Club Mahindra Membership is my biggest Financial Mistake

By
Hemant Beniwal
639

Upfront I am accepting that buying Club Mahindra Membership was my biggest financial mistake. Readers may be thinking “biggest is a comparative word – that means there must be few more”. 🙂 Yes, Why not. I am also a human and allowed to make some mistakes. Each day one takes 4-5 financial decisions and if not more, there is a fair chance that few of them will prove to be wrong. Sometimes money involved can be small for eg going for a newly released movie. If your family likes the movie – then fine. But what if the opposite happens? (If the decision was wrong – cost Rs 1500-2000 if tickets bought in Royale or Rs 500-1000 if bought tickets for Executive class and additional loss of Rs 200-300 if buying Pepsi or eatables – even choosing large or small Pepsi is a financial decision – impact Rs 100 on the budget)

Let me also share that one decision which is a blunder for one person can be a small mistake for other & for the third person it may also prove to be right – again financial planner’s favorite line “it depends on person to person”. So why I am saying Club Mahindra Membership is MY biggest mistake (in short) – because:

  • Amount & time involved is huge.
  • It doesn’t suit my type of person, who doesn’t want to sit & enjoy – I want to explore the places in & around the city that I am visiting.
  • It was mis-sold – lots of things were hidden & misrepresented.
  • I am frugal when it comes to food on a trip & they charge me bomb for that
  • There is a big difference between what Club Mahindra promises, what people expect & what they deliver.
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Club Mahindra Holidays Membership Features

If you want to know about membership features, check their website…..

Club Mahindra Membership Fees

Before looking at the Club Mahindra Holidays Membership Fees we have to understand – criteria on what this fee is based on.

First is a type of Rooms

  • Studio Apartment – is a room for 3 adults or 2 adults & 2 kids.
  • 1 Bed Room (BR) – room for 4 adults
  • 2 BR – room for 6 adults

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Second is Type of Seasons

Club Mahindra has divided 52 weeks into 4 Seasons/Colors.  (Check Season chart here)

  • Purple:  This is a period like New Year, summer holidays, or Diwali holidays.
  • Red: Its second-best category which covers all major long holidays & peak season for a particular location.
  • White: Normal Season
  • Blue: It’s offseason
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Membership is also divided into these categories where you can utilize holidays in your season or lower. So Purple Members can have holidays in any season but white can only go for White & Blue. A holiday in a higher season is also possible but there are limitations like bookings can only be made 15 days in advance & you can jump only one season so White can think of going in red but not in purple.

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Club Mahindra Membership Fees (2017 – 2018)

Club Mahindra Membership Fees 2017 2018

Price

 

Just to share a lot of existing members are willing to sell their membership at 30-40% discounts.

Club Mahindra Membership Annual Subscription Fees (ASF)

Club Mahindra Claims their membership is Inflation Free but other than one-time fees members have to pay Club Mahindra membership annual subscription fees (irrespective of usage), depending on the type of room they own. They charge ASF on the type of rooms so Studio will pay the lowest ASF & 2 Bed Room will pay the highest. But at the time of booking you can choose any room so I am having Studio but can book 2 BR & pay 50% less ASF. (You people will be feeling pity about me & I am feeling same for people who have bought 1 BR & 2 BR) This fee is not fixed – it increases every year according to urban inflation numbers.

ASF Charges in 2011-2012 (in bracket 2010-2011) – including service tax

  • Studio Rs 9,681 (Rs 8,994)
  • 1 BR Rs 13,593 (Rs 12,629)
  • 2 BR Rs 19,069 (Rs 17,717)

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Club Mahindra Membership Cancellation Policy

They have a very transparent membership cancellation policy that there is 10 days free-look period – where the whole amount can be refunded but I was not allowed to use that. After 10 days you can cancel the membership but there will be no refund – sounds similar to our favorite endowment plans. But after that, if you want you can sell your membership in the open market – but there are no buyers. Check sites like Quikr or Olx and you will find a lot of sellers but no buyers.

In the last financial year, there were 4000 membership cancellations – I assume that as they don’t have a proper cancellation policy, these are the people who have not paid Annual Subscription Fees (ASF) & their membership was automatically canceled.

44% of members are not utilizing their holidays

Club Mahindra Holidays can advertise “Happy Families” but the truth is 44% of members are not availing their holidays. Why?

The First & biggest reason is there is a gap between the number of members & inventory (number of units) available in the resorts.  They proudly say that their membership is increased by 26% Compounded annualized growth rate but their Inventory was not able to keep pace & just grown by 22%. The gap was 9% in 2005, which has now grown to 26%.  (You can check the below table – Club Mahindra Members Vs Inventory)

club mahindra members vs inventory

Second, Club Mahindra gives resorts on rental to nonmembers, even in the peak season. So members compete with nonmembers. Their annual report show earning of Rs 15 Cr from rental they have received from nonmembers. If I assume Rs 4000 per night room rent – it turns to 3% of the total available inventory.

Third, when there is a big gap in available inventory & some competition from nonmembers; few people will definitely be disappointed because they will not get what they desire. Club Mahindra expects that people should plan their holidays 6 months in advance – I think I can do it but it’s not possible for people who are in jobs. Their annual report shows that occupancy was at 77% & if we adjust even 2% that was utilized by nonmembers so member occupancy is at 75%. If we compare that with the number of members, it turns out to be 44%. (check below graph – Club Mahindra Yearly Membership Unutilised)

club mahindra membership unutilised

I don’t think I again have to tell you that Club Mahindra charges Annual Subscription Fees (ASF) irrespective of you go on holidays or not. In addition, they don’t allow members to accumulate more than 3 years (21 days) holidays. If members don’t pay ASF, their membership will seize.

My Story 

I am passionate about traveling – I bought Club Mahindra Red Studio in Feb 2008. Just after my sister’s marriage, we were having some cash in our account & coincidentally we were also planning to buy LCD TV. Then came THE SUNDAY & I saw an advertisement in a local newspaper, where Club Mahindra also shared about FREE Sony Bravia TV. My mind stopped working something similar to when people see emotional ads of child plans. I called up the number & the executive reached my doorstep in 2 hours. In the next 5 days, we finished all formalities & were part of Club Mahindra roller coaster rides.

There is a lot of bitter experience with Club Mahindra – starting from purchasing to doing bookings to services in resorts to checkouts but I must appreciate they have good properties.

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My Mistakes – from which you should learn

They say “Learning from your mistakes is smart, learning from the mistakes of others is wise.” But learning from own mistake is really expensive….

I have not analyzed my requirement: I am passionate about traveling but they have resorts at limited locations. When I go to someplace I try to explore other good places which are close to that city – I don’t like sitting on the poolside throughout the day. 31st Dec 2010 I visited Jim Corbett – I had bookings for 4 nights. You won’t believe we spent very little time in the resort – we were more interested in visiting Nainital & Ranikhet. Even we spent one night in some other hotel because we thought rather than going back to resort to sleep let’s directly go from Nanital to Ranikhet. 🙁

I have not researched the product before buying: I have not researched the product & matching it with my requirement. I believed in brand Mahindra, the limited information that was shared by the executive & my gut feeling. After buying the product I started searching about how existing members feel about it & I was shocked.  But that was too late.

I agreed for the things that were not documented – I was interested in Red Studio because that was most flexible in usage as I can go in Red, White, or Blue & even purple if there is some chance in the last 15 days (purple weeks were not available at that time for purchase). I can choose any type of room & that too with lower ASF.

But the executive said FREE TV is only available with 1 BR so first you buy White 1 BR & we can later convert it in Red Studio. It took me 7 months in conversion & that too after a lot of threatening calls & what not.

There are a lot more things to share about Club Mahindra Membership but I will try to share that in the comment section. If you are a member of any such time-share resort or planning to buy one or approached by someone, please share your views in the comment section.

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639 COMMENTS

    • I do not agree with most of the views below. Hemant is feeling that taking a Club Mahindra membership is his mistake because his requirement is slightly different from the Club Mahindra offering.

      I have visited Goa, Coorg, Ooty and Yercaud resorts of Club Mahindra and the experience has been very good and I feel that it is not just ‘Value for Money’ but infact ‘Significantly More Value For Money’

      Following explanation would clarify the same-

      1. Lets begin with What you pay Vs What you get?

      Let say a member takes a white studio apartment, he will have to pay Rs. 2.61 L as one time membership fee (full down payment with 5% discount, as per 2011-12 fees) and approx Rs. 10k as ASF in 1st year.
      For calculation purposes, I am taking following assumptions-
      a. An interest rate of 10% per year (if the money was invested) and also assuming that ASF goes up by 10% every year.
      b. A worst case scenario that the holiday is availed only at the end of every year. So that the interest is calculated on the amount for the full year.
      c. Studio apartment rent per night as of now is Rs. 8000 for a non member booking. Assuming that the room rent also increase by 10% per year.

      In the above case, interest in 1st year on the one time fees at 10% will be Rs. 26125/-. Member will pay an ASF of Rs. 10000/- (actual is slightly lesser). And at Rs. 8k per night he will avail benefits worth Rs. 56000/-. So at the end of the year, the value of the members payment that is balance with Club Mahindra is Rs. 2.41L. (261252+26125+10000-56000) Interest on this in 2nd year will be Rs. 24138/-, ASF will go to Rs. 11000/- and Cost of holiday will be Rs. 61600/-. So net balance value will be Rs. 2.15L. By this calculation the member will break even in 7 years. After that he will not spend but save every time he goes for a Club Mahindra holiday. In 8th year he will pay ASF of Rs. 19487 and avail a holiday of Rs. 1.09L, a saving of almost Rs. 90k. And this saving will go on increasing and in the 25th year he will save more than Rs. 4.5L.

      Year Value Holiday
      of your Utilization
      Payment Interest ASF Net Balance to be recovered
      1 261252 26125 10000 56000 241377
      2 241377 24138 11000 61600 214915
      3 214915 21491 12100 67760 180746
      4 180746 18075 13310 74536 137595
      5 137595 13760 14641 81990 84006
      6 84006 8401 16105 90189 18323
      7 18323 1832 17716 99207 -61336

      2. Availability was an issue earlier due to lack of transparency. But now the availability status is very transparent and the member can check the available inventory on the portal. No need to plan months in advance. I have done booking even 2-3 weeks before my travel dates and got the same. I think that people will anyways plan atleast that much in advance to get the best deals on airfare or confirm rail/road bookings.
      According to Hemant occupancy has been at 75% which means 25% of the inventory is currently going unutilized. So the point of gap between members and inventory does not hold valid. What can happen is that there could be many members applying for the same dates (eg – during vacations or extended weekends) and hence there is a scarcity at that time. But this situation is similar to watching a movie at a theatre on Saturday evening. People would come in thousands but the theatre capacity is only for a few hundred.
      Recently Club Mahindra has also started good last minute deals. For booking a room that is available in the next 15 days, the member gets a voucher worth Rs. 750/- per night of stay at the resort. I think this is a boon to those who cannot plan in advance.

      3. I also thought like most of the people earlier, trying to cover maximum spots during a holiday and coming to the hotel only to sleep and freshen up. But an experience with Club Mahindra has changed my definition of a holiday completely. Everybody agrees that Club Mahindra properties are excellent. There is no second opinion about it. So, while I plan my holiday I not only devote time for site seeing, but also plan in such a way that I am able to spend a good amount of time at the resort as well. As the resorts have a host of activities for the entire family right from – indoor and outdoor games, adventure activities, dance, crafts and painting classes, salad decoration, library, pottery and the list goes on. In the evening there are cultural programs, karaoke, group games, magic show etc wherein you can enjoy not only with your family but also get an opportunity to come together with other guests staying at the resort. Most of these activities are complementary and even the chargeable ones come at a nominal cost. Infact there is so much at the resort that you will hardly get time to sit lazing around the pool, until and unless that is what you want.

      4. Food is expensive as compared to ordinary hotels but economical as compared to 5 star hotels of similar standards. They also offer 25% discount on food (a –la-carte) to members. The rooms at most of their resorts are equipped with a kitchenette and resorts also have a general store where you can buy ‘Heat and Eat’ or ‘Ready to Eat’ packaged meals or noodles, bread etc to make your own breakfast. All this is sold at MRP, no premium charged on the same. Beacause of the kitchenette facility, you end up saving a huge amount on your food bills, which you would incur if staying at any other hotel or resort.
      My parents don’t like outside food much and while travelling alongwith them this kitchenette comes as a boon as they really enjoy the taste of fresh food the way it is prepared at home.

      5. The biggest advantage while holidaying with Club Mahindra that I have experienced is ‘Baby-care.’ Those who have small children will know how painful can the experience be when travelling with them. Most of the time goes in worrying about them- their food, their mood, whether they will stay properly, hoping that they don’t get bored, and as a result we can never enjoy the holiday and sometimes even feel it would have been a better idea to stay at home itself.
      Club Mahindra not only has the ‘Infant –friendly’ attitude but they are fully equipped to deliver on the same. To give you a small example – At home we always ensure that we give milk, in a properly washed and sterilized bottle to our daughter. What happens when we go outside? We can at best rinse the bottle and not even wash it properly. Then order milk from room service and give to the baby. But during our last trip to Club Mahindra, Ooty in Feb 2012, we could wash the bottle properly in the kitchenette. The resort provided us with a bottle sterilizer (something that I have not seen at any other hotel/resort and had not even imagined that some hotel could have the same for its guests). I called room service to order 2 cups of milk and was surprised when the person asked me for whom is it? The delivery boy came with the milk and sugar sachets and when I asked him for the bill to sign, he smiled and said ‘Milk for the baby is complementary’. That’s when I understood why the person had asked me for whom was I ordering the milk. Apart from the bottle sterilizer, there was a list of other equipments, kept in the room which mentioned all things that were provided by the resort for a baby like – milk warmer, baby bed, mosquito net etc and all this without any charges.
      Club Mahindra again proved itself when it came to ‘Baby-food.’ We had not started giving our daughter regular food at that time. We were giving her only non spicy and easy to digest food. Club Mahindra provided us with a special ‘Baby-khichdi’ and every time the small portion that would be required for an infant was prepared fresh and served hot. My daughter loved the taste very much. Like the milk and the baby equipment, this was also complementary.
      The Ooty resort also has nice play areas for kids both outdoor and indoor. The outdoor play area has the usual slides and swings and the indoor one is equipped with lots of educational games, soft toys, mini swings and slides and a cushioned maze in which the children can crawl and play. My daughter enjoyed immensely over here and my wife and I would always have a hard time taking her away from there.
      These are in now way small things for parents with small children, but inspite of the willingness to pay any price for it we are not able to get these elsewhere, while travelling. But at Club Mahindra all our apprehensions about travelling with our small daughter were put to rest. We can now travel to any Club Mahindra resort and be assured that we do not have to worry about our 2 year old daughter. I am travelling to Munnar and Ashtamudi next month and desperately awaiting the Club Mahindra holiday with my family.

      6. No. of resorts including associate and special arrangements are now about 35 and this number is growing. Sufficient enough to last for 25 years of membership without having to visit the same resort a second time. Above this there is an access to 4000+ RCI resorts across the world.

      7. The flexibility is another advantage. A member does not need to book for 7 nights at a stretch. He can break it in 2-3 small holidays. If 7 nights are not utilized they can be carried forward to the next year. I had previously accumulated inventory left and so have been able to book 4 resorts this year.
      There is flexibility even in the apartment size. I have a White Studio membership, so I can book a studio when travelling with only my wife and daughter and can book a 1 BR apt when my Parents/ In-laws/ Relatives/Friends are accompanying us. Moreover the holiday can also be gifted to someone. The members guests can avail the holiday even if the member is not accompanying them. What better gift for your Brother/Sister/Cousin/Friend who is getting married, than a honeymoon at a Club Mahindra resort.

      Limitations-
      1. Have to stick to only Club Mahindra destinations – Resorts are there at most of the tourist spots but not at all the spots. So, if you want to go to a destination where Club Mahindra is not present, you have to book some other resort by paying a huge amount and at the same time your Club Mahindra nights could get lapsed if your accumulated inventory goes beyond 21 nights.
      2. A non member can book any of the hundreds of hotels/resorts that are there at the holiday destination of his choice. So even if he does not get the hotel/resort of his choice he can go to that destination by booking another hotel for the same dates. But for a Club Mahindra member, if the resort at that destination is booked for the desired dates, then that destination is ruled out for those dates. He either needs to change his destination or the travel dates.

      • When you calculate the Interest amount on White membership, calculate the rate per night in White season. Rs.8000 per night is in peak season and the same room in off season you get for Rs.4000/- or Rs.5000/-.

        And after 25 years your amount that you have invested is become a BIG ZERO “0”

        But when you have put it in interest after 25 years you still have that Rs.2.6L that you had put it in FD.

        My friend made an online booking in club mahindra and got room for 5k in peak season since they were not full..

        And you are traveling only in their resort since you have bought their membership, but if you have the amount in bank FD you can travel in different resorts, you dont have to be stuck in club mahindra.

        And if you go to any standard resort, you would get all better facilities like sterilizer etc etc.. and gifting holidays… These days you get wonderful offers for abroad trip that works out cheaper than India trip sometimes.. So gift your relatives Abroad trip rather than just gifting rooms to their honeymoon stay or whatever.. Give them a paid holiday to Thailand or Malaysia and Genting..!! Which is better now u say, just gifting room or a abroad holiday package?? and RCI.. You can actually call RCI and become a RCI member and pay the nominal fees and holiday in any affiliated hotel.. it works out to be the same.

        • 1. In white season a Club Mahindra apartment is available anywhere between Rs. 5k to Rs. 10k (including taxes) depending on the resort, for a non member booking. Hence for calculation purpose I have taken an averge of Rs. 8k.
          2. By investing 2.6 L in FD and holidaying on the interest amount is practically not possible at a Club Mahindra or equivalent resort. Even if a 10% interest rate is assumed, that FD will give an interest of 26k pa. I dont think one can get a 5 Star resort room for 1 week even at current rates. Also every year the interest from FD will be fixed (26k if at 10%) but due to inflation, the room rents will go up every year. So one will have to pay over and above the interest earned from FD and over a period of 25 years that will be significantly higher than the invested 2.6 L.
          3. As far as gifting is concerned, it is just common sense that one can also gift air tickets alongwith a Club M holiday booking.
          4. The International holiday packages that are cheaper than India trips are part of group travels in 2 star hotels. No way can they be compared to the luxury, privacy and comfort of a Club M holiday.
          I dont have memories of any of the hotels that I have stayed at during my holidays before hoildaying with Club M, but now more than 70% of my memories (as well as the photos taken during holiday) are of the resort and just 30% of the destination.
          If you have not holidayed with Club M, I would strongly recommend that you go once to any of their resorts. You will realize what you have been missing in your holidays till now.

          • Sales Pitch
            I wish you had altered your text before pasting but after working in Marketing for 15 years I can recognise a sales pitch and can call it out.

            One thing for sure, I’m not buying Club Mahindra but calling RCI and becoming their member!!

            • You won’t get the RCI membership directly…
              You need to have an Indian vocation ownership if you are a Indian citizenship.. don’t post such non sense if you don’t know the product..
              You can take the RCI membership in particular limited countries but you need to have passport of which country you are residing..
              I stayed lotzz of RCI properties through club mahindra membership.
              Itzz double worth
              Stayed Manhattan’s resorts near to Washington DC..it’s worth to take the club mahindra membership…
              Per night cost of the property is nealy 55,0000/-
              I stayed 7 night 2 BR Apartments itzz amazing holidays.
              Now clubmahindra take over Europe’s largest resort company holiday club.. total 31 resorts newly added in Europe itself..total 77 now can you tell me how many companies having these no RESORTS..
              Club mahindra coorg both Virajpet, Madikeri, Pondicheany, Goa Varcca , Munnar, Poovar, Ashtamudi,. Cherai,. Kanha, Hadgad Amazing and Rajasthan new property in Jaipur amazing…
              My experience with clubmahindra resorts are amazing and baby care of these resorts are appreciated…

          • Not all resorts are great, leave being 5 star. Club Mahindra sales team does a lot of mis-selling, that is a fact; they just try to trap innocent customers.
            The resorts are good, but you don’t get a reservation when you want… so whats the point!?! They want us to plan ahead of 6 months (now reduced to 4 months)… but in todays’ fast paced life, you can’t plan so much in advance, even railway/airlines tickets don’t open up that advance.

            • Well pointed out friends. There are a few more aspects that I desire to point out in addition to the valuable contribution made by all the intelligent readers of the lovely article that has been painstakingly and honestly drafted after thorough analysis by Mr. Hemant Beniwal.

              1. The Mahindras are laughing their way to the bank. For one, Mahindras are utilizing the funds received from customers like you and me, for acquiring/building newer properties without borrowing at higher rates from the open market-place. This makes them debt-free from day-one, and also eliminates any kind of risk associated with mortgages that expensive bank-finance are accompanied with. Moreover, this money is shown as “revenues earned”, and thus reflects as sales in the P/L Account. Wonderful feeling for a business-man, where they are able to see sales revenues being moved forward to the Balance Sheet – Assets side, without adding up any kind of mortgage ! WOW !!! Ask a seasoned business-person and he would tell you what I mean.

              2. Since Mahindras have already got “advance revenues” for services that they would be providing in the near (or far, may I say) future, they are in better control of the situation. For example, while planning for a vacation for a customer like you, Mahindras would never tell you “how many customers would you be COMPETING with to get the desired accommodation”. It is similar to the on-line booking of Railway’s IRCTC. the number of passengers are not known to us, but we know for a fact that within minutes the bookings are done with especially in the vacation season. In short, Mahindras will never give you a benchmark on the total rooms, that would be maintained per customer. Are they increasing the number of hotel rooms “in proportion” to the newer set of customers acquired by them? Think about it ..

              3. In a place like India, where customers are short-changed, and legal recourse is tardy (to say the least), most of us have already experienced of being taken for a ride numerous times in our lifetime. (Remember your nearest mobile services salesman in whose hands you have been shortchanged? Or the bank? Or with Credit Card services). Once money exchanges hands, in a place like India, we are left at the mercy of of the Principal for offering us service. Now let us understand this. The time-share concept of Mahindra seeks us to invest upfront for a fairly long period of time, like 32/25 years. Therefore, we are required to bear up with Mahindras for that long a period, whether they give service to us or not. And if we do not get graded services, what recourse do we have in case the services fall below expectations? Too long a period, too much upfront money involved, services to be rendered over a very long period of time (33/25 years), little recourse to customer complaints/consumer court, no residual value !! What’s happening friends ?

              Comments, please ..

              • very well written Rajesh.
                And highly informative link on the gadbad ghotala going on at Club Mahindra. I have already attended one of their sessions around 2 years, and was sure that something is fishy…going by the overselling these guys do. I am saved, but my sister-in-laws family is trapped with them.

          • instead of buying club mahindra membership or keeping your funds in FD go for Club mahindra shares. In 5 lakh you could have got 2000 shares and club mahindra gave a dividend of 4/share plus shares got appreciated by 20% (now it is 300). total earning of 8000 + 100000. You can use this money to go to the resort of club mahindra which will inturn help your company sales grow and you get the same level of holiday. Plus this is lifetime so till the time you hold the share, you are the owner of the company.

            Shares can go down in future but that risk is their on the first day as soon as you take the membership.

        • Very nice from “Common sense” ! Club Mahindra Membership is useless, I also had that and I threw that on their face.

      • Club Mahindra is just to trap the people with false promises and advertisement.
        You pay in advance to slog and run behind them like beggars to get the holiday. Most of the people do not get the holidays they want. Pathetic service and complete non cooperation. They do simply do not understand customers.

        Never buy this product. Simple

        Simple calculation.
        Anywhere in India you get room for Rs. 5000/- per day for 3 Star to 5 Star hotels. Enjoy full freedom to chose from thousands of hotels.

        Now you have below kitty every year to spend on accommodation
        2.6 lakh /25 years = 10,000
        Maintenance charges = 10000
        Interest on 2.6 lakh = 2600

        Total 22600

        Enjoy 5 days in a year without any restriction and with full freedom.

        Never go for Club Mahindra

      • We can get some club mahindra booking at 2000 only , there is no need of this headache. If you dont truct try this number 09545454565 / 08237230804 there are some advertisement we can google for the same.

      • Amit i havr visited their yercaud resort. Its utter nonsense just a trampoline for activities. You call this as experience. I am also a member. They are cheating members by taking resorts like yercaud which are just useless and its not owned by club mahinfra either.

      • But your first few lines require just one comment from me. With Club Mahindra, you are blocked to that 8000 rupees studio, which is out of city, food is expensive, and you can get better options in that price range.
        Check out their Shimla/Mashobra resort. Is it in city? You want to visit Shimla. You would hire a cab everyday? You take their Gangtok property. Its really out of city. Food is so expensive. You would take a cab to travel to Gangtok everyday? Or would you prefer staying in Mayfair in Gangtok? Highly rated and really comfortable, etc. So 7 nights stay is under 40K. But you are free to choose wherever you want to stay, without worrying about ASF, or Utitilizing your holidays. Bla bla.
        Club Mahindra is the shittiest thing I have ever invested in. Just because of references I had to, otherwise, I wouldnt pay a penny for this junk.

      • Just invest that 2.50 lakh in a mutual fund managed by a efficient fund manager.. you will make 20% compounded for next 5 years .. and enjoy your holidays at your terms at your resorts and also you don’t pay for the super expensive food.

      • I do not agree with Amit for following reasons:

        1. In case of Club Mahindra you have to book at least 4 months in advance or you will not get any booking. Many times you cannot plan so much in advance.
        2. In case you have spent 3.5 lac for membership and are also paying +14K per year, you are practically paying about 5-6K per day for the holiday for which in case you do not plan 4 months in advance you do not get booking.
        3. Recently in end of April, we went to Mahableshwar Club Mahindra for our first holiday and in the room the chair and sofa were so dirty that you will probably find better chair and sofa in any Government hotel I posted these comments in feedback and no one has even bothered to contact me.
        4. In any 5 start hotel you will get free wifi but in Mahableshwar wifi was only available in lobby and that also at very low speed.
        5. Moreover when one plans a holiday, it is generally at short notice of 15 days to 1 month. In such short notice you cannot plan for Club Mahindra and you will end up spending in hotels outside.

        I have wasted my money and would suggest no one else should do so.

      • There are some flaws in the logic presented.
        You would need close to c.10Lacs today to enjoy the vacations (7 days a year) for the nest 25 years assuming 5% inflation and 7% fd rate.

        The amount you end up paying them in 25 years will be much more. Nearly 40-44% of that will be due to ASF, with inflation of course. So you will definitely end up loosing money. But of course this does not take into account the intangible benefit which may vary as per individual.

    • Hemant is bang on about club mahindra. i also had a 1br white season since 2008 and this season is next to useless, i was pursuaded to graduate to studio red . so i booked for Shimla in peak season ie may and when i reached there, I got a peep into their arrival sheet lying at the reception and guess what ? 70 % of them were white season holders !! So how did they get in peak season in Shimla when i was refused with white membership ?

      simple , they will say booking is full even if you are entitled to the season and then sell your rooms to travel agents who will give any white membership no and everyone makes merry and you are sitting at home with your red season card in front of you !

      When i called up to complain they said ” yes sir we are looking into it and get back to you “!!!

      When they call you for upgradation to purple the sales guy says ” sir I will get you any daate anywhere including the december -new year holiday period ” !!

      this is how they fool you. I have aalso been trying to sell my red studio membership with 21 days balance also but no takers as eveeryone has wised up !!

    • I am a member of club mahindra from 2014.
      It is very painfull to associate with club mahindra. I think i made a big mistakje of my life by joining club mahindra.
      I tried frequently for holiday booking in my past 3 years but i did not get booking. Investing in club mahindra is waste of money.
      It is very unfortunate for us and it is a return from club mahindra as we believe on it.
      It is very paithetic and i amvery upset with club mahindra. I am seriously thinking of selling my club mahindra membership or not to continue asociation with club mahindra. Also i will suggest other peoples not to join club mahindra.

    • Indeed, a very nice article. Most of the points are the reflection of our thoughts. We had mixed experiences with Club Mahindra. We thoroughly enjoyed the stay at some of the resorts, like, Munnar Lakeview resort, Goa Varca beach, Kumbhalgarh Fort resort. And we also had some bad and bitter experiences.

      We have taken the membership as we like travelling a lot and with an intent to commit ourselves to go on vacation at least once an year. We in fact had some most memorable moments at some of the club Mahindra resorts.

      However, we now want to sell our membership due to certain personal reasons.

      Ours is Purple Studio, taken in 2009, valid till 2034. 20 holidays are there unused.

      Please contact me if anyone is interested.

  2. Dear Hemant,

    Very well written article and good points indeed.
    Many of my friends have opted for this, I was sure I wouldn’t need this, but since so many are into it, I thought if I was wrong in not going for it but your article makes me feel good that my decision was right.

    May be out of context: there are a few things that these businesses try to lure customers through, which I just don’t like, one of which is:
    They pick up mail-ids and phone numbers from Raffle coupons in mall’s etc, and make bogus calls: “..Sir, you are the winner of so and so, through the Raffle draw..” If you end up believing in the caller, you will be asked to attend a session for 2hrs after which you are promised your prize. This session is about their properties, benefits of membership etc at the end you are forced like hell to swipe your card and therez not much prize which was mentioned in the phone call.

    Regards,
    Harsha.

    • Hi Harsha,
      Peer pressure plays a big role in purchase & most of the time it leads to mistakes. Tupperware is a big Multilevel Marketing company & their sales strategy revolves around social gathering or kitty parties 🙂
      Warren Buffett said “A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.”

      • Ya, it reminds me of AMWAY. not only social gatherings but also with a loud Prayers.seems like amways’ are religious base company digging wealth from deep inside safety pockets with their slogan PRAISE THE LORD and finally disapeared when their loot is over with a silent bye bye prayer hehe….

    • I had also visited on 2 similar occasions the country vacation on call mentioning that my no. was selected among the lot. when they are not able to even offer a coffee for the couple how they can give gifts and voucher. the moment you are stepping back they will just hand over a roadside gift which is not equivalent to your drive and time spent with them.

  4. I totally agree that Club Mahindra is biggest cheat. Don’t expect anything from them as they will only ask for more and more money.We bought their membership in Oct 2008 and cancelled it in March. We were not informed about their look up time of 10 Days and their documents came after around 20 days or so.
    They are biggest cheat .We cancelled the membership and didn’t get any refund. They didn’t cancelled the membership and kept persuading us to continue.They finally got our approval that we will continue the membership in March 2012 as I remember.The person committed that he will be providing us holiday before our ecs starts but nothing such happened and we ended up paying around 20K again.

    Please please don’t ever do this mistake to buy their membership.
    They are big fraud. I talked to talk and get this resolved even with higher management but it’s all waste.

    It has become a nightmare for me as so much money around 73k ,I have wasted and you feel foolish being cheated by such big company.

    Please let me know if someone has ever got refund from them.If yes How

    • Hi Asmita,
      You will be shocked to know – for them 10 days is from clearance of cheque rather than document dispatch or received. They don’t have anyone who is interested in listening to you. Let me share – the last mail that I market them but even that was not replied.
      #############
      Dear ABC,

      I must remind you that my matter of membership upgradation case is 7 Months old(May be its just 7 mths for u but I believe to solve this its a very long period)

      In this period other then email reminders, I called you & your office more than 15 times. I also personally visited your branch thrice. I never heard any concrete answer but only filthy excuses. It only wasted my time & money.

      Last time when I visited your office on 8th Aug, you told me this will be done in 2 days.(But I don’t know which 2 days)
      You told me to deposit differential amount & I believe I deposited it without any hitch.
      SBI Bank CHQ No.000000 Rs 2530(23-07-2008) &
      CITI Bank Card Ref. No. 00000 Rs 2530(08-08-08)
      I don’t know why you took this amount twice.(Rs 2530)

      Whenever I called your office they told me “sir aapka kam to ho gaya hoga, letter aane wala hoga” You never followed the matter.

      I know you are not going to solve this matter. This is just to inform you that if this is not done before 10th Oct 2008.
      I am not having any choice but to take help from Consumer court. I know this is not going to make any difference to you bcoz I am not the only one who is in pain. But certainly I will be satisfied.

      Club Mahindra: The Happiest Family Holidays(What a Joke). I never expected this from Mahindra Group.

      • Country Club…what a Crap..generally I dont blog or comment in the internet but this is rediculous to have someone compare Mahindra and then sell Country Club as a substitute. They are the biggest cheats around when mis selling.

        To regards to Mahindra, its purely a choice one as a to make while investing in his vacation. Today I can safely say that its the best India can offer in terms of Holiday membership. If someone doesnt like it, well it justifies the reasons.

        I am a business men and very calculative when it comes to investing money. Kindly first thing dont compare investing into holiday to a FD it doesnt compare. If thats the way it is, then I can invest the in Stocks and become a millionare.

        Regards to me i have been a member since 2005 then they had only 9 resorts.Now they count 40+. I have utilized around 40 days of holidays. The major factor to buy was “meets your expectation” in terms of the facility, rooms, space and other items when one looks while travelling with family. Now one can argue we could travel by booking on need basis. Can someone try booking online, you would be suprised 50% times you are dissatisfied with value of money when you actually reach the place. Out of the 10 resorts we have visited they have deviated only once to our expectation (3 star to 5 star). Therefore what I see is convinence and hassle free traveling with my kids and family. If you are a person who travels and wants to see places suggest to self plan and dont waste your money on Mahindra.

        Lets check a hypothesis, suppose Maindra adds in 6 years another 20 resorts and then calculate the value you pay today, you might be suprised like I did. I dont look at this as a FD versus Investing in Mahindra. You need to find your own value (other than money) to buy Mahindra. Otherwise please dont invest if you dont know what you are getting into. I have already break even with quality family time I am able to have without worrying what I need to do for booking similar places.

        • Another loyal Mahindra employee boasting and vouching for his company…furious to see compitetor’s name getting praised by someone!! :D:D

          My thoughts: Mahindra or Country Vacations: all are same.

        • All the time there is no availability what is the use of this member ship…?

          You pay ASF , all amount you see your holiday gets lapsed what are the options left for you ..? Its a complete un ethical company ,

    • lets try to join together atleast 20 to 25 members to fight for this corruption. I sure we can bring this to the notice of media engage couple of guys to publish in every forums if they dont give back our money. i’d strongly suggest pl create a common mail id or a excelsheet where every one can share their suggestions and we’ll try one by one.

  5. A very good and informative post. Actually I was also attracted by the presentations and the freebies given by Club Mahindra. But later within 2 days I realized , that I cant plan my holidays on conditions & availability of hotel rooms . I like to experiment with my holidays, and plan it myself with lots of research. So I decided to withdraw my membership within 48 hrs. Thank God , I got my refund.

    • Pratik you are Lucky guy 🙂
      You won’t believe even I realised this is a mistake in first 5 days – I also took the letter in writing that if I will not be satisfied they will refund my money. But I was having no clue about such a deaf organisation. 🙁

    • Hi Pratik

      I bought the membership yesterday…but after reading this blog, even I would want to withdraw my membership. Could you please guide me on how did you withdrew the membership and got the money refunded…would be really helpful

  6. i also joined another country club membership in 2009. but soon i realised my fault when they were not able to manage my vacation at required place. instead they suggested another place.

    i told them that my iw ould have my vacation according to my wissh, not theirs. finally i was able to pull my money back after a slight deductions, tthat too after a gap of 11 months.

    after that i also suggested all my frnds not to get into these membership things.

    • Hi Dr Nitin,
      I am bit surprised that lot of people have shared that they bought county club membership – I think price is the biggest factor.

        • Kuldeep,

          Thats a good idea atleast 20 to 25 members if we join with a determination i m sure we can demand as a group that will carry a lot of values

          I could see similar proposals from couple of forums lets join together in this forum to share mailids and idea what are the options we can try one by one. Its a hard earned money

  7. Hi Hemant,

    Sad to know that!

    Another important thing….If you happen to visit outlets such as Big Bazaar or Haldiram and you get approached by some one (representing country clubs or likes) for providing your contact details for participating in a lucky draw…Do NOT provide them

    I had a horrible experience with Country Club only when I casually filled up a small form while having dinner at Haldiram’s with my family.
    A week later I got a call and the guy said that basis your form you have been selected for a free holiday for 2n3d anywhere in India and for collecting the same I need to come at an address between 4-6 pm on a certain date. I almost decided to go but detective in my mind started asking them questions like , why can’t you send it over the mailing address?, Why can’t I come at any other time slot?…Later the guy made up a story that it is their 25th anniversary celebrations and hence they are calling all winners together which lead me to further suspicion and I googled about their existence in India and if 25th anniversary is true…I could not get any such evidence….I finally informed him that if you want me to avail the service , send me the voucher or I can come during weekends to collect the same to which he said sorry he cant do this and had no explanation behind it !

    Few days later I again got a call from the same guy saying I am still eligible and they are holding another ‘session’. I did not pay much attention to him and simply told him that I am not interested.

    it was definitely nothing but an eyewash to mis sell the membership to me and after reading Hemant’s experience , i am glad that I did the right thing !

    Regards,

    Ramit

    • Hi Ramit,
      Even my sister attended such session in Gurgaon – she was very convinced about the offering. But luckily she called me and I without even knowing the name of product said runway without looking back. She followed my advice & saved her money – but she felt bad bcoz I have not explained her why she should not go for it. 😉

      • Hi Ramit/Hemant,

        I see no harm in accepting the winning voucher. You would get a free 2 Night stay at one of their premium resorts. The goal is dont get tricked into buying the membership from them. Just go through the presentation (wastage of 30 mins) and then say you require time to decide whether you want to buy or not and in meanwhile would visit the resort to check whether they are worth getting the membership or not 😉 .
        Book the resort months in advance, enjoy vacation, and then decide if you can plan rest of your holidays in advance as well. Else just let them know that the membership/resorts are not up to your expectation 😀

          • Yes,
            I recently enjoyed the vacation in south India. We had go these voucher for the second time; (the first time we wasted it as we couldnt plan in advance, so I really wanted to experience what they want to sell for 1.5 L ).
            The resort was fine; but I would say not the best as I have recently visited other resorts which are much better.
            Hence I suggest accept voucher, experience the vacation and then decide whether it suits your expectations and if you can plan early evry time 🙂

            Regards
            KK

            • I attended a session from Mahindra Holidays. I didn’t accept the offer they provided for membership. I haven’t received the gift vouchers for 2 nights and 3 days. It’s only waste of time.

        • Sir,
          I also got a similar call (from some other company) and I had gone to get the voucher. I knew there would be some catch, but still went to give it a try. When I reached their office, I was given a 2 hr presentation about the product and the pricing etc. However I declined being their member because of the cost involved. Then the representative said no problem, thanks for your time. I was surprised that I was not given any voucher. So I enquired them about the same. Then the rep reluctantly handed over a voucher to me. The terms and conditions shocked me. –
          1. The holiday cannot be taken on a weekend. Strictly weekday.
          2. I will have to inform them 2 months in advance.
          3. I will have to pay some taxes (1000 per night!).

        • Nice that you have come out with facts. I totally agree to your comments on them C M, by sharing your views .They collect lot of money on Mentainance and every year they increase there Mentainance charges. And moreover they always make members dispoint by not providing the desire resort on vacation . They keep busy making new members than satisfy old members. They should stope providing new memberships because they were un able to satisfy old members that is because there are not having SPACE . what i understand is that they wanted to buy and build properties and that’s why they want new members. But still they can’t satisfy Member.

          I agree on one think is that they got good properties . But in remote places.
          Syamala

        • Country club is cheat. I have attended the meeting and collected the voucher. But after collecting it I came to know that you can only go in off season and choice of resorts are only 3. Also you have to pay Rs.7000 fees for that 7 days ( for a gift voucher). So I ignored the holiday plan.

        • Hello all,
          even i have attended country club presentation twice and availed vouchers. There is no harm in that. I went to Hydrabad for a week and Goa for 4 nights. They give vouchers so u can have first hand experience of there resorts/hotels as well as for spending your time with them. But its not a bad deal. My experience had been good but same time i never purchased any membership.

        • dear
          when i travel through GULF air and i book the ticket through VISA card.
          this airline company gave all my details to third party. i got call from goa to have 5 days stay in resort just for 15,000 rs
          i consider good deal i pay.
          yes i got my resort booked i stay there , bub i over looked conditions , i agreed to attend the seminar ,
          i swear they bug my head. 8 hours they are just bagging money around 3 lakes. and i have to lesson all that 8 hours. its was same offer as Mahandra culb.
          i recommend never ever accept these offers, nothing is free in this word.
          if you want enjoy your vacation. pay for it direct, and not use these offers

      • hi hemant!!thanks for the analytical article.i was approached in a mall in Chennai by Club Mahindra salesperson around 3 years back for the membership.i received an the fee details that you have shown above.i found it a bad deal especially the annual maintenance fees irrespective of usage.as you have said it is like endowment plan ,once taken ur stuck with a bad deal for life!!

      • I normally check reviews before buying any product or offer. I go with the philosophy that nothing comes for free and dirth cheap,,,the way normally they tend to sell you.

        Checked this too and the answer was a BIG NO to their products as it was 1) bonded 2) misuse of our trust creating frustration 3) thirdly not my types!!

        Thanks Hemant and all others for your review. Appreciate!!

        Hope this thanks bring in some relief you did to others and bad for them as they deserve it.

    • I have received many such calls in past.

      Out here in Pune, these folks stand in parking slots at Malls and Multiplex and they ask for your name and number. They say that there is no parking fee but you just need to provide your name and number. You feel that this may be the mall authority (you don’t think through in detail as you are rushing for your movie or something). And then a few days later they call you in exact same fashion and request you to come to some office.

      I have been lucky to stay away from this so far since it all sounded too easy and too fishy to be really true.

    • same story with just happened today and before I could read this I decided to dropout

    • Absolutely. Never ever fill those details.

      They are just capturing details. No doubt they will be giving you those 3n2d stay for sure but you will have to pay for taxes and food. End of the day it is only helping them.

  8. Yeah…when they say ‘come and bring your cheque book with you’, that’s your cue right there…say thanks and wish him a good day!

    Also, your point about name/address solicitors for lucky draw in malls, please realize that even if it were a genuine lucky draw, what is the actual transaction thats happening? You are giving your name/address/other info definitely to him, while he has no obligation to give you anything. On a purely deal basis, you are giving up something for sure, with no surety of receiving anything in return. A sort of gamble. Are you a gambler?

    • Hi Ramanand,
      Insurance companies have a selling concept which they call “venue sale” – they call on random number from telphone directory & announce you winner. They share that you have won Rs 1 Lakh Accidental Insurance – people think ONE LAKH Insurance but premium for this product is just Rs 50. In the evening they convince these people to buy ulips. 🙁

  9. Dear Shashank

    I am also club mahindra member. I am fully agree with lot of issues you have mentioned. as you are financial expert you hv analysed it well. I hv not thought on those financial aspects but definitely getting a proper booking is a headache in club mahindra. it is not possible to book that much well in advance as I am in business. food is very expensive. but properties are very beautiful.

    • Hi Praveen,
      Even I agree properties are nice & well maintained – even interiors are very good. But they are still not able to deliver the overall promise they have made. Even this month I went to Kumbhalgarh – next month booked for Nawalgarh 🙂

  10. I was about to buy the Mahindra Club Memerbership within few weeks !!!
    Now i have to re-think my decision thanks for the information 🙂

    • Hi Sreekar,
      Don’t depend just on my review – check your requirement & match with club mahindra membership.

    • “have to rethink” ??? I hope you have decided now not to buy this 🙂
      I was also given a offer in last week of March to buy this before price shoots up. I searched for ‘review of mahindra holidays’ in google and found so many stories of people getting cheated, that I didn’t even think about buying any of these memberships. It saved me lot of money and peace of mind.
      Another point. After reading the reviews, I got so disgusted with Mahindras that I have since sold all the M&M and Tech mahindra shares I had bought. They may or may not be ethical, but if one of their group companies is unethical, I do not want to be associated with others as well. Trust me, I love Mahindra scorpio that my friends own, but I will not buy it simply because of mahindra holidays. Love to keep away from them.

      • Hi Bhushan,
        I think we should not make opinion about all their products on basis on one bad experience. People are having pathetic experience with HDFC Online term plan but I still feel they are awesome when it comes Home Loan, MF & Bank.

      • A sales guy from club mahindra, who spoke in my mother tongue (kannada) was sent by the club to try and cheat me. lol. It turned against him, since I dont speak kannada, as I grew up in Mumbai. Besides, our firm had bad business experience with one of the directors of the M-seal division, a cheapo by name Ramesh Mahindra, so I was damn sure I didnt want to involve with these thugs. But nevertheless, I needed to look at the brochure, which I kept, and stopped the cheque. lol. Imagine the frustration of the sales guy. I think you guys should put up a PIL for refund in the consumer court. I was smart, but too many of you got cheated. Touring is not only about a stay in a five star, it is about your freedom. If they cant give it to you, they should refund your hard earned money. Call up bloomberg , or cnbc tv18. they would gladly take up your cases. It is an insult on our intelligence to get swindled by corporate thugs who are always a threat to our hard earned money.

  11. Thank you and Ramit and Hemant for those vaulable advice. I have been a frequent visitor to Big Bazaar for my grocery shopping and I have come across innumerable types of guys who sell these time share holiday plans. I am also an avid traveller, taking week long holidays once a year. But now looking at your experiences, I would rather book a tour package every year, rather than spend all that money on those time share holiday plans. Thanks again.

    • Hi Sameer,
      Its definitely better to keep our options open – even on short notice one can plan his holidays – that too with wide choices. Unfortunately timeshare members don’t have this liberty 🙁

  12. Hi Hemant,

    Myself too a victim of country vacations limited. I was missold.

    Is there a way to exit now ?

  13. Hi Hemant,
    Thanks for the eye opener on Club Mahindra. Not many people share their ‘mistakes’. I am sure many people like me, who have not subscribed for such offers, will ever think again.

    On a lighter note, as I am viewing this webpage, the advertisement of Sterling Holidays is appearing on top. Moreover, they are also offering a LCD tv – Free. A link to ‘Club Mahindra Holidays’ is appearing as well. I find this genuinely hilarious and can’t stop smiling. Understand the business compulsions 😉

    • Hi Harshvardhan,
      “Not many people share their ‘mistakes’” that doesn’t mean they don’t do mistake. There is no harm if people can learn from my mistake rather than doing their own & learning the expensive way.
      Definitely I learned a lot from this mistake & it is actually helping me in improving my personal financial life 🙂

      • Hello hemant,
        Today only we had same meeting
        for 2 n and 3 day gift package n almost
        2 hr session as most of the people had.
        We agreed for the 10% payment for
        membership and one holiday.
        of total 9 nights in a year.
        Then to decide for membership.
        Thanks I searched and saw the review

  14. These are the things available in the market wherever to utilise the someones long savings & get misleaded by the promotions.

    Knowledgeable case article. nowadays certain chances of anyone to get trapped by such products.

  15. I do agree with the points you have mentioned for not buying these memberships.
    We have twice been offerred free holidays (one of which we were able to redeem recently with planning been done 4-5 months earlier). Thank fully we didnt get convinced by them on WHY to buy this membership, when there are lot many sites offering dicounted vouchers. Also we studied that the number of resorts they have are not enough for 25 yr long duration. Even if some one spends EXTRA amount in renewing their RCI membersip, even then the number of places would be limited, only suitable for those having kids who want to just RELAX and think about visiting same places again and again, not for those who want to explore new places everytime.
    One point I disagree is about food: The food is really cheap. Dont go in for Buffet (which are quite expesive), only go for a-la-carte, and you can have a good 3- course meal for two in Rs 500 – 700.
    I recently enjoyed the trip in one of the places in south India, and tasted the North Indian food prepared in proper manner, giving a feeling that you are having the meal some where in North itself.

    • Hi KK,
      I have tried a-la-carte – servicing is very slow. I was listening to interview of Club Mahindra CEO he was sharing that internationally people prefer going to same resort every year but Indians want something new every year 😉

  16. Hi Hemanth,

    My biggest financial blunder falls in the same line as ur’s..i took a membership in country vacations.i realized later when i was to book a holiday that all the promises that they made were crap..in a way club mahindra is more genuine than country club.name a place they say that they have a property before u take the membership but later i came to know that they have properties mainly in metro cities,when i asked for a booking in ranthambore cc staff were suggesting me to go to bandipur as that is the only property they own in a wild life sanctuary(so,they mean that when ever i feel like spending a vac cation in a forest i must go to bandipur where ever i am in india). and the options they give for me ( hotels tied up with country club) were c rated & i would get that at a cheper rate than qouted by them if i book it through some travel agents like expedia..i fought with management siting all the false promises but they never came to my help in any sense & i contacted akosha but they too were of no help to me..i lost 75k through this..can anyone suggest if there is any way in which i can get atleast a part of money back??it was a good lesson & an eye opener for me…i wish more & more people know about this & would not do this mistake…country vacations a big fake company…i wish there was a supervising body to check such service providers..i feel people who know the reality should spread the news to save some others from falling into their trap…

    • Hi,

      Even my father did this blunder of purchasing from country vacations and he did not know how to use it. he bought it in 2003 and till now he has not used even single vacation. They say you can only sell it and they are not helping us to sell also. My father is receiving from country club an account statement stating that he has to pay AMF for country club. He purchased country vacations and where did this country club membership came we did not know. they said when we purchased country vacations u can use country club for 3 years free and he did not use it also. now every year they are sending remainders to pay AMF from 2004 to till this year. My father was also trapped in an exhibition!!

      • I too am victim of Country Vacations mis-selling. Thanks god that I bought it only for 5 years (Rs. 90,000).
        This is how they missell:
        1. They call couple for the discussion, as there are more chances of fooling one of them and making them emotional.
        2. They play loud music during sales discussion which creates a hypnotizing effect.
        3. They lie very confidently in a hypnotizing environment.

        Regards,
        Sanjay

  17. We also had the same experience, luckly we used the 10 days period to cancel the deal, but we did not got the full payment back, In India time sharing Facility also need some kind of regulatory boady like SEBI and it should be brought under mis repesantation of product. People should go to Consumer court. Member’s can make some group and dirctly sale their un used time and get money, there are many more, who have not brought the membership but love to use club Mahindra’s property, atleast club mahindra has good property, other’s are really in soup.

    Regard.

    • Hi Naxit,
      Can you share what was your refund amount – in %. And why they denied the full payment.

  18. Hello Hemant,

    I also got a membership in one of the holiday provider: Bajaj Highland Holidays and it is totally waste of my money. I believed in the name ‘bajaj’ and thought it must be good deal. I got the membership for 5 years and for 35k. It is totally waste of money and since last two years I did not optfor any vacations through them because they hardly have any hotels under their umbrella. I tried doing booking 2-3 times but due to their pathetic service couls not book any. I really feel cheated and really wish to get my money back but unfortunately there are no such possibilities. One cannot cancel membership for Club Mahindra then it is just impoissible to cancel membership with Bajaj Highland. If anyone has got any option please let me know.

    • Hi Jaywant,
      Never heard of this company – after reading lots of comment on this post, it looks that Club Mahindra is still better.

  19. I am also a member of Country club. As said by Mr Beniwal, the benifites of the utilities depends from person to person. Vacations according to me has to be free from tensions and boundries. But this kind of time share concepts are mostly very much constrained. You have to be bind by many things before planning vacation with them. In Fact My experience is the worst. In the first year itself i tried for three times for the availability at different places but all in vain…then i was tired and didn’t ask any time again. Those who are planning to get membership with this kinda concepts..please think 100 times before indulging in to it…..According to me this is the most hopeless kinda concept….Gross Cheating and playing with the mentality of people….

    • Hi Amit,
      I think country club has done some blunder – their stock is down by 95% from its high.

  20. indeed, one must not fall prey to such things. If one has to spend holidaying any where, one must do by traditional way of booking an accommodation as per one’s budget. At least one knows before hand what one is paying.

  21. Hi Hemanth,
    Thanks for the well analysed and eye-opening article “Club Mahindra Membership is my biggest Financial Mistake”. Over the past several years I have toyed with the idea of becoming a member, as the co. has pestered me a No. of times, but every time something held me back as I did not get the desired transparency/satisfactory ans to some of my Qs or doubts, lack of time and so on. Now that I have got the ans, thanks to you, I am more aware and so will be many of my near and dear ones. Money saved is money earned, and this will be better utilized elsewhere.
    Look forward to more such articles.
    Regards
    Vijay

  23. Dear Hemant,

    Really an eye opening story. I too was about to fall into such a trap 6 years ago.
    But my good sense prevailed and even after spending nearly 2 hours listening to their crap, I refused to listen further because I was disgusted by their poor sales talk. They said they will not be able to give me the gift. I had foregone it and escaped unhurt (realised after reading your article).
    Surprising that was 6 years ago; God knows how many crores of fallen flat on these misellings, as you say. Lack of regulators has made the same thing to be repeated over & over.
    Thanks.

    • Hi Biswajit,
      My salesman was too smart he combined benefits of club mahindra & country club. He told me that they are planning to open a new resort in your city in Mahindra SEZ & as CM member you can avail the facilities same as country club. LOL

  24. I took lifetime membership of country club in 2003 and so far I have visited their place only twice (in the first month of taking membership)!!! The membership price then was 15K (not too high), but I wish I had invested that somewhere else.

  25. Oopzz. Club Mahindra ads used to impress me all the time…! 🙂
    Very true…life is too short to learn from our own mistakes.
    Great article, thanks!

  26. hi hemant….so after all u too are human !!! My dad also made a smilar mistake with THE ROYAL GOAN BEACH CLUB. They have 4 luxury resorts in Goa…So every year u can visit only Goa- The best of these 4 resorts is always overbooked…Lot of foreigners ( Non-members)… & as u said annual maintenance charges of the villa ( the one we never stay at) to the tune of 20,000. Over & above, this payment shd be only by credit cards !!! They also claim abt RCI affiliation, but u cannot exchange ur holiday anywhere else unless u r a RCI member…& still u get the resort & destination of ur choice if u book a year in advance 🙂
    Nw we stopped paying the annual charges & have let our membership lapse…we do get letters form them saying ” we r amongst few priviliged clients who can renew their membership at nominal penalty”…The penalty is almost 10% of the annual maintenance charges….

    Conclusion- Always have the flexibility of planning ur vacation !!! Plan oneself…no such clubs !!!

    • Hi Anna,
      I think its clear cheating by these clubs – when they don’t have inventory & they sell membership. Then they expect that members should pay yearly maintenance – what a business 😉

  27. Hi Hemant,
    Just one poke and you got a whole lot of dissatisfied customers. I fell for similar scheme of sterling holiday resorts several years ago. Availed of the membership only 2-3 times. It is still “active” since it is for 99 years, but never bothered about it again. Club Mahindra offered to swith my membership from sterling to theirs with some more payments. FORTUNATELY I DID NOT FALL FOR IT.

    Your story is an excellent example of how even a financially erudite person can still make wrong financial decisions. Such is the travesty of human nature. Nobody is perfect, so don’t feel sad about it. Many thanks for sharing. Usually success is a public affair and failure a private funeral, but not with you. Cheers!

    • Hi Shirish,
      Again Sterling is becoming active they have got some good funding from investors including Rakesh Jhunjunwala – hope members can get some benefit.
      You may be right “Usually success is a public affair and failure a private funeral, but not with you.” but I feel to err is human. Assuming that someone has never done any mistakes in his life is again wrong 🙂

  28. Thanks Hemant.

    I had bought Club Mahindra membership way back in 2007/2008.

    I had been to a mall here in mumbai which hosts Club Mahindra office. I was taken thru the entire presentation and it was a time when I was newly married.

    We both were lured by the presentation and made a CC payment of 10,000/-

    We went home and shared this with the family. I thank my dad who put his experience in my head to cancel the membership. Next day I went to the same office and asked for cancellation.

    I was asked to go to the main office in Andheri east. I was there every morning back to back 1 week.

    Finally I managed to get the cheque of full amount and now after so many years I feel so good about the fact that I did not continue and cancelled it.

    It is nice to know that along with Insurance and MF’s I also get to know how to save my wealth from getting wasted.

    A Complete Wealth Management Portal!!

    Thanks again.

  29. Excellent post and wonderful information to share with all..Like the similar I too wasted my money with Country Club the Indias second largest fraud like this..Earlier my father also lost amount in IGGI resorts which in Ooty with a link of Sterling resorts mid of 1995 they have close all their resorts due to debt and mismanagement by directors and promoters..Many follow ups and proofs for the payment made has been shown to them but they never minded and finally my father fed up and forget that money which is hard earned..Now I have done the same mistake with Country Club.Sad and shame to do the same mistake which my father did.

  30. At the outset, let me put out the full disclosure. I am neither speaking on behalf of the Club Mahindra organization nor associated with the organization in any way. In other words, I am not paid to do this submission.

    Club Mahindra, like many other organizations, needs to sell the holiday concept and they succeeded where Sterling Holidays failed. It takes quite a bit of effort to sell an expensive thing like a holiday. I was influenced into buying it when they signed me in front of a movie theatre (back in 2003) and their marketing folks came over and did a good marketing effort. I was clearly impressed (it cost me 1.5 lakhs for a Red studio then). I had to upgrade a couple of years later to a Red 1 BR because of the restrictions with ages of children.

    There are 2 payments involved, one is the lumpsum payment at the start and another is the ASF you incur every year. It is important for people to understand the model that they are signing up for. I think Club Mahindra is upfront about how it works but people forget about it and get shocked when they are asked to pay the annual ASF fee. The ASF has an inflation component associated with it and a service tax which are both unavoidable. I would urge you to compare the rates of 4 or 5 star hotels over a period of time to get a sense of why the ASF is index against inflation.

    Coming to the experience in a Mahindra resort, I have been to their resorts in Goa, Munnar, Kodaikanal, Yercaud, Panchgani, Ashtamudi, Swamimalai and have been impressed with a few things. The customer service at any of their owned or associated resorts is excellent, something you pay a premium for. The location of their resort like Munnar or Ashtamudi is just amazing. The food at their owned resorts like Goa and Ashtamudi is simply one of the best and I compare this with the experience of dining at five star restaurants. Sure, the cost of food is not going to be cheap and you have to expect to pay a premium dining at those resorts. There are good options like a total food package for a day for the whole family that makes it lighter on the wallet but if people don’t want to spend, they have the option of cooking themselves. That is not the concept of a holiday, is it? There are additional expenses that resorts have to pay for like the water supply (@ Munnar).

    I don’t have the background to comment about the ratio of rooms to memberships but if there is a case that they are selling too many then definitely the organization is answerable.

    Let us come to bookings not being available. The primary reason is the customer. Have you ever thought that the indian customer does a club mahindra like a railway ticket reservation? The booking process did not have a restriction of simultaneous booking (on same days) a year back but they have implemented that now which has opened up some availability. They have also started to penalize the bookings if they cancel closer to the actual date (i am not sure if they had the strict penalties before). Do you ever complain when there is only so many tickets at a movie theatre and you don’t get a ticket at your intended time? I can understand if people are price conscious but I don’t take people kindly if they are stingy. I have seen people abuse the Club Mahindra restriction of the number of people in the room by coming to the resort and packing themselves as a big group in a small room. It costs more to operate things like a swimming pool if people abuse the rules.

    Sure, there are certain things that the management is answerable for, but I think it was worth the experience for me given the fact that it forced me to take the holidays (which I would not have otherwise). Club Mahindra is a premium experience. Let us not forget, as a customer, what it takes to keep it as a premium. If you don’t intend to pay a premium, by all means refuse the membership.

    • Hi Shridhar,
      Thanks for sharing your positive experience with Club Mahindra but I think I am not that lucky. I clearly mentioned in the article that it was MY mistake so I am not blaming anyone else but myself.
      Let me share couple of incidence & it may look that I am “the chosen one”. 🙁
      My first holiday was in Manali Resort – it was not full fledged resort but was decent hotel. Even services & food was good. (This was my free week which I got over & above free TV)
      My Second Holiday was at Kumbhalgarh – it was horrible experience. I am sharing couple of points that I mentioned in feedback & expected them to take action.
      *It took us more than 1hr & 3 calls to get drinking water.(it happened thrice in 2 days)
      *Pool was like a dirty village pond. We are not pigs.
      *Other than breakfast, Fun Dine was garbage. Lunch & Dinner were literally stinking. Complete waste of my money. I found a big human hair in my naan.
      My 3rd booking was in Sariska – they cancelled my august booking as resort was close due to heavy rains. Then I got a mail that now resort has opened & I can do fresh booking. I booked it for September & got the confirmation voucher. While I was on the way to resort, I got a call from CM “We are sorry to inform you but due to some technical mistake, we are having more bookings than the inventory. We will try to provide you rooms in some other hotel in that area.” Luckily someone checked out one day in advance else they planned to ruin our holidays.
      You can call me stingy but can we call this a premium experience.
      Selling more membership than available inventory is clear mis-selling/fraud & management should explain their stand. (you can check these numbers on their investor page)
      I am not able to understand why you upgraded to 1 BR & paying more ASF, when they give you flexibility to choose any type of room.

      • Hemant,

        I fully sympathise with you for the bad experiences that you had at Kumbhalgarh & Sariska. There is no way I would want to excuse Club Mahindra for those horrible experiences. I have not had those kind of experiences. I am not downplaying those incidents btw. There are always bad apples and we need to get those problems recognized by the Club Mahindra organization.

        One thing that I would like people on this forum to do is to comment only after they have used the product. Without getting into a relationship, it makes little sense to complain about something they have never used. Your complaints are valid but many others have just gone overboard in trashing a company based on the perspective that the marketing or sales folks are out to rip everyone. Every company in India pays peanuts to keep good marketing/sales folks and those folks get commissions only at the expense of customers who take the product. We can even talk about LIC agents or mutual fund agents who benefit mainly from commissions. As a culture, that is how India works. There is a lot of income disparities that we have in India that need to be fixed but that is a subject for a different discussion.

        The reason that I upgraded to 1 BR was to keep the no. of days at 7. If you keep the studio and book the 1 BR you get less than the 7 days commensurate with your one time payment and ASF fee. I have not worked out the details but I am sure that they would have factored all payments for your use case. Also, as any financial guy would know, it is all in the fine print. It is the prerogative of the company to decide whether they would like to keep the flexibility that way.

        On the people who forego their subscriptions by not paying the ASF fee… it looks silly by losing the whole one time payment by not paying a smaller portion. Anyone does good planning should factor in the one time payment + present value of all ASF payments and see whether it makes sense at the beginning of the contract rather than at the time of payment of ASF.

        • Sridhar yes you are right, only people who are members & who have used the service should comment.
          I’m a white 1 bedroom member, which the sales executives hard sold to me, i’m a businessman & therefore i was interested in figures, which they gave me & no as an after thought i realize they were glamorized & dressed up to appeal nothing else.
          –I’ll start first with my experience, i’ve visited a few of them & i would rate them close to a 2 or a 3 star property no more, they are well kept & the staff is pretty courteous but the pleasantries at there. At the resort their Food is very expensive & just a shade above Garbage, the sex things up there also, by the way they present their menu’s i remember when i was staying in Binsar the food they were serving was half cooked most of the times & since that place has been declared a national reserve there are no eateries around Mahindra, so we had at times had to drive like 20 odd kilometers to get a decent meal, well so much for all the hype.
          –Now the real part where the rubber meets the road (getting a booking)
          if one is lucky enough one may land a booking that too two months in advance, they have now marked most of the seasons as red & very little white or blue remain, this is to push white members to upgrade, i have been receiving their upgrade offers for over 3 months now, their booking is just made to look transparent & basically an eye wash, they ultimately control the availability roster & they get to fill available & not available there, a club mahindra ex employee told me that they keep the log filled up so they can sell it to non members & only members who come down to haggling & make lots of noise get bookings otherwise he told me like an insurance company we are trained to say no its not available.
          They ask us to plan our holidays 6 months in advance, please tell me is it possible in today’s life to foresee that much in the future, I believe only Govt Employes & Bureaucrats have this luxury available to them.
          –I AS A MEMBER OF CLUB MAHINDRA DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE TO BUY THEIR HOLIDAYS, THEY SCAM YOU, CHEAT YOU & TOSS YOU AROUND, THEY ARE A TYPICAL INDIAN COMPANY WHO KNOWS THEY WILL GET AWAY WITH IT BECAUSE OUR LAW IS TOO TARDY & LAZY TO CATCH UP WITH SUCH PEOPLE.

  31. Hi Hemanth,
    nice post. By reading this post i recalling the incident of last january. A group of people visited our house & informed me that they’ll provide a part time job for me. For a hour he explained me about a product(same as above, that you brought. Even he used our TV & DVD player for theire repentation). And its a membership to PANCARD CLUB. Here you also get a investment option. Means money doubling. And also %ge based commission, if you fool more people and make them join this club(i mean mlm).
    They also showed me lots of filled application forms by people and photo copies of commission cheques.
    But I politely refused to join by saying that “I dont have time for part time job!”
    thank you.

    • Hi Rayan,
      MLM guys are real salesman – it really needs courage to make new members everyday. I know 2 guys for whom this is a full time job – they become member of every new company & then approach their natural (friends & relatives) market. Unfortunately I am part of their natural market – sometime they even pressurize my Mon & Grandma that ask Hemant to be member. 😉

      • fully Agree, These MLM guys will do anything to get you onboard. There is company Qnet have similar Restorts Packages with the name QVI club.

        Business mantra is getting money by Do nothing.

        • Ashmi, what do you mean when you say these MLM guys will do anything to get you onboard and what do you know about QNet or QVI Club. Could you please elaborate?

  32. Hi All,

    Even I happened to visit one of the Club Mahindra presentations way back in 2007 I guess. I lot lured and took the membership on the spot. But after few days I realized number of verbal commitments were made which were false. I asked for 100% refund but it was declined. I had to fight my way out. I escalated issue to higher levels, visited their main office at Andheri(E)few times. Finally after 3 months I got 100% refund. It wasn’t easy, I had to fight it out.
    Request all to document every communication on email when dealing with corporate for any issues, be it Club Mahinda, Vodafone or any other corporate giant.
    All said done, for me best offering by Club Mahindra is the free 3 year membership for RCI. RCI memberships saves lot of stay cost if you are a frequent international traveler. On your own you cant get RCI membership, you need to be member of Club Mahindra or Royal Goa Club.

    • You are lucky you got your refund. However i am still fighting for my money back for which they say 60% is non refundable.

      • Hello everyone this ram here from Mumbai I’m interested in buying club mahindra membership if anyone willing to sell there club mahindra membership please contact me on 9594745601

  33. I am not a futuristic and planned traveler, so this is surely not meant for me
    But they are joking when they say it is inflation free because of the point you made
    and also if INTEREST OF THE DOWN PAYMENT for so many years is calculated!
    And hemant it is also following the indian corporate culture by paying least attention to AFTER SALES SERVICES, and the executives are like vultures trying to trap the customer only for one time!!;)

  34. Thanks Hemant for spelling out the things. There are many such experience but not broght forward.
    I had got a similar experience. It was with Greatindiatravels.
    I bought 2N/3D for 3000+750 service charge.
    I planned it to Goa for 1 month in advance. But hotels in the list were different than the one offered. I asked for Sun Village Or Royal Beach Resort which was near to Beach and accessable. But the one offered was Bela Rosa which is very interior and not accesseble. In 2 days every time go out from hotel I had to ask 4 times for road to come back.Any way I was having car with me but it is not a good experience. The comittment at time of booking is not being followed by these operators.The amount involved is less so I did not make any fuss about it.

    Can any one from the loop recommend the resort operator of this kind having good experience?

  35. Hi Hemant,

    i am regular reader of your website. I am a member of club mahindra. i bought it in 2006. I managed to bargin Purple Studio although they were only offering Red – for 2.5 lacs. I spent good 3 hours with them and bargained for Purple Studio – got 20K food vouchers (i don’t smoke/drink), 6 free weeks, HP pad (which was a new device then..). So I did not spend on food for my first 2-3 trips.

    My analysis –

    25 years – 2.5 lacs.
    Say with ASF (i paid 10K and odd this year) I end up paying 12.5 lacs over 25 years (2.5 lacs + 10 lacs ASF) , divide this by 25 yrs. Its 50K for 7 days, which is 7200 for day. Considering the resorts are amazing (atleast 4 star) , this price is cheap. Yes I have not considered 2.5lacs interest that I would lose over 25 years (have learn’t some financial literacy from you-:)) but one can never spend if one starts counting interest in everything…With 4 star type resorts this is a good bargin..i think..One needs to plan out in advance, be smart about food – take ala carte or just don’t eat there…Agreed they do fib during marketing – but being a finance literate I had kept that piece of paper that guy was writing on and fought back and got what they had promised….

    Today any long weekend at lonvala costs 4K-5K atleast a night with food (decent hotel). Trips have become expensive thanks to inflation. And with a kid now I can only plan during school holidays which makes it even more expensive since its peak season…

    People working on jobs (as I do..) would need a 7 day break in a year..of course depends on ones financial situation…atleast for me it has been a good experiance so far…touch wood…have visited – Mussorie, Yercaud, Kodai, Coorg, Thekddey, Dharamshala….As you said – it depends on your requirement, whether you like to travel all 7 days…etc

  36. When I wanted to go to Goa during peak season (Dec/Jan) and I approached them for membership they gave me their story on colors for seasons and I immediately got convinced that this is a very bad decision.

    Whenever you want to buy something make the toughest of demands and see the skeletons will come tumbling out of the cupboard without a lot of probing and try to get something before paying anything and you will see their attitude change immediately.

  37. Hi Hemant,

    One of my closed friends tried to sell me the membership few years back. His desperation was evident based on the continous followups he was doing. Reason give by my friend was that he is moving overseas and hence wants to sell. I went back and did lot of research, even calling Mahindra club office, agent.

    Based on the data I received I did not go for it. I clearly told my friend and thanks I did not get into trap.

    Cheers

    Atul

  38. Just put that 25 years fee (8 lakh plus) to fixed deposit at the rate of 9.25% with compound interest quarterly you will get 78,69,726 Rs at the end of 25 years. This much they earn from you dear!!! And is it necessary that you will go traveling every year? many vacations you might not get time, your child have exams, your wife gets sick, you had to do extra-time in company and if you are doctor like me, forget all this crap.. And one more thing, do you have club mahindra in every place you want to go? Even if there is club mahindra, do they assure to get you a decent enough accommodation as your payment? impossible… By the way who can predict about next 25 years? This is really eye opening, not only this, insurance companies, investment planning schemes etc follow these principles……

  39. Sir, i really like your words “Learning from your mistakes is smart, learning from the mistakes of others is wise.” But learning from own mistake is really expensive….
    i think this article will help me allot for future(after marriage & kids) financial decisions.
    Thanks sir

  40. Dear Mr. Beniwal,

    Thank you for taking your time out to share your thoughts on this page.

    Further to the above posts, please find below our responses.

    1) Amount and Time involved is huge:

    We confirm that the details of the product along with features and the guidance on how to use the same have been provided in detail during the time of presentation. At this juncture we would like to bring it to your attention that the time involved to confirm a reservation has come down considerably taking into fact that reservation can be 1 day in advance of check-in as you aware subject to availability. In terms of ease & time involved in using your membership, you can now check real time availability, book your holidays, get alternate holiday options automatically, make payments & cancel your holiday online in your member section @ http://www.clubmahindra.com anytime, anywhere. We also have a strong member on-boarding process during which members are re-confirmed.

    2) It doesn’t suite my type of person, who doesn’t want to sit & enjoy:

    Being a member of Club Mahindra, you have access to 42 + resorts across India and Abroad. Keeping the interests of our members in mind we have a variety of resorts at different type of locations/regions. To quote a few examples, while we have a lot of traditional destinations like beach resorts @ Goa/ Pondy, Hill stations @ Coorg/ Munnar, we also have Jungle resorts @ Corbett/Gir, Water-front properties @ Ashtamudi/Poovar, International destinations @ Bangkok/Pattaya/Austria/KL & Desert Resorts @ Kumbalgarh / Nawalgarh. We also have a full-fledged activity center in all our resorts where we have activities for all age group which includes treks, tours & unique activities based on each location. Our resorts are catered to suit all types of persons – fun loving, adventurous, nature lover etc.

    3) It was mis-sold – lots of things were hidden and misrepresented:

    We would like to inform that we have a strong member on-boarding process. We understand from our records that after taking the membership on 20/02/2008, our team has contacted you for a Welcome Call on 28/02/2008 during which the entire product information was re-confirmed. The Welcome letter carrying the product information was dispatched on 26th Feb, 2008 and membership kit was dispatched on 10th March, 2008. Therefore we hope that we have clarified your misconception.

    4) I am frugal when it comes to food on a trip and they charge me bomb for that:

    We have 2 different type of dining choices for our members one of which is fun dining (buffet system) and ala carte (Menu based). The buffet & alacarte rates are offered with 25% discounts on regular rates, which is an exclusive member privilege. You must appreciate the fact that the quality and variety of the food offered at our resorts are audited by the Food, Safety and Standard authorities. We would also like to state that many of our resorts are accredited to Resort Condominium International (RCI) who has certified our resorts as Gold and Silver Crown accordingly.

    Club Mahindra Membership Annual Subscription Fees (ASF)

    Club Mahindra claims their membership is Inflation Free but other than one time fees members have to pay annual subscription fees (irrespective of usage), depending on type of room they own. They charge ASF on type on rooms so Studio will pay lowest ASF and 2 Bedroom will pay highest. But at the time of booking you can choose any room so I am having Studio but can book 2 BR and pay 50% less ASF. This fees is not fixed – it will increase every year according to urban inflation numbers

    a) We would like to inform that the term inflation free is towards the cost which you have invested for the product. For example, a person who has purchased a product in the 2003 might have bought the product on a lower price as against the person who has purchased the same in the year 2008. The cost of appreciation is not applied to the product price after it has been purchased.

    b) We have a transparent methodology for calculating the Annual Subscription Fee. The year on year increase is calculated based on the Whole Sale Price Index & Consumer Price Index as mentioned on the Reserve Bank of India website. This is precisely why unlike other time shares, we have been able to maintain our properties & keep them beautiful as you have repeatedly mentioned.

    c) We are sure that you aware that ours is a floating inventory, wherein members have an option to travel 1 up higher season from their purchased product and also have access to their respective seasons along with the ones below them. However while confirming the bookings according to the rooms/seasons, higher or lower, the days are debited accordingly. For example, being a member of Red Studio you would be able to enjoy only 5 nights of holiday (approx) in the same season but on a One Bedroom apartment.

    d) Based on holidaying season, we restrict the number of apartments based on what the member purchases. So for example a STU member can maximum holiday only in 1*1BR (0r) 1 STU in Red/Purple season where as a 1BR member can holiday in 2*STU (or) 1*2BR in Red/Purple season. Hence the apartment you purchase gives you the flexibility on the number of people with whom would like to holiday with. Hence we urge members who only holiday with their extended families/Friends to purchase bigger apartments.

    With regard to concern raised stating that,

    1) 44% members are not utilizing their holidays

    2) Club Mahindra gives resorts on rental to nonmembers, even in the peak season. So members compete with nonmembers. There annual report show earning of Rs 15 Cr from rental they have received from nonmembers. If I assume Rs 4000 per night room rent – it turns to 3% of the total available inventory.

    3) Third, when there is big gap in available inventory & some competition from nonmembers; few people will definitely be disappointed because they will not get what they desire. Club Mahindra expect that people should plan there holidays 6 months in advance – I think I can do it but it’s not possible for people who are in jobs. There annual report shows that occupancy was at 77% & if we adjust even 2% that was utilsed by nonmembers so member occupancy is at 75%. If we compare that with number of members, it turns out to be 44%. I don’t think I again have to tell you that Club Mahindra charges Annual Subscription Fees (ASF) irrespective of you go for holidays or not. In addition they don’t allow members to accumulate more than 3 years (21 days) holidays. If member don’t pay ASF, his membership will seize.

    Please find below our responses to the above given points.

    1) While we have had challenges in the past with inventory growth not matching with the membership growth, please be rest assured that we are well on track now. To elaborate, while we have close to 1.4 lakhs active members, we build our inventory on the basis of eligible members – which basically means most of our members are on a payment plan & their Holiday Start Date varies from 12-15 months. By the time they become eligible, we would have added inventory to take care of the increase. However, because of the flexible nature of the product [any resort, any apartment, any season – own or lower season & also a one-up exchange into a higher season], there is some trade-off subject to availability of rooms which translates to planning holidays well in advance.
    To re-iterate, we have over the last 6 months added quite a number of new resorts at exotic destinations & I am highlighting a few to put to rest any apprehensions you may have. There are a lot more in the pipeline that we will communicate as they open their doors to greet our members.

    New Additions:
    Emerald Palms, Goa
    Kanatal, Uttrakhand
    Mussorie Avalon, Uttrakhand
    Baiguney, Sikkim
    Kumarakom, Kerala
    Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra

    2) We take an exception to your statement and would like to state that we follow a member first policy in terms of inventory allocation where first preference is always given only to members. Therefore non-members are not entertained during peak seasons. Only if we find no demand from our members during off-peak season, we offer our units on payment basis to ensure that rooms do not go un-utilized. These non-members are also potential prospects (as future members) which would only result in additional resorts for our members.

    3) Number of members holidaying:
    We would like to point out that last year out of the total requests we received, 83% resulted in confirmed holidays. I am sure as a member who has holidayed with us 5 times already in the last 3 years would agree on our commitment in providing holidays. However since we understand a lot of members don’t holiday every year consistently, we are also proactively contacting inactive members & providing holidays. Last year alone we had proactively provided holidays to close to 9000 members who were inactive for more than 2 years. The very fact that close to 1/4th of our inventory goes unoccupied every year stands testament to the fact that we have more than enough rooms available to cater to our members demand.

    4) Planning your holiday 6 months in advance:
    Being a time share product, we open our bookings as early as 6 Months prior to the check in date. Since the holidaying pattern is generally constant for most families, a lot of our members plan & book 6 months in advance in resorts & dates of their choice. We also offer you an unique option to cancel a confirmed holiday as close as 15 days from check-in date without losing any of your inventory (Days). We must also mention that members who plan early save close to 40% on their travel cost as well.

    5) Lapsing the inventory:
    We also as a policy allow all members to accumulate 3 years of inventory since if members start utilizing more than 3 years of their entitlement within one year, it also leads to enormous pressure on our room inventory, thereby resulting in holiday being refused for other members and in the end again resulting in a vicious circle of days being lapsed for them.
    Please write back to us at [email protected] in case you need any further assistance.

    Regards,

    Ronnie Ninan Thomas
    Member Relations
    Club Mahindra

    • Thanks Ronnie for taking out your precious time & replying to most of my points raised. I sincerely wish your team help every member with same patience.
      I may not be satisfied with your answers as I wrote it was MY mistake but I hope this will be helpful for the readers of this post.

    • Dear Ronnie,
      I am a club Mahindra member from last 3 years, please reply to my queries:
      I got a mail “Gift 3 friends the Club Mahindra experience” & it was 2 nights so 6 nights free to my beloved friends. In every mall we can find people from club Mahindra offering free trips, can you explain why members should suffer from your freebies.
      Why club Mahindra membership is available at less than 60% rates on websites like enidhi.

    • Dear Ronnie

      Your reply is a typical after sales reply as per the book, I’m a member & i know how much haggling i have to do to get a reservation, when the membership is sold even the moon is promised, but like insurance companies your sales boys have left by the time you are ready to take your first holiday & with him goes all commitments.
      I have a white i bedroom so i should be able to trade up by sacrificing 2 days or a smaller accommodation in the red but strangely i can avail of it only 15 days in advance, a property which your roster shows is overbooked & somehow i will get a reservation 15 days in advance, who are you guys kidding its BS the only way i see is this:
      — YOU TAKE THE MONEY & HAVE INVENTED CREATIVE WAYS TO KEEP THE MEMBERS OUT OF THE RESORTS & FINALLY LAPSE THEIR HOLIDAYS ON SOME GROUNDS. SO ITS NOT A WIN-WIN ITS A WIN-ONE SITUATION WHEREIN YOU WIN THIS WAY OR THAT WAY
      I’M A LAWYER BY PROFESSION & I’M COLLECTING INFORMATION FROM OTHER MEMBERS & SOON I’LL SURPRISE YOU WITH A CLASS ACTION

      • MR RONNIE I POST HERE UNDER AN ARTICLE FROM MONEYLIFE———-
        ——
        The list of complaints against the Mahindra group company from members is increasing. But they are not being addressed appropriately

        There appears to be little respite for Mahindra Holidays and Resorts, as the list of complaints from dissatisfied customers continues to grow. The complaints range from unsatisfactory practices and deficiency in services to unfulfilled promises. While very little is known about how successful the company has been in redressing the complaints, a letter addressed to Mahindra Holidays managing director Ramesh Ramanathan recently raises the lack of clarity over the business model that this Mahindra group company follows.

        “Overall people are not very clear on the business model Club Mahindra follows. There is no one reference document to it and the typical timeshare model does not apply in this case,” Bhupesh Gupta, who has been a member of Club Mahindra Holidays since 2004, wrote in his complaint. “Bits and pieces of information come to light, surprising me every time. I am surprised why Mahindra Holidays reports resort occupancy levels at the time of quarterly report to shareholders. What significance does this have to its timeshare business? Who will take the hit of this under-utilisation, the members or the business?”

        Mr Gupta says that he has not received a reply from the company for some time and so addressed a copy of the letter to Moneylife, which raised the issue with the company. However, the explanations by Mr Ramesh and chairman Arun Nanda were not very enlightening. Without answering the issue raised directly, both tried to describe how “customer centric” the company has been.

        Mr Ramesh says, “Our surveys done both internally and independently prove that we have a very happy set of members who rate the experience at our resorts extremely high. I am happy to share with you that RCI have awarded the Gold Crown status to 10 of our resorts… more than 25% of our new members sign up through referrals by existing members, denoting a high level of delight with the brand.” RCI is the largest timeshare vacation network in the world.

        Strangely, in a recent interview with MoneyControl, Mr Nanda had admitted that an internal check has revealed that the company was lacking in many aspects and that it required some cleansing operations to contain the damage to its membership base. Club Mahindra is said to have experienced a 30% drop in membership sales revenue over the past few months.

        It is very likely that this is the outcome of the numerous complaints of members that appear to go unresolved. Consumer review websites like mouthshut.com and http://www.consumercomplaints.in list some of them. In one recent note, Devyani Chakraborty says she is still awaiting a refund on cancellation of her membership, which was sold to her a few days before during Durga Puja. In one post today, Mr Sandeep said he has failed to encash a free holiday voucher coupon after he was told that there were no rooms available in any of the resorts in any destination.

        Other complaints refer to lack of proper exit options, which, the Mahindra Holidays chairman said were very few. However, there is no explanation as to why members have to go through an excruciating exit mechanism and lose 30-40% of their membership fees in the process.

        Many of the timeshare membership holders have complained that the “flexibility” option, which enables the users to transfer, exchange and split their holidays, have led to under-utilisation of the resorts. Moreover, they accuse the administration of favouritism, which enables only some particular members to avail good reservation dates and facilities.

        But while members are allegedly denied facilities, resorts and rooms are used for other events and availed by outsiders. Many members, after repeated failures, give up on making reservations, which leaves many resorts with vacancies. There are complaints about unsatisfactory services, inadequate inventory and other unfulfilled promises.

        It appears from inquiries Moneylife made with some members that there is no proper grievance redressal mechanism and neither are members aware of how they can get their complaints resolved, nor are the staff equipped to deal with such situations. Another repeated mention is that staff members engage in dubious practices like lotteries, misleading members about offers and not providing proper information about the terms and conditions.

      • Please stop… its a big fraud.. I am yet to get my refund as i havent got holidays when i wanted asked to split or go in a different period etc… get out

  42. Hi Hemant,
    You should tweet this article to Anand Mahindra in Twitter..looks like a LOT of disgruntled customers here, judging by the comments. I have been approached several times by their marketing folks outside cinema halls, malls and even at toll gates. I very nearly missed attending their free couple pass once developing cold feet at the last moment (good in hindsight!). I only ask myself 2 things here : 1)Can I afford holiday every year ? 2) Will I be able to take off for 7 days at a stretch from work. Both depend on various factors, given the nature of our work & job. I guess the free TV swung it for you 🙂

  43. club mahendra cheats public very well. I lost 2.5 lac . I say to my friends never try to become member in club mahendra.

  44. This is a fraud company, they will never cancel the membership, I fought for 1 year but lost my 50,000 anyway. this when I did submit the cancellation within 15 days….

    Thanks for spreading the message. this is a fraud company & no one should go with them……

  45. Hi
    This is a good post. I had a holiday at a Mahindra resort in Coorg just happened to book online . I am not a member of the club ,was thinking of joining but now have dropped the idea.
    The location was fantastic, well-kept.Food very expensive. We were paying every day for breakfast nobody in the facility felt like informing us there was a complimentary breakfast available at one of the restaurants till we found out at the day of departure. We really felt conned by it. Of the 3 restaurants only one had decent fare despite the exorbitant prices. And located in the heart of coffee land they served horrid coffee!
    The Ayurveda massage center was so out of the way you lost motivation to visit it.
    The resort is built on a hill so walking around was a pain and my mom who has arthritis had a wait of 20 mins every time for a golf cart buggy to show up.
    For a 4 or 5-star facility they are stingy on soap, no toiletries besides the liquid soap.
    We left behind an expensive set of sunglasses but the resort guys were nice enough to mail it back without cost.

  46. Very well written post Hemant!

    I have stayed in one of their properties, I am not a member :).
    Properties are very well maintained with good food and courteous staff. But their membership thing has ‘too many’ conditions and some hidden charges too. The non-flexibility and planning the vacation 6 months in advance is putting people off. Even their selling seems desperate. They are pushing too hard. The gift voucher gimmick is old now (unless you outsmart them and go for a vacation without buying the membership 🙂 ).
    They have a nice value proposition in terms of quality they should rather not talk about membership, which is earning them a bad name, and let people vouch for the experience.

    shilpi

  47. All these so called holiday ownership companies are a farce. After hearing a lot of negative reviews about Club Mahindra,we opted for Royal Resorts and Clubs.It is no different. Long waiting period for booking holidays,hidden charges and most of their resorts are not conveniently located.

  48. Hi
    Have any one had such experience with Sterling holidays? I have paid amount for initial deposit for membership. Then the processing of documents & previlege cards got delayed by two months, which actually spoil entire plan for vacation. So i have asked for cancelaation of membership. Till today after 5 months they are answering that your file is in chennai office they are processing request & still today no clue on it.

  49. Hi Hemant,

    Wonderful article. I faced the same thing with Bush Beta properties and this was the same way. They always offered us a possible time during weekdays around March and October knowing fully well that these are times when its very difficult to go on vacation. We finally stopped paying and got out of this with not a day of vacation in their properties and no refunds. Waste of years of saving.

    At the same time, Mahindra resorts provide concessional bookings through other sites anytime of the year. I got a good 1 bed room at their Coorg property through an online booking site. The price was good for a December vacation and included free food (Breakfast and Lunch) and travel around the area at about a Rs.100 per person. I think what I learned from that experience was when you want to go for a trip these days you can get 100’s of site that are offering you a good rate for a stay.

    Cheers.

  50. Very informative article and comments that followed. How does one get out of this arrangement? Are there any agents that help sell such holiday resort memberships?

    As the number of negative comments is very high it may be possible to approach the central govt to set up rules and regulators to monitor such schemes.

    • RK77, we are also looking for agents who will help us sell our membership — I do feel they have taken in more members than they can service and their standards have fallen sharply.

      A recent stay in Goa brought this out, when we found tiny white spiders in the bed! And meals at the restaurant were monotonous and unattractive.

      Pl share with me if you have found a way to get rid of your membership and I shall do likewise. tks.

      Btw Hemant, thanks for starting this discussion, very informative and appreciate the time and thought you hv put in yr mail.

      • I sold mine thru an agent. Try advertising on Quikr and the agents will call u, based on your holding.

        But I must mention, I sold at a loss, taking a hit of abt one lac — atleast we are rid of the nuisance.

  51. It is very dangerous to share your details with the guys outside malls. They come to you luring you to participate in their lucky draw.

    1) They sell your contact details to resorts, banks etc @ 4-20 rs per contact.
    2) Your data goes through an analysis. For the Job column if you say ‘No Job’ you will never get a call, but if you put a bigger role like a Senior Manager etc, all of a sudden you become the lucky winner for them.

  52. Hemant
    I recently attended the session. I told them that you are selling one small studio room in 3 Lacs to 50 people (assuming 50 weeks in a year), which means getting Rs. 15000000. Also, you are getting annually Rs. 550000 for maintenance (from all 11000 x 50) – so Rs. 13750000 for 25 years.
    Total you are getting Rs. 28750000 – around 3 crore for one small studio room and that too for 25 years only.
    If 12 friends contribute 5 lacs rupees and built a farm house they can stay one month and that too for life time.

  53. you will be some what glad to know. Various government agencies have launched probe against such time share holiday companies. thirteen in all, and I hope Mahindra Holidays is one among them. The only prayer I do the Almighty, this probe should end in to a logical conclusion. Penalties and criminal prosecution of such companies. AMEN!

  54. Hello,
    I bought club m membership during one of their free coupans meeting in start of this year. After 6 days I got the email docs confirming the conditions etc and soon I realised there were hidden information and it is not worth. I sent email and written cancellations asap to get the refund in 10 day free look periods. There were several calls from people at different offices telling there will be no refund but I continued to vehemently argue with them. Finally I for the whole amounted refunded through a cheque. Took around 3 months. My personal experience that their backoffice client service is not that bad but sales people (i think it is just because they need to justify their salary 🙂 ) are making all wrong claims.

    • Hi Sir,

      Please can you tell me what is the process of cancellation. Where did you get the withdrawal form.

      Thanks in advance
      Mitesh

    • Sir,

      I have too sufferred, can you kindly advise me to get my money back. Has been 18 months since iv cancelled my white studio, but in vain.
      Eagerly waiting for your response.

      Regards.
      Amit Rastogi
      9619053751

      • Do one thing ,If you think you correct and they did false promises then start campaigning against them over social media like on facebook or twitter, and make them aware about what you are doing. You will soon get your money back as I also faced the issue and did the same and got my money back.
        Regards,
        Ravi

  55. Hemant,

    Thanks for sharing your personal experience on Club Mahindra. None of your readers would buy this package now. That means less business to Cub Mahindra.

  56. Dear Hemant,

    With so many disgruntled voices, Is there any authority in the country under which such holiday schemes come under. It is a very sorry state that members loose lakhs of rupees and all they can do is write on some forum.

    This is a financial scam with mega proportions and it continues. The money paid by existing mis-guided and disgruntled members is being used for advertising on websites (BSE website has one) and full page ads in newspapers (Sunday Mid day) to rope in new members.

    An RTI needs to be filed to check the statistics of how many cancellation/terminations have been there and what is the amount the company has earned. Can a listed company engage in such business practice ? and get away with it !

    Michael

  57. We had taken club mahindra membership about 5 years back, valid for 25 years. We were given RCI free membership for 2 weeks as promotion. We visited Goa last year and before that travelled to florida and Maryland, USA for two weeks with RCI membership given to us by Club Mahindra. Until now we have had a wonderful experience with them. But only thing, this is for people who like to enjoy the resort as most of the resort is located far from any shopping centers or places of interest. So if you travel far to see those places nearby, you spend a lot of time, money. They give full fledge kitchen and we can cook some easy meals there and we had ordered room service like some dry items. Children enjoyed in the swimming pool and we have our time relaxing ourselves. Now we are travelling next to Munnar shortly:)

  59. Hemant.
    It was great reading your post.since the last few days I was thinking of becoming a member with club mahendrA. As a few of my friends are!
    For new years we needed to book the coorg destination! Instead I asked an agent and got a deal of 4500 rs a night! After reading your post! I think it’s better to book as a non member than as a member! As you have a variety of resorts. In one trip you can choose between resorts, and if you really want a Mahendra property! Buy it as a non member just for a few days!
    There is a friend who became a mahendrA member! Since the last 7 years he has been traveling ONLY in club Mahendra resorts. At least i have OPTIONS

    Amish

  60. vv important article which my eye got stuck onto it at right time. was just preparing to subscribe such one. thank god and all.

  62. Hemant.. the only thing i can suggest.. If you want to get justice and save people from this kind of fraud, you should file a complaint with consumer court.. they are doing a good job in many cases

  63. I should have read the reviews before attending their 2 hour session….at the end of the session the guy was forcing like hell to sign-up for the membership and was threatening as if we committed huge mistake by not agreeing to do so…..and the reviews here seem to be very logical….and Apt.

  64. Excellent article that should prevent others from falling into the trap of Holiday Resort Tricksters and fraudsters. Club Mahindra, Karma Resorts, Sterling Holiday resorts are all part of this devious plan to mislead people into believing that they can easily have cheap holidays at exotic locations. They are persistent as pests, tell lies blithely and literally badger you into signing up for schemes that only benefit them and not the subscriber. Hemant has done great service to the society by starting this topic.

  65. Excellent Hemant!!

    I was also thinking on the same lines but I haven’t purchased any membership yet.

    Thanks for sharing your views.

  66. Dear Hemant,

    You are just too good but unfortunately i found your post now when i am already shit deep in it. However can you be kind enough to suggest what can i do now. As you rightly said there are no takers in the market so what do you suggest ?

  67. Dear Amit Sidham,

    Thanks a lot for your brilliant analysis. I had taken country club membership 4 months back and was cursing myself all this while. But due to your detailed analysis and applying the same analogy i am gaining net 20-25 Lakhs due to my membership stay and due to the freebies i have got over from them including 2 return tickets from Dubai to India over a period of 23 years. Hemants analysis is brilliant and would have been worthwhile had i read it before 4 month but now since i was already in this and knowing i cannot come out of it, i just loved the analogy provided by you.
    So those who are reading and tracking this post one thing is for sure, to keep your flexibility on u can opt out of all these club memberships, however if you have already entered into one please read Amit Sidham’s post in detail and you would have a huge breath of relief.

    May God Bless U and Your Family Amit
    Best Regards
    Amit

  68. Hi Hemant,
    Great post and excellent analysis. I have huge problems with them. Have not used for more than 4 years now. When I wanted to cancel the membership, they said they will returnn about 16% of what I paid. It is hugely annoying. BTW, where did you get all these numbers? I wanted to take them to the court after getting all these numbers, and some more. But, they refused to give. Any idea where can I get them?

  69. Dear Hemant,
    I also feel of committing a grave mistake by Opting for Club Mahindra membership in Year2007. Till now , I could not avail even a single day of their hospitality, though i am on the vacation every year, at least for the once.
    There are several reasons
    * My decision to get the membership was not a thoughtful one.
    * I trusted their salesman words.
    * Their resorts are located at very few locations.
    * Club Mahindra peoples dont motivate theis members o avail the days.
    * They are just interested in getting more and more money from the pockets of their members.
    I really feel cheated by becoming a CM member.

    • the same i feel ,vasu—-i had been member for 7 years – i have fight every year and atleast 2-3 times a year with all officers at resort, bookings, branch office and chennai office—mad people buy club mahindra——–mahindras are very sound people but only members are lunatic…….i have alot to offer against club mahindra and will fight with consumer court

  70. Truly said, I also took the CM membership and after a month I came to know that they have so many riders, like even if completing your membership payment you will have to around 10k for each year till 25years for maintenance purpose.secondly when you plan to use your membership you might come to know that there is no availability and blab blab….
    So I just paid for three installment ( which was the min waiting period to avail the service ) and decided to close , CM resfused to pay the membership paid so I used it for 3D/4N , somewhat convenice myself.
    why to force your self for 25 yrs for just few options with so many constraints furthermore you might miss any deals which nowadays very common

  72. Time has come and the time is now for all Indians through TFL to eradicate the evil practices of indian businese houses. economy destabilise is cause by CHOR and its Companies. We publics are the parents of those CHOR. Stop feeding them, And then we shall be prosper. But for this we need a broader knowledge from a place like TFL.

    Thanks Hemant for your untired effort. Hoping forward for the brighter future of our india…

  73. What a fool I am, despite so much info available on net i didn’t bothered to check it and felt into the trap of club mahindra.

    Requested for cancellation, let see

    Mahesh

  74. I am planning to buy a membership of Country Club Ltd. It is costing me Rs.1,35,000/- for taking their Blue plan. I am skeptical about their reputation and their resorts. They are promising me 7D 6N per year.
    In comparison Club Mahindra is more expensive.
    Please Advise.. Should i go for it or look for other options ??

    • Hi Tarun,

      I am a member of Country Club/Vacations. I paid Rs. 90,000 for 5 years of vacations(7D 6N . per year) last year. They had promised me free membership of their clubs but this free membership is of no use. Their club does not provide much and they are far from my home. They told me lot of lies to sell this membership. I would say take whatever they promise you in written, read the agreement in details, take 1 day to read agreement and then only take the decision. They will tell you that offer is only for today but don’t be hurry. Read their agreement in detail and take 1 day to read it. They will definitely convince you, reduce cost to make you buy it right at that moment, but don’t be lured. You must take one or more days to read the agreement. They will most probably give you memebership at the same cost later once you decide.

      Regards,
      Sanjay

      Regards,
      Sanjay

      • hi Sanjay

        Thank a ton for ur thought provoking and genuinely helpful advise.

        Regards
        Tarundeep Singh Khaira
        Advocate
        Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh.

      • Hi Sanjay,
        One thing more, in case i get all their promises in writing, then is it a good deal??. As in r their resorts worth it ?? Should i think about Club Mahindra, though its comparatively expensive.

        Regards,
        Tarundeep Singh Khaira
        Advocate
        Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh.

  75. Ok I am a Club Membership Red Season holder since last 5 years. They gave me RCI membership exchange as offer for 2 years validity. I exchanged my 2 weeks holidays with RCI and travelled for 2 weeks to florida where they put me to experience 2 different resorts in each week, an experience which we will never forget our life. Whenever we want a holiday they always assisted their best to accommodate us, preference is given to members during peak season, and not to our relatives/ friends who are guest. I then experienced Goa and Munnar. Both were too good, with good hospitality ratings. It was a break through experience.

    Now, we are not able to have a vacation with all of us together as children are out of their careers. So the bad point is that, still we have to keep paying this ASF Maintenace about Rs.16k, or we will lose membership! None of us can travel and enjoy alone ! Not CM mistake though. I see only this part unjustified, as compared with not taking a membership. Otherwise they have those floating resorts in Ashtamudi/ Gir forest resorts… all in line much awaited to visited…

  76. Why cant we all Mahindra Club Members who all are suffering rather than getting relaxed on so called holidays come together and get rid of this headack once and for all.. rather than fighting single we can fight collectivly for our right.

  77. i was a member of club mahindra,membership no.126161,due to non payment of emi my membership was lost, now i want to regain it, can i get back?

  78. Hemant’s article can be a true eye opener. He has analyzed very systematically why Club Mahindra (CM) membership doesn’t work for him and probably for others with similar holidaying style. I have been a “prospective” CM membership buyer for a long time now (Since 2008!) and every time I decide to finalize the deal, I find some or the other valid reason for not going for it. Even to buy a Rs. 10,000/- mobile phone, I do quite a bit of research, so obviously before committing to such a significant amount I did look around for opinions and experiences, and I found a lot of useful information on Srindhi’s and Bhupesh Blogs.
    Even though the executives of CM try to hard sell their product, you can hardly blame them for lying or mis-selling since there are enough details on the internet about the features of this product, drawbacks and advantages since CM has been around for more than a decade now. So, I fell it would be very naïve of us to make a decision based only on what a sales executive tells us. I holiday (or would like to holiday) at least twice in a year and whenever I do, I like to stay in a comfortable and clean place. For that, in India, you have to stay in places with more than or equal to 3 star ratings only. Such a place, even in off-season, would cost you upwards of Rs. 3500/- these days and I have noticed that the prices have been increasing every year. I have stayed in a couple of CM resorts (Coorg and Munnar) and I have to admit, they are absolutely gorgeous. Both the times, I had stayed as a guest of a Member and I have nothing to complain as far as service or facilities are concerned. I had booked in both the places about 2 months in advance and it didn’t seem like such a big inconvenience to me at the time. Now, I am told, they have even more streamlined the booking process which is indeed good news. So, I feel it would be really good to have a CM membership. But, the question is “Will it be a good Financial Decision?”
    Though, I agree when Hemant says that the wise learn from other’s mistakes, I am just exploring the possibility of “benefitting” from other’s mistakes. It is true that “used” CM memberships are available on various forums at steeply discounted prices. Will it be a smart financial decision to buy those? And what would be that “smart price”?

    Before I make a decision I feel I should consider these facts.
    1. If you want to holiday every year and want to stay comfortably, it is going to cost you. At today’s price you wouldn’t be too off the mark if you assume that your per night cost will be close to Rs. 4000/-
    2. So, if you assume that you a have a holiday fund which you have invested in a fixed deposit that gives you a return at 9% per annum and you take a holiday after you have accumulated the interest for one full year, the cost of that holiday will have to come from the sum of the corpus and the interest. Since, interest alone will not be sufficient to cover the expenses in most of the cases, you will have to dig into your corpus every time and consequently your corpus keeps shrinking every year. After a few years you will not be left with any corpus!
    3. CM resorts are beautiful and extremely comfortable. It would be a real pleasure to stay in most of them (Kumbalgarh’s dirty swimming pool notwithstanding!)
    4. The type of apartment and season depends on your family size and composition. If you have school going kids for example, red season should be better and probably 1or 2 BR (depending on number of kids).
    Now, the question is at what price to enter the membership. For my requirements, I find a white studio with at least 20 years, for Rs. 1, 00,000/- quite reasonable. (In fact I was negotiating a deal recently but it didn’t come through as there was a difference of about 10K between the seller’s and my offer.) If you assume, that the ASF and your Non- CM accommodation cost both increase at 8% every year and you have a bought a membership with still 20 years still on board for one Lakh (which let us assume was your “holiday corpus”) you will see that you would have spent about Rs. 4409/- per night at CM (Even after considering that you continue to pay Whole sale price index linked ASF) as against Rs. 10084/- at an equivalent hotel or resort over the next 20 years. (I have created an Excel sheet calculation for the same and can mail it to all those who want it).
    The trade offs for this Rs. 5675/- savings are –
    1. Planning holiday well in advance.
    2. Can go to “only” 40 (as of now) resorts in 20 years. (you don’t have to visit the same place again if you holiday only twice a year like me)
    3. Bear with “not so premium” service at few places. (which can happen with any hotel or accommodation, there are bound to be some bad experiences)
    4. Your holiday accommodation requirements vary with passing years, but you have only one type of accommodation.
    I find the trade-offs are not very discouraging.
    Would certainly welcome comments.

    • We have a red season studio membership.We have visited yercaud,munnar,ashtamudi and mussorie.We rate 10/10 our experience till now.As for financial calculations I do not do it much as long as our experience in these resorts were good.Some hiccups are there no doubt,but overall our experience has been too good.I feel pained to see many of you calling them cheats..etc..etc..which I really cannot comprehend…Regarding food there is no compulsion that one has to eat there only..For a busy doctor like most,it reminds me to take a week off in a year to those lovely resorts with courteous staff and well mannered co-members…For me iam happy to have invested in club Mahindra..

  79. Hi;
    We are a member of club mahindra and pay about 14000 annually for their soo called maintenance but to be frank it does not seem to be happening. all through out the year these people will not have rooms available for their members be it anytime of the year and they indeed go about promising during membership that we will be getting studio rooms to stay in but end up giving us some of their filthy hotel units which are soo small and the quality is soo bloody pathetic that an individual cannot stay in these filthy rooms of theirs and their call center too has a very pathetic way of responding.

    these people do sell their rooms to non members instead of providing the rooms to the members….

    SINCERE ADVICE NEVER NEVER TAKE UP A CLUB MAHINDRA MEMBERSHIP……..

  80. Most of the members are telling the true stories. I am also CM member.
    My understanding : CM is for you only
    1) If you are family – like to stay at resort and like to enjoy the beauty of nature and not hulla gulla of city.(can say 50% stay at resort and 50% hulla gulla )
    2) If you can plan your holidays atleast 2 month in advance.
    3) If you like to travel every year during holiday seasons(like kids holiday’s)
    4) If you have patient to get rewarded for your money (Like share market …one should not go to chart and see what is going on in the market daily when he is planning for long term investment)
    5) Considering luxury resorts ready to shell out little extra for food and other expenses.(this happen in any 5 start hotel..you can not compare 5 star and one” dhaba” or 2 start hotel price)
    6) Most importantly you like to stay in the property above 3star rating and know the pricing difference for what you get when compared to lesser star.

    If above any of the number coming to “NO” I request not to enter in to agreement as you will be disappointed.

    Hope this will help.

  81. Great discussion all…I was thinking of signing up, however after reading through the variety of views offered, I am convinced that this is one club I am better off not joining.. 🙂

  82. Superb discussion, i was impressed by the way the sales rep approached me after attending or rather i can say wasting my 2 precious hrs about the add ons of clubmahundra, i came to know about their new conditions which they are going to exercise from now on, a. only one weekend a year u can travel across, cancellation a member have to do one month in advance and finally the members can go to a particuler resort only once in a year.

    I feel good that my money is saved from the cheaters and frauds like clubmahindra’s, being mahindra group why such a pathetic service and a bad name in the market.

    I hope it will be useful for others as well.

    COLIN

  83. I recently joined CM as a member, after having thought that at least I will be going for Holidays once/twice a year. I have done the initial payment of 21990, and they have asked that 3 emi’s will be deducted from my CC, and some good option of 5 days Holiday abroad and 7N/3D in CM resort is available. After watching mix comments from few of the members in above post, i am not able to decide whether to continue with CM or not. One thing wanted to ask, is there a possibility to get out of the CM membership after I paid 3 emi’s and availed atleast one free holidays that they promised.

    Please suggest.

    Sheela

    • please get out they are cheats.. If you want just book online when u want to take holidays. Do not book for 25 years its a big scam. You wont get holidays when u want

  84. Hi Hemant and everyone..

    This article is a real eye opener.. But unfortunately I tried to open my eyes quite late. 🙁 I subscribed for the membership yesterday and I checked the reviews today. For some reason, when the CM representative was at my house, I couldn’t think of anything else but to become their member. I found the offers gud (except few painful things like maintenance fees and extra charges etc.)

    I have already paid 33K as part of the down payment. But after reading reviews on this site as well as few others, I am repenting.. I have chosen Red + Studio membership with all the 5 offers (which include one internation trip, 24K discount on down payment etc.)

    If I decide to withdraw the membership, how much will be the amount refunded back? Will there be any refund (if not, it will be a nightmare)??? And if yes, how much can be the time taken?

    Please assist.

    Thanks,
    Mukta

  87. I have gone through all the comments but feel differently,CM holidays are mainly beneficial to families or Retd.Couple who have all the time and will to enjoy good life.I too had been lured by their agent but after two weeks of no communication,decided to write to Mr.Anand Mahindra but it was diverted to the MD,promptly got a call from the corporate office by the MD himself assuring complete refund in 24 hrs plus offered free holidays for 4 nts any where with 4000/free food vouchers.Ashtamudi holidays inducted us back to CM.Since last three years,we enjoyed at 11 resorts including Gangtak/Baiguney.Thekkady/Kodaikanal/Munnar bought from RCI.Every where it was fantastic experience,food,Activities,Rooms/Staff except these resorts are far from the city center.In BKK/PATTAYA,we got very bad experience as the hotels were far from the city and taxis were expensive and Thai food was not palatable specially for my wife being a veg.This holiday was a disaster but on our complaint to CM,immediately,they refunded our Red season days in to our account back,That is what we appreciated.One should not get dismayed by all these comments.In fact we had decided to celebrate our Golden jubilee in ooty.The Gen MGR along with other executives came to wish us with flowers and a cake and invited us for special dinner.Again celebrated my Birthday at thekkady last year,special dinner was arranged,At Gangtak,our wedding anniversary was highlighted in the Dinning hall without our knowledge with Candle lights and Songs by the staff,unforgetable moments with CM.We planned to visit Nathula pass in Gangtak,Car was arranged and special packed B`fast was given with blankets.Sorry,We have no complaints about CM.

  88. Hi

    I took am a member & now regret..yes i was also given false promises by the executive… he asked me to write a reference of a lady who he knows & in turn can get a cash redemption for the same. He also said that you could give the apartment on rent & earn through it , i.e if you are not able to utilize your holiday that year…
    I agree that the resorts are beautiful..but away from cities..so travel is a problem & so is site seeing. Moreover whenever i want to travel & request for a destination for certain dates…its NEVER available…nd booked…so you have to compromise on the destination & date of travel as per the availability…

  89. A great article, an eye-opener to many… I share a lot of same thoughts, I’ve been through similar experiences which I have outlined in my blog too. This also makes me believe that they use similar techniques to dupe customers, that means CM is a rotten organization. How can they expect people to link with them for 25 years and live with this rot? I am filing a consumer court complaint against them very soon, lets see how it works out… will keep you guys posted.

  90. Hi

    After numerous invites, I attended a presentation at Club Mahindra at Chembur mall yesterday, my wife was impressed by the presentation. However, while some of the presentation made sense to me, I was quite turned off by the hard selling that the executive was trying to do and I told him upfront that I take time to research thoroughly before I make a purchase and I walked off when they refused to give me time.

    After reading this blog and the comments made by various users I have come to a conclusion that I took the right decision.

    Thank you
    Amit

  91. My parents have just purchased the 1.28 Lac CM cheapest package on 25th Jan 2013. After asking them about any other charges applicable, They (CM) said no. When I checked the info doc they provided, I told my parents about the annual maintenance which was quite evident. They are very upset cause they were thinking that paying the above amount was a good bet. We have officially complaint today, but the sales manager says 15% which is paid is non-refundable due to the discount offer offered to them.
    PLEASE HELP GUYS….What should I do????? (Especially Mr. Hemant)

  92. Club Mahindra does too much hard selling and that irritates. They are soft spoken till they finish their presentation, then they start too much hard selling every minute. They ask you to decide before you leave conference room. When I said I will think and come back. They said Thank you Sir. Good bye. I have never seen such impolite company any ware. Anyway that is their business model. Let them run like that.
    Next morning I called my friend is already member and he also it is waste of money and time to go with Club Mahindra. Reasons were simple and logical. My experience with club Mahindra was people with self respect should not go to club Mahindra office to have presentations.

  93. hi what is benefit is u consider interst on your deposits and availability on website across the board of holiday i mean room s are available on meagre amount u can buy for 2 -3 k why spend lakh for that .

  94. if u consider nt on money invested and amc charges, and compare with availability on website in 3-4 thousands per day what is benefit

  95. Hi All,

    I have the best offer and also an opportunity for you guys.

    OFFER:
    Club membership package for next 30 yrs
    for 2-4 people
    for 2 weeks vacation every year
    access to over 2000+ exotic resorts across the globe
    at just Rs. 7.5 Lakh

    OPPORTUNITY:
    Once you buy this package you will get an ID
    with which when you refer your friends, who will also like this package and buy it, you will earn
    Rs. 95000 as retail commission and
    Rs. 30000 as BV Commission and
    5 eVoucher Points

    For more details you can reach out to me at:
    Cell: +91 9845700000

    Thanks,
    Manjunath
    Bangalore, India.

  96. hi,

    my name is arun rathnam and i have been a club mahindra member since 2009. on the onset let me clarify that i am just a member, neither am i mouthpeice nor have i been paid in cash or in kind to create this blog by anybody.

    i read this blog by Mr. Shrinidhi hande potraying a totally negative picture of club mahindra (also here by Mr. Hemant )and i would like to share my experiences

    (http://www.enidhi.net/2007/02/never-go-for-club-mahindra-membership.html)

    BTW before i begin, the club mahindra management has responded to Mr. shrinidhi with some explanations

    (http://www.enidhi.net/2008/04/club-mahindra-holidays-ipo.html)

    first, lets understand the concept of timeshare holidays. It is something like this…..as an individual ur bargaining power is quite limited. therefore in timeshare holidays u agree to holiday with a certain timeshare company, the company gets a substancial number of individuals and hence provides services which would otherwise be prohibitive in costing at a reduced price.

    it is a buyer-seller relationship, and like other buyer-seller relationships has its share of ups and downs. the buyer expects the moon while the seller is selling just his product!!

    the disadvantages of a timeshare holiday membership are

    1. u have a long term relationship with one particular seller (in this case club mahindra), therefore its one based on trust that club mhaindra will maintain its standards for the full 25 years.

    2. since its a group of individuals who have paid, u will have a fair amount of competition in booking ur holiday dates for a particular resort.

    3. u have monopolised a particular seller so even if he increases his charges later on u cant do anything as u have agreed for a partnership for a long period (25 years)

    now, what are ur expectations with a holiday….let me tell u my expectations and why i chose club mahindra….

    1. i want to take a holiday twice a year, my dates are flexible,

    2. but i would like to live luxuriously in a resort when i take a holiday.

    3. i would also like to treat my family members, near and dear and friends to a good time when they come with me.

    i have taken a one bedroom apartment, white season.

    i paid approx about 3.5 lacs for the membership with a free holiday (3 days bonus, not part of the 7 days), Rs2000/- food coupons and a sony bravia LCD tv (26 inches). after that i am getting 7 days a year with an annual maintanence fee ranging from Rs 12000 in the first year to Rs 15000/- in the 4th year.

    The ASF is based on parameters of inflation index published by the indian govt from time to time.

    Q1: often people tell me you can put the money u paid to club mahindra in a fixed deposit and holiday on the interest alone without even paying any annual membership fee.

    answer: my calcualtions are this. any resorts of the standard of club mahindra costs approx 4000-6000 today. lets fix it at the lower cost Rs 4000 for a day. what i am getting in club mahindra is a 7 day holiday for 4 adults ie 7 days at Rs4000 a room, 2 rooms for 4 adults = Rs 56000/-.

    if i assume i put 3.5 lacs in a FD i will get approx 31500 (assuming 9% interest), so it means a yearly outlay of 24500/- (this figure will only increase as interest rates hovers around 8-9% but inflation causes the hotel rooms to get costlier)

    so in a way what i can say is instead of putting the money i earmarked for holidays in the bank and earn interest as money, i have put it in deposit with club mahindra where i am paid in holidays ( rather than in cash). its a different way of looking at the same scenario

    when i see it from a members side a 56000/- holiday is costing me the ASF that i pay ie 15000/-….which saves me 41000/- in the first year. The margin of saving does increase every year as rooms get costlier every year while interest recieved on money invested remains constant. therefore i feel its a good deal.

    in my opinion club mahindra gets approx around 10 lacs profit from each membership but thats beside the point. a company has to make a decent profit from them to be sustainable. if they are not making good profits then i would be worried that theirs resort standards would drop after the inital period and will not be sustained for 25 years

    Q2: Why choose a resort at all, why not a nice hotel room??

    answer: if u are asking this question, then definately club mahindra is not for u. it is for those people who want to enjoy resort type luxurious stay for some days every year. if u feel u dont mind staying in a normal hotel and spend money on other aspects of ur holiday, then CM is not for u.

    so please be clear what u want before commiting to a CM membership, because this is a long term commitment. if u decide u want to opt out inbetween u will definately end up on the losing side.

    Q2. a room is never available in the resot of my choice. this is a constant worry/ complaint often voiced.

    answer: i book my holidays approx 2-3 months in advance i have never had a problem with availability. i dont know about last minute deals but i know this, availability is there for resorts in about 2 weeks from any date if u are not specific about resort (places near to ur residence like say places around delhi or places around mumbai, or bangalore etc). i guess thats ok considering u are planning an off-the-cuff holiday. i am not talking about peak season like new year or diwali or christmas in this.

    Q3: Marketing people offer the moon when they talk to you

    Answer: This is silly, how can u believe anything that is not given in writing. whatever is the contract everything is mentioned clearly in writing. please read everything carefully before commiting. i didnt have a problem with this as i believed whats written, not whats said!!

    Q5: not all resorts are good

    answer: i agree that not all resorts are of the same standard. varca beach goa, munnar etc are really big and nice. in general the ones in north india are smaller than the ones in south india which are really well spaced. but all resorts have a different theme and look. eg jim corbett has the jungle look with a lake in the background. poovar and astamudi are situated in the backwaters. munnar and massorie have a whole hill spaced as the resort. so each resort is definately different and worth seeing

    Q6: season classification

    This is quite a good feature offered in most time share holidays. ie ur payment is based on the time u want to take ur holiday. so if u want the “peak” season u pay more. this also ensures that the particular season members will be given preferance on their respective season. (Eg. u cant choose the blue season and expect to go to goa during the new year period.)

    Q7: Food availability and cost

    The quality of food is really good. The buffet rivals any 5 star restaurant and is very nice. but the cost is quite high. on the upside a lot of restaurants are available in the near vicinity of most CM resorts so u dont have to eat in CM all the time. The combo they offer (breakfast, lunch and dinner at a reduced price) is good but still the cost is high. I hope they offer better economic food variety

    Q9: lots of complaints and disgruntled customers

    if u browse the net, u will find diverse opinion with many people saying a CM membership is not at all cost effective. I feel it all depends on what u want. if u are sure of what u want and u feel u fit the customer profile of a CM membership u will have fun with it. For eg, when u pay 20000-30000 for a high end phone how many users actually access the internet, use most of the apps and software with it. in my opinion buying a high end phone just to gel with a percieved “high end” crowd is a waste of money. but thats just my opinion, some will agree, others disagree. therefore i dont fit the customer profile of a HTC one or a samsung SIII. i will definately be unhappy if i buy either one. i will feel they are a waste of good earned money. It doesnt mean these phones are bad, it just means i should never have bought either one!!

    in the end if u want everything according to ur specifications it will never happen, in whatever u buy. u cannot have the best for the cheapest cost. the best will be the costliest and the cheapest will be the least quality. club mahindra comes in between, its value for money if u want a luxurious resort based holiday. I would definately recommend a CM membership as i have had quite a good time with them. My family and relatives who i have taken along with me to the resorts are all happy with what is offered.

    I hope this blog has helped u decide whether a CM membership is worth it or not. Please be sure of what u want out of ur holiday before u commit hastily for a 25 year timeshare and regret in leisure!!

    • Thanks Arun for sharing this – hope this will help readers.
      Your analogy of “Smart Phone” clarifies my point “CM is MY mistake”.

  97. Hi All,
    i went through lot of discussions above and also gone through the membership details it thinks its not good to go for club mahindra….

    When you visit places, you visit place not resorts….. for next 25 years how can you think about investing 3-5 lacs for others property.

    They said when you plan holidays its like you spend….
    60 % in accommodation
    20% in travel
    20% in food

    bullshit…..

    its…..
    25 % in accommodation
    45% in travel
    25% in food
    10% in miscellaneous… like a bit shopping, medicines etc…..

    i think self plan and self research is the best way to enjoy……

  98. Hi

    Thanks a lot for such a wonderful post.
    Let me share my views about Club Mahindra and how I purchased my membership.

    Before that let me tell you my background
    I am basically a Mechanical Engineer & CFP and now I earn my leaving as a Value Investor.

    So as an Investor I first started analyzing the Business of Club Mahindra and I found it very interesting. The most interesting fact about the business is that the members are giving you money to create the assets and as well as to maintain the same (after 25 years Club Mahindra can use same inventory to sell further memberships.) and not only that, they on their own are going to compete to maintain occupancy in Club’s resorts, and for some reason if they don’t use it the members are at loss and not the company.
    Compare this with any other hotel Industry where the hotel is required to borrow and pay interest to build the capacity and then to worry about maintaining occupancy in it.
    So according to me it’s a fantastic business model in long term. BUT …………The Market knows this so Mahindra Holidays and Resorts Ltd was quoting at a stiff valuation of close to 24 P/E (in June 2012)
    In stock market the most important factor is the price what you are paying for the business and as a Value Investor I decided to keep this stock on my radar and wait for fall in the same.
    While analyzing the company and doing my homework (Google.co.in) I came along a very interesting website enidhy.net where I got a very good analysis of Club Mahindra Membership from members prospective, not only that long back I had attended companies marketing presentation and rejected the idea of Buying Membership from Company after doing lot of calculations.

    From enidhi.net I realized that there are lot of members who want to sell membership most of them had bought the membership without carefully analyzing their needs, most of them had become pray of Club Mahindra Sales team and are now unable to use the Membership mostly for following reasons
    1) Do not get the time for Holiday
    2) Need to plan in advance of 4 to 6 months to get the bookings of popular resorts.
    3) Resorts are not in city and food is very costly at resort. Etc
    As there is no developed second sell market for timeshare so they are selling it at distressed price It is like selling of a second hand Car.

    Then I realized that buying such a second sell membership dose makes a very good seance as these are available at 40 to 50% discount to new membership price and in most of the cases accumulated inventory of Days is also available for immediate utilization.
    And using second sell membership is not like using a used car as it doesn’t depreciate only you get less no of years compared to new one. I realized that in second sell you pay 40% of price for 80 to 90% of period.

    When I discussed with my friends who are existing members I realized that Membership has got following advantages
    1) Locations of most of Resorts are outstanding.
    2) Maintenance and service at resort is quite good. It is not as 5 star hotels but certainly with the standard of 3 to 4 star hotels.
    3) You do visit some different places which you will not otherwise visit.
    4) It is not compulsory to buy food over their and In Studio apartments you get small cooking facility like Microwave or so which comes very handy when you are traveling with children.
    5) These resorts are very child friendly and have good and safe facilities to keep children occupied.
    When I analyzed my needs I realized that my children are of age 2 and 7 years and they will come with me for holidays only for next 8 to 10 years ( I don’t think this generation will travel with parents once they are 16) so for next 10 years I need to take vacations when they have holidays so I decided to buy Red Studio Mmebership.

    I found lot of sell postings for various types of Memberships on quikr.com , olx.com and also on enidhy.net websites. And after giving couple of offers and bargain I made a deal of one Red Studio Membership with 23 years left (only 2 years used) for Rs 175000/- ( 55% discount in price for 92% period compare to new membership) and after doing calculations for PMT considering interest @ 10% on 175000/- my per Red Studio day cost works out to be Rs 4200/- (Including annual Maintenance Charges) and my cost further goes down if I travel in white or blue season so I found it worth at this price. Over a period of time only annual maintenance component of my cost (which is 40%) is going to inflate with inflation so probably it will be further cheaper for me few years down the line.
    AND I BECAME A MEMBER OF CLUB MAHINDRA.

    I bought this membership in June 2012 and till date I visited following resorts
    1) Goa verkha – 2 times
    2) Coorg
    3) Austria – Inns burg
    4) Sherwood Mahabaleshwar – 2 times
    After visiting these resorts I never regretted my decision to buy the membership in fact I am very happy with the Membership. Their online resort booking facility is fantastic and very transparent I found it very convenient as I plan my holidays well in advance and anyway you can cancel your booking 16 days in advance without any loss.

    One month back I bought one more membership for my Mother which is Red Studio with 16 years remaining and 21 accumulated days for Rs135000/-

    I am a happy member of Club Mahindra and I am waiting for share price of Mahindra Holidays and Resorts to come down to enter the Stock……………

    • Hi Sachin,
      50-60% discount is awesome – your value investing strategies are working here 🙂

  99. Please do not fall prey to calls from Club Mahindra reps saying that you will be given free voucher. I was one such person that went for the free voucher only but when they started explaining their product, I started to convince myself that I should subscribe. However, before it was too late for me to fall prey to them, something told me that I should compare their offers with other similar offers. I openly made that comment and told them that you are going to give me a free voucher and let me experience your place. I will subscribe to Club Mahindra once I get a feeling of how the place is and the service is. It will also give me some time to compare your product with others.

    Hearing that a new sales person approached and started narrating the same story that the first one did. My response was the same. What more was needed, they wrapped up a 2.5 hour long hard sell and said bye. Not even a thanks. When I prompted innocently for the voucher, they said they have already sent it through email. I believed them and walked out hoping that the voucher would have reached and I can definitely make an attempt and subscribe. Till now I have not received any voucher that they said as already dispatched through email.

    I only thank god now that I did not fall prey to their sales pitch and become a member. If they are behaving like a cheat even with the voucher, I can imagine how well they can keep their promises to their subscribers!

    So please do not fall prey into the hands of Club Mahindra guys! You will be better off doing your holiday plan at the point of incidence.

    • this is a clear case of muddling up issues. club mahindra does give free vouchers. i have been able to utilise these free vouchers for a 3 day holiday. But they come with a catch. do a down payment for the membership and then avail the voucher…..
      the catch is needed as a room in any club mahindra resort sells for 4000-6000 a night. u want a holiday worth 12-18000 for just attending an event and listening to a presentation…..isnt that asking for a bit too much?? (just my opinion).
      and u also want it under no obligation….at the end of the holiday u will just say “i dont find the resort impressive” and walk off…..
      try asking an apple vendor on the street, “give me 1 apple, i will taste it at home and if i like it i will come back tomorrow and buy a dozen.”……i hope u get a positive reply!! best of luck

      • try asking an apple vendor on the street, “give me 1 apple, i will taste it at home and if i like it i will come back tomorrow and buy a dozen.”…
        To which the apple vendor denies straight away, Club Mahindra doesn’t. They try to trap you with tricks, like asking for a credit-card authorization, a cheque, etc and they charge you without letting you know. They do not let you know the cancellation charges or the timelines, in short CM doesn’t follow ethical practices, hence the article here to enlighten everyone.
        at the end of the holiday u will just say “i dont find the resort impressive” and walk off….. yes I will because as a customer I do not find it worth enough to invest (read “trap”) my money for 25 years. Current members like me are having a tough time to get accommodation on desired dates even after paying a hefty membership and each year additional annual subscription fees. If CM feels it can’t give something under “no obligation”, it should stop tricking people that they have won a free holiday voucher.

  100. I am a members of CM since 2011 and have availed holidays in Jim Corbett and Goa (Varca beach). All I can say is, they have Excellent propertis, full of natural environment. Also, I completely Agree with Sachin S. Its all depend upon your Personal preference and needs. But I regret paying in full around 368000 in one shot in 2011 for Red Studio. Had I been properly informed (like Sachin S), I could have never wasted extra money and would have bought from 2nd hand market. But since I go vacations twice an year (with one of my close friend and his family), I am planning to buy another Red Studio from 2nd hand market.

    One more thing which I want to point out is. CM Goa Resort (Varca beach) is the most sought after Resort (by CM members) for vacations and I had no problem in getting reservation even in peak season (5th Jan 2012) but yes, I booked in 6 months advance.

    Anyways, if I forget the extra amount I paid for new membership (instead of buying from 2nd hand market), It has been a quite good and satisfying experience for me.

  101. Joing to the club mahindra membership is my biggest mistake. The fact is their agents hiding lot of factors which we come to know during the month of march. Ine of them is ASF, which I was not aware that there is yearly ASF factor of 10,000 extra payment every year.

    I do not understand if they charge 2.65 lacs for 25 years at once, if we keep it in FD yearly, we get atleast 25,500 @ 10% intrest on the principal amount. Just take the intrest factor + add the ASF charges they charge ie, 10,000 which is equalent to +/- = 35,000. You can spend a good holiday for lesser amount anywhere in India. This is a foolish decision i have taken..

    I asked club mahindra cancel & refund the money… which now they saying that there is no refund policy.. This is bullshit, infact they should refund the full money with bank intrest applicable to that much period.

    I feel that club mahindra is just cheating the public and are into froud business. If they are not then they should do their business with honesty & inform the costs involved at first instance before the person could sign the application …

    I think, public should aware about club mahindra that they are froud.

  102. Dear Hemant,

    It’ s a never ending debate……..
    I am also a club mahindra member from past two years. From reading the above post I think this is a case of buying a product without getting full information about the product.
    I don’t agree about the interest accruable on the product.

    -If you holiday for australia/newzealand you would end-up paying 2.5-3 lacs for 15-20 days of trip. Will you calculate interest on it?

    -On everything interest is not calculated. will you calculate interest on how much you have spend on your education or your children education. Similarly, leisure travel in this era is a must, you should not calculate interest on it.

    Its not that hyundai i-20 is a poor product but if your requirement is of honda jazz and you buy i-20 before having proper info and then claim that i-20 is poor…i don’t know what to say…

    At many places you are right…but if you say club mahindra is fraud….it’s just not so….

    sanjeev

  103. Hemant,
    I dont agree your comment. If you know for what you are spending then there is no issue of intrest income. You cannot compare one thing to the other. In that way, I also traveled Europe holidays, but I know what is going to be my expenses. In that way I cannot compare the facilities that I got during my travel to Europe to Club mahindra facilities.

    As you say about complete info, Clubmahindra agent did not inform me anything about ASF charges. I was not aware & when I got the first invoice for ASF charges it was nothing less than a surprise.. I felt so bad that why I become the member. I felt I am cheated. If ASF needs to paid then they should have informed in the first instance. Why they have to hide the info.

    By looking about the prepayment of whole amount, not wise investment.
    2.65 lacs for 25 years at once, if we keep it in FD yearly, we get atleast 25,500 @ 10% intrest on the principal amount. Just take the intrest factor + add the ASF charges they charge ie, 10,000 which is equalent to +/- = 35,000. Still your principal amount of 2.65Lcs secured in your hand. Tension free.

    • Hi Vijay,
      Your calculations of a decent holiday for 1 week at 35k hold valid at today’s rate. But have you factored inflation in the cost of your holidays for next 25 years? It will become 38.5 k, 42k in year 2 and 3, above Rs. 1 lakh from 13th year onwards and approx Rs. 3.5 Lakhs in 25th yea (all calculations at 10% inflation). Factoring inflation, the principal amount will get exhausted by 8th year itself.
      Regards

      • why dont you guys at club mahindra explain things to the public before you steal their hard earned money. forget 25 years, there will soon come a time, when you sales guys would be bashed up on the road the moment someone notices your ID. It will be considered normal for CM sales guys to get beaten up, just like killing a cockroach.

  104. They denied my refund too. I enrolled to cluba Mahindra in a Travel Mart in BKC, Mumbai this Januray 2013. I was told all good things about Club Mahindra including a promo 2 weeks free international stay, etc (Now, I realise this promo is for everyone) and the moment I gave my cc to the rep (Mr. Tauheed) while I was still asking questions, he swiped my card. He did not even gave me a day to think and next day morning when I realised my blunder, I called this guy only to know ( a lie) there is no cancellation policy. After reading above comments, I got to know there is 10day cancellation period. Now, when I called customer service, they say they cannot refund anything instead suggested their choice of ONLY ONE resort where I did not wish to go. I paid a total of 33,000 so far and did not use any Club Mahindra property. Feel cheated in a BIG way by a leading brand in the market. Let this & above messages reach one and every individual who might get trapped by Mahindra.

  105. Hi Amit
    I can talk about today!! I dont know about what is going to be next 1 year.. What you are telling about prediction but it is not neccesary that it should should be true or we may not be there too to look what is stored.. But yes!!! we can definitely talk about today with absolute value, which you agree!!

    But I can assure you, you can have a lovely holiday for 25K with good resorts in India even today, not only me even most of the readers will agree this who knows the value of money.

  106. Dear Hemant

    Thanks buddy for sharing some of your valuable thougts on Club Mahindra. Never will i become their member. It would be interesting if someone from Clud Mahindra responded to your post. They force you to become their members (sometime even beg). I dont know like their stratergy. If they are so popular, people would be dying to become their members (I doubt if that can even happen)

  107. I have an interesting experience though not with Mahindra in India. I was in the US in 2001 and went to Florida with my wife. We planned to go to Disneyland the next day. At our hotel we were told that we could get the Disneyworld entry tickets at 50% discount (i.e. $25 as against $50, if I remember right). Being true Indians, we decided to go. We were asked to attend a 2 hr session which we later realised, was the concept of time-sharing. We were then approached by ‘well-dressed’ ‘luscious’ ladies and brainwashed to subscribe to the membership. Quite a few who attended the session actually paid up. However, we held our stance of saying ‘no’. They then even went to the extent of insulting us. That’s when I lost my temper, created a ruckus, collected the 50% discount and walked away laughing! After all, $25 was a good sum 12 yrs ago…
    Post my return to India, I’ve ‘won’ many ‘prizes’ in India from Mahindra and other agencies but I’ve never wasted my time on any of them….. Based on the information in Hemant’s article and the other comments, I think I’m doing right.

  109. Could u help me about my decision………………..

    I have just become a member of CLUB MAHINDRA .
    Studio Purple Rs.700000/-

    Which Seoson is better (Purple,red,W.)
    Which Room type os better(studio,1 BR)

  110. Club Mahindra!!! The biggest fake on earth….
    These guys will trap you in some shopping mall or some other place and they will write your name, address etc. After some time they will say you have got selected in a lucky draw organized by them and you will get 5 days/6 nights (numbers may vary) at their resort and when you will reach the said venue they will trap you and will try to convince you to buy their plans ( 3-4 hours hours of our precious time is gone in vain). If you are convinced well and good (you will be trapped) else no prize or lucky draw will be there.

  111. I got a call from Sterling Holidays

    Details of Blue (Off season) Studio (3A or 2A+2C)
    I have paid the Down Payment approx 20k (of the total approx 1,55,000) and the AMC is 3,303 now which will rise as per CPI

    I have done my R&D
    1. 2003 to 2010 was bad phase for them but now they are turning around again.
    2. Rakesh JunJunwala and Damani have made investments in company
    3. Co’s MD has been changed and within two years loss have significantly reduced
    4. Co. bought 3 new properties (so now total 23 resorts) and they have lot of vacant land (means growth opportunity) also they have renovated some of their properties.
    5. As far as my personal criterias
    I can definitely go for vacations n plan them well in advance for next 3 to 5 years
    6. I am into free look period i.e. I have a week still to cancel and get 100% as per T&C (now I don’t know about Co’s intention or their history)

    Can anybody please suggest me about credibility, reliability, Resorts, services of Sterling Holidays Resorts

    Please Give ur opinions/instances about Sterling Holidays quickly as I have only week to decide

    Regards
    Kapil Budhdev

    • it isnt too hard to judge the guys who plan to create assets from “your ” money. they are all the same. Remember, our social life style is different from the western world. Timeshares does not work in India. Club mahindra holidays is available at 60% discount by people who felt they were cheated. check out on quicker.com or olx.in. you definately wont make a mistake of marrying the whole girl just because you loved her nose. Jhunjhunwala keeps selling his shares.

  112. I have a No ASF membership from Citrus Check Inns, Its a well known group.
    The biggest factor tempted me to take these holiday membership is that they dont have Seasonal Barrier like Club Mahindra, Sterling & other company’s have (Red,white,blue). Secondly, they dont even charge ASF.

    Any Reason, Any Season – they say.

    Its India’s first company without ASF charges.
    34 destinations.
    2600 Affiliation.
    on accumulating, take 75% vouchers instead of your holiday. they dont get lapsed here.

    5yrs plan for 1,20,000/- Fragrance
    10yrs plan for 2,25,000/- Lemon
    15yrs plan for 3,00,000/- Orange.

    Fellas, go for such company.

  113. I am also victim of Club Mahindra Membership, you only endup paying money in name of membership and maintenance, difficult to find room aligning corporate working and school holidays. this might be good for rich business class who not able to build their own resort due to XYZ reason.

  114. So many dissatisfied members… why not get together and fight it out, through Consumer court or any other means. I think everyone is waiting for the other person to take the initiative, then either join him or follow him. Someone who knows consumer law should suggest what is the best way to move forward and handle those issues head on. We all have highlighted the problems, lets find a solution now.

  115. Dear All ,

    even i did same mistake, deposit around Rs. 24000/- in Feb- 13 but my dear frds what is the solution to get back ,they are keep on saying next week-2 .Please solve the problem

    regards,
    Virender

    • send them a court summon for cheating. it works 100%. and then get some news channel like bloomberg and cnbc tv18 to broadcast the news. i suggest you do it collectively. these guys are a threat to your hard earned money.

  116. Dear Friends,

    Pancard clubs Limited is a group company of Panoramic Group of Companies. Pancard Clubs Limited is engaged in development & maintenance of Recreation Club and hotels. It’s having 53 pan India Branches, offerings it customers Holiday Option.

    An applicant can obtain room nights in advance for a specific period which is offered to him at a discounted rate than the prevailing rates at the Group own Hotels, Clubs, Resorts and its affiliations. The biggest benefit to the applicant is that the unutilized Room Nights do not lapse. The unutilized room nights can be surrendered at an estimated value declared by the company from time to time.

    Not only this further the applicant can avail discount upto 15% on food & non-alcoholic beverages. Apart from this the applicant can avail the bundled benefits of mediclaim, Life Insurance & Accidental Death claim.

  117. Guys
    Following are my understanding before you select CM is meant for you and ready to invest the money.
    1) Be clear about resort and hotel. (Find the difference first).
    2) Be clear about what is time share and your personality suits the same? E.g. time management.
    3) Be clear about your financials and understanding of the inflation.
    4) Be clear about your need of vacation and members joined during vacation.

    Please note CM is only and only make sense for you if
    1) You are a family man and like luxury.
    2) You are going for vacation minimum 2 times in 3 years for 10 days of trip.
    3) You are not greedy to see the complete state within 3 days. (e.g. Himarchal trip of 7 days and just running or travelling from one place to other continuously)
    4) You can plan well in advance minimum 3 months. (e.g. school going kids parents can plan well by going for vacation during the their holiday period only. )
    5) Understand the increase of inflation. Kerala trip in 2008 cost me Rs. 25000. Today the same itinerary cost me around Rs. 75000 for family of 2 adult and 2 kids for 7 days. This is power of inflation. What will be the price of same itinerary in year 2015 and 2020 god knows.
    6) CM resorts are luxury resorts and not small time lodge or 1 or 2 star small hotel / resort. So if you are a person who can compromise the stay in Rs. 1500 / night hotel during peak season, CM is not for you.
    7) If you are a person who would see that food bill does not increase more than Rs. 400 a day (3 meals), CM is not meant for you. In India you can get a meal in 20Rs. And 2000 Rs. Choice is yours. Luxury always comes with price.
    8) There was issue of resorts in past but not now. Many resorts are available now at various places and locations. Infect average utilization rate is 80% for 2012 and 2013. This info available on company’s website.
    9) You are particular about the crowd in swimming pool.

    If any of the point is coming NO request for big “NO” for enrollment as the person do not belong to time sharing concept and luxury resorts.

    Some Advice for purchasing (if you want)
    if you are family. (RED and PURPLE is the only season to choose)
    If your trip generally not dependent on kid’s school holidays (Minimum white)
    If you do not care of any season and free bird. (Elders only Blue season. Strict no to youngsters as they will have family if not today after few years and then they will have conflict of school holidays and CM seasons)
    People fall a trap when they do not see the things in black and white. E.g. a family of 2 + 2 school going kids cannot buy blue or white season as school will not have holidays during that season. And CM will not allow (generally) booking for upgraded season as that season members are already looking for vacation.
    People with family (school going kids) buying blue season is big blunder let it be cheaper price. Most of the guys fall in trap are of (blue or white season)

  118. Dear Bhavesh,

    Very well said. I really appreciate the time you took to explain everything in so much details. Even I was having similar feelings but I couldn’t find words to express it myself. I am too a proud member (with family) Red Studio of Club Mahindra and never regret my decision.

  119. dear Bhavesh,

    your message was beautifully summed up and gave a lot of pertinant points. the one about young couples not choosing blue or white season just to save money was spot on. later on with 2 kids to juggle we feel maybe we made a mistake with club mahindra.
    i would also like to add some more food for thought. when i joined 4 years ago the number of resorts covered by the membership was 25 (one for every year of holiday)….now within the last 4 years they have increased it to 41. that also increases my choice of resorts. thats also a point we have to state in CM’s favour.

    one more thing i noticed is most of the complaints against CM come in the initial stage itself when people feel they should have not made a downpayment for the one time free holiday. therefore it is important to reitrate the fact that a CM membership is a 25 year long exodus. so please, please spend more time on deciding whether it is really for you or not. if u go in for it wanting 1 free holiday, then u will have paid a heavy price!!

  120. I have to say that I too made a big mistake taking Mahindra membership. Take a look at the below points:
    – Very difficult to come out of the membership. Big upfront membership fees
    – Management changes rules whenever they feel like ex., when I joined RED season was the highest season after which they launched Purple season; They discourage guests from cooking in the room even though it was encouraged earlier; Implemented new rules on carry forward wherein holidays lapse after a point
    – Food rates very high (close to 5 star) Rs 90 for a roti / chapatti; Rs 120 for tea. Food bill is equivalent to stay + food that you would normally pay in other 3 star hotels. It looks like Mahindra is trying to manage the entire resort expenses based on food billings alone
    – Poor housekeeping and maintenance – sheets torn, leaking pipes, blood stains on bed sheets and towels
    – Significant increase in annual maintenance fees linked to inflation
    – Options limited and have to plan 4-6 months in advance if you want the desired resort and date

  121. I totally agree with u all till u become member they will do big promises after that they will start cheating and making u fool and waste ur money i request if u r planning of becoming member don’t be they r big cheaters and will do fraud with u

  122. I again fell for their trap and paid the annual subscription of 10,000 ! how to get back the money is the point

  123. Great stuff Hemant.

    A number of people here have commented that the one time payment protects you against inflation. I have been holidaying every year – at least once in Goa and then other spots – and I have not seen ANY serious inflation in high end resort costs around India.

    I went in 2005 to a great cottage in Fort Aguada Beach Resort in Goa for Rs. 60 K for 6 nights (with meal coupons of Rs. 9K included). I went in March 2013 to Goa (Majorda Beach resort) at Rs. 50K for six nights – all meals included. I went to Holiday Inn in 2011 at 6K a night all meals included. All this is five star hotels in Goa. In places like Ooty choices have gone up and prices have come down.

    Keeping the 2.61 lakhs in the bank makes a lot more sense. On an equated basis, at 10% cost of funds, the cost to you is Rs. 28, 754. Add the Annual Fee (10K) to get to nearly Rs. 39 K. Food at a resort costs you Rs. 2.5K per day for a family (breakfast, lunch, dinner), I believe; this will set you back another Rs. 15K. That’s Rs 54K cost per year. You can get a far better 5 star (Holiday Inn/Majorda) rates for that price, which will include meals, airport transfers, sight seeing and all sorts of other things.

    Supposedly now the rates are up to 3L+, and it makes even lesser sense. Even thinking non financially, it is a waste: Given the proliferation of resorts, and the fact that you get cheaper holidays abroad (even after considering airfare+visa), you would be doing yourself a disfavour locking yourself to one agency called Club Mahindra.

    • Excellent observation, and to add to this, not all resorts of Club Mahindra are even comparable to a 5-star. With Club Mahindra, you do get a can of worms, non-availability, bad customer service with nowhere to complain, ASF increasing every year, exorbitant food pricing (as observed earlier), everything is charged extra (games, sightseeing, pickup-drop). Absolutely agree that they have diminished their value. Most imp, is CM feels they are doing a “trap” business, once a customer is caught in their net, no going away for the next 25 years.

  124. We have taken Club Mahindra membership since 2010 and till now already deposited nearly 1,66000/- for white studio category out of total fee 2.65 lakhs. We have not used our facilities till now due to some unavoidable circumstances. Now we have decide to cancel our membership and want to stop the rest amount of payment. Please any one suggest me, how I get that paid amount and where I contact.

  125. I have a membership with CM for red season. Unable to use the holidays. If anybody is interested to become a member , I am ready to transfer my membership at a cheaper cost than the current rate from CM. I have holidays left for 23 years. Thanks.

    • Would like to buy a red/purpul season membership if anyone wants to sell at reasonble rates. .

      • I have red season/ studio membership. I have not utilised any holidays, started from 2013, paid ASF for 2013, 14 days balance, would like to sell. contact me on above email or my mobile No. 9833187216

      • You may buy my membership I have not availed any benefit of it and I am having Red membership for studio apartment.
        Sending you SMS at your given number.
        Regards,
        Raveesh Badoni

  126. Having a Club Mahindra Membership for 6 years now, i really struggle with the bookings every time. I own a red studio but never do i have rooms available whenever i need. I finally end up adjusting to the dates available with them just bcoz i done want my days to lapse. Yes , while buying this membership, i also was made lot of false promises. Being such a reputed company, i guess they should not use such cheap means for business. I’m more pleased with RCI as there have more choice…yes only issue is you have to take a holiday for 1 week which most of the time is not feasible. I too want to get rid of Mahindra membership…like all say..there are no buyers…..

    • I think lets join together form a group of around 25 to 30 discuss with legal experts or journalists if they can help us . I m sure once we’re a group plan it atleast they will listen as bad reputation might come and it will come to notice of many

      Let form a common mail id any one can create and share a id / similar discussion which we can re initiate

  127. Having a Club Mahindra Membership for 6 years now, i really struggle with the bookings every time. I own a red studio but never do i have rooms available whenever i need. I finally end up adjusting to the dates available with them just bcoz i done want my days to lapse. When i have paid such a huge amount , cmon why should i adjust.. .. i get much better deals & in such lovely locations via make my trip or yatra & as per my requirement….Yes , while buying this membership, i also was made lot of false promises. Being such a reputed company, i guess they should not use such cheap means for business. I’m more pleased with RCI as there have more choice…yes only issue is you have to take a holiday for 1 week which most of the time is not feasible. I too want to get rid of Mahindra membership…like all say..there are no buyers…..

  128. Guys, i have read most of the comments above and i am happy that we have saved ourself from enrolling in to this dirty trap. I went and attended the 45 min session in which i was not requested but put in such a way that if you dont enroll you are a fool, and the Sales Manager named Anand was talking as if he has verbal direa. I was just contolling myself not to loose, and he was clear that they dont need all customers as in a day they make 4 to 5 converts and they are happy to fool those inocent ones. Morever the offer they give or rather promise to attend the session is also bogus. It is just to bring you to them and upfront it was told that they are not sure if I will be able to avail the offer and they themselves do not appreciate it (free 2 days stay).

    High time for Mahindras to realize, there is better way to make money. Money can be earned back but a lost name can not.

  129. Hi,

    We bought our Club Mahindra membership in 2008 and have been to 8 of their properties so far, including Bangkok. Overall, we have never regretted the membership, always enjoyed our holidays and have personal care through-out.

    With two small kids, the holidays at the club resorts have always been fun and relaxing.

    Would like you to take their offer on a free holiday and see how it is.

    Guess it is not for everyone, but don’t go by what you read. Check it for yourself.

    Regards,
    Mythily

  130. All are use less, club mahindra, Blub mahindra, country club

    Why not you buy directly online, today 90% buy sell available in internet

    so share you internet and search best resort and hotel what you need,

    don’t waste your money 2 to 4 luck, batter you deposit in bank fd every year you earn 16 to 40 thousand you can enjoy at your won budget.

    Free advice buy one get one free

    Thanks
    Debasish

  131. Anil dattani Would like to buy a red/purpul season membership if anyone wants to sell at reasonble rates. .

  132. We’re members with club mahindra since 2002 and it had been a hate-love relationship. the hate part is when you have to call in and reserve a decent holiday, love part is when you enjoy a superb meal at their resort- ooty has been our families favorite last minute holiday destination- we fell in love with ooty when we visited club mahindra danish villa untill then we had a very much cliched notion for ooty- danish villa is a place perfect for family holiday unfortunately that was taken up by zest (club mahindra sis concern), and then with a hiatus of about a year club mahindra derby green was opened in the exact same place where the erstwhile dasprakash was situated of course with the touch of club mahindra’s interiors, i was guest to this property during the 1st year, i was happy with the property, but this time round it seems that club mahindra has become extremely ambitious and made it a lil more commercial than the niche product it used to be, i am surprised by the way club mahindra has maintained this property, lousy couches in the room, we even had a visitor except that we had to jump on the couch as soon the visitor entered sniffing around for food, lifting its black tail, probably we could have made history by sketching this visitor if we could hold our wits oops mickey mouse-tom & jerry have already made big small & medium screens. Lets start with the check in procedure- calling 39880000 and negotiating a deal for which you’ve already paid up is surely a class to attend to learn negotiating skills-i’d advise for those who wish to become members-that there is no need to pay expensive membership fee and annual subscriptions-instead be smart go online to several travel sites book yourself a holiday at club mahindra or even sometimes some better options at the same price range. being a member i feel has no advantage. club mahindra has many tricks up its sleeves, 1st they offer 2nights 3days gift vouchers via lucky draw so these promotions take up most of the inventory they have for members, for argument sake club mahindra says that these vouchers are for off peak season, and peak season is strictly for members, during peak season resorts are over booked along with the gimmicks of club mahindra, and during off peak the resorts are sold outside membership or lucky drawn so when do members get to travel? all we have to do is to call up 39880000 and draw battle lines. now the resorts our most recent trip to ooty derby green club mahindra is capable of throwing nasty surprises at you, the rooms are in shabby condition, the toilets stench, the sheets are damp, the change in quality is visible, the furniture including the doors are in worst conditions, i can actually draw up a hocus focus of photos from then and now of club mahindra derby green. the rooms are a big dampner.
    service- service was commendable-people are responsive but its like sliting your throat with a silver knife.
    Food- Food is great, presentation, quality & taste are all at par.
    The problem is with a unruly reservation system where members have no say the online reservation is just an eyewash, the complete inventory is never provided to members but also sold outside the membership when club mahindra is an exclusive members only organisation.
    back in 2002 when we decided to become members of club mahindra after being invited to club mahindra munnar it was a pleasure experience, we intended to become members for purple season but the salesman discouraged us and pushed us to become members for the red season telling us that we’d be just throwing money if we take up purple season as it is the highest and red being just one level below will satisfy all our holiday needs, but we never realised that we are not welcome for certain resorts during peak season like club mahindra goa for over 10years in our membership we have hardly traveled during red season and never to goa during the new years, does it take 10 long years to holiday at a place we wish to and at a time we wish to. every time we call up for reservations for club mahindra goa to stay during the new years we are turned down saying that it is full and it gets full at least a year before. during the last couple of weeks i have raised these issues with club mahindra member relations who have infact revealed many facts to me about their process and have agreed that they sell holidays outside member ships but only during off peak they say it optimises the costs and lowers the annual subscription costs, my arguement is that over the years the subscription costs have never been lowered but only hiked and that too on a year on year basis also when we have already paid for our subscription along side one lakh twenty thousand members with one time membership fees which when calculated clearly shows that the inventory is already sold and the money paid up the only pending thing in the process is the guest to come and experience the stay for which they have paid, however club mahindra throws away this inventory to lucky draws and selling outside memberships. It is extrememly dis heartening to see club mahindra resorts being sold online and by travel agents while we have to fight, haggle with their member relations for a decent holiday.
    membership with club mahindra makes no meaning and sense.

  133. The online reservation is dubious & not transparent- After voicig out our concerns online like mouthshut & facebook page i got a call from customer greivances redressal and offered me 1BR at goa emerald palms for december during the newyears while online there is no availability-so where did this inventory come from?

  134. Same happened to me… I stopped making their EMI payments, lodged a complaint n informed that I was going ahead with a consumer court case… their official came up with a solution that whenever you do not get an accommodation, I give a call to him directly or to his Vashi office, and they will sort it out. I asked him why so much a of a privilege for me… and that just means even their online reservation system is rigged and they work to their advantage !

  135. some one called nachamai called me and i spoke to her boss Mr. Gopal who has emailed me, he left his number which he claimed to be his direct number but when i tried calling it just went to ther call centre number and the lady who answered the call promised me a call back from Mr. Gopal which never happened. its been more than 48hrs since a call back has been promised most unprofessional company i have seen.

  136. Avoid becoming members of Club mahindra

    Kindly cancel our membership & refund our money with interest & harassment done to our family members for 25yrs wrong promises. As advised earlier as per our profile our membership was upgraded to RED from WHITE on company advise to avoid reservations booking hassles.

    As advised earlier last year we have lost Rs30,000/- on travel cancellations due to mis-match of travel bookings.

    This year too 45days before holidays we are struggling for booking.

  137. Thanks for this blog. I was interested in Club Mahindra and decided to do little research before I call them. I changed my mind after reading this page. It appears that they suck really bad.

  138. One more post from me…

    Without any prejudice Calculation : Keeping money in bank and go for vacation or buy CM membership

    Let us assume you have Red Studio : Cost around 5,00,000 or You keep the same in your bank account

    Summer Vacation 2013 : You decide for 7 day trip to Himachal : + 4 start hotel generally charge you around : Rs. 30000 per person. With two kid it is around Rs. 1,00,000.
    So after your trip you are left with 4,00,000 Rs. YOU get interest (for sake of ease 10% per anum) at the end of year you will have 4,40,000Rs. In account.

    Diwali Vacation 2014 : You decide for 7 day trip to Kerala : + 4start hotel generally charge you around Rs. 40000 per person. With two kids it is around 1,20,000.
    So after your trip you left with 4,40,000-1,20,000 = 3,20,000.

    So on and so forth…

    Roughly after max 8 to 10 years you balance with your paid amount of CM holidays.

    After that it is all free holidays for > 15 years only addition is you pay ASF.

    God knows what will be the hotel charges in year 2020..:)

    • Mr. Bhavesh you are correct with your calculations, from your perspective club mahindra may be a good investement-however you’ve not noticed a few aspects of club mahindra 1) it does not have any rating such as 3* or 4* there is no service gaurantee, there is no gaurantee of us travelling to a location and on our schedule, it is not flexible, CM expects us to book atleast 3months ahead even railway tickets cannot be purchased 3months before, in many instances resorts are full either due to holiday rush or gift vouchers, i’m not a financial expert however i’d like to understand better if we view our investement this way i’m a red studio member my annual subscription is close to 13k p.a and expected to rise in near future and will increase over the years i definetly expect this to shoot up to 20000/- p.a in the next 5years, at this rate YOY average annual subs p.a for 25 years is around 15k which adds upto 3,75,000/- keeping in mind that to book rooms with CM we must have a time window of 3months- in the same time frame one can obtain discounted room tariffs along with travel options including flights for a range of hotels starting from 3* to 5* the advantage is that our holiday can be flexible in comparison to CM. the probability of travelling abroad with similar budgets and time frame is possible, on an average we spend roughly about 5k per day on CM holidays incl travel, F&B & etc for CM resorts in driving range, for CM resorts which require multi modal transport and more than 12 hrs journey by road the expense can be 8k per day if we split 7days holiday as 2days driving range and 5days as mulitmodal our average holiday spend will be 50k (avg) plus 15k annual subscription that comes up to 65k for 2ppl, let alone the initial membership fees. on the contrary if we deposit this 5lakhs in bank and earn an avg interest of 9% amount 45k plus annual subs 15k(which we save when we dont pay CM) =60k incase we chose to pay CM by EMI then the remainder of 5k+ will be saved in terms of interest paid on funding (in comparison)- If we forego CM and chose to spend 65k on holidays in India and abroad(CM charges extra for overseas holidays for per night which is not included in the costings) for 2ppl we can cover several destinations in India or choice of less expensive holiday destinations abroad in a 3* property around the season of our red studio membership which does not entitle us for peak/purple season holiday in CM, and the best part is when we return from our holiday we know we have a FD of 5lakhs which is fetching us a interest, but when we return from a CM holiday we know the pain to get a decent room, haggle for our time share, coax or threaten for good service, and surely Rs. 5lakhs poorer.

  139. Looks like internet and this type of blogs have become a frustration(any kind :):)) throwing area…

    You go to any site for better understanding of any item..you will find negativity only…

    e.g. i wanted to buy a flat in pune. searched many website and blog i did not find any good comment but only frustration…infect blogs suggested that best builder of pune are also junk..then where to go….you should not buy flat or what….

    this blog is also looks same….

    anyways…wise people are still alive…

    • Dear Bhavesh,

      the problem is that happy customers are happy. they dont usually come back to give their opinion. unhappy customers are very vocal about their displeasure….any kind of huge product like flats, time share holidays etc will have happy and unhappy customers…..

  140. Hi Hemant

    I agree with you in many points explained . I hold a zest membership since 2004 and recently started getting offers for upgrading it to club Mahindra . While I was validating the offers , I happened to go through your posts.

    When the product Zest was offered to me , the sales rep had explained be about the features like booking with short notice , new resorts coming up etc .. etc but I was never able to book any of the resorts according to my plan- finally resulting in aligning my holiday plans holidays according to the booking availability ( which I could have done with any other good hotel). There was no increase in number of resorts the past 3 years but one got reduced ( swamy malai).
    It was also explained to me that even I can have booking in Club mahindra resorts at discounted price . But when enquired , neither Call center or resort managers were able to provide clear answer for this .
    Positive factors – Resorts are well located and offers comfortable stay .

  141. I was enticed by the Club Mahindra persons through a call to get a gift in a free session of about 2 hours in a private hotel at Solan in the year 2011. I after attending the session was told to sign some papers and give a cheque of Rs. 17000/- approx. and given a three days two nights free gift coupon for stay in any Club Mahindra Resorts. This was valid for six months. In the papers they got my signature and other details the mahindra persons made me their club member for studio type of accommodation & my membership of around 2,75,000/- was split into 4 years EMIs. I started giving them regular EMIs till the year 2013 upto July, 13. Rather I paid them my EMIs half yearly basis. But to my utmost shocking I got a letter from the Club Mahindra dated 1st April, 13 in July, 13 wherein a sum of Rs. 11,900/-approx has been demanded towards the Annual Maintance Charge for which till then I had never been informed. Even the free gift coupon which had been given to me at the time of my taking membership never materialised as the Mahindra people never responded to my requests for its redemption till now. In nutshell I got nothing from the Club Mahindra till now. Even though a hefty amount is being charged by them from the customers like me who are also enticed in their web & once caught will have to loose everthing & nothing to gain. Now when I called upon them to cancel the membership I was suggested not to cancel it because you won’t be getting the refund of your amount rather I would be in your interest to sell it off to others & that way you will be getting back your money that you have spent for the membership. Now I am waiting for the buyers but don’t know why not the Govt. or such other bodies which are entrusted with the jobs of such cheating by the firms not doing anything. The money in crores is being fleeced by such companies. This type of company can be compared to a company who is selling the product to the customers by charging hefty amount but still keeping the same product to itself and not giving anything to the customers. Yet the customers have nothing or no right to demand back the refund.
    thanks.

  142. This is the similar thing happened to me about the voucher & ASF charges. They have not informed me about yearly ASF. Why members should pay the yearly ASF charges or their property maintenance charges ??? Is their property after 25 years going to be in my name ???

    My only complain is if the ASF should be paid then why their agents hide this info & trying to fool people ?

  145. Dear Sir

    I joined Club Mahendra White Membership for 25 years on September 08, 2013 at your K-Star Mall Chembur office.

    This is to request you to cancel my Club Membership and refund my money paid. As per your 10 days cooling period, pl refund my full amount.

    A line of confirmation will be appreciated.

    Swapan Garain
    Cell: 98690
    Email: Garain.

  146. If anything sounds too good to be true, it may not be true, do not believe.
    If anyone tries to sell too hard, its not worth it, do not invest.
    If something seems to be wrong, it probably is, investigate or back off.

    There are many scams floating around in large metros, feeding off peoples needs, desperation and situation. These are insensitive people who work for insensitive organizations who will try anything and everything to get your hard earned money, they have sold their souls.

    These scams range from well polished time-share schemes to blatant roadside robbery. Some of these enlisted below and to be avoided by everyone, especially those living in Metros.

    1. Club Membership (Various) – Avoided
    2. Fixed Deposit Investment (Suman Motels) – Trapped
    3. Time-Share (Various) – Avoided
    4. Persons stopping you saying your Car Engine is on Fire, offer to help and then replace car part with duplicate part. (Ghodbunder Road) – Trapped
    5. Currency Note on Road – Avoided
    (As a rule never try to pick up currency/coins, if its not yours)
    6. Unit Linked Policy – Trapped
    7. Cure for Medical Condition – Trapped
    (Got trapped 1st time, came across 2nd time avoided)
    8. Car Rental Scheme (City Limousines) – Avoided
    9. Teak / Rubber Plantation Investments – Avoided
    10. Magnetic Bed / Mattress (Japan Life) – Avoided
    12. Charged higher amount on Taxi/Auto Meter – Trapped/Avoided Sometimes
    (Don’t bother to check when in hurry, only to realize later)
    13. Airport Taxi (Touts) – Avoided (almost got trapped)
    14. Meeru & Mega Cab Services – Cab does not Turn up.
    (Almost missed flight with mega cabs and train with Meeru cabs, had to make alternate arrangements at the last minute)
    15. Mediclaim Policy (New India) – Trapped
    16. Email Scams (Various) – Avoided

    …and who knows how many more types of scams other people have got trapped into, I only wish people will learn from their mistakes and other people’s mistakes.

    Word of Advise:
    Avoid Telemarketing Calls…it’s where it all begins.
    Be Informed…Information is power
    (Rules/Regulations/Fine Print/Conditions Apply/Risks)
    Do Research (no impulsive decisions)…will save you from heartbreak later.
    Be wary of the sweet talking sales person, he will lie to sell.

  148. Thanks to Hemat for this outstanding blog. I am a victim of Royal Goan Beach Club which I bought in 2008 for 1.5 lakhs, alternate year membership, Red studio.
    Are there other RGBC members reading this blog, if so how much ASF are you paying for a red studio, I paid around 12, 776 pre-tax in 2012, but now after doing a reverse calc from the artices here, they have increased the ASF 20% every 2 years…This is exorbitant by any standards… another thing I observed is in RGBC (do not know CM), I saw that you can book any resort from online sites like expedia, travelguru and such offers have breakfast included with relaxed check-in/check out timings…so while some of the people out here are positive on timeshare holidays, I agree more on the people who are against it as you can buy things online cheaper (even if you want CM or RGBC) and host of other options rather than get stuck at one group. Another key thing is – in all products we use, we use first, then pay…in timeshare, we have pay upfront and use later..service and availability is your luck..like I see some are lucky here who are happy while most (90%) are unhappy. I think if you do noy pay money you have better bargaining rights then if you are member/owner of one of these resorts having paid in full for 25 yrs and deemed to pay ASF..whether you use holiday or not..you have lost all bargaining power…the money is gone!! I think it is sunk cost, if you want to come out…so what is option for coming out..stop paying ASF fee, does it work? I know what you paid for 25 yrs is gone, at the least, we can save ongoing costs..like say cut the losses in share market and get out or keep poring more till you break even (like someone said after 8-10 yrs)

  149. I do agree that we have been fooled by purchasing membership of club Mahindra.all time share salers are cheaters,they don’t disclose many things,Once u get trapped they try to squeeze u,and u r helpless.
    Pl.suggest any possible way out to avoid this squeezing year after year .
    Every year they sell many such memberships, Can we get few fools to purchase our membership at discounted rate?is there any BROKER available?

  150. All of us are cheated by them.ok. What is way out? My all learned friends pl.suggest.otherwise just gathering more numbers for loud cry.

  151. hi friends…. i have also similar posting against club mahindra few days before… i have mentioned i am ready to loose 1.75 lakhs as my membership is now 4 years old, and not visited any resort…..I was so much frustrated of emi + yearly asf. however i am now changing my opinion and visited Goa in club mahindras resort.

    i checked/analysis myself and my close friends (members) frustration. it is not compulsory to read however if you agree somewhat to it… then its a really great package… visit at least one resort.

    1.
    I stays in Mumbai. doing service in IT company. have enough budget for holidays that’s why on advertisement call i purchased this package and start dreaming……

    2.
    however as working in office, i found my problems that i could not planned my Holiday before 2 months as i am in projects ….. projects travelling is always unexpected. could not plan it before 2 months…. ….. ….. i think that is my problem as service person (or general problem for all)

    3.
    …then i started thinking i will use it for weekends….. however there is no resort near to Mumbai or only one in mahabaleshware for Maharashtra…… this i didnot give importance at the time of purchasing. …. ….. ….. i think that is my problem as mumbaikar (or general problem for all)

    it is best for people lives in south and east India, they could use it on weekends. from Mumbai its difficult….

    4.
    i was aware there is no nearby resort for CM from mumbai… i was in dreaming i purchased something blockbuster holiday package….

    ….because of it i could not make any holiday club mahindra in 4 years. … and above it in four years i paid 1.75 lakhs + (20000) asf. that makes huge anger on club mahindra…. and that i ask them to stop my membership… i was planning to go in consumer court….

    if you see all my problem (may be everyone in mumbai). . . . ….and i agreed to it and i accepted it.

    meanwhile … there was one CM representative in Vashi branch Santosh Lokhande call me (talk to him only, i have very bad experience of other CM office staff)….. and asked me just forget anger of ASF and listened my all queries. he asked me to go for one holiday… plan it and then take decision what is mean by Holiday Resorts.

    believing him and with no interest i went for one forced holiday…. and my thinking changed about CM. i accept my personal problems for not taking holidays…. and what i was missing the best Hotel accommodation resort of international qualities and service offered by club mahindra, and for which i have paid.

    i will advice all of my friends we have already paid so much of money… so go for it … go for at-least one holiday. that will relax your mind change the view about CM. it is really great deal for 25 year if YOU use it… otherwise it is a nightmare.

    i don’t know how many of above friends have taken at-least one holiday of CM. i request/suggest just go for your first holiday of your dream package you have invested in…. best luck. get one experience of money you invested for your dream holiday.

    one of CM member like you
    – yogesh raut.

    • dear yogesh,
      the club mahindra lake pavna tungi lonavala resort is near mumbai. though not as far as mahabaleshwar.you should be aware enough to know the CM resorts. this resort is not mentioned in the CM website due to some land owned issues.this is the best resort of club mahindra.there are 4 swimming pools,3 restaurants,and the best suites.there is a toy train carrying you from the first villa to the last villa from the reception.you cannot blame them for your mistake of not being aware if other resorts.

      • Hi dhil,
        great information.
        if it is available in Lonavala then nothing like it for Mumbaikars.
        if i could use my holidays near by place will be great, Thanks for information. i will check it.

  152. Holdiay package is scam in India. we do not get accomodation when need.
    I had similar experience. getting a common date within family memebers is difficulty and on that accomodation wont be available. we cannot use this scheme.

  153. Iam really disappointed with club mahindra service. I wish to withdraw as a member due to their inconsiderate attitude their customers.

  156. i want to sale my week of club mahindra white member at rs. 35000.00 and it is last price. i f any one intrested then mail me thanks

  157. Hi, I think Club Mahindra trained their Sales team in manner that they should report the office with100 cheques otherwise they will not get their salary.

    As I was going through the comment and review, I totally agreed about their rude behavior, un professional behavior even I found them humiliating the client if you call them for presentation and not buy the products.

    Few Names I dealt with was Mr. Khan, Mr. Sunil Tiwari. They even comment to a extent of your inability to purchase their product. The Comment I got was ” You can not afford our product then why you called me ?”

    I am very much sure, the whole management of CM is involved in this.

    Just beware and don’t called their Sales man for presentation.

  158. i read so many reviews about club mahindra. If club mahindra has Good name & fame then why they are cheating customers? & why none of action taken against them? It should get publish so others can aware of this.

  159. I think I will be the best person to review Club Mahindra ,
    Reason : I have used/stayed in Club Mahindra resorts and not with my money. Thats because my wife is working in a company where we are offered 2N/3Days free accommodation/ year @ any Club Mahindra resorts
    My Advise : Stay away from Club Mahindra , I always think that we are lucky enough to stay @ club mahindra for free and got opportunity to see whats the truth, otherwise we also would have been in a trap sometime may be because of their advertising or false promises.
    I totally agree with the guy who reviewed

  160. I totally agree with all the adverse comments abt CM, we were members since 2007 and saw maint escalate more than 1 grand a yr — even tho we had 1brm apt red time, it was difficult to get bookings at short notice and of course since purple became the new kid on the block, all festive seasons were barred.

    After much anger and frustration, we have finally sold our membership thru an agent, well below our purchase price — atleast it’s a relief not to have to monitor our holiday quota and worry abt not using available days.

    The new buyer has probably benefited the most and so has the agent who made a tidy commission, while we poor innocents who got duped into buying it are the sore losers.

    Doesn’t Mr.Anand Mahindra (who from all reports is an ethical businessman) ever get to read all this feedback? So many unhappy members who cannot find a solution to their problem — what a sad situation.

  161. Club Mahindra is a big bull shit , make false promises and do not fulfill them.
    they make customers showing lucrative offers but never do give them.

    They are rediculous , i would request all people never to join Club mahindra because it is false and fake.

  162. I am also a sufferer of this cheating club. I have paid almost 90ooo/- to 1 Lac. towards the membership and intend to sell it off now as I don,t intend to persue the same. Afterall its out hard earned money. I don’t understand as to what shall be done as they are telling that the refund is not possible. I also could not sell if off till to-day. Kindly guide.

  163. Thank you very much Hemant. Very nice and comprehensive analysis. It is also a very balanced analysis when you stress that one should match the product to ones own interests. I am sure this will be a very useful analysis for lot of people.

  164. Yes, there are a lot of companies cheating people. But while taking club mahindra no body assumes that they will also be of the same type.
    Earlier there were three categories. The person in lowest category was a untouchable. Then they added one more and now the two lowest are untouchables.
    Tomorrow they will add another and even red category will become untouchable .
    Hope people understand that.

  165. club mahindra is a fraud company…they are cheating with us…dont go for club mahindra, u will never get a booking of ur choice…

  167. Hi we got our money back….yes..after reading this all feedback only we immediately demand for cancellation…after lot of followup we are successful to cancel our plan & we got our all money back….Thank you

  168. I also got my money back, thanks some samaritan posting online the requirement. One need to put your cancellation request in writing within the stipulated 10 lookin days. email them and send a fax to be double sure. Keep a copy of fax transmission receipt and also mail a copy og request to self. Believe me these will come handy. You need to prove that you had submitted cancelleation request before expiert of lookin period. The sales guy tried to talk me into delaying the process once I decided to cancel, even sent a rep to pursue me from dropping or actually tricking me into delaying beyond 10 days. As I had did all the above, I got my money back without any hassles.

  169. I am a member of club mahaindra. I want to avail the facility to make my trip to ooty, but the response from the Club mahindra is very poor. It is requested to returns my money immediately.

  170. I have had quite the same negative experience as many memebers have posted here. Their sales person (who claimed to be an employee , later I learnt she was a DSA , though she carries a CMHM visiting card) lied and told me they have home stays and pet frindly properties (knowing i had a pet dog and liked to vacation with it) . I ended up signing up for the Red tier and also paid 50% upfront as they threw a number of incentives. Now I realize I can hardly get a booking even on day 1 the booking opens (for 4 months advance now) – something is clearly amiss. I am asking for a refund but they tell me pay up the entire membership fee and the we will give me back 40%) after a number of deductions, including the incentives thrown in !!. This is a classic case of being trapped by the fine print in the contract (which you get to see later). I am contemplating lagal action- I know its going to be a long fight, but we need to put this company is place. If any of the other aggreived members would like to join for a combined class action against this corporate please drop me a note ([email protected])

  171. PERFECT POST and follow ups posts. A True Disaster decision.

    Still if someone wants to ruin their finances and get into trouble, please go ahead and buy this blunder. Even I can resell mine for very less in compared to now prices. Pls dont get attracted by freebies they give. This is just like a mouse trapper bread and once you are trapped you cannot do anything but to regret which I and many of my friends are doing.

    One question I put – You are paying for 7 days of a particular season. So do you OWN these 7 days and make your decision. The answer is a big NO. These 7 days are also at their mercy. Pls read the terms and conditions.

    If you even read their terms and conditions you will never buy this blunder.
    All restrictions are there for members in peak seasons which are red and purple and obviously this covers all holidays or even the weeks where there are 2-3 holidays together in even rainy seasons.

    In peak seasons
    You cannot take guest with you. Limit on the number of rooms.
    You cannot gift/rent the membership even if you hold highest season as even if they claim it is just for off season.

    Every kind of limitation and restrictions for a member in peak seasons.

    Whereas in the post itself you can find that you can buy in that period in 5k in peak season. Dont you think this is wrong when you dont get multiple apartments in peak season and a non member gets all the priviledges in just 5k for a day in the peak season. Is it really worth becoming a member then. Why you pay for a peak season ? Just to hear that a non member travels in 5k whereas you are deprived off still after paying so much.

    So what you are doing is you paying for off season holidays in advance at a limited no of resorts.

    Pls consider this before buying.

    I will also ask a question here.
    Can all of us who are not happy take a action against this fraudulent company. Is there any such option. Old saying UNITY has STRENGTH. Can such a unity be created to teach this fraudulent company and stop all others being fooled by them.

    Please discuss. [email protected]

    • Sonali,
      Club mahindra resorts are much better than Sterling’s.
      Though sterling has larger number of days per year 7+ bonus 7.
      I am not a member of either but have stayed in CM @ coorg, sterling @munnar and seen CM property in munnar.

  173. CHEATING BY Club Mahindra Holidays
    offered 4 ticket of movie and 2 night stay but instead of giving ticket they had provided voucher of “Cine Rewardz” and after completing all procedure of “Cine Rewardz” including registration + key word etc. Cine Rewardzhad sent email that they will send movie ticket but till today we have not received any ticket. Also telephone no. of Cine Rewardz are not responding.
    This is total cheating with public by club Mahindra+ Cine Reward

    This is to just check mentality and approach of Club mahindra……. It finally gives feel that they are not interested to keep their word,….. nor they have any systems to understand problem of customer. Once their purpose is over, than you are no body for them…….

  174. Thank you so much. I almost bought the membership!!!
    I had the CM sales guys pitch in yesterday.I paid a sum of 2k for blocking which he assured will be returned in case we don’t take the membership and now he bluntly refuses for the refund( classic club mahindra).

  175. After reading all the comments and discussion, I can say that We The Indians are still not smart enough to know how to utilize Time Share, in fact most of above would not be knowing what Time Share concept is. So proudly accept that we are at fault who are not smart enough and completely unplanned. I am not saying this cuz I am an employee or whatsoever but because I know the reality and benefits which most of you do not. Anyway, if the product would have been so bad, company would have not been in profit for last 17 years without any debt. Stop blaming and start planning and understanding things in deep way. Cheers!

  176. Today i am thinking for member of club mahindra holiday….but after your all advice and all your view ….now stop thinking for it….thx buddy

  179. I am a member or if I use the correct term a customer of Club Mahindra. As everyone knows that there are terms and conditions for everything. So is the case for a booking with them. 7 days before I was to travel to a resort for which I had made a booking, I had a death in the family. We all were mentally and emotionally disturbed. But since the days left to travel were few, I cancelled the days booked to help others make a booking for the room which I had booked for myself. I had the option of retaining that booking in my name. But I was honest and had a realisation that getting a booking in the CM resorts is extremely difficult as they have a huge base of members and very few resorts to acommodate. Over and above this, there are terms and conditions. Therefore it would be best to cancel the booking so that others are not deprived of a possibility to travel to this resort for which I had made a booking.

    I subsequently called up the customer relations and discussed the issue with them. Informed them of the tragedy in the family. And requested that in this case at least they should not forfeit my days as I did what was the right thing to do, considered others and that the CM site showed that no rooms were available on the days that I had cancelled the booking – meaning that the company suffered no loss. I had also written an email to them describing the entire incident.

    Guess what was the answer that I got. As per the terms and conditions – no days can be credited back to you and that tragedy in your family has no meaning.

    So when you think of buying a membership with them do consider this aspect as well besides others like cost of membership, limited scope of bookings which are possible etc.

  180. They are really big frauds. Making people fool about the gift vouchers which they promise to give after the presentation.till date we have not recieved any movie tickets. thank go we have not taken the membership of such fraud company who cannot keep its words………..beware friends before taking its membership.

  181. I totally agree with Hemant .They never disclose about the ASF CHARGES while taking the membership whenever we have planed for holiday we never got the booking I am a member since 2008 not a single holiday is give to us ,but whenever I call they reply smartly the call center people are smart in talking they are paid for that right .

  182. My experience with Club Mahindra has been very good. Its true they charge the maintenance fees which they had not mentioned during buying. But the experience at the resort is such that I think its worth paying the maintenance fees. We had bought it at around a lakh rupees for 1 bhk red season. But its way too expensive now. Its like the real estate business. Those who entered earlier have benefited the most. I live in Chennai and I like to drive a lot. They have 7 resorts in Kerala and also good number of resorts in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It has been a very good combination for me. A long drive plus a very good resort to stay plus sight seeing at our own time. I remember taking my friend along with me and how he was amazed by the experience. He had a 2 year old daughter and there were games for her also. Where else can you have indoor games, magic shows, dance for children and also games of the adults in the lap of a jungle or near a beach . I had never seen Khatakali but thru Club Mahindra I got a chance to snap a pic with the artist. I dont know how many have been to the floating resort of Asthamudi and the resort of munnar in the middle of a tea estate. Those who can afford it now, its really a experience they should not miss.

  183. i have gone through all contents discussed above with there good and bad experiences. I have recently buy membership of White studio worth Rs.332000.00 along with ASF through directly from Executive deputed by Club Mahindra for 25 year . But now i m little bit dispointed .Tell me what can i do. I m totally Confused . I have seen all properties of Mahindra on net and heard/seen the experiences as incorporated above by members and Non members of Club mahindra. Shall i go with or rethink about my decision. Till date i have paid Rs.33500 as initial joining Amount and 4 days with me to refuse the membership well with in looking period of 10 days as told by the Executive.

  184. I bought a mahindra membership way back in 2000and we have never taken a holiday due to various reasons.i have been paying the ASF dutifully for 12years.i have stopped paying it for the last two years because I think it’s a big waste of money.i want to sell it off and have been cheated by two firms in goa who promised to rent or sell it for me. Is there a way in which I could get back even part amount . Pl reply.

    • Hi Parimala

      I am already a member of Club Mahindra and I may be interested in buying your membership if it is either White or Red season, please contact me with your membership details on 09325409529 or [email protected]

      Sachin

  185. I have bad experience with club mahindra. My request to all please do not join this club .their sell persons tells lie during selling the product.I have purchased white studio membership during joining sell person told me that I can avail my holiday any time .but when I received call from their head office I come to know about their season system.Also sell person lied .they are cheaters .Please do not purchase membership.

  187. I have club mahindra white studio membership, I am feeling cheated because at the time of selling membership sales people didn’t told anything about the color system (season). I have to plan the vacation according to children school holidays but white color are not available in peak seasons as per choice. I can book one color higher only before 15 days but there is no room available in resort of my choice. I think this is a scam and government should take note of this, Club Mahindra is simply cheating our hard earned money by giving false information and promises. I want to get my money back, but no idea how to proceed.

  188. my father has taken the same membership in year 2012…we hardly utilise it cuz rooms are never available according to our wish…..i wish there is any way i can b rid of it.

      • Have a red membership for 25 years. Have used only twice with 21 days outstanding now. All fees paid up to date.
        Contact on email or mobile no. 9833812490 in Mumbai.
        Thanks and best regards.

  189. MAINE JINDGEE KEE SABSE BADE GALTI CLUB MAHINDRA KEE MEMBERSHIP LE KAR KEE HE APPX 2LAC RUPE DENE KE BAAD BHEE KOI BOOKING NAHEE HAI, YE LOG PUBLIC KO JHOOTH BOL KAR BAKFUKF BANATE HE OR AB PAISE VAPIS BHEE NAHI KAR RAHE, BOLTE HE PAISE VAPIS KARNA COMPANY KE POLICY NAHEE HE

  190. I wish I had the time to find this out before opting for the membership of Club Mahindra. I am fighting it out with them. Very correctly said…..it is indeed a “deaf” organisation. It takes more than a month for them to respond to emails. At the time of selling the product not once do they mention of the cancellation policy. Awaiting for the response from them…….will update once I hear from them.

  191. Sir i wanted to understand booking system first can cm official may through light on it ? their are hundreds of seller on some web site which i don’t know why cm people does not buy back them ? and why they are increasing a m c every year ?

  192. Thank u so much hemanth, My jiju was already in this but i never heard all this from him. May b as u said it changes from person to person…U saved me in not buying these type of memships. Thanks 1ce again.

  193. thanks all i have been saved , buying this . in week time i was planning to but this.
    thanks all. for saving me .

  194. Hi,

    I received a call today from Club Mahindra representative requesting to visit their place and said that I am selected to redeem a 2 night 3 days gift voucher for 25 locations. I asked him if there is any catch, he said no.

    My question is that if someone has availed this facility. I mean do they really provide this 2 night 3 days free accommodation absolutely free ? If yes then how is the quality of the resort.

    I will be happy if I receive a reply which clears all my doubts ?

    • While at the presentation, they will brainwash and force you to take up their membership. They will try all the games to trick you into that, they will swipe your credit card or even take a cheque from you as the initial payment saying u can cancel later. If you read above, most shave been trapped by such tactics and getting a refund is next to impossible.
      Coming to the resorts, they will ask you to go to those resorts which are less occupied and better in terms of quality. Be aware, that the offer is only for stay, food, traveling, activities at the resorts (games, tours) will be all extra. Overall, their resorts are good.
      My suggestion is, go for the presentation, do not get trapped into the membership, walk away with the 2 night 3 days gift voucher. Enjoy it and then decide the next course of action ! Good Luck !

  195. Club Mahindra Club Mahindra Holidays you suck…. not because your resorts are bad, not because your services are bad…. but because all over the country your marketing team is not aware of 1 small modern fact…. a single mother who can bring up her child, a daughter who can take care of her parents, a professional who can hold her fort in any meeting and make million dollar biz deals….. can surely buy a holiday for herself and her child….. why do your marketing people not entertain her when she is one of the lucky draw winner….i won a free holiday at Goa once at my daughter’s school… but you did not allow me to go…. today i won 4 couple movie voucher… but you marketing team does not want to give it to me as i am “not married” !!!!!! Anand Mahindra you suck too if you and your team cannot respect women

  196. Dear Hemant,

    You said it very correctly. I think you should publish this thru some media so that, lot of people can be saved from this trap. Even I have paid Rs . 41000/= upfront and is in trouble now. However, I have stopped all my future EMIs. They have clearly informed me that there is no refund for the paid amount as I have agreed to their terms and conditions.

    Dear Hemant, Is there any way we all together join hands and take up the matter further (may be legal) and see if anything can be derived out of it ?

    Thanks & Regards,
    Ramesh Nair

    • Dear All
      There are a few Members satisfied with the services of CM. Basically their service is good. But as some one has said, that we cannot get a Holiday booking when we want it. We will have to take it when it is available.
      Even if you pay their annual increasing subscription in time, one cannot accumulate the holidays, beyond 21 days, even though CM may be encashing it by selling it to non-members. I think automatic lapse of holidays, cancellation of holidays in the last minute due family tragedy, etc. should be looked in to by CM. I think it is time that CM satisfies the existing Members, before increasing Member base. CM has benefitted HUGELY from members money, by purchasing good resort property, which HAS APPRECIATED 100 TIMES. As a reward, let them call all members and sort out their problems, before the matter goes to court. As a gratitude to its members, who have helped them to substantially increase their asset base (if revalued at current market rates), CM should reach out to its members; like Reliance and other big companies, issued bonus shares. Let CM havde an heart and be happy to make its members happy.

    • Can somebody tell a way out to get out of this false scheme. Is there any way to take them to court so that they stop cheating people

    • ila sharma

      i want to sell my white studio membership of club mahindra if u intrested then mail on my mail id. i will give you full details about my membership. my email id is [email protected]

      thanks

  198. hello revered friends,
    Am a practicing advocate in the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Chandigarh. I also look into Consumer Act Disputes and the present miseries as unfolded by you all indicate that it is a dispute covered under the aegis of Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The same can be agitated before Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum of any particular district. Please take legal recourse and redress your grievances. I can help friends who are in and around Chandigarh.

    Regards

  199. Hi friends,

    My name is Pravin . I purchase a country club membership.
    Before purchasing a membership I enjoing 7 day and 6 night in country club property . when I satisfiy then purchase membership.
    I think you dont belive. I paid for 650/- per day per person that include (Breakfast + Lunch + Dinner) and food qulity is too good. I cleary talk with excutive I want to check your services your rate then purchase memberships.
    He given a booking what I say and I purchase membership of Rs.1,90,000 Red seccion and ASF just Rs. 6500/- that is awosem

    • Guys
      Before purchase anything read all documents. Use first and then purchase .
      Now I suggest other purchase Country Club Membership.

  200. They do not provide the CPI and WPI figures, on the basis of which they are raising ASF invoices. A big fraud. I am filing a legal case in consumer court. My BAD experience in the following mail exchanged with Chandigarh office is self explanatory:-

    Dear Mr. Amarpreet,

    Kindly note that we are not interested in your stereo-type replies. I am copy/pasting your mail and my observations/objections are mentioned in (brackets) against each point.

    As agreed and discussed about the Asf increase percentage basis WPI/CPI calculation for the year 2010-2011 which almost came out to 8-9%. (We never agreed the % calculated by you. It can be agreed to only when you give us specific WPI and CPI figures, used by you to calculate the percentage, for at least 2 years with a GAP of minimum 5 Years in billing.)

    we also understood your requirement to know the Index for the year 2003 onwards but the same is archived on the RBI website,we also tried figure that out. (When you raised the ASF Invoices, you must have noted down the Indexes to calculate the percentage increase. It has to be in your own records rather than giving us the excuse that the data is archived on RBI web-site.)
    ………….

    We would once again like to reiterate here that the ASF component was explained to you time and again. It is clearly mentioned in the application form signed by you as well as the in the membership rule copy whereof was provided to you at the time of sign. (We clearly understand the method of calculation, but you have never provided us the basis figures of CPI and WPI, on the basis of which, your ASF Invoices are raised. This matter is pending since last 1.5 years. Please provide me a photocopy of the membership form, duly signed by us, and membership rules, as prevailing at the time of our signing-up. We were never given a copy, despite demanding many times.)

    As per aforementioned documents you are obliged and agreed to pay ASF decided by MHRIL from time to time and the basis of revision thereof is clearly mentioned in the membership rule. It is very much clear from the membership rule that revision/increase in the ASF is not discretionary or arbitrary. (ASF never existed when we signed up.)

    Moreover, the said fact was also confirmed during welcome call and welcome letter sent to you. Therefore, it was very much in your knowledge that the ASF shall be revised from time to time. (No ASF mentioned anywhere in any initial letters. Please provide us a copy of any such welcome-letter actually issued to us.)

    We have confirmed the booking of Dubai check in 16-05-14 and check out 21-05-14 with 1 bedroom apartment for the Guest as special case. (Mr. Khemka is our employee and not guest, since the membership is our firm’s name. At the time of signing-up, your Sales-officer very clearly mentioned that if we sign-up as a corporate, any of our employees is eligible as a member and we fail to understand how you can deny us this right. Kindly withdraw the words ‘Guest’ and “as special case” from your e-mail. We would also like to clarify that the ASF of Rs. 15,525/- was paid by us under protest, only to ensure that our employee enjoys his pre-planned holiday and the VISA charges/Air-fare is not a loss, and to also show our intent that we are ready to pay the ASF provided CPI and WPI data is transparently shares with us, as being requested again and again since last 1.5 years.)

    Further, the matter regarding NOT PERMITTING US FOR PURPLE SEASON PRIOR TO 15 DAYS OF START OF HOLIDAY is totally illegal. There was no rule, when we became member, preventing us from advance booking more than 15 days in advance for higher season, “purple” in our case. Any subsequent rule, which curtails rights of existing members, can apply only to subsequent new members, and not to existing members like us. For example, when you changed membership tenure to 25 years, ours remained for 33 years. This issue is pending since last 1.5 years as mentioned in our previous mail.

  201. Hi
    I am bit confused with the thoughts whether i should take up the membership or not pl advise and if yes then Purple/Red/White

    • Dear All,
      I would suggest that instead of goin for a BIG BRAND like CLUB MAHINDRA, better go for other companies who strived hard for better customer service. I have a membership with Citrus Check Inns Ltd. A very big group which can be trusted once you research about them. 30 + hotels give me a choice to go anywhere in India and 3000 world wide choices through their tie ups. They dont have seasonal barriers like Club Mahindra or other things and they dont even charge ASF (Annual Maintainance Charge), they also have flexible plans like 5 yrs membership, 10 yrs, 15 yrs, 20 yrs & 25 yrs membership Plan which allowed me to atleast taste it by taking 5 yrs plan and now I have upgraded my self to 25 yrs membership plan, moreover booking is always given at our desired location.

      I strongly advised to atleast check them out. And if you want to take there membership do contact me coz as a member refferal benefit I ll get some bonus vouchers aswell.

      • Dear Mr Nishant
        Thanks for the info on Citrus. I have gone through their website. I will be glad to have more info on the same, through your referral.

        Thanks
        R Kannan
        Chennai
        (M) 9094001166

    • Please don’t go for new membership. Plenty of existing members are willing to sell their Membership. You can buy them at reasonable prices. Just send a Mail in this column with your contact details. You will get flooded with offers.

  202. Dear friends

    Without ASF very difficult to run the business.
    U can see the example of starling holiday resort..
    Thomas & cook tack over the starling.
    If u find out low cost and same benefit.
    So purchase a country club. This company working from
    Last 25 year. Otherwise mahendra also good for service but rate is high..

  203. Sterling used to give 33% returns on investment and it doean’t worked up,thus they closed but now they arr back with plans like Mahindra (Ditto).
    Country club promised you of an plot in karnataka jungle which us useless. Its only useful to book their club free of cost for parties,function,etc. I went to their Bandipur Karnataka property this year at a cost 3500/- a night, quality is not upto mark compare to citrus or Mahindra then why shld i pay 2.5 lacs for such membership.

    At citrus I took this membership for 25 yrs at 4.60 lacs and its include ASF for 25 Yrs.

    Its hardly 2500 a night with breakfast.

    I am not pursuading anybody but just advicing to invest the hard earned money at right place if some1 is looking to take a holiday product.

  204. YOU CAN CHEAT SOME PEOPLE ALL THE TIME;
    YOU CAN CHEAT ALL PEOPLE SOME TIME;
    BUT, YOU CANNOT CHEAT ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME.

  205. Its very correct – Club Mahindra Holidays are a big cheat and fraud which people should avoid to fall in their trap.

    One should sue them.

  206. They are really big cheater , while they offer you membership , do fake promises and commitment .
    But when you try to avail those benefit, they just don’t respond or say that you are not eligible for that or in case you like to followup over mail or call center or relationship team, they simply ignore your concern and never revert you back over phone or email.
    These people are big looser, I will advice not to take their membership. Or in case you really wanted to waste your money give it to some beggar instead of giving it to Club Mahindra.
    Regards,
    Raveesh Badoni

  207. Hi, Hemant
    it looks u r very much experienced in this field, i want a suggestion, i am also cheated by club mahindra, i m a white studio member, i have paid Rs. 48,000/- & used 4 nights of holidays, after that i have not paid any money to them neither emi nor asf because i realized it was going to cost me very much, can i get some money back from them or resell my membership. one more thing Royal Resorts are contacting me for 10 years of points based holidays at Rs. 1,25000/- although their own resorts in india are few but using their points with RCI looks attractive, please suggest me should i join them or not. (mobile-9419115023). i want to holiday mostly in india.

  209. I was planning to buy the membership by next month. I was really surprised by some of the details mentioned in the blog and the ways which club Mahindra uses to cheat. The comments played equally important role while deciding a big NO for Club Mahindra.

    Besides that this Blog was very well written, i must encourage Mr. HEMANT BENIWAL to look forward a carrier in the same line.

    • Hi All,
      If interested, willing to sell (Never used/ utilized) white studio membership.
      +918054295700

  211. hi,
    i paid the 10% initial down payment to CM. next day i sent out a cancellation of membership request to their Chennai office via mail and email. so i lost out on some of my hard earned moolah. since my wife did not carry her id proof when we got snared, we did not submit it yet. the sales rep keeps calling me saying that unless we submit it, the cancellation won’t happen. can anyone suggest what should be done?

    regards,
    Sameer.

  212. I am also a Member of Club Mahindra and facing a total harassment in the hands of this Company.We are not getting the booking of holidays when we need.The person who took the membership promised us many things and helped us in our bookings till our EMI was paid after that he has been avoiding the calls.We are now filling an Consumer Court case..We have lapsed 12.1 days holidays and piled up with 19.1 days more and we may get 7 days more in Jan 2015.Now they say that booking has to be done 4 Months in advance where as there are plenty of agents moving around to book you in private in short notice.The AISF charges are increased unreasonably.We will like to join the forum who are fighting against this Company…

  213. I am a member since last 7 years. …finding it difficult to go to resorts of my choice since few years. …..I feel that I will never be able to visit the resorts of my choice….policy of mahindra is not for all but for few. ….either they change their policy or vanish slowly and steadily from the market

  214. Very well written be Mr Hemant , these people are big time fraud and don’t fulfill their promises and never helps customer once they get the money for membership.
    I also faced too many issues after becoming their member but after too many arguments and discussions I was able to get my hard earned money back.
    So, believe me don’t trust these people, they can do any thing to sell their membership.
    In case you have too much free time then you can take their membership as you might be able to get the booking for any available dates , Plus you also need to be flexible for holiday locations as well to get the booking. So Take their membership and enjoy your trip whenever they will schedule your trip 🙂 because you won’t be able to enjoy your holiday on your planned timing.

  215. Suggestion/Opinion/Strong Recommendation: ” Say No ” to Club Mahindra membership !! Do not waste your hard earned money.
    Trip to Varca Beach Goa (One of the best Reosrt – As claimed by Club Mahindra)
    Read my review carefully for details
    1. Below average accomodation: Rooms are average. Locks do not open, even after complaint. I literally was not able to enter the room one night for 2 to 3 hours, finally the lock had to be taken out. This shows lapse in regular maintainence & no one is owner of this activity. They are more interested in new members or converting current blue/white to red, rather than inproving the services.
    Staff does not know what they are doing. It was like a choas situation.
    2. Poor Facilities: TV remote often do not work. Phone in the Room also do not work, after a complaint it worked for few hours, but when I called up to restaurant no one lifts the phone. They can even remove these phones from the room, they are useless again this is lapse in maintainance.
    3. Restaurant is over crowded (space not enough to capacity of people staying in resort), We had to wait @45 to 1 hr to get inside.
    4. Poor Hospitality: Super delay’s in getting food after order is made: Even tea or bread/toast butter order takes more than 30 min. I wonder why ?. I had a opinion that they do not want any customers to come to restaurant. Next day we went outside the resort to eat & saw most of the customers eating outside.
    Overall: Total frustration, my holiday was screwed. I was irritated more than being relaxed.
    Escalation of isses: Finally I escalated the above issues to resort head Mr Kumar & West region head Mr Singh.
    A note to make: While checking out I met Mr Kumar. He seemed to be sensible person & help me a carry my missed luggage.
    “Action against my escalation: Looks poor. No updates on any action plan till now. I pray that no one else face these issues!!!.But I guess no one cares >>>
    ”
    “Think before taking membership: No value for money. Recently I am facing problems for getting bookings for my next holiday. I have Red season membership & almost all locations are booked for next 3 months. I guess they have more members than total capacity of accommodation, they are only concerned about the money.
    “” Enjoy your holiday’s on your terms & not on the mercy of someone else “””

  217. Prefer COUNTRY CLUB instead. Im a mem since 4 years, stayed at Goa, Hyd, Bandipur properties….. fantastic club in Pune where i stay… at much lower cost… and many events all thru the year.

  218. Am disappointed to say that Club Mahindra executives doesn’t know the business ethics and practises. Particularly in business word of mouth has got utmost importance.

    In last week, I started getting many calls from club Mahindra sales executives and I was told that there is a scheme where a new / potential customer needs to attend a 45 minutes session post which they will give me a Holiday Voucher to be redeemed at any of the club Mahindra holiday resort in India as well as they would give me 4 movie tickets if I own any Mahindra vehicle.

    I attended the meet by adjusting with my spouse’s time and taking my 1.5 years old son by putting ourselves at inconvenience to honor the word given to one of the executive (for which the 3 different executives chased like anything and tried to snatch a business from each other). I was told initially to just see a presentation and hear the new offer and am totally free to take decision either way. But at the end of the meeting I was terribly pushed to take a decision by even challenging like why am I not taking the membership? Is it money problem & if not so, why am not taking it? And other questions to dishonor my respect.

    When I firmly said that I will make up my mind only post availing the offer and after they got convinced about me not going for it, there was a sudden change in the treatment to me. They simply handed over me 2 coupons for movie ticket (which are too for a couple to be seen two times consecutively and you can’t avail the same at once with 100s of conditions mentioned over leaf so less chances to enjoy a movie with a family of four)

    For Holiday vouchers, they told it will come on my registered mail ID, which didn’t come for 4 days. (27th Dec to 31st Dec 14). I chased them, called them for 7-8 times, text ed 3 times with mail ID’s but no response, no answer to my phone and finally I sent them a message that I have contacts in News Channels (which I indeed have) & suddenly in 5 minutes got a call from a lady from their office extending with number of apologies and giving excuses that they had some software issues. Earlier they were responding that its already sent and advising me to check my SPAM folder.

    Now they have sent me the said vouchers within 10 minutes the voucher (which I don’t know with how many terms and conditions it’s saddled with), so that’s a great coincidence that you give them your next action and suddenly the software starts functioning well and a stretched matter of 4 -5 days get resolved within a mere 10 minutes.

    I wish that this message should be seen by some senior officer in Club Mahindra, to understand, these executives are really putting companies goodwill at stake by not respecting others time and deliver what’s been promised before. Also they should learn that the real sales begin after sales and not before it.

    Only one thing you should be smart enough to understand that if they behave this way to potential customers, what happens to existing customers who have already paid and not much is left in their hands but to just accept what’s been offered by Club Mahindra.

    From me this is Just Enough and certainly am neither going to be their future customer nor am gonna avail this offer with many hidden if’s and but’s.

  220. Thank God I read this blog. Took some time to read it completely but worth it.

    Can somebody tell me which is the best option other than CM.

  221. Yet another proof that club mahindra holidays is on sale for non members, i frequently get ads on my FB page and Gmail pg advertising club mahindra holidays from yatra and other travel sites.
    please observe in the folllowing link for dropbox at the right side an ad by yatra

  222. Dear Sir
    You have said that yoy were not allowed to cancel the member ship in allotted 10 days time for cancellation. What does not allowed means. At what address one should send the communication for cancellation.
    Regards
    Need a urgent reply as my time running out. thanks

    • Dear Chander,

      Write a cancellation letter (also mention if you have a cancellation form – provide me that) submit it to local branch & take receiving with stamp.

  224. Thanks dear friends,
    I was very desperate to by one clubM membership.
    And I was up to buy one when I heard about this article .

  225. I just happen to land on this page while searching for some info about the club mahindra resort. I am sorry to disappoint you guys by adding that yes i am a valid membership holder (though having read ur comments i wont be surprised if some will soon say I am CM employee lol) and yes there are problems with regard to availability at resorts but I am glad they are adding new resorts (what if they dont add I cannot do much about it). Yes it is a premium experience staying at a resort as I have different standards when I holiday I just want pure solace..I can stay 3N sitting in my balcony watching River Kosi..for me that is divine..or have a walk around the resort in pure silence..Many may disagree but being fed up with so much noise nd pressure in delhi..i like peace..This article starts with some comparisons on finances I do not deny its wrong I am finance person too and have done that too jus to prove my point but over a period I have realised that holidays/vacation are no balance sheets.. I am not here to put questions on anyone but jus wanted a hand on experience to put across..No compelling to take a membership or suggestion to ignore..Jus weigh ur pocket and the benefits..Most of the part in this article is genuine but certain exaggerations can be easily done with..This is my review on any forum and I hope I have done justice to my soul..

    • Imp concern is we dont get holidays how can you relax , we bought for peace of mind but its getting peace peace . your quite lucky you got it . Its a cheating company no one will take . if they want to have a better reputation they should introduce a policy with buyback of membership with same price . It will be a relax as bad mouth is at high for this company they will be in terrible loss in few years to come

  226. Hi Hemant,

    thanks for ur information..even i went crazzy to get that membership.. now i should think of it..

  227. Hi: Another betrayed consumer by Zest – a group of club mahindra. Promises are sky steep, but when in delivery, sad. They promised to increase the locations which was 5 earlier, but reduced them to 4. If you dont use your holidays for 3 yrs it gets lapsed. Agreement and paperwork arent clear and communications are very bad. They dont call to inform, to collect the ASF! No automated SMS, no confirmation of booking etc. You have to run pillar to post to get your things organised. A very sad encounter with Mahindra, i hated to buy any future product from this group. I only wish Anand had some courtesy which he extends to portray his flamboyance in art of business, is been also visioned to see his rout he give to consumers….

  229. Club Mahindra just cheat customers. RCI seven days holiday is only to misguide customers. These are good for nothing. When I contacted RCI to avail my holidays, they offered totally off season resort.

  230. Country Club Membership of 30 years , for Rs 1.8 lac, 30 years Holidays, With many clubs (Around Delhi ) which can be acessed daily. hows this ???. Bonus— 2 Flight Vouchers of 5500 each, 7 days Trip to bangkok (Stay) free as complimentary ADDED !!!!!

  231. Hello sir
    I have taken this membership but gave post dated chqs, haven’t paid yet.
    They are offering me 5 nights in club mahindra and 7 nights in rci anywhere in India or abroad.
    And 5000 gift vouchers also in total of 47500(27700 down payment and balance in 3 emis) I have confirmed those things on toll free by giving my customer id of club mahindra.

    After that its my decision to continue the membership or not.

    I am looking a vacation in dubai in march 2016 with rci and before that kerala in October 2015

    I have taken white studio membership.

    Please advise on email also if possible as soon as possible.
    Thank you
    Sanjay

  232. Hello Mr Hemant

    First of all thank you for this platform wherein you can share the views of aggrieved members, I too was coaxed and fooled into buying this membership from this fraud company, one of their salesman by name of ‘ Tausheed’ visited my place on 2013 and gave all false promises and somehow convinced me to buy their membership he made some workings and quoted about 168000/- for blue studio , when he saw this amount was not affordable to me then he coaxed me into saying that i could go for equated installment scheme monthly for 48 instalments of some 4480/- ecs without any interest which could work out to 168000/- nothing more than that , i did not bother to calculate as i was busy fending my kids it was actually working to some 220000/- he further lured me that i will be getting LCD etc, in May 2013 i wanted to gift my cousin a holiday on her wedding i in fact promised her the gift for her honeymoon , i called up the booking number for which i got a recorded message that they will get back , i called up again after 2 hours, next day , after 2 days but to no avail , finally i had to face the embarrassment in the family, i shot a mail to the company but they did not bother to reply in fact till today i have not got any reply or apology , getting frustrated for the lack of service i decided to cancel my membership and shot a mail for the cancellation and refund of my money as i have not availed any single holiday under the membership , i have paid 85000/- to them,till date they have not replied on the contrary the shameless creatures have send me a mail that my amount will be forfeited , no wonder they are buying properties out of the amount which they are swindling from the public , they are cheating people and some huge scam is active for 25 years,
    I am contemplating police action against the salesperson and other directors of the company u/s 420 and also will be approaching the consumer forum
    Mr Molty and Mr Tarundeep singh khaira can you guide me with this , in fact we can form a group of aggrieved members and approach the EOW etc, i am based at mumbai , Santacruz

    Veena Gomes

  233. I would feel your analysis is correct because you do not get the booking when you want as well as its the worst financial decision to buy the membership of club mahindra i am a purple studio member but due to some reason or the other reason i was unable to get the booking since the time i became member in 2003 of red studio .One astonishing news came to my knowledge
    1.You can not gift your holidays in the season to your relative ,though at the time of selling i was told that if you do not utilise yourself you can gift to relative
    2.I was told that if you do not travel your holiday would be accumulated but recently came to know that you can accumulate 21 days only please note that you have to pay membership charge ,annual fees make your days lapse they do not have inventory available with the company because in call centre one executive said you pay 4 year annual charge you would be able to travel for one week on 8/8/2015 when i was keen to confirm the holidays i spoke again a different executive named swapnil on 24/8 at 16.30 at instance he told for 8 years but after some discussion & hassle he spoke to his senior & after consultation with his senior he committed that you pay for 6 years & enjoy one week holiday.since two people from the same company are committing for the same issue two different commitment i was shocked in agony ,surprise & anger
    I again contacted the call centre on 25/8/15 at 4 pm girl name PHULASA was on line
    committed you can take holidays after paying for 9 years annual charge ,after lot of discussion she gave the line to senthil he came out differently in the same issues that you can take holidays after paying 10 years of annual charges to take one week of holiday then also not giving any surety that they will re-credit the lapse holidays .
    Please my humble request to contact me before paying a single rupee to this fraudulent company

    • I would certainly advise manish ji to not pay around 1.5-2 Lacs as ASF for 6-10 years. Its a real big amount. In this much money I hope you can go some of the best locations alongwith inventory in hand and moreover you dont have to stick with CM locations.

  234. Dear Mr Manish
    I may be interested in buying your Purple studio membership ( if you want to get rid of the same)
    Please share your contact details on [email protected] so that we can try to workout some deal
    Thanks
    Sachin

  235. I am looking to sell my White Studio membership which I bought in December 2013, still have 13 days balance, and I will get 7 more coming December, want to sell my membership for 2,20,000/- , I have paid 3,30,000/- and one time annual fees, 2nd year annual fees Rs. 12569/- is pending. Please contact 7204313753

  236. your comprehensive article on various aspects of club Mahindra was truely an eyeopener.The charts and graphs reveal indepth analysis.after reading it i now totally disillussioned with their tall claims. I am more convinced as my travel habits are like yours.
    Will read more of your other articles as well

  237. Thank you all for saving me from this gamble. I just called the representative and said I am not interested. I feel sorry for the people who got trapped in this gamble.

    • Please call me if you are still interested to buy Club Mahindra Membership.

      Regards
      Tanay Bhadange
      7709617677

  239. What you mentioned is absolutely correct. there are more issues which an unsuspecting customer will not come to know unless they experience on their own. i too am a member from 2010. they make lot of promises but dont deliver.
    1. bookings are to be made 3 months in advance else you dont get booking. if you are not getting booking then you are waitlisted by blocking your holidays and they wont even tell you your waitlist number ( whether you are number 1 in list or no 10). so you are stuck and dont know whether to cancel the booking and go to some other hotel / resort or change your destination. and your holidays are also blocked, so actually the waitlist has no meaning.
    2. they will proudly say you can upgrade – but this optiion is only 15 days prior to the date of holiday. this in reality doesnt make sense. when you are unable to get confirmed booking for your class, what is the chance of you getting an upgrade.
    3. logistics like ticket booking, cab booking is all your headache and there is no package in this, so how to handle this when your accomodation is waitlisted is an unanswered issue.
    4. what do you tell your family – we are going on holiday to place aaa or not. you really dont have an answer in case of waitlisted booking. my own experience, we had 3 different waitlists and none of them came through. thank god we had accumulated holidays of 21 days so my wife plans 4-5 holidays and atleast 1 will materialise. all this takes too much of time and effort which for having a peaceful holiday is too much. who has the time.
    5. booking a holiday is an entirely different experience. it is like booking a rajdhani tkt, be ready on day 1 early morning and by the time you have keyed in the info and submit the revert will be you are in waitlist. we have no other job to do except do club mahindra booking. so what is promised as a hazzle free holiday the expereicne is always the opposite.
    6. recently in nov 15 we went for holiday in Kodaikanal (tamil nadu) where we were at an associate property named Le Poshe – all club mahindra properties we have visted so far as usually away from market place and hence for food you are forced to take from them. 1st there was no kitchennette, meaning no microwave or gas, so you cant even boil milk for an infant. a glass of milk would cost you Rs 90 +. suddenly for 2days they said they dont have enough booking so every thing in the restaurant is on ala carte basis, which means there is no choice of food for the customer, in buffet system you are able to offer choice to every one and if you didnt like a preparation you go for another item which you cant do in ala carte.
    they provided room heater which is the size of a car fan, you have to sit within 6 inches of the heater else you wont feel the temperature difference. in the name of evening activity for members for 2 days ( out of 4) they played movie through a computer laptop.
    what is the use of such an experience in holidays – that too after paying high initial amount, paying ASF on yearly basis – viz I have a 1 BR red and i pay ASF of Rs 18000+.
    with all this i think it is a joke to join club mahindra, atleast without this you are a free bird and if you dont like the services you can quit the place and go to another resort which has better facilities. here you are stuck for 25 years and you cant even complain – no one listens to you.
    chandrashekar 16-11-15

  240. We have a purple club Mahindra membership since 2012. We decided to go for membership as we decided to take voluntary retirement from our work and travel when we have time , energy and money . After buying the membership , I went through the reviews on CM and got really scared that we wasted our hard earned money on this.
    But after visiting their resorts and their hospitality, I don’t regret for taking the membership. The resorts are bit faraway from the main city,but it’s worth travelling to reach their resorts . They are so well maintained, the staff are very courteous, good and varieties of food available. You have to pay little extra ,if you want to get somethings nice and better. So, pl. go for CM membership,if you have some extra money for spending for yourself and enjoy. Don’t blame club Mahindra as cheaters. I have never experienced any difficulty in booking a resort.

    • Since you are retired and you have the time/date flexibility, it works out good for you. For rest of the 99% of working people, we did take specific colour membership so that we can go and enjoy on those specific days/months. Since we have paid and bought a specific colour membership, we demand that Club Mahindra provide us reservation during those specific dates when demanded by a member. Club Mahindra has failed in providing reservation and this is the grievance.
      I completely agree with you that the resorts are great, the staff is good. Only if one is able to get a reservation, one can enjoy the stay !!!

  241. Please readers DO NOT……i repeat DO NOT take Club Mahindra Membership…………….they are totally unprofessional people and promise you a lot of things but they don’t. As a former member I was really unsatisfied with the our stay in one of the resorts. First thing is the Booking itself is not an easy task to do. They do not mention anything during the booking of the MEMBERSHIP. My advise to you all would be to instead paying so much of an amount, plan a trip on our own, it will definitely be a lot cheaper trip.

  243. Something to remember when it comes to Time shares / Club Mahindra type offers. They are NEVER, NEVER , NEVER gong to be in Buyer’s favor. Do the simple Math – Money paid upfront and the interest you earn is your outlay per month Plus maintenace /ASF + other booking fee is YOUR COST per yesr. Divide that into 7 days which is your funds to spend per day anywhere you choose withouut the anxiety / worry to get a booking at your cjhoice place of stay. Worst of all they state it is 25 yr. offer, after the 25 years you lost your principal? I am not DUMB to take on this offer.

  244. My below letter which I wrote and submitted to Club Mahindra is self explanatory. We ensured that the sales guy sign this letter and submit the same to their office. Now if they dont pay then we have already prepared consumer court application which we shall fie in next 20 to 25 days.

    Date; March 11, 2016

    To,

    Club Mahindra
    Vashi Branch, Navi Mumbai -400705

    Sub: Withdrawal of membership; (Form number DEC/2015/25YRS/116235)

    Dear Sir,
    I have enrolled for Club Mahindra membership on March 7, 2016 by making a payment of Rs. 29,560 as 10% down payment for white studio category of membership through my Standard Chartered Bank credit card (no. 4541 9823 3497 9280) Mumbai.

    I wish to cancel the aforesaid membership for the following reasons:

    • Your representative Shri Rohit Vetal represented before us that the regular membership of white studio apartment is available for Rs. 6.5 lacs however, as my name is recommended by other member of Club Mahindra so am being offered the same membership for Rs 3.55 Lacs and it is also stated by him that this offer is available only for that day and not otherwise. Under the genuine Impression that I am getting a discount of Rs 3 Lacs which is substantial so I agreed to become a member, However, when I made proper enquires on the net as well as with one of my friend who is also a member, I have realized that your representative has misrepresented before me. My friend has mentioned that he has taken white studio apartment at Rs. 3.4 Lacs as a regular customer.

    • This clearly shows that I have been misrepresented and lured by Shri Rohlt Vetal to become member by offer of discount of Rs 3 Lacs which did not exist. This is unfair trade practices followed and hurt me and if in the beginning only the trust is lost then its difficult to continue.

    On account of above mentioned misrepresentation I wish to cancel my enrollment and you are requested to refund me back the full amount of Rs 29,560/- paid by me Immediately

    We have already submitted this application to Mr. Rohit Vetal of Vashi branch in hand with an acknowledgment. Copy of the acknowledgment is attached herewith.

  245. Thanks Hemantji. I was just trapped by Country club. But after reading your article, I made my mind to never ever go for any club membership.

  247. Many thanks for detail review. Now I cancelled the appointment of their executive who is scheduled to meet me next week.

  248. Thanks for the review. You have helped me save my hard earned money. I was invited by Club Mahindra executive for a dinner and presentation Yesterday by call at a hotel and they promised me free 2 nights 3 days voucher and dinner for attending. The sales executive tried 45 minutes to lure me showing exotic videos. I liked the presentation. In the end he asked me that will i take my decision right now. I said no as i need time to think but i asked him if he can share the prices. He said that prices are only shared by his Manager and if you are not ready to buy it this time. My manager will not waste his time meeting you and quoting the prices. My answer was no as i am not a impulsive buyer. He handed me free voucher for 2 nights and 3 days stay which can be used in 6 months with some dates limitations. If you can review that free voucher also i would be grateful to you.

    P.S. They promised me free dinner on phone but never even asked once for it. I think dinner was only for those customers who buy the membership package.

    • Such losers… they have never seemed to have changed a bit. The mis-selling, the looting, the bad attitude continues. Dinner for only those who buy memberships… lol… thats the worst. One can imagine what happens when you get trapped after buying the membership.
      Go ahead and use the voucher. Enjoy their facility and walk out. Note that you have to pay extra for all the services at the resort, travel, food, water, entertainment, etc. Their resorts, facilities are great, no complaints on that front. But once a member, getting a reservation is a tough job ! Good that you didn’t get trapped !

    • Go and Enjoy…preferably attach club Mahindra booking with your another planned trip…that way you don’t waste money in traveling long distance just for 3d/2n.
      Facilities, service and locations – No doubts, its really awesome, you will enjoy it
      Cost of additional service – cost is pretty high for food (though test is good) ..if you have vehicle, you can visit city for food.

  249. I was about to buy the membership. want to check for honest reviews and there you go.
    you saved my money sir.

  250. Can any one guide about Karma Royal Group. Since morning am searching web, coming across 95% negative views for Mahindra, Country club, RCI……

  251. Thanks to you , i am saved other wise i was also putting lacks in the drain. thanks again.

  252. My Calculations are like this:

    Facts:
    I have 1 school going child. I am a salaried person. So, I can enjoy holidays only around vacations or public holidays.

    That means I need to invest at least 4 – 5 lakh for a studio or similar membership.
    If I put this 5 lakh in SIP / FD, I earn 40,000-50,000 per year. Additionally, I save at least 10,000 in annual fees. So, totally I am making 60,000/- per year If I DON’T buy any membership.

    Now, with this 60,000/- I can book at least 7 to 10 Nights at really good Hotels / resorts , & that too at different locations, enabling me to explore the entire area rather than sitting at resort.

    So, when people contacted me for such memberships, I explained them my logic, and they just smiled at me, and went away, and NEVER contacted me again!!!

    • Last I checked, 7 nights stay at Goa during Christmas & New year in a 1BR apartment in a decent resort was around 35K per night during the said period. I hold a purple 1BR for past 10 years & have always found value in their resorts. I like to travel with my family during peak season and ‘touchwood’ have always had a great time at their resorts. Its just that you have to be wise while booking your holidays. I usually book on the day the booking opens and block 2 multi-day slots. Then later, I cancel one of them as I finalize the dates for travel. There is no penalty for cancellation until 15days before travel.
      Just to conclude, I would not spend 1.5-2L on a 7 day holiday if I didn’t have the membership. In normal course, I would have booked in some mediocre place or would have traveled during lean period.
      PS: I’ve been to Goa thrice & Puducherry once during the new year time, and it was just awesome. Other places I have been(during peak) are Kandaghat, Poovar, Ashtamudi, Ooty & Binsar. Never been disappointed. In fact, this year end also we plan to go to Goa. Love the place.

    • I am reading the reviews for making a purchase or not. Have read a lot about making an FD etc and calculations shown. But no one is considering the tax component on interest which may work out above 20% also.
      Would like to know if I am missing something.

  253. Sales pitch is OK, but one thing I did not like that is selling through emotional exploitation of kids.
    My son participated in Spell bee competition. After some times I received a call inviting me with family saying that your son has won XXX prize and he’ll be awarded with 3N 4D holiday. That time they did not declared even that they are from CM. I specially asked, please do not call us if this is a sales call. Our time is precious, we’ll come only if my son has really won. They said yes, he has won and there is no sales pitch.
    Excited by my sons winning we reached 35 KM away to GK-2 in Delhi. After killing my two hours and assessing my income, they offered award of 3N4D exactly in exam days of kids, that to at huge price.
    Most of the time they were just trying to sell membership. I felt highly disappointed as I discovered that the Spell Bee competition was sponsored by them to hunt perspective buyers, not the talented kids.
    They played with my kids emotion who was excited that he has really won some thing good.

  255. i agree to hemant n really liked his analysis on it but i think u cannot consider interests on each n everything like leisure n holidays…the memories which club mahindra created, i don’t think would have been possible had i not been a member… well just my 2 cents… having said that i would still like to sell my Club mahindra membership white studio 2010.. with 21 nights spare…as i m not married yet n parents don’t use them so often… INTERESTED PEOPLE EMAIL ON [email protected]
    (WHITE STUDIO 2010)

  256. thanks i saw all comments regarding membership horrible ………..
    i want to talk in detail if any member is from mangalore ……ple my contact no :-9844333199 ………….

  257. I MADE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE IN MY LIFE BY JOINING CLUB MAHINDRA HOLIDAYS : MEMBERSHIP NO 2629053

    Friends,
    I am writing this to share my experience of club Mahindra holidays (CMH). I am a RED STUDIO MEMBER (second highest category) since may 2015. I have already paid Rs 4,73,500/- for the membership plus the annual subscription fee ( ASF ) of Rs 12569/- for the year 2015 ie ALMOST RUPEES FIVE LAKHS .

    Despite several attempts, I have never been able to avail a single day’s holiday from CMH till date due to the following reasons:
    • Club mahindra has never been able to give me a resort at the place of my choice. Reservation was never available whenever I wanted to go on a holiday, even though not in a peak season , despite my being a red season member (second highest category).
    • Even if I got a resort by some stroke of luck, I didn’t get the duration of my choice ( if I wanted 4 nights, only 2 nights were available).
    • Even at all I got a resort, the type of room available did not suit me ( I wanted studio apartment but CMH offered me a (smaller) hotel unit.

    Every time I was told that that I must do my booking 120 days in advance (which is a very difficult thing to do in my profession. The same must be the case with many members). This is an unreasonable condition. All the same, this time I was determined, so on 01 july 2016 ( the day booking was opened for the month of oct 2016), I tried to book two resorts of my choice ie virajpet ,coorg from 03-06 oct 2016 and at verka, goa from 07-10 oct 2016. However when I logged in at approximately 1PM, on the same day, I could not get confirmed bookings at both these resorts!!IMAGINE ON THE FIRST DAY OF BOOKING, BEING A RED STUDIO MEMBER, ONE IS UNABLE TO GET A RESORT OF ONE’S CHOICE – one can imagine the outcome if one tries to do a booking say 30 days in advance!! Apparently the bookings for these resorts were over within the first 3 hours of the booking window on the very 1st day!!So I had to be contended to book for resorts which were my second choice ie madekeri, coorg/ emerald palms, goa.

    I analyzed the whole issue very deliberately based on my experience with club Mahindra over the past one year, and came to the following conclusions:
    • These is A SERIOUS DEMAND AND SUPPLY MISMATCH – club Mahindra has kept on increasing its members without increasing resort capacity. Hence it is virtually impossible to avail a holiday at the PLACE/ TIME/ DURATION/ ACCOMMODATION OF ONE’S CHOICE, unless one plans 120 days in advance and logs in at 9.30 AM on first day when bookings are open or plans a holiday in absolute lean non tourist season ( Kashmir in peak winters, and goa during the monsoons)!!
    • Some resorts are very small (eg Baiguney,Sikkim, which has hardly 20 rooms).some are leased properties which are actually hotels but CMH calls them resorts – eg gangtok, sikkim/ Bangkok, thailand.
    • CMH is a big hoax with a colorful website making tall promises and several conditions cleverly hidden in fine print – bulk of them favoring CMH and not the customer.
    • By the time one understands the game, its too late to exit as the terms of exiting the membership are heavily in favour of CMH.
    • It is better to put the amount invested in CMH in a fixed deposit and utilize the interest for availing a holiday every year at the time/place/duration/ resort or hotel of one’s choice – today there are no dearth of hotels/ resorts in our country or abroad with neumerous booking portals offering fabulous choices and flexible options.

    Also, CMH is very prompt in penalizing you by deducting your credit holidays in case you don’t cancel your conformed booking 15 days in advance. (I lost 2 days since I couldn’t visit lonavla in june this year due to cancellation of my leave due to unforeseen exigencies of service).

    To conclude, IT IS A BAD EXPERIENCE – One did not expect this kind of service from the house Mahindras !! Several times I wanted the e mail id of Mr Anand Mahindra from the call centre/ office staff, so that I could apprise him of how CMH is fooling gullible people, but they refused.

    With best wishes
    Colonel SK Kahali

  259. I am a club Mahindra member from 2009. I started with Studio white and then slowly moved to Studio red, then to Studio purple and now I am Purple 1 BR. I have already visited more than 14 Indian resorts and also Dubai in UAE.
    I am very happy and satisfied with the overall experience. The food is surely expensive but the spread and quality justifies that. When we don’t want food at the resort, we have it outside- that is a decision the member can make.
    Booking at some season is a problem if not done earlier, which is pretty much the same for any other good resort in the location. But looks like they are building up more properties where there is more demand. Goa is an example- there are now 3 resorts in Goa.
    Overall I am very satisfied with the overall club Mahindra experience.
    From the financial perspective also, it is working out better. Even Fariyas at Lonavla or Ambe Valley charge 12,000- 15000 per night.
    And most important, I do not work in any Mahindra company.

    • Dear Sir,
      Are you still using CM holiday pack?
      If yes, how was the experience till now ?
      Any plan to exceed the member ship further?

      9711099037

  260. Good information .I was about to pay.I thought before giving my card I should once view the experiences of other persons.It really helped indeed.

    • Hi Vrusha,
      Good to hear that it helped in taking some decisions.
      I am really thankful top people who shared their experiences here.

  261. In the same boat my man. We are in the Red season and when we purchased this membership it was the highest and most flexible season. Now they have downgraded this season and made Purple season the highest and most flexible (exactly the same as old Red season.)My dad works on the ship so we can’t plan our holidays in advance and so we really needed the highest season. But they downgraded our season without informing us and now we can’t avail our holidays. We haven’t used a holiday in years cause they always say it’s unavailable.
    So I say screw them. I want to take them to court so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else.

  262. CHETAR,FRAUD THERE EXECUTIVES specially delhi branch Vaishali ARE ALSO MAHA CHETER WHEN THEY SELL MEMBERSHIP EMOTIONALLY CONVINCED PERSON & GIVE FALSE COMMITMENTS TO CUSTOMERS BE WARE FROM THEM DO NOT GO TO ATTEND ANY PRESENTATION CONVEY THIS MESSAGE TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS DO NOT BUY THIS MEMBERSHIP IT WAS TOTALLY WASTAGE OF MONEY YOU CAREFULLY CALCULATE THE AMT YOU PAY INTEREST & ALL CHARGES INCLUDING ASF WAS TOTLAY LOSS

  263. I do not need to repeat all that has been rightly posted already. It is a TRAP to smartly tangle in simple people. You go on paying for what you never own to use as per your convenience. with limited resorts and unlimited members only a few lucky ones can avail of the limited days at resorts. That too is compensated by them by paying heavy bills for that. Members pay EMIs and maintainance for what is never owned by them. The owners of Club Mahindra reap gains on what they have never paid for.

  264. Hi,

    I am Red Studio members with Club Mahindra since 2005. Considering the membership cost, the fast increasing Annual Service Fee of about 14,000-15000 per annum, non-availability of rooms (in some resorts they sell the rooms for payment denying the rooms for members) and other holiday options available, i recommend non-members to not buy their membership. Its not worth it.

  265. Dear All,

    Whoever is saying that Club Mahindra is their biggest mistake is actually an outcome of their frustration and bad planning. And today’s social media is the best way to vent out the anger/frustration.

    My experience, you can very well use the holidays if you plan well and if you do proper calculation you will see the ROI 10-11 years, however only compare inflation in terms the resort prices. If you take ASF in consideration than its 5nights free per year, which is still better.

  267. yes. i truely support and agree with Mr hemant beniwal. Thank god I amde a stop payment of cheque for PURPLE and saved myself and opted for a better deal.

  268. Thanks everyone for sharing such a great informative comments about club mahindra and other holiday clubs. I am planning to buy the membership but now i m not going to get those cheats to take away my money………. So thanks a lot

    • I have a CM red membership since 2014. If intrested pls contact me on 9479306221 or provide yr no to call you.

  271. First thought… A brilliant piece of an article wherein you have taken all pains possible to highlight the fact that “CLUB MAHINDRA IS NOT MEANT FOR YOU”.

    Statutory disclaimer: –
    That’s my personal email id and I am in now way associated with marketing club Mahindra products.
    Coming to the point now. I am a red studio member of club Mahindra and am happy to say that I am highly satisfied with what I got. My main aim of having a holiday is to relax. Unfortunately I am not the “wanderlust” types. I would rather enjoy some peaceful days away from my hectic schedule and that’s what club Mahindra promised me and has delivered till date. I believe in a comfortable stay wherever I decide to have a vacation. Hotel rooms for me are not just retiring rooms. My take “you should have researched what you were buying” club Mahindra delivers the comfort that they promise.

    Secondly I guess you haven’t factored inflation into the costs of the hotel rooms as well. Well I guess if an FD accrues interest… So do hotel rooms increase their charges. The rooms that they have are simply awesome.

    Thirdly… They do give out their rooms if they HAVEN’T been booked… Well wouldn’t u???give a single reason as to why you wouldnt.

    Fourth… Bookings have never been an issue for me and have always found bookings when I booked in advance… Well u just don’t book it for the next day…. That doesn’t work that way.

    Fifth… Do u ask for a refund after u buy a car and drive it for a few kilometres… Guess the answer will be no… Just like car companies offer test drives… Club Mahindra also offers a test holiday… In case you don’t like it.. U can ask for a refund… Well I simply don’t understand how “I was not allowed to use the 10 day refund policy” can happen. If you can write a blog article, you could’ve certainly shot an email to their higher authorities.. Surprising.

    Finally… Summarising in a single line.. “you goofed up… Why blame club mahindra”??… They deliver what they promise.. Hope you understood what I mean to convey.

  272. Hi Hemant.

    we too did the same mistake of going for Club Mahindra membership. We enrolled in July 2016, and have paid almost 94000 towards membership fee till now. Due to similar problems we decided to cancel the membership and obviously they are not going to refund our money. But we still are fighting to get it back. I wanted to know what you have done , have you cancelled your membership or sold it?

  273. My dear friend you are so wrong I have been usin Club Mahindra for many years now and I feel you have not understood the worth of a product like this and maybe after some years you can pile up the money along with your logic and take it to heaven and in the bargain compromise your family’s happiness and children’s smile , today like a airline ticket having various class sometimes you overlook the fact that you have bought a economy ticket and asking to travel in business class … Infact when I go to any resort and I see about 99 percent happy members who say this is worth it …..
    Go think for your self what life is all about and go and experience a holiday in Mahindra before talking .

  274. Hello we have a White Studio plan with Club Mahindra which we just started in Jul 16. We are paying an EMI of 8592 per month.We havent utilized any holiday till now. Is anyone interested in purchasing this plan.

  275. Hi Hemant, I also got trapped in similar fashion like yours.. I am still in 10 days lookout period. You mentioned that you were not allowed to withdraw your application in 10 days of subscription. Can you elaborate it, so I can consider it in my fight to withdraw. Thanks!

  276. Dear All CM Members ( Not satisfied ) ,
    This is fact that apart from Property ( Subject to availability ) nothing is good , without wasting more time.
    Please share your contact details with me, we will make a list of all members and we will plan our meeting in any of the CM resort by booking in lowest season and Invite media for witness of this cheating . Once unity of members are there who are going to tell truth to media , this may help us fighting against this cheating company.
    I am sure we all are capable enough to teach lesson to such company , and its only possible when we are in group.
    Awaiting for your contact details.
    Thanx

    Vijay Panchal ( 9825244376 )

  278. Hii …
    Thanks Hemant but did the same mistake of buying it and not researching…… I want to exit but there is no way to exit as they say your money is gone ….. I have paid 10 %dp and have paid 1 emi of 14000 …… for red 1 bar anyone interested pls contact me on 9820155796

  279. Hey!
    Thank you so much for this article and comments. I had decided to buy CM membership and was going to do the paperwork tomorrow. I’m glad I read this.

    Bye bye club Mahindra !!

  280. Well I heard about this about the time I started making a lot of money on a galloping salary in the early 90’s. But my gut feeling said, “Hey, c’mon, I can always buy a holiday without having to commit myself for 25 years”. That is a catch line for trapping easy fish. Even today, I’ve never fallen for iphones. Such consumerism always will make the seller richer at the cost of the gullible buyer. Let the movie stars own private jets. I for sure will never need one. C’mon, I am no TATA.

    • I forgot to mention this story. My wife and I were “invited” to a 1/2 day “intro” to the “Leela Penta” hotel in Mumbai (Bombay then), and was served tea. Yes, in a very photogenic setting. I do not remember if it was Mahindra, it wasn’t.

      I sure did not buy their sweet talk.

  281. Hi All,

    I have club Mahendra studio membership bought in 2016 with 25 yrs . I want to sell , please contact 9972211274.

    I am not able to use it.

    Thanks
    Amit

  282. My HEARTY THANKS BRO.. JUST NOW GOT READY TO BECOME A MEMBERSHIP IN CLUB MAHINDRA RESORT PACKAGES. BUT YOU SAVED ME AT A RIGHT TIME FOR MY LIFE TIME. HATS OFF. THANKS ONCE AGAIN.

  283. 1. You can’t get your dates confirmed easily, unless and until you book it 3 months in advance, which is not always possible.
    2. You have to take what is available and when available.
    3. 3. for the year 2017-18, you pay an annual maintenance charges of Rs. 18,888/- for a stay of 7 Nights in a location and date of their (Club Mahindra’s) choice. Per night you pay Rs. 2,698/-. For this price or slightly higher (say by 15%) you can get booking in Star Hotels of your choice, including free Break fast. Whatever upfront payment you have made 10 years ago to Club Mahindra has already gone down the drain. You don’t get a share or bonus on the club Mahindra property appreciation. You will agree that these properties were bought with our payments.

    Hence it is cheaper and better to take Holidays of my choice out of this Rs. 18,888/- As someone has said, the Food is quite expensive in Club Mahindra, though reasonably good. For your information, today, I have booked 2 Nights at Hotel Hilton, Pune on 9th & 10 June, 17 @ Rs. 4,000/- including Dinner & BF.

    So I have decided to discontinue paying the annual fees in future and allow the membership to lapse. If any one wants my white season membership, can take it FREE. Contact me on 09094001166 Chennai.
    R Kannan

  284. Last year in April 2016(Rudrapur,Uttarakhand) I took the membership of Club Mahindra but nw I feel this was my BIG mistake as I did not study properly or you can say the agents of CM did not give me time to think. Before taking plan, there were coming so many calls for 3 free nights.First I avoided but there calls kept on coming. When I reached with family, they showed me their plans for 10 years. There was also a belief that it is backed by brand Mahindra. Such a big company will provide good and transparent service.But after some time I felt cheated when I came to know that many information was knowlingly not disclosed at that time. They did not tell me about ASF but I continued the plan just for the sake of my children. After some time when I tried to book, I came to know about mysterious COLORS plan. Now I know thatI have BLUE plan but at that time nobody told me about this. They also told that they provide their resorts only for members but by reading your articles I came to know that non-members also can take this plan. After reading so many reviwes from members this is sure that CM is not fair in their dealings.
    I took plan on EMI basis.I have depositted about 100000(1 Lakh) includinf ASF so far. I have not used any holidays.I am not inteersted in CM now.I have read by many members that they want to sell their plan. What is this selling process? What should I do? Thanks for Hemant Beniwal sir !Would that I were read this article before taking this article!!!

  285. Hye …
    Thanks to my wife. on 23-5-17 I am going to did the same mistake of buying it. They Foreced to buy the membership on the table. I am totaly convinced. but my wife not interested to do so without research. so we refuse. Your article and comments so much clear my mind. Thanks to all
    Go to Holidays with our choice of palace, Time, Money to spend …… relax

  287. i would like to sell my membership of club mahindra which i brought in october 2013 which is blue studio .my contact number is 9819032607. who are willing to purchase the membership plz call me .i have only gone to 2 locations till now so its worth it to purchase

  288. I want to buy Club Mahindra Red season studio or 1 BR members ship. I will be easier if the transferring party is in Mumbai. If any want to offer / transfer such membership, please call me on 0 920 008 5007. Thanks

    • I am interested in selling my Club Mahindra Membership the details are as follows:
      Red Studio
      1 July 2013 to 30 June 2038
      7.60 days pending in the current year
      All dues paid upto date.

  289. Absolutely right and now a days it is very difficult to get the rooms and always it is waitlisted and corporate companies are given advantage and they book the rooms. Here after i wont recommend any one in case if they plan to buy.

  291. 1. You can’t get your dates confirmed easily, unless and until you book it 3 months in advance, which is not always possible.
    2. You have to take what is available and when available.
    3. 3. for the year 2017-18, you pay an annual maintenance charges of Rs. 13,700/- for a stay of 7 Nights in a location and date of their (Club Mahindra’s) choice. Per night you pay Rs. 2,000/-. For this price or slightly higher (say by 15%) you can get booking in Star Hotels of your choice, including free Break fast, lunch and dinner. Whatever upfront payment you have made 10 years ago to Club Mahindra has already gone down the drain. You don’t get a share or bonus on the club Mahindra property appreciation. You will agree that these properties were bought with our payments.

    Hence it is cheaper and better to take Holidays of my choice out of this Rs. 13,700/- As someone has said, the Food is quite expensive in Club Mahindra, though reasonably good. For your information, today, I have booked 2 Nights at Hotel Hilton, Pune on 15th & 16 July, 17 @ Rs. 4,000/- including Dinner, BF and lunch also.
    Food charges is so high like one food package of Rs.1,500/- for one per & for three person Rs.4,500/- per day when he stay seven days than he pay for food Rs.31,500/- and now GST pay. while that most of the person go outside of the resort for breakfast, lunch & dinner, so i request to club mahindra for member BF, Lunch and dinner package with all taxes Rs.1,000/- maximum. for that most of the members use club mahindra resort and enjoy picnic with family.

  292. I took red studio plan for 25 yrs on 4th July 2017, but send a request to cancel my membership on 5th july.I received an auto mated reply that they will revert within 02 working days but i received nothing.I have again send the mail today.The agent thru whom I purchased the product is not picking the phone.

    Pls suggest.

  293. I want to sell my White Membership, payments made untill 1 year, valdity till 2041, not a single holiday used yet, shifting forever to Dubai so want to sell my membership soon. genuine buyers please call @ 9987393730

  294. Ya, I 100% agree with the true picture depicted by the writer. Never ever, ever ever join Club Mahindra. That is my honest advice for all those who do research before taking this membership. Like the writer, I also was trapped into this membership by their sales guy who will never mention about the Annual Service Fee and the lapsing of the holidays in three years time. And whenever you try to book, you don’t get it. so what is the point in having this membership. Fraudulent guys.

  295. Even i am a consumer who is affected by cheating philosophy of Club Mahindra Holida

    Very recently i have subscribed to club mahindra membership in the month of june – 2017 wherein i was assured that there will be flexibility in my payment schedule.

    As per the representative my installments would start as and when i will need it however they started their first installment from the month of july-17 for which i was not ready and hence had to ask for cancellation of the membership.

    Real shock was received when i made an application for cancellation “they told me that the total advance payment of rs 54210 would be forfeited” this is broad light cheating of consumers money.

    I suggest to all consumers to beware of “club mahindra holidays” as they are here to make business out of consumers hard earned money.

    First they will create rosy pictures and will agree to all your demands and the moment you are in the boat they will take you for a ride and the ride is going to be a very “costly ride”.

    I feel that a very esteemed and respectable person like mr. Anand mahindra has to resort to such kind of cheap business practices, (Mr. Anandji am sorry to state but this is the state of your business partners.)

    I STRONGLY URGE ALL PEOPLE TO BEWARE OF CLUB MAHINDRA SALES PERSON AND FIRST REVIEW YOUR PRODUCT BEFORE SIGNING UP…….

  296. Nevertheless Hemant i should say you have compiled a very good info about Club Mahindra Holidays modus operandi.

    Alas i could not go through your article else i would not have signed up for club mahindra holidays.

    Thanks for putting up such good information.

  297. I wonder if people really understood this post by Hemant.
    It isn’t worth buying the membership. Rather, travel on your own and book nice resorts according to your budget. This will work out the best for anyone.

  298. Bacha liya iss post ne by God… I am at Club Mahindra for 2 nights free stay which I received with my Mahindra TUV 300… Here I was called by Manager and he offer me so called “On The Table Deal” which mean that offer is valid only till we r sitting… We have to say Yes or No at that very moment… No time to think and no time to read reciews o line… Thats there selling techniques these days… As the offer was not in my budget I said No but still I read review and got to know that is not my cup of tea… Very well written blog

  299. Hi,
    I have Club Mahindra Membership bought in March 2008 has remaining 15 yrs White Studio. I have been to 3 Resorts and its value for money . But due to some personal reasons would want to sell my membership. If anyone is interested Please contact me at [email protected]

  302. Club mahindra is not at all worth the money they charge. I have been a member for past few years (membership id: 2598509) and my experience with them has been terrible. Club mahindra claims that all their resorts are 5 star quality which is a big lie. Only a few of their resorts (~10%) are of the 5 star quality. They have a lot of affiliate resorts which are pathetic in quality and not even 1 star standard. They own only a few resorts which are location wise good but then again you will hardly be able to book them as they have sold much more memberships than their room inventory. Then there is the problem of poor customer service. Employees of club mahindra are really rude and have an hostile/unwelcoming attitude towards guests – all thanks to the sarkari culture of mahindra. Once you paid the membership fess they don’t give a damn about customer service as they have already got their money from you. It is mistake to become a member at club mahindra

  303. I have a red studio membership valid till 30-Jun-2034 in Club Mahindra . I also have 21 days in my account . I am interested to sell the membership and the the existing holidays at 10% discount to the proportionate current purchase value. Anybody interested, may please contact me at [email protected]

  305. I want to sell my club mahindra membership red – studio membership valid till 2035 and 21 days ballance all dues paid. call me 9022770772 navi mumbai

  306. Imo this is a bad investment. What really gets my goat is how much cheaper it is for non members. For e.g. in less than 15 days, I can book CM Thekkady, for 3500 (including breakfast).

    Also the rate of inflation of ASF magically does not apply as much to non member bookings. Also a quick check on makemytrip shows that I can stay at better rated places for cheaper.

    CM should make breakfast inclusive for members to achieve some semblance of parity with non members.

    • “CM should make breakfast inclusive for members to achieve some semblance of parity with non members”

      Club Mahindra operates on the “customer trapping” model. Once you go for the membership, you are trapped with no escape route. They do not have to provide any extra benefits as they know you can’t go away once you paid upfront.

      While members are not getting bookings, it is sad to see the availability in open market that too at a better rate !!

  307. You are the real savior sir. God sent you to earth to help people. Thanks a lot. Because I cancelled my decision to buy Club Mahindra.
    William

  308. Yes it’s the real story of Clubmahindra membership.
    Even I am facing the same situation.
    It’s better to fix that much money and add annual fee into it and plan your holiday at your favourite destination at your own choice and time.
    Club Mahindra is a big no for all Medical professionals and those who are in Emergency services because you can’t plan your vacation 6 months early.
    The 3 biggest hidden condition in clubmahindra membership which one can only experience and know after joining it and well explained by dear friend are-
    1. There is no control of members on club mahindra any policy decisions which will restrict them to uncontrolled membership policy and utilization of resorts by non members, even when there members are waiting and not even able to utilize it.
    2. The ratio of Membership and availability of rooms are not appropriate and they have very limited good resorts. I have even visited Dubai ,it’s not at par with even simple hotel apartments you can book through book my. Com.
    3. The worst thing a about this membership is it’s nither refundable, nor sellable and you have to pay annual fee life time.

    • Hello Nitin,
      You can get 30 years on THROUGHOUT YEAR booking basis for only Rs5,77,000 for 1BR unit with 2000+ properties all over the world with 30 choices in India.[CM – 50 in India only]
      No annual fee if not travelling.[ASF compulsory even if not travelling]
      All quality resorts 4, 5 stars.
      No red, purple, white season. Book all year round. [CM- only 3-4 months a year availability]
      Options to split into 2 4D/3N stays also in select resorts in Asia 😀
      Sending you the details on email 🙂
      You will absolutely love it, especially if you were considering CM.

  311. This is a nice and detailed review. What most people do is make a hurried decision without considering their requirement. Club Mahindra has good properties and is good for families who prefer to travel in India only. However, we for people who prefer travelling abroad or would like options abroad, nothing beats this exclusive dhamaka club membership from our franchise.
    Gold Club Membership: Rs3,60,000 in India [Much lesser for foreign nationals and NRIs due to difference in taxes in other countries. 30 year every year and two weeks a year options also available]
    30 years, 15 weeks, 8D/7N [one week] every alternate year. Can even be split into two separate stays of 4D/3N in two different properties.
    NOW PLEASE COMPARE:
    Choice of 3,000 properties around the world [Mahindra 50+10 I think mostly in India]
    Units are usually 1 bedroom for 2 adults + 2 kids but have several properties that accommodate 4 adults.
    FLAT PRICE for all units: No Studio, 1BR, 2BR and no different fees for each.
    NO ASF if you don’t utilise your week!
    FLAT PRICE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR! NO white, red, purple. Units can be booked ALL AROUND THE YEAR!!
    Book 30 days in advance anytime throughout the year – only difficulty is usually in the Christmas-NewYear week as it is peak season around the world.
    Applicable fees:
    Usage fee- Rs14,600 + Rs8,550[one week] or Rs 5,700[split week] =Rs23,150
    Has 30 properties in India = including Karma Resort group Goa, Turtle on the Beach Kovalam, Ramada Allepey, Four Points Sheraton Jaipur and many more!
    Has choice of 700+ properties in all states of USA.
    Other options range from Canada, Brazil, Argentina to Australia, Russia, China, Dubai, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Austria, Turkey, Spain and Tunisia, South Africa and Morocco too!! 🙂
    24/7 INTERNATIONAL CALL CENTER
    There is no comparison with Club Mahindra in terms of the utilities and options and class of properties – mostly 4 and 5 star resorts and hotels.
    NO HIDDEN CHARGES AT ALL. TAXES INCLUDED.
    In fact, save much more for foreign nationals or Indians residing in foreign countries:
    ONLY USD5060 for Gold membership – 15 weeks over 30 years [Rs3,30,000]
    ONLY USD8850 for Platinum membership – 30 weeks over 30 years [Rs5,77,000]
    ONLY USD14170 for Diamond memberhsip – 60 weeks over 30 years [Rs9,22,000]

  312. Dear Mr Beniwal: Your well-researched article is correct in all aspects. I wish you had mentioned about the Membership rights period of 25 years vis-a-vis with the 30 years period with which Club Mahindra started with when it got started. I am in fact a member since 2002 with my entitlement period stretching upto 2034. I have stopped using the occupancy entitlement as Red category member since 2006 after they have unilaterally increased their so called ASF charges from Rs 8770 in 2006 to Rs 20000 appx now, which were as per agreement intended to be maintenance charges. In 2016, I had represented to the CEO of Club Mahindra with my complaints about (a) inadequate units numbering only 2879 nos to cater to the large membership of 199,000 members then, i.e. inadequacy of 25% (vis-a-vis 44% estimated by you) resulting in long notice periods for booking, denial of even confirmed accommodation etc; (b) steep increase in maintenance/ASF charges rendering the investment totally dud and (c) allowing inadequate accommodation to be rented out to non-members adding to the non- availability of accommodation to members and the length of notice period sought from them. Sad to say, the CEO has not bothered to respond to my representation nor redressed my grievances. In desperation, I have tried to sell my membership by absorbing the ASF dues to my a/c but have not received any worthwhile offer of quotes anywhere near the fees charged by Club Mahindra for fresh members even after adjusting for my residual membership entitlement period vis-a-vis the 25 year term available now to new members. This also needs to be highlighted to likely new members lest they fall into the trap that Mr Beniwal has referred to.

  313. Actually most of the properties are gold crown properties in good scenic locales in and around India , however I prefer traveling to cities and to international destinations
    If anyone interested I have around 18 to 19 years of my membership ( 1 BR – Red season up for sale )

  314. I am ready to sell by CM membership at 40% discount. Blue Studio with 17 days balance. All dues paid. Please call at 9987286609.

  315. Hi!
    I want to sell my Blue studio membership purchased in 2010 so valid till year 2035. Currently have 20.5 days available. All payments and ASF has already been paid. Recently shifted out of country that’s why wanted to sell it. I can offer good discount on current selling price.
    If anyone interested email me.

  316. Just they are fooling everyone. Rate of 5 and 7 start hotels going down and these people increasing day by day and also there is no constant ASF, it is increasing by like anything. We should put these issues in consumer court so that these should realize and correct their system. Worst customer care not work properly and many more issues. Just they are doing advertisement nothing else.

  317. I am willing to buy clubmahindra RED 1 BR membership around 10-15 years remaining. contact email [email protected] Would transfer membership and pay by DD. member around Dehradun (Uttaranchal) preferred. Send proposals.

  319. Hi Want to sell Red Studio membership valid till 2035
    Have current balance 20.9 days to be taken (last three years accumulated days)
    All ASF paid till date (no due at all)
    interested then call 9324212100
    Nimesh

  320. I am interested in selling my CM White Studio membership purchased in Jan 2012 – valid till Dec 2036. Due to personal reasons, I’m unable to use my membership. Am willing to offer good discount along with 21 days of unused holidays. If you are still interested please contact [email protected].
    Pramod

  322. Thank God. i had a meeting that was set up this Saturday with Clubmahindra Team for membership. After looking at this post, i feel i am wise to take a decision. I will try to get rid of this. Oh god.. Thanks for the information. Anyway when Makemytrip and other sites giving min 50% discount, it’s meaningless to opt for membership. Thanks for your details report. As per your post, i sense it was very old and by the way any improvement in the situation now??

  323. Hi Folks,
    Willing to take fresh membership to spend memorable time with my family yearly once. I would be interested to go with Red 1BHK.

    Can someone help me with the Pros and Cons of Club Mahindra and Sterling Holiday, am in dilemma which one to opt. Please guide me.

    Thanks,
    Ram

  324. Irony of this post . it was intended to make aware of Club mahindra membership flaws . and look at this now looks like market place for Club mahindra membership . Kudos to people who are buying even after reading full article

  326. Hi
    i am planning to buy a membership plan in sterlling hoiliday. The representative also make me convince about their products, but after reading this article i found that the same thing in srelling holiday also.
    Really thanks for this eye opening truth.
    Regards
    Pabitra Sau

  328. Greetings from Samarendra!

    I
    I’m seeking anyone who can help me to sell / transfer my Club Mahindra Membership (RED STUDIO) valid till 2037 along with 11 Days Holiday’s left unsued.

    Also till date all ASF and EMI’s paid except Rs.16,000 (Future EMI’s)

    Actually I don’t find this membership suitable to suit my lifestyle and timelines. Due to this I need more space in my life to plan my vacations freely without any boundations and restrictions from anyone.

    If anyone interested then please contact me on undersigned:
    Samarendra Panda
    M:+91-9320130580 / 7888807875 / 8875469333
    Email : [email protected] / [email protected]

  329. Great post. I concur with most of the facts mentioned in the post. Thanks for highlighting the various aspects of the deal. I for one fell for it roughly the time you had taken the membership. By the time I realized my folly I had paid up Rs 50000. It is a pure trap. Human nature usually will try to extract something out of a lost cause. And they exploit that. Anyway, I stopped paying after that. I considered it as tuition fees for learning to manage my financial decisions. Another similar lesson I learned was to consider Insurance as an investment! I was lured into the deal because of the freebie then and because of the name “mahindra” I am sure by now the conglomerate has earned enough bad name!!. I must also mention that their properties are good and they are well kept. But not for me. There are plenty of similar holiday locations where one can plan and get there at the time they want.

  330. Some readers talked positively about CM. Some comes on board and says you have to plan properly. Someone says you can’t return the car after purchase. Wonder why didn’t he compare with any other product (there are millions) which you can simply return if you don’t want.
    Customer has to pay so much money for membership and inflation adjusted ASF for 25-30 years, and all he get to hear is this blame. Hats off.

  331. Hi All,

    White Studio Apartment membership available for Sale.. 21 days unused holidays still there.

    Valid till 2036. Just now paid the ASF for 2019.

    Can sell asap.

    SMS at 98 20 03 54 13.

    Ganesh

  334. I am interested in selling my club Mahindra membership ( Purple Studio). It is valid upto 2037 apart from this i have around 16 unused days left from previous years.
    If someone is genuinely interested , them write back to me personally on [email protected]
    Please share your price offer too.
    Thanking you in advance.

  335. Hello all,
    Very nice conversation found & almost all queries are cleared.
    I also want to sell white studio membership valid for 25 years. I have just purchased in the month of December.
    Anybody interested please contact me
    Jainik Dhimar
    [email protected]
    8154006165

  336. Hello friends
    I am moving out of the country very soon so I want to sell white studio membership valid for 25 years. I purchased it in Feb, 2017 and utilised just 4 holidays. Serious buys can contact me.
    Thanks
    Satinder Singh
    9878600634

  337. Dear Hemant, Its a perfect article on the unethical business plan of Club Mahindra. I am one of the disappointed member & yet to experience their resorts wherein i took the membership in 2013. The reason is their sales team is quite efficient to sell it to Non-members.
    However, I also feel that to make use of this membership, one really needs to plan well & with my life schedule that is not going to be possible. If anyone is interested to buy out the membership from me who can genuinely make use of it, it would be nice as i heard their properties are quite beautiful.
    I have a white studio membership valid till 2037 and i can be reached on 8976835543

  338. I have a Red Studio membership, wanting to sell off 7 – 14 days for this year.

    Anybody interested please let me know though Whats App.

    Regards
    Prashant Sorte
    9867730184

  342. My uncle has been a Club Mahindra member for over five years. He really regrets the decision to buy this useless membership. He succumbed to the smooth pesky snake oil sellerlike sales folks at this company. So surprising that Anand Mahindra would lend his name to such a fraud company that thrives on cheating naive and innocent customers. Their resorts are at best three star level and their member experience probably the poorest in the travel industry. The food is atrociosly expensive. Travel to their resorts is expensive as they are invariably located in inaccessible places making you to pay for cabs at obscene rates. All their rules are designed to make you not holiday. Yet their management is very happy after having somehow hoodwinked you with the membership purchase. This is clearly amongst the poorest ethical companies in India and would qualify as the most irresponsible investment decision for our family that we regret everyday

  343. I got trapped into it 3 years back, till today not able to book single holiday. over this time I realized, there is no fault of Club Mahindra, you need to be following to enjoy your holidays:

    # If you got an iota of self respect in yourself, plz do not go for the membership
    # If you can beg, cajole and can go to any extent to grab a holiday, go for it else its a big NO
    # There are so many permutation & combinations works to get a holiday book with Club Mahindra, so lets say if you can wake up in midnight, wear a blue shirt, khaki pant and your family ready with a bowl in their hands and then try online to book the holiday, you may get a chance to get the holiday booked in six momths in advance
    # You need to be greedy enough to book the holiday, you have to be brutal with your feelings, you should have no self respect.

  344. I want to sell RED STUDIO for 1 lakh (non-negotiable) immediately. First-come-first basis.

    Membership Valid From 1-Oct-2013
    Membership Valid Till 30-Sep-2038
    Unused Days Left – 14.7
    ASF Due – Rs. 15700/-

    Contact me at [email protected]

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