Service: Club Ultima Membership

Getting a Club Ultima Membership is the reason why we ended up staying in Crown Regency Hotel and Towers Cebu. But before I go on, let me make one thing clear: this is not about Crown Regency Hotels, although Club Ultima is an offshoot of this hotel chain. This is about Club Ultima and why we decided to back out less than a month after we signed up and purchased a club membership.

For our trip to Cebu, I was initially planning to stay in a hotel near Ayala Center and in fact, we've already booked a room in Wellcome Hotel. But my husband received an invitation to attend a timeshare presentation in exchange for a free 3D/2N Crown Regency accommodation voucher (which we were told was worth Php24,000. I have the text message to prove it). We, wanting to save a few bucks, thought a free accommodation sounds good (though we didn't really believe it to be worth Php24,000) so we decided to accept the invitation.

We are both aware of what a timeshare presentation is, having attended a similar one in Boracay, and were prepared to say "No" to every offer that will be thrown at us, because what we're really after was just the free voucher. But during the presentation, we thought that what they were offering was a great deal and will give us a lot of savings in the long run, especially since we are planning to start traveling out of the country.

The main benefit of the membership is the yearly issuance of 7 certificates that are equivalent to 7 nights of accommodation at any of the Crown Regency Hotels nationwide (accommodation only, breakfast not included). The certificates are non-expiring and can be transferred and sold to other people. If we want to travel out of the country, we can exchange them for international accommodations via Interval International and Direct Tie-Ups subject to the following conditions:

It was a take-it-or-leave-it today-only offer, which doesn't give you time to research and think your decision through. I guess the ones who will fall prey to these types of marketing are those compulsive buyers who decide with their emotions, rather than with their brains. We are normally practical individuals, who always make sure that we'll be getting our money's worth with every big ticket item we purchase. Apparently, we're not ourselves that night. Hehe. But kidding aside, we really thought this was a good deal.

So long story short, we bit the bullet - we got a 15-year membership, which they called Trial Pack, that will cost us Php195,000; Php10,000 of which was the deposit fee to be paid impromptu and the remaining amount will be broken down into Php5,000+ monthly installments to be paid for the next 3 years; plus an annual fee of Php6,000+.

Of course, we got our 3D/2N voucher for free because we bought the membership. Otherwise, we will still need to pay Php3,000 once we use it. So had we decided to turn down their offer, we won't be getting a free "24k-worth" accommodation. Deceiving, no? Anyway, because we chose to become members, the marketing manager was kind enough to assist us with our room reservation after we told her that we want to avail the voucher for our Cebu trip (which was 2 weeks away at that time).

We went home feeling good, thinking we have saved a 2-night worth of accommodation at a 5-star hotel and we're looking forward to our future travels with less expenses. Upon reaching home, I did the one thing that I should've done before going to that Club Ultima presentation - research about Club Ultima and Crown Regency Hotels. My heart sank when I found a number of not so good reviews, mostly about Crown Regency Hotels.

But we told ourselves to wait until we see and experience staying in the hotel firsthand before making any conclusions. That fateful day came and it dawned on me that the online reviews were correct and we are about to make a very costly mistake if we will not cancel the membership immediately. We had no problems with Crown Regency Hotel and Towers Cebu (read my review here) and I find it to be one of the better hotels we've been in. But we feel that paying for a Club Ultima membership just to be able to stay in their hotels for free for 7 days every year is just not worth it.

Right after we got home from our vacation, my husband called Club Ultima to inquire about the cancellation process. He was told to send a letter via email to formalize the request, and swiftly, I wrote the letter so he can send it within the day.



These are the reasons I stated in the letter:

1. I stayed in Crown Regency Cebu Tower last December 3-5, 2013 and found it not to be the 5-star hotel accommodation that was promised during the presentation.
2. I checked the Crown Regency website for the average room rates and found out it to be in the range of P3000-P4000. If I multiply it to 7 (hotel vouchers I’ll get every year) and 15 (years contract term), the total amount is P315,000-P420,000. I feel that I won’t really get a big savings from the membership given that I need to pay the P195,000 membership fee and P6,000+ annual fee for 15 years.
3. I realized that I don’t want to be tied up to a particular hotel/resort when going to a certain destination because there are many factors to consider when choosing an accommodation: proximity to tourist spots, restaurants and public transport, value for money, etc.
4. I haven’t tried booking with Interval International but have read not so good reviews about it and I don’t want to take a risk.

Let me explain further:

Reason No. 1

During the presentation, it was practically drummed into our heads that ALL Crown Regency Hotels are classified as 5-star hotels. The hotel near Fuente Circle, Cebu City is clearly not a 5-star hotel. It's an above average hotel, probably a solid 3.5 to 4-star. But not 5-star. I checked out the reviews of the other Crown Regency Hotels (2 more in Cebu, 3 in Boracay, and 1 each in Makati and Davao) and none were categorized as 5-star either.

If we won't be getting 5-star accommodations from any of the Crown Regency Hotels, what's the point of paying for the club membership?

Reason No. 2

Our agent actually corrected us on this. He sent us a text message to tell us that Club Ultima members will get Executive Suite accommodation, which is more expensive than the Standard/Deluxe rooms and Corner suites which we used as basis for our computation. But even with an Executive Suite, which cost almost P7,000/night, I still feel that we won't get value-for-money benefits with the membership because, going to back my first reason, the 5-star rating that they give their hotels is questionable.

I'd rather stay in the cheapest room of a 5-star hotel than stay in an Executive room of a non-5-star hotel. People stay in 5-star hotels to get 5-star accommodation, 5-star amenities, 5-star service and 5-star treatment. Staying in an Executive room of a non-5-star hotel gives you just that - an Executive room and a non-5-star experience.

Reason No. 3

Like what I mentioned earlier, we were supposed to stay in a hotel that's within walking distance to Ayala Center. I chose that because most of the restaurants that we want to try are in or near Ayala or SM (which is relatively near Ayala). When we moved to Crown Regency in Fuente, we found out that cab fares to Ayala and SM cost around Php80-Php100, one way. This brings me to my point: there are a lot of factors that should go in when choosing an accommodation. Often, a strategic location could mean savings in taxi fares and travel time. Value-for-money, amenities, services and good reviews are also important to consider.

Each destination calls for a different set of criteria that suits your budget, itinerary or preference. Being tied to a particular hotel chain meant you won't likely get to choose your accommodation based on these criteria and this could potentially ruin your travel plans or blow up your travel budget.

Reason No. 4

This is pretty much explanatory. We just don't want to risk paying for something that we're not sure if will be beneficial to us, especially because Interval International will cost us $89 every year, on top of the Php6,000+ Club Ultima's annual fee.

Rude Agent

I wasn't planning to write about our Club Ultima experience because technically, we haven't really use the benefits of the membership yet. But our agent sent us a rude and sarcastic text message after learning that we backed out. I know he's not pleased because it meant that his commission will be reduced, if not called off. But that's no reason to be rude to a client who chose to cancel their membership. It is our right and he should respect that, whatever our reasons are.

Because of his indiscretion, I decided to write this review. Marketing and customer service should still go hand in hand even after the sale has been made, and even after it has been revoked. You'll never know if that client will rave or rant about you on the internet, and potentially make or break your chances of making more sales through recommendations.

UPDATE: I have received a few inquiries regarding Club Ultima membership cancellation, so here are some more details.

Line 7.1 in our contract reads: I understand that should I wish to back out of this reservation, there will be a cancellation fee of Php20,000.00 if done within 15 days of reservation. There will be no refund of all payments if cancellation is done after 15 days of reservation.

To me, this clearly means that we can cancel the membership subject to the rules in the contract. If we cancel within 15 days after we purchased the membership, we will pay a whopping P20,000 cancellation fee. But if we cancel after 15 days from the date of reservation, we don't need to pay anything anymore. The downside is, we also don't get to refund any payments we've made. At this point, we've only paid the Php10,000 reservation fee, twice as small as the other fee, so it's better if we will cancel after 15 days but before we start the monthly payment. (What I'm not sure of is if you will get a refund if you cancel within 15 days and what percentage of the total amount paid can you refund.)

We made the reservation on November 13 and requested a cancellation on December 11, more than 15 days after so we didn't have to pay the Php20,000 cancellation. At this time, they haven't charged my husband's credit card with the 1st monthly amortization fee yet so we acted quickly.

He called the Membership hotline we found at the back of the Club Ultima brochure that they gave us and inquired about the cancellation fee. If for some reason, you don't have that brochure, you can also go to their website and look for contact numbers you can call. Call, don't email.

When my husband sent the cancellation letter (to the email address that they gave), he didn't receive any confirmation so he called up again the next day to follow up. They confirmed the receipt of the email, told him that they will cancel the membership and assured him that his credit card won't be charged with anything. They didn't send any document so we just took their word for it. Good thing this time, they lived up to their promise. The membership was cancelled and we didn't pay anything other than the Php10,000 we paid during reservation.

Inisip na lang namin that the Php10,000 is for the 3D/2N (breakfast not included) that we've stayed in Crown Regency Cebu. Surely, we can find better accommodations that worth's Php5,000/night, but at least we didn't just give them Php10,000 for nothing and cut our loss to half of that amount (Deluxe Room is worth Php2,000+/night).