This article tells you why this writer feels investing in timeshare holiday memberships is not a wise decision(with all necessary analysis and evidence), with Club Mahindra's Timeshare life membership as example. [Only personal and analytical perspective here. Individual experiences may vary.]
Major update: This post now also displays Club Mahindra's official response to some of the concerns I've raised. The complete interview can be read in this post. As a reader you've got both side of the story. Please use your judgment.
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Other popular and related articles by this blogger: Wish to BUY/SELL a used Club Mahindra membership-
Visit this page Club Mahindra (Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Limited) is part of Mahindra Group which is a 14000 crores enterprise (US $ 3 billion). Club Mahindra primarily own over 15 resorts across India and are trying to convince people into enrolling for their life time membership, under which they’ll allow you to stay (Only if vacancy exists-No Commitment from Club Mahindra on this) for around 7 days a year at any of their resorts for 25 years.
Before I go on to prove why it’s not a good option to enroll for their life time membership, let me list what they claim to offer:
As per Club Mahindra, by becoming their life member you get (as per their advertisement) following benefits:
*7 days inflation free holiday at any of their resorts once an year for 25 years
*Own a week at any club Mahindra resort for a week
*Free 3 year membership to RCI
*Flexibility to upgrade seasons and apartments
*Invitation to member only events
Now let me tell you in plain English what exactly they offer:1. They don’t offer a holiday package. All they offer is accommodation at their resort (subject to availability) for few days. You’ll have to pay for travel, food, site seeing and every other expense you might incur during your holiday.
2. What do they mean by members owning their resort for a week? I’m an owner if I have absolute power over something. I own a house if I have absolute power on the property (to sell, to lease, to rent or even to destroy). At their resort I’ll be one among hundreds of other guests. Because they allowed me to stay there I don’t become owner of the resort. This is purely misleading.
You don’t own anything there. You'll be sharing common utilities with other guests and may not get enough privacy. For example, lady members of an Indian family may not be comfortable in entering a swimming pool in the presence of outside men. But you can't ask others to leave because they also "Own the resort" the way you do...
3. Inflation free holiday !!!???: Mind you, the holiday is not inflation free. Every year you have to pay Annual Subscription fee every year (irrespective of usage). This amount is anywhere between Rs. 13,094 to Rs 6647 (depending on 2 bedroom apartment, 1 bed room apartment or Studio apartment etc). (This amount is over and above the regular member ship fee which is in lakhs, described later). This annual subscription fee may increase every year depending on Consumer Price Index and Wholesale Price Index. So the price I end up paying will obviously keep increasing every year. The Rs 7000 ASF might eventually increase to Rs 20000 an year say after 10 years. Hence, for the record, Club Mahindra membership is NOT inflation free.
CM's Official Response:
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Me: Membership offers price protection against accommodation only, that too to a certain extent (as ASF increases every year, passing a part of inflation to member). Members need to pay everything else-Food, laundry, other activities etc at par with others. Food for four people costs as much as room rent. Can something be done to make the holiday really inflation free?
Club Mahindra: Let me first answer your query on food. Our funding program which is a member privilege provides for Rs. 450 per person, breakfast+lunch+dinner on an elaborate buffet. This buffet is comparable to any 5 star offering. I am sure you will appreciate that that the price being charged is less than what many 5 Stars charge for ONE buffet meal let alone three. In addition, we also provide rooms with kitchenettes; however we have found that members prefer to dine with us availing the fun dining Program. The kitchenettes come in handy if you are traveling with elders or infants, for whom we also provide additional care kits on request. I am sure you will appreciate that as an organization we have strived to have an edge in the competitive context in terms of our value delivery.
In terms of the membership fee you pay at today’s pricing and enjoy holidaying for 25 years, the only factor that is increased is the ASF which also we have indexed to the Consumer price index as published by the RBI. There are no arbitrary changes done. This ASF is also towards only the upkeep and maintenance of our resorts. Our resorts at Munnar and Goa are 10 years old but are in impeccable state of maintenance. We intend to ensure that for all our resorts going forward as well. I am sure there are umpteen examples of Timeshare resorts which have steadily declined in upkeep, that will not happen to a club mahindra member. 4. They say they offer five star accommodations but this can’t be validated. (only 5 resorts are RCI Gold crowned) If an ordinary well furnished apartment is passed off as a five star accommodation how are you going to prove that it is or it is not a five star? Further, most of the Indians choose five star hotels only if the expense is reimbursed by their company. When they have to spend from their own pocket, they often choose basic economic accommodation. Staying at a five star place doesn’t make it a holiday and staying there is not the sole objective behind holidaying.
Q: Only 3 resorts are 5 star certified and only 5 resorts are RCI Gold crown certified. Remaining 18 resorts are believed to be of 3 star quality. Why should a member pay 5 star charges for 3 star resorts?
Club Mahindra: We have strived to get GOI recognize timeshare resorts and get them rated. Star accreditation is based purely on the number of rooms and some other facilities. However, we focus on a superlative holiday experience for our members across our resorts. The success of that is borne out in our satisfaction surveys and referrals from members. However our value proposition is strong and is not tantamount to charging 5 Star rates even at the most expensive studio apartment membership being sold the cost per night is in the range 3000 /- per night for a
family of four this compares very favorably to any 3, 4, 5* star offering of comparable quality.
(The value proposition for 1 Bedroom and 2 bedrooms is even stronger as they would compare
to more than two hotel units) I would like to state that the Club Mahindra Holiday experience is a premium holiday experience which is available for smart prices.
5. Why 25 years? If I’m 25 today I may live upto 85 years and I may wish to holiday till I reach the age of 75. But Club Mahindra terminates my membership by the time I reach the age of 50. By life membership I should get benefit as long as I’m alive. Else it’s not lifetime membership.
6. Why there's no commitment from Club Mahindra regarding minimum time required to ensure guaranteed booking? Why there's no compensation policy if all their resorts get fully occupied and members are unable to take holidays even if they have planned months in advance? (While I don't expect CM to get me confirmed booking within 15 days notice, CM shouldn't expect its members to plan their holidays 6-12 months in advance. There has to be a SLA governed mechanism to ensure that all members get their share, without which it will be kind of luck based and equivalent of gambling.
For some 700 odd units Club Mahindra already has over 63000 members, which is nearly 2 times the capacity of resorts (No. of units (i.e rooms) * 52 weeks should be the max permissible member count, to ensure accommodation for all))
CM's Official Response:
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Me: Do you agree that as of now Club Mahindra has member base far beyond the cumulative capacity of its resorts? (As on October 2007 you had 707 rooms (in 19 resorts, excluding 2 Zest resorts)-since each room can accommodate max 52 customers a year, max member base you can serve is 36764. But as on October 2007 you have 63375 members (page 63, 71 and 171 of DRHP), which is 172% of your inventory, meaning around 26611 members are guaranteed NOT to get reservation every year, under ideal conditions, never mind how early they plan. Actual denial rate is far higher, since some rooms are superior rooms sold to non members, few weeks are purple season and not open to members and some units will be used by corporate clients under Fundayz)
Club Mahindra: NO. While your quoted figures are true they do not reflect an accurate picture of the scenario. Allow me to explain. In order to make Club Mahindra easier to access we run many consumer financing schemes which range from 6 months to 48 months in duration. In each of these financing schemes we have a threshold time period post which a member becomes eligible to holiday (this is called the Holiday Start Date, from which the tenure of the membership is calculated). This could be 12 months from date of enrollment depending on the payment plan chosen by the member. Thus, we need to provide for capacity on the basis of the number of members eligible to holiday. You would also appreciate that, members in default of payment of dues are also not eligible to holiday. We have based on our experience over the last 10 years, built a fairly robust method for assessing the member base that would be eligible to holiday at any given point in time i.e. those who have crossed their holiday start date and are not in payment default. Our capacity caters to this eligible base. You would also be happy to note that we have added since the filing of the DRHP a new resort at Kumbhalgarh which will have 56 rooms (i.e. the capability to service almost another 3000 members. My response: I accept the reasoning. But does this mean nearly 40% members are not eligible? Some comments I received go like this “We paid all charges promptly for 2 years but couldn’t avail any of their services as there was no availability. Now they want us to pay ASF again, we’re not sure if we’ll be able to take holiday or this money also will go waste” Some kind of relaxation for such members would be nice.
Bhupesh, a CM member says: ClubMahindra require 25% payment before a member can start holidaying. Lengthiest EMI scheme available to member is of 4 years. So in maximum about 12 months a new member will start holidaying. So again as Shrinidhi said, why this difference is 40%? Are there to many default on EMI scheme. When Club Mahindra considers a membership as defunct and reduces it from membership count? In one of round table meeting with our lab director we complained that when we come in morning to office at 10.00 we do not get parking for our scooter or car. He suggested us coming early in morning so that you can get parking. How much early 8:45 AM? If people who used to come around 10:00 AM start coming at 8:45, definitely they will start getting parking. But what about those who were coming at 9:00 AM? Now they will face parking problem. So if they also shift their timing and stared coming at 8:15 AM. You know what I am saying... if capacity is not enough however early people come their will be people who will not get parking. Coming office early is not going to generate extra parking slots.
There're 51 Customer complaints pending against Club Mahindra amounting to Rs 5.62 million (As per detailed filed by Club Mahindra at SEBI for their IPO-
Read full prospectus)
7. Their commercials and sales staff hide most of the hidden charges and obligations and limitations, which is not a good. (None of their pront page ads mention ASF...)[an example
here ]
CM's Official Response:
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Me: Is it true that your sales staff hide lots of cost component while explaining the membership scheme to prospects? Many members regret their decision because of this, as what they end up paying will be far more that what they thought they will pay. Most of the sales staff also put pressure on prospects to enroll on the spot with whatever amount they can pay.
Club Mahindra: Our entire sales process is carried out in an interactive fashion relying on understanding the consumer needs and suggesting an appropriate membership suited to their needs. Our sales executives carry laptops and make a technology enabled presentation. In terms of the cost components we are the only vacation ownership company in India and amongst a few globally that function on a printed Price list. This price list discloses all components of the price to be paid by the consumer. In addition, at the time of sign up there is a membership application form which carries the contract, to be signed by the member, which has all the cost elements and rules of the membership and a copy of the same is left with the member. In addition we also have a practice of a welcome call done by our member relations team wherein we walk the member through the membership, how to use, rules, our obligations and his obligations. In light of all this practice if an occasional bad apple is present it should not be generalized to the organization. The cost of Club Mahindra lifetime membership Go to
TOPThe amount is mind-blowing. Refer the image below for the official Club Mahindra rate chart.
The new 2008 Price list
Earlier price list (2006-07)
The
official Club Mahindra website doesn’t mention how much their membership costs. The executives will not reveal the price till last moment. All these because they’re sure the price will scare people away.
The Club Mahindra lifetime membership costs anywhere between Rs 2,76,556 to Rs. 9,48,962 (and more, because this calculation is based on current ASF which keeps increasing every year). That is, Rs.1,10,381 to Rs 6,21,612 as membership fee (The exact amount depends on the season you choose to travel, number of people, the type of accommodation you choose, number of EMIs you wish to pay etc) plus Rs. 166175 to Rs 327350 in annual subscription fee (That’s 6647*25 years to Rs 13,094 *25 years). In total, you’ll end up paying anywhere between Rs 2,76, 556 to Rs. 9,48,962 all for accommodation, 7 days * 25 years=175 days. Meaning you’ll be paying Rs 1580 (during least popular tourist seasons with basic accommodation for 2 people) to Rs. 5422 per day of stay (in peak season for 2 bedroom apartment). Actual cost will be more than this as ASF increases every year. This is a relatively expensive deal because of reasons listed below
1. With the amount you pay as annual subscription fee (Say Rs 7000 per year), you can get a decent accommodation in hotels for 7 days. Why should you pay rest of the membership fee for? (say Rs 5350 every month as EMI for 36 months)
2. When you go on a holiday, most of your expenses will be on Travel, followed by food and accommodation. If someone is trying to sell accommodation as holiday package, better be aware.
3. While you have to pay lakhs of rupees as membership fee and keep paying ASF (irrespective of usage), Club Mahindra will provide confirmed booking only "
Subject to availability". They have no commitment what so ever and no refund/compensation policy. There's nothing you can do if they say "
Sorry No vacancy. Better luck next time" . Ideally they should have an SLA (like if you book say 45-60 days advance you must get confirmed booking or else should get some compensation like extending membership by another year, waiving ASF etc). But dont expect all that with Club Mahindra.
CM's Official Response:
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Me: The moment I make my initial payment I fall in trap. Why can’t you give an option wherein members can surrender their membership at any point and take proportionate refund? (The 15 days cancellation period is too short for anyone to experience your service and decide if they want to continue. Though one can transfer the membership, onus is on the member to get a buyer. If members can surrender the membership to CM and take refund, more and more people will come and try your services, as they have an option to quit anytime. Also this ensures no one gets a chance to complain. If they are not happy let them surrender and exit. The fear that members may leave ensures higher service standards.Club Mahindra: The commitment to superlative standards is ingrained as a service culture in our organization. In addition I would to point out two facts:
1. The Rescission period was a proactive step from our side not compelled by any regulation; in addition as a part of AIRDA we have tried to establish this as an industry standard. This period is 10 days from the date of realization of the down payment, in which time a re-consideration by the member entitles him to full refund.
2. Proportionate refund, is already available to the member across the term of the membership. This is governed by certain terms and is applicable for a certain part of the fees paid by him. 4. Assume for 5-10 years out of your 25 year tenure you don't get to holiday with them (when they say all their resorts are full-which may even be vacant for those non members who pay cash), any cost advantage you may be having in becoming life member will easily get eroded.
Club Mahindra: Unequivocally our members are first priority. We have been often asked by people members and otherwise as to why such an event happens. First let me explain that our members are entitled to Studio, One Bedroom and 2 Bedroom apartments, depending on the membership they have bought. However, we are a mixed use resort i.e. in some resorts we have hotel units also. These are smaller than studio apartments. These are the apartments generally offered to non-members. However, on occasion we have also offered our members the use of this type in case they are interested. Apart from these rooms we have in the off season taken in non-members to ensure we do not have low occupancies. The rationale for a mixed use is that the resort operations & maintenance costs are covered by this revenue and the ASF in conjunction. In the event we did not follow this model we would be constrained to charge higher ASF. In the US where some resorts do not follow this model the ASF is 6-8% of the upfront price whereas in our case it is only about 4 %. In addition this mixed use also ensures we will always be benchmarked to the best in hospitality service levels.
5. I saw recently in a full page newspaper ad (ClearTrip or MakeMyTrip I can't recall), travel agents are selling holidays at Club Mahindra resorts at quite low rates. As a member who has paid several lakh rupees decades in advance, you would expect a lowest price guarantee and a minimum service assurance. Without these, you may regret later.
Other things you should know:SeasonsClub Mahindra has classified 52 weeks of the year into 4 seasons
Pink: Extremely popular timings and seasons: Like New Year eve at Goa. The pink season is not open to members. There’s no way you can plan a holiday if the time and destination combination is Pink.
Red: All popular tourist seasons are classified as Red. If you want to visit their resort during these popular seasons either you’ll have to pay extra or reduce your number of days of stay.
White: Normal seasons Blue: Least popular season-The cheapest option but if you go to a place in blue season you’re likely to regret as you wont be able to make best of your holiday(for example you can’t enjoy in Ooty during rainy season)
Red and pink seasons make up nearly 50% of the year and only rest 50% is open for you if you’ve opted for white season.
Flexibility: If you increase the number of people, you’ll either have to pay more or will have to compromise on number of days of stay. If you’re going on vacation during peak season (say when children would be having holidays) again you’ll have to pay more and or reduce number of days. This doesn’t make economical sense as the choice you have is very few.(You can carry forward your holiday, advance your holiday, split your holiday).
Once you commit, you can’t cancel or pull out.(Initial 10-15 days within which cancellation in allowed will be lost before you face reality) You can only send someone else in your place.
This membership is a long term obligation which doesn’t make much practical sense when you can just check in into any of the hotels with much ease. Taking one time vacation with Club Mahindra might be a risk free and better option than choosing a life membership.
CM's Official Response:
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Me: Many feel investing several lakhs in timeshare is not a wise option, since the money gets locked in, options get limited and there's no liquidity. Don't you think investing that money wisely elsewhere and using the returns to take one time holiday a better option? Club Mahindra: A Club Mahindra membership is never sold as a pure investment play. It is commitment one places for a certain lifestyle for the family and it should be viewed as such. However, we understand the fact that no decision is purely rational or emotional, and even while making such a commitment for the family there is a monetary payback angle that needs to be considered. So internally, we keep tracking industry trends and ensure that we have a healthy rational argument as well. I am also sending a rudimentary working of the same and you will realize that a Club Mahindra membership in comparison to holidaying through one time holidaying achieves break even in 7-10 years leaving the balance tenure as a complete upside to the consumer.
Ask yourself: By holidaying what do you mean? Just staying at one resort for one week? The concept of relaxing at a resort is yet to gain popularity among Indians. For Indians, holidaying often means traveling a lot, visiting places of historic importance or places of tourist attractions etc. This year I may go all alone, next year I may go with a group of friends say 10 people, an year later one may choose to go with his/her spouse, later we may choose to travel with their relatives, kids, etc. There’re thousands of tourist places in India where we can consider going for holidays and number of places where club mahindra has a resort are negligible. Further, travelers need accommodation mainly for sleeping only as daytime is usually spent out site seeing. (The indoor/outdoor activities in a resort, say swimming, might excite for a day or two, but doesn't seem worth going all the way to a resort and staying there for 7 days just for these, as you are likely to find similar facilities everywhere-that is purely my opinion)
Below diagram shows room layouts at few Club Mahindra resorts.
The verdict: Club Mahindra is not a comprehensive and all inclusive holiday option. Don't fall for their temptations like Nokia N73 or handycam.
They'll keep on adding members but the capacity of their resorts will be same. So after say 5 years, you'll have to plan holiday not as per your convenience but as per the availability of their resorts.Sales staff make all promises under sun, besides hiding negative factors, to convince you to sign up. It is your responsibility to stay off the trap. Proceed with caution.
Disclaimer: All information provided here were as available at the time of composing this post (Jan-Feb 2007). Check with Club Mahindra for current rates. I don't have anything personal against Club Mahindra, just feel that their business model doesn't seem to fit Indian middle class. This article is very specific to Club Mahindra Life Membership Scheme only and doesn't comment on other Mahindra Businesses. I'm only giving my Point of View here and individual experiences may vary. I gain/loose nothing by anyone joining/not joining Club Mahindra. Please use your discretion. All images and information courtesy: Club Mahindra.
Updates: Promoters of time share membership often claim that by subscribing to their schemes you get to enjoy tomorrows holidaying at todays expense. i.e. they claim hotel stay expense will increase over time and if you pay a lump sum amount and subscribe to their membership schemes right now, you will be protected from these hikes. However, there's no reason why hotel rates shouldn't come down after sometime. For example, air travel today is far more affordable than it was say 5 years ago. Similarly hotel stay may also become cheaper (like concept of no frills basic stay at minimum amount is already catching up) but Club Mahindra is unlikely to pass on such benefits if any, to you.
CM's Official Response:
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Me: But prices may not always shoot up at the rate it is predicted. Air travel today is far cheaper than what it was 5 years ago. Economy hotels and home stay business is booming and prices may stabilize or even come down when volumes pick up. What do you think? Club Mahindra: You are absolutely right that certain sectors which had artificially propped up prices when they got de-regulated saw a huge variation in pricing. However, our offering is at the premium end of the market and for the discerning affluent consumer who is looking to commit to a certain lifestyle for the family. We are not competing in the budget category. I am sure your experiences at the Coorg resort will more than bear up to the fact that the Club Mahindra experience is a 5 star experience delivered with a superior value proposition. We believe with our value proposition as we have shown to you will hold good irrespective. In the long term price appreciation of the competitive offers will happen and our value proposition will keep improving. So considering advantages and disadvantages, my recommendation is "AVOID". If you're still tempted to become member, try this first before committing lakhs on life membership: Find a known person (friend/co worker/relative) who is a member and take his/her opinion. Else take their one time holiday, visit their resort, talk to other guests there who might be life members, take their opinion and judge your own experience there and then decide. DO NOT take on the spot decision irrespective of what temptations their salesmen create (Like this offer expires today midnight)...
Update: This post is now appearing in Google's top 5 list when you search for Club Mahindra related strings on
Google. [
Full Details here] Thanks all you readers for making this happen.
Do not miss to read this:
eNidhi's Brand Building suggestions to Club Mahindra(My suggestions to CM to secure member satisfaction)
While most of the readers have agreed with me, few say they are very happy with CM. If you’re lucky, if everything happens as promised great. But my primary concern still remains: What do I do if I cant get confirmed booking even when I plan several months in advance? Why there’s no SLA or compensation policy from CM on this? While I stick to my stand readers are under no obligation to take my opinion and are requested to use their own judgment after reading this post and comments.
Also Read:
Advice on Time share membership on Mouthshut.com, a consumer review website-Where hundreds of MS users have written about their experience with Club Mahindra and other such facilities. Seriously recommend reading those opinions.
CM's Official Response:
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TopMe: Why is there so much negative perception about Club Mahindra? In most of the community sites and forums, the general opinion is not that good, as per my observation.Club Mahindra: We believe each feedback that is there online or otherwise is an opportunity for us to recover ground and improve ourselves. However, I think you would agree that it is more likely for you to comment when you are dissatisfied than when you are happy. I am not for a moment discounting the grievances voiced. But we would like you to consider the following facts:
• We have a cell which monitors the web for feedback whenever we identify negative feedback we try and get in touch with the concerned member and resolve underlying issues – NOT from the perspective of getting him to drop his comments but resolving their issues
• We have a multi channel mechanism for tracking feedback, apart from the point mentioned we also have the usual consumer redressal cell which operated on voice and mail enabled contact centers with dedicated teams. We also have contact programs where we go into cities or localities where we have our members and invite to come and met with us to resolve any issues and most importantly plan their holidays. We also have a in resort real-time feedback mechanism running on touch screen kiosks wherein a member can voice feedback and instead of the usual post event turn around that most companies do we have a person contact the member real time and address their issue so in the same holiday their concern is taken care of.
I believe the above are rare practices in the hospitality industry overall and practically unique when it comes to timeshare. There is no other brand in the holiday space that employs so many means to stay in touch with their consumer. I would also like to mention a few other aspects that we have observed:
• We have 38% of all our sales coming in from referrals – indication of a positive sentiment?
• We have based on member feedback won the RCI Gold Crown awards at 5 of our resorts this award is given every year based on member feedback by RCI to less than 10 % of its 4000 resorts world wide– indication of good service delivery?
• We commission regular consumer satisfaction surveys through CSMM an arm of IMRB, and our resort satisfaction scores are 71% for Excellent and Very good ratings.
We are alive to the fact that services as against products are people dependent will have occasions of below par delivery the above points elucidate some of the steps that we take for tracking and recovery and some satisfaction indicators in addition to the ones you mention.
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