Busy sales at LV time share prompt expansion of plans

Friday, Aug. 25, 2000 | 11:31 a.m.

Sales at a new time-share resort south of the Las Vegas Strip are so brisk that owners have nearly doubled the size of their development plans.

Owners of the Cancun Resort plan to develop 917 units they expect to fill by late 2002 or early 2003. Officials with Pacific Monarch Resorts Inc., Laguna Hills, Calif., say that would make it the largest vacation ownership property in the city when completed.

"We've had much better success than we anticipated," said Gerald Greenbach, director of resorts for Monarch Grand Vacations Management Inc., which markets the properties. "We're way above the sales pace we projected."

As a result, Monarch was granted permission to build later phases of the project as nine-story high-rise buildings instead of the four-story structures currently under construction.

The $120 million Cancun, themed to replicate the ancient Mayan civilizations on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, has 66 suites open. Another 66 will open in early December and a third building with 66 more opens in February.

After that, five subsequent buildings in the resort will have about 148 suites apiece. The resort is located on Las Vegas Boulevard near Blue Diamond Road.

Greenbach said the market has grown because more younger buyers are investigating time shares.

"We're showing the units to a much younger crowd and we've gotten a good response," Greenbach said. "And we haven't even begun marketing this property to Nevada residents."

Greenbach said units may appeal to Nevadans because, like most time-share developments, time can be traded and used at other resorts. Pacific Monarch is affiliated with Interval International, which has 1,100 resorts worldwide.

Pacific Monarch has resorts in North San Diego County, Palm Springs and Dana Point, Calif., a property under construction at Los Cabos, Mexico, and plans for resorts in Hawaii and Utah.

Unlike most time shares, Monarch uses a points-based program for sales. That means buyers aren't acquiring a specific week of the year for their units, but are buying increments of time that can be used at any time. Weekend stays cost more in points than weekdays.

Monarch officials would not disclose how much points cost -- that's something that's discussed with potential buyers in 90-minute sales presentations that occur in the sales office with prospects that are flown in for a weekend stay in Las Vegas.

Right now, Greenbach said Monarch is targeting residents of Denver; Salt Lake City; Seattle; San Francisco; Portland, Ore.; Arizona and Southern California.

The presentation includes a tour of resort and a look at the amenities: one- and two-bedroom and penthouse villa suites that range from 700 to 1,600 square feet; a swimming pool that Greenbach was told has the largest surface area in Clark County with a poolside bar and a sand volleyball court; a restaurant and lounge; a fitness center; and a children's camp with baby-sitting services.

The centerpiece of the recreational amenities is a 40-foot Mayan pyramid that includes a cascading waterfall and four water slides. Statues of Chac-Mul, a messenger to Mayan gods, adorn the property.

The company is selling the flexibility of the points system with buyers, noting they don't have to take the same size suite in every visit. The two-bedroom suites can sleep six, Greenbach said, but a buyer can visit with extended family on one visit or just a spouse on another.

Greenbach said there are no plans to develop a casino on the property. The nearest gaming is about a mile west of the property at the Silverton hotel-casino.

The American Resort Development Association, based in Washington, says time-share owners stay an average 89 percent longer, spend an average 230 percent more over the course of their trips and have a per-person gaming budget that is 40 percent higher than the average visitor. Officials say their discretionary spending is higher because their lodging is already paid for.