Ama - Ask Me Anything

Because the forum is quiet at the moment and I'm trying to inject some life into it. If I posted it in Free For All it would probably not be as visible.

I'll probably move the thread there once it drops down.

 

When the following criteria are all satisfied:

- When the hotel wants to open for business
- When the Mexican Govt allows it to open
- When US Travel Advisories are lifted
- When confidence in International travel begins to return

June 1st is 6 weeks away. I think/hope all the above may be satisfied by then. I think it will be likely a trickle of tourists to start with - solely from the US and Mexico. The hotel will likely open with reduced facilities to suit low occupancy levels.

UK's restrictions will be lifted later than the US, and Canada's later still.

I think the hotel will probably take six months, possibly a full year to get back to pre-virus occupancy levels. It will be slow going for a while, but gradually pick back up.

 

I resented Premier for years, when they pulled the plug on our premiernights deal leaving us with inventory that was paid for, but we couldn't do anything with.

Over the next 10 years or so Premier went through several ownership changes, each seemed to be worst than the last. I was a vocal opposer of Premier and they knew that and resented it. I didn't trust them, and they didn't like me. The hotel aside from Premier had a hot and cold opinion of me, depending on the General Manager at the time and whether they viewed me as putting money in their pocket or taking it out. I was banned for a while, largely due to us taking the Boobs Cruise elsewhere after we had agreed a deal that they later reneged on. When we weren't banned there was often an air of resentment from certain people, so for a few years we hardly stayed at all. It just wasn't comfortable.

Not exactly the ideal relationship for me to buy in. I also thought that pre-reno the rooms were shabby and the prices people were paying and the benefits they received weren't worth it.

Once Roberto, Luis and Aisha took over Premier things got better. I knew them all personally and got on well with them. We had moved the Boobs cruise to operate out of the hotel after agreeing a new much better deal for both sides a few years previously. The people that had thrown a spanner in the works before had all moved on. The relationship was much better.

On opening day following the Reno's I was seriously impressed by the new hotel. The resentment on both sides was over and I felt we would be staying there more often.

They knew that getting me to buy in on opening day after such solid previous resistance was a coup for them. I knew it would endear me to them further, and certainly not hinder any future business relationship. The deal I was offered was a good one and has meant that most of the time we stay in the MasterSuite or Penthouse. The price we paid was within our budget. The ticket price was $20K. We paid it off last year, and paid around $16K in the end due to locking in a great USD / Peso exchange rate and a discount for paying off early.

If you know those rooms (as Kyle does) they are pretty amazing. Since buying in we have never paid to stay again - either using free nights or referral credits. The Penthouse is normally easily $1K+ a night, the MS usually $600+ or so. I don't expect we will ever need to pay again since we accrue free nights and $$$ credits faster than we use them.

So, yes I am a convert. It works for us fantastically both on a personal level of staying there and on a business level of increased mutual co-operation.

 

I used to be quite shy socially before moving to Cancun. I think outgoing happy people bring it out in me, and I meet plenty of those.

Hi back to Elyse and we hope to see you again soon