RCI's Global Points Network
BBS Threads
Read
the RCI GPN Chat Log Here (From 1/23/00)
Subject: RCI Press Release--Global Points Network
Posted by: Fern Modena E-Mail: fern@timeshare-users-group.com
Date Posted: January 19, 2000 at 19:41 MST
RCI has issued a press release about
the Global Points Network. It is posted right here, on TUG, in the advice
section.
Very soon RCI Global Points Network
staff will be attending a "moderated" version of our normal Sunday evening
CHAT to discuss Global
Points Network issues (it will be
focused on GPN, and they will not answer any other RCI issues).
When this CHAT occurs we hope to
have an copy of the log put into the TUG advice section.
Fern Modena, aka Mindy97 on CHAT
Email to: fern@timeshare-users-group.com
Visit the Timeshare & Travel
Pages: http://www.geocities.com/fmodena
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: Pat H E-Mail: phart@ptd.net
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
06:00 MST
In Reply to: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: Fern Modena on 1/19/2000 at 19:41 MST
Unless I'm reading
this incorrectly, if I own a prime ski week in Colorado and want to exchange
to the beach in North Carolina in the summer,
I'm at the bottom
of the list. Someone who owns a blue week in North Carolina would have
a better chance of getting that exchange.
It also lists the
home region as where you live not where you own. The priorities make no
sense to me. Am I missing something?
Pat
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: Makai Guy [M V] E-Mail:
MakaiGuy@iName.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
06:20 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: Pat H on 1/20/2000 at 06:00 MST
I think you are exactly
right, although I expect those trade priorities would only apply to pecking
order when waiting for deposits to be made
against ongoing searches
where the requested unit is not in current inventory. This also assumes
both parties own enough points to get that
prime beach week.
On the other hand,
that blue week in NC will probably not have enough points to get the summer
beach week unless extra points are picked
up somewhere (unused
carryover from previous year, borrow from next year, purchase from other
point holders or home resort, etc.)
Where I'm fuzzy is
in understanding whether deposits to the system are mandatory. In one part
of the announcement, it sounds like they are
optional and voluntary
as they are today, but in another part they say people joining GPN agree
to deposit their weeks for a minimum of three
years, implying to
me that as long as you are a member your weeks are automatically deposited
into the system.
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: Carol C. E-Mail: ckc2@mciworld.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
08:53 MST
In Reply to: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: Fern Modena on 1/19/2000 at 19:41 MST
Fern, when you CHAT
would you please ask this question...will RCI divulge to RCI members the
point values of their unit/resort/time *prior* to
the member signing
on the dotted line to join GPN? I think it's only fair that folks know
what they're paying for and what they're buying into. This
question arose when
I read this part of the RCI press release: "Point values vary from resort
to resort, season to season and unit type to unit
type. RCI is disclosing
these points for all Global Points Network resorts *to all GPN members*.[emphasis
mine]" If I'm reading this right, one
would have to be a
GPN member already to have points values disclosed to them...even as related
to their own resort they own time in.
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: Dave M E-Mail: audiowizard@home.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
09:09 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: Carol C. on 1/20/2000 at 08:53 MST
The points values will
be shown to you before you buy or convert
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: kathydatsko E-Mail:
kathydatsko@yahoo.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
09:17 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: Dave M on 1/20/2000 at 09:09 MST
Fern,
Could we have a section
set up on TUG where TUGgers could report what point values were given to
what resorts, etc. It would be very
helpful, like the
ratings system and sales prices we have now. Obviously RCI does not want
people to have the whole picture, or they'd publish
it on-line for us
all to see.
Thanks. Kathy
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: M. Henley E-Mail: mbhwky@writemail.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
09:27 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: kathydatsko on 1/20/2000 at 09:17 MST
Not to mention how
much they figure they can gouge from we "owners" of deposited weeks (I
use the term owners advisedly).
Obviously RCI does
not want people to have the whole picture, or they'd publish it on-line
for us all to see.
M. Henley
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: orenb E-Mail: orenb@quicklink.net
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
09:29 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: kathydatsko on 1/20/2000 at 09:17 MST
I was wondering if
there are any TUG members from the six resorts listed who might be able
to share any experience they have had with the
testing of the GPN
which is being conducted?
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: SPR E-Mail: reveal7@tri-countynet.net
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
16:43 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: orenb on 1/20/2000 at 09:29 MST
I think we need to
look at how fair this test is. How much were owners at these test resorts
charged for converting? Does that amount correspond to what the rest
of us shmucks will be charged? This is a big factor in the popularity
of the system. Also, it is reported that GPN members have priority over
the rest of us in exchanging. If six
resorts had their
owners in such a priveleged position on exchanging, compared to the rest
of us, why wouldn't they like it. But again, is that a fair test?
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: Fern Modena E-Mail:
fern@timeshare-users-group.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
18:48 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: kathydatsko on 1/20/2000 at 09:17 MST
Kathy,
I don't see why this
can't be done, as long as somebody is willing to do it and maintain it,
since points could be subject to change...
When it becomes a
reality, we will need somebody to volunteer for this, and others to provide
the specific information.
Fern Modena, aka Mindy97
on CHAT
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: Fletch E-Mail: jfletch@voicenet.com
Date Posted: January 21, 2000 at
05:55 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: Fern Modena on 1/20/2000 at 18:48 MST
> Kathy,
> I don't see why
this can't be done, as long as somebody is willing to do it and maintain
it, since points could be subject to change...
> When it becomes
a reality, we will need somebody to volunteer for this, and others to provide
the specific information.
*********
Someone who is good
with spreedsheets :) !! seriously
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: Maz(M) E-Mail: mazarati@home.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
10:11 MST
In Reply to: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: Fern Modena on 1/19/2000 at 19:41 MST
The biggest questions
in my mind are A)How much to convert existing weeks into GPN??? B) Will
I have the same trade power that I do
now?? C) My resort
is a floating ,all red, resort inwhich we can reserve our weeks a max of
10 months out..the redest of the red weeks at this
resort are probably
May through October...will I still have the opportunity to reserve the
exact week I want so when I deposit with RCI I'll be
assigned as many points
as was possible??? My fear is that GPN resorts which are "floaters" will
be made to bulk space-bank and some
"average" will be
assigned to all owners there...I think I'd still have great trade power
but not quite as good as now..and the way I see it,paying
a bunch of money to
convert my weeks to GPN just to have less trade power makes no sense...Maz
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: Mel E-Mail: towne@freewwweb.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
11:27 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: Maz(M) on 1/20/2000 at 10:11 MST
I suspect they'll do
what Fairfield appears to have done: you get an aveage amount of points,
but a guarantee that you can use those same #
of points to get any
week in your home resort.
What I would worry
about is something Dave write, regarding when GPN members can reserve.
If his information is correct, GPN members
can reserve 16 months
out at their home resort - will GPN get an even distribution of weeks,
or will those owners get to pick and choose? Will
your reservation window
be extended to 16 months as well?
Not only that, I believe
your resort is part of a group, giving you preference at their resorts
- from his post, one would assume that all of
THOSE people would
have picking rights before your 10 months as well. If 25% of the weeks
are prime, and more than 25% of members join
GPN, unless they use
bulk banking, or somehow divide the allocation of units, GPN would take
all 25%, leaving you NO prime weeks to use in
the regular system
or elsewhere. (Also leaving an owner who ONLY wants to stay at their home
resort out of luck as well - you payed for the
ability to reserve
any week you want, but we're giving this class of people priority over
you.)
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: jack E-Mail: jacqcrawf@aol.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
14:10 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: Maz(M) on 1/20/2000 at 10:11 MST
First of all I have
a member of the Grand VacATION CLUB NOT OWNED by Sunterra for 4 years.So
I am familar with the Pros and cons
about points clubs.
I often use cars to describe the exchange process: sometimes you trade
a Rolls Royce and get a Mini in return. If you are smart and play the
system you can trade
a Mini and get a Rolls Royce as I have done often. The new
GPN will ensure you get what to trade. It will be optional. You still
have proiroty to book the weeks you own. The more point you own the
further in advance you will be allowed the book week. For example if you
own over 6000 you will be able to book 18 months in advance The next band
is over 4000 but I can't remember the figures. I reckon a peak
Royalweek in a 2 bedroom would have a points value of 2700/2900.
From what I have been
told by a company bASES IN uk WHO ARE AUTHORISED by RCI to sell/convert
peolple into point is that it will only cost a conversion /admin charge.
I was quote £500. This I beleive would be the same no matter how
many weeks you converted. You would be given a points value for each week.
The list has already been made up for eg. Pine Lakes Resort in the UK an
August week there is given a RCI points value of 1950. I was told that
the top week in the top resorts have a value 2800/3000 a week. The top
points value for Orlando is 1300 (although I don't you if you can
beleive that)
Each resort area is
given a Key rated on demand/supply. 1 to 5.
Each resort in the
area is also given a Key 1 to 5 based on quality
Each week is given
a key based also on demand.
As I see it if you
own a top resort in a demanded area and you have a good week you may find
that your points value will be enough to get you maybe 2 weeks in some
other lower "priced" weeks.
Response: CRI Points (RCI Europe)
Posted by: Fern Modena E-Mail:
fern@timeshare-users-group.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
18:55 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: jack on 1/20/2000 at 14:10 MST
So's not to confuse
things, let's mention that you are referring to Club Resorts International,
or CRI. CRI is a Points Club that RCI Europe (Not
RCI USA) has taken
over. Their system is not the GPN we are referring to in this thread. Your
information is interesting, but not necessarily
applicable in any
way to our situation.
Fern Modena, aka Mindy97
on CHAT
Response: CRI Points (RCI Europe)
Posted by: loes E-Mail: 4.top@solcon.nl
Date Posted: January 21, 2000 at
09:01 MST
In Reply to: CRI Points (RCI Europe)
posted by: Fern Modena on 1/20/2000 at 18:55 MST
If RCI-Europe is introducing
its own system, how "global" will GPN be; will it be only applicable for
US resorts? Does anyone understand why RCI-Europe is introducing
a different points system, we will have three different RCI points-systems
soon: one in the US, one in Europe and one in SA. What if a US GPN
member wants to trade into Europe or SA?
Loes.
Response: CRI Points (RCI Europe)
Posted by: Joe M E-Mail: jjm@mc.net
Date Posted: January 21, 2000 at
10:24 MST
In Reply to: Re: CRI Points (RCI
Europe) posted by: loes on 1/21/2000 at 09:01 MST
I would assume all
trades could still be done worldwide. The cost to trade into any particular
resort could depend on what *currency* you are using (CRI points, GPN points,
etc.)which will in turn depend on where you live. Weeks will be priced
like other commodities: If I buy an ounce of gold, it will cost me $290,
a UK resident will pay 180 pounds, a South African 1800 Rand. They would
have to provide different price catalogs for different regions..JMO..Joe
Response: CRI Points (RCI Europe)
Posted by: jack E-Mail: jacqcrawf@aol.com
Date Posted: January 21, 2000 at
14:01 MST
In Reply to: CRI Points (RCI Europe)
posted by: Fern Modena on 1/20/2000 at 18:55 MST
The CPI in europe has
already 1300 resorts taking part.You will also be able to book weeks at
non CPI resorts for the required points. (so I have been told) You still
own your own weeks ,still pay the maintainence for them but can exchange
them for points. you just assign the occupancy right over to RCI. You will
get a higher proirity when requesting than non CPI members. GPI or CPI
to me it sounds the same although I think you seem to have to pay more
for the privlage of joining.
jackie
Response: CRI Points (RCI Europe)
Posted by: loes E-Mail: 4.top@solcon.nl
Date Posted: January 22, 2000 at
06:03 MST
In Reply to: Re: CRI Points (RCI
Europe) posted by: jack on 1/21/2000 at 14:01 MST
Jackie,
You are talking about
1300 resorts, are these all European resorts (that would mean that all
RCI-resorts in Europe are joining CRI), or are there also non-European
resorts involved? What is the name/adress of the company you mentioned
that can convert weeks into CRI points? Do they provide a list of points?
I am an RCI-Europe member, but I only own in SA, so I didn't get any information
about CRI from a home-resort and I assume I cannot convert these
weeks into CRI-points? But since I use my timeshares for trading within
Europe I would very much like to know how the system works and how the
European timeshareweeks are valued. Did others get informaton from their
European home-resorts?
TIA for your answer.
Loes.
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: Dave M E-Mail: audiowizard@home.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
20:49 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: jack on 1/20/2000 at 14:10 MST
> I reckon a peak Royalweek
in a 2 bedroom would have a points value of 2700/2900.
> From what I have
been told by a company bASES IN uk WHO ARE AUTHORISED by RCI to sell/convert
peolple into point is that it will only
cost a conversion
/admin charge. I was quote £500. This I beleive would be the same
no matter how many weeks you converted.
> You would be given
a points value for each week. The list has already been made up for eg.
Pine Lakes Resort in the UK an August week
there is given a RCI
points value of 1950. I was told that the top week in the top resorts have
a value 2800/3000 a week. The top points value
for Orlando is 1300
(although I don't you if you can beleive that)
The points system that
you were quoted must be a different system than GPN. There is only one
location in England and Pine Lakes isn't it,
the points required
for one red week, two bedroom was about 36,000 points.
Red weeks, two bedrooms
at Pacific Shores Nature Resort range from 36,000 to 64,000 points.
Dave M
audiowizard@home.com
Response: This proves Maz's point.
Posted by: Joyce E-Mail: glwerking@prodigy.net
Date Posted: January 21, 2000 at
07:15 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: Dave M on 1/20/2000 at 20:49 MST
This would prove Maz's
point - the Pacific Shores Nature Resort is suppose to be an awesome resort
on Victoria Island and I would assume
that a summer week
there would require the max 64,000 points. I was offered this resort for
the summer one time for my Hilton Head 1br unit -
obviously upgrading
to the 2br size. Under the point system, I would be given less points for
my 1 br and could not obtain the 2br unit at
Pacific Shores unless
I wanted to use extra points - a definite drawback for us owners of lockoff
units.
Joyce
Response: This proves Maz's point.
Posted by: Maz(M) E-Mail: mazarati@home.com
Date Posted: January 21, 2000 at
09:31 MST
In Reply to: This proves Maz's
point. posted by: Joyce on 1/21/2000 at 07:15 MST
Joyce...Our only hope
is that with GNP, because your 1br now has enough power to get a certain
exchange,it would end up being worth
enough points with
GNP...If I determine,after seeing how many points I'm issued,that I have
the ability to get everything I'm used to getting with
my studio Blue Whale,I
will be ok with the new system..but in order for that to happen,my studio
unit would have to draw 64,000 points a year
from RCI and I find
it really hard to believe that will happen..I just traded my Studio unit
for a 2br ,Xmas week at Morritts Tortuga Club in the
Caymans...will things
like that ever happen again??? Granted the studio is a summer week at the
beach in California,but I just dont see RCI
issuing the same number
of points for it as a 2br week at Morritts...are the days of upgrading
over like in the HGVC system??? Maz
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: Carolinian E-Mail: ncarolinian@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
20:47 MST
In Reply to: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: Fern Modena on 1/19/2000 at 19:41 MST
Why doesn't the press
release address some of the serious concerns that have been raised about
GPN, such as:
1. What will conversion
cost? How much of this will go back to RCI from the resorts to pay for
setting up the system?
2. Will GPN members
be able to raid regular RCI spacebank inventory, but regular RCI members
not have access to GPN inventory?
If so, how do they
plan to fend off the inevitable unfair business practices lawsuits?
3. What are the details
of the program where non-timeshare services are provided in exchange for
points? Specifically, how do
the providers of those
services cash out the points they receive in return for the services they
provide? How many of the providers of
these services are
connected to Cendant, RCI's parent?
4. Who will set up
the points values? Will it be a neutral and objective third party consultant
based on visits to each resort (the
fairest way) or will
it be someone sitting at a desk in Indianopolis who doesn't even visit
the property (hardly fair or objective)?
5. Will GPN members
have to pay an exchange fee to vacation at their home resort?
6. What is the justification
for the "home region" preference based on an owner's residence? Doesn't
RCI comprehend that many
owners buy timeshare
and join RCI to be able to visit resorts that are far afield, not stay
in their own backyard?
7. Once established,
will points be fixed in value or can they be adjusted from time to time
by RCI?
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: BLin E-Mail: blinmd@pol.net
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
23:20 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: Carolinian on 1/20/2000 at 20:47 MST
As usual, this TUG
thread has generated an excellent discussion with some very crucial questions
regarding the GPN. With so many complex
questions/issues being
asked from time to time, why not have concerned members generate a list
of questions (such as the one below) and
send it to RCI (under
TUG cover) or address them during the upcoming moderated chat session.
The questions and answers (if RCI is willing)
can perhaps be posted
in the TUG FAQ section. I'd think that RCI is more likely to provide some
answers to an organized group such as TUG
than individual members,
even at this early stage. Even if RCI chooses to ignore us now, at least
I will have a reference list of reminder
questions to bombard
RCI when they try to sell me the GPN in the future. They will have to answer
every one of them to my satisfaction before
I'll cough up more
cash. Besides, these questions generated by tuggers are much more specific
and probing than those from the average
timeshare owner, it'd
be harder for RCI to give another vague generalized statement. JMHO
Bruce
Response: GPN - I predict...
Posted by: Mark Perry E-Mail: mark_perry@bigfoot.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
23:56 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: BLin on 1/20/2000 at 23:20 MST
I think a prepared
list of questions for RCI on Sunday night would speed things up and answer
a lot of questions.
Since I'm not an RCI
member and haven't followed the entire thread, this may have already been
asked
and answered.
The question I have
is: Will an individuals membership in GPN factor in the exchange power
of a request over a non member request (all else
being equal).
I predict that it will.
It's only logical that RCI will use GPN to persuade or cohearse people
to sign up by giving priority to GPN members. After
all , they paid extra
to be members and it would be locigal to use as leverage to eventually
convert the entire RCI memnership. What pull will
the hold outs have
when everyone else has priority over you? None...
...Mark
Response: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network
Posted by: M. Henley E-Mail: mbhwky@writemail.com
Date Posted: January 21, 2000 at
06:36 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: BLin on 1/20/2000 at 23:20 MST
Both of these posts
represent the focus and strength of TUG. Give TUG members a threatening
situation and synergy soon develops. I agree,
Bruce, that RCI will
be forced to speak up more clearly when confronted by an intelligent group
armed with intelligent questions.
Response: CAN YOU COMBINE POINTS
FOR MULTIPLE TIMESHARE OWNERS ??
Posted by: Fletch E-Mail: jfletch@voicenet.com
Date Posted: January 21, 2000 at
07:29 MST
In Reply to: Re: RCI Press Release--Global
Points Network posted by: M. Henley on 1/21/2000 at 06:36 MST
Since most TUGers have
many weeks can we combine weeks for points ie. SA weeks :)
Subject: Is Cendant lawsuit behind RCI's GPN points program?
Posted by: Carolinian E-Mail: ncarolinian@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at 20:21 MST
Some time back there was some discussion on these boards
about a massive judgment that had been entered against Cendant corporation,
RCI's parent, resulting from some corporate accounting
irregularities. The question was asked about what RCI might do to
help its parent
corporation pay off this judgment. The speculation at
the time centered on the usual increases in annual fees and exchange fees.
Now, suddenly, we have the emergence of the Global Points Network or
GPN. What does GPN do for RCI's cash flow? First they will be collecting
new affiliation fees from each resort. These will probably be substantial
and add up to some real money. Then there are the
conversion fees for individual owners. The estimate is about $2,000
per owner per resort, in theory paid to the resort. Here it gets
interesting. The Sing Li article in Timesharing Today discusses how
individual resorts would not have the technical expertise to do the
conversions and one revenue stream availible to RCI was to set up a
consulting operation to handle conversions for resorts. It would seem that
a large part of that $2,000. would end up right back in RCI's bank accounts.
Even if they only took 75% of that, $1,500. per
timeshare owner could go a long way to paying off that judgment if
they really squeaze owners to join GPN.
Response: Is Cendant lawsuit behind
RCI's GPN points program?
Posted by: Joe M E-Mail: jjm@mc.net
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
21:47 MST
In Reply to: Is Cendant lawsuit
behind RCI's GPN points program? posted by: Carolinian on 1/20/2000 at
20:21 MST
Actually, Eric Schuit
told us back in August (well before the Cendant judgement) that RCI would
be going to a global points based system
within eight months.
If they have the formal rollout in April at the ARDA conference he will
have been right on the money. Also, they have been
using points in South
Africa for quite a while to refine the system. So I do not think this is
any *sudden* plan to bail out the parent company.
RCI must feel that
this is the way timesharing is going and has been planning to go in this
direction for some time...Joe
Response: Is Cendant lawsuit behind
RCI's GPN points program?
Posted by: Carolinian E-Mail: ncarolinian@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 21, 2000 at
18:26 MST
In Reply to: Re: Is Cendant lawsuit
behind RCI's GPN points program? posted by: Joe M on 1/20/2000 at 21:47
MST
A judgment comes at
the end of a lawsuit. The lawsuit will have been pending in the courts
many months, perhaps years prior to the judgment
being entered. A defendant
seeing a potential judgment coming is not going to wait until the judgment
is actually entered to start looking
for ways to pay it
off.
As to points being
the way the timeshare industry is going, this is a myth. A handful of big
operators are pushing points. One of those
has recently gotten
into financial trouble which should give us something of a clue as to the
real (un)popularity of points. Most developers are
selling traditional
timeshare, and this is what most buyers are purchasing. The market tells
us that traditional timeshare is what people want.
Another indicator of
the real (un)popularity of points is the way those pushing points have
to ram it down peoples throats. There have been several posts on these
boards from owners at resorts developed by the handful of big developers
who are pushing points. These owners did not convert, and found that their
resorts gave them crummy trades. This is nothing but coersion to force
people to convert. If the information on these boards is correct, RCI plans
similar coersion by making deposits from the regular RCI spacebank availible
to GPN members but not vice versa, meaning that GPN will raid the regular
RCI spacebank for the most desirable weeks, giving regular RCI members
crummy trades. If points were genuinely popular with timeshare owners,
those pushing points would not have to stoop to such despicable tactics
to force people into the system.
Response: Is Cendant lawsuit behind
RCI's GPN points program?
Posted by: Lee Boylan E-Mail: cleeb98@yahoo.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
23:32 MST
In Reply to: Is Cendant lawsuit
behind RCI's GPN points program? posted by: Carolinian on 1/20/2000 at
20:21 MST
RCI's method of operation
from the very beginning has been to charge what the market would bear for
as good a class of service that they
could deliver. They
print those huge and heavy resort directories, provide lots of toll-free
phone numbers and employ thousands of VCs who
are mostly friendly
and helpful. They have a large and sophisticated computer system to (attempt
to) provide a fair system of interval
exchanges, taking
into account trade value, deposit time and resort quality. For that they
get plenty of money from us members.
I think that they are
going to the GPN as an extension of the same policy. Provide something
new and flexible to members and get lots of money doing it.
The Cendant problems
are pretty much behind it now, I think, and it will move on, running each
part as well and profitably as possible, just as before.
Response: GPN math - this is a real
cash cow !!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Carolinian E-Mail: ncarolinian@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 21, 2000 at
18:08 MST
In Reply to: Re: Is Cendant lawsuit
behind RCI's GPN points program? posted by: Lee Boylan on 1/20/2000 at
23:32 MST
Are the lawsuit problems
behind them? This was a very large judgment. Do you have information
that it was really paid off?
Let's look at how much
money GPN will generate. Take a modest sized timeshare with 20 units. With
1 maintainance week each, this
leaves 51 unit/weeks
times 20 units or 1020 unit/weeks total at the resort. If 70% of the owners
are exchangers, this means 714 owners in
RCI. RCI estimates
70% of its members will join GPN. This gives us 500 owners in GPN. The
estimated cost of "conversion" is $2,000.each.
500 times $2,000.
is $1 MILLION!!! And that is only for one modest sized resort. If only
half the resorts in RCI join GPN that is some
very substantial money.
And it is almost pure
profit. As GPN is explained, most of the cost will be extra staff costs
at the resorts, which are continuing personnel costs that will push up
annual maintainance fees, not be part of a one time conversion fee. I cannot
see any other real costs as GPN has been explained except some minor administrative
costs.
Theoretically this
will be charged by the resorts, but would mature resorts in the hands of
their own owners through HOA Boards actually gouge their own members to
this extent? Of course not! This money has to be going back to RCI in some
form or fashion; perhaps consulting fees for setting up GPN at the resort
(suggested in the Sing Li article) or exhorbitant affiliation fees charged
to the resort.
If someone is not trying
to gouge timeshare owners for a big profit, $50. per owner, which under
the above scenario would pull in $25,000.
should more than cover
real administrative expenses of "conversion".
Subject:
GPN food for thought
Posted by: Mel E-Mail: towne@freewwweb.com
Date Posted: January 23, 2000 at 21:12 MST
If they preserve your priority for your home resort, that
also means you can't reserve somewhere else before then either!
Consider - if they give you priority for your week until
16 months out, they have to hold EVERYBODY's weeks until then. If they
then give you
priority until 14 months for your home resort - same applies.
Then they say priority goes to your group (12 months)- then your region
of
residence (10 months). At what point do you have access
to the whole system? 8 months out?
If you don't own on the beach (or leave near it) you won't
get into a beach resort!
If you own a resort that's not part of a group - you can't
reserve anywhere else until 10 months out? right...
Response: GPN food for thought
Posted by: John Chase E-Mail: info@chasepc.com
Date Posted: January 23, 2000 at
22:15 MST
In Reply to: GPN food for thought
posted by: Mel on 1/23/2000 at 21:12 MST
Using FF this would
absolutely be true. You simply cannot reserve a week earlier than 13 months
out - home resort or preffered member - and
at 10 months out all
resorts open to all owners.
The result? Owners
aren't reserving (which I see as "glomming onto" in many cases - especially
simply to bank a week as trade bait) weeks
two years out. In
fact they can't even trade the weeks they do get - they can only trade
what they are willing to give up points for not a specific
resort or specific
week. So when an owner (me!) really wants a week on the beach in a warm
climate in winter I simply call and get it. Never
(and I do mean never)
have I called for a full week and not recieved it in the resort and time
I wanted. Somtimes I call 8 months out -
sometimes as close
as 3 months from the week required. I have on two occasions out of 8 requests
not been able to get the split week time I
requested - but current
rules don't allow split weeks in RCI in any case.
Bottom line for me
is the points system reward the OWNERS - not the traders. As an owner within
FF I get what I want & paid for. And I get
the trades I want.
Period. I don't know if RCI/GPN can equal that as they don't control whole
resorts like the private points systems but I like
that they are going
to try. Maybe you can plan your vactions for the next 4-5 years each two
years in advance - but I can't! With points I don't
have to.
Response: FF & Club Sunterra
Posted by: Marina E-Mail: MKe1220@msn.com
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at
05:53 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN food for thought
posted by: John Chase on 1/23/2000 at 22:15 MST
John,
That all sound great
and that's why I'm looking for an FF resale.
Have you converted
to Club Sunterra? If you have, have you found them to be just as *good*
as FF? I would like to hear your experiences.
How do you think what's
happening now will impact on the Club members?
Response: FF & Club Sunterra
Posted by: John Chase E-Mail: info@chasepc.com
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at
08:13 MST
In Reply to: Re: FF & Club
Sunterra posted by: Marina on 1/24/2000 at 05:53 MST
Marina -
Yes I did convert my
Sunterra to Club but haven't actually used it yet. My impression so far
is that FF is a far more mature system - makes
sense since they have
been doing it since before 1993 - but Club Sunterra is built with about
85% of the same features.
Of course resale of
FF is a very established procedure while reselling Club Options (their
term) with Sunterra is not completely clear. The
documentation states
the membership ends at resale yet they talk like they will transfer membership
at a greatly reduced fee - I guess we'll
have to see what happens
there. Being so new I doubt many have tried to resell.
I don't see the current
Sunterra stock situation as having much impact on the Club - except they
may stop adding new resorts for awhile.
Response: early reservations
Posted by: Mel E-Mail: towne@freewwweb.com
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at
09:04 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN food for thought
posted by: John Chase on 1/23/2000 at 22:15 MST
John -
I don't plan all my
vacations that far out, but I do like the ability to do so on occasion
(like for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary).
Also, consider what
happens in January with RCI's phone system - what will it be like the first
day people can reserve summer weeks, or July 4th?
Either it will be near
impossible to get through, or if they take reservations in advance, you'll
have to request 2 years out and wait a full year
before finding out
there are no rooms left. Notice that Hawaii owners, for instance, will
have preference to stay at their home resort, but will
have to wait until
everybody has a chance to go to any other HI resort - the regional priority
is where you LIVE, not where you own.
I understand why -
so people like Fletch only get one region, not 10. But it will change the
way everybody trades... maybe for better, maybe for worse.
Response: Regional Priority????
Posted by: kathydatsko E-Mail:
kathydatsko@yahoo.com
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at
09:26 MST
In Reply to: Re: early reservations
posted by: Mel on 1/24/2000 at 09:04 MST
I guess I'm confused.
I live in Colorado, and for the next 2 years (due to work situations) want
to mainly trade into Colorado. We own t/s in
Colorado and Florida.
What does this regional priority mean???? Thanks for help in clarifying.
Response: Regional Priority????
Posted by: Mel E-Mail: towne@freewwweb.com
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at
11:22 MST
In Reply to: Re: Regional Priority????
posted by: kathydatsko on 1/24/2000 at 09:26 MST
According to the press
release, the following will be the order of priority for reserving your
week - it sounds like each group will have a window
where only they and
the groups above will be able to reserve.
Global Points NetworkSM
exchanges are based on these reservation priority periods:
Home week
Home resort
Home group (applies
to members whose home resort is part of a larger group of properties)
Home region (defined
as a geographic area that is near the resort owners’ place of residence)
Any resort within
the network
Under this system,
you would get priority to trade your Colorado proerty before everyone else,
and to Colorado in general before anyone who
doesn't either own
or live in Colorado.
If you wanted to go
to Florida, you would have priority into your own resort, but that's it
- until the weeks are generally available to everyone.
Response: Regional Priority and
US trades into Europe
Posted by: Carolinian E-Mail: ncarolinian@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at
16:51 MST
In Reply to: Re: Regional Priority????
posted by: Mel on 1/24/2000 at 11:22 MST
I guess one result
of this will be that under GPN it will be much harder for an American to
trade into Europe. There are a lot of European timeshare owners who trade
to other resorts in Europe. They will get priority. Americans will get
the leftovers. Fortunately, there is Dial-an-Exchange (Europe) as an alternative.
RCI will be next to useless in getting trades into Europe.
How will these priorities
impact those who choose to remain pointless and stay in the traditional
system. The information out is that GPN members will have priority on inventory
in the traditional system (for whatever period that continues to exist).
Will we have to wait for exchanges until each of these priority periods
for GPN members passes?
It looks like we will
have to either bring our resorts into II or use the independents exclusively.
Response: Regional Priority and
US trades into Europe
Posted by: Fern Modena E-Mail:
fern@timeshare-users-group.com
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at
17:45 MST
In Reply to: Re: Regional Priority
and US trades into Europe posted by: Carolinian on 1/24/2000 at 16:51 MST
Carolinian,
It seems like you
are pushing Dial an Exchange a lot. I have looked at their current inventory
in Europe, and there really isn't much variety
there yet. Perhaps
it will get better as time goes on. What do you think about UKRE in England?
Also, SFX has some European
relationships. And
then there is also II for the dually affiliated.
Fern Modena, aka Mindy97
on CHAT
Response: Regional Priority and
US trades into Europe
Posted by: Carolinian E-Mail: ncarolinian@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at
18:18 MST
In Reply to: Re: Regional Priority
and US trades into Europe posted by: Fern Modena on 1/24/2000 at 17:45
MST
I am surprised you
haven't tried to explain away the problems GPN will cause for Americans
trying to trade into Europe. After all, you seem to be one of RCI's chief
apologists on these boards. I take it then that you agree that this will
be a problem.
I am not familiar with
UKRE. If they have a web site, I would like to check it out.
Response: Me? An Apologist?
Posted by: Fern Modena E-Mail:
fern@timeshare-users-group.com
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at
21:24 MST
In Reply to: Re: Regional Priority
and US trades into Europe posted by: Carolinian on 1/24/2000 at 18:18 MST
Carolinian,
Aw, shucks...Are you
trying to compliment me?
I am not an apologist
for anybody. Nor a shill for anybody. What I do think I am is an advocate
better educated owners, who then make their
own decisions. To
further that, I have maintained a web page with timeshare education links
for over five years. I also have been involved in
the world of the online
timeshare family for about ten years.
I invited RCI to the
moderated chat so that TUG members could ask questions and get answers
to the questions we had been discussing.
And then make their
own decisions, based on what they learned, and what they learn in the future.
Fern Modena,
TUG BBS Manager
Response: Regional Priority and
US trades into Europe
Posted by: Makai Guy [M V] E-Mail:
MakaiGuy@iName.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
09:01 MST
In Reply to: Re: Regional Priority
and US trades into Europe posted by: Carolinian on 1/24/2000 at 18:18 MST
> I am surprised you
haven't tried to explain away the problems GPN
> will cause for Americans
trying to trade into Europe. After all, you
> seem to be one of
RCI's chief apologists on these boards.
This is both unfounded,
and uncalled for. Fern is about the most even handed and level headed person
on this whole board. Just because
she is trying to GET
ANSWERS before making up her mind instead of frothing at the mouth over
all the feared potential problems with the
proposed GPN system
does not make her an appologist, fer cryin' out loud! You can be sure,
she'll fire both barrels at RCI once she is sure of
her facts, and if
she thinks the facts warrant it.
Response: Regional Priority and
US trades into Europe
Posted by: Carolinian E-Mail: ncarolinian@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
11:27 MST
In Reply to: Re: Regional Priority
and US trades into Europe posted by: Makai Guy [M V] on 1/25/2000 at 09:01
MST
From her posts on these
boards, she has frequently jumped to RCI's defense on GPN, such as on the
"voluntary" nature of the program.
Further, because of
my own outspoken opposition to GPN and offer of suggestions on fighting
it, she has tried to find out my name so that
RCI would see it when
they monitor these boards. Now that would REALLY help the trading power
of the weeks I have in their spacebank, wouldn't it?
Response: Regional Priority and
US trades into Europe
Posted by: Makai Guy [M V] E-Mail:
MakaiGuy@iName.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
09:25 MST
In Reply to: Re: Regional Priority
and US trades into Europe posted by: Carolinian on 1/25/2000 at 11:27 MST
I have not interpreted
Fern's responses as "jumping to RCI's defense". The program IS voluntary,
in that each owner will choose whether to
jump on board or not.
Mentioning it is just stating fact. I think your obvious hatred of the
GPN system is clouding your judgement, creating an
"if you're not 100%
with me then you're against me" mentality. What I've heard about the system
has me quite concerned as well, but I'm trying
to make sure I understand
all the ramifications before making up my mind. And I certainly am not
branding anybody stating facts about the
system as being an
RCI supporter, but rather as someone providing help. I suppose that now
makes me a Fern Modena apologist in your
book. So be it - there
are worse things to be.
I have to admit, *I*
have wondered about your identity as well. In fact, I've wondered if you
have a financial interest in Interval International since
you are so strongly
advocating getting everyone's resorts to affiliate with II. (That's a joke,
son, but it gets right to the heart of imputing motives
in others.) You could
be somebody we all know already under another name -- you could be somebody
brand new. It's just normal human
curiosity to wonder
when seeing posts from an anonymous name and email address. That's why
I frequently take the time to add my name
when I post, since
my Makai Guy name is a nom de bbs I've been using for many years.
Doug Wilson, "The Makai
Guy"
Response: Regional Priority and
US trades into Europe
Posted by: loes E-Mail: 4.top@solcon.nl
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
00:36 MST
In Reply to: Re: Regional Priority
and US trades into Europe posted by: Carolinian on 1/24/2000 at 16:51 MST
> How will these priorities
impact those who choose to remain pointless
> and stay in the
traditional system. The information out is that GPN
> members will have
priority on inventory in the traditional system (for
> whatever period
that continues to exist). Will we have to wait for
> exchanges until
each of these priority periods for GPN members passes?
My conclusion from
last Sunday's chat was that GPN members won't get priority for non-GPN
weeks in spacebank, unless they have the
strongest trader.
RCI stated in this chat "prioity for weekly exchange is determined by the
like-for-like exchange process which is based on
the resorts and when
someone requests an exchange. Therefore it's going to depend on who asks
when."
Hope my conclusion
is right.
Loes.
Response: Regional Priority and
US trades into Europe
Posted by: loes E-Mail: 4.top@solcon.nl
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
01:00 MST
In Reply to: Re: Regional Priority
and US trades into Europe posted by: Carolinian on 1/24/2000 at 16:51 MST
> I guess one result
of this will be that under GPN it will be much harder for an American to
trade into Europe. There are a lot of
> European timeshare
owners who trade to other resorts in Europe. They
> will get priority.
Americans will get the leftovers
A lot of Europeans
do stay in Europe, but they don't always stay in their own region.
I don't think RCI will consider the whole of Europe as one region, do you?
If, for instance,
regional priority for someone living in Colorado, means that he gets priority
for trading into a resort in Colorado, then it seems logical to me that
someone living in the UK gets regional priority for trading into a UK resort,
not into all European resorts.
Loes.
Response: Regional Priority and
US trades into Europe
Posted by: Carolinian E-Mail: ncarolinian@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
07:35 MST
In Reply to: Re: Regional Priority
and US trades into Europe posted by: loes on 1/25/2000 at 01:00 MST
A lot depends on how
broadly or narrowly they define regions. That is still unclear, but they
only thing we have to go on is to look at how they break down regions currently
in their directory of resorts. There, Europe as a whole is one region,
except that Spain and Portugal are broken out.
If regions are more
narrowly defined, the situation would not be quite as bad. If they are
more broadly defined, it could be worse. For example, if Hawaii and the
west coast were in the same region, the west coast would have good availibility
in Hawaii but those living elsewhere would be third in line with few if
any choices there.
Subject: More to GPN than split weeks
Posted by: Roger
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at 10:10 MST
I've been reluctant to post this message because I am
not fond of GPN and plan to hold out until it becomes apparent that I have
no choice but
to convert. Still, almost all of the discussion has focused
on the ability to split weeks. Thus, the simple formula -- if you have
no desire to split
weeks, then GPN has nothing to offer you outside the loss
of $2000.
I certainly don't have the top resort in the RCI food chain,
but one in the upper levels. In my limited experience with RCI, whenever
I inquire
about an exchange, due to factors that are not entirely
their fault, I almost always get offered a resort of lesser value. (They
have that range of
acceptable trades. Since I have a higher end resort, almost
everything that comes up within that range is of lesser, sometimes much
lesser,
value.) As my wife asks, what is our incentive to trade
with RCI? Their present answer is that they give us a bonus week to play
the system.
The bonus is almost worthless, however. To begin, the
same weeks are available through the Escapes and Instant Exchange programs.
All I
am getting is a $50-$100 discount. Secondly, these weeks
are available when I teach, thus not really available to me. Really, the
bonus is
simply a way for RCI to dump their excess inventory and
get me to believe I am getting a break.
Now, let us suppose I trade via GPN and end up accepting
a resort of 2/3 the value of mine and I do this two years in a row. Now
I have a true
bonus -- a third week that I can use in the middle of
the summer or when I actually can and want to go.
Now consider an upper middle level owner, decent resort
but not one that has ever been offered a bonus week. She trades pretty
much even
but has 5000 points left over. What can she do with those?
My bet is that RCI will be offering all sorts of specials to get rid of
their excess
inventory. She can get away mid-winter and wouldn't mind
going to a nice resort off season. She benefits.
Who loses? Those who know how to play the RCI rules really
well and can broker medium quality resorts into good upgrades. They in
essence pay low maintenance fees and receive the benfits
of those who had traded down. With GPN they will have to pay the price
in points.
To me that strikes me as fair.
Having said all of this, I still don't like GPN and will
try to hold off. Reasons? This posting is long enough already and they
are not things that
you can't find in other people's messages.
Response: More to GPN
than split weeks
Posted by: Wonka E-Mail:
czerj@enter.net
Date Posted: January
26, 2000 at 12:10 MST
In Reply to: More
to GPN than split weeks posted by: Roger on 1/26/2000 at 10:10 MST
You're
correct. It will be a whole new ball game - but, the those who learn the
new GPN system well & play well will continue to be the "real"
winners. It will be much harder to maximize trades for those choosing not
to convert, but it will still happen. Those that take the time to learn
will do ok in the long-run.
However,
GPN will probably not be any more "fair". I doubt that it's possible to
assign points to a resort in a way that's "fair" to everyone, and I
expect there will be a lot of unhappy owners with the points assigned to
their ownership.
And,
it certainly isn't "fair" to those choosing not to join GPN. In fact, it's
downright "unfair".
Like
most, I'll wait...watch...learn. TUG will probably be the best resource
going to help make a good decision.
Subject:
GPN Conversion Costs
Posted by: Makai Guy [M V] E-Mail: MakaiGuy@iName.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at 08:42 MST
This is one aspect that I haven's seen mentioned, but
then there have been SO many messages, I could have missed it..
RCI cites the reason for charging a conversion fee is so
that the RESORT can recoup the cost of converting to GPN, rather than having
it
show up in an increased maintenance fee.
The problem with this explanation is that the conversion
fee is a one-time fee, but the costs of operating under GPD are ongoing.
Yes, there
will be the up-front fee to RCI for signing the resort
into GPN, and there may be some up-front expenses in updating the resort's
reservation
system. The resort may guess as to how many conversions
there will be and spread this cost accordingly as a conversion fee.
If they guess low on the number of owners who choose to
convert, they will underfund the conversion. As an operating expense, this
will have
to be made up in maintenance fees. This will either be
spread over ALL owners (most likely) or as an additional charge to their
GPN
members (less likely). If they guess high on the number
of conversions, they'll have a surplus which will probably just be kept
as a rainy day
fund.
But the ongoing costs of additonal housecleaning and management
expenses for partial week usage will go on forever and can't adequately
be covered by a one time conversion fee, unless the fee
is set so high that the resort can invest this sum and use the investment
proceeds to
pay for the additional expense (no way this approach will
be used). Thus it seems inevitable that maintenance fees will either go
up, or there
will have to be a hefty additional charge for partial
week use.
So RCI saying the conversion fee is to cover the resort's
expenses is just one more layer of b.s.
Repsonse: GPN Conversion Costs
Posted by: Carol C. E-Mail: ckc2@mciworld.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
09:56 MST
In Reply to: GPN Conversion Costs
posted by: Makai Guy [M V] on 1/26/2000 at 08:42 MST
What will the value
of each point mean to any given resort? I assume shorter stays of 3-4 days
would be more expensive *per day* than a
week would be and
would be priced accordingly *points-wise*. Wouldn't the higher point charges
cover the additional housekeeping and
maintenance personnel
costs for those shorter stays? I guess we can only hope so.
Repsonse: GPN Conversion Costs
Posted by: Makai Guy [M V] E-Mail:
MakaiGuy@iName.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
11:14 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN Conversion
Costs posted by: Carol C. on 1/26/2000 at 09:56 MST
"Spending" RCI points
is strictly a deal between you and RCI. If RCI charges you more per day
for a less-than-full-week stay, I don't see how
that nets anything
to the resort. Nothing we have seen so far indicates that RCI will reimburse
the resort for the extra expense.
Repsonse: GPN Conversion Costs
Posted by: M. Henley E-Mail: mbhwky@writemail.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
11:49 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN Conversion
Costs posted by: Makai Guy [M V] on 1/26/2000 at 11:14 MST
Guy:
I tried to allude to
your point when posting previously. It seems obvious to me that the conversion
costs to a resort will be primarily the
per-point fee charged
by RCI for each week converted. The resort will only pass this along to
the consumer who is converting. RCI is trying to
convince us that it
is up to the resort as to what the conversion cost will be, when in reality
the resort is only a pass-through agency and it is
RCI that is setting
the rate for conversion. To me the range that Fern finally wrung out of
them on chat is merely the estimated range for what a
week may be worth
in points. It seems obvious that RCI already has in mind a per-point charge,
and what it costs to convert will be merely a
function of how many
points your week is worth.
The added expenses
to each resort for split weeks will result in increased maintenance fees
for every resort that affiliates with GPN. Thus, all
owners will pay a
cost in increased maintenance fee, immaterial of whether they convert their
week to GPN.
By the way, "How's
mommer 'n 'em?"
M. Henley
Response: You think that you save
money by not joining GPN- Think again!
Posted by: Jeff Alexander E-Mail:
jeffalexander1970@yahoo.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
14:28 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN Conversion
Costs posted by: M. Henley on 1/26/2000 at 11:49 MST
Absolutely, maintenance
fees will have to rise because resorts will now need people at the front
desk for check-in full time, rather than once a
week... likewise,
maid service will increase from once or twice a week to every day..
If you think this won't
make maintenance fees increase significantly, think again...
Screwed if you do,
screwed if you don't
Repsonse: Housekeeping
Posted by: Marina E-Mail: MKe1220@msn.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
11:55 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN Conversion
Costs posted by: Makai Guy [M V] on 1/26/2000 at 11:14 MST
You're right. RCI should
include a housekeeping fee with the annual membership fee or exchange fee
and give it to the resort being
exchanged to. Sunterra
charges a yearly housekeeping fee and FF charges its members extra for
housekeeping too.
Subject:
GPN - by the numbers
Posted by: Mel E-Mail: towne@freewwweb.com
Date Posted: January 19, 2000 at 09:23 MST
I was looking over the numbers Dave M. so graciously posted,
as were given to him by his resort. Based on these numbers, I'm not so
sure
this will be such a great deal to owners.
Cost to Join - looks like around $2000 per week to convert.
Amortized over 20 years, at a 6% interest rate, that amounts to about $175
per
year. (bump it up to 10%, and it's $235 per year)
Also, the annual membership fee appears to be a little
more than RCI, but it's close enough to call it a wash - $0
The savings - assuming you get one-for-one trades (average
over time), all withing the system ;$69 (note, you still have to pay to
use your own
week) - savings of ($124-69) $55 per year
Those that use a high value week to consistently get multiple
trades, this system may work - but I suspect most people will average 1-for-1
in
the long run, getting multiple trades some times, and
combining points other times. But we also don't know if GPN will have access
to
escapes, or if that program will even continue to exist.
One exchange, plus a $199 excape would cost me $323 under
the current system. Under GPN, 2 exchange weeks would be $138, plus the
year's share of the conversion, or about $313 using the
6% figure - not much of a savings.
Of course, we don't know if GPN members would be allowed
to raid the regular spacebank 45 days out at the cost of a blue/studio
week. If
they can, maybe I'll convert and abuse the system.
Response: GPN - by the numbers
Posted by: Maz(M) E-Mail: mazarati@home.com
Date Posted: January 19, 2000 at
09:51 MST
In Reply to: GPN - by the numbers
posted by: Mel on 1/19/2000 at 09:23 MST
(note, you still have
to pay to use your own week) -
-----------------------------------
Mel..Are you saying
that we would all have to pay the exchange fee even if we decide on a given
year to use our home resort instead of
exchanging into another
one??? Maz
Response: GPN - by the numbers
Posted by: Mel E-Mail: towne@freewwweb.com
Date Posted: January 19, 2000 at
14:37 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN - by the numbers
posted by: Maz(M) on 1/19/2000 at 09:51 MST
Maz - according to
Dave:
ALL GPN weeks are automatically
deposited every year and are available to home owners first then affliated
resorts second then regional
members then everybody
starting at 16 months 14 months 12 months then 10 months. Ther is now more
waiting to see if someone will
deposit a week that
you want everything is available and its first come first served with a
real-time reservation system. When you phone
you will know what
is available and can make all your decisions on the spot.
What does this mean?
unless they waive the fee, you pay to use your own week. It ALSO means
you cannot use another exchange company,
as GPN automatically
has exclusive rights to your week! And from what I understand, it may be
had to sever the week from the GPN system
once it's in, if you
decided you didn't like it, and wanted to return to RCI, or switch to II,
SFX, or anyone else - or if you sell it.
Looks like they're
trying to eliminate the small exchange companies.
It also means, if you
paid a premium for July 4th, you lose out. It looks like you don't get
any preference over other owners from your home
resort, so the only
advantage would be in any extra points they give you. Also, I doubt you
could get a prime week anywhere but your own
resort, particularly
if you're not part of an affiliated group like Sunterra. For every such
week, there are 50 owners from the resort in line ahead
of you. It also means
you will have to plan 16 months ahead to get those prime weeks.
Response: GPN - by the numbers
Posted by: Dave M E-Mail: audiowizard@home.com
Date Posted: January 19, 2000 at
20:36 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN - by the numbers
posted by: Mel on 1/19/2000 at 14:37 MST
> > Mel..Are
you saying that we would all have to pay the exchange fee even if we decide
on a given year to use our home resort instead of
exchanging into another
one??? Maz
You don't have to pay
to use your own week
You always have the
right to use your points through RCI normal exchange at set points level.
Dave
Response: GPN - by the numbers
Posted by: George Junak E-Mail:
california.aircheck@cwix.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
06:04 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN - by the numbers
posted by: Dave M on 1/19/2000 at 20:36 MST
Dave, You might want to do
some further investigating into whether you would have to pay RCI to use
your week at your home resort..Judging
from the press release that
Fern put in the advise section and your previous details, GPN sounds very
much like Hilton's points system, in that
you give up your week to
HGVC each year but then have first crack at reserving. With Hilton, if
you reserve the week you own, you pay no fee,
but if you want to split,
or break up that week in any way (ie--reserve a partial week or reserve
a smaller unit) you pay a $29 fee for each
reservation. Plus, it also
bumps you down to the next group of owners available to reserve (if you
reserve your full week of your full unit size,
you can reserve 12+ months
out; if you want to reserve anything other than that--such as a partial
week or different unit size--you drop down to
9 months--and in HGVC's
case, you're now competing with any other HGVC owner in the system, no
matter what resort they own at). These
small details can turn out
to be big problems.
Personally, I don't think
I would turn over my week to GPN like that every year for a minimum of
3 years..
George
Response: GPN - by the numbers
Posted by: Makai Guy [M V] E-Mail:
MakaiGuy@iName.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
06:28 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN - by the numbers
posted by: George Junak on 1/20/2000 at 06:04 MST
George, I share your
concerns and reservations. Unfortunately, the sad fact is that very few
timeshare owners will take the time to learn about
this proposal, make
any attempt to influence RCI's decision, or even communicate with their
home resort regarding this whole issue. The
system will go into
place in whatever form RCI decides it wants to implement and a frightening
number of owners will follow blindly. Our only
choice as individuals
will be to decide whether to jump in with them or not, and if the holdouts
end up being in the distinct minority, our
exchange options could
get very limited.
Response: GPN - by the numbers
Posted by: Fletch E-Mail: jfletch@voicenet.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
13:24 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN - by the numbers
posted by: Makai Guy [M V] on 1/20/2000 at 06:28 MST
It doesn't say if you
can combine points from 2 resorts for 1 trade or did I miss that
Subject: Re: GPN - by the numbers
Posted by: Dave M E-Mail: audiowizard@home.com
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
20:34 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN - by the numbers
posted by: Fletch on 1/20/2000 at 13:24 MST
> It doesn't say if
you can combine points from 2 resorts for 1 trade or did I miss that ?
Each year you will have a
points total from all your converted weeks regardless of where they are
so you can combine two weeks to get a
single stonger week.
Response: GPN - by the numbers
Posted by: SPR E-Mail: reveal7@tri-countynet.net
Date Posted: January 20, 2000 at
16:21 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN - by the numbers
posted by: Makai Guy [M V] on 1/20/2000 at 06:28 MST
GPN will significantly
impact maintainance fees. Every resort has a block of owners who never
exchange and do not even belong to exchange companies. These are often
people who live reasonably close to the resort and are more likely to attend
meetings and serve on HOA Boards. I think they will be fairly solid against
GPN. Then there are the occaisional exchangers who belong to an exchange
company and sometimes use their home resort and sometimes exchange. I think
that they too will oppose GPN. I have mentioned the details of GPN as posted
on this board to five of my friends who fall into this category. None thought
they had anything much positive to gain from GPN, and they all reacted
extremely negatively toward the idea of paying a fee in the neighborhood
of $2,000. to convert. Four said they would quit RCI and just use their
home resort or even sell their units. ONe was highly perplexed at having
to make such a decision and didn't know what he would do. If this is any
indication, I do not think we will see timeshare owners marching like Lemmings
over the cliff into the arms of GPN. We need to hand in there and do all
we can to get RCI's attention.
Repsonse: GPN - by the numbers
Posted by: sub rosa E-Mail: txtls@webtv.net
Date Posted: January 22, 2000 at
09:07 MST
In Reply to: Re: GPN - by the numbers
posted by: SPR on 1/20/2000 at 16:21 MST
Then there are the
> occaisional exchangers
who belong to an exchange company and sometimes
> use their home resort
and sometimes exchange. I think that they too
> will oppose GPN.
a fee in the
> neighborhood of
$2,000. to convert.
My DH and I belong
in this group and there is no way we would put any more money (conversion
fee) into a t/s for which we paid $995! If the
conversion should
be around $2000 for each t/s that would cost us $6000 and I'd rather put
that money in Marriott or Disney!
Roberta
Subject:
Points
Posted by: KathyJ E-Mail: kathjenn@uswest.net
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at 15:55 MST
I've been trying to follow the discussion about RCI's
points system and have tried to understand the various points systems,
but the
discussions really confuse me, since it's never really
been explained to me (in the lowest common demoninator). So...
Can someone give me a simple, objective, explanation of
a points system so I have some jumping off point into the discussions.
Response: Points
Posted by: Fletch E-Mail: jfletch@voicenet.com
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at
17:05 MST
In Reply to: Points posted by:
KathyJ on 1/24/2000 at 15:55 MST
***
They charge the resort
a fee to join the GPN points. You pay between $700 and $3000 to get your
week coverted to points that you MUST
give them 3 years
running. You can use your points to trade for air, car blah blah blah and
also booked any amount of days instead of just 7 (
there one big selling
point, big deal) . Bottom line is you pay more money and RCI gets rich.
IT IS NOT WORTH IT !!
Response: Points
Posted by: jacobson98 E-Mail: david.jacobson@worldnet.att.net
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at
17:16 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Fletch on 1/24/2000 at 17:05 MST
Fletch actually has
it right. Points systems are rarely about fairness or giving all timeshare
owners an even shake. They're about increasing
the revenue stream
for the timeshare company. The trick is to make the timeshare owner think
he's buying additional benefits, but actually sell
him what he already
owns again! Under RCI's scheme, many owners will actually end up with less
than the already own (i.e., fewer usable
timeshare vacation
weeks), and pay for that privilege.
Response: Points
Posted by: Wonka E-Mail: czerj@enter.net
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
09:05 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: jacobson98 on 1/24/2000 at 17:16 MST
I agree. It's sort
of like selling the Brooklyn Bridge over and over again, but even worse
because it's to the same buyers. Part of the sales
technique seems to
be creating a "preferred owner group" with special benefits at the detriment
of others. That's a "scare tactic", I'm very
uncomfortable with-it
will induce many to join simply not to lose existing benefits.
Response: Why even bother?
Posted by: Jalexander E-Mail: jeffalexander1970@yahoo.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
12:43 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Wonka on 1/25/2000 at 09:05 MST
I love how RCI touts
how you will be able to use points for cruises and other items..
Right now, Fairfield
lets you use their points for cruises.... However, I challenge anyone to
find me a person who used their points in such a
manner .. it simply
is too expensive
So basically, I get
the right to "split up" my weeks.. whoopie.. Right now, it is fairly easy
to "upgrade" into a better unit (trade studio for 2 BR ,
etc) in a comparable
resort ... I'd rather have that than the ability to split my weeks..
Yes, RCI is trying
to intimidate people into converting (if you don't convert, you will be
left with the dregs of the timeshares to trade into).. and I
sincerely hope that
people don't fall for it..
Response: Points
Posted by: kathydatsko E-Mail:
kathydatsko@yahoo.com
Date Posted: January 24, 2000 at
17:20 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Fletch on 1/24/2000 at 17:05 MST
You have the option
of keeping your week as it is, you can still trade your week for another
(except now there are less "whole" weeks banked
for you to pick from).
OR, you can "covert" to points, as Fletch said, and RCI will tell you how
many points your week is worth. You pay a fee to
convert. Fletch is
right in that you give up some control of your week. Then, you can use
all your points for a trade, or borrow some from next
year if you want a
particularly hard trade, or get 2 trades (like 2 blue season weeks for
your "hot" red season week). The catch is, everytime
you turn around, RCI,
or whoever, will want more $$ to give you what you want. If you have an
unlimited pocketbook, points are great. You pay
your maintenance fees,
all your points conversion fees, fees everytime you turn around, and you
can get Christmas in Hawaii -- plus a
weekend in Cancun,
all for the cost of 2-3 years of maintenance fees (or whatever.)
Kathy
Response: Points
Posted by: M. Henley E-Mail: mbhwky@writemail.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
06:26 MST
In Reply to: Points posted by:
KathyJ on 1/24/2000 at 15:55 MST
My primary focus on
the evident coming of GPN is the consumer cost factor. The complexity of
managing your points, once you have paid for
them, is secondary
to me.
Did you notice how
long it took Fern to wring out of RCI that $700 to $3000 figure? It was
obvious that the RCI reps did not wish to discuss
cost, but Fern kept
after them until they finally broke, at least to an extent.
They never admitted
that the figure they gave was, in reality, an RCI figure. They want the
consumer to think, as many still do, that the cost to
owners of weeks is
set by the resort to cover cost of conversion and perhaps profit to the
resort. In reality, that is correct. What they do not
wish you to focus
on is that the majority of the resort's cost of conversion is the fee charged
by RCI for each week the resort converts for you.
The resort then passes
that cost along to the consumer (where all costs are passed- there ain't
no free lunch).
It is obvious, from
the range given, i.e. $700 to $3000, that RCI already has a $ per-point
figure in mind. What you end up paying will depend
upon how many points
you get for your week, and thus what these points cost due to the per-points
charge that RCI levys on the resort.
What RCI wishes to
hide is the fact that the majority of your cost flows into the coffers
of RCI-Cendant, and they will not admit that they have
already computed how
much the camel's back will bear in terms of the $ per point charged by
RCI TO THE RESORT FOR CONVERSION,
this cost then being
passed to you, the week-owner.
This will probably
work, as most TS owners do not belong to TUG, and thus have no idea of
what is going on. RCI intends to sell you your
week all over again,
closing costs and all. You own the week, RCI charges you for that ownership,
then you pay the maintenance fees for the
week, and a yearly
charge for maintaining the dubious points that RCI "gave" you in return
for your purchase of the week that you already
owned. Insidious,
what?
Will this work? Probably,
over the years. Most TS weeks get sold inside a pressure cooker, where
the "sucker" is convinced to pay many
times what a week
is worth by a high-pressure salesman with larceny in his heart. This is
where most of the RCI points will be sold in the near
future.
However, as trade
weeks dry up, due to the GPN members having first choice for weeks in the
GPN system, as well priority for choice of the
weeks in the present
system, more and more people will, seeing their trade choices dry up year
by year, opt out completely, or will break
down and purchase
points. In the interim, the RCI cash cow keeps on pumping through weeks
sold with points by developers, as well as the
slow erosion of people
in the present system opting to convert.
My opinion is that
the only way to win is to buy Cendant stock. This source of cash should
enhance their bottom line for years to come.
This is just my opinion,
I could be wrong.
M. Henley
Response: Points
Posted by: John Chase E-Mail: info@chasepc.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
08:07 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: M. Henley on 1/25/2000 at 06:26 MST
> However, as trade
weeks dry up, due to the GPN members having first choice for weeks in the
GPN system, as well priority for choice of
the weeks in the present
system, more and more people will, seeing their trade choices dry up year
by year, opt out completely, or will break
down and purchase
points. In the interim, the RCI cash cow keeps on pumping through weeks
sold with points by developers, as well as the
slow erosion of people
in the present system opting to convert.
I can't say I agree
with your total analysis but you may have some parts correct - we'll see.
As for the drying up
of exchange opportunities GPN is actually trying to address for the general
RCI membership what is already happening.
Fairfield, Sunterra,
Disney, Marriott, etc - note the quality & big T/S (or Vacation Ownership
Plans, hehe) names in that growing list. All have
instituted internal
systems to ensure that owners get first crack at any available weeks and
many have set up "desks" at the exchange
companies to limit
access by mere standard RCI/II members. Little gets past these controls
to the general membership leaving the smaller
resorts or groups
as the only truly available weeks.
If GPN actually flies
the "regular" member gets back into the game. Once the premium groups start
using the points exchange features weeks
that had been closed
off should return to the fold. Now if the rental plans some here have said
will take priority don't interfere what your
additional points
money will get you is the same as paying the premium for the resorts management
companies named above. A chance to
trade for the top
of the heap in t/s units along with those big name owners.
As things are going
the standard RCI/II member is losing the ability to get the best trades.
That has been slowly eroding for the past few
years. GPN may, and
I do stress may, bring your opportunities back to full availability. We'll
just have to wait and see what shakes out.
Response: Points
Posted by: bschulz E-Mail: bschulz@belgacom.net
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
09:54 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: John Chase on 1/25/2000 at 08:07 MST
Through reading this
thread, I'm getting the feeling that those of us who own Gold Crown resorts
in over-built Orlando might do well to convert
to points as far as
improving our chances of a good trade. What do you think?
Response: Points
Posted by: tonyg
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
10:07 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: bschulz on 1/25/2000 at 09:54 MST
Better see how many
points you will get first !
Response: Points
Posted by: M. Henley E-Mail: mbhwky@writemail.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
10:15 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: bschulz on 1/25/2000 at 09:54 MST
My opinion on this
is, yes. It may well be worth the additional capital expenditure (which,
unfortunately, is not a depreciable one) to improve your trading
ability. In all probability, I will convert some weeks to points
because I can afford it. Unfortunately, there are many who can't, and it
is those that I feel for.
M. Henley
Response: Points
Posted by: Fletch E-Mail: jfletch@voicenet.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
10:41 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: M. Henley on 1/25/2000 at 10:15 MST
Mel,
What are you nuts,
cause you can afford it ? You can afford a sex change but your not getting
that are you :) ? Lets not jump the gun here. I
have no indicating
that even if the GPN were free that it will benefit people except for the
length of stay. So now an Orlando owner can pay
$3000 for the chance
to trade 2 years usage for 1 great week. Adding 2 years mait plus fees
and NOT counting converting it might cost
$1300 for that great
week. I would rather rent !!
Response: Points
Posted by: M. Henley E-Mail: mbhwky@writemail.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
16:50 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Fletch on 1/25/2000 at 10:41 MST
Well, rent then. I
am not getting a sex change because I am happy (ecstatic?) the way I am.
I can assure you that if I wanted one I would
purchase it. I can't
take it with me, so I might as well use it (of course, I can't afford a
Mariott, so that might remain an elusive goal to be met
later in life; after
all, one needs goals to keep the old iron pumping). If I thought a boycott
would do any good, I would participate, but the TUG
group is such a microcasm
of the timeshare world that it is difficult for the entire group to make
much of an impact on RCI or the developers,
either, for that matter.
I have always elected to choose the battles that I fight, and as a consequence
I have won more than I have lost. Tilting at
windmills is an enviable
avocation, but not one that pays many dividends. However, out of respect
for your knowledge and contributions, I will
reserve judgement
on whether I will play with RCI until we see from whither the wind blows.
M. Henley
Response: RCI - The Money Pit
Posted by: Wonka E-Mail: czerj@enter.net
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
11:03 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: M. Henley on 1/25/2000 at 10:15 MST
Sadly, RCI will benefit
from many owner's following Melvin's thought process. Many owners will
spend the additional monies necessary to
protect/improve trading
power assuming they can afford it.
However, I would suspect
there's a large number of owner's that are questioning their initial expenditure's
value. They'll be reluctant to
continue to feed the
"money pit".
The situation could
result in more resale availability and lower prices, enhancing the "buyer's
market" for resales.
There's no question
those staying with the regular RCI system will be disadvantaged.
GPN is a very big gamble
for RCI. If it doesn't work, it could seriously erode their customer base.
Response: RCI- Developers or Trading
Company?
Posted by: Jalexander E-Mail: jeffalexander1970@yahoo.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
12:37 MST
In Reply to: RCI - The Money Pit
posted by: Wonka on 1/25/2000 at 11:03 MST
The funny (or sad)
thing about all this is that RCI is assuming a pseudo-developer role..
If you don't have enough power, we'll rent you the
points to get what
you want... I wonder if RCI intends to "sell" points also
Response: RCI - The Money Pit
Posted by: TRice E-Mail: trice44533@aol.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
13:00 MST
In Reply to: RCI - The Money Pit
posted by: Wonka on 1/25/2000 at 11:03 MST
Wonk- I question how
many current owners will buy in if they aren't allowed to "peek" first
to see what their points will buy. Obviously the major
GPN source will be
high-powered, high-buck new resorts selling direct. I can't trade my mid-level
resorts into them now, and I doubt they'll
trade down to compete
with me. So what do I care? Let them spend their money any silly way they
want. If they want to muscle me out of the
way with a $20,000
week to use a week at a resort I could buy for $3k, fine with me. One's
born every minute.
Response: Points
Posted by: John Chase E-Mail: info@chasepc.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
14:01 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: bschulz on 1/25/2000 at 09:54 MST
I think that the playing
field gets leveled considerably - points are points no matter where they
came from. It puts the value back into ownership
and away from the
trade value system & I don't think that is a bad thing.
I've always purchased
what I liked & where I liked. Points adds a fair and identifiable trade
value to the equation. I like that. Let me find my old
Lotus 123 spreadsheet
software and see what I can cough up.
Orlando units - especially
the nicer resorts - would benefit IMO.
Response: Points
Posted by: Mel E-Mail: towne@freewwweb.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
15:38 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: John Chase on 1/25/2000 at 08:07 MST
Actually, if I understand
the way exchanging will work for current points owners, it may not improve
at all. Someone already inquired with
Sunterra, and was
told they would need to convert to Sunterra Club to get GPN access. Then
they would exchange Sunterra points for GPN
point - like a currency
exchange. If this is so, those club weeks will still never make it into
GPN. It sounds like, if you have a fixed or floating
week, GPN gets control
of your unit, but if you're part of Sunterra, Fairfield, or any of the
other points programs, GPN and the club would
calculate the fair
exchange rate (like currency), and the club would then decide what week(s)
to give GPN - and this wouldn't happen until one
of their members indicates
a desire to use GPN points.
In other words - the
club systems become "super-users" of GPN, but retain control of their own
units, while the rest of us are still second class
citizens. As it works
now, those groups might have to give up a few of their better weeks to
get difficult exchanges for their members. Under
GPN, they will be
able to give up multiple lower point weeks instead. It also sounds like
access to GPN will be part of those club
memberships, like
RCI is now - no need to convert a second time.
Response: Points
Posted by: PamH E-Mail: PHarwood@ix.netcom.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
16:18 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: John Chase on 1/25/2000 at 08:07 MST
As a Marriott owner
I can tell you that part of the reason for buying Marriott was the internal
trade system. They are not in RCI, but if they were
they would have very
upset customers if they took that away. So, how is this program going
to help people to get the top resorts??
At the cost of the
original purchasors who were "supposed" to get priority?? Is that fair??
Pam
Response: Points
Posted by: Carol C. E-Mail: ckc2@mciworld.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
10:25 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: M. Henley on 1/25/2000 at 06:26 MST
> My primary focus
on the evident coming of GPN is the consumer cost factor. The complexity
of managing your points, once you have paid
for them, is secondary
to me.
Two things...what if
the folks who are either savvy TUGgers and/or folks who already feel they've
been bled dry by t/s'ing and will not pony up
another cent...what
if all these folks refuse to join GPN under any circumstances? What if
this ends up amounting to, say, 50% of all t/s
owners/RCI members,
even 10 years hence, for example? Wouldn't this mean that there would be
a second tier of trading, 50% of all RCI
members trading back
and forth amongst themselves, with RCI getting their (high) current fees,
but nothing more, and heaven forbid no cash
cow of conversion
fees? Don't you think there are non-TUG members out there who *hate* RCI
for raising exchange fees every year, their
resorts raise annual
maint fees, etc? Isn't there a good chance a t/s consumer backlash can
result from all this? And then we the
"uber-consumer" will
have good stuff to pick from 'cause we'll also be banking our good stuff
into the current/old-fashioned RCI system...not
the beast we call
GPN. Now...if that happens...Cendant's stock will tank and I for one wouldn't
want to be holding any of it. Furthermore, I can't
in good conscience
invest my money in any company whose product I don't believe in...even
if that product makes money. Yes, I'm one of the
"social screeners"
when it comes to investing. That's also why I won't invest in the polluting
cruise line companies. And I'm doing just fine with
my investments...and
I'll do just fine without Cendant...and without GPN! I may end up being
the last holdout...but I will stand strong and not pay
another cent! (Of
course I paid retail for my first two t/s's...so I'm among those who will
not pony up another red cent to the profiteers in t/s'ing.)
Response: Points
Posted by: Justin K E-Mail: justinjkim@earthlink.net
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
12:35 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Carol C. on 1/25/2000 at 10:25 MST
Carol:
Thank you very much
for saying what I've wanted to say ever since this GPN thing was discussed
on this forum. Rather than yielding to this
greedy corporate plan
which definitely makes suckers out of us timesharers, each of TUGGERS should
go back to our own resorts and do
our best to inform
HOA and fellow owners of this Brooklyn bridge selling scheme cooked up
by RCI.
BTW, I've owned 1000
shares of Cendent when the stock tanked by their accounting scandal. Now
I am selling them.
Response: Points
Posted by: KathyJ E-Mail: kathjenn@uswest.net
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
14:04 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Justin K on 1/25/2000 at 12:35 MST
Thanks for the input.
I knew you all couldn't resist a good discussion and my fog is clearing
a bit. I don't think I'd be interested in the points;
also, I guess my wonderful
GC home resort here in Minnesota won't be worth much to trade. It's a good
thing I enjoy using it!
Response: Points
Posted by: Carolinian E-Mail: ncarolinian@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
14:16 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Justin K on 1/25/2000 at 12:35 MST
I agree completely
with your suggestion that we share our knowledge on the GPN issue
with our home resorts. We need to share not only the
drawbacks of GPN,
but the alternatives, which are: 1) dual affiliation with II by each of
our resorts, and 2) availibility of the
independent timeshare
exchange companies.
Both of my resorts
are RCI only. I have written to all the Board members of one and spoken
with the President of the HOA of the other about
dual affiliation with
II.
I also suggest asking
to write an article or letter to the editor for your HOA newsletter on
the subject. Most owners sent proxies to the
annual meetings rather
than attending in person, so the newsletter is the best way to reach
them.
Response: Points
Posted by: grest E-Mail: stgre@prodigy.net
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
16:00 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Carolinian on 1/25/2000 at 14:16 MST
I am wondering if it
would make any sense, or do any good, to get together and send a statement
to RCI with the names of as many of us who
disagree with what
they're doing as we can come up with. Power in names and numbers? I don't
know how we would do this, but somehow I'd
like to convey some
disagreement that they would have to take notice of.
Connie
Response: Points
Posted by: Dottie E-Mail: dorlou@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
14:37 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Carol C. on 1/25/2000 at 10:25 MST
Carol
You said it well!!
I have no intentions of joining. I would rather stop timesharing. As it
is, I usually do trade up, trading small units for larger nicer
ones. It has been
great. I would prefer to savor my nice memories rather than know I had
been taken to the cleaners. We have some weeks
we always use. Those
are keepers. Fortunately, 2 weeks are in a resort that is already converting
to II because of high RCI fees. I have to
wonder if they knew
about the coming GPN. I like RCI. They have been good to me. However, I
have written them that I do not like this new
plan and will not
participate. The worst thing timeshare owners can do is to join out of
panic that they might miss a good vacation. Take your
$700 to $3000 and
buy a nice vacation wherever you want.
I,too, want to thank
Fern for providing the moderated chat for all of us to read. It was enlightening.
The image of timeshare swindles was
fading. Now, they
want to sell us the same thing we already own. I sure hope all RCI members
are not that gullible.
What I really would
miss though is being able to vacation shop online.
SFX is a good alternative
now, but I read something about them switching to points also.
Dottie
Response: Points
Posted by: David E-Mail: dhenry99@prodigy.net
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
19:45 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Dottie on 1/25/2000 at 14:37 MST
I too am leaning to
not joining the GPN movement. I have a week at Flamingo on SXM and when
they were asking owners to convert to
points, I declined
also. Why give up a ground floor beach front unit to get some points and
then not be able to get the same unit at your home
resort because everyone
is "equal"! I paid more in the beginning so I wouldn't be equal. The same
goes for my 2 weeks in Hawaii. Again I
paid for the best
unit available in the resort and I don't want to go to an inferior unit
if I convert to points. I will not pay for anything twice! What
happens to RCI if
50% or less of the members buy in? And what if those that buy in are owners
at resorts that don't currently get the better
trades? They still
won't get better trades if the better weeks are not in the GPN pool. Like
it has been said, just another revenue stream for
Cendant. Oh for the
good ole days when RCI was an indvidual company. David
Response: Points
Posted by: M. Henley E-Mail: mbhwky@writemail.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
06:12 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: David on 1/25/2000 at 19:45 MST
RCI seems to have thought
of this. GPN members will get their choice of GPN deposited weeks, then
will also get their choice of the regular
RCI deposited weeks.
If you are not GPN you get what's left. Insidious, to say the least.
M. Henley
Response: Points
Posted by: Justin K E-Mail: justinjkim@earthlink.net
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
08:34 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: M. Henley on 1/26/2000 at 06:12 MST
If RCI does this, it
will be in fact attempting to benefit one group of members (GPN members
who pony up money to them) at the expense of
the other group (non-GPN
members). Could there be a legal case made against RCI for this kind of
practice? Any opinions from the
attorneys on this
board?
Justin
Response: Points
Posted by: Carolinian E-Mail: ncarolinian@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
21:14 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Justin K on 1/26/2000 at 08:34 MST
It probably violates
North Carolina's Unfair Business Practices statutes, and their are likely
similar laws in other states. These
statutes could be
enforced by the Attorney General suing to protect all consumers. Since
many AG's are just biding time waiting to run for Governor or US Senator
and like to make headlines protecting the public, I suspect that there
is a fair prospect of the AG's office taking up such a suit. An individual
or group of individuals can also
bring an action under
these statutes, and, if successful, collect treble damages and recover
their attorneys fees.
Response: Points
Posted by: Dani E-Mail: Dani1d2@aol.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
20:13 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Carol C. on 1/25/2000 at 10:25 MST
>Two things...what
if the folks who are either savvy TUGgers and/or folks who already feel
they've been bled dry by t/s'ing and will not pony up
another cent...what
if all these folks refuse to join GPN under any circumstances?<
Carol,
You said it all very
nicely. Although I am very, very happy with the services that RCI currently
provides, there is absolutely no way that I will pay
my resort, RCI, or
anyone else for that matter another penny for the use of my timeshare.
Enough is enough. They have gotten all of the money
that they will ever
get out of me. The way I look at, I was a fool once (Yeah, I paid developer
prices), and I'm not going to be a fool again!!! As
the saying goes, fool
me once, shame on you, fool me twice..shame on me!!!
Although I must admit
that Iv'e had some trouble following these discussions, Iv'e heard enough
to know that the only one who benefits from
this is RCI and maybe
a small minority of owners. I just hope they haven't proceeded with GPN
to their detriment. Let's face it- you don't have
to be all that savy
or a TUGGER to realize that they are asking for more of your hard earned
money for what appears to be little in return. By
the way, who told
them that the masses wanted to pay exorbitant airline fares, only to stay
at a resort for 3, 4, or even 5 days!!! I don't need
them as my primary
source for airline tickets, rental cars, a hotel room, or anything else.
There are others out there that do it better. I need
them to exchange my
timeshare week for another week of my choice. Period. Unless I missed something
(Unfortunately- a possibility), they
need to go to Plan
B. If I wanted a points system, I would have bought into one.
Dani
Response: Points
Posted by: Corinne E-Mail: walker3@mediaone.net
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
20:59 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Dani on 1/25/2000 at 20:13 MST
I'm certainly not pro-GPN,
mostly because I have no desire to pay to convert my weeks - I have six
of them and it's ridiculous to think how
much RCI could suck
out of me for conversion to their little points scheme. Only one of my
resorts is dually affiliated - the rest are in RCI's
clutches. I am not
a happy camper.
However, I can see
how points system might provide some flexibility in planning vacations
and making the most of expensive flights, and I
wouldn't mind that.
For example, I often want to take 10 day vacations when I'm flying to some
place distant or expensive to get to, like the
Caribbean. Two full
weeks is too much, and a week (minus two flying days) seems too little.
If I want to do that now, I have to rent the 3 extra
days, which can add
up to more than the whole week in a timeshare. It would be really nice
to be able to book all 10 days in a timeshare (or
two) as an exchange.
Getting return flights midweek would be alot easier and probably cheaper,
too.
I also envision the
situation where I want to go to Hawaii, but take a break in the San Francisco
area for a day or two on either end of the trip
to break up the long
travel times from the east coast. If points would provide that kind of
flexibility, I wouldn't mind it.
But I still don't want
to pay RCI (via my home resorts) for something I already own. Yes, I could
just go to my home resorts, but I bought
timeshares specifically
to travel. There's a whole great big world out there, and I want to see
it.
This whole thing has
me bummed.
-Corinne
Response: Points
Posted by: Dani E-Mail: Dani1d2@aol.com
Date Posted: January 25, 2000 at
21:49 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Corinne on 1/25/2000 at 20:59 MST
Corinne,
Point well taken. I
guess you would have to own multilple RCI affiliated weeks to do this.
I still tend to think that even given that scenario the
conversion fees that
they are requesting are a high price to pay to add a day, or two or three
to a vacation. Not to mention the pain of trying to
find an exchange that
matches the few short days one would need to add on to a vacation at a
resort of one's choice. This brings me to a
question that I have,
which may have previously been discussed.
Does anyone have a
clue as to what the actual availability of these 3, 4, and 5 day vacation
exchanges will actually be at a traditional fixed or
floating week resort?
It seems to me that one of two things would have to happen for RCI's plan
to work. Either a) the resort requested must
be a resort like the
Manhattan Club in NYC that does not allow bookings of a full week at a
time, thereby having split weeks readily available
or b) a majority of
owners at any given resort would have to be RCI members who have bought
into the GPN system. If neither of these two
things happen, I question
the availability of these short/flexible vacation exchanges unless one
is trying to exchange into a newly developed
resort were the members
are already part of the GPN network. What if only a small percentage of
RCI members at already existing resorts
buy into GPN and choose
to keep their week, rent it, or use another exchange company rather than
suffer the consequences of an inferior
trade with RCI? Where
will these 3, 4, and 5 day exchange vacations come from? RCI can't give
what they don't have.
Dani
Response: Split Weeks
Posted by: TRice E-Mail: trice44533@aol.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
06:15 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Dani on 1/25/2000 at 21:49 MST
Dani- coincidentally
I was just thinking about split weeks this morning. Another possibility
emerges.
Scenario: You are
the owner of Week X at Resort Y. You have deposited your Week X with RCI,
and paid $120 to exchange for another week
elsewhere. John Smith
pays his $120 and uses his GPN to exchange for Fri-Sat-Sun of your week,
leaving Monday-Thursday available. So
far RCI and the resort
have the same revenues as under the current system. What is to stop them
from renting out Mon-Thur to the public and
splitting the proceeds
if there are no requests for it a couple weeks from expiration? Only GPN
owners are able to exchange into the
fractional week anyway.
They have fulfilled their pledge to make it available for exchange, and
have in fact provided an exchange with it.You
have surrendered your
right to the week, and it is now theirs to do what they wish. Food for
thought?
Tom Rice
Where will these 3,
4, and 5 day exchange vacations come from? RCI can't give what they don't
have.
Response: Split Weeks
Posted by: George Junak E-Mail:
california.aircheck@cwix.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
06:24 MST
In Reply to: Re: Split Weeks posted
by: TRice on 1/26/2000 at 06:15 MST
Tom,
With this scenario,
I don't see RCI giving up any of the money from the Mon-Thurs nights if
they rent them to a non-member. Once they have
the week, they own
it and they can do whatever they want with it. I don't think they would
have to give the resort anything unless they have a
contract saying they
will..It's just another source of revenue to benefit RCI alone..
George
Response: Split Weeks
Posted by: TRice E-Mail: TRice44533@aol.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
09:13 MST
In Reply to: Re: Split Weeks posted
by: George Junak on 1/26/2000 at 06:24 MST
George- I guess that's
what I'm driving at. The complaint about the OnSale weeks was that it was
(allegedly)removing availability from the
exchange pool. This
partial week exchange, with days left over, blunts that argument. They
have fulfilled an exchange, have collected an
exchange fee, and
the remained unused days are pure gravy for straight cash rental,auction
or promotional offers.
Response: Split Weeks
Posted by: Carol C. E-Mail: ckc2@mciworld.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
10:35 MST
In Reply to: Re: Split Weeks posted
by: TRice on 1/26/2000 at 06:15 MST
> Scenario: You are
the owner of Week X at Resort Y. ...
And you *know* already
that the most in demand portion of a split week will be Fri, Sat and Sun
nites! There are only so many of those, right?
Where will RCI get
all those weekends to satisfy demand? This also means they will probably
have to have a system to "charge" a different
and way higher number
of points for a weekend stay versus a Mon-Thurs stay.
Response: Split Weeks
Posted by: Marina E-Mail: MKe1220@msn.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
11:46 MST
In Reply to: Re: Split Weeks posted
by: Carol C. on 1/26/2000 at 10:35 MST
I'm not sure that's
true .... I've *spoken* to lots of Disney, Club Sunterra and FF owners
and a lot of them use their points for the cheaper days
because it stretches
the use of their points. I feel that you start to think of your points
as $ and so try not to *spend* unnecessarily.
There are places where
I would like to spend 7 or more days at but there are a whole lot more
where 3 or 4 is enough. We're going to
Orlando and Miami
this year. It's cheaper to fly in and out of the same airport ... Orlando.
There's no way we can drive from Miami to Orlando
to catch our plane
the same day. The points would allow me to *buy* a couple of days in a
comfortable, spacious resort in Orlando instead of
ending our vacation
in a cramped hotel room.
The same when we go
to the UK next year. I hope to *buy* a unit at a London timeshare for a
couple of days. I've heard a few Tuggers
express that they
feel cheated/disappointed/unhappy/let down/blah that they've had to use
hotels to join up their week etc. Same here.
And that's why I like
the point system but I don't think it's for everybody and RCI shouldn't
be getting into it. I feel that there are enough big
brands out there (BlueGreen,
Sunterra {86[?] if they survive intact}, HGVC, FF {29[?] plus 6 more being
built}... etc) that cater to people like
me. JMHO
Response: Split Weeks-NOT ALL RESORTS!
Posted by: Betsy K E-Mail: ekilkenny@cbsd.org
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
15:24 MST
In Reply to: Re: Split Weeks posted
by: Marina on 1/26/2000 at 11:46 MST
I have been following
these points discussions closely for days now. I noticed just today that
the question of split weeks has surfaced. I
learned something
about Club Sunterra (I am a member) that I had not known. When I called
to ask about availability at their Austrian resort, I
was told that the
resort refused to allow any split week use, or any check-in day other than
the established Saturday. The Sunterra
man said that not
all resorts agreed to the split week policy. My guess is that some of RCI's
resorts may well agree to become GPN resorts,
but refuse to change
their occupancy policies. In which case, those split weeks are not going
to be available. Many folks have said this and
that about Club Sunterra,
but not all of C.S. resorts allow split weeks. Some have a minimum of two
or three nights, and some are full use
weeks only. Split
weeks are not a given. And, yes, they charge 3x the number of points to
use a Fri or Sat night. Staying five nights (Sun thru
Thr) in a place like
Orlando is great when you can drive, and it 'costs' considerably less than
a full week. And when you have real little children,
5 nights is plenty.
Betsy K
Response: Betsy
Posted by: Marina E-Mail: MKe1220@msn.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
17:18 MST
In Reply to: Re: Split Weeks-NOT
ALL RESORTS! posted by: Betsy K on 1/26/2000 at 15:24 MST
Did you ask whether
you were going to be in RCI's GPN for no extra 'initial' cost? What about
annual dues?
Response: Betsy
Posted by: Betsy K E-Mail: ekilkenny@cbsd.org
Date Posted: January 27, 2000 at
10:54 MST
In Reply to: Re: Betsy posted by:
Marina on 1/26/2000 at 17:18 MST
> Did you ask whether
you were going to be in RCI's GPN for no extra 'initial' cost? What about
annual dues?
I didn't ask. I did
just read the transcript of the CHAT with the RCI folks on GPN. If I read
it correctly, Club Sunterra members will have no
'conversion fee' if
they want to use the GPN. I don't think I do. I have been more than happy
with the way Club Sunterra has worked for us, and
really see no need
for GPN in lieu of C.Sun. My real concern is how the GPN might affect my
S.A. weeks. We also own in Hawaii and Grand
Cayman, and I will
not convert those weeks. If I can't trade privately thru TUG with our weeks
in HI and G.C., then we'll just use them ourselves.
With the exception
of our DIK weeks, we have always bought where we like to vacation. So we'll
vacation at our home resorts or trade
privately, but I have
no intention of converting them to GPN. I don't deposit them with RCI anyway.
I deposit with SFX if I need to deposit at all.
Quite honestly, if
it weren't for my DIK weeks, I'd have no need for RCI at all. Maybe we
could talk DIK and Mt. A. into affiliating with II, and be
rid of RCI altogether.
Betsy K
Response: Split Weeks-NOT ALL RESORTS!
Posted by: Fern Modena E-Mail:
fern@timeshare-users-group.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
19:32 MST
In Reply to: Re: Split Weeks-NOT
ALL RESORTS! posted by: Betsy K on 1/26/2000 at 15:24 MST
Betsy,
From what I have read,
to be a member of GPN, the resort has to agree to at least one split of
the week (but not more). This may change
later, but for now
that is the rule.
For whoever talked
about different point values for weekends, well, of course. All point systems
do this...cheaper points during the week,
more points for weekend
days. That is a way of equalizing usage, a kind of "yield management" if
you will.
Fern Modena, aka Mindy97
on CHAT
Subject: Re: Points
Posted by: George Junak E-Mail:
california.aircheck@cwix.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
06:19 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Dani on 1/25/2000 at 21:49 MST
> This brings me to
a question that I have, which may have previously been discussed.
> Does anyone have
a clue as to what the actual availability of these 3, 4, and 5 ...
Dani,
If RCI works it like
the Hilton point system, they'll take a full week and start dividing it
up if partial week exchanges are requested. The
downside is that it
leaves less full weeks to be exchanged and confirmed. With HGVC (at least
with Las Vegas), this tends to leave lots of
midweek days leftover
because owners reserve the weekends for their split weeks.
The other question
not asked of RCI is if they will follow Hilton's system and charge a premium
number of points for weekend nights if you
want to reserve those...Hilton
charges double points for weekends..For example (this is true of Hilton
and I'd like to know if the RCI system for
GPN will be the same),
a
week that costs 3400 points to use with Hilton would cost you (if you wanted
a split week) 340 points per night for
Mon-Thurs nights,
but 680 points per night for Fri-Sat-Sun nights....Would you pay double
points to get the nights you want?
George
Response: The Answer is YES!
Posted by: dmkfl E-Mail: dmkfl@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
07:39 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: George Junak on 1/26/2000 at 06:19 MST
The answer is yes.
I talked to Sunterra on Monday. The Sunterra points program for out of
network exchanges will work exactly the same as it
had before the GPN
came into effect. The valuation will be a Sunterra valuation, the cost
of weeks will be a Sunterra cost - therefore, the
weekends will still
be double. There isn't a charge to belong to GPN if you are already a Sunterra
Club member. So really, the RCI points
program is just a
way to help Sunterra and other points program convert their non-points
members over to points. It seems to me that this
especially benefits
Sunterra because they are trying to convince owners to spend more money
on a product they already paid for.
There are plenty of
benefits to RCI or Sunterra or any of the other points programs in instituting
a points program, as discussed above. If
these programs were
really being instituted to benefit the customer, they wouldn't be charging
so much for them.
THIS IS THE IMPORTANT
FACTOR: When I checked out Sunterra points, the cost to exchange into resorts
that I was easily getting thru RCI
was much higher via
the points program. Sunterra sometimes wanted two weeks valuation for exchanges
that I get all the time thru RCI. THE
POINTS PROGRAM IS
JUST A WAY TO GET US TO BUY MORE TIMESHARE PRODUCT AT DEVELOPER PRICES!
As new resorts get
added, the cost in
points will be higher and higher, which will require us to buy more product
from the developer (or pay a conversion fee for
every week we buy).
Up until now, I have
been very happy with RCI. We have owned timeshares for over 13 years. This
new points program lowers my opinion of
RCI greatly.
Reponse: Thanks
Posted by: Dani E-Mail: Dani1d2@aol.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
18:21 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: George Junak on 1/26/2000 at 06:19 MST
Hi,
Thanks guys for your
take on this question. I really wondered how these short stay exchanges
would work. You guys have provided many
possibilities. I guess
we will have to wait and see how effective RCI is in obtaining split week
trades for their GPN members.
Dani
Response: Points
Posted by: Lisa Green E-Mail: lgreen@edge.net
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
15:34 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Dani on 1/25/2000 at 21:49 MST
> Does anyone have
a clue as to what the actual availability of these 3, 4, and 5 day vacation
exchanges will actually be at a traditional fixed
or floating week resort?
If GPN works like Fairfield,
full-week reservations still seem to take priority. In Fairfield, split
weeks are not allowed during the prime red
seasons, and in some
cases you can reserve full weeks farther in advance than split weeks. Also,
weekends cost more points than
weekdays.
Lisa
Response: Points
Posted by: Carol C. E-Mail: ckc2@mciworld.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
10:31 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Corinne on 1/25/2000 at 20:59 MST
> However, I can see
how points system might provide some flexibility in planning vacations
...
Corrine...when I fly
somewhere expensive (and even if I fly cheap) I too like to tack on extra
days. I *always* find really nice places to stay for
an extra 3-4 days,
even an extra week. Just made that happen for myself with my upcoming Hawaii
trip...RCI *still* has not come up with Big
Island for me so I'm
renting a one br condo with living/dining area, king bedroom, cathedral
ceilings, wraparound lanai and sea view, pool,
hammocks, cabanas,
barbeque, right at Kona's best snorkel beach...for $595/wk. Cheaper than
my t/s exchange comes out to. In late May in
the Baja, Mexico,
I'll tack on two nights in La Paz to a Cabo week at Club Regina...for $50/nite
and I get a king bed, a queen and a
kitchenette! The internet
gives us plenty of options...just a little research does wonders. I don't
think we need GPN points to get great extra
days added onto our
trips! Let your fingers do the walking on the internet! :-)
Response: Points
Posted by: Corinne E-Mail: walker3@mediaone.net
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
19:49 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Carol C. on 1/26/2000 at 10:31 MST
Carol,
It certainly sounds
like you have a knack for finding wonderful bargains. I'm a huge fan of
the internet and all the power and information it
brings. I'm not so
sure such bargains are available in all places at all times, though. I
have logged countless hours over the past few months
scouring the internet
for accomodations for Grand Cayman in mid-February. I have used every resource
I can think of. The bottom line is a
condo is going to
cost me between $200-$300 a night there when I want it (and that's the
low end!). Even a room at the basic Sleep Inn, at the
RCI contract rate,
goes for $150/night. This is the nature of the beast there. Yes, I have
come across some places that charge a little less, but
most of them are remote
or otherwise unappealing. My flights happen to be Tues-Tues, so unless
I can get two timeshare weeks back to
back and use one partially,
I am forced to rent. It was this situation I had in mind when I was thinking
about the convenience and flexibility a
points system might
provide.
If you have any suggestions
on ways to find good rental accomodations less expensively, or know of
some great resources, please do share
them. I did rent a
week in a Maui condo over the internet a few years ago to piggyback onto
a timeshare week in Kauai, and found tons of
availability there
for very reasonable prices. Yet I have been stymied trying to find inexpensive
accomodations in Bermuda at the last minute
(late summer). I just
think some places are tougher than others. I suppose for the same reason
partial weeks through RCI at these places will
be hard to get, too.
*Sigh*...somehow I
think the game will not be quite as fun anymore.
-Corinne
Response: Points
Posted by: Carolinian E-Mail: ncarolinian@hotmail.com
Date Posted: January 26, 2000 at
21:28 MST
In Reply to: Re: Points posted
by: Corinne on 1/25/2000 at 20:59 MST
I suggest you contact
the resorts where you own that are not presently dual affiliated and request
that they seek dual affiliation with II
and give them your
reason. We need to be proactive, and not just sit back and complain about
GPN. Personally, I have already written every
member of the HOA
Board at one of the resorts where I own and telephoned the HOA president
at the other.
