Moon Palace Resorts Day #7
I got out of bed. That’s a win.
I don’t know why but yesterday I lost all my energy around 5/6ish and binge ate room service and went to bed. And I slept in until pretty much now (quarterish to noon). And it feels like I could go back to bed and sleep until tomorrow. Maybe it was the sun. Maybe it was the sales pitch I sat through. Maybe it was the FaceTiming and the family stuff and too much self reflection.
Whatever it was; it was. It took something out of me.
It would be cool to see a snake. I am sitting on the patio of the room. It backs onto a jungle. It’s mostly shaded. Some sun is peaking through. It rained a lot yesterday morning. You can feel the humidity in the air.
My computer is hot.
I am worried about going home. We are near the Cancun airport. Airplanes keep flying over. I am worried about going home because [redacted] and the thought of that makes my stomach turn.
I hate disappointing people. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. It makes me… sick? It makes me uncomfortable, that’s for sure.
I mentioned a sales pitch. Yesterday during the rain I volunteered to go to the “membership” pitch they have at this place. It’s like a time share pitch (put not a time share). It was an experience. If you’ve never been to something like it, it’s interesting. If you have, you know what I’m talking about.
My goal was to keep saying no and to leave without having signed up for anything. And I did that. But it was hard to do. They put you in a position that makes you feel like a bad person if you say no (at least that’s how I felt). But it was easier for me to say no because I literally didn’t have any of the money they were asking for.
They had 4 tears of membership. Each gave you more perks and access to different things at the resort. Tier 1 was “Elite” (I think that’s what it was called), it was ~$130k USD. Tier 2 “VIP” $350k USD. Tier 3 “Diamond” $750k USD. And tier 4 “Residence” $1.5mil USD.
The sticker shock is pretty impressive. You think to yourself “What the fuck? Who the fuck can afford that?” But at the same time you don’t want to come off as poor (or at least I didn’t) so I say “hmmm haaa, I don’t know seems kind of expensive” and the whole time before they ask you roughly how much you spend a year on travel and what you spend on, etc. and they pitch you on all the stuff you said and how it will save you in the long run.
Convincing stuff… if you have the money for it… lol.
They suggested VIP for me. And I imagined what it would be like to have these perks and the money to pay for it and the nice vacations I could take if I had, maybe not the membership, but the kind of money and lifestyle the membership represented. The aspiration.
And they had a referral program. Which meant, if you send them enough new couples that go on vacation and go to the presentation they will give you free vacations.
And I imagined all the work in finding couples my age and convincing them to book through me and go to these presentations to get free vacations and I imagined how nice it would be to go on vacation and then I imagined how much work it would be to sell these couples and I thought long and hard and eventually decided that….
Ah ha!
They almost got me on that one. I could have essentially bought myself a job as a vacation salesman. I’ve been looking for a job and you get to meet people doing this kind of thing. But that was a dream, an illusion, a hope. And it showed me, deeply why people sign up for these things.
It’s the aspiration of it all. The deep psychology of wanting to live this dream of luxury vacations and travel. This idea of the worry-freeness of the rich. But it’s just that, a dream.
But I didn’t want to just say no. So I said, “hmmm haaa, I could do that but I don’t think so”. And the guy would say, “No problem, if you were to buy something like this today, what could I do to make it work?”. This I recognized and was a major reason why I wanted to go to the sales meeting.
They teach this line of questioning in sales. It’s called “motivational interviewing”. You ask the mark (potential customer) what, if anything, would make them change their mind.
And if I didn’t know this going into the presentation I probably would have said something like, "I can’t afford this at all and I need to leave". Or more likely I would have said, "I just want the referral so I can have this as a job because I’m broke and need a job and I like coming on vacation and not paying for anything and feeling like I’m a king".
And maybe they would have given it to me and maybe they wouldn’t have and asked me to leave.
Instead I would pause and think for a long time and ask clarifying questions around perks and discounts and things or would ask questions about the sales person. Stuff to pretty much not just walk out.
The first person I met was this flamboyant guy a year or two older than me, Abel. He was funny, I liked him. He showed me all the resorts on this iPad and took me for breakfast and then to the sales centre.
The next guy was older, maybe 50s, Miguel. I liked him. He had a son a year or two younger than me. He asked me about Ryan Wedding and the government and taxes in Canada and other things. He was the first to make me an offer and we spoke the longest. Eventually the rain stopped and it looked nice out and I realized I had been there a while. So I said I don’t want to waste anymore of his time and asked to leave.
He said no problem and he will get his manger who has some final questions. Then a new guy came, I forget his name. He had two kids. Asked me if I wanted to start a family. Asked me more motivational interviewing questions and I kept saying no. I don’t think he was the manager.
Then the last guy came. Forget his name too. He cut the deal all the way down to ~ $9k USD, I had to pay ~ $3,800 USD that day at the presentation on visa or master card and I got a “free” week vacation, the referral program, some other perks, 10 rounds of golf.
That was a great deal. Mainly because the golf here is overpriced at ~ $300 USD/round. So the 10 rounds them self were worth ~ $3000k USD. But my goal was to say no and I did.
It was a good tactic but the guy scoffed at me and looked at me like I was an idiot and it did make me feel like one. He walked me to the elevator, gave me a resort credit for $100 USD (which you get for watching the presentation), and conceitedly told me to have a nice rest of my vacation.
It was a roller coaster.
If you are looking for an emotionally uncomfortable, potentially financially consequential, deeply reflective almost spiritual experience I would recommend it 10/10.
If you have trouble saying no, I’d avoid it if you can.
Going to meet my family for lunch at the buffet now.
Have a great day.