Market Metrix

Marina Fiesta Resort & Spa, Cabo San Lucas

A very nice location at the Marina even though it rained lightly inside when it rained heavy on the outside and water seeped into our living room from the balcony where the hot-tub was requiring much attention 60% of the time we were there. We were very impressed with their new Hacienda Encantada, and while we were viewing the facility, we were already planning to have our daughter stay there with her friends once we buy into their program.

We bought the program but cancelled because we feel that we were lied to from the very start to the end when we signed on the dotted line. It is a story that has to be told so that others will not fall prey to the same duress.

When we arrived Sept. 2015 at the Marina Fiesta, a lady received us and said that there will be a 90 minutes presentation on Marina Fiesta. We specifically said twice, that we don't want to go to any timeshare presentation and she said that it is not a timeshare presentation, only an RCI update for members. Since we didn't know anything about the Marina Fiesta, we believed her (this was the first lie). She suggested and offered a half price dinner cruise which we paid and later cancelled as we were not feeling well.
The presentation turned out to be a timeshare presentation which the salesman again stressed "not timeshare but private residence" (even though the contract specifically stated "under the timeshare modality"; this was the second lie by their team).
The presentation lasted 6 hours in the freezing air conditioned office. The people there were very nice though, they gave us towels to wrap around to keep warm and served us drinks. They worked on us for 6 hours from 9 am to 3pm despite us trying to leave unsuccessfully a number of times, even for lunch. By 3pm we were cold, hungry, exhausted and confused as we began the signing process.
Lucky for us, they have an honest employee Stephanie from the accounts department. She explained the contract to us in plain English without the repetition of diagrams of boxes that served to divert our attention from our questions back to the benefits, a tactic used extensively by the sales team.
Throughout the presentation, we were told repeatedly and written on a yellow piece of paper that there was no maintenance fee, no fees, nothing, (this was the third lie) unlike timeshares and you only pay if you use the week. That lie sold us because we have a timeshare at Las Vegas with Hilton and another one at Whistler that we paid maintenance fee for the last 20 years and are sick an tired of it. When we tried to clarify if we have any maintenance, they started drawing the boxes again without a straight answer. It was only from Stephanie that we learn after signing on the dotted line, that indeed we have to pay an annual membership fee (4th lie) and the maintenance fee every other year (5th lie). We left the office cold, hungry, confused, overwhelmed, and exhausted.
It was only after in depth deliberation later and sleepless nights that we realized that after getting rid of 2 timeshare maintenance fees, we are now lumbered with yet another membership plus maintenance fee which had completely defeated our purpose for buying. And it was done through a process of lies. In our Canadian language, "fraud" comes to mind. In some circles, they might refer to it as "scam".
We were just going to forget about the whole thing because Stephanie honored our cancellation without penalty according to the contract. But what happened at check out infuriated us.
When we visited Las Vegas Hilton, they gave us $100 for attending a 90 minute presentation. It was straight forward. Not only were we not rewarded for 6 hours of pressure at the hands of the sales team, at checkout time we were dinged $20 for going up to the Hacienda resort to view it the second time that Devon said will arrange free to us. To add insult to injury, we were charged yet another $75 for dinners certificate that they gave us during the process.
What a rip off!