We were invited to Orlando for 2 nights in order to look at the "program" offered by Vacation Village Voyages. I am writing this review because the only reviews I could find on the internet were negative, from ignorant people complaining about their treatment leading up to the presentation or during the presentation but no facts about the actual program to help someone who may really be interested, make an informed decision. It was the usual timeshare presentation (predicated with a free gift of $100 plus a free stay at a nearby Radisson, and free breakfast). Here are the important details about the program, that you are looking for:
They claim that their program offers substantial discounts on Hotels, Cruises, and Resort accommodations (weekly stays from Sunday to Sunday) They show you "evidence" of these imaginary claims on a laptop but if you want to actually do a comparison they wont let you touch the machine claiming that other people need to use it and there isn't enough time.
Of course this is hogwash. After making sure that I had a right to cancel my agreement (ten days by certified mail) I went ahead and bought the $12,000 "program". Now that I had the ability to use their website based service to look at reservations (you have to wait 14 days to actually use the service and book). I looked up 3 types of vacations: a cruise, a hotel stay, and a resort (timeshare for a week).
The results are as follows. The cruise prices are exactly the same as shop.cruisedeals.com, so there is no advantage to being a member of their service if you book cruises. Then a trip to New Orleans staying at a Highend JW Marriott, again Their website offered me the same exact price as Hotels.com (and at Hotels.com I get free nights 1 for every 10). Finally the stay for a week at a resort, here at least they finally offered a discount. They claim to provide a two unit suite that sleeps 8 (with two kitchens, two living rooms, etc) Of course my wife and I don't need that much space and we don't travel Sunday to Sunday but if we did and wanted to bring friends along we could book a similar timeshare type of apartment through Hotels.com and would pay a couple hundred more so their "program" does offer a small discount in this situation but they also charge a yearly renewal fee of $189. All in all if you travel one - three weeks a year and only stay in timeshare type resorts for a full week at a time then in 40 - 60 years you can break even for the $12,000 price (plus $189/yr dues) of joining their club. Otherwise don't waste your money. And of course its anyones guess what type or quality of resort you will end up in when you finally do book a week at one of their resorts (or partner locations).
To their credit, there was no issue with the cancellation. The 10% deposit to my charge card was reversed and I received a confirmation letter from their office regarding the timely receipt of my request to cancel and refund receipt.
I don't understand why they would go to all the time and trouble and paying us $100 + 2 night stay at a nearby Radisson in order to sell us something that basically has no value. Do people really buy this and then just pay thousands of dollars for nothing? I can't believe there are that many ignorant people willing to piss their money away.
Hope this helps you save the $5 postal fee required to cancel your membership if you, like us, were really hoping that they actually do offer discounted travel services.
Vacation Village Voyages Reviews
We were invited to Orlando for 2 nights in order to look at the "program" offered by Vacation Village Voyages. I am writing this review because the only reviews I could find on the internet were negative, from ignorant people complaining about their treatment leading up to the presentation or during the presentation but no facts about the actual program to help someone who may really be interested, make an informed decision. It was the usual timeshare presentation (predicated with a free gift of $100 plus a free stay at a nearby Radisson, and free breakfast). Here are the important details about the program, that you are looking for:
They claim that their program offers substantial discounts on Hotels, Cruises, and Resort accommodations (weekly stays from Sunday to Sunday) They show you "evidence" of these imaginary claims on a laptop but if you want to actually do a comparison they wont let you touch the machine claiming that other people need to use it and there isn't enough time.
Of course this is hogwash. After making sure that I had a right to cancel my agreement (ten days by certified mail) I went ahead and bought the $12,000 "program". Now that I had the ability to use their website based service to look at reservations (you have to wait 14 days to actually use the service and book). I looked up 3 types of vacations: a cruise, a hotel stay, and a resort (timeshare for a week).
The results are as follows. The cruise prices are exactly the same as shop.cruisedeals.com, so there is no advantage to being a member of their service if you book cruises. Then a trip to New Orleans staying at a Highend JW Marriott, again Their website offered me the same exact price as Hotels.com (and at Hotels.com I get free nights 1 for every 10). Finally the stay for a week at a resort, here at least they finally offered a discount. They claim to provide a two unit suite that sleeps 8 (with two kitchens, two living rooms, etc) Of course my wife and I don't need that much space and we don't travel Sunday to Sunday but if we did and wanted to bring friends along we could book a similar timeshare type of apartment through Hotels.com and would pay a couple hundred more so their "program" does offer a small discount in this situation but they also charge a yearly renewal fee of $189. All in all if you travel one - three weeks a year and only stay in timeshare type resorts for a full week at a time then in 40 - 60 years you can break even for the $12,000 price (plus $189/yr dues) of joining their club. Otherwise don't waste your money. And of course its anyones guess what type or quality of resort you will end up in when you finally do book a week at one of their resorts (or partner locations).
To their credit, there was no issue with the cancellation. The 10% deposit to my charge card was reversed and I received a confirmation letter from their office regarding the timely receipt of my request to cancel and refund receipt.
I don't understand why they would go to all the time and trouble and paying us $100 + 2 night stay at a nearby Radisson in order to sell us something that basically has no value. Do people really buy this and then just pay thousands of dollars for nothing? I can't believe there are that many ignorant people willing to piss their money away.
Hope this helps you save the $5 postal fee required to cancel your membership if you, like us, were really hoping that they actually do offer discounted travel services.