Itโs been roughly two weeks since I first wrote about The VIP Pass Singapore, highlighting its non-transparent pricing, questionable hotel partnerships, dubious use of media mentions/ awards, and shall we say interesting corporate structure.
Since then, VIP Pass has taken down its original Facebook post (possibly because they got tired of curating the comments), and removed the logos of various hotel chains from its website.
At the same time, theyโve not addressed or even doubled down on the following:
- Price: The VIP Pass still advertised at S$399 for six nights, despite the fact nights 4-6 have a compulsory cleaning fee of S$50 each. What has changed is the โoriginal priceโ, which was increased to S$2,093 from S$600. Yay for even more savings!
And just as a side note, am I the only one wondering why they keep saying โfreeโ when you, um, have to pay money? |
- Awards: The Agoda Gold Circle award, which Agoda confirmed was not awarded to VIP Pass, is still displayed prominently
- Media mentions: โAs featured onโ continues to list numerous media outlets where I can find no trace of VIP Pass being mentioned. Well, with one hilarious exception- The Straits Times has now been added, even though the original article has mysteriously disappeared.
Good thing they took a screenshot of it; just a pity about the typoโฆ
But thatโs not all. Iโve been digging deeper into VIP Pass, and discovered a few more practices that really need highlighting.
VIP Pass testimonials
VIP Pass has added a section filled with reviews and testimonials of โamazing VIP experiences across Singaporeโ.
If thatโs not a ringing endorsement, I donโt know what is. Letโs read more about these โamazing VIP experiencesโ!
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Hereโs Bill, who looks full of energetic energy as he energetically energizes the energy around him. โNice hotels advertised, unbelievable prices!!โ says Bill. Thatโs right Bill. I find the prices unbelievable too.
But itโs amazing how Bill stays energetic. Heโs out there giving 10 tips for maintaining a positive attitude, 9 strategies to combat burnout, sagely LinkedIn advice, and dishing the dirt on the top 3 teeth whitening products of 2021.
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My goodness, heโs everywhere. If someone deserves six relaxing nights in a hotel, itโs this man.
Then thereโs Shan, who says โgoing to fully utilise for vacations planned after MCO, heh!โ I wasnโt aware we had an MCO in Singapore, but now that the air travel bubble corridorโs been mooted again, itโs probably only a matter of time.
Shan, or shall I say โsmiling girl in white crew neck t-shirt and blue denim shortsโ is wearing a Stranger Things t-shirt, visible when we zoom and enhance.
But Shan also comes in cherry versionโฆ
โฆVisit Taiwan versionโฆ
โฆand conveniently enough, โdrag your project hereโ version.
Another busy soul. I hope she enjoys her six nights at the Value Hotel Thomson.
And finally thereโs Sylvia, who says โI got 3 rooms for 2 days for a big family holiday celebrating grandpaโs birthdayโ.
Aw. Itโs sweet she could find the time to do that, given how busy she is gracing the P&G careers pageโฆ
โฆnot to mention finding true love in Hong Kong via Match Dating.
Iโm not going to clog your screen with reverse image searches for every single photo, but one thingโs for sure. These arenโt photos of actual VIP Pass customers.
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So the photos arenโt legit, but what about the words? I think thereโs questions to be asked here too. Hereโs a still from a Facebook ad that VIP Pass is running. Nurul, supposedly from Singapore, says โkids loved the huge poolโฆgoing to use the VIP Pass for the next trip hereโ.
Thatโs nice, except elsewhere on the VIP Pass website you find the exact same quote again from Nurulโฆthis time from Penang.
And then thereโs Shan and Suraya, which VIP Pass would have you believe hail from Singapore.
Even ignoring the whole MCO thing in Shanโs quote, I think thereโs good reason to doubt this claim.
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Suraya and Shanโs reviews are sourced from the reviews section on the VIP Pass website, which is more of a comments system (no verification required). These reviews are dated 8 June 2021, before VIP Pass even went on sale in Singapore.
Make of that what you will.
VIP Pass sales notifications
When you visit the VIP Pass website, youโll see a notification popping up every now and then on the bottom right of your screen.
This is a common feature on e-commerce sites, known as โlive sales notificationโ or โrecent sales notificationโ. Itโs social proof 101: people are more likely to buy something if they know that others are doing the same (FOMO is a powerful thing).
While itโs obviously intended to drive conversions, thereโs nothing wrong with live sales notifications per se. Other sites like Book Depository do it, and as long as itโs truthful, why not?
The problem arises when you start doubting the veracity of the underlying data. My suspicions were triggered when I noticed the same names appearing over different days.
To document this, I observed the VIP Pass website on two different dates, about a week apart: Friday 2 July and Thursday 8 July. I opened the website in one window, and placed it side by side with clocktab.com to show the current date and time.
Hereโs the samples from 2 July.
Note how Siti Sarah, Tan Fui Fui, Lam Foo Keat, Lisa Lee, Lim Bee Ann and Fida Hossain all made purchases.
Hereโs the samples from 8 July.
Hello, whatโs this?
Here we are nearly a week later, and Siti Sarah, Tan Fui Fui, Lam Foo Keat, Lisa Lee, Lim Bee Ann and Fida Hossain all appear again, still tagged as โabout one day agoโ. Thatโs really stretching the definition of โone day.โ
Now, itโs certainly possible that these individuals did buy a VIP Pass at some point. However, showing the same names every day on loop with the implication that theyโre recent sales is a questionable practice at best.
VIP Pass MLM affiliate program
VIP Pass customers may have noticed an โearn free holidaysโ tab in the memberโs area.
Clicking on this leads to an invitation to become a VIP Pass affiliate, earning a 15% commission on every pass you sell to friends and family. Gushes Malik from Malaysia:
โIn less than a day, I made RM238.80 while watching 2 Netflix movies at home! I sent my affiliate link to my friends on WhatsApp, next thing I know I have made a good amount of commissions, with no effort! Now I have 7 months of FREE Netflix subscription. Thank you VIP Team!!โ
Now who can argue with that?
Certainly not Noile Lim (spell it backwards), who is excited about the prospect of earning a good amount of commissions while watching Netflix movies at home. Noile loves luxury staycations, great deals and popular music.
Noile is also entirely fictitious, her photo courtesy of thispersondoesnotexist.com, a website which uses AI to generate portraits of imaginary people.
But that hasnโt stopped her from registering as an affiliate of The VIP Pass. After entering some basic demographic detailsโฆ
โฆshe receives an email informing her sheโs now part of the family! A pity the Telegram link doesnโt work, but still.
Noile now earns a 15% cut of every membership she sells through her affiliate link to family and (soon to be ex) friends.
Thatโs not all. The affiliate platform has the ability to add sub-affiliates in a scheme it literally refers to as โmulti level marketingโ. Affiliates can recruit further affiliates, and earn an unspecified cut of whatever sales they make.
Noile gets on the phone with two of her closest friends, and in no time flat, they become her sub-affiliates. Sheโs well on her way now to lots of Netflix!
I shall be very interested to see how this MLM program develops.
Conclusion
The marketing tactics used by VIP Pass should be raising more than a few eyebrows, and perhaps the team might consider this for their weekend reading.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Iโll say once again that there are many fantastic staycation deals out there, and this isnโt one of them. Visit Trip.com. Visit Traveloka. Visit Klook. Bookmark the SHAโs staycation deals page. But please, donโt spend SS$399 S$549 on a VIP Pass.
Unless you use Noileโs affiliate link.
(Cover image: VIP Pass)
MLM, the communism of the product sales world and a pertinent Malaysian favourite. MLMโs are the mother of all scams, thank God its outlawed in Singapore. Time to swipe left for VIP pass. Thanks Aaron.
Malaysia Boleh! hahaha.
Why didnโt God prevented it from happening? Who tell you MLM is outlawed Singapore? Donโt simply give wrong information
Iโm betting that these VIP Guest articles will figure high on your list or โMost Fun Articles of 2021โ when you do your year-end review. ๐
We have a frontrunner
I wish I were more mature, but Iโm not.
Iโd drag my project over Shan
Sorry.
Haha! Noileโs address is 38 Oxley!! Lolโฆ
The stock photos are hilarious!
Scam period
The same Noile Lim that tried to buy miles and got shut down by SIA?
she has reformed her ways and is now watching netflix and hoping to earn good commissions.
Another great piece. If only the MSM spend as much as you on their articles.
For all you know they may really post Noile Limโs affiliate cheque to 38 Oxleyโฆ then youโd be kicking yourself!
iโฆmay not have thought this through.
She looks hot (hey, I havenโt been out of the country since Feb 2020)! Can I get Noileโs number please??
Hi Aaron, is VIP holidays working the same? They claim they selling package deals via Marriot vacation club. Wondering if they are legit.
Youโd better get better offer from Marriott directly. I think most of the properties are in US, never heard of one in SEA region.
Most of those Marriott Vacation Club properties. Similar for Hilton
not familiar with that company, but they wouldnโt be related to VIP Pass.
Any plans to review sellmymiles.com?
I donโt think there will be plans to recommend selling miles being that it is against bank policy.
Ok the site is most likely illegitimate.
This is obviously a scam. I was scam once with unsold.com. The company just went bust. Go google it. Now they have changed name to VIP holidays.
Buyers beware.
Their website in April 18,2022 mentioned Singapore police blocked their website earlier but after investigation found nothing wrong with them and their website is working again.
I reported them and got them blocked, if they are unblocked someone just needs to report them again.
i reported them to the Singapore Police Force after being scammed and asked the police to take it down last June. wish i read your articles before i got scammed.