Local timeshare developer Pacific Monarch Resorts of Laguna Hills has broken ground on a $69 million, 431-unit timeshare resort in Cabo del San Jose, Mexico, and has received approval from Clark County, Nev., officials for an additional 400 units at Cancun Caribe, an eight-phase development three miles from the Strip in Las Vegas.
Grading is under way at the Cabo site and construction is slated to begin later this month with an expected completion date of June 2002.
The Mexican resort, dubbed Cabo Azul, sits on 11.5 acres of oceanfront property and calls for seven buildings surrounding a central courtyard and three cascading swimming pools.
Todd Voelker, principal of Rancho Santa Margarita-based T.S. Voelker Architecture, a specialist in hospitality design and theme development and the designer of both projects, said the pools will be one focal point of the Cabo resort.
“You can do more with the pools in Mex-ico,” Voelker said. “The building codes are more flexible.”
Voelker said the pools will include a swim-up bar and an area where guests can pull their chairs into shallow water.
The resort, within walking distance of historic Cabo del San Jose, will also feature an open-air lobby, formal and informal gardens, a day spa, an athletic center and an owner’s lounge. Voelker said about 90% of the units will have an ocean view.
According to research by Indianapolis-based RCI Consulting, the timeshare research and consulting arm of Resort Condominiums International LLC, there are about two dozen timeshare projects in the Los Cabos area. But Voelker said the Cabo Azul Resort is one of only a few such projects at Cabo del San Jose, with the majority in Cabo San Lucas.
Meanwhile, the first 200-unit phase at Cancun Resort in Las Vegas were sold out before construction was complete. The development, which caters to the family market, is now expected to total 917 units, up from an originally planned 550, on a 16.8-acre site. In addition to the three four-story buildings built in phase one, the project will include four nine-story buildings and a 10-story building when complete.
The project is estimated to have a price tag of about $120 million, up from $80 million projected for the earlier version.
The Las Vegas units range from 700 square feet to 1,690 square feet in one- and two-bedroom configurations that include full kitchens, whirlpool baths and family entertainment centers with a large-screen TVs and VCRs.
The resort is built around a Mayan theme with a mini-pyramid the focal point of the common areas. The Yucatan theme was the result of a desire to create a desert oasis without using a more common Caribbean them used at other resorts.
Sales response to the first phase reportedly exceeded expectations, with about 30% of those attending sales presentations purchasing units versus a more typical buyer response of about 10%.
Jim Beckham, vice president of RCI Consulting in the Las Vegas office, said that the historical norm of purchases among prospects who attend presentations emphasizing timeshares as an opportunity for mini-vacations is 10% to 17%, while those who are solicited from off-premises locations (such as casinos or hotels) and decide to attend a presentation on the spur-of-the-moment typically have a 6% to 9% sales return.
“The only group that consistently performs over 20% to 25% is referrals and current owners,” Beckham said, referring to marketing programs geared to get owners to buy additional time or refer their friends to the program. He said Las Vegas projects tend to have a higher sales rate than those in other areas of the West. RCI industry research on the timeshare market indicates Nevada is one of the most active states for timeshare sales.
Pacific Monarch has for the past couple of years focused its marketing on the company’s vacation club, Monarch Grand Vacations, which is geared to the mini-vacation concept and allows owners flexibility in time exchanges with other properties
The 15-year-old Pacific Monarch is one of Orange County’s early timeshare developers. It owns the 106-unit Riviera Beach and Spa and 37-unit Riviera Shores Resort in Capistrano Beach, the Riviera Oaks Resort & Racquet Club near Ramona, and Palm Canyon Resort and Spa in Palm Springs. The company, which has about $90 million in annual revenue, is also planning to expand to Hawaii. Pacific Monarch has four sales offices and more than 1,000 employees, 200 of them in Orange County. n
