Global Resorts Network
Quote: (06-09-2010 06:48 PM)hydrogonian Wrote:
To be honest, it likely works well for them precisely because most people likely use very little of their membership. Therefore, the money that they pay into it is more than enough to pay for those that use the membership a lot. Its sort of like a big insurance pool.
That may or may not be the case. As I mentioned before, the travel provider goes out each year and pre-purchases hundreds of thousands of weeks up to 1 year in advance to ensure that when their members request a week, that they'll get it.
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And keep in mind that even when you get a membership, your still paying for the room, although at a subsidized/discounted rate. This means that you likely have to go on quite a few vacations before the equity of the original 3K is used up, in terms of how much your discounted.
Well, when you're saving on average 30-50% and up to 90% over say Expedia on every vacation, how many vacations do you think would take before your membership pays for itself? It took me 1 vacation (1 week) in Rio where I saved almost 5K. I'd venture into saying that it'd take the average member 2-4 vacations before their membership pays for itself in savings. And any subsequent vacation is pure gravy.
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Very, very few people likely ever come close to going above and beyond their 3000 pay in.
Not sure about that. When you know that you can take your family to vacation at top resorts for the price of a cheap motel, I bet you'd be more willing and likely to go on vacations. Specially if you use the Hot Weeks section where every week listed there is below $398. Not per person, but per week for up to 6 people.
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Also, remember that this is a vacationers membership and not a 'travelers' type of membership. Vacationers tend to go on vacation 1-2 weeks a year max, because thats all they can get off from work. For these people, as long as they keep using it, the membership would pay for itself quickly.
You are not limited to just 1 week at a time at a place/resort. You can stay at a resort for up to 8 consecutive weeks paying anywhere between $298 to $799 per week. So this membership can be beneficial to both a vacationner and a traveler. As a matter of fact, there is a section of the membership called "Hot Weeks" where everything in that section is below $398 per week. So a member could technically stay at these hot weeks places every single week of the year staying at top resorts and paying less than an apart. As a matter of fact, one of my short term goal is to actually do that: spend every week of the year at a different Hot Week location.
![[Image: smile.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/smile.gif)
Vacancier Permanent, thanks for detailed reply. Still have some doubts:
As a quick note, one can also buy/sell timeshares on web, there is no _need_ to attend any presentations (they're a good test of your character though), so this comparison is not completely accurate.
This answers most of my questions. Basically what you said is that the number of available units is limited, and even if I'm a member and decide on Jan 2011 that I want to go to Rio to Carnaval for $650, there is zero guarantee that I would get it despite the membership I have. Is that the case? Now, assuming this is the case, what stops me from booking all weeks in all resorts, just in case I want to go there? There must be either a no-show penalty, or a requirement to prepay the trip (likely non-refundable). Is that the case? How no-shows are handled?
This is something I read on BBB myself. My question was related to your remark that you contacted BBB, so I wondered what BBB told you about it. Or you meant that you just checked their web site?
No, this is a warning sign. This typically means either the company has very little business, or there is a clause in membership agreement which prevents members from leaving reviews. Check out any successful business with a lot of customers, and you will see a lot of complains, with most of them being resolved satisfactory.
Of course not. But if they had only 10 complains and D+ rating, I'd worry what's wrong with them. No business is perfect, so the number of complains is directly proportional to the number of customers and this is expected. What is important is how the business handles those complains.
Could you please share some other businesses you deal with, who have D+ rating on BBB? I haven't yet dealt with a business which was below B, so this makes me really wonder what kind of other good businesses are there with such a low rating.
My understanding is that with timeshare you basically own a piece (share) of some real estate. Which you can sell, transfer, and so on. It may have less value than you paid for (as any other real estate), but at least it is backed up with something of physical nature. When you die, it it part of estate.
Now if I look on GRN, my understanding is that the only thing I'm getting in exchange of $3K is a promise from a company (which is just three year old) that it would deliver me services for the rest of my life. And if the company finds it cannot deliver - which happens with 90% of new businesses - they'll just file for bankruptcy and you'll get nothing back. Is that the case? What happens if tomorrow GRN owner closes the offices and takes permanent Brazilian vacation? Then, can you sell your GRN membership? Can you transfer it? Does it become part of estate when you die?
I did a search and was not able to find any facts which supported the statement that this membership has been selling since 1986. Do you have first-hand knowledge about that, did you buy your membership in 1986, or this is just something the company told you?
Travel/vacation is regulated, but GRN seem not to sell them. As far as I understood from your posts, they just sell the membership, and the actual travel/vacation is provided by other companies. And yes, it takes a while to uncover Ponzi scheme - Madoff has been operated for almost 17 years on a much higher scale.
There are three main things which bother me with GRN:
1. Initial single payment for lifetime services. Most businesses do not operate like that, because the cost of doing business may change significantly in future, so they would prefer to have flexibility. They operate on monthly/annual payments. A company which promises you lifetime support for a single payment now appears to me as something which does not plan to stay in business long. Considering they are not bonded, it means that once they decide not to provide services anymore, you will not get a single penny back. Dream Style Vacations looks much better on that matter as they only require $100 upfront and then charge like a $30 monthly fee.
2. You cannot purchase a product from their web site. To me it is a huge red flag when a company is in business of selling non-physical goods, and you cannot buy it directly from the company. A consequence is that you cannot get a full description of what exactly you're buying, including the terms of service. This is what I am paying for, and I prefer to read this document instead of "$299 VACATIONS FOR LIFE" testimonials. If you have this document, can you share it so we can see what exactly we'd be buying?
3. If you google "global resorts network", most links you find will only tell you about "business opportunities" with GRN. It is discussed very little, and virtually everyone who claims he is using GRN and is happy, is also selling it - which makes me skeptical whether they really have any customers besides those who're selling it. Another question, of course, is that if I receive $1000 commission from a sale, why can't I become a seller and sell a package to myself and spend $2K instead of $3K?
Quote: (06-25-2010 10:28 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:
For the GRN membership, there is no presentation to attend, no pushy sales people, no timeshare presentations to go to. Every thing is web based. No sales people, no pressure, no non-sense like what you described and all.
As a quick note, one can also buy/sell timeshares on web, there is no _need_ to attend any presentations (they're a good test of your character though), so this comparison is not completely accurate.
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While this could be true with an airline and tickets, it couldn't be further from the truth with the GRN Membership for 2 very simple yet fundamental reasons why this membership is the real deal:
1) the travel provider pre-purchases each year hundreds of thousands of weeks in advance to ensure that their members will be able to get what they want at the time they want.
...
Of course for these highly sought after weeks, the soonest you book, the higher your chances of getting that week. I will be making my own reservations there for next year's Carnaval in the next couple of weeks or so to ensure that I'll get an ocean front suite again.
This answers most of my questions. Basically what you said is that the number of available units is limited, and even if I'm a member and decide on Jan 2011 that I want to go to Rio to Carnaval for $650, there is zero guarantee that I would get it despite the membership I have. Is that the case? Now, assuming this is the case, what stops me from booking all weeks in all resorts, just in case I want to go there? There must be either a no-show penalty, or a requirement to prepay the trip (likely non-refundable). Is that the case? How no-shows are handled?
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Moving onto the D+ rating with the BBB. It is listed as D+ for the following reasons:
1) length of time business has been operating
2) 10 complaints filed against business
3) 1 complaint filed against business that was not resolved.
This is something I read on BBB myself. My question was related to your remark that you contacted BBB, so I wondered what BBB told you about it. Or you meant that you just checked their web site?
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Length of operation: 10 complaints filed against a marketing/direct sales company in 3.5 years is simply outstanding and unheard of!
No, this is a warning sign. This typically means either the company has very little business, or there is a clause in membership agreement which prevents members from leaving reviews. Check out any successful business with a lot of customers, and you will see a lot of complains, with most of them being resolved satisfactory.
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Now, I have used Expedia numerous times myself. Will I stop using them because of those 1438 complaints filed against them in the past 36 months?
Of course not. But if they had only 10 complains and D+ rating, I'd worry what's wrong with them. No business is perfect, so the number of complains is directly proportional to the number of customers and this is expected. What is important is how the business handles those complains.
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So when I see "oh that company has a D+ rating", I don't automatically stop looking at them and look elsewhere. If I were to do that, I wouldn't be left with many options out there.
Could you please share some other businesses you deal with, who have D+ rating on BBB? I haven't yet dealt with a business which was below B, so this makes me really wonder what kind of other good businesses are there with such a low rating.
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I also can't believe it that people fall for this stuff (timeshares). I never cease to be amazed and puzzled why would any sane person in their right mind would plunk $10-50K up front for a timeshare + 500 to 2K per year in annual fees for 1 or 2 weeks at most per year in a timeshare.
![[Image: huh.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/huh.gif)
My understanding is that with timeshare you basically own a piece (share) of some real estate. Which you can sell, transfer, and so on. It may have less value than you paid for (as any other real estate), but at least it is backed up with something of physical nature. When you die, it it part of estate.
Now if I look on GRN, my understanding is that the only thing I'm getting in exchange of $3K is a promise from a company (which is just three year old) that it would deliver me services for the rest of my life. And if the company finds it cannot deliver - which happens with 90% of new businesses - they'll just file for bankruptcy and you'll get nothing back. Is that the case? What happens if tomorrow GRN owner closes the offices and takes permanent Brazilian vacation? Then, can you sell your GRN membership? Can you transfer it? Does it become part of estate when you die?
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Now as far as this membership is concerned, keep in mind that this membership has been selling since 1986. Do you really think if this was a scam, it would have lasted that long? Again, the luxury travel/vacation and timeshare industries are among the most highly regulated and it would have been shut down in a heart beat.
I did a search and was not able to find any facts which supported the statement that this membership has been selling since 1986. Do you have first-hand knowledge about that, did you buy your membership in 1986, or this is just something the company told you?
Travel/vacation is regulated, but GRN seem not to sell them. As far as I understood from your posts, they just sell the membership, and the actual travel/vacation is provided by other companies. And yes, it takes a while to uncover Ponzi scheme - Madoff has been operated for almost 17 years on a much higher scale.
There are three main things which bother me with GRN:
1. Initial single payment for lifetime services. Most businesses do not operate like that, because the cost of doing business may change significantly in future, so they would prefer to have flexibility. They operate on monthly/annual payments. A company which promises you lifetime support for a single payment now appears to me as something which does not plan to stay in business long. Considering they are not bonded, it means that once they decide not to provide services anymore, you will not get a single penny back. Dream Style Vacations looks much better on that matter as they only require $100 upfront and then charge like a $30 monthly fee.
2. You cannot purchase a product from their web site. To me it is a huge red flag when a company is in business of selling non-physical goods, and you cannot buy it directly from the company. A consequence is that you cannot get a full description of what exactly you're buying, including the terms of service. This is what I am paying for, and I prefer to read this document instead of "$299 VACATIONS FOR LIFE" testimonials. If you have this document, can you share it so we can see what exactly we'd be buying?
3. If you google "global resorts network", most links you find will only tell you about "business opportunities" with GRN. It is discussed very little, and virtually everyone who claims he is using GRN and is happy, is also selling it - which makes me skeptical whether they really have any customers besides those who're selling it. Another question, of course, is that if I receive $1000 commission from a sale, why can't I become a seller and sell a package to myself and spend $2K instead of $3K?
Oldnemesis,
Thanks for your reply with your comments. I've been very busy in here with things, hence the reason I haven't replied to your posts yet. But gotta admit that reading your comments, I felt as if you were some how either upset or angry that this membership exists by the tone of some of your comments which were quite aggressive and negative at times. I just hope it's not as a result of you getting trapped in a timeshare....![[Image: wink.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/wink.gif)
Anyways, without any further ado, let me address your comments:
While it is true that nowadays, one can buy/sell timeshares online, still the majority of the timeshare sales are done in person usually when someone stays at a resort/hotel, they're enticed to attend a "no obligation" presentation and to entice them, they're given a free gift or a gift certificate. Then once you're in that room, good luck as the onslaught of pushy salespeople go into full swing.
The number of weeks available worldwide each year is a finite number. The travel provider pre-purchases each year up to 500K weeks up to a 1 year in advance to ensure that when their members make a reservation for a week, even for the most primest times of the year (xmas, new years, carnaval etc...) that they'll get it. However, in case the week requested is not available anymore, the travel provider will go over and beyond to please their customers by coming back to the customer usually within 24-48 hours with 3-5 offers for similar resorts within the same location within the same price range ($298-699 with a max of $799 per week). To take your example, I can safely say that if you were to wait till Jan 2011 to reserve the Rio Othon Palace for the week of Carnaval with your membership, you won't get it as this is THE primest week probably worldwide at that time of the year. As a matter of fact, if you were to wait till the last minute (Jan 2011 to book your carnaval accommodations in Rio and if you wanted to stay at a top beach front hotel in the Zona Sul in Rio, you won't find anything unless you pay a few grands. Sure you could still get lucky and get a cheaper hotel 5-8 blocks from the beach, but to get something right on the beach in either Copacabana or Ipanema with that little advance notice while not impossible seems very highly unlikely. And certainly not for $650. So bottom line, if you want to ensure you'd get something for Carnaval in Rio at a top beach front hotel for $650 while the same room goes outside of the membership for $1k/night, then you'd better make your reservation as early as possible. Understandbly so one may add. Outside of these highly sought weeks, you can reserve with a little as just a week advance notice.
Sure you could go ahead and reserve every week at every resort, but that wouldn't be the best use of the membership nor of your money as each time you make a reservation you'd have to pay right away to get the place reserved for you. And if you pay/reserve a place, the sale is final, hence no refund. So no show=no refund. For the simple reason that all the weeks within the membership are pre-purchased weeks. So a much better way to proceed is to book the week(s) at the place(s) you know for sure you'd be going to, specially if that happens to be a popular event at a popular time of the year. As I said, I booked my Carnaval 2009 week in the first week of Sept. 08 and I got it. Had I waited till say Jan 09, would I have still gotten it? I highly doubt it, but I'm very glad I did book it that far ahead as I knew I would be going to Rio for Carnaval and I had the time of my life staying at a top beach front hotel, at the 21st floor in a suite overlooking the ocean for $650 for the entire week while that same suite was going at $1K a night outside the membership. Note to self: I probably should book my Carnaval 2011 week pretty soon...
Regarding the BBB thing, checked their website back in March 2008 before I joined in April 08 and also called them. I remember that there wasn't much info on their site as the company had been at the time just over a year in business. So I called the BBB to find out more about GRN and when I spoke to someone there at the BBB office, I was told that that company (GRN) had been in business for over a year (GRN started in Dec 06) and that they were in good standing. That was all I need to get an official green light about them being legit and I purchased my own Platinum membership a couple of weeks later. Looking back at it, from a consumer point of view, it was the best 3K I have ever spent. And from a business venture, it's been one of the best business decisions of my life. Full stop. One that has allowed me to take control of my life (financially) and not to have to slave at a J.O.B. anymore. And this business is what will allow me to go on my first mini retirement in September.
First of all, there is no clause whatsoever in the membership which prevents members from leaving reviews. I'm no lawyer but I would venture into safely saying that that kind of clause would constitute an infringement one of the most basic human rights and that is of freedom of speech and hence be totally illegal. And believe you me, if this were illegal or anything illegal for that matter in their business practices, the ARDA, CARE (the major watch dogs in the timeshare/luxury vacations industries) would have had a field day with them and would have shut them down in a heartbeat.
As to your other comment about the very small number of complaints in over 3.5 years of business for a marketing/direct sales company having very little business couldn't be further from the truth. While I can agree with you that GRN (not the travel partner, I'll get into that very soon) might not be as big as say Expedia, GRN still is a multi-million $ a year company (say around the 100-150M/year). I wish I could post their financial statements, but they are a privately traded company thus these figures are not available to the public. But I have attended a couple of the GRN summits and I have spoken directly with the president of GRN and confirmed those figures to me (not in a very detailed way as you can understand but in a rough ball park way).
Also, I'd like to re-eiterate that for a marketing/direct sales/affiliate company to have ONLY 13 complaints in 3.5 years of operation is simpy outstanding. Marketing/direct sales/affiliate companies have a higher than usual turnover rate than other more mainstream if you will companies. If for a "normal" business, the "survival rate" is only 10% after the first year of operations, for a marketing/direct sales/affiliate company, it is 1%. The fact that GRN has not only gone beyond that mark but also has been thriving is only a testimony of them doin things right and of offering a product of outstanding real life value to people as well as the opportunity, for those that so desire, to make some good to life changing money withe the opportunity attached to their product.
Before I tackle this set of questions, let me once again give some perspective about the 2 main players in play in here:
GRN is the marketing arm of a much bigger company, Gold Crown Resort, which is the travel partner/provider providing the accommodations for this membershp. GRN started their operations in Dec. 2006. Gold Crown has been selling this very same membership in the open market since 1986 at over 10-15K a piece as a STAND ALONE PRODUCT WITHOUT ANY OPPORTUNITY OR REFERAL PROGRAMME ATTACHED TO IT AT ALL. Then, in Dec 2006, GRN obtained the world wide rights to promote this membership online globally for $2,995 with the added OPTION for the member to receive a $1,000 referall fee each time they would refer someone else that becomes a member. However, as mentioned, the very backbone of this membership is Gold Crown Resorts for their massive networks of contacts, their massive buying power in the industry as well as their impeccable track record. As a matter of fact, resorts that are part of the Gold Crown Resort network have set the benchmark for their superior quality so much that each year, at the annual ARDA/CARE summits, which is like the Oscars if you will of the timeshare/luxury vacations industries, the top resorts receive the Gold Crown award and accreditation which is the highest honour for a resort.
Now, having clarified a bit the picture about the 2 main players in here, even if GRN were to disappear tomorrow, the membership won't be affected the slightest as the membership is NOT through GRN but through Gold Crown. Gold Crown are the ones providing the accommodations. GRN is only a marketing arm/affiliate promoter of the membership. They are the ones paying their affiliates each time they make a sale. Once someone buys the membership from GRN, their dealings with GRN stops there (if they decide not to become an affiliate; if they decide to become an affiliate, then this part is handled by GRN) and all the vacation related matters as well as the customer service part are all handled by Gold Crown.
Once you purchase a GRN Platium lifetime membership, you then deal directly with Gold Crown for your vacation plannings and all, not with GRN. The membership is backed by Gold Corwn's almost a quarter of century (since 1986) of operations as a leader in their industry and an impeccable track record. The membership is valid for 99 years and is fully willable and transferable. So no worries you can easily leave it on your estate.
Yes, this membership has been selling by Gold Crown Resorts since January 1, 1986. It has been selling in the open market since then until end of 2006 where GRN started promoting it online for 3K.
GRN sells the membership online worldwide. One can still go and buy the membership directly from Gold Crown for 10K+ in the open market. Vacations are provided by one company, the travel partner/provider. This is no Ponzi scheme as you keep on erroneously implying. The product in question here is a stand alone product which has been selling since 1986 and which offers a concrete real life value to its users.
About your final 3 points at the bottom of your last post, without quoting them:
1) To join an exclusive club, such as a vacation club, a fractional ownership or a timeshare, by nature requires an initial up front fee to join. Most of them also require on going annual fees and dues such as maintenance fees, renovation fees and the likes. The GRN membership does not have any such annual fees. While the 3K initial fee may seem high to some, it's the lowest in the industry for vacation clubs of a high end calibre. It's by far the best value for money out there. Other memberships to vacation clubs that totally pale in comparaison with the value of the GRN membership are being sold out there for anywhere between 6-20K. There's even a very "exclusive" membership called Ultimate Escapes whose cheapest package starts at 70K + 8K annual fees would get 2-8 weeks per year at 45 destinations accross the US and the Carribeans. Compare that to unlimited lifetime access to over 5000 resorts worldwide for life. Meaning you can vacation 52 weeks a year for life with no annual fees or dues.
Also, as I wrote earlier in case you missed it, one of the perks of this membership is that there is a price cap of $799 meaning you will not pay more than $799 per week at any given time. This price cap has not been raised since 1998.
Because here in North America and most of the western world, we're in a capitalistic environment and as a result, there are options for all budgets. There are fast food joints as well as mom and pop restaurants along the gourmet places and the internationally accreditated restaurants. Dream Style Vacations would fall into the fast food & hot dog stand category while the GRN falls into the internationally accreditated restaurant but without the price tag that comes with it. The GRN membership is the Rolls Royce and the brand name of vacation clubs, while Dream Style and other copy cat wanna-bees are the no name types. Like anything in life, you get what you pay for.
2) Not every company out there sells physical goods. There is a huge service industry worldwide, travel being the biggest industry in the world, to the tune of 80 Trillion a year. You can definitely purchase the membership direct from Gold Crown if you so choose to, but instead of paying $2,995 for it, you'd pay $10K-$12K.
On all the GRN websites, it's very clear what you're getting. The membership is explained in detailed. Take a look here for a full description of the membership:
http://www.4-5starvacations4life.com/
3) GRN is as mentioned several times, the marketing arm promoting this membership. When a member starts using the membership, and they experience first hand the outstanding value of it and then starts also taking advantage of its very generous referal fee which can be turned into a lucrative business. As such, the majority of search results online for "Global Resorts Network" bring those sites. The affiliate side of the membership is strictly optional. The main focus and foundation of this whole deal is the actual membership which has been and still is selling very successfully as a stand alone product. Personally, my business with GRN is built almost entirely on the retail side of the product and not the biz opportunity.
Ahahahah, very good one, nice try tough. I wish this was possible. To become a member, one has to pay $2995. If you decide to promote the membership, you'd make 50% of the $1K commission on your first sale and from your 2nd sale onwards, you'd make 1K per sale. Here's a better approach: get your membership, take a 2-3 vacations using it, then make 3-4 sales. Not only will you have made your money back with the commissions of the sales, but you'd also have had your membership pay for itself in savings. And not to mention the awesome and indelibile memories for vacationing at a top end resort for a fraction of the cost. And any vacation you take thereafter along any future sales will all be pure gravy so to speak. This is the way I chose and I'm not regretting it at all.![[Image: banana.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/new/banana.gif)
I hope that this has cleared some misunderstandings about the GRN membership. One thing I'd like to clarify: I'm not on this site trying to promote this, I do my marketing elsewhere, mainly offline with classifieds and full page ads (more on that another day in another t and opic). My main reason for being on this site is to plamy experiences travelling and gaming abroad as well as learning about other places I have not been yet. I enjoy this forum a lot because it's filled with great guys who are generous in their time to post detailed reports about 2 of my favorite topics, travelling and women.![[Image: biggrin.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
Plus, it's filled with like minded guys who are young, successful and well travelled and good with women. The type of community that the best in its kind out there. Once again, big kudos to Roosh for making this site/community a reality.
Cheers.
Thanks for your reply with your comments. I've been very busy in here with things, hence the reason I haven't replied to your posts yet. But gotta admit that reading your comments, I felt as if you were some how either upset or angry that this membership exists by the tone of some of your comments which were quite aggressive and negative at times. I just hope it's not as a result of you getting trapped in a timeshare....
Anyways, without any further ado, let me address your comments:Quote:Quote:
As a quick note, one can also buy/sell timeshares on web, there is no _need_ to attend any presentations (they're a good test of your character though), so this comparison is not completely accurate.
While it is true that nowadays, one can buy/sell timeshares online, still the majority of the timeshare sales are done in person usually when someone stays at a resort/hotel, they're enticed to attend a "no obligation" presentation and to entice them, they're given a free gift or a gift certificate. Then once you're in that room, good luck as the onslaught of pushy salespeople go into full swing.
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This answers most of my questions. Basically what you said is that the number of available units is limited, and even if I'm a member and decide on Jan 2011 that I want to go to Rio to Carnaval for $650, there is zero guarantee that I would get it despite the membership I have. Is that the case? Now, assuming this is the case, what stops me from booking all weeks in all resorts, just in case I want to go there? There must be either a no-show penalty, or a requirement to prepay the trip (likely non-refundable). Is that the case? How no-shows are handled?
The number of weeks available worldwide each year is a finite number. The travel provider pre-purchases each year up to 500K weeks up to a 1 year in advance to ensure that when their members make a reservation for a week, even for the most primest times of the year (xmas, new years, carnaval etc...) that they'll get it. However, in case the week requested is not available anymore, the travel provider will go over and beyond to please their customers by coming back to the customer usually within 24-48 hours with 3-5 offers for similar resorts within the same location within the same price range ($298-699 with a max of $799 per week). To take your example, I can safely say that if you were to wait till Jan 2011 to reserve the Rio Othon Palace for the week of Carnaval with your membership, you won't get it as this is THE primest week probably worldwide at that time of the year. As a matter of fact, if you were to wait till the last minute (Jan 2011 to book your carnaval accommodations in Rio and if you wanted to stay at a top beach front hotel in the Zona Sul in Rio, you won't find anything unless you pay a few grands. Sure you could still get lucky and get a cheaper hotel 5-8 blocks from the beach, but to get something right on the beach in either Copacabana or Ipanema with that little advance notice while not impossible seems very highly unlikely. And certainly not for $650. So bottom line, if you want to ensure you'd get something for Carnaval in Rio at a top beach front hotel for $650 while the same room goes outside of the membership for $1k/night, then you'd better make your reservation as early as possible. Understandbly so one may add. Outside of these highly sought weeks, you can reserve with a little as just a week advance notice.
Sure you could go ahead and reserve every week at every resort, but that wouldn't be the best use of the membership nor of your money as each time you make a reservation you'd have to pay right away to get the place reserved for you. And if you pay/reserve a place, the sale is final, hence no refund. So no show=no refund. For the simple reason that all the weeks within the membership are pre-purchased weeks. So a much better way to proceed is to book the week(s) at the place(s) you know for sure you'd be going to, specially if that happens to be a popular event at a popular time of the year. As I said, I booked my Carnaval 2009 week in the first week of Sept. 08 and I got it. Had I waited till say Jan 09, would I have still gotten it? I highly doubt it, but I'm very glad I did book it that far ahead as I knew I would be going to Rio for Carnaval and I had the time of my life staying at a top beach front hotel, at the 21st floor in a suite overlooking the ocean for $650 for the entire week while that same suite was going at $1K a night outside the membership. Note to self: I probably should book my Carnaval 2011 week pretty soon...
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This is something I read on BBB myself. My question was related to your remark that you contacted BBB, so I wondered what BBB told you about it. Or you meant that you just checked their web site?
Regarding the BBB thing, checked their website back in March 2008 before I joined in April 08 and also called them. I remember that there wasn't much info on their site as the company had been at the time just over a year in business. So I called the BBB to find out more about GRN and when I spoke to someone there at the BBB office, I was told that that company (GRN) had been in business for over a year (GRN started in Dec 06) and that they were in good standing. That was all I need to get an official green light about them being legit and I purchased my own Platinum membership a couple of weeks later. Looking back at it, from a consumer point of view, it was the best 3K I have ever spent. And from a business venture, it's been one of the best business decisions of my life. Full stop. One that has allowed me to take control of my life (financially) and not to have to slave at a J.O.B. anymore. And this business is what will allow me to go on my first mini retirement in September.
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No, this is a warning sign. This typically means either the company has very little business, or there is a clause in membership agreement which prevents members from leaving reviews. Check out any successful business with a lot of customers, and you will see a lot of complains, with most of them being resolved satisfactory.
First of all, there is no clause whatsoever in the membership which prevents members from leaving reviews. I'm no lawyer but I would venture into safely saying that that kind of clause would constitute an infringement one of the most basic human rights and that is of freedom of speech and hence be totally illegal. And believe you me, if this were illegal or anything illegal for that matter in their business practices, the ARDA, CARE (the major watch dogs in the timeshare/luxury vacations industries) would have had a field day with them and would have shut them down in a heartbeat.
As to your other comment about the very small number of complaints in over 3.5 years of business for a marketing/direct sales company having very little business couldn't be further from the truth. While I can agree with you that GRN (not the travel partner, I'll get into that very soon) might not be as big as say Expedia, GRN still is a multi-million $ a year company (say around the 100-150M/year). I wish I could post their financial statements, but they are a privately traded company thus these figures are not available to the public. But I have attended a couple of the GRN summits and I have spoken directly with the president of GRN and confirmed those figures to me (not in a very detailed way as you can understand but in a rough ball park way).
Also, I'd like to re-eiterate that for a marketing/direct sales/affiliate company to have ONLY 13 complaints in 3.5 years of operation is simpy outstanding. Marketing/direct sales/affiliate companies have a higher than usual turnover rate than other more mainstream if you will companies. If for a "normal" business, the "survival rate" is only 10% after the first year of operations, for a marketing/direct sales/affiliate company, it is 1%. The fact that GRN has not only gone beyond that mark but also has been thriving is only a testimony of them doin things right and of offering a product of outstanding real life value to people as well as the opportunity, for those that so desire, to make some good to life changing money withe the opportunity attached to their product.
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My understanding is that with timeshare you basically own a piece (share) of some real estate. Which you can sell, transfer, and so on. It may have less value than you paid for (as any other real estate), but at least it is backed up with something of physical nature. When you die, it it part of estate.
Now if I look on GRN, my understanding is that the only thing I'm getting in exchange of $3K is a promise from a company (which is just three year old) that it would deliver me services for the rest of my life. And if the company finds it cannot deliver - which happens with 90% of new businesses - they'll just file for bankruptcy and you'll get nothing back. Is that the case? What happens if tomorrow GRN owner closes the offices and takes permanent Brazilian vacation? Then, can you sell your GRN membership? Can you transfer it? Does it become part of estate when you die?
Before I tackle this set of questions, let me once again give some perspective about the 2 main players in play in here:
GRN is the marketing arm of a much bigger company, Gold Crown Resort, which is the travel partner/provider providing the accommodations for this membershp. GRN started their operations in Dec. 2006. Gold Crown has been selling this very same membership in the open market since 1986 at over 10-15K a piece as a STAND ALONE PRODUCT WITHOUT ANY OPPORTUNITY OR REFERAL PROGRAMME ATTACHED TO IT AT ALL. Then, in Dec 2006, GRN obtained the world wide rights to promote this membership online globally for $2,995 with the added OPTION for the member to receive a $1,000 referall fee each time they would refer someone else that becomes a member. However, as mentioned, the very backbone of this membership is Gold Crown Resorts for their massive networks of contacts, their massive buying power in the industry as well as their impeccable track record. As a matter of fact, resorts that are part of the Gold Crown Resort network have set the benchmark for their superior quality so much that each year, at the annual ARDA/CARE summits, which is like the Oscars if you will of the timeshare/luxury vacations industries, the top resorts receive the Gold Crown award and accreditation which is the highest honour for a resort.
Now, having clarified a bit the picture about the 2 main players in here, even if GRN were to disappear tomorrow, the membership won't be affected the slightest as the membership is NOT through GRN but through Gold Crown. Gold Crown are the ones providing the accommodations. GRN is only a marketing arm/affiliate promoter of the membership. They are the ones paying their affiliates each time they make a sale. Once someone buys the membership from GRN, their dealings with GRN stops there (if they decide not to become an affiliate; if they decide to become an affiliate, then this part is handled by GRN) and all the vacation related matters as well as the customer service part are all handled by Gold Crown.
Once you purchase a GRN Platium lifetime membership, you then deal directly with Gold Crown for your vacation plannings and all, not with GRN. The membership is backed by Gold Corwn's almost a quarter of century (since 1986) of operations as a leader in their industry and an impeccable track record. The membership is valid for 99 years and is fully willable and transferable. So no worries you can easily leave it on your estate.
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I did a search and was not able to find any facts which supported the statement that this membership has been selling since 1986. Do you have first-hand knowledge about that, did you buy your membership in 1986, or this is just something the company told you?
Yes, this membership has been selling by Gold Crown Resorts since January 1, 1986. It has been selling in the open market since then until end of 2006 where GRN started promoting it online for 3K.
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Travel/vacation is regulated, but GRN seem not to sell them. As far as I understood from your posts, they just sell the membership, and the actual travel/vacation is provided by other companies. And yes, it takes a while to uncover Ponzi scheme - Madoff has been operated for almost 17 years on a much higher scale.
GRN sells the membership online worldwide. One can still go and buy the membership directly from Gold Crown for 10K+ in the open market. Vacations are provided by one company, the travel partner/provider. This is no Ponzi scheme as you keep on erroneously implying. The product in question here is a stand alone product which has been selling since 1986 and which offers a concrete real life value to its users.
About your final 3 points at the bottom of your last post, without quoting them:
1) To join an exclusive club, such as a vacation club, a fractional ownership or a timeshare, by nature requires an initial up front fee to join. Most of them also require on going annual fees and dues such as maintenance fees, renovation fees and the likes. The GRN membership does not have any such annual fees. While the 3K initial fee may seem high to some, it's the lowest in the industry for vacation clubs of a high end calibre. It's by far the best value for money out there. Other memberships to vacation clubs that totally pale in comparaison with the value of the GRN membership are being sold out there for anywhere between 6-20K. There's even a very "exclusive" membership called Ultimate Escapes whose cheapest package starts at 70K + 8K annual fees would get 2-8 weeks per year at 45 destinations accross the US and the Carribeans. Compare that to unlimited lifetime access to over 5000 resorts worldwide for life. Meaning you can vacation 52 weeks a year for life with no annual fees or dues.
Also, as I wrote earlier in case you missed it, one of the perks of this membership is that there is a price cap of $799 meaning you will not pay more than $799 per week at any given time. This price cap has not been raised since 1998.
Because here in North America and most of the western world, we're in a capitalistic environment and as a result, there are options for all budgets. There are fast food joints as well as mom and pop restaurants along the gourmet places and the internationally accreditated restaurants. Dream Style Vacations would fall into the fast food & hot dog stand category while the GRN falls into the internationally accreditated restaurant but without the price tag that comes with it. The GRN membership is the Rolls Royce and the brand name of vacation clubs, while Dream Style and other copy cat wanna-bees are the no name types. Like anything in life, you get what you pay for.
2) Not every company out there sells physical goods. There is a huge service industry worldwide, travel being the biggest industry in the world, to the tune of 80 Trillion a year. You can definitely purchase the membership direct from Gold Crown if you so choose to, but instead of paying $2,995 for it, you'd pay $10K-$12K.
On all the GRN websites, it's very clear what you're getting. The membership is explained in detailed. Take a look here for a full description of the membership:
http://www.4-5starvacations4life.com/
3) GRN is as mentioned several times, the marketing arm promoting this membership. When a member starts using the membership, and they experience first hand the outstanding value of it and then starts also taking advantage of its very generous referal fee which can be turned into a lucrative business. As such, the majority of search results online for "Global Resorts Network" bring those sites. The affiliate side of the membership is strictly optional. The main focus and foundation of this whole deal is the actual membership which has been and still is selling very successfully as a stand alone product. Personally, my business with GRN is built almost entirely on the retail side of the product and not the biz opportunity.
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Another question, of course, is that if I receive $1000 commission from a sale, why can't I become a seller and sell a package to myself and spend $2K instead of $3K?
Ahahahah, very good one, nice try tough. I wish this was possible. To become a member, one has to pay $2995. If you decide to promote the membership, you'd make 50% of the $1K commission on your first sale and from your 2nd sale onwards, you'd make 1K per sale. Here's a better approach: get your membership, take a 2-3 vacations using it, then make 3-4 sales. Not only will you have made your money back with the commissions of the sales, but you'd also have had your membership pay for itself in savings. And not to mention the awesome and indelibile memories for vacationing at a top end resort for a fraction of the cost. And any vacation you take thereafter along any future sales will all be pure gravy so to speak. This is the way I chose and I'm not regretting it at all.
I hope that this has cleared some misunderstandings about the GRN membership. One thing I'd like to clarify: I'm not on this site trying to promote this, I do my marketing elsewhere, mainly offline with classifieds and full page ads (more on that another day in another t and opic). My main reason for being on this site is to plamy experiences travelling and gaming abroad as well as learning about other places I have not been yet. I enjoy this forum a lot because it's filled with great guys who are generous in their time to post detailed reports about 2 of my favorite topics, travelling and women.
Plus, it's filled with like minded guys who are young, successful and well travelled and good with women. The type of community that the best in its kind out there. Once again, big kudos to Roosh for making this site/community a reality. Cheers.
Here's a short video briefly going over the different vacation club memberships out there versus the GRN membership. I realize this videoo is a bit old, (specially when the Neil guy talks about 3200 resorts within the internal inventory which has now almost doubled to over 5,000 resorts). Once I get the time, I'll make an updated video on this).
http://platinumnews.us/s/
http://platinumnews.us/s/
Quote: (06-25-2010 11:00 PM)Kona Wrote:
Quote: (06-25-2010 10:28 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:
top of the line 5 star resorts in say Hawaii will be at $799 per week.
Which ones?
If the 5-stars are only $799 you could burn through the 3k start-up real quickly. Most of them will run $2500 a week.
Aloha!
There are around 50-60 resorts in the Hawaiin Islands within the membership. You can see a sample of the resorts within the membership here:
http://www.globalresortsregistry.com/
(user: resort; password: movie).
This list is only a small sample of the resorts available within the membership.
Anyone wanting to see the full membership with all the resorts, cruises, car rentals and all, please let me know and I can arrange a free tour webinar.
Vacancier Permanent, thanks for excellent explanation. To keep it small, I'll summarize some information, feel free to comment:
1. A vacation for those peak dates, when you would really benefit from the membership, needs to be purchased really in advance. Also the prepayment is required, the sales are final, and there are no refunds. This is basically the same as advanced purchase/prepaid rate for hotels, and it makes it useless to compare rates directly (meaning that you cannot say that $600/week AP rate is cheaper than $1200/week flexible rate which you can change/cancel anytime).
2. From what I understood there is no contractual obligation for the company to provide you with the reservation, and there is no legal remedy if you don't get one. Meaning that even if you book your 2011 Carnaval in Sep 2010 there is no guarantee that the company would be able to reserve a room for you, either the one you requested or a different one.
3. Can we see a sample membership agreement? As I said before, it worries me that the company does not publish this information, as it typically means the sale would be done in a high-pressure way to limit one's ability to go through the document (maybe even with a lawyer). Obviously it cannot be confidential information. Can you share it with us? It would address most of the issues discussed here. Note that I do not need "explanation in details", I'd like to see the legal piece of paper I gonna get when I sign up for the membership.
4. It only matters who is backing up the company if it is stated clearly in the membership agreement. For example, when I buy 24hour fitness membership in Costco, it clearly states that the agreement is backed by jointly 24 hour fitness (which backs it up with providing services), and Costco (which backs it up in terms that I can complete the activation process; then Costco liability ends). So again it only matters what is in the membership agreement. My concern here is that one of the reasons businesses set up this kind of structure (setting up separate entities to sell things, not selling anything directly but only through affiliates, and providing services by another 3rd party) is to limit the liability.
5. Why are you saying that Dream Style Vacations is "fast food joint"? From their web site they claim to provide "Unlimited access to over 5,000 luxury resorts worldwide in 120+ countries at member rates", which is exactly the same service as GRN does. Do you have more information?
So, as you see, my concerns are basically the following:
1. Very limited 3rd party information about GRN, with vast majority of it available only through those who sell it. I haven't seen yet a place where happy customers would share the stories about this membership - and I looked. Most of the forums I've found where such benefits are mentioned it is somehow always by people who are selling it. While it doesn't automatically mean the person is lying, you are a smart guy and understand that the consumers might take their opinion as a little biased. The fact that the membership agreement text is not available on the company web site is a huge red flag to me.
2. A selling scheme when the product is ONLY sold through individual affiliates. I
personally consider that shady, as it was typically used for purposes like selling the questionable quality things, avoiding taxation or limiting the company liability. Let me say that I do not know a single business which uses the same sale strategy (selling only through individual affiliates and NOT selling anything directly or through major resellers) which wouldn't sell goods of questionable quality. This membership is not dangerous goods like skydiving equipment, where a seller might want to make sure you know what you're doing before selling - and even skydiving equipment is being sold online (as well as through dealers). Personally I do not see any valid reason why a legitimate company would not sell membership on their web site or through reputable resellers for the same price as affiliates do.
3. Finally, for selling GRN as a business, I wonder what kind of liability shield you have with them as a reseller. What would happen when an unhappy customer, who did not get room for Carnaval for $650, sues YOU for damages? He bought membership from you, so he indeed would have legal standing to do so. Does your agreement with GRN have a clause to indemnify you in such cases, and if so, is it backed up with something like a lawyer on retainer?
Life would be much easier if this was the case. But a fake Rolex can be sold for $10 as well as for $1500.
1. A vacation for those peak dates, when you would really benefit from the membership, needs to be purchased really in advance. Also the prepayment is required, the sales are final, and there are no refunds. This is basically the same as advanced purchase/prepaid rate for hotels, and it makes it useless to compare rates directly (meaning that you cannot say that $600/week AP rate is cheaper than $1200/week flexible rate which you can change/cancel anytime).
2. From what I understood there is no contractual obligation for the company to provide you with the reservation, and there is no legal remedy if you don't get one. Meaning that even if you book your 2011 Carnaval in Sep 2010 there is no guarantee that the company would be able to reserve a room for you, either the one you requested or a different one.
3. Can we see a sample membership agreement? As I said before, it worries me that the company does not publish this information, as it typically means the sale would be done in a high-pressure way to limit one's ability to go through the document (maybe even with a lawyer). Obviously it cannot be confidential information. Can you share it with us? It would address most of the issues discussed here. Note that I do not need "explanation in details", I'd like to see the legal piece of paper I gonna get when I sign up for the membership.
4. It only matters who is backing up the company if it is stated clearly in the membership agreement. For example, when I buy 24hour fitness membership in Costco, it clearly states that the agreement is backed by jointly 24 hour fitness (which backs it up with providing services), and Costco (which backs it up in terms that I can complete the activation process; then Costco liability ends). So again it only matters what is in the membership agreement. My concern here is that one of the reasons businesses set up this kind of structure (setting up separate entities to sell things, not selling anything directly but only through affiliates, and providing services by another 3rd party) is to limit the liability.
5. Why are you saying that Dream Style Vacations is "fast food joint"? From their web site they claim to provide "Unlimited access to over 5,000 luxury resorts worldwide in 120+ countries at member rates", which is exactly the same service as GRN does. Do you have more information?
So, as you see, my concerns are basically the following:
1. Very limited 3rd party information about GRN, with vast majority of it available only through those who sell it. I haven't seen yet a place where happy customers would share the stories about this membership - and I looked. Most of the forums I've found where such benefits are mentioned it is somehow always by people who are selling it. While it doesn't automatically mean the person is lying, you are a smart guy and understand that the consumers might take their opinion as a little biased. The fact that the membership agreement text is not available on the company web site is a huge red flag to me.
2. A selling scheme when the product is ONLY sold through individual affiliates. I
personally consider that shady, as it was typically used for purposes like selling the questionable quality things, avoiding taxation or limiting the company liability. Let me say that I do not know a single business which uses the same sale strategy (selling only through individual affiliates and NOT selling anything directly or through major resellers) which wouldn't sell goods of questionable quality. This membership is not dangerous goods like skydiving equipment, where a seller might want to make sure you know what you're doing before selling - and even skydiving equipment is being sold online (as well as through dealers). Personally I do not see any valid reason why a legitimate company would not sell membership on their web site or through reputable resellers for the same price as affiliates do.
3. Finally, for selling GRN as a business, I wonder what kind of liability shield you have with them as a reseller. What would happen when an unhappy customer, who did not get room for Carnaval for $650, sues YOU for damages? He bought membership from you, so he indeed would have legal standing to do so. Does your agreement with GRN have a clause to indemnify you in such cases, and if so, is it backed up with something like a lawyer on retainer?
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Like anything in life, you get what you pay for.
Life would be much easier if this was the case. But a fake Rolex can be sold for $10 as well as for $1500.
Old Nemsis,
I'll try to keep this short and to the point:
1) With this membership, you not only benefit on those peak season dates but also throughout the year. When you have weeks priced between $298 to $699 for the vast majority of weeks, you will save money on each and every vacation. I agree with you that the best savings are realized during the really popular times of the year and understandably, these weeks have to be reserved in advance for a very simple reason: that they are the most popular. Now, having said that, even outside of these highly sought dates, you will save money on each and every vacation you take on average anywhere between 30-70%. The membership has a comprehensive section called "Hot Weeks" where basically everything under that section is under $398 per week. And these are some very nice places all around the world. These are live weeks meaning, with actual dates, ready to be snapped up by a member at any time. In the main area of the membership, you have the map of the world where the world is your playground literally. You just choose the country you want to go, then the location within that country and you choose your OWN dates and will be able to stay at any given resort for up to 8 consecutive weeks at a time for up to 6 people for anywhere between $298 to $799 per week. In the next few days, I'll shoot a quick video of the inside of the membership to give an overview of the different sections of the membership and I'll post it in here. That will I'm sure make things a lot clearer.
2. I'm not sure how or where you got that from. As I wrote before, the travel partner/provider goes out and pre-purchases each year hundreds of thousands of weeks up to 1 year in advance to ensure that when a member makes a reservation that they get it. So once you see something that you like, you go ahead and request it, then pay for it and you'll receive a confirmation within 24-48 hours from the travel partner and then, that's it. Just print that confirmation and show it to the reception at the resort and that's all there is. The week is yours, you've paid for it. It's yours, garanteed because these are weeks that the travel partner has already pre-purchased and has reserved for their members. So when a member reserves it, its theirs.
3. The membership agreement is published on the website and can be found here:
http://www.4-5starvacations4life.com on the bottom of the page, click on "Join Now" and you will see the Membership Term and Conditions. Again, the sale of this membership is done online through GRN and not at all in a high pressure sales environment.
4. Again, this membership has been selling since 1986 and still is being sold in the open market by the travel partner at around $10-12K. It can also be purchased online through a GRN affiliate at $2,995.
As to the reasons for why the travel partner has opted to offer this online through GRN at a fraction of the cost, my understanding is that it's been as a result of members' request where very happy members have been referring others after using it themselves, so the company realized that why not make it available through referal marketing/affiliate marketing a fraction of the cost. As a result of this, many of the costs associated with traditional marketing and timeshare presentations have become greatly reduced while allowing them to pass the savings on to the consumer and reach a greater audience.
5. GRN has been one of the first, if not the first to offer a high end vacation club online. Of course, with its success, there has been a few copy cats that have appeared in the market place out of nowhere. Reminds me of the knock offs or the cheap imitations that flood the market that are manufactured in China.
6. You can find customers testimonials on the travel partner's site:
http://www.gold-crown-resort-member-comm...eviews.php
As mentioned above, the membership agreement is available both on the GRN's site (see point 3) as well as on the travel partner's site at: http://www.goldcrownresort.com/terms.php
7. As mentioned before, the product can be purchased either directly through the travel partner at the retail cost (10-12K) or at 3K from a GRN affiliate. There is nothing shady at all with that kind of selling model. It's been used for a long time and it has been becoming more and more popular in the market place today. The rest of your comments on this point have been answered on point #4.
8. I cannot speak on behalf of other affiliates selling the GRN membership nor of their business/selling practices, morals and ethics etc...however, I am very honest and sincere with them about the membership as well as educate as much as possible my prospects about this membership in order for them to make an informed decision. During this process, I email them all the info they want/need about the membership. I talk to them over the phone as many times as they need as well as give them a free tour of the membership where I go in detail over the different sections of the membership (hot weeks, live weeks, cruise section, car rental sections, tickets for shows/attractions as well as the worldwide inventory of resorts and the huge hotels sections). I also show them how they would go about booking their own vacations using the very user friendly members' back office. I make sure they understand the time requirements for the reservations (ie: as much advance notice as possible for popular/high demand times of the year VS outside the popular times of the year reservations where as little as 7 business days advance notice is sufficient). I make sure that they understand this very clearly and that I have answered all of their questions. I will not let anyone join before they understand what this membership is about. As a result of being always honest, sincere and open with them, as well educating them about the membership before they join, I haven't had any unhappy customer (knock on wood!) nor of any refund request.
Concerning liability protection against refund requests, we as affiliates are proteced by GRN. When someone purchases a GRN membership by credit card, GRN will deduct $150 off the commissions and put that money in a trust type of account to deal with refund requests. So when someone requests a refund, as a member, you'd have to refer them to GRN and they'll handle it and will refund them using the money from that trust account. You as an affiliate, will not have to pay the refund from your pocket. Again, by educating your prospects as much as possible so that they make an informed decision, you will have almost nullified the likelihood of the refund request. After 2 years promoting the GRN membership, I have yet to encounter any such request. (knock on wood again!).
And in case a member is not able to get a week at the place they want at the time they want, then the travel partner will come back to them usually within 2-3 business days with other offers in the same region for the same time frame within the same price range.
I hope this has answered your questions. In the meantime, you may want to visit http://www.4-5starvacations4life.com for more info about the membership. I'll be creating some some videos about the membership in the next few days once I get the chance.
I'll try to keep this short and to the point:
1) With this membership, you not only benefit on those peak season dates but also throughout the year. When you have weeks priced between $298 to $699 for the vast majority of weeks, you will save money on each and every vacation. I agree with you that the best savings are realized during the really popular times of the year and understandably, these weeks have to be reserved in advance for a very simple reason: that they are the most popular. Now, having said that, even outside of these highly sought dates, you will save money on each and every vacation you take on average anywhere between 30-70%. The membership has a comprehensive section called "Hot Weeks" where basically everything under that section is under $398 per week. And these are some very nice places all around the world. These are live weeks meaning, with actual dates, ready to be snapped up by a member at any time. In the main area of the membership, you have the map of the world where the world is your playground literally. You just choose the country you want to go, then the location within that country and you choose your OWN dates and will be able to stay at any given resort for up to 8 consecutive weeks at a time for up to 6 people for anywhere between $298 to $799 per week. In the next few days, I'll shoot a quick video of the inside of the membership to give an overview of the different sections of the membership and I'll post it in here. That will I'm sure make things a lot clearer.
2. I'm not sure how or where you got that from. As I wrote before, the travel partner/provider goes out and pre-purchases each year hundreds of thousands of weeks up to 1 year in advance to ensure that when a member makes a reservation that they get it. So once you see something that you like, you go ahead and request it, then pay for it and you'll receive a confirmation within 24-48 hours from the travel partner and then, that's it. Just print that confirmation and show it to the reception at the resort and that's all there is. The week is yours, you've paid for it. It's yours, garanteed because these are weeks that the travel partner has already pre-purchased and has reserved for their members. So when a member reserves it, its theirs.
3. The membership agreement is published on the website and can be found here:
http://www.4-5starvacations4life.com on the bottom of the page, click on "Join Now" and you will see the Membership Term and Conditions. Again, the sale of this membership is done online through GRN and not at all in a high pressure sales environment.
4. Again, this membership has been selling since 1986 and still is being sold in the open market by the travel partner at around $10-12K. It can also be purchased online through a GRN affiliate at $2,995.
As to the reasons for why the travel partner has opted to offer this online through GRN at a fraction of the cost, my understanding is that it's been as a result of members' request where very happy members have been referring others after using it themselves, so the company realized that why not make it available through referal marketing/affiliate marketing a fraction of the cost. As a result of this, many of the costs associated with traditional marketing and timeshare presentations have become greatly reduced while allowing them to pass the savings on to the consumer and reach a greater audience.
5. GRN has been one of the first, if not the first to offer a high end vacation club online. Of course, with its success, there has been a few copy cats that have appeared in the market place out of nowhere. Reminds me of the knock offs or the cheap imitations that flood the market that are manufactured in China.
6. You can find customers testimonials on the travel partner's site:
http://www.gold-crown-resort-member-comm...eviews.php
As mentioned above, the membership agreement is available both on the GRN's site (see point 3) as well as on the travel partner's site at: http://www.goldcrownresort.com/terms.php
7. As mentioned before, the product can be purchased either directly through the travel partner at the retail cost (10-12K) or at 3K from a GRN affiliate. There is nothing shady at all with that kind of selling model. It's been used for a long time and it has been becoming more and more popular in the market place today. The rest of your comments on this point have been answered on point #4.
8. I cannot speak on behalf of other affiliates selling the GRN membership nor of their business/selling practices, morals and ethics etc...however, I am very honest and sincere with them about the membership as well as educate as much as possible my prospects about this membership in order for them to make an informed decision. During this process, I email them all the info they want/need about the membership. I talk to them over the phone as many times as they need as well as give them a free tour of the membership where I go in detail over the different sections of the membership (hot weeks, live weeks, cruise section, car rental sections, tickets for shows/attractions as well as the worldwide inventory of resorts and the huge hotels sections). I also show them how they would go about booking their own vacations using the very user friendly members' back office. I make sure they understand the time requirements for the reservations (ie: as much advance notice as possible for popular/high demand times of the year VS outside the popular times of the year reservations where as little as 7 business days advance notice is sufficient). I make sure that they understand this very clearly and that I have answered all of their questions. I will not let anyone join before they understand what this membership is about. As a result of being always honest, sincere and open with them, as well educating them about the membership before they join, I haven't had any unhappy customer (knock on wood!) nor of any refund request.
Concerning liability protection against refund requests, we as affiliates are proteced by GRN. When someone purchases a GRN membership by credit card, GRN will deduct $150 off the commissions and put that money in a trust type of account to deal with refund requests. So when someone requests a refund, as a member, you'd have to refer them to GRN and they'll handle it and will refund them using the money from that trust account. You as an affiliate, will not have to pay the refund from your pocket. Again, by educating your prospects as much as possible so that they make an informed decision, you will have almost nullified the likelihood of the refund request. After 2 years promoting the GRN membership, I have yet to encounter any such request. (knock on wood again!).
And in case a member is not able to get a week at the place they want at the time they want, then the travel partner will come back to them usually within 2-3 business days with other offers in the same region for the same time frame within the same price range.
I hope this has answered your questions. In the meantime, you may want to visit http://www.4-5starvacations4life.com for more info about the membership. I'll be creating some some videos about the membership in the next few days once I get the chance.
So, to summarize, the membership has value if you:
1. Spend 2+ weeks in vacations every year;
2. Your vacation dates are flexible or you can safely plan really in advance;
3. You are fine to spend a whole week of your vacation in a single resort;
4. Are not tied to any particular resort (as you will likely not get top-notch resorts), city or even country;
However the membership has little value if you:
1. Have irregular vacation schedule and generally do not know how many vacations you gonna have this year, and when (no refunds or credit if you cancel; the booking is non-transferable as well);
2. Tend to have your vacation at the same time frame as most people, like during Christmas week (accommodation is subject to resources, and nothing in membership agreement says the company is responsible, or will provide you with alternative accommodation);
3. Like to travel during your vacation, spending a few days here and a few days there;
4. Want to stay in a particular resort/hotel, like Hedonism II in Jamaica - if the resort is not there, you're out of luck.
I also did not find in membership agreement how the membership is transferable. Indeed, it explicitly says that the member named in confirmation must be present during check-in. Could you explain?
1. Spend 2+ weeks in vacations every year;
2. Your vacation dates are flexible or you can safely plan really in advance;
3. You are fine to spend a whole week of your vacation in a single resort;
4. Are not tied to any particular resort (as you will likely not get top-notch resorts), city or even country;
However the membership has little value if you:
1. Have irregular vacation schedule and generally do not know how many vacations you gonna have this year, and when (no refunds or credit if you cancel; the booking is non-transferable as well);
2. Tend to have your vacation at the same time frame as most people, like during Christmas week (accommodation is subject to resources, and nothing in membership agreement says the company is responsible, or will provide you with alternative accommodation);
3. Like to travel during your vacation, spending a few days here and a few days there;
4. Want to stay in a particular resort/hotel, like Hedonism II in Jamaica - if the resort is not there, you're out of luck.
I also did not find in membership agreement how the membership is transferable. Indeed, it explicitly says that the member named in confirmation must be present during check-in. Could you explain?
There seems to be some misunderstanding in your summary as most things are not correct and I'll correct them.
1. You can and will benefit from this membership even if you were to use it only 1 week per year because each time you use it, you will save on average 30% to 50% and as much as 90% over retail. As I wrote before, with only 1-3 vacations with your membership, it will pay for itself in savings. Not very difficult to understand when you save that much on each vacation. I made my money back in just one vacation where I saved 90% for a savings of 5K for 1 week. So depending on where/when you vacation, you will make your money back in savings in 1-3 vacations. Take 2 weeks per year using your membership and there's a very high likelihood of you making your money back after these 2 vacations.
2. As a Platinum member, your own vacationing needs determine how far in advance or how soon you book. It's totally up to you. You can book a year in advance or with as little as 7 days advance notice. Of course, if you're talking about Carnaval in Rio or Hawaii in during Xmas-New years', the more in advance you can book it, the better and understandably so.
3. Vacations are for one week increments. If you're staying at a place for a short time, say 2-3 days, you would make that reservation using the Hotels sections where you have unlimited access to over 75K properties (mainly hotels) worldwide at the best rate possible. But even if you're staying at a place for 3-4 days and pay for a full week using the vacations section, you would still end up saving money over staying at a hotel or resort you'd book yourself. So all in all, you would still benefit from a short stay at a resort as you will save money.
4. I really don't know where you got that from. As I wrote several times, the travel partner has a huge network of contacts in the industry and the inventory of resorts or what they call the internal exchange, that is resorts that have direct agreements with the travel provider/partner (Gold Crown Resorts) is around 5,500 resorts worldwide. These are 3, 4 and 5 star resorts that are charging 300, 400, 500 bucks per night while you would pay for any week of the year under $799 per week. Try staying at any of the resorts in Hawaii that are in the inventory for example for a week for under $799. Good luck as these go for at least $1500 to $3000 per week.
Part two of your comments:
1) As mentioned above and prior, you decide when and how often you travel and with how little or as much advance notice. As mentioned before, the travel partner/provider, pre-purchases hundreds of thousands of weeks for up to 1 year in advance. So with hundreds of thousands of weeks to choose from at over 5,500 places (resorts, hotels, condos, timeshare units, villas, bungalows), you will find something you like at a place you want to go for under $799 for the week for up to 6 people.
2. With this membership, you are in total control. You decide when you want to vacation, where you want to go and how often you want as you can use your membership for 52 weeks per year. So you are not stuck or limited to go when the crowds go. It's totally up to you as to when, where and how often. While the travel partner does everything in its power to ensure that members will get the week(s) they want at the places they want as they pre-purchases in advance massive amounts of weeks worldwide, in the rare occurence that a place is not available at a given time, the travel partner goes beyond the call of duty to please their customer and they are excellent in that. They will use their massive networks of contacts to your benefit by coming back to you with 3-4 offers of similar resorts within the same area within the same price range for the same time.
3. When travelling at a resort, nothing prevents you from exploring the area. You could base yourself there and go on daily excursions. If you want to leave before your week is over, you can easily do that and still end up saving money as opposed to booking a resort/hotel on your own for say 3-4 days. As mentioned above, you can always use the hotels sections for short term stays. So it's totally up to you as this membership gives you not only total freedom but also total flexibility.
4. If you have a particular resort in mind, chances are it's part of the inventory. If it is not, then you would need to contact the travel partner and they will once again, use their contacts in the industry and work a better deal than you could ever get on your own.
Here's the same info from the travel partner's site:
http://www.goldcrownresort.com/about_us.php
WHAT IF I WANT TO REQUEST A DESTINATION THAT IS NOT ON YOUR WEBSITE?
We will help you. We do have access to additional locations from time to time. Simply click on our Message Center and tell us , and we will attempt to arrange a suitable accommodation for you. Please keep in mind that our search may take longer than 72 hours, and prices may be higher.
Regarding the transfer part, the membership is fully transferable and willable. Here's the official mention of it in the GRN corporate site:
http://www.4-5starvacations4life.com/ (click on FAQS on the left side of the screen, on the right side, click on "Enjoying your membership".
Also, when you book a vacation from the members' area, you as the member has to present upon check in. If you are talking about guest weeks (that is a week you're giving as a gift to friends, family or business partners and as a Platinum member, you can give unlimited guest weeks per year!), then you as the member do not have to present at check in.
You may also want to watch these 3 short videos about the massive benefits of this membership:
http://platinumnews.us/d/
http://platinumnews.us/w/
http://platinumnews.us/s/
Now, these videos might be a bit dated specially when that Neil guy talks about 3287 resorts in the internal exchange as now that figure is well over 5,500 resorts worldwide. Anyways, these videos will give you a lot of info/background about this membership as well as show you the type of resorts that are part of the inventory.
Hope this answers your questions and has cleared any misunderstandings.
1. You can and will benefit from this membership even if you were to use it only 1 week per year because each time you use it, you will save on average 30% to 50% and as much as 90% over retail. As I wrote before, with only 1-3 vacations with your membership, it will pay for itself in savings. Not very difficult to understand when you save that much on each vacation. I made my money back in just one vacation where I saved 90% for a savings of 5K for 1 week. So depending on where/when you vacation, you will make your money back in savings in 1-3 vacations. Take 2 weeks per year using your membership and there's a very high likelihood of you making your money back after these 2 vacations.
2. As a Platinum member, your own vacationing needs determine how far in advance or how soon you book. It's totally up to you. You can book a year in advance or with as little as 7 days advance notice. Of course, if you're talking about Carnaval in Rio or Hawaii in during Xmas-New years', the more in advance you can book it, the better and understandably so.
3. Vacations are for one week increments. If you're staying at a place for a short time, say 2-3 days, you would make that reservation using the Hotels sections where you have unlimited access to over 75K properties (mainly hotels) worldwide at the best rate possible. But even if you're staying at a place for 3-4 days and pay for a full week using the vacations section, you would still end up saving money over staying at a hotel or resort you'd book yourself. So all in all, you would still benefit from a short stay at a resort as you will save money.
4. I really don't know where you got that from. As I wrote several times, the travel partner has a huge network of contacts in the industry and the inventory of resorts or what they call the internal exchange, that is resorts that have direct agreements with the travel provider/partner (Gold Crown Resorts) is around 5,500 resorts worldwide. These are 3, 4 and 5 star resorts that are charging 300, 400, 500 bucks per night while you would pay for any week of the year under $799 per week. Try staying at any of the resorts in Hawaii that are in the inventory for example for a week for under $799. Good luck as these go for at least $1500 to $3000 per week.
Part two of your comments:
1) As mentioned above and prior, you decide when and how often you travel and with how little or as much advance notice. As mentioned before, the travel partner/provider, pre-purchases hundreds of thousands of weeks for up to 1 year in advance. So with hundreds of thousands of weeks to choose from at over 5,500 places (resorts, hotels, condos, timeshare units, villas, bungalows), you will find something you like at a place you want to go for under $799 for the week for up to 6 people.
2. With this membership, you are in total control. You decide when you want to vacation, where you want to go and how often you want as you can use your membership for 52 weeks per year. So you are not stuck or limited to go when the crowds go. It's totally up to you as to when, where and how often. While the travel partner does everything in its power to ensure that members will get the week(s) they want at the places they want as they pre-purchases in advance massive amounts of weeks worldwide, in the rare occurence that a place is not available at a given time, the travel partner goes beyond the call of duty to please their customer and they are excellent in that. They will use their massive networks of contacts to your benefit by coming back to you with 3-4 offers of similar resorts within the same area within the same price range for the same time.
3. When travelling at a resort, nothing prevents you from exploring the area. You could base yourself there and go on daily excursions. If you want to leave before your week is over, you can easily do that and still end up saving money as opposed to booking a resort/hotel on your own for say 3-4 days. As mentioned above, you can always use the hotels sections for short term stays. So it's totally up to you as this membership gives you not only total freedom but also total flexibility.
4. If you have a particular resort in mind, chances are it's part of the inventory. If it is not, then you would need to contact the travel partner and they will once again, use their contacts in the industry and work a better deal than you could ever get on your own.
Here's the same info from the travel partner's site:
http://www.goldcrownresort.com/about_us.php
WHAT IF I WANT TO REQUEST A DESTINATION THAT IS NOT ON YOUR WEBSITE?
We will help you. We do have access to additional locations from time to time. Simply click on our Message Center and tell us , and we will attempt to arrange a suitable accommodation for you. Please keep in mind that our search may take longer than 72 hours, and prices may be higher.
Regarding the transfer part, the membership is fully transferable and willable. Here's the official mention of it in the GRN corporate site:
http://www.4-5starvacations4life.com/ (click on FAQS on the left side of the screen, on the right side, click on "Enjoying your membership".
Also, when you book a vacation from the members' area, you as the member has to present upon check in. If you are talking about guest weeks (that is a week you're giving as a gift to friends, family or business partners and as a Platinum member, you can give unlimited guest weeks per year!), then you as the member do not have to present at check in.
You may also want to watch these 3 short videos about the massive benefits of this membership:
http://platinumnews.us/d/
http://platinumnews.us/w/
http://platinumnews.us/s/
Now, these videos might be a bit dated specially when that Neil guy talks about 3287 resorts in the internal exchange as now that figure is well over 5,500 resorts worldwide. Anyways, these videos will give you a lot of info/background about this membership as well as show you the type of resorts that are part of the inventory.
Hope this answers your questions and has cleared any misunderstandings.
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