Do you think DRM has changed?

[ukusacouple]

A genuine question for the regular travellers.

Do you think DRM has changed? (Not talking about the hotel or staff, more the atmosphere and guests.)

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

[Yeipi]

Tough question because we all know everything depends on the crowd, but these are our thoughts. We have been going to DRM once a year since 2013, except for 2021 for obvious reasons. We are not in the LS but really enjoy DRM because of the freedom to do what we can't do anywhere else; we always went in January, when rules were more relaxed (In theory) but in 2022 we went in April and this year we went in February.

What we have noticed in the past few years:

Less sex activity in the jacuzzi area, not only inside the jacuzzi but also on the beds.
More guests not naked in the jacuzzi; in 2022 at one point the ratio was around 70% wearing something, 30% naked. We never saw something similar before Covid.
Less sex activity in the disco.
Less sex activity at the beach, probably helped by the fact that the number of beach beds available now is way too low compared to what was available 10 years ago

Although the prices are getting crazy, we still love Desire and will be there again in a month, so we will see how things are. I know some people might disagree with the list above but this has been our experience.

[ukusacouple]

Yes we agree with everything you said...it's definitely feels less 'sexy'.

Also seems like there are less Canadians and Europeans which is a terrible shame.

[LetsH4veCoffee]

Know you asked about DRM, but we'd say the same about DP as well. We've gone consistently - once to 3-ish times a year - for I guess close to 9 years now. Past few years the vibe has changed for sure, and "less sexy" is a great way to summarize it ukusacouple.

[Yeipi]

I wonder if the lack of activity in this forum is related to this topic...

[beachnbaja]

I know some may not love our answer but we think Desire (both RM and Pearl) changed and have talked openly about it our last few trips. And we have a theory on why that is:
We think it is a combo of both the increased membership and pricing.

It has simply priced out a lot of younger couples and with the increased membership has become a bit....stale. At least in our opinion.

For several years, there was always an infusion of new couples trying Desire out. Not necessarily new to the LS, just the lifestyle. But there is less and less room for that as the resort is now filled with about 80-90% members at any given time.
You see less yellow and white wristbands than ever.

Desire is still the best version of what it is. We love it. And even though there is still a lack of direct competition, there is a lot more competition in other ways now: lifestyle cruises, parties, takeovers, etc have increased dramatically in the last several years. And many of those are simply more "fun" in comparison. And cost quite a bit less (especially when including flights).
Again, Desire is definitely still special.
But we definitely have more "lifestyle" fun when we go to Vegas or a takeover event. And there are far more couples in our age range. So it just makes it increasingly harder to justify $700+ a night for what often ends up being a somewhat frustrating or disappointing lifestyle experience.

And without that....it is just an overpriced resort in Cancun.

[bj02]

We started going to DRM in 2018. Several changes that we have not liked have been:
1. Richard/Lauren leaving. We loved them and the massage class!
2. Sex used to be allowed on the beach beds at RM. On our first visit they guy at the desk even circled it on the map, along with the playroom, and jacuzzi area. Play on the beds was common on our trips before 2020. I've been told by people in our group chat that they now say it is not allowed.
3. Erotic Massage, in our experience, has taken a step back. We got one last June, and the guy stayed on the outside the whole time. Didn't get her "there". Way different than the one we had a few years ago.
4. Stripper experience is not what it used to be. The guy we got back in 2017(at Pearl) stripped all the way down, and you could do extra for an extra fee. The guy we had this past June didn't even get naked and no extra play offered.
5. Playroom has good nights and bad nights. I'd say half the time on our last trip, when we went in there, it was empty. Other nights, there might be 5-6 couples in there having fun. If we are not playing with someone, we like to play around others who are playing, so we hate when the playroom is not active.

We still love Desire, and will keep coming back, but sad to see things becoming more tame.

[CanadianSwingers]

We were just talking about this with our best LS friends. It has definitely changed, we think post-covid.

What's weird is that not only has the sexy gone, but the crowd seem somewhat less classy, which makes no sense given the doubling in room-rates since covid.

"I've not seen that many baseball caps with guns on since I was last in Bass Pro."

[ukusacouple]

I know some may not love our answer but we think Desire (both RM and Pearl) changed and have talked openly about it our last few trips. And we have a theory on why that is:
We think it is a combo of both the increased membership and pricing.

It has simply priced out a lot of younger couples and with the increased membership has become a bit....stale. At least in our opinion.

We think you are right! And that would explain why you don't see so many Europeans. Their flights will have increased hugely in the last few years as well.

Thinking back our most fun times were with 'yellow wristbands'.

[Yeipi]

2. Sex used to be allowed on the beach beds at RM. On our first visit they guy at the desk even circled it on the map, along with the playroom, and jacuzzi area. Play on the beds was common on our trips before 2020. I've been told by people in our group chat that they now say it is not allowed.

You are so right in your comments but in regards to sex on the beach beds, my wife and I have had sex there in every single trip, sometimes during the day and sometimes at night and we have never been told to stop... So if people want to do it, go for it.

Now regarding prices, it is becoming crazy. For our next trip in February, same room, same number of nights, we are paying more than double compared to what we paid in our first few trips. We still go because we love DRM and my wife feels comfortable there but as non-lifestylers (Does this word exist???) I wonder if we have more options.

[ukusacouple]

What's weird is that not only has the sexy gone, but the crowd seem somewhat less classy, which makes no sense given the doubling in room-rates since covid. "

As Andy Rooney said "Money doesn't buy class"

On our last trip this dude from Texas spent hours and hours trying to hit on the Mrs, talking non-stop about his cars, boat watches etc. Was immense fun watching him crash and burn

[ukusacouple]

I know some may not love our answer but we think Desire (both RM and Pearl) changed and have talked openly about it our last few trips. And we have a theory on why that is:
We think it is a combo of both the increased membership and pricing.

It has simply priced out a lot of younger couples and with the increased membership has become a bit....stale. At least in our opinion.

For several years, there was always an infusion of new couples trying Desire out. Not necessarily new to the LS, just the lifestyle. But there is less and less room for that as the resort is now filled with about 80-90% members at any given time.
You see less yellow and white wristbands than ever.

Desire is still the best version of what it is. We love it. And even though there is still a lack of direct competition, there is a lot more competition in other ways now: lifestyle cruises, parties, takeovers, etc have increased dramatically in the last several years. And many of those are simply more "fun" in comparison. And cost quite a bit less (especially when including flights).
Again, Desire is definitely still special.
But we definitely have more "lifestyle" fun when we go to Vegas or a takeover event. And there are far more couples in our age range. So it just makes it increasingly harder to justify $700+ a night for what often ends up being a somewhat frustrating or disappointing lifestyle experience.

And without that....it is just an overpriced resort in Cancun.

We have good friends from Finland who used to come to DRM once a year for 2 weeks but now: "The rooms are double the price, our flights are double and we hear that nobody fucks anymore."

What do you guys get up to in Vegas? We might look into it. (We cancelled our March 24 booking to DRM as the last few trips have been so dull and we are going to give Cap D'Agde in France a try instead.)

[Psoltllc]

What do you guys get up to in Vegas? We might look into it. (We cancelled our March 24 booking to DRM as the last few trips have been so dull and we are going to give Cap D'Agde in France a try instead.)

Would love to know as well, traveling there in a few weeks and have done some research for LS fun in Vegas.
I am excited to see how the new area that is currently under construction changes the resort. Hopefully for the better and not just continued increases in price.

[CanadianSwingers]

What do you guys get up to in Vegas? We might look into it. (We cancelled our March 24 booking to DRM as the last few trips have been so dull and we are going to give Cap D'Agde in France a try instead.)

Would love to know as well, traveling there in a few weeks and have done some research for LS fun in Vegas.
I am excited to see how the new area that is currently under construction changes the resort. Hopefully for the better and not just continued increases in price.

We are hoping it doesn't ruin the intimacy of RM...and have you seen the prices? They are utterly crazy!

[Lkncouple]

We are going in 2 months, it will be our 8th trip. We have not been in 2 years so it will be interesting to see if it has changed. Our last trip two years ago, I didn't think there was a change in the attitude of the guests, however, it seemed like the resort was tired. The playmakers seemed like they were going through the motions. It was really the same pool games that they have been doing year after year. The theme nights were basically the same, the nightly entertainment was basically the same, the food and restaurants were the same. The rooms were the same. There really had been little change in 10 years except the price. They desperately need some competition. I am really surprised that someone has not come in with a similar concept and tried to compete with them.