We arrived at the Don Pancho Beach Resort #1168 at the official check-in time stated on the reservation confirmation on December 25, 2004, only to find the reception/office area closed and no resident manager on the premises. We tried to reach the manager by using the emergency telephone contact, only to find out later that the phone was not in working order. When the resort manager finally arrived, he appeared to be unconcerned about our delayed check-in to unit.
We were very disappointed in unit #15, which was assigned to us. (The RCI confirmation form had listed unit #3, which was a beachfront location.) The unit #15 location was adjacent to the swimming pool area, which made for a very noisy location. The unit was totally unacceptable to us. On December 26, we were told by Reception that our room was classified at a "motel unit." This really makes a person feel good when you know that you space-banked a one-bedroom unit in exchange for a motel room with no table and chairs for simple dining. There was a microwave mini-kitchen, but no space and place to eat in the unit, unless you enjoy sitting on the bed to eat.
One very important rule of the resort, which we found to be very objectionable, was that local owners were allowed to come in and use the resort amenities for DAY USE, even though their unit was booked and occupied by renters or an exchange. We were quite surprised to see that owners and their guests were allowed to be on the property for DAY USE during this extremely busy Christmas-to-New Year’s vacation week.
Finally, RCI did an automatic exchange confirmation on our behalf without consulting us first. Upon receiving the exchange confirmation in the mail, we found it to be too late to cancel. It was definitely an inequitable exchange.
This was a poor exchange all around.