BookVIP Review: Is BookVIP legit or a scam? 2022

What is BookVIP?

BookVIP is a travel website specializing in low-cost resort travel in exchange for a timeshare presentation. There is no obligation to purchase the timeshare. We have used them a few times already so we decided to do a BookVIP review!

Hopefully by the end of this post you will learn everything you need to know before booking a vacation through BookVIP. If you want the information in a short format, go all the way to the bottom and I will have a FAQ and links to their page if you decided you are interested. But if you want to to know our entire experience, take 5 minutes to read our review.

Click here to Skip Directly to our BookVIP Review FAQ’s

Is BookVIP Legit or a Scam

We are frequent travelers. Two years ago, we spent at least 150 days away from home. Last year, the number was closer to 100. In either case, that’s at least a third of the year traveling. One of the things we hate to do is to pay more than we could by looking around. We will literally spend hours researching different sites and destinations to find the best travel deals! Eventually we found BookVIP and after looking everything over we decided to try a trip.

The result of that trip led to others, which in the end resulted in us writing this guide so others know exactly what to expect.

What is BookVIP

BookVIP.com is a site that has an arrangement with resort destinations. They offer steep discounts on resorts in multiple destinations. They do a ton of these in Mexico, several US destinations as well as other places around the world.

The resorts do require you to spend around 90-minutes to up to two hours listening to a timeshare presentation. This is why some people call it a scam.

Does that make Book VIP a scam in and of itself?

Absolutely not, every page on the site has a link to terms and conditions so anyone getting these amazingly cheap travel deals should know what to expect. But in case you don’t I will explain it all in detail anyway. First, I will start with an actual review of our first experience when we used BookVIP to travel to Cancun.

BookVIP All Incusive Travel: Riviera Maya Mexico Resort Deal Review

We decided to try BookVIP to see what would happen. We knew that the deal is only offered to certain customers and that having a repeat might be difficult or impossible. That being the case, we booked a trip through BookVIP to the Secrets Silversands Resort in Cancun Mexico. For those that do research, Riviera Maya is the Cancun resort although they may have other properties in Cancun. Note, certain resorts are only listed as “Luxury Resorts” on the BookVIP vacation site. This will be the reason you may not find certain resorts I mention on their list. Back to the review.

As far as scams go, I felt as if we were the scammers. We were not going to buy the timeshare promotion, we knew that. We got served a free breakfast at the other property, we got free drinks and that time counted towards the 2-hour presentation.

Sales staff

Our salesperson was assertive, but not aggressive. My fiancée and I are pretty stubborn so let’s be honest and admit my version of assertive might be your version of overbearing. But at the end of the presentation, it was not anything I could not walk away from.

The deals offered were actually pretty good, if you travel exclusively to their properties. This particular property is owned by AM Resorts, which I believe used to be Apple Vacations. They have several all-inclusive resorts all over the Caribbean and other destinations!

We still declined the deal because we tend to travel on a whim and do several cruises a year. Being pinned down to one resort company was not in the cards for us.

Timeshare/Vacation Club Presentation Experience

This is the part that those with even mild interest want to hear about, the presentation.

As I said, these usually take 90 minutes to two hours on one of your first mornings at the resort; They are usually set up very similarly no matter where you go or which company you use.

Your assigned guide will sit down with you while you enjoy breakfast to go over the experience and create a bond with you and your partner. This rep will also ask probing questions to get a feel for your travel habits, travel budget and future vacation plans.

After Breakfast

When you are finished here you are taken on a tour of the property. During the tour they will discuss all of the amenities, features and benefits of the resort. You will also be shown some example rooms that are exclusive to timeshare owners. I am not going to lie, some of these rooms are incredible, like something you might see on “lifestyles of the rich and famous”. One room we saw had multiple floors, elevator, spectacular views, multiple cooking areas and came with amenities like a personal chef that would come cook for you once a day. One more thing, if the property you are visiting is close enough to a sister property, they might take you to see that one too.

After this you are taken inside where you may sit and watch a short presentation video before you are introduced to the “closer”.

The Closer

The closer comes in to try to sell a package. He is trained at dealing with objections and will try to maneuver around your concerns to show you the benefit. They do this every day for a living so you already know they are well trained and hard to discourage.

They don’t often take your first NO for an answer so be prepared to remain firm. Once you successfully get by the closer you are free to enjoy the rest of your vacation. I have you covered with some tips to speed up the timeshare presentation here.

Our BookVIP Review After the Presentation

You might be wondering about the service after we turned down the sales pitch. You might also wonder if we had fun after the presentation. Let me answer that for you right now.

We had a great time to be honest. If you want to see a better description of our destination, with images you can find it here: Timeshare Promotions- Our BookVIP Cancun Experience

But just to let you know, we loved the property we visited so much we booked another resort owned by AM Resorts that same weekend. This time at full price.

The resort is called Breathless Riviera Cancun resort & spa. We were so impressed by the Secrets Silversands experience we bought another 3 nights at this property, which happened to be one resort away.

It is just beyond another resort in Cancun called Desire. This one is not for families or for the faint of heart. It is an adult only resort.

Savings

Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that we spent $800 for almost a week on a resort that would have normally cost closer to $3000. Then we turned around and spent another $800-$900 just to experience the Breathless resort. After that, we booked another trip and stayed at Breathless Resort for two more weeks in September.

That is certainly not something someone does if they had a bad experience at the 1st resort! In other words, the service was still excellent after we said no.

Is There a BookVIP Scam?

No, BookVIP is legit! That extra money was used for another trip. Furthermore, you could spend some of that money on a few of the several excursions that resorts have available on property.

I cannot promise a trip to Secrets or even Breathless but I can tell you that BookVIP is not a scam. In fact, I would say that people who want to travel on the cheap can find ways to take advantage of Book VIP’s timeshare promotions.  Even if they never intend to purchase a timeshare at all. In short, there is NO BookVIP scam!

As we said, we are frequent travelers. Both of us enjoy seeing the world and BookVIP has amazing pricing if you are willing to spend 90 minutes in front of a salesperson to save $2000 or so.

I am going into more detail below in this review but click the banner below to check out some of the deals on Book VIP now to see if there is any destination you like.

You can also see some $99 vacation packages if you are interested in domestic travel through BookVip.

See More Reviews Here

How Does BookVIP sell vacations at half the price?

BookVIP is able to sell these vacations at up to 70%+ less than anyone else because they work with resorts that offer timeshares. These timeshare promotion opportunities translate to huge savings. Obviously, your part in this is around 90 minutes of your time.

As I already mentioned, you have to sit through a sales pitch during your stay. Of course, you get the benefit of paying one third of retail value for the trip. You probably need to know that if you skip the presentation, you will be charged full price for your stay.

This arrangement works well for everyone even if you say no to the resorts offer.

Why Do Resorts Give Away These Deals if People Can Decline the Vacation Club Promo?

If this were another year you might not understand. However, after 2020 we saw how business and travel were impacted which created the need for businesses to think outside of the box to stay in business. It is not that much different in the resort industry, even when things are “normal”.

Resorts all have a high season and a low season which influences when people visit their locations. For example, high season in Cancun is usually between November and April. The temperature is in the mid 80’s during the day and in the in the low to mid 70’s at night during this time. Also, the rainy season in Cancun is May through October, low season.

This makes Cancun a very nice place to visit during high season, especially if you live in a cold weather climate! Low season is very nice too and it doesn’t rain every day. Sometimes it may not rain at all when you visit.

But what happens during low season when these resorts are not busy? This is where BookVip comes in.

Benefits the resorts

BookVIP.com allows these resorts to attract customers when they have the most unused rooms. The resort then gets a chance to to create a repeat customer base through their vacation club promotions. But that’s not all! I assume that most people, like us, decline the vacation club deal. It still benefits the resort because they got something for a room that was going to be empty. In addition, we used the gift shop, we booked excursions and we tipped the employees. This is a big win for a resort that needs to keep people employed and still have the chance to make money they would otherwise have lost.

This does not mean you cannot book during high season. You just have to be sure that your dates are available before you do anything else, such as book airline tickets.

BookVIP Terms and Conditions

At this point you are probably wondering what else is involved. There are some terms and conditions that differ between resorts. These terms and conditions are listed on the page with the promotion you are interested in. But generally speaking, they are as follows.

• Age requirement (typically 30-70 years of age)
• Marriage/Co-habitation requirement for most
• Income requirement (Varies but typically $50,000+ per year household income)
• Major credit card requirement (You will present this at the time of the timeshare presentation typically)
• Timeshare presentation requirement
• Residency requirement (Most require US Citizenship, Canada or European Citizenship, check the TOS)
• Reservation requirement (You have to pay a deposit, usually $49-$99, to secure the vacation but you have up to 18-24 months to use it)
• There are resort fees due on these properties. If you have never been to a resort before, understand that this is normal. It does not matter if you are getting the stay for a discount at $400 or full price for $4,000, everyone pays these. I have found these fees to be in the neighborhood of $25 per day.

These requirements are very general and each resort may have slightly different qualifications. Be sure to check the terms at the bottom of the page for the resort in question. In a nutshell however, I think this should give you a general idea if this type of trip is for you.

Singles and Families can use BookVIP too!

Most of the international resorts are for couples only, but singles, families and those that want “adult only” resorts have options too!

Most if not all of the domestic resort deals are family friendly and there are several international resorts that et you bring two kids under 12 free!

Singles are also allowed to use the promotion. Men have to be over 35 years old and women over 30 years old. However, you have to meet the income requirement alone.

If you don’t like kids, BookVIP has adult only resort options too!

BookVIP Destinations

There are dozens of destinations within the Bookvip platform. Each destination often has multiple resorts available. All told, this means hundreds of resort travel opportunities all over the world. You can find them all here but I have a list below for you to see the variety of locations available.

BookVIP FAQ

BookVIP Review Conclusion

Planning a vacation can be stressful if you do not know what you are getting into. This guide was designed to help you decide if this program is for you. In the end, it is your decision since the end goal is to just enjoy yourself with some time away. I hope you enjoyed my BookVIP review. If you found it useful, feel free to share it on your blog or in social media. If you think this might be a good experience for you and you want more info, just click here to see what BookVip has to offer. You can also see my BookVIP Orlando,FL review here.

Note: I have been getting some emails asking different questions so I want to address them here for now.

Booking Vip Reviews

One thing I noticed is people often asking if my Booking vip reviews are real. First of all, BookingVIP does not exist. The site redirects to a Florida travel agency and is not part of BookVIP. That said, yes my reviews are real and I have used them multiple times. I show you photo and videos of the properties and even the rooms. This leads me to another question I get.

Is Vacation Vip Legit?

This might be another case of mistaken identity. VacationVIP seems to be some sort of travel club that offers discount hotel rates for a monthly subscription fee. The VacationVIP FAQ page says they are partnered with resorts all over North America.  Vacation Vip is different from BookVIP. BookVIP does not require membership and they also have trips all over the world, not just North America. So, is Vacation VIP legit? Probably, they just operate differently. I went ahead and did some research using my online research tool. You can see my Vacation VIP review here. If you want to join a travel club check out my MarketingBoost review.