Quote:Quote:
Why on earth would the hotels give such an agreement to GRN, but not to a much bigger player like Expedia?
Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, Orbitz and other online booking agencies are in the retail business while GRN is in the wholesale if not below wholesale business.
GRN will beat Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, Orbitz or any other online agency everytime. With GRN you're getting anywhere between 30-70% off Expedia and at times, up to 90% off Expedia. Again, Expedia and all the other similar online agencies deal with retail prices only, GRN with wholesale to their members. Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, Orbitz etc..
are travel and vacation brokers and that's why they can't touch let alone compete with GRN.
How's it that possible? It's simply due to GRN's parent company's close relationships and massive networks of contacts in the luxury travel/vacation and timeshare industries built over 2 decades. In any given year, there are a finite amount of weeks of vacations available in all the resorts/hotels of the world. GRN's parent company, because of its massive size and networks of contacts in the travel/timeshare industry,
gets first pick and pre purchases each year, hundreds of thousands of weeks up to 1 year in advance. What's left is picked up by all these online travel booking/vacation brokers agencies such as Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz etc... The fact that GRN's parent company pre-purchases up to 1 year in advance massive number of weeks worldwide ensures that when a GRN member makes a reservation for a week, that they'll get it. The main difference being that Expedia and the likes distribute and offer these vacations retail at marked up prices while GRN offers it below wholesale through a membership and direct sales.
The # of resorts within the directory is constantly increasing as new resorts/hotels are being built around the world and around the clock and new contracts are negotiated and signed with them by the parent company.
Quote:Quote:
Does it constantly need new members to keep the thing afloat?
What you're referring to are the pyramid schemes where more members are needed in order to keep the thing going. First of all, pyramid schemes are unethical and basically a scam and thus, are made illegal. 99% of MLM companies offer products of little to no value at inflated prices to their members who are required to be put on auto ship on a monthly basis. GRN is not a pyramid scheme, if it were, it would have been shut down a long time ago. Do you honestly believe that one of the leaders in the luxury vactions and timeshare industry with over 24 years of stellar track record would have agreed to jeopardize their reputation and decided to do business in an illegal manner? Of course not. What GRN does, it uses a direct sales approach where members
can refer other people to the membership
if they so choose to, but they don't have to. A member can be just a customer only. GRN offers a product that has been selling in the open market for over 2 decades as a
stand alone product which provides a concrete real life value that allows people to save on average 30-70% & up to 90% on their vacations for life while staying at top end resorts/hotels worldwide with an added
option/bonus to receive a referral commission upon referring someone else that becomes a member. Nothing unethical or scammy about that. Businesses accross the board do that all the time. Referral fees are offered by all types of businesses be it banks, law firms, accounting firms, restaurants, employment agencies etc...heck even cell phone companies/carriers are offering referral fees and or bonuses!
Yes you do pay a premium to become a member and enjoy the same benefits, but quite frankly, in view of the outstanding value that you get as a member, the 3K is really peanuts where you WILL recoup your initial investment in 1-2 or at most 3 vacations (I did in 1 vacation) and save on average 30-70% and up to 90% on every vacation to high end resorts/hotels for life. And to put things into even greater perspective, compare the GRN membership to a timeshare. Speaking of which, a timeshare is quite honestly, the biggest trap and scam ever created in the vacation industry. Let me briefly show you why:
Large initial investment required of anywhere from 10K to 50K+.
Annual fees, maintenance fees of anywhere between $500 to $2K a year whether you use your timeshare or not.
Renovation/remodeling fees as buildings get old and every 4-5 years, they need to be renovated and gues who's going to pay for it? Yep, you got it, the timeshare owner. So that's an extra $3-$5K to pay every 4-5 years.
And what do you get for all that you'd ask?
1 or 2 weeks, 3 weeks if you're lucky per year at handful of resorts (5 to 100 resorts to choose from) and in most cases, you don't get to choose the weeks you want. Want to get a week during Christmas/new years or March Break or Summer? Good luck. Want to exchange your timeshare slot with another? Good luck again as it's costly and difficult. If you don't pay your annual dues/fees, that will jeopardize your ownership. Did I even mention a timeshare has a maximum depreciation for the investment which is worth 10 cents on the dollar? Don't believe me? Just go to Ebay and see all these people desperately trying to get rid of their timeshares for truly peanuts. You could buy a timeshare on Ebay for a few hundred dollars. Some people are even giving it away so they can be released from their obligation to paying all these annual dues & fees and whatever other fee a timeshare can come up with.
Now compare that to the GRN membership:
Unlimited & unrestricted lifetime access to 5000+ 3,4 & 5 star resorts worldwide
Vacation up to 52 weeks a year for life for as low as $298 per week.
Average savings of 30-70% and up to 90% over retail.
Membership valid for 99 years and is fully transferable and willable.
NO annual fees, maintenance fees, renovations/remodelling fees - ever.
Great cruise packages; discounts on air fare, car rentals, tickets for shows/attractions etc...
No coupons, certificates or vouchers to pay for or mail in - ever.
Can book on the very user friendly members' back office.
Can book months in advance or at the very last minute.
etc...
All of these for $3K. Are you kidding me? That's as a no brainer as it gets. When someone opts to buy a GRN membership as opposed to a timeshare, they WILL save $50K+ for NOT having purchased the timeshare! That's how powerful this membership is. That's why
the GRN membership is considered the Rolls Royce of the vacation memberships. Sure there are other vacation clubs out there, some cheaper, and some a lot more expensive like any other product/service out there. Diamond Resorts for example, goes for about 18K initial investment and $800 annual fees and that'd give you "unlimited" access to over 100 resorts, mainly in North America and the Carribeans; or if you're a baller like the G, you could join Ultimate Escapes for $70K + $8K/year in dues for 2 weeks a year. I'm not even mentioning fractional ownerships, which start at a minimum of $50K initial investment and can go all the way to the 7 figure initial investment along tens of thousands in annual dues for 2 to 8 weeks in up to 5 locations. Hey if you have that kind of money to burn and are willing to burn it like that, more power to you.
The GRN membership is by far the better value out there in terms of what it offers and the cost. Sure there are also cheaper options out there like the one gringoed mentioned on his post. These are the no name type of things as opposed to the brand name as with any other product/service out there. This is like anything else you'd buy, you get what you pay for. If you want the premiere membership with all the whistles and bells and all the items that would be on your "I wish" list, then you'd want GRN.
GRN is the brand name in the vacation club membership and offers red carpet service at budget prices. For the truly discriminating and selective consumer who wants the very best, yet without paying an arm and a leg for it, they'll pay to get the top brand name in order to get the very best thing out there at the best price. And that's GRN. Hands down. Hope this helps.
Happy travels.