Tahiti Village Vacation Club Owner Saundra Dexter

Tahiti Village Owner Spotlight

Family friendly Tahiti Village, Las Vegas’ favorite tropical resort paradise, is home to 50,000 happy vacation owners who return year after year to enjoy our relaxing lazy river, tropical beach pool, two 24-hour hot tubs, condo-style accommodations, convenient amenities, numerous onsite activities, and tempting menu choices at 17˚ South Booze & Bites. 

In our new monthly feature on the Tahiti Village blog, you will meet a Tahiti Village owner who has embraced vacation ownership and discover the reasons our Polynesian-styled resort on the south end of the world famous Las Vegas Strip is like a second home. We’re sure you’ll relate!   

For this, our premier owner profile, we present­­­ Saundra Dexter ­­­­, an original Tahiti Village owner from Minnesota.

When you live in the coldest city in the contiguous United States, as Saundra Dexter does, visiting tropical Tahiti Village Resort & Spa in sunny Las Vegas is like going from an icebox to an oasis.

Saundra is one of the 6,000 or so inhabitants of International Falls, Minn., the so-called “Icebox of the Nation” where the temperature dips below freezing more than 100 days a year.

So it always time to rejoice when she and her husband, Sandy, pay their twice yearly visits to family friendly Tahiti Village in Las Vegas.

Out Of The Cold

“We absolutely love it here,” Saundra says of Tahiti Village, Las Vegas’ favorite tropical resort paradise. “It’s just beautiful. Everyone’s so kind, and I like being away from everything yet having access to it all. We met a guy on the shuttle last night. He was staying at another resort and said he hadn’t slept in three nights. I said, `Honey, trust me. You’ll sleep here.’ That’s what I like about Tahiti Village. It’s peaceful; you can go into Vegas if you want to and still get away from the hustle and bustle. It’s like being away from everything yet having access to everything.”

Tahiti Village Vacation Club Owner Saundra Dexter
Owner Saundra Dexter poses by the waterfall inside the Tahiti Village pool on a recent visit.

Original Tahiti Village owners, the Dexters bought into vacation ownership here at Tahiti Village in 2003, three years before our grand opening. “It was just a lot of gravel,” Saundra says. She, Sandy and their two children were visiting Las Vegas and staying at Circus-Circus when they came across a vacation ownership booth in the casino.

“They asked us to take a tour. We said, `Sure, who not?’”

Vacation Ownership

The following day they visited Club de Soleil, a sister Somerpointe Resorts property that had an architectural model of the proposed Tahiti Village property.

“They showed us where it would be,” Saundra says, “and we bought the Bora Bora sight unseen. Later on we bought a second Bora because we have two children, and when we pass each of them could have their own. Then we made it two Royal Tahitians to get the most out of our time. With two Royals we can do a week in a Moorea and a week in a Bora. I could have four weeks if I wanted.”

For the Dexters, it has been nothing but good times ever since. Before they became Tahiti Village Vacation Club members, they rarely if ever left International Falls. As owners of Sandy’s Place, a 38-seat mom and pop restaurant, time away was almost nonexistent.

“When you own a restaurant you don’t take vacations,” Saundra says, citing all the responsibilities on her plate. “I cook, I waitress, I do the books.” If she doesn’t do it, it may not get done.

Vegas Calling

After years of staying close to home, Sandy made a corporate decision for the both of them. “He finally said, `We are buying a condo so it will force you to go on vacation’.”

And it worked, Saundra says. “If I have the weeks to use I’m not going to lose them. We’re definitely going!”

The Dexters typically split sides with their two grown children, who take the Moorea while mom and pop get dibs on the larger Bora Bora.

“That way we can all be together yet still have our own space,” says Saundra, who brought the entire Sandy’s Place staff to Tahiti Village as a Christmas bonus (“they had so much fun”) and her mother and sister on another visit. It was not only their first trip to Las Vegas, but her sister’s first time on an airplane.

“It’s very nice to be able to bring your family and friends to Las Vegas without it costing a huge amount,” she says.

Outdoor Dining at 17° South

As a restaurant owner, Saundra naturally compares other eating establishments to her own. She enjoys the tropical ambiance and spacious patio dining at 17° South Booze & Bites, Tahiti Village’s popular onsite restaurant.

“I love that it opens up to the outside, especially when we’re here over the holidays and the temperature is in the 50s or 60s,” she says. “We can’t eat outside at home in December, so it’s a nice treat.”

As original owners, the Dexters have witnessed numerous positive additions to the property over the years, including 17˚ South, an adults-only hot tub, comprehensive room renovations, a complete lobby remodel, a coffee and snack bar addition to the Wiki Wiki gift shop, and most recently an all-new game arcade in Tower 1.

“We’re always excited to see what they’ve done since the last time we were here,” Saundra says. “It’s one of the things that keep us coming back, in addition to the resort staff and management. Everyone is so nice.”

Sandy, a former U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam, plays golf when he comes to Las Vegas, and the Dexters always see the sights, including the Fremont Street Experience, the Bellagio Fountains and Red Rock Canyon.

“We always have to go to Fremont Street to see the lights.”

But mainly, Saundra says, “we like to kick back and relax. It’s just so peaceful.”

Thank you, Saundra! We truly value your ownership.

Tahiti Village

Escape to paradise at family friendly Tahiti Village Resort & Spa, Las Vegas’ premier tropical retreat. Situated on 27 acres at the south end of the world famous Strip, Tahiti Village offers a welcome respite in a gorgeous island setting. With three residential guest towers surrounding a lushly landscaped courtyard, Tahiti Village has numerous desirable amenities and attractions.

Guests can lounge by a sandy beach pool, float down a relaxing lazy river, or unwind in guest suites offering uncommon space, convenience and privacy. Each of Tahiti Village’s three unit configurations has separate bedrooms, with the one-bedroom Bora Bora and two-bedroom Royal Tahitian featuring full kitchens, washer-dryers, steam showers, jetted tubs and private balconies. The Bora Bora and one-bedroom Moorea can accommodate four people, while the deluxe Royal Tahitian – a combination of the two – can sleep eight.

The resort also offers enticing food and drink options at 17° South Booze & Bites, our onsite bar and bistro, and Wiki Wiki convenience store-gift shop with an adjacent food and beverage counter.

Whether you’re staying for a week or a weekend, Tahiti Village has everything you need for the time of your life.

illy brand coffee comes to The Village Café! Time to drink delicious!

Our new coffee and tea offerings will put an extra bounce in your step!

Our recently renovated and renamed food and beverage counter, rebranded The Village Café from the informally titled Quickie Wiki, is now serving coffee worthy of the attractive new awning and appealing orange tile.

“We still have the same coffee offerings, but we think they are now much more full and flavorful,” said Barbara Mailhiot, Wiki Wiki operations manager. “The difference is, our new illy brand coffee uses an espresso bean instead of the typical coffee bean.”

Illy is an Italian coffee roasting company that specializes in the production of espresso, according to Wikipedia. The coffee is packaged as whole bean, pre-ground coffee and blended from Arabica beans from multiple sources. The grounds are packaged in steel canisters and pressurized with an inert gas rather than air.

Based on that description, it’s easy to see why illy is found in all MGM and Station Casino properties in Las Vegas. It’s just that good.

Iced tea lovers, fear not. We haven’t forgotten you. We are now serving a new brand of green and black teas and working on a cold brew tea as well.

Be sure to stop by on your next visit to Tahiti Village and try our new and improved caffeinated beverages!

Love Tahiti Village? Wear us! Shop our online store for shirts, hats and more!

The urge to impulse-buy is never greater than when you’re on vacation, but once you get it all back to the room, you’re left with one nagging question: “How do I fit it in my suitcase?” With the launch of our new online store, you don’t have to worry. Visit us here for a great selection of Tahiti Village logo items, including hats, shirts and accessories. With our fast shipping, your purchase will probably beat you home! If you can’t wait to wear it, visit our WikiWiki gift shop in the main lobby. It has everything you’ll find online and more!

You never know what you’ll find at the Wiki Wiki, but it’s bound to be something you can’t live without. Like a hula girl shot glass.

These charming hula girl shot glasses can be yours at the Wiki Wiki. Can you resist their charms?
These charming hula girl shot glasses can be yours at the Wiki Wiki. Can you resist their charms?

One of the keys to running a successful resort gift shop is the ability to meet a variety of practical needs while getting you to buy a snow globe. Striking the proper balance between necessities and souvenirs requires insight into what is required and what is desired, a professorial understanding of vacation buying psychology, and a keen eye for inventory presentation.

Las Vegas gift shops satisfy those criteria better than any in the world. In a one-of-a-kind city that attracts millions of visitors, they get a lot of practice. But it’s more than that. They have an uncanny capacity to draw in customers without even trying, acting as a Field of Dreams strewn with dice clocks.

Tahiti Village tiki tumblers

Here at Tahiti Village, the Wiki Wiki transcends the narrow definition of gift shop through its dual function as a minimart and snack bar. We say that with the understanding that, for some of you, a Cup O’ Noodles or a frozen burrito may constitute a gift. Therefore, in the interest of clarity, we hereby consign inventory items to their traditional categories: food, groceries and remedies under Essentials; apparel, costume jewelry and flasks under Novelties.

The ratio of one to the other within Wiki Wiki’s inviting retail space appears roughly 50-50 to the naked eye – a virtual even split between stuff you need and stuff that wages war with your resistance and magically opens your wallet.

Coconut coin bank
Coconut coin bank

You know what we’re talking about:  the myriad alluring items waiting on shelves and hanging on racks for you to discover, some of them loud and verbose (BUY ME! BUY ME!), others quiet and unassuming (buy me! buy me!).

So go ahead and splurge. Grab that coconut coin bank hand-carved as a jungle savage. Take home a Tiki tumbler or two. And what would a trip to Tahiti Village be without a hula girl shot glass? These and so much more can be yours at the Wiki Wiki. And don’t forget about our new online store, where you can purchase a selection of Tahiti Village apparel items that are also available at the Wiki.

As the onsite store for a timeshare resort, the Wiki Wiki’s primary function is to provide you with a facsimile, albeit in miniature, of your home supermarket (minus a meat counter and produce aisle). Any practical human need, want or desire that can possibly arise, be it pharmacological, biological or technological, the Wiki Wiki has thoughtfully provided for.

And that’s a very comforting thought, particularly when you’ve just split the inseam on your favorite pair of pants before a night out in Vegas and could sure use a travel sewing kit.

 

Shop our new online store and free up your suitcase!

These are just some of the stylish Tahiti Village tees you can purchase from our new online store at shop.tahitivillage.com.

Have you ever wanted to take home Tahiti Village souvenirs but didn’t because you couldn’t fit them all in your suitcase? Or have you ever flipped a coin to decide between two equally desirable items from the Wiki Wiki because even one more shirt in your bag would exceed the maximum allowable weight limit of most airlines?

Compromise no longer!

The launch of our new online store means you can buy as much Tahiti Village gear as you like, whenever you like. Just visit shop.tahitivillage.com for a selection of attractive hats, shirts and accessories – all with our sleek new logo. With our fast shipping, your purchase will probably beat you home.

Happy shopping, and check back often for even more Tahiti Village logo items coming soon!