Desire Prices

[north52]

Oh the beauty of the laws of supply and demand. Let's face it, Desire Resorts has a global strangle hold on this market. I get it and good for them.
However, in my opinion, if they don't soon make changes to their business model they are going to price themselves right out of the market. Point in fact, their new Desire Suites are listed at $1,900 US per night!
Now some may argue that if you build it, they will come. Clearly, they/we are. But for how long?
While I could go on and on about the economics of this, I won't. My point is that as repeat clients of Desire RM (10+ times and $45,000 -$50,000 US resort costs) we feel that the resort should have in place some type of client appreciation program.
No, I'm not talking about their membership program. A simple policy where if you stay so many nights, you're rewarded with free night reward vouchers.
Clearly, this suggestion is not something new to the hospitality industry but I truly believe that Desire should immediately adopt this policy for future guests and retroactively reward their past clients.
We love Desire and everything it stands for but I think it's time for the company to return a little love to its devoted clientele in kind.

[candjwv]

Good luck with that

I completely agree that it would make sense for them to show some gratitude to guests, especially those who are repeats. But the vibe I get from management is definitely different than the one I get from the rest of the staff. I think management believes that they have the market cornered, and can do what they want with their monopoly. But it looks like there's a trend of more and more adult-only resorts popping up, and trying to adopt the "sexy vibe" that the DP, DRM, and TTR have. I think the Desire resorts will have to change their customer service very soon. Let me explain...

When we were at Pearl last summer, our (morning) flight was delayed several times, and then cancelled. I called the resort to tell them that AA just couldn't get us there that day, and that we'd be 36 hours late. After all our pleading, they still charged us $1,050 for the suite we had booked that night. Now, I fully realize that it's their policy to not offer refunds for no-shows, but they missed an opportunity for customer service here. I never asked for a refund. I asked them to shift our first night, and add it to the end, so we could rebook our return flight and still stay 5 nights. So instead of helping out some guests who already had a bad travel experience, they decided to capitalize on our misfortune.

Because of this, we will never return to Pearl. I have had exactly the same thing happen to us when we booked a $120 per night room in Las Vegas, and they bent over backwards to help us out. I only asked to adjust our stay dates, and they not only did that, but gave us an upgrade and rearranged our show tickets to help ease the pain. But at Pearl, when we finally arrived 36 hours late, having spent $1,050 on a room we weren't in, and another $500 for a room in Chicago we hadn't planned on, they still pressured us to go on a timeshare tour.

The rest of the staff at the properties seem to get it. The bartenders, wait staff, and entertainers genuinely appear to want people to enjoy themselves. They go out of the way to accommodate everyone's wants and needs. But the folks in the lobby are there for one purpose - to capture our dollars.

I've ranted about this before on the forum, but here's the point: I still haven't forgotten or forgiven. We are actively looking for other resorts to try, and as soon as one pops up, we're there. If Desire were to do what you suggest, and offer perks for repeat visitors, they'd be sending a message that there's no need to look elsewhere. But as it stands, guests have no more allegiance to them than they do to us. The rooms are nice, the food is nice, and the pool is nice. But the party is made by the guests, and the guests are portable.

[north52]

Well, most businesses tend to listen and respond to market analysis's. For those that don't... you know what happens. For those that try and take advantage of their situation ( Mylan Pharmaceutical and the EpiPen) ... you've seen the media coverage they're painfully going through.
Anyway.... my suggestion is let's see what will happen if we collectively bring forth the request to The Desire Resort ownership team with some real numbers. If a Forum moderator is reading this, start with a survey with how many folks support a loyalty program and the likelyhood of returning because of it versus the flip side. Come up with some loyalty program suggestions.
My suggestion would be to reward 1 free night for every 10 nights stayed. They could require that free nights redeemed must be matched with nights paid on future reservations. (ie. Book 4 pay for 2, book 6 pay for 3 etc). As noted in my original post, the loyalty program would be available and tracked on all new reservations and retroactively applied to all previous reservations. ( I'm confident past reservations have been archived)
I am sure they keep statistics of how many guests are repeats. My guess is that on any given day their resorts are occupied by 60-70 % of repeaters, maybe more. Clearly, they cannot afford to lose this future revenue stream as first timers would not make up for the shortfall.
For those who have an unlimited supply of uncommitted income, disregard the above. In the event you don't fall into this elite category feel free to chime in.
In my humble opinion, we have nothing to lose but plenty of upside for both guests and ownership. I come from the school of " It doesn't hurt to ask".
Sincerely.....Doug

[MarNRob]

Keep in mind that inflation is a serious problem in Mexico There are riots all over the place protesting gas prices, food costs etc. This might in part explain increases at Desire. On the other hand they have a monopoly. I'm surprised the concept hasn't spread as it has in Jamaica.

[CokeMann]

On the other hand they have a monopoly. I'm surprised the concept hasn't spread as it has in Jamaica.

They don't have a monopoly on the concept, anyone with deep pockets could open something virtually identical. However it's a boutique market segment that none of the larger resort owner/operators are willing to take a chance on.

The concept hasn't spread in Jamaica, if anything it's gotten smaller with the closing of Hedo III and Superclubs divesting themselves of Hedo II ..

[north52]

In its purest form of definition, the term monopoly refers to the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service. With that said, Desire has a monopoly, boutique or otherwise.
In terms of the "concept", I believe the previous poster was referring to the concept of guest loyalty programs being adopted by resorts in Jamaica. But I stand to be corrected.

[northernlightscpl]

They are currently the only resort over here that has the ambience they have developed over the years that attracts the guests they get. Lets face it, most all of us love going there, however I feel that they have pushed the business envelope to the edge of what most people can or want to pay. Why.... because they know they can and have the market currently cornered, what people want and are squeezing the most they can. At this point in their lack of customer satisfaction and going to the very edge of their business squeezing and before someone else decides to be a likewise competitor, one would think it is their time to recognize where they are heading and develop a loyalty program. I would bet that you would see them come out with one and much more very quickly if another resort along the Mayan or southern states replicated Desire level of service and guest enjoyment and reduced prices and increase volume where more people could afford to go and more often. A place where customers felt appreciated and not expected

My opinion.... I think it is only a matter of time and their business will implode on themselves by going too close to the edge of sensible pricing and the lack of benefits such as a loyalty plan. Sensible pricing and loyalty will be offered by a competitor. As mentioned above in another post, with other companies that had the corner on their market and got greedy, they didn't protect what they had and most lost the business as a result... Desire has a great thing going, not sure why they don't protect their corner and do some giving back......

[Justskin]

With the peso in serious trouble one would think that the strength of the dollar would translate into lower prices, alas, not so at this point.

We generally go when they run specials to help justify the expense. We've shortened the trips as prices have escalated.

[CokeMann]

Yep, Desire is expensive compared to when in opened back in 2003

However, just as a reality check for everyone I just did a comparison booking shop of the immediate resorts to the north of DRM (Azul Beach Resort) and to the south of DRM (Breathless Riviera Maya)

Booking costs- AI - lowest category room - 2 people - 5 nights in March 2017 - resorts north to south

• Royalton Riviera $ 2,856.35 USD
• Zoëtry Paraiso de la Bonita Riviera $ 5590.00 USD
  
  
• Azul Beach Resort $ 3,570.00 USD
  
• Desire Riviera Maya $ 2,881.50 USD
  
• Breathless Riviera Maya $ 2775.00 USD
  
  
• Azul Sensatori Riviera $ 3,810.00 USD
• Secrets Silversands Riviera $ 2945.00 USD

All three are somewhat specialty resorts located on the Rivera Maya(always more expensive than the Cancun HZ) - notice a trend, they are all expensive

[K&RinTX]

Even though the prices seem high, in my mind it is not hurting their booking numbers. In November (I am a member BTW...), I called to book a room in May. Our preferred room category was ALREADY booked up almost 6 months in advance at Pearl. I asked them to check RM...on the Thurs and Friday of the week I wanted, there were NO ROOMS at all, already totally booked.
I just heard today that as of Jan 6th 2017, 44 of the 88 rooms at Pearl were booked for one of the weeks in Nov 2017, and it's not Thanksgiving week! There does not seem to be any shortage of people willing to pay the going rate Desire is asking for the experience and I'm more worried that it will get increasingly harder to book when I want than that the cost has gone up a bit. It may be partially due to the Temptation guests experiencing Desire while it has been closed for renovations but I'm not sure, and I suspect that many of those in that crowd will continue to come back to Desire even when Temptations reopens.

[day5758]

I have noticed the price has gone up as well. Again, I know it falls on deaf ears as the management does not seem care either way as long as money is being made, but when we booked in 2016 there were comments being made about efforts to recognize Canadians with our dollar being so much lower than the American dollar. That was turned down flat, as it is obvious they are not hurting for buisness. It seems mildly ironic that now the currency they dabble in is being affected and that is translating into price increases.
That is the challenge with companies such as this. It is the same as insurance companies and banks. They have someone you want and they know they can charge as much or a little as they want and people will pay. And until there is an alternative this will continue to happen. To be honest I'm suprised that Hedo hasn't delved into the couples sexy resort venue. They already cater to that group, so you would think a resort within a resort at Hedo that would be couples only would be a natural transition. I know we would definitely give it another look if that was the case. And not to come down to hard on Desire. They do put out a good product, but some healthy competition would give a much needed reality check to recognize who pays the bills at these places.

[candjwv]

I'm curious to see what's going to happen in several months (September?) When TTR reopens. That will add *many* rooms to the "sexy vibe" hotel offerings in Cancun. Hopefully we're seeing Desire prices increasing because TTR folks are being displaced. When many hundreds of new rooms reopen, Desire had better be ready to convince folks to stay.

[TandD]

I get that it sucks to face higher prices for the places you like to go but expecting the resort to offer price reductions for one reason or another when all indications are that they are having no problems filling their rooms seems odd to me.

If you have a business that has a product that is in such demand that you can basically sell all you can make, why in the world would you *reduce* your prices?

Customer good will *might* be a reason but it's very hard to measure the return on "good will" costs. If they give you 10% off because you've been there 5 times, that means they can't take the guy who would pay 100%. Both of you are likely to keep coming back so why should they prefer you over him - just because they know you? The staff may know you but the guy at corporate doesn't.

Now don't get me wrong, I'd love to see lower prices as well. I just don't think you are going to see it unless their occupancy rates (and I don't actually know what they are) drops.

$0.02 please.

[CokeMann]

As I mentioned above Desire RM current prices are almost right in the middle on all the other nearest resorts and overall, we personally, would rather spend our money to be at Desire compared to the others listed.

Desire, in the last year have upped the number of promos they are offering and if you book in advance you can reduce your costs by 15 to 20%

IMHO, from a purely business point of view, attracting all (newbies and repeaters) thru promos is a better business model for them than a loyalty program.

[north52]

Somehow, the conversation has shifted solely on pricing. My original post focuses on pricing and the absence of a loyalty program. Regardless, my mission of getting the subjects top of mind for those frequenting the forum has been accomplished. Over 350 views in just over 24 hours.
At this rate, Desire will undoubtedly receive this feedback from future guests.
Don't you love it when a plan comes together.
Thank you all.