The new Desire Pearl resort

[thetanman1957]

Here is an email we just received from Valentina about the new resort.

[quote]Dear Greg and Kathi,

Good afternoon and thank you very much for sending your recent email.

What your friend told you is correct! We are very proud of our new resort which is going to be called “Desire Pearlâ€

[mfay]

Knew it was gonna happen- but of course the devil is in the details. Rates, amenities,etc. Chances are they will make it so there are some obvious differences in the offering-and the prices- between "old Desire" and the new offering.
At least that is my bet...................

[miranda]

And we just got an email telling us about the 'new' Desire resort in Los Cabos. Interesting. desireloscabos.com Opening May 1, 2012 - it's the old resort reverting back to the Desire format.

[bill_monica]

Great news.Three Desire resorts; what a challenge to stay at all of them in the same year. We can call it Desire Grand Slam !

[jwoods]

Or we could call it the "Trifecta" or the "Hat Trick"

[Headstone]

Or a nice threesome?.....

[mikelitoris]

do we know if Desire Pearl (Riviera Maya) will be same concept as current Desire Cancun?

[mfay]

Don't expect too many details until the official announcement in a couple weeks. But since it is a "Desire" property it is a safe bet that it will be couples only, clothing optional, and lifestyles friendly.
Our guess is that there will be differences between Pearl and the original Desire in amenities- food, drink, spa services, etc and that pricing will reflect those differences along with the fact that the rooms at Pearl are much nicer than the rooms at Desire.

[tsking911]

We heard rumors while there in November that one resort was going to be members only. Can't see it though. Also heard that there was going to be major rate increases. Hope not. Hopefully the extra availability will reduce the number of sold outs and keep prices relatively stable.

[mfay]

The "rumors" you heard were started by the membership/timeshare sales people. Several people there in November heard the same things, and this happens every few months it seems. Then complaints are made and they are forced to stop making these false statements for a while- until they get desperate again.
Anyway- Desire management says it is absolutely untrue. Timeshare/membership sales people are the same all over the world- anything to make a sale.
Desire just went 3 straight years at the same rates and then had a very small 4% increase for 2012. Those rates are locked in and all the same promo's are in effect. As for the membership only thing- it's doubtful they could even average 15% occupancy with members only let alone the 80% they are used to.
Don't be surprised though if Desire Pearl's pricing is considerably higher than original Desire- at least that is our guess.

[Rusty]

Looking at their online booking system, it appears that they have blocked any further bookings from 29 Jun 2012 onwards...

There's a Pier that looks good but the hot tub in the afternoon may be a problem given desire gets a little more than four people in it at a time ..

There is a "Ceiba Del Mar Photo Gallery" on picasaweb also linked off their web site at the bottom.

[asd1]

Just arrived home from Ceiba after the SDC takeover this past week.

Sorry, but this place has a ways to go to get to the level of Desire Cancun. The only thing better at Ceiba are the rooms, but not much better, and we don't care much about the rooms anyway. The service is not even close to being in the same league as Desire. Food is not as good either.

It's a pretty nice resort overall, but still a long way off yet. There is a hot tub and it's a lot larger than people say, but not the same size as Desire. Make the price reasonable and people will come. Otherwise, good luck, but doubtful we'll come back.

[miranda]

WOW! Great info asd1! The promotional photos mentioned by Russty make the resort look very beautiful and inviting. With what you are saying, I wonder what the charge will be for the Desire Pearl, since there seems to be many improvements if it's to live up to Desire Cancun.

Time will tell but we really wonder if there is truly a market for 3 Desire properties.

Anyone?

[mfay]

I wonder what the charge will be for the Desire Pearl, since there seems to be many improvements if it's to live up to Desire Cancun.

Time will tell but we really wonder if there is truly a market for 3 Desire properties.

We were given a tour of Ceiba last May. We strongly disagree about the rooms- we found that the standard rooms were far better than rooms at Desire, and when it came to the suites even the lowest class were so far above anything Desire offers that there was no comparison. Regardless, when you think about what the pricing may be consider a few things. First of all Ceiba only has 88 rooms all together and only a third of them are "standard" rooms. The rest are suites of one type or another. All of the rooms are ocean view, and yes the resort is beautiful. It is "old world" Mexican luxury. Obviously the hot tub, disco, food, and service will have to be addressed to get everything to fit the Desire model but there is no doubt that will happen quickly- and won't really take long.
With a small, kind of exclusive, luxury resort you obviously wouldn't expect any rooms to be priced at Desire's GV level- or at least I wouldn't.
So the question really is- is there a market for a more upscale version of Desire ? My opinion is yes there is. From our own poll here in the forum about 20% of the respondents were willing to pay a little more for better food , entertainment, and amenities. And remember that the now closed "Braco" resort in Jamaica was (in it's heyday) a higher priced, upscale property.
We'll soon find out, but it may be that we end up with 3 resorts that offer 3 very different price levels (and a little different atmosphere at each)- Los Cabo on the low end, Desire RM in the middle, and Pearl at the top.

[vsc5011]

When we were at Desire in mid-November a couple told us that the timeshare sales person said that the Desire resort was going to be members only. The couple was told this when they said they wanted to think about becoming members. The same couple took a tour of Desire Pearl and said they thought it was very nice.

Della