Curious to hear everyone's thoughts on 1) what happened to lead Original Group to pull out of a $100m investment and 2) what these 2 properties will become in the future
1. Probably a political move from the DR Government when they rebranded Temptation Grand to Desire and MAYBE pushed the local investors out of the properties’ management. It’s hard for me to believe that Original Group would abandon the resorts directly after spending a lot of money rebranding Grand without a major threat. 2. I saw a FB post from the Soy de Miches group (a local tourism page) stating that the property will turn into the “original” concept that was proposed, “Jovero Beach Resort”. That’s what the buildings were supposed to be before the theme was changed during construction. Looks like a family resort. If you search “Soy de Miches” on the Book of Faces, you can see it yourself.
A theory for the failure... There are just are not enough "like minded" people (yet) to keep six resorts profitable (TTR, DRM. Pearl, Miches x 2, and Hedo). All of the sudden there are supposed to be 700-1000 people/night filling these new resorts, all looking for a TTR and/or environment? Sexy/erotic/topless/swinging/swaying. Were there that many people on waiting lists for Cancun resorts? And the travel time, we live two connections (north central US) to Cancun, that said, we leave at 6 am and get to Cancun a little after noon. Going to Miches would have taken much longer to get there and mind numbing long to get home (overnight needed unless leaving the resort at 5 am). When leaving Cancun, we can sleep in, pack, eat lunch. and still be home at a reasonable hour. Future? Worried about the impact at the Cancun resorts .... more aggressive sales pitches to pay for the losses at Miches, increased prices, etc. Hopefully we won't get priced out of DRM after the Eden expansion.
Very fair. The way the industry news article was phrased (or the English translation at least) jives with the rebrand being part of it and not part of the desired vibe that Miches tourism wants to have. Source: Infotur Dominicano » ACTUALIZACIÓN: River Beach Corp. asume operaciones directas con su marca Jovero Beach Resort ante salida de Temptation y Desire Sigh, also this. The prices in Cancun just keep going up, and I'm going to keep avoiding the "membership updates" on every trip...
Figured I’d make a timeline of events since I was re-reading the forum archives: September 3, 2020: Press release that Original Group is constructing the Miches properties, at an estimated cost of $120m, with a projected opening date of “Summer 2022” 382 rooms at TMR + 114 rooms at TGM for a total of 496 (round up to 500 for easy numbers), capacity estimate of 1,000 guests Source: Temptation Miches Dominican Republic Press Release Note: Covid is still in full swing at this point; vaccines weren’t even available until January 2021 at the earliest September 8, 2020: ground breaking on Miches properties Source: Original Group Breaks Ground On Temptation Miches Resorts in the Dominican Republic Summer 2022: The original estimated opening date per the original press releases…this did not happen lol. Late September 2022: Hurricane Fiona hits the Caribbean, including the under construction Miches properties that are slated to open the next month October 1, 2022: Original planned opening week for Miches resorts - did not happen, as Fiona necessitated repairs Meanwhile, Temptation Cancun is pitching the Miches locations HARD - our first trip to TTR was in October, and Miches was all over the place December 9, 2022 (or thereabouts): Delayed opening and first trip posts coming out Source: Temptation Miches - December Roll Call May 2023: Hotel is still in “soft opening”, per the Premier sales lady when I went in for my “membership update” at Miches. 5 months after a delayed opening and it’s still in soft? Hmm…having spent time in the restaurant industry, which isn’t the same as a hotel, new restaurants typically spend no more than 1 month in soft opening, so the 5 months seemed kinda suspect to me. June 30, 2023: Original Group takes control of the Miches properties, as announced to affiliate program members. Apparently the Miches management team had not been able to pay affiliates their commissions. Source: Keeping My Money. Need Help! November 13, 2023: Grand Miches officially rebranded to Desire Source: Temptation Grand Miches Resort Rebrands to Desire Miches Resort Punta Cana December 26, 2023: Official websites of both resorts announce the last day of operations, effective January 15, 2024; albeit rumors were swirling on the internet and at the resorts themselves in the days leading up to Christmas as staff were told right before the holiday Source: Temptation And Desire Miches Closing, Per Their Websites December 28, 2023: Trade association announcement that the resorts were sold to RIver Beach Corp and would be rebranded to a family resort called Jovero Beach Resort. Redditors are saying that the rebranded resort will open on June 15, but I haven’t seen anything official about that. Source: Infotur Dominicano » ACTUALIZACIÓN: River Beach Corp. asume operaciones directas con su marca Jovero Beach Resort ante salida de Temptation y Desire Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Temptation.../?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 Commentary: Selling not one, but two hotels, is not an instant transaction. Even buying a house in the US takes a week for a “fast, cash only close” and 60 to 90 days with financing. For the announcements to have taken place on December 26, the parties involved must have known at least 1 month prior that this was going to happen, which lines up with the timing of when Grand Miches was rebranded.
The “official” announcement by River Beach Corporation, posted in the Soy de Miches FB page, says that the opening date is “15 de Junio…2024”, which is June 15th. I have a feeling that they won’t be able to make that date. Thanks for adding the timeline!
I just checked, and the daily RAC rate for the Passion Suite at DRM was ~$730? I get 50% off of that due to my contract, so that sounds OK still. Less than ZI paid, even with the discount to Temptation last April. ... still, I can TOTALLY see them trying to recoup the Miches "loss" with an aggressive upsell in their Premier programs. I never did think that DR was going to be a good fit for the brand/style, whatever. I'm not pleased to be right, but I think that the thought above about there not being "enough customers" to fill that many rooms year round is on po8int.
Random thought occurred to me. Original Group's concepts lineup has a family-friendly one, All Ritmo Waterpark. If Miches was going to become family-friendly, why go through rebranding it to Jovero Beach and keep the property/rebrand to All Ritmo? "The Resorts in our company are All Ritmo Resort & Water Park (formerly Sea Adventure, family concept), Temptation Cancun Resort & Spa (only adults over 21 years old, topless optional) and the Desire (clothing optional couples only)" Source: Membership FAQ´s - Premier Experience
