July 12-18 Better Late than Never!

[julesingeorgia]

Brian & Jules – July 2008
Trip Report 7/12/08 thru 7/18/08

Travel: (Like anyone cares) Flew USAir out of Charlotte. I was certain our flight with US Scareways was going to be a huge mistake after a bad experience with them last year but what a pleasant surprise, smooth sailing, no delays, nice flight attendants, good deal! After landing and making it through customs in a record 5 minutes, we met our Xtra Services transfer guy at airport for our ride to Desire. Funny, we got the same driver we had 2 years ago. Excellent service that I highly recommend! Oh and the Cancun airport has been remodeled! YAY! Bathrooms are super nice and very clean. I used to be afraid of the bathrooms and would hold it until I got to Desire!

We are there! YAY! We are here, we are so excited AND it’s my Birthday! Excellent…….and then the HUGE buzz kill……poor Oscar that works at the front desk informed us that Lifestyles Travel had not sent our payment we paid them 3 months earlier and told us in order to stay we would have to pay again! WHAT? Am I being punked? Sadly, no. Happy Birthday Jules! So after sitting there with my mouth hanging to the ground for a minute or so, we pulled out our AMEX and paid AGAIN. Yeah, that made my butt hurt if you know what I mean! (We have just been notified 2 months later by AMEX that they were able to get our entire first payment refunded….WHEW! That was a scare!) Then I can’t believe they had the nerve to try the timeshare crap on us after all that. The chick doing the “beggingâ€

[Ron]

Hi Jules & Brian

Glad you guys had a great trip, however, I don't give a flying f--k how great the resort is. When you have to pay double that sucks for the folks that did not or could not receive a refund for their money. Absolutely no excuse for business practices like that. And then to have the balls to try to sell you on their friggin time share scam. WOW!!!

[mfay]

Jules & Brian- we all miss you both ! Hope you can find a way to join us all next May 9-16. The group when you were with us was great- but its even better now. A fantastic time is guaranteed !
Trust me.......................

[julesingeorgia]

Hi Ron & Mike. We would love to join you in May but it is baseball season for my son during that time. I'm not giving up yet though, if I can swing it we will be there but it's just not looking good at this time. Plus damn are airline tickets expensive to cancun now! I've already got a price from Denny and also checked out flights so we shall see what the future holds! I already know it will be a blast and will be sad if I can't make it. Next time I return I will be telling them at check in they can just skip the timeshare crap. Had I known what they were leading up to I would have nipped it in the bud sooner, I just assumed they would not have the balls to try it after the deal we had went through. I'm just glad I'm not married to someone who has a bad temper or it could be ugly. Oscar said most of the people took it out on him and were very rude and pissed off. I knew it wasn't his fault and felt very bad for him. We were able to shake the whole thing and still have a good time. It won't happen again, I can tell you that!

[Ron]

Truth be told Ms. Jules, if that would have happened to BIG DADDY, myself, NEW MIKE, or in fact any of the YNOT's it would have been as nasty as Brad Lidge's slider. Real Nasty! Screw Oscar. He knew damn right well what was going on from the start. They use him as a shill acting "stupid dumb me". Don't feel bad for him as he was the cover guy. The reason it happened is because Desire canceled their working agreement with Lifestyles without notice and didn't pay them commissions due according to an interesting call I made to them. They in turn withheld payment to Desire as they were owed tons of commissions. Naturally there are 2 sides to every story and Desire management refused to address this issue as you know. As usual, the consumer gets screwed when large corporations make large bucks and the top brass are just pigs as what's in the news now.

[allovatan]

Just throwing this out there...why didn't Lifestyle Resorts reimburse their customers without hassle (okay, maybe the customer needed to provide proof of payment to Desire)?? By withholding payment from Desire and not reimbursing the customer, aren't they basically stealing?? Whatever their issues are with Desire are with Desire and its really not the customer who should be paying the price...........Am I missing something here?

[mfay]

Just throwing this out there...why didn't Lifestyle Resorts reimburse their customers without hassle (okay, maybe the customer needed to provide proof of payment to Desire)?? By withholding payment from Desire and not reimbursing the customer, aren't they basically stealing?? Whatever their issues are with Desire are with Desire and its really not the customer who should be paying the price...........Am I missing something here?

No- you aren't missing anything. Its actually Lifestyles Tours & Travel to whom the payments were/are made. They are of course bankrupt- they have no money to reinburse anyone. Their excuse was that some credit card handling company was holding the funds that were supposed to go to Desire. But, "someone" has to pay all their employees and executives to keep their shady organization going don't they ?????????

[Ron]

Regardless of who's fault it was Desire had the moral obligation to notify their up and coming guests that their bill was not paid and therefore they will have to pay again once they arrive. There are many folks out there in Desire Land that just could not afford paying double, (me included) and the choice should have been left up to the sucker a/k/a consumer. Desire's management knew months before that they were not getting paid dime one when they pulled their exclusive contract from Lifestyles without cause or prior notice. Just an horrendous way of doing business. Both Desire & Lifestyles. They both should be ashamed of themselves and sooner or latter that type of business practice will come back and bite them in the ass. Naturally Desire's management team would not touch this topic with a 10 foot pole on the previous forum. Wonder why? Also wonder what would have happened on the YNOT's week if that stunt would have been pulled? Nasty. Real Nasty.

[Mike & Marsha]

About nine months before the "double pay" incident, there were several warnings in the forum and yahoo groups about the bankruptcy. We had booked with LTT, and made a phone call to get assurances. We got a really bad answer and vibe, so cancelled & took the 50 dollar cancellation hit. We then rebooked with another TA. After three months, and all sorts of promises, we finally got a check for our deposit refund from a Court supervised and numbered checking account. There were several attempts at the time to warn fellow travelers by several sources. There was also a littany of folks who defended LTT and promised to continue booking with them. Don't know if any of those defenders were among the double pay victims. At the same time, it just seemed like common sense not to do business with a bankrupt corporation. That's not even to mention the highly suspect head of the corporation. I sincerely hope everyone gets there money back, but that was something that was really predictable.

[Ron]

Hate to disagree with you but there are hundreds of folks that vacation at Desire and have no idea of the forum (old one) or in fact Desire's web site. I didn't find out that there was even a forum or web site until my second of 10 trips. My goodness sakes, just because you post something on your own controlled web site is not "an out". Posting a "we are not responsible" blog is no excuse for NOT letting the prospective arriving guests know that they are going to get screwed. Also, please keep in mind that on some of the weeks, you only could book through LT&T. This is per Desires' own rules and regulations. If you wanted to attend that week, YOU HAD TO BOOK THROUGH LT&T. Stop defending the incompetent management team. They are no better then the management teams from Enron, Lehman Brothers, Fanny Mae, Freddie Mac and Merrill Lynch. Just a bunch of thieves ripping off the general public. I've said it on the other forum. I've said it here and I've said it directly to their faces in May. Sort of like when you put lipstick on a pig----- it's still a pig if you get the meaning. Believe me, if there was an alternative place offering the erotic atmosphere that Desire does, I for one would sure try it. I go because of the friends Nicky and myself have met and love each and every one of them. It's not because of the lousy management team.

May probably will be our last trip there. Enough is enough. Nicky didn't even want to go in '09 but since we already placed our deposit with Denny and have our airfare paid in full, we'll be there.

[mfay]

I certainly agree with Mike & Marsha that anyone who was following the forum- anyone who knew about the bakruptcy and the ensuing problems- and still booked thru LT&T anyway should have known better and have to take responsibility for showing up without confirming that Desire had been paid in full.
But I also agree with Ron in that a great many people aren't members of the forum or yahoo groups and didn't get the information. Others simply had let their busy lives get in the way and had not been following the situation. In Jules case- it happened that the week they could go was a LT@t takover week and they were told when they booked that they had to book thru them.
As I posted on the old forum before they shut down, I still believe that there is no defense for Desire's failure to notify their customers arriving that week BEFORE THEY ARRIVED that their reservations had not been paid. They absolutely did have those people's names and contact info before they arrived. Not months before but certainly weeks before arrival.
Some members of Desire's management believed it was a mistake too, and I have to believe that the situation would not be allowed to happen again. But, I am still very interested to hear from "Icsilver" in the thread in the general section of this forum who is due to arrive at Desire later this month after booking thru LT&T and who posted looking for info on what to do.

[Mike & Marsha]

Please don't get the idea that I was defending anyone. There's no doubt that folks should have been notified before they left the states. When I cancelled LT&T over the bankruptcy, I tried to book directly with the hotel. They agreed to honor our reservation, but at a GREATLY increased price. When I expressed my frustration with that, the hotel rep's response was to the effect that "we're also frustrated because they (LT&T) aren't paying us either". It was also telling when you recall that in good times, the resort and LT&T gave the impression that they were joined together at the hip. When things went sour, they became like parties to a bitter divorce. With all of that said, we still love the people we meet there, and will return.

[Ron]

Due to recent inquiries regarding the ownership of Desire Resorts, we would like to clarify that Desire Resorts, a member of Original Resorts, are owned solely by De la Peña Group, a private Mexican hotel management company which also owns: Temptation Resort & Spa Cancun, Blue Bay Club Cancun, Desire Resorts in Riviera Maya and Los Cabos. The Original Resorts management company will also operate a luxury resort in Isla Mujeres called UNIK Isla Mujeres, scheduled to open in April 2008. We would also like to underscore that the De la Peña Group has no other partners in the ownership and management of Desire Resorts. Additionally, Desire Resorts enjoys healthy, full financial support from the De la Peña Group.

Sincerely,
Lic. Patricia de la Peña
Vicepresident

This is exactly what appears on the Desire Web site. It says nada about LT&T, other travel agents, nothing about prior reservations being in jeopardy and what to do about it.

This disclosure or non-disclosure is nothing but double talking BS. For someone that was not a member or the original forum or in fact this forum where does it place you on notice to call the resort about your reservations possibly not being honored?

I ran this through an attorney and guess what. It holds no water. It means nothing except who owns the stock.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, not to honor the original reservation price is immorally reprehensible.

[julesingeorgia]

Just thought I would check in for a second. Had no idea this thread was still going. For some reason I'm not getting all the "notify me when a reply is posted" notices? Anyhoo, yes I had heard about Lifestyles Bankruptcy but also heard they were working their way out of it and many many others had booked with them with no problems. I haven't heard of anyone having any problems at all who booked with them for Hedo II and don't they practically take over Hedo in January? My travel agent, DennyP, actually suggested I book with them and assured me that it was fine. He even made the reservations. I'm not saying anything bad about Denny as I know in my heart under no circumstances would he have suggested this if he did not believe it was fine himself. Yes I do feel stupid after the fact for not being extra cautious like Mike & Marsha but that was the only week we could go so I guess I was kind of desperate. The smartest thing I did was charge it to my AMEX! The thing I do not understand is how they are allowed to keep doing business after they screwed so many people. Shortly after this trip I received an email from Lifestyles inviting us to their annual swinger convention in New Orleans I think. AS IF! Has this happened to anyone else on here? Just wondering if others got their money back like we did.

[Mike & Marsha]

Jules, I hope the AMEX comment meant that you recovered your loss. We actually had two very good experiences with LTT. Just before the bankruptcy though, their longtime manager abruptly quit and went to another agency. That was the first red flag for us. We all know the rest of the story all too well. When we decided to change to a different agent, we had phone conversations and e-mails with the resort that made it pretty clear that they knew what was going on ahead of time. We even had an e-mail thanking us for switching, and assuring us there should be no future problem. We've settled on a new travel agent now, and so far so good. Good luck!
M&M