Gran Melia Puerto Rico Vacation Club

While staying at the Gran Melia in Puerto Rico on our honeymoon, we were asked to attend a sales meeting for the Gran Melia vacation club, which is similar to a time share, but not a time share.
A flexible plan that allows anywhere from 1 to 2 vacations a year for up to 50 years at any of the Gran Melia resorts, which are located on some of the worlds most pristine beaches.
The sales meeting was not really high pressure sales, but it was not a low pressure sales meeting either.
The first part involved taking a tour of the vacation club villas with our sales person, Rosemary Febus. Below is the video that I took on Friday when we went back. The first time we went through the villas, we were able to go through three villas with Rosemary our agent. On Friday, we were only able to see two of them, and another couple was in the one villa touring it as well.
Let me just tell you before watching, that my video does not do the villas justice.



After seeing the villas, we were informed about the vacation clubs other features, which included access to not only Gran Melia resorts, but also being able to work with a partner company that has hundreds of resorts across the globe.

We ended up writing them a check and purchasing a vacation club package.

The Friday Return

We had scheduled a return meeting for Friday, as we needed to review the paperwork, discuss any questions we had, and I also wanted to get a video of the villas.
On Thursday, I had been sick, and this gave Lizzie plenty of time to mull over the paper work and come to the conclusion that we should not keep the package.

So we return with our paperwork, and tell our lovely agent Rosemary that we don't want the package. Our main reasons were very valid. Don't get me wrong the package was awesome, but for us, at the present time it just did not fit.
Currently, we are looking to buy a new home, so we need to be a little more frugal with our funds. We decided this on the plane trip to Puerto Rico.
Next, the club requires a little more vacation planning than we are used to. Most of our vacations are made at most a month in advance. Most of these require 6 months notice.

Anyway, we told Rosemary this, she was a bit disappointed, but she did understand our reasons. After going through the villas making the above video, we went back down to the office to meet briefly with a supervisor that attempted to talk us out of it, and even offered to sweeten the deal a bit, but we were not in the market. After less than five minutes, he graciously accepted our reasons and Rosemary took back the packet of papers, and we signed the required forms. That was it.

Spa Tickets

For attending the presentation, we were given two massages at the resort spa, which by the way were fabulous. Lizzie and I after signing in to the Spa, were escorted into the individual locker rooms and were able to utilize the spa facilities prior to the message. This included a jacuzzi, steam room, sauna, shower, and various creams and lotions. Then at the appointed time, about 45 minutes later, we were told to put on nothing but a provided robe, and we were escorted up stairs to separate sitting rooms. Then a short time later the masseuses escorted us into the room were our couples massage would occur. We then had a 45 minute message given by two wonderful ladies.

Gran Melia Vacation Club Wrap UP

So for watching the sales meeting, we were given a bottle of wine, and given two $135
spa visits, which we would probably not have done on our own. The packages are fabulous, and if the resort is incredible. For us it was not right, but for others it could be a very sweet deal. As Rosemary said to us, your going to go on vacations anyway, so this allows you to do more with your money. If you get down to Gran Melia, talk with Rosemary or one of her associates and see what they can do for you.

Wedding and Honeymoon

It is the day before our wedding, and the plans are coming to a close. Lizzie verified the Honeymoon reservations; made reservations through Hotels.com at the Econo Lodge near the PHL airport for Sunday night since we have a 9:30AM departure and don't want to contend with Monday morning rush hour traffic.

I called Gran Meliá, the hotel we will be staying with in Puerto Rico and found out what we need to do get the airport shuttle, which will cost another $120 for the round trip.

Well as the time comes closer, I will post more info about our Honeymoon.

Puerto Rico Blog

As the date of exchanging our vows is rapidly approaching, the thoughts of our Puerto Rico honeymoon are growing. I had been on a couple of older blogs that said one of the greatest problems was not having any signage at the airport or on the roads for that matter. I also know that Lizzie did not make arrangements to get us from the airport to the resort, which is about 30 miles from the airport. At the moment, she is still waffling (not sure it's the right word, just wanted to use it) a bit about renting a car while in Puerto Rico. We might just end up renting one after we get there.

Well after our OBX vacation last week, I certainly hope we did not get so spoiled that the luxury accommodations of our Puerto Rican Resort don't seem special.

I will be doing some blogging this week, and seeing what I can find out about activities in the blogosphere while we are in Puerto Rico.

Update: We did rent a car from Avis. The hotel does offer a round trip van ride for about 120 bucks. I was told that if we had a larger party, that a taxi would have been cheaper. Read our other Puerto Rico posts and check out our Puerto Rico Flickr pics.