More Wyndham/Sabor drama with a Sand Dollar Sports and Dive Palancar thrown in!!!!

[CozumelAntonio]

So you're saying the former owner of the Reef Club sold it but kept ownership of the wooden pier, ad it's called muelle San Clemente?

The concrete dock, known until recently as the "Sand Dollar Pier", is "muelle San Clemente", if I'm not mistaken the wooden dock was built to service the Aura, and at the same time it opened.

 

[dougr52]

Yet another reason why I would NEVER buy a time share! Not that I needed another reason.

Why on earth would anyone ever take out a loan to buy the right to use a hotel room once in a while, when they still have to pay a useage fee, and pay for the all inclusive for each visit?

When we book our trips to CZM, the biggest part of the expense is airfare. Are these people that buy time shares actually saving money by making loan payments and paying the fees and all inclusive charges over just renting a room for a week every now and then???

What happens if after buying the timeshare, another hurricane blows through and wipes the place out? Is there any guarantee that they'll rebuild? What options would a time share owner have in order to try and get their money back if the owners of the resort choose to take the money and run rather than rebuilding?

well you just summed up all the thinggs that went through my mind while going through there 2 hr time share spill ( i was there alone 1 time an had nothing better to do 1 afternoon).. from my experence any time you buy air alone it is really exspensive if you do not get it in a package..
on my first stay i was booked at the wyndham, but they gave me a free up grade to the regency club, that was great, nice rooms & you could spit from there to the dive shop.. while diving i met a guy also staying at th regency club, his sister was a member, so his room was free but after he paid for air alone and the all inclusive to wyndham it cost him more than it did me!!

 

[dougr52]

Funny - that's my post on Trip Advisor

My wife and I are going to Aura at the end of April, and I was going to use SD to do a refresher and a number of dives, while my wife was going to do a Discover Scuba, with the possibility of rolling it into a full certification.

Now I have to decide if I want to still book with Sand Dollar and wait for pick-ups, book with Dive Palancar for the ease of on site service, or go wit a completely separate third party...

Thoughts?

i dove with dive palancar at the allegro cozumel, it don't get no better than them !!

 

[1KWIK_69]

The concrete dock, known until recently as the "Sand Dollar Pier", is "muelle San Clemente", if I'm not mistaken the wooden dock was built to service the Aura, and at the same time it opened.

The wooden pier is the one I've been talking about. That's the one that all dive ops besides Sand Dollar have been using, and it's the same one that Sand Dollar, or at least someone wearing a sand dollar shirt charged us to use every day on multiple trips.

I know the Sand Dollar concrete pier was for their use only.

Since Sand Dollar rebuilt the concrete pier after Wilma, won't the owners of Sabor have to pay them for it now that they've been evicted?

 

[dougr52]

For a long time I thought SDS owned the concrete dock, as it was said after the hurricane in '05 that they rebuilt it, I recently found out that SDS pays rent for the pier known as "muelle San Clemente". The owner of the pier is the former owner of the hotel, someone in the Gonzalez family, they sold the hotel some time ago to the current owners, but kept ownership of the dock. So SDS charged dock fees to offset their rental fee, which although I did not agree with, I do believe makes good business sense if they were paying rent themselves.

We just received this email:

------ Original Message ------
Received: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:14:55 PM CST
From: "Milton Ocampo" <mocampo@auraresortscozumel.com>
To: "'Milton Ocampo'" <mocampo@auraresortscozumel.com>
Cc: "Isela Valenzuela" <ivalenzuela@auraresortscozumel.com>, "Isabel Valdominos" <reservas@auraresortscozumel.com>
Subject: New Dive Operator Sabor and Aura Cozumel

Dear all,

I am glad to announce that effective today our new In house Dive Operator is Dive Palancar, this change is effective for Aura Cozumel Grand Resort and Sabor Cozumel Resort and Spa.

As of today, they will be based at our properties providing diving and water sports facilities. I am confident that our mutual customers will value this new change in our company, We are in process of sending you their contact information to arrange any kind of dive tour. Do not hesitate to contact me for any question

Milton Ocampo
Director de Ventas / Sales Director
Sabor Cozumel Resort & Spa
Aura Cozumel Grand Resort

is dive palancar still also located at the occidental grand cozumel also ???

 

[DandyDon]

Time shares may have started off as a good neighbor deal, but they are so dumb now. I know, some nice folks here own some - and I am sorry. You can do so much better on packages.

The wooden pier is the one I've been talking about. That's the one that all dive ops besides Sand Dollar have been using, and it's the same one that Sand Dollar, or at least someone wearing a sand dollar shirt charged us to use every day on multiple trips.

I know the Sand Dollar concrete pier was for their use only.

Since Sand Dollar rebuilt the concrete pier after Wilma, won't the owners of Sabor have to pay them for it now that they've been evicted?

Sounds like SD was stealing when they collected wooden pier fees, but that'd be between them and the its owner. Now, in Texas - if a renter installs improvements to rental property, they belong to the property owner. Mexican law may be different but I highly doubt it as it usually favors owners.

i dove with dive palancar at the allegro cozumel, it don't get no better than them !!

Wonder if they install CO monitors after the incident?

 

[cicopo]

Yes same Dive Palancar as at the Grand.

 

[dougr52]

Time shares may have started off as a good neighbor deal, but they are so dumb now. I know, some nice folks here own some - and I am sorry. You can do so much better on packages.

Sounds like SD was stealing when they collected wooden pier fees, but that'd be between them and the its owner. Now, in Texas - if a renter installs improvements to rental property, they belong to the property owner. Mexican law may be different but I highly doubt it as it usually favors owners.

Wonder if they install CO monitors after the incident?

i do not know anything about co monitors

 

[dougr52]

Yes same Dive Palancar as at the Grand.

yes, but is dive palancar going to continue to also be located at the grand??

 

[1KWIK_69]

Sounds like SD was stealing when they collected wooden pier fees, but that'd be between them and the its owner.

I don't see it as stealing. The way it was explained to me is that Wyndham sold the water sports concession to Sand Dollar. I'm not sure exactly what that means other than they handled all the water sports, including use of the wooden pier. Unless I was told something incorrect. I do know that they used the beach area on the left side of the wooden pier for discover scuba stuff. If Wyndham saw fit to give them total control of the water activities, I don't blame them for charging a small fee for pier usage for other dive ops. I blame Wyndham for allowing it in the first place. A resort that big, with all inclusive, should provide their pier, free of extra charges to all of their guests, no matter who they're diving with. Sand dollar was just a victim of the Wyndham owner's policies. Even though the pier fees may have gained SD a few extra customers that might have otherwise used another dive op, but instead chose them so they could avoid having to carry a few dollars cash every day to hand to the guy that would be chasing them up the pier with the clip board, I'm sure it also cost them a few divers like me that would rather pay the fee than be coerced into using the onsite operation.