Lies, lies, lies!!!
Do not deal with Royal Holiday they are fraudulent and misrepresent their service!
We were told by Victor Garcia Darosa Fucci that 15,000 points per year would give us a weeks vacation similar to what we were getting through our existing timeshare (we specifically mentioned a 2-bedroom condo in the Mauna Loa Village in Kona, and a 2-bedroom suite in the Hacienda Lifestyles Crown Villas in Puerto Plata). The Kao Kai resort in Kauai is 45,600 points/week for a 2-bedroom, the Kona Coast Resort requires 34,200 points/week for a 2-bedroom, a 2-bedroom at the Lifestyles Resort (that we mentioned) is 23,750 points/week we have yet to find any resort by Royal Holiday that gives us a 2-bedroom for 15,000 points!
We were told we could book as little as 3 days prior to a stay, based on availability, but Victor recommended booking 4 months in advance to get to Hawaii. We were told that based on availability meant that if there was room in the hotel, we could stay there. We used Royals online reservation service to check availability of each and every week from March 29 to March 28 for both Kona and Kauai, checking off that our destinations are flexible, and our dates are open, and each and every search comes back with NO RESULTS WERE FOUND. Both Expedia.ca and Travelocity.ca have availability for both the Kona Coast Resort and the Pona Kai Resort in Kauai from March 29 on. Weve since been told if the resort is not owned by Royal Holiday, a subset of rooms is reserved, and once those rooms are gone, there is no more availability, even if there are still vacant rooms in the resort.
We stated that a complaint about our current timeshare was the additional membership and exchange fees of RCI. Victor stated that through Royal Holiday, we could stay at any resort that was accessible through RCI, but he didnt tell us that to use an RCI resort meant paying the exchange fees and RCI membership.
We were told that if we wanted 2 weeks/year, we could pull years from the end of the contract forward and not pay extra maintenance on the additional points - we have since found that a separate maintenance fee is charged for each set of points.
We were told we would get all our money back in 30 years we would receive a Bonus Coupon, send it to Granthix Limited who would send us a Bonus Certificate.in 30 years, we mail the Bonus Certificate back to Granthix, and they issue us a cheque for the full purchase amount. The Coupon states, Maximum amount which may be paid to the Holder of this Bonus Coupon following its surrender and the issue of a Bonus Certificate there is no guaranteed maturity amount. We can find no information on Granthix, and no one responds to our emails. And the amount on our Coupon is less than what we paid by $3500!
We were told we would receive an information package with all the details - we have yet to receive anything from Royal Holiday. We were told we could phone or email Victor or our personal representative at any time with any questions our emails and calls have been ignored.
We calculated our price per year for 15,000 points as $36,822.50/30 years, plus $465 maintenance fee, and $140 RCI exchange fee = $1,832.42/year, plus a one-time fee per year of $106 for RCI membership.
Pona Kai in Kauai requires 28,498 points/week for a 1-bedroom. We would pull forward an additional 15,000 points for one week at this resort, to double the $1,832.42 plus the RCI membership of $106, for a total of $3,770.84. According to Expedia.ca, the Pona Kai can be booked for $227 per night, or $1,589 per week. Our wonderful holiday package costs an additional $2,181.84 for the same resort! The Kona Coast Resort requires 34,200 points for a week for a 2-bedroom. As above, $3,770.84 is the cost for 2 weeks. However, we would still need to buy additional points to make up the difference between 30,000 and the 34,200 required to stay at the resort for a week. According to Expedia.ca, a 2-bedroom suite at the Kona Coast Resort can be booked for $144 per night, or $1,008 per week, close to a quarter of the amount that we would be charged through Royal Holiday!
Everything we were told was a lie! We are taking action by following the instructions on and letting everyone we know to stay away from Royal Holiday!!!
Mressler
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
0 comments