Karma Holidays Timeshare Membership: Pricing, Offers, Analysis

Oct 2022 Update: Attended another presentation from Dove Holidays, a Anway company, which had the same template, same pricing, same property videos were shown... I have a feeling that they running duplicate companies to enroll maximum customers. Be careful.

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All of a sudden I got a call from someone at Karma Holidays. Karma Holidays team had come from Bangalore to Udupi to market their company, they had got (or bought) contact numbers of all Hyundai customers and called them to attend their event. (I am sure Karma team would have done the same for all other brand car owners, those who bought property or jewelry) 

Before their call I was clueless about Karma but did a quick check to find out that they are into a timeshare model similar to Club Mahindra. Immediately I could sense that the event is focused on enrolling new members and I would be pressured to sign up after an elaborate presentation.

I could have simply declined but decided to go and check out due to following reasons

1. It had been long time since I attended any events because of Corona

2. I felt I could use this opportunity to understand about Karma holidays and write about them in my blog post

3. A buffet dinner was on offer

4. Event venue was only 4 kms from the office so it was possible to attend after office hours.

So I visited Hotel Ocean Pearl Udupi at the designated time, fully aware of the mind game I might be subjected to. Because their website didn't reveal membership fees I was keen to know it and all the fine print.

Below are key things I learnt about Karma Holidays

1. Karma doesn't have seasons. (Club Mahindra has Blue, White, Red, Purple, more money for peak seasons). So one membership for all seasons

2. Karma has tie up properties. While Club Mahindra owns many of the resorts, Karma's model seem to have tie up with property owners. They listed Radisson Blu Dubai and several properties in their brochure which are owned and operated by someone else. Instead of building their own resorts Karma seem to prefer to tie up with property owners for a set of inventory (like buy 10 rooms for the year at a fixed price) and then give it to its members. This model has both pros and cons- advantage is that they can add new properties quickly, drawback is that property owners will kick them out if payment is not received on time, so properties can vanish as fast as they are added

3. Karma has 5 years, 10 years and 20 years membership. 5 years membership costs 175000 + An ASF of 7000 which will increase yearly. 5 year membership only gets you domestic bookings. 10 year membership costs 375000.

20 years I didn't ask, may be around 7 lakhs.

Detailed computation of Karma Holiday pricing

	5 Years	10 Years	20 Years
List Price	175000 INR	375000 INR	7 lakhs?
Offer	Pay only 1,50,000 INR Some vouchers	Pay only 2,90,000 INR Or Pay 3.75 & get 1 free trip to Srilanka /Maldives/ Thailand
What you get	6 nights per year domestic holidays (Stay in studio rooms, breakfast NOT included)	6 nights per year domestic or international holidays (Stay in studio rooms, breakfast NOT included)
ASF	6999 per year & will increase every year	6999 per year & will increase every year
Cost of food	1200-2000 per day (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & evening tea) , 25% discount 1500 INR per person per day, 3000 INR for 2 people, will increase	1200-2000 per day (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & evening tea) , 25% discount 1500 INR per person per day, 3000 INR for 2 people
If you had kept membership amount in FD at 6% interest, you would have earned	9000 per year or 1500 INR per day	18000 per year or 3000 INR per day
Effective per day expense	150000 INR/30 (6 days for 5 years) = 5000 Per Day ASF=1300 per day Food = 3000 per day Interest lost= 1500 per day Total= 10800 INR per day	375000 INR/60 (6 days for 10 years) = 6250 Per Day ASF=1300 per day Food = 3000 per day Interest lost= 3000 per day Total= 13550 INR per day

Note: Above is for cash payment... If take on EMI, interest EXTRA

4. Karma is only committing to studio rooms. No 2 BR/3BR options like Club Mahindra. Brochures claim to offer free upgrade to villa where available, but again this is not committed and not likely to happen

5. Breakfast is not included. We were told room bookings do not include breakfast, which feels odd. We were told guests will be given 25% discount coupon on food. When I asked how much food costs I was told 1200 to 2000 Rs depending on resort. So that is 1500 Rs per person per day or 3000 Rs for a couple on food expenses. 

6. Multiple properties in each destination- Karma has several resorts in Goa and other places, so they claim they can manage to get you a room in one of them more easily, compared to others who have only 1 resort per city.

7. Free to transfer/send someone else on our behalf. I was told no extra charge if we send someone else instead of us. Club Mahindra charges 2000 Rs or so for allowing someone else instead of member.

My thought: instead of spending 9800 Rs per day for 6 days an year (58800), I will stay in budget hotels for 2000 Rs for 3 days (6000 Rs) and book a luxury stay of my choice at market rate for another 2-3 days 30000 for 2 days at 15k, just about 36000-40000 spend, which is more flexible and cheaper.

I had decent buffet dinner organized by Karma and left. Posted in Hyundai FB group and found that they have called Hyundai customers in other cities as well.

Representative image from Karma Group's website. Visit them for official details : www.karmagroup.com (Membership pricing not mentioned)

An image from the event- Ocean Pearl Udupi's Banquet hall

Information as shared with me in Udupi during a business promotion event. Pricing and offers and rules subject to change at the discretion of Karma holidays. Use for reference only and validate with official sources before making any purchase.

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