Will success spoil Desire

[werfun]

With the Desire Resorts being the only kind of resort to offer their type of COUPLES ONLY, LIFESTYLE FRENDLY THEME ruin it. So will the success of the resort cause its downfall? I ask this because of the direction that a lot of posters have started to take, the property starting to look rundown, less spraying for insects, the road leading into the resort, the food not as good as it has been, and the list seems to go on. I have work in Customer service and know that you can't please every one so I take all that with a large grain of salt. It takes only a few unhappy couples to start a rumor and cause bookings of first time guest to look else where. When bookings start to decline they have to raise their rates to cover the down turn in visitor count.
Has the owners started to get the idea the as long as they are open that the guest will keep coming no matter what. I have seen it happen to other companies that were great, but the owners started to believe that business would only get better no matter what they did or did not do, and the next thing you know they are out of business.
It would be a shame if a resort as great as Desire followed this path. The owner of a company may not agree with some of their customers but if they want repeat business they do have to bend some. The $150 fee to go and visit the other Desire Resort is the latest outrageous idea that I have heard off. Before you could visit the other resort by simply paying your own cab fare and with no daily visitor fee. With DRM pool and beach front being close in Sep. will they still charge the DRM guest $150 per day to use a swimming pool; yes I know that they are offering a special rate for that time period to offset the remodeling but who wants to spend the day in a small spa or spend extra money on side trips outside the resort when all you want to do is relax. Beside they were only offering free transportation from 10am to 6pm so its not like the visitors from DRM would be eating dinner at the HIGER CLASS RESORT.
Before some jump on my case let me say that we adore no love Desire Resorts and would hate to see it closed down because of some minor issues and bad decisions by the owners or management. As I have posted in another post I know a very successful sales man ( top sales man for over 10 years in a row for a large international company) and he asked me two question once
1. What is the value of something? its only worth what some one is willing to pay for it
2. Would you rather make a small profit from a lot of people and have them send others to you and return to do business with you again or make a large profit from a small number of people and not have them return for repeat business or tell others about the great deal that you gave them.
So the question remains do you believe that SUCCESS WILL BE DESIRES DOWNFALL.......We sure hope not as it is the ADULT DESINEYLAND that we all look for.

[olderII]

In our opinion, the decline has begun. We have been going since 2004 and have over 15 vacations at Desire and 1 at Pearl. The staff is the best there is, upper management had better wake up.

[stuart67]

Funny, my wife and I were having this exact conversation, as "werfun" must have been writing their post..

We are of the same opinion and share the same concerns. We are checking in tomorrow for 10 days at Pearl and we have booked again for September, we are of the opinion, that the current price point for these vacations has reached the max, and people do not want to be banged with ridiculous and somewhat unwarranted extras. When you are paying this much for a vacation you expect the best. At present we do believe that desire properties offer the best all around vacations of this type, we have tried other resorts that just do not compare and certainly do not have the standards that Desire properties set. We are of the opinion that when both properties are running at lower occupancy, that to keep the party, atmosphere and mood right, you should be able to move freely between properties at no extra cost, as indeed most of us are there to enjoy this sexually charged atmosphere, at atmosphere that always seem to get better with numbers. It is a bullshit management excuse that both properties maintain there own budgets, as at the end of the day all and any profits go to the owners and shareholders of the company and also to upkeep of their properties.

What desire properties have right now is unique and we suspect all of us desire fanatics will agree and sincerely hope that the greed factor is not setting in with the owners to spoil this and eventually drive people away.

At the current price point to which we are all paying for these vacations, right now it would not be very difficult for another player to enter this field and specialized market and squeeze out Desire totally. What management needs to take on board and remember (and not take advantage of) is that people have choices, agreed right now the choices for us desire fanatics are very limited if not at all to what desire currently offers, perhaps I am overthinking all of this and perhaps it would be great if other operators jumped in on the band wagon to offer us all more choices and open the field up to be more competitive and give us all more choices, after all competition is a great thing, as a successful business owner myself, I very much understand this concept, but in saying all of this we are kind of the "Better the Devil you know people also".

So what I am trying to put across is, Please, Please, Please Desire management and owners don't spoil what you currently have for a few more bucks profit, you are currently very successful with what you have built and you have a very large and continuously growing loyal following, see sense and keep things the way they were, I am absolutely sure of one thing, there ain't going to be too many couples willing to pay this extra $150.00 fee for drifting between resorts, so at the end of your financial year, when you are all sitting around your comfy conference room table to discuss the year end financials and you start scratching your heads looking for clues as to why, this past year you were expecting much higher profits and greater occupancy rates and you need answers as to why this didn't pan out the way you thought it would, look no further than to read this thread.. In fact look no further than this excellent forum and listen and respond to your most valued loyal customers and followers on this site. I think that almost all would agree, that this forum and site is something that also makes Desire somewhat special, a great group of people that can openly discuss numerous topics and get replies to some if not all of there fears of going to these resorts, indeed both my wife and myself are on this site often, and this site has so far had answers to all of our questions without the need to ask. DESIRE MANAGEMENT, BE MORE ACTIVE IN THIS MOST VALUABLE SITE, LISTEN TO YOUR PEOPLE AND RESPOND TO OUR CONCERNS, FROM WHAT I SEE, YOU HAVE NOT MADE A POST OF YOUR OWN SINCE MAY15th 2013 AND YOU CERTYAINLY HAVE NOT RESPONDED TO YOUR CUSTOMERS CONCERNS.

This is our church and the place we have decided to worship, we currently have faith in desire management, please don't let us all down... AHMEN!!!

[Gemini Rose]

We are going during the "special renovation" time in September. Another poster, in another thread, has been assured, in writing, that we will NOT be charged the daily fee to visit Pearl.

[Crumbs1]

We've just returned but weren't charged the $150 to visit Pearl on the condition that we attended the time share presentation which only lasted 5 mins. Pearls foam party was awesome and worth the cab fare.

[northernlightscpl]

Fully agree with the above poster's on the decline and potentially collapse of this business. If it continues to head that direction where many such as ourselves are now trying the cruises as an alternative or other resorrts, the collapse could in fact be very quick. All it takes is more people questioning the raising costs they pay of going there, the special fees, regardless of apparently not having to pay the $150. to go to the other resort, if you attend a timeshare talk (which is a form of bribery) and is in fact not free, when people show up to a struggling number of guests to keep the atmosphere going, it will be their last trip there. We have enjoyed going, but there is nothing that is hooking us back, except clever marketing where they increase prices and give a discount or throw in a 'free' visit to the other resort if you attend a timeshare talk.

So often we see businesses that are doing well who have lost their footing with the customers on their success and not make changes or recognize the issues, end up shutting their doors. Too little, too late...... Sadly I feel they don't care and will try and ride the success they have enjoyed..

[mthomas34616]

Confused, I noticed you wrote Desire Resorts, meaning plural,are you talking about both resorts in decline or just one? Going for the first time to Pearl in May, did I I make a mistake?

Thanks

[hoppercf]

Confused, I noticed you wrote Desire Resorts, meaning plural,are you talking about both resorts in decline or just one? Going for the first time to Pearl in May, did I I make a mistake?

Absolutely not. We were there (Pearl) February 7-11. The place was phenomenal; both in terms of quality and service. We usually stay at Four Seasons/R.C. type facilities. This place did not disappoint, whatsoever.

There seems to be some angst about this $150 "visitation" fee. Desire is charging it because they CAN. They have a captive market. The value of a good or service is determined by what a party is willing to sell something for, and what the buyer is willing to pay for it. Nobody likes paying too much for anything, however, if they're willing to shell out the dough (especially on something that is a luxury, like a vacation), then the value has been determined. Is $400-600 night a lot of money? I guess. It's all relative, though. I challenge anybody to find the same level of service, amenities, food quality, and drinks at an upscale facility in NY, DC, Chicago, Vegas, etc. for that price. To us, it's a non-issue. In fact we find it to be one hell of a value. If you want to spur change, vote with your wallet. The law of supply and demand exists, even in a microcosm that is Desire RM and Pearl.

[werfun]

Mthomas I was not talking about the actual resorts but the way the owners and management seem to be taking the success of the Desire resort for granted. It seem to us that they believe that they can do what ever they want and the guest will keep coming back for the Desire experience no matter what management does. As we all know that's not true as everyone gets fed up after a while and begins to look for another resort to spend their money at(granted it will not be the great Desire experience that we all love).
I'm sure that you will love your first trip to Desire and don't be afraid of going to Desire as you will have the time of your life. As it has been stated in other post the ever day staff can't do enough to insure that your visit is one that is out of this world. It just seems that the ownership and management doesn't seem to care about their resorts anymore except that it is a cash cow for them.
As to the previous post that stated they didn't pay to visit the other resort if they went to a membership sale talk; reminds us of our last trip to DLC appox. 9 months before they closed they seemed to be pushing membership to DLC. Every time we went to the lobby they attempted to get us to attend a sales meeting and it got to be a pain in the as*. We have talked to several friends that joined up only because they liked the Cabo location they were assured that the Cabo resort would be open forever, SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE less then 9 months later they closed the resort. Do I see a common thread here? Push the membership collect the money then a few months later close the resort telling the members that they can use their membership at the other resort.
As I have said in the first post WE LOVE DESIRE and do not want to see it go down hill and maybe close. After all it is the closest thing that adults have as a DISNEY LAND.

[ColdinCanada]

It better not close. I just discovered this place (pearl first time this past January) and the wife and I already want to go back. We however didnt bother visiting Rm but the option is always nice. Please god don't run it into the ground I intend on doing this trip yearly if possible.

[Justskin]

Interesting thoughts conveyed here.

As (former) Desire Los Cabos regulars, we were treated like royalty. There at LC they valued the customer too much to throw them under the bus. We were never hit with the time share hard sell after our initial check-in. And frankly that check-in hard sell didn't exist in the early years.
We attended LC about 10 times with a couple of LC Temptations visits in the mix, and we can say that for $270 a night (garden view) the Desire format was an absolute steal. Temptations not so much. Even for $100 a night the atmosphere sucked in comparison, the food was poor, the booze horrible. But we went to LC TTR anyway, because one can't put a price on fun friends and sunshine. And it was reasonable for such a beautiful property.
The Desire LC staff was wonderful and all knew us personally; and they bent over backwards pleasing us. We tipped them well for their kindness too, we enjoyed doing it. They were friends at that point. We'll never forget Ceasar putting an envelope in my shirt pocket as we were leaving Desire in Nov '11. It was four free nights at TTR (which was the normal format at that time except for Desire takeovers).

We couldn't believe the difference in attitude and treatment between Desire RM and Desire LC when we by chance decided to try Cancun. We went from virtual familia at LC, to nobodies at RM, and frankly it felt that way.
We can say that we didn't lose any sleep over it, loyalty has its rewards. We go for the friendships and fun, but getting treated second rate does add up.
Example: The pool wasn't heated for the full ten days we were there. In February that is a big deal. We swam anyway, we're pretty tough, but 85% didn't use the pool. At. All. That's crazy. At LC the swim up pool bar WAS the resort, it was killer.

For the cost of RM we probably wouldn't go without some form of promotion. And in talking without our travel agent she told us the hard facts about the construction week in September--we were considering it for our second trip of the year--It is going to be a mess there, if folks can't go over to the Pearl without paying, they better be prepared for that.

It is Pearl for us this year (May 1st) and frankly we needed the 'fourth night free' promotion to convince us to go to negate that $500 a night. Time to build some report with the staff, we are newbies all over again.

[NWWACouple]

We definitely agree that there needs to be more competition in the market, and that Desire ownership (management really plays little role) has made a lot of questionable decisions lately. We would NEVER consider buying into their timeshare now, and are very thankful we resisted the impulse in the presentations we've been through.

Still, there aren't many good options out there. Will we be back at Desire? Definitely. Would we try something else if it came along? Absolutely!

We are probably going to Hedo for our next trip - not because we like it better, but we want to support the limited competition that exists.

[werfun]

Since I'm not an expert in using the computer maybe someone should forward this thread to the main office of Original Resorts as well to the Desire main office. Often the people in charge are in the dark about what is going on day by day at the different resorts. They only thing that they seem to worry about is profit and loss.

[shore128]

We're also not pleased about the $150.00 charge to visit the other Desire Resort, but it certainly isn't a deal breaker for us either. I do think it may be shortsighted on ownership's part and certainly don't agree with the decision. The initial purpose was to introduce the RM regulars to Pearl and start building a clientele at Pearl, which has happened. I don't generally agree with the statement that RM has gone downhill, however, and we've been going annually since 2007 (and have also been to Desire Cabo and Pearl). And having been loyal clients of several of the Superclubs resorts in Jamaica, we have first-hand experience with ownership allowing resort properties to deteriorate. Superclubs failed to even keep up with even routine maintenance and continually cut operating budgets, never mind any type of renovations or enhancements. I have not found that to be the case at Desire RM. In fact, to the contrary. Over the last 4 years, the nightclub, including the playroom, has been renovated twice. We've now been in alot of resort nightclubs and find it the best we've seen. Although we really liked the decor at the former Piacere restaurant, the resort did invest quite a bit in the renovation and conversion to Sahlo. The rooms have generally been well-maintained and at least some renovations and decor changes have been made. The one area that needed renovation, particularly in comparison to Pearl, is the pool and pool restaurant, and as we know that is going to be addressed. We're very anxious to see what the finished product will look like. I think the service has remained excellent, and we've generally been pleased with the food quality (not great, but generally pretty good).

Where I do have a concern is the pricing. Both resorts are getting quite expensive, particularly during the prime season. We've generally been in the fall and spring and have taken advantage of the early booking specials, but are considering a January 2015 trip and ocean view rooms at both resorts are now priced at over $700 per night next winter. Ownership may find that they are pricing alot of people out, particularly the younger crowd. So on that issue I certainly agree with some of the posters above.

[CokeMann]

Both resorts are getting quite expensive, particularly during the prime season.

I agree with that statement, especially for many of us that have been going to Desire since it opened.

However prices of all AI resorts on the Riviera Maya have been going up equally or more - for example the family resort right next to DRM called Azul is pricing their cheapest room in May 2014 normally at $ 560 per couple (with a promo offer you can get it for $ 420 per couple) The cheapest room at DRM for the same time period runs $417 per couple, so very similar pricing but DRM offers things that Azul does not - lol - one of them being an adult only vacation experience.