We just returned from 5 nights at DRM and we know there’s lots of questions with the new section opening and the overall state of things there. So I figured it best to post as much as we could learn. None of this is official and just what we could gather from various staff and guests while we were there.

DRM Construction:

Visibly from what we could see through the construction fence, they have a ways to go. I know things can pull together fast at the end with deadlines looming, but I’d say February is out of the question. We heard from a staff member that March would be more realistic. I’m not even sure that’s the case looking at it. I know there is a phase plan, but really most of the things that matter are phase one anyway. Phase two just seemed to be more rooms.

We did our Premier update meeting. It seems all rooms on the “Eden” side will only be accessible if you “upgrade” your Premier membership, or are already at a high tier. At least that’s how it sounds. Things are always very complicated in that meeting (by design, I’m sure). The space, however, will be open to all which is good news. We’re a GV or OV standard room type couple anyway, so getting access to those rooms isn’t particularly important to us yet. We did see a video walkthrough of the model room which did look quite nice.

While there, you’d never know the construction was going on. Our room wasn’t far from it, and you really couldn’t hear anything. Still a non issue.

We’re excited by the new space, but definitely weary of spreading out the crowd. So long as the place stays booked out with the additional space, it should work just fine. We’ll see if the added demand is there when it opens.

Miches Closing:

We asked point blank what happened in our meeting. It confirmed what my take was from the outside looking in (or at least they’re spinning it the same way I was thinking). The DR government just couldn’t handle the concept. They could never run it as they wanted to in that culture.

This is just further conjecture on my part, but I assume the fumbled opening and the more restrictive rules created a “wait and see” approach for many Desire customers. I’m sure that hampered occupancy over the past year.

So in the end, the owner bailed and sold the resort. Sounds like they lost a significant amount on the deal, but I’m glad they decided not to continue to pursue it if it never could live up to the concept.

Future:

It was alluded to us that there soon would be announcements about future resorts, so it seems as though the appetite to expand was not killed by the Miches disaster. Sounds like a west coast of Mexico resort is again in the works. It was also suggested that they were working on opening on a caribbean island too. Hopefully they apply the lessons from Miches to ensure a more successful expansion.

We also heard they were buying a cruise ship instead of leasing like they currently are. We know very little about the cruises through Desire so no idea what (if any) impact this might have.

That’s what I could gather. I didn’t spend too much time quizzing everyone (too busy enjoying the place) so I could certainly have some details wrong. If anyone else has more info, or rumors, feel free to share.