NOT a good place to be or to buy
We bought a time share in the mid-90s. Even back then, whenever we called, we were told they were booked up. Well, people, guess what. Only 30% of the rooms are for timeshare owners. The better rooms are for hotel (read paying) guests. When it was revealed that only 30% were for owners, we called as a hotel guest and were able to book right away. Those who praise this place are shills. Did you know there was a lawsuit over the owners being told there was no availability? Yep. We were part of the class action. What did we get for our PAID $16K investment? Without admitting fault, the lawsuit was settled for...ready for the big one? $40 Los Abrigados bucks!!! Oh wow. We were totally impressed...NOT. We used them on the as usual mediocre restaurants. AND many reviewers told the truth: the rooms are dark and gloomy. the carpets are FILTHY. After only 3 minutes my baby at one of his visits was very, very dirty from crawling. I had to even request housekeeping to come up and clean the tile in the dining area one time. Moldy smells were everywhere. We've stayed in the newly remodeled rooms - um...painting cheap cabinets white don't a difference make. The air conditioner is LOUD and, of course is not constant as it clicks on and off, so the difference is truly noticeable. Probably to drown out the noise of the neighbors. The kids camp is a joke as is the "babysitting". The food is expensive as with any resort, and is mediocre. The spa is easy to use, but I've used better spas for less money. Each visit, of course, the sales desk would call under the guise of the concierge, inviting us down for an "update" of our ownership. Guess what: the "update" is simply to sell you either another room or to have you pay for an upgrade to a different room, maybe with a jacuzzi tub (any idea how they clean these?? I have one in my home and an inground one. The one in my home is almost impossible to clean, and the mfrs. I've contacted of different brands, including mine, don't really have a solution except to sell me a completely different style. In other words, ick. The water from the tap is very hot and can burn any young, unwary child. They tout fireplaces and in-room jacuzzis. The resort hot tub is exactly that: HOT. Too hot. Fireplaces are only in upgraded rooms, which you are NOT able to upgrade at the desk. (By the way, even if the "hotel" part is pretty empty, they still will not allow you to stay in them as an "owner". And also, the restaurants are NOT owned by celebrities (the celebrities on the walls are just different Joes for the Joey Bistro. Because the owner is JOE Martori, who owns the publicly held ILX resorts. The touted celeb visitors on the plaques had been there years before when the place was nicer. Your maintenance fees jump every year for reasons not justifiable. Read the budget. You'll wonder why certain projections are so much (housekeeping must be paid much more than the average, tee hee, and they say you can vote. Right. You have to travel to Sedona to vote. Our annual fees started at $366 a year, and were climbing above the $800 per year when we called it quits. They have the right of first refusal they will tell you when you buy that they will help you find a buyer. Don't bet on it. They told us, long after the sale, that they can't do that. They gave us a hassle about selling because they still had "open" units at a higher (duh, inflation) price. Couldn't even sell it on the secondary market. We finally cut our losses and stopped paying maintenance fees, which of course, disallowed us from using our timeshare. It was $16K plus interest (again, paid off before this happened) down the drain. Martori gets the prime parking, of course. Not once had he greeted us when we were there. The whole place is grungy. Parking is at a huge premium. We were proud of our ownership the first year, but after that, we were embarrassed about it. We booked rooms at the discounted $69 price offered for our guests. ick.
