Bablus 66 Report post Posted January 30, 2014 I keep getting calls from tele marketers - asking me if i would like to sign up for1 Club Mahindra2 Zest Holidays ( Guess its part of Club Mahindra)3. Country Club4. Sterling Vacations From the financial point of view, is it a sound investment? Does anyone have any experience for any of the above? Is one better than the other or all the same? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
commonman 228 Report post Posted January 30, 2014 there is no free lunch. no company offers anything at a loss. here are few fine prints, 1. you pay anything from 3 to 5 lakhs upfront 2. it works on time share basis, so you have to go on holiday where there is vacancy, not where you actually want to go. if there is no vacancy, you can not go. 3. even after paying upfront, you need to pay some amount annually and also some amount at the location for "facilitation" or similar charges 4. even if you do not go any year, you dont get any benefit better invest that amount elsewhere and enjoy holiday as per your choice from the return. 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ashishsethi 55 Report post Posted January 30, 2014 Short and sweet commonman! Well put! I agree with him. Better to invest the same amount in a bank or elsewhere & use the interest earned annually to take a vacation of your choice, where u want, when u want. But you should attend the presentation to get the freebies, like a holiday, etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amtrag 20 Report post Posted January 30, 2014 To add one more point: Meals are not free in their resorts. They charge exhorbitantly for food and generally, the resorts are located far off from market places, so you have no option but to pay. OTOH, if you invest Rs 3 lakhs in a bank FD, you will earn Rs 25K per year which is good enough for 4-5 day's stay in a good hotel. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkaile 1,051 Report post Posted January 30, 2014 Is Timeshare Vacation / Holiday Package a good investment? NO 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
digitalnirvana 646 Report post Posted January 30, 2014 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nishsuxx 193 Report post Posted January 30, 2014 Even I was pondering same couple of days back...Came across two very interesting sites:http://what-goes-in-my-mind.blogspot.in/2008/12/before-considering-club-mahindra.htmlThe above page reference following pages where you can see people are selling their memberships quite cheap.http://www.enidhi.net/2008/04/buy-sell-used-clubmahindra-membership.htmlThen did some calculation and even buying a second hand membership that too on a sharing basis with a friend didnt make sense to me.But being good friend with some one who has CM membership is an awesome idea .The gifting charge is around 1300 or something per booking... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matriX1218 44 Report post Posted January 30, 2014 (edited) Absolutely NO... Reason All of the above.. And further whatever you invest, calculate interest on that... you can go for holiday in interest amount only... They are charging annual fees in the name of maintenance... ( you are paying for their part) add this to your interest amount... go for holiday...:lol: E.g 300000@10% = 30000 interest Annual fees. = 10000 ----------+-------------- 40000 Let's go holiday... :p:p sent from Motorola DROID BIONIC HD on Reliance Wireless Edited January 30, 2014 by matriX1218 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bablus 66 Report post Posted January 31, 2014 Thanks everyone for sharing your views I did do the math, but I thought possible to get similar accommodation as non member could cost much more and hence this could make sense.. but I guess availability of properties and bookings is a major put off not going ahead with any of them Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silent_god 121 Report post Posted January 31, 2014 I keep getting calls from tele marketers - asking me if i would like to sign up for 1 Club Mahindra 2 Zest Holidays ( Guess its part of Club Mahindra) 3. Country Club 4. Sterling Vacations From the financial point of view, is it a sound investment? Does anyone have any experience for any of the above? Is one better than the other or all the same? No. Not only due to financial reasons, but due to practical reasons, it makes no sense. Many of this packager's tie up with few hotels & "create" a full package to customer. In future, you never know which hotel will be part of that & not. In most of the cases, you will only come to know about that, when you plan to go for booking. I have burnt my fingers long back & yet to find out legal Government authority whom to address complaint. Like RBi, TRAI, IRDA etc etc in various other finance / service sectors. For such kind of packages, there are no regulator & if you are cheated / not satisfied with service etc, you have NO other resort. Consumer court / Courts options are available, but time consuming. And most of this small time operators mention in their T & C that "all legal matters subject to local jurisdiction" , which further kills your zest to take them to court & get them in line (if company don't operate from your city). Many of such operators open ad-hoc offices in other cities to give customer some confidence, but it is only for time being. Once money is collected & rented office tenure is over, they are safe in their city of operation. Avoid. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
commonman 228 Report post Posted January 31, 2014 Actually the calculation is slightly different. After 25 years, you DO NOT get your money back. so not only interest but also principal amount need to be considered. For Rs.3 lakhs @ 25 years and 10.5% the annual EMI comes to Rs.34000. The Annual Charges (incl. 12.36% service tax) works out to more than 11-12000. So you end up paying about 50k every year for ONLY accommodation. Since you would not really go on a holiday every year, the effective number of days every year may be around 3 or 4. So the per night accommodation charge is around Rs.16k.which is more than even the costliest 5 star rates. For 50k a year, you can get an all inclusive 4 days 3 night holiday package. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
digitalnirvana 646 Report post Posted January 31, 2014 I am a Mahindra employee and get special discounts on CM offers Moreover agents of CC offer deep discounts upto 50% as below which is a red flag for me That shows how much margins they have and secondly they are trying to flog the them CLASSIC MEM To, Dear Sir/Madam As leading clubs Industry in India our name is listed in the limca Book of World Records for having largest chain of clubs. Special Offer Classic membership of RS-100,000/-As a special offer you will get for RS-50,000/-0nly for first fifty application only. The Country Clubs Offers FREE facilitates such as: F Swimming pool F Table Tennis F Card’s Room F Health Club F F Conference Hall F Lawn Tennis F Caroms F Children’PlayPark F Banquet Hall F Snookers F IndoorShuttleCourt F Discotheque F Week End Events. F Billiards F F Library F (Cottages) F Volley Ball F Indoor Games F Lawn for Parties F (Bar Restaurant) Life Membership is Transferable & Access membership to all the own clubs and affiliated all over India. § All the facilities free for lifetime except Cottage, and Bar & Restaurant. § Accessible to all 220 affiliated clubs across the globe including 125 franchised clubs. Family Package for Member, Spouse and Children up to age of 25years . You will get 2Night & 3Days complimentary 5 years free stay in county club. § You will get one Holidays gift voucher worth of Rs 25,000/. as a special offer. Based on introduction ,india&International. § You have to pay Rs 3,000/- towards annual club maintenance. § You will get one spa kit worth of Rs,25000/ as a special offer. § You will get special VIP Events pass conducted by country club. Assuring the Best service all times. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
P. K. Daga 3 Report post Posted February 2, 2014 As per today's cost, yes you can calculate spending vacations by interest on your investment, but think of 5-7 years down the line when the vacation of Club Mahindra's status would cost you around 100000 minimum for seven days, then you will realise the mistake made by not signing the membership. I know people who are taking membership by paying 8-10 lakhs even today. If you have money to invest for future, you should invest. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
commonman 228 Report post Posted February 3, 2014 ^^^ When the membership is 10-20 times the available capacity, you can never be assured of any vacation, let alone a full week every year. If it is assumed that you will get chance once in every three years (that also is very unlikely), even a vacation costing 100000 for a week would be easily funded by the annuity income. Plus, when price index goes up, the ASF charged by the company also goes up. So the cost paid in terms of interest+loss of principal+ASF will ALWAYS be more than the cost saved on the holiday. That is how these companies make profit. It is part of the business model. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
luvrit 15 Report post Posted February 4, 2014 the concept is gr8 looking the future inflation in prices.... but still i wont go for any membership. the major reason: current no. of members are 167838 (as on 31 dec 2013) current no. of rooms 2430 if u take each room gives 50 weekly vacation, so No. of weekly vacation rooms are 2430*50= 121500. Now this no. is smaller than no. of members secondly, in summer - everyone wants to go to north india in winter: every one wants to go to south india they open booking 6 months in advance. i am too certain for myself that i wont do planning 6 months in advance. The second reason: i been to couple of resorts and they r gr8 except food. as locations are far away , u need to depend for food on them for a person: breakfast is 350 + lunch 450+ dinner 450. i can opt for a la carte. still per person per day wont be less than 1000 means couple per day is 2000. (source: http://www.clubmahindra.com/sites/default/files/investor_news/Investor_Presentation_January_2014.pdf ) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
