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| Watch out the scam! Royal Hotel Sunset in Cancun, (Sunset Group, Hotel Sunset Cancun)
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Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 14:58:15 +0000 (UTC)
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At the Cancun airport, right outside of baggage claim area, beware of
the people who dressed in uniforms and wore ostensible "official"
badges that claim to be the official tourist assistants for the city.
They are anything but! Stay away from them! I just came back from a
trip to Cancun, Mexico. I was approached by one of those people at the
airport who seems to be very eager to offer his assistance in
providing me with traveling tips in Cancun. This person told me that
they are hired by local Mexican-owned hotels/resorts in Cancun to
prompt their businesses to American travelers. The reason of such
directing method of marketing is that they couldn't afford
advertisements in the US, which later I learned is just one of their
many lies. I was offered with a no-obligation tour with one of the
resorts which they happened to promote during that week. The resort
name is called Royal Sunset, Sunset Royal Deluxe Resort, or Hotel
Sunset. All those names apparently operate under a business entity
called Sunset Group. All I had to do was to show up at the hotel
(they even provide free transportation from my hotel to their resort)
and eat a free breakfast and take a look at their facility. If I liked
it, I can recommend to my family and friends. In return, I was
offered with the following perks: free day-trip ticket to Chichen
Iyta, or any other destination on the list; a free breakfast (which I
really didn't care anyway). They ask you to give them $40 USD as
refundable deposit (which I did get back later) as a way to ensure you
will show up. My suspicion grew as they insisted to bring at least
one major credit during the tour as those major credit companies (such
as Visa, Master, AMEX) are the "sponsors" of their promotion as they
put it. That's just another lie. To make the whole thing looks
legit, they told that you don't have to show anyone your credit card
numbers, you can just flash the logo only. This requirement sounded
awfully peculiar but it's my fault I wasn't able to figure out why at
that time. Anyhow, it sounded I didn't have much to lose by simply
showing up at the resort next morning, eat breakfast and tour the
resort and give my thoughts and get free day-trip ticket.
At the agreed time next day, the person who I spoke to at the airport
did show up promptly at my hotel and took me to Sunset Deluxe Resort,
also called Hotel Sunset just off the 10 kilometer post on Blvd.
Kukulcan. I was greeted by a hostess who did want me to show her the
major credit cards. I did show her my cards but remained cautions by
not letting her see the card numbers. I was then introduced to a
person who said his name was Max and he will be showing me the
facility today. While sitting down to go through the paperwork, the
credit card question came up again! This time, I was told that there
will be a raffle tonight and if I can provide up to 10 credit card
expiration dates then I would be have better change to win. Yet
another flat-out lie. Then Max told me this is a time-share
presentation and he asked if I am current own any timeshare
properties. I told him no. Max called to his manager, who speaks
prefect American English and said he will "authorize" Max to proceed
with the tour despite that we don't have timeshare property as long as
we remained open-mined, I said fine. I think they purposely left out
mentioning timeshare until this time. Not at any point prior to this
I was asked if I was a owner of a timeshare nor this is a timeshare
presentation, which I knew I wouldn't want to get involved if I was
made aware of before this "tour" took place. Max showed us couple
rooms at the top floor with ocean view, "this is the only type of
rooms we had left for sale because all other sold out." Max told me.
Yeah right, as I believed that lie. Obviously being on the top floor
and the view, the unit is the most expensive one. The build quality
and the interior was not top notch (at best, an equivalent to a 3-star
hotel in U.S.) as you can tell by the material they used. After the
tour we then went to downstairs to work on numbers. After Max had
presented several pricing options, I was clearly not interested given
the facts presented in front of me. I said to Max that I am not
interested and I'd thank him for his time. Max was clearly
disappointed and said his manager would expect a deal done with every
other person he met. Funny I don't understanding how is this my
problem? I told him again that I am not interested and I'd like to
conclude this meeting. Max called up to his manager again who came
and said to us he's willing to slash the offer price. I told him
again that I am not interested. At the end, I had to meet 3rd sales
person who offered to slash the price even further. Finally, I was
led to a ticket counter and given the voucher for the free tour and my
$40 USD cash back. "The bus will pick you up at 7:30am sharp at the
hotel, don't be late." The lady says to me. Next day, I waited at the
hotel lobby since 7:20am and guess what? No bus even came! I called
the number on the voucher and was asked to a bunch of strange
questions such as what was I wearing today, etc. Then I was told the
bus must "missed" me, and now I must take a taxi to other meeting
place to join another group. At this point I knew the whole thing was
a lie and simply hang up the phone.
Lessons learned: there is no free tour, as long as you are not buying
the timeshare. The so called "no obligation offer" was a complete lie
to begin with. They had no intention to honor their promises no
matter what they told you on the hand-out or in-person. Those people
are crooks. They interested in your credit card because more you have
the more indication to them that you are type of person who probably
will buy in with this kind of stuff and it's my theory that the more
credit cards you have the better chance they get you money (down
payment or some sort) on the same day! With the substantial down
payment (thousands of US dollars) they could split the charges to
multiple cards to avoid hit the credit limit on a single card, that
why it's very important for them to know if you have credit cards and
how many do you have. The following is a list of properties managed
by Sunset Group in Cancun Mexico: Sunset Sea Star Isla Mujeres, Sunset
Lagoon Resort & Yacht Club, Sunset Royal De Luxe Resort (or Sunset
Royal deluxe Resort), and Hotel Sunset. Stay away from those places
like hell!!! |
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