Welk Resort Group

FTP Vacations, the company that we had to call and put a deposit down on, was closed. They had a website that guided us through the process of paying the deposit, but when we actually called, the number was disconnected. Once we googled the company, it said that they were no longer in service and people are complaining about scam. So, we could never get our money back and we didn’t realize that until it was too late for us to even fight it with our bank. We lost out on $285. So, that was unfortunate.

For the second presentation I went to, we stayed in one of the resorts the night before to really get a feel for it. Customer service was always great. The people were very nice. When they're trying to sell, there has to be some kind of pressure but it was a little bit much the last time. They sent four people after we told the original person who was just kinda pressuring, and pressuring, and pressuring that it wasn’t a good time.

In 2018 we upgraded to 240k every year. Yes, this increased our maintenance fees however it gives us a 15 month booking window for our annual points. Customer service has gotten 100% better. The longest I've been placed on hold is 5 minutes before talking to a real person. As far as availability, there is plenty! Right now, on 3/8/19, I can book a five night stay at Northstar or One Village Place in Lake Tahoe, the first week of December, in a 2 bedroom unit for 210k points. Or I could go stay at Cabo in the large one bedroom for 120k points. I could literally book these right now. Keep in mind, I'm a little fish in the Welk pond with only 240k points. Platinum ownership goes from 90k points all the way to one million. Welk also trades VERY well through RCI or still with Interval International. Welk pays for the RCI membership, and I paid for 2 more years of II because I like the bonus weeks.

My point is, I went from hating it and regretting purchasing, to loving it and learning to utilize it to its fullest. If you bought with Welk and aren't happy, there is a Welk Platinum Owner's group on Facebook, find us, and I will help you all I can. Coz I know the feeling of despair when you think you're stuck with an unusable "vacation ownership" that costs thousands that you can't use and can't get rid of. Been there, learned a lot, now love it.

When there is an issue with the room, service is prompt and courteous. There is also little things, like using colored rice to spell out happy birthday on the bed with palm trees on each side, along with a small birthday cake decorated and left to enjoy. Priceless! The grounds are kept immaculate, the pool has an amazing view of the arch that never gets old, herbs for the kitchen are grown on the property, and with so many unswimmable beaches in and around Cabo, having its own swimmable private beach is a treat.

My only complaint used to be the distance to town, only because of the taxi prices which led me to rent cars for the last few years since it was just about the same price, but now that Uber has come to Cabo, and round trip prices to town being just over half of a one way trip with the taxis, the need to rent a car may be gone. Hopefully the resort will keep its current policy of letting the Uber drivers drive up to the lobby area. It makes things so easy. I could go on and on, but there is a reason I visit here 3 times a year, and anytime someone comes with me, they see what I see, and can't wait to come back, as did my brother after our trip last week.

Lastly, if I do have to complain, it would only be that Welk should go ahead and just finish the 4th building at the resort, especially after learning that allegedly the property in Hawaii contains ancient burial grounds, thus making it impossible so far to get any permits to do any kind of building. I met maybe half a dozen couples last week that were all current Welk owners but had never been to Cabo. They were all saying that they couldn't wait to come back. It's already getting more difficult to book time here at this resort, and with more people discovering the resort weekly, IMHO, adding the 4th building would not only relieve some of the booking congestion, but it would also generate that much more revenue a lot faster than what it would take to get anything built in Hawaii. Other than that, I've already got my next trips planned for next May, and probably October as well, when I'll be able to spend time with my family.

We have 540,000 points and it’s about enough for us to do what we need to do with our family. But they’re always trying to get us to buy more and they’re pretty persistent about it. They hammer us when we tell them no and that we don’t really wanna buy anything more but that's the only bit of dissatisfaction I have with them. Other than that, I’m happy with Welk and we actually are gonna go to their Cabo location in November. You should check Welk Resort out if you wanna take vacations. However, it is an investment and we invested quite a bit of money into it, so it’s a long-term thing for us. If you just wanna do a vacation and go somewhere once every couple of years, it’s not something you should do. But we needed to be able to take vacations every year, so Welk Resort Group has been good for us and I would recommend them.

They’re gonna tell you how much something costs at the highest peak that it would sell for. It’s like whenever there’s a drug bust for police, they tell you how much they got if they were to sell it out individually and for A-plus material. Also it was like whenever we went to Serena del Mar, they would tell us it was gonna cost thousands of dollars to go there for a week but if you do it at the right time, you can find it on Expedia for maybe $300 a night. I understand how they go about explaining it but that still doesn’t take away from the value that I see in the actual property.

Also whenever they do the owner updates they say it’s only gonna take an hour and a half, but that’s a straight up lie. It ends up being like three hours. So if they could really adhere to that hour and a half that they say it is, that would be nice. But I understand that they’re doing their thing. Nevertheless, we like Welks. We think it’s a good deal. If you wanna try to vacation, do it outright. It doesn’t work for everybody. Everybody has to find their own little way of doing things but for us it seems to work. I might end up saving money in the long run doing it.

The place still kind of came off as an old folk home. We came back and they once again tried to get us to buy. A couple of men came over to help out the person who took us to the tour. They weren't nice especially to their female employees. This truly bothered me. Why would I want to even think of a place that doesn't even respect each other? We finally got through it all and they "gave us the prizes." We checked a bunch of reviews and even looked at websites and THEY ARE A SCAM! This place is full of liars. They offer you something that doesn't exist to get you in the door. It is a waste! Would never trust this company with anything! DO NOt TRUST THEM!