Kidorki

Hi I am very new to the hotels part in FT, so please excuse me for the little experience.

Received this offer in email 2 weeks ago and have been tempted to book it:
"4 nights in The Westin Lagunamar Ocean Resort in Cancun for $349, plus get 7,000 points from the stay". Detailed offer below:

• 5 days' and 4 nights' accommodations at The Westin Lagunamar Ocean Resort

• Your choice of 7,000 Starpoints® from the Starwood Preferred Guest® program or a $75 resort certificate that can be used toward dining, shopping and spa services

• A special price of $349

I have not been to Mexico, Cancun and the nearby Tulum seem worth to visit. The starpoints bonus gives great incentive as well. In the T&C, I will have 1 year from booking date to use this offer, if I cannot decide on the exact dates now. Any thoughts?

Thank you and I'd love to hear some suggestion!

Doc Savage

Seems like a reasonable price for a nice property.

If you go, don't miss going to Chichen Itza, super Mayan ruins.

sdcarver

Sounds like a good deal to me...

I would suggest renting car and leaving very early to go to the ruins so as to miss the large crowds and unbearable heat in the middle of the day.

sdcarver

Kidorki

Thank you both, Doc Savaga & sdcarver! I did not realize the impressive Chichen Itza is pretty close to Cancun, and yes! I will definitely put it in the plan when I visit.

sbtinme

2 - 2.5 hours drive or so. Heed the advice to get an early start (like 7am) to beat the massive crowds that will arrive a little before noontime at Chichen Itza. Being there before the crowds arrive is magical, but far less so when there are 5,000 other tourists piling out of buses at lunchtime.

jerry305

There's hefty tolls on the road to Chichen Itza. But it sounds like it's worth it. A decent-looking site, which I cannot vouch for is: http://www.almalibrebooks.com/chichen.htm

At tourist attractions in Mexico & Caribbean, always pay in local currency if you can; it's often somewhat, or a lot, cheaper.

bkgourmet

sounds like a great deal!!! last time we were in cancun, we had lots of fun at xcaret.....here's the website:

http://www.xcaret.com

Minneapolis

Was that a personalized offer? If not, care to share the link and/or code?

KACTravels

Sounds like an invitation that will come with additional incentives to see the Timeshare presention. I have heard that it is a beautiful property. Enjoy, but be prepared for the OPTIONAL Timeshare presentation -

Thunderroad

Sounds good on its face, but:

1. Sometimes such offers don't have availability for any dates you'd want. That is, you pay or otherwise commit to them upfront without booking specific dates, then when you decide on the dates the availability is lousy. In fact, I'd suggest not going with the offer unless you know what dates you want and can get them guaranteed.
2. Make sure any timeshare sales pitch and any related elements are optional, not required. And if by some chance you do opt for the sales pitch, go in knowing that you will not take it, no matter how much the salesperson says the offer is only on the table if you decide that day or during your stay. It's a classic and unfortunately effective hard sell time-share technique to throw lots of great calculations at the inexperienced customer before he/she has a chance to sort it through on their own and with friends/family. A friend of mine fell for it at another Starwood property and has regretted it ever since.
3. Be prepared for possibly getting the worst room in the hotel.

DCATravel

Just booked the package they offered and found a small bonus. If you book the package and stay before 2012, they add a 5th night for free of take $100 off the price of the package for 4 nights. So basically, $249 for 4 nights and 7,000 Starpoints.

I inquired about having to sit through a presentation and was told you do not have to. The person on the phone indicated they would ask you to sit but it is not required to take advantage of this offer.

HomerJ

...the T/S presentation, cuz usually they sweeten the points offer to get you to attend.

carsonheim

I had a similar offer in Palm Desert, CA. Sat thru the presentation, got an additional 8,000 points ^

ctpturnaround

Can someone provide this link or code? Also, does one rent an auto on the island and then ferry the auto to the ruins? Or is the recommended auto only for use upon the island?

doctor15

I did this offer about a year ago.

If you want to head to Cancun anyways and like that property it is definitely worthwhile, but I ended up regretting it a bit. I signed up because it was such a great deal, I thought I couldn't pass it on it.

The property is very nice, and they will take good care of you. You will get a studio room with kitchenette and sitting area.

You can find availiblity, but you have to book well in advance for weekends (6 months if I recall correctly). I ended up picking a weekend when airfare happened to be skyhigh, and I was only able to go for three nights. I ended up spending a good amount on breakfast and drinks at the property, where by contrast if I had stayed at the LeMeridian nearby most of that would be included due to my Platinum status.

All of the complaints above was my own fault, but just pointing out why it may not be as good of a deal as it seems.

As far as the timeshare deal, once you are at the property they will offer you to attend the presentation for an extra 7500 points. Overall they were very friendly, but there were a few sticky points that really irked me. When I signed up I was told that I could attend by myself since I was unmarried and my gf did not need to come. When I got to the appointment they refused to talk to me and said I would not get points unless a "partner" attended with me. My gf was getting a massage on the beach and they actually called the spa hut to interrupt and hunt her down. Not exactly relaxing... Anyways the presentation wasn't horrible and was probably worth the 2 hours for the points if you are a points whore like me.