services for all resorts.
- He is very experienced at resolving member issues resulting from misunderstandings about contracts purchased by members.
- His new responsibility is Director of Member Relations for Vida Vacations.
- The goal of his new department is to find ways to “Improve the Member Experience”.
- Question: When will the Online Reservation System be working again?
- Answer: Coming! Company spent millions of dollars to improve the system. Unfortunately, the transition is much more involved than believed. Now trying to improve the system.
- One positive outcome: Improved member security. Information leaks are vastly reduced because of the new system. May ultimately resort to an all-electronic record system, which would eliminate physical interface with documents and reduce the possibility of unauthorized distribution of member information to scammers.
- Challenge: Create a system that records the many different addenda each member has attached to their account. The number of variables is too high, reducing the probability that an all-inclusive system can be created.
- More work ahead. Allowing members to view their inventory and make reservations online is a goal that the company is working hard to achieve.
- Question: Member Updates are camouflaged, uncomfortable attempts to sell more weeks – not the possibility to obtain updates on changes to properties and plans for the near and far future. They are perceived as wastes of time and uncomfortable, pushy upgrade sessions. How can these change to become more productive?
- Answer: Vida Vacations management wants member feedback.
- Be sure to complete the marketing survey that is provided when you leave your update session. There are four questions.
- Many Aimfair Gathering participants did not know about the survey. Brett looking in to that.
- Also, members can send emails to Customer Care Center or Member Services.
- Sales person assignments – not sure how they are assigned. This is an internal system. Some sales people move from management to sales and others move from sales to management. Sales person moving to management will recommend replacements.
- Suggestion from a member for dealing with updates that last too long – which are stated to be 45 minutes and actually last 3 hours or more.
- Tell the sales person you are there for a specific period of time. When that time expires, feel free to leave.
- Just say “no” if you are not ready to commit.
- Question: We received an email that was signed by someone with a similar name as yours. The email promoted a rental program that appeared to be from Vida Vacations. Is the email genuine?
- Answer: Vida Vacations does not rent weeks for members.
- Vida Vacations does not solicit members to rent or sell their weeks for them.
- Such emails are scams and attempts to gain information and collect money illegitimately, and they should be ignored.
- Contact Customer Service with questions about emails from Vida Vacations or Vidanta to confirm the origin or lack thereof – telephone number in Nuevo Vallarta is +52 (322) 176-1431 Ext. 6612 or Member Services at +52-322-226-4000 Ext. 4725 or 4726.
- Vidanta sent an email to all recipients of the scam email refuting the offer.
- Question: Are updates mandatory? Are there repercussions if you don’t attend?
- Answer: There are no repercussions if you do not attend other than you do not receive your discount for attending an update.
- Room assignments are made based upon Member’s Equity. The greater a member’s investment the higher the likelihood of the member getting his or her room request filled.
- By not attending an update, you cannot increase your equity, which then may impact your room requests.
- Question: We received an email that says it is from Vidanta regarding a change in their contract. One recent email offered a “Waiver of Transfer Fees”. Is this legitimate?
- Answer: Transfer Fees are required in older contracts when members want to sell their contracts. The fees are outlined in the contract.
- There is no Transfer Fee when transferring to an heir.
- Vidanta does not send emails that discuss member contracts and make offers to improve them. Any such emails are scams.
- New contracts may be written without the transfer fee requirement.
- Members may request an addendum to upgrade existing contracts to eliminate or reduce the Transfer Fee.
- Question: Why has Resort Management chosen to close the back gate (old entrance) to make leaving the property by foot so difficult? Members feel they are prisoners and are offended.
- Answer: No official answer provided. Following week it was announced for security reasons
- Members suggested the reason for the closure is related to increasing revenues for on-site restaurants.
- Members suggested a way to gain Management’s attention to the issue is to organize a campaign that is designed to influence the AAA Five Diamond status of the resort.
- Question: Will Cirque du Soliel actually open in Nuevo Vallarta?
- Answer: Yes. Construction is underway now. Cranes, rebar extending into the air and massive cement foundations are in place.
- Plans are in place to take members in jeeps or other vehicles to the center of the construction site to watch the progress.
- Scheduled opening is December 2018.
- Question: How are rooms assigned? Why do members have to leave their rooms if they are staying for more than one week?
- Answer: A person who works for the Hotel and in conjunction with input from Vida Vacations personnel assigns rooms prior to arrival.
- The process is complicated because of the mix of members spending more than one week at a time.
- Brett’s department is working on the process, and he is hopeful changes can be introduced so people do not have to move.
- During High Season the issue is a nightmare!
- Question: Why don’t golf privileges apply to the Greg Norman course?
- Answer: Golf privileges were introduced as a benefit to encourage new members to buy or upgrade.
- They applied to courses that were in place at the time the benefits were offered.
- New contracts do not offer these benefits.
- The Greg Norman course is not a course. Therefore it is not included in the original golf benefits package.
- Question: Why do sales presentations describe events and activities that never come to fruition? East Cape, Punta Cana, etc.
- Answer: The owner informs staff members about what is in the “pipeline” at a given point in time.
- The plans described sometimes change, and with changes comes postponement or cancellation of earlier plans.
- The result is some plans do not get started or may get changed, and the end result is different from the vision that was initially described. Results are beautiful which everyone agrees upon.
- Question: Are Senior Certificates being offered any longer?
- Answer: Senior Certificates are a benefit offered to long-standing members. The program was never meant to be permanent to extend to newer products. Mr. Chavez instituted this for original Mayan and Grand Mayan that reached retirement age and couldn’t afford to pay maintenance on their retirement budget. Never intended for the upper quality products, company cannot afford to maintain the units and property when no maintenance is being collected.
- New contracts do not offer such benefits.
- Senior Certificate use is permitted but use of other benefits such as golf and massage benefits are not permitted because of the already discounted price offered by the certificates.
- Question: What is Platinum Status?
- Answer: The nomenclature is confusing because there are many different references to Platinum in loyalty plans and member status.
- Platinum Members receive certain benefits. These include:
- Butler Service
- Preferred Restaurant Reservations
- Preferred SPA Services
- Preferred Tee Time Reservations
- Preferred Check-in
- Platinum Reservation Line
- Preferred Views
- Platinum privileges for other programs do not apply to the Platinum Member Program that is assigned to qualified contracts.
A lot of ground was covered in these first Gatherings of 2016. Brett's involvement was well received and appreciated. His job is difficult because the many moving parts provide opportunities for miscommunication. He wants to maintain open channels to improve member experiences, and we are all in favor of exposing Aimfair members to these forums. Nothing is ever perfect. But the manner by which misunderstandings are treated improves loyalty and confidence, don't you think?
Aimfair Gathering – November 16, 2016
- Question: Addressed to Brett: What is your background and are the objectives of the new department you are heading?
- Answer: Brett spent more than 20 years with Grupo Vidanta, and most recently 12 years as the head of Customer Service for all resorts.
- He is very experienced at resolving member issues resulting from misunderstandings about contracts purchased by members.
- His new responsibility is Director of Member Relations for Vida Vacations.
- The goal of his new department is to find ways to “Improve The Member Experience”.
- Question: How do scammers get member’s names, telephone numbers and email addresses?
- Answer: Vidanta does not give out member information. Rather it must be leaked.
- Management is trying to close leaks by expanding its electronic record system. This system has significantly increased member record security.
- Old records are in the hands of scammers. Information is recycled.
- New leaks must be reported to Brett directly so he can track down the possible sources of leaked information.
- Vidanta has successfully tracked down individuals and arrested them.
- The process is ongoing.
- Call Vida Vacations Customer Service and Check Aimfair for information about questionable companies.
- Question: What are the top three issues the company wants to resolve to improve member relations?
- Return the reservation system to good working order.
- The reservation system does not work.
- Management and the company that sold the system did not fully understand the issues of linking all addenda to every member in one system.
- Two systems are in use:
- The Sales and Reservation System
- The Hotel Booking system.
- The Hotel Booking System does not provide viewers access to all member information.
- Members may have privileges the Hotel System cannot access.
- Result is frustration.
- Brett is looking at ways for the company to resolve this issue.
- Improve the room assignment process.
- Very complicated.
- Seventy percent of member reservation requests are in thirty percent of the available time slots.
- Members have been told they have access when it is not true.
- Sales personnel need to be trained to be more thorough. This is being addressed.
- Members must read documents to be sure the privileges are in writing.
- Can’t rely on oral promises.
- Resolve the issues surrounding leaving the property.
- Maintaining high levels of security is an important reason why management tightly controls getting on and off the property.
- Members should continue sending complaints about the tight restrictions that prevent them from accessing surrounding areas on foot.
- Owner of the property under the northbound exit has not cooperated to date. Result is a long taxi ride when trying to get to Paradise Village shopping, restaurants in the Paradise Village marina area and other areas in Nuevo Vallarta. New turn around being built immediately after crossing bridge, near the Starbuck’s coffee shop.
- Sales team and personnel want you to be free to leave the property easily.
- Question: Why are there instances when reservations made by concierges do not appear in the desired restaurant?
- Concierges need more training.
- Improvements will be made over the coming months.
- Employees are hired at the start of the season and let go as demand for resort use diminishes in May.
- It is a major challenge to train new hires at the beginning of each season.
- Question: We received an email that was signed by someone with a similar name as yours. The email promoted a rental program that appeared to be from Vida Vacations. Is the email genuine?
- Answer: Vida Vacations does not rent weeks for members.
- Vida Vacations does not solicit members to rent or sell their weeks for them.
- Such emails are scams and attempts to gain information and collect money illegitimately, and they should be ignored.
- Contact Customer Service with questions about emails from Vida Vacations or Vidanta to confirm the origin or lack thereof – telephone number in Nuevo Vallarta is +52 (322) 176-1431 Ext. 6612 or Member Services at +52-322-226-4000 Ext. 4725 or 4726.
- Vidanta sent an email to all recipients of the scam email refuting the offer.
- Question: How do members, who change their minds about a purchase they made, contact their sales person to rescind?
- Answer: Make sure you have your sales person’s contact information when you leave your sales update.
- Make sure you have the manager’s contact information when you leave your sales update.
- Contact Customer Service in the sales department to arrange a meeting to rescind.
- Question: Why are reservations so hard to get even in the first hour on the first day of the month.
- Answer: The reservation process is complicated.
- Inventory of available units is allocated among several distinct user groups based upon priorities.
- User groups include Exchange companies and members of the Grand Luxxe Residence Club. Members are given priority.
- Seventy percent of the reservation requests are for thirty percent of the time slots.
- Priorities are based upon levels of investment.
- Making reservations in the other seventy percent of available time slots will result in higher levels of success.
- In addition, there are cancellations, which make available previously reserved time slots.
- Reservation allotments are based upon estimates based upon historical trends. This process increases the complexity of reserving weeks for all members.
- Question: What does Mr. Chavez plan to do with the top two floors of the Punta Tower, given the fact that he does not seem to very often stay in the Punta Tower?
- Answer: The current plan is to make the area into a beach club.
- There are no details yet.
- Question: Why do members of exchanges receive priority over the most desirable rooms?
- Answer: Members are given top priority, however, there are several check in days and at times people here on exchange do get desirable rooms because that’s all that is available.
- Question: Why does the Nuevo Vallarta property have spotty Internet Service?
- Answer: Customer Service in San Diego is getting better.
- Other levels of support are contracted out to different companies.
- By in large, the service is getting better.
- Question: What are Vida Vacations and the Hotel spending money on to improve?
- Answer: Approximately $2 million is budgeted for additional staff to provide the level of service members demand.
- Question: Why is the tip policy in Riviera Maya different from the tip policy in Nuevo Vallarta?
- Answer: Tipped employees generally feel they make more when there is a non-inclusive policy.
- In Riviera Maya, there are a higher percentage of European guests, and European guests are accustomed to having tips included in the final price of a given service. As such, they may not have been leaving a tip, which was hurting the wait staff’s income.
- Otherwise, there is no other known answer for the differences in tipping policies between Riviera Maya and Nuevo Vallarta.
- Question: Why is the shuttle system so inefficient?
- Answer: A new system was implemented during the first week in November.
- Drivers and dispatchers are getting used to the system.
- It should improve with time and experience.
- Question: Why is there an apparent disconnect between concierges making reservations and the reservations not appearing where they were said to have been made?
- Answer: There is no answer to this question other than perhaps the concierge staff needs more training.
- All restaurants are on Open Table, and one can make reservations through Open Table as well.
- Question: Why is there such a big difference in the cost to use the Greg Norman course over the Jack Nicklaus course?
- Answer: Building a new golf course is expensive. Maintaining a golf course is also expensive. Revenues must be increased to cover both the return of the initial cost and the current cost to maintain the courses.
- The $300 cost to play is the Rack Rate for public, non-member play.
- If one upgrades their contract during the sales process, the member cost can be reduced.
- The “Promotional Benefit” package that includes golf in many early contracts will never go away if one never upgrades.
- The company continues to offer improved and updated facilities to stay up with current member trends. Therefore, new courses such as the Greg Norman course may be introduced in the future, and the cost to play such courses is still undecided.
- Comment: Member experiences have not been maintained.
- Answer: This is the reason for Brett’s new position and the investment by Sales and the Hotel to increase staff.
- Question: Is the Mayan Palace going away?
- Answer: The Mayan Palace is not going away.
- This resort is located in all cities except San Jose del Cabo.
- The size of the Mayan Palace membership in Nuevo Vallarta has reduced over time because of opportunities to upgrade memberships to higher levels.
- Question: What is the ownership structure of Grupo Vidanta? Is there still one owner?
- Answer: Yes, Mr. Daniel Chavez Moran is the sole owner of the company.
- Vida Vacations is the branch of Vidanta in charge of marketing and sales of memberships.
- Question: Why are members told one thing and the final result is different? For example, East Cape development has been “promised” by sales staff for years, but construction still has not commenced. Contracts state “Vidanta Golf Courses” yet Greg Norman course is excluded.
- Answer: The owner provides a vision for future activity at the beginning of each year. The sales staff describes this vision during sales updates.
- Plans change throughout the year. Sometimes changes in plans result in what members feel are “broken promises”.
- Improving communication through such forums as the Aimfair Gatherings may reduce such misunderstandings.
- Bridging the gap between what is told to members and what actually evolves is an important objective of the new Member Relations Department.