Ignacio Cadena Beraud is an icon of Puerto Vallarta. Originally from Hermosillo, Sonora, married and father of seven children, he studied business administration and a bachelor of marketing at Harvard University.
Many know of him from his show on the radio, television program and his contributions to the newspaper, the Vallarta Opina. He is also known as a promoter of all things cultural and as the General Manager of the Hotel Friendly. However, not everyone knows that he was a pioneer in the timeshare industry of our destination.
He participated in a fundamental way in the development Los Tules, which was the first development to integrate with its natural surroundings; 70% of the property is reserved for green areas and in the fifth phase of development was promoted as timeshare.
“This came as an uncertain marketing ploy because in those years, timeshare was emerging in France and the United States but there was no conscious plan or definite structure, explained Nacho Cadena.”
Timeshare is the method that joins the best of both worlds
“At the beginning of the 80s, I began to think about a formula that would join the best of a property and the best of a hotel, for example, a condominium lacks the amenities of a hotel such as: daily housekeeping, dining alternatives and other services offering comfort to the guest. Being a property owner also has its benefits: the feeling of ownership, pride in the living space, keeping the property up, having gardeners, employees, security, etc. So then why no look for something that joins as best as possible both of these modalities?”
“At this time the fine real estate industry that we had in Puerto Vallarta completely changed because of the disparity of the dollar, construction became too expensive, inflation was out of control, the exchange rate was fixed and we had a crisis on our hands that required imaginative solutions. So I was moved by this idea until it converted into a project.”
“Once, by accident, I was speaking to a person from North Carolina who was also interested in the subject and he invited me to see some bungalows in the mountains where they had incorporated the concept of timeshare. This was the first concrete project that I had seen, of course, nothing like what we have now... Today this is a world class industry.”
“At the beginning, timeshare had many weaknesses but it also had many virtues. We started by selling fixed weeks on a fixed unit. We would sell 50 weeks a year because we would set aside two weeks for maintenance. As we went along, other people perfected the system, in fact, at the very beginning an American by the name of Bob Burns began selling the one of the first timeshare developments in Puerto Vallarta: Vallarta Torre (which still exists today) and he brought a point system, which allowed some flexibility with your purchase, which gave a series of options. Afterwards, this point system was adopted by the Mexican businesses and taken to a level of sophistication close to perfection.”
Perfecting the process
“One of the great advantages of timeshare is that it is repetitive. When you sell a unit, you are assuring its long-term occupancy, because if this buyer is not the same one that returns, it will be used by someone who made an exchange for it.”
“Although timeshare as a product is almost perfect, the processes are still imperfect. Because there is more professionalism brought to the industry, I am sure the defects such as the sale mechanism, prospecting and relationships with the travel agencies will be resolved.”
“Remember that the timeshare guest only pays the maintenance fee, which brings in more resources to share with the other service providers. Also, timeshare does not sell food service or other items, so the visitor goes into the city and consume, use tour services, adventure tourism, take taxis, rent cars, etc.”
“I love it, I am an owner of timeshare and I can tell you that year after year I make exchanges for different places. Why is it so demonized? Because of the lack of information.”
Read more about timeshare and its advantages.