Bulk Spacebanking Deposit of T/S Units By Resorts. The following
is a synopsis of the discussions regarding Bulk Spacebanking that took
place on the TUG BBS. There were many enlightening points made which make
it worth while saving for new members to see. The discussions began in
response a message describing how RCI establishes trade power and produced
a total of 98 messages in response. The following is a readers digest version
of the exchange of messages and then the messages themselves are listed
for those interested.
Post by: Ron Donze
The following trading power explanation was provided by Tammy. Tammy
conducts new owner briefings at resorts in Rhode Island on how RCI works.
She sent me the following data which I thought I'd pass along. I was especially
interested in the deposit early aspects of her comments.
RCI works on a point system to determine the value of your deposited
vacation week. Some of the factors they take into consideration are:
Time (red, white, or blue)
Demand of your week (ie Newport, RI in summer is very high demand)
Size of unit
RCI assigns points to all these factors and more I didn't mention. They
then give you a point number for how far in advance you deposit your week.
Here's the key, they multiply points for depositing early by the total
of all the above factors.
In short if you don't put your week in early, even if it's a red week,
you may end up with less value than someone with a white or blue week or
the reverse if you have a white or blue week you can increase your trading
power by depositing early.
Many people don't understand this and don't know how to deposit early
so they simply wait until they pay their annual fee and then deposit. If
you're searching for a particular place, ask the operator when the annual
fee is due and you can bet there will be a higher number of deposits around
that time.
Floating Time resort rules and their implications.
-
For resorts that offer floating time ownership, it is important to know
if the resort spacebanks weeks with RCI or not. If not, do they allow you
to pick your week on a first come first served basis with no questions
as to what you intend to do with your week? That's the way it ought to
be but not always is. Sometimes resorts restrict what week you can request
if you intend to deposit the week with RCI. And RCI must verify with the
resort that you have permission to deposit the week. Sometimes weeks are
taken back (in effect) because the resort would not have given you the
week if they new you were going to deposit it with RCI so they tell RCI
that your week is not valid. RCI has no recourse but to deny the deposit.
-
Some resorts "Bulk Spacebank" some of their floating weeks with RCI. This
is supposed to help the owners improve trading power because when an owner
finally decides to request a week for the purposes of depositing the week
with RCI, the week will have already been deposited and will therefore
have higher trading power than it would have if it were deposited by the
owner when it he got around to requesting it.
-
When a resort chooses to bulk spacebank, they will deposit weeks when demand
is relatively low based on previous years history. Therefore they hold
on to high demand weeks for owners who choose to stay at the resort. For
RCI traders this precludes getting the highest possible trading power from
their floating week since the highest demand weeks are held for use at
the resort.
"You own a 'Fixed Week' so you aren't hurt by this? It doesn't involve
you? WRONG! If you own a fixed week, and want to exchange it, you are going
to have to take whatever the resorts decide they don't want, if you go
through RCI and II. Because they are going to keep most (guessing 85% or
more) of all the prime weeks for members/owners. That gives the owners/members
high value, but it devalues your trades into other resorts. Pretty soon
there will be virtually no Eastern Seaboard trades in the summer (like
there are many now). Want a ski week? Better learn mud skiing, cause all
you will get is May or October in Steamboat Springs..."
-
When requesting a week for trade, the resort chooses among the weeks already
space banked. The resort may not choose a week that maximizes your RCI
trading power. They may opt to assign a week that is close to expiring
to make sure it isn't "wasted". If they have weeks from Jan to May banked
with RCI and you call in Oct to request a week, which week do they give
you. Of course a Jan week because that one will expire soonest. Was that
the best choice for you though? Probably not.
-
With the resort picking a week for you, you get less span-time. "If I spacebank
today, and they give me credit for a unit that has a date of April 26th,
even though it may have been in the bank for months, I still have to use
it by April 26th in two years. And I never vacation in April, I vacation
in October. Therefore, the unit will expire with only one go-around for
me, not two. And that isn't fair."
-
Many resorts (not all) require that your maintenance fee be paid before
they will assign you a week. Whereas with a fixed week you don't have to
get a week assigned from the resort and therefore you can't be forced to
prepay maintenance prior to depositing with RCI.
-
If you think you can request a prime week as if you were going to use it,
wait for the resort to send you a confirmationdeposit it, and then try
to deposit the week at RCI, think again. "My resort conveniently leaves
off a room number on the confirmation to preclude RCI deposits". RCI will
not accept a deposit without a unit number.
-
If alot of resorts go to the bulk-banking of non-prime weeks,there will
never be any prime weeks availeable through the exchange companys. Let
us all remember that exchanging is a major advantage to owning timeshare
and has been one of the main reason for its continued popularity and growth.
-
"The weeks that are spacebanked and not used by owners is a gift to RCI
and the resort is obligated to fulfill their end of the bargain even though
the owner never uses the time elsewhere. The point I was making was that
if the unit is given up for nothing, the resort has to pay the costs of
having someone in that unit which is part of your total maintenance fee
and only RCI benefits by collecting their exchange fee."
Post by Fern Modena:
In the DEMAND area, there are two sublistings...first is demand
of your specific resort, then demand for your location. This is important
to me, cause it helps one of my resorts a lot. Kuhio Banyan is not too
spiffy...it is well located, but lacks amenities, is in a noisy area, etc.
But because it is Hawaii, it trades better than most other places.
I recently tried to get a two bedroom unit in Mazatlan, against my two
bedroom Cancun unit. No go, there are not that many in MZT (mainly 1BDRM
6/4, where somebody sleeps in the living room). So instead, I took my Kuhio
Banyan 1BDRM, asked my resort to change it into 2 studios (this is an option
I have with the resort), then spacebanked the two studios. I got a 1bdrm
6/4 FOR EACH studio!
Post by Basil:
If Tammy is correct, then
those of us that have floating time are
at a severe disadvantage when dealing with RCI. For instance, the time-
share that I have is a Fairfield property, rated as a Gold Crown Resort,
and is dedicated to the Fairshare Plus Point System. The earliest I can
request a week is ten months prior to use. Even though this is a significant
amount of lead time, it is still much later than the "two years prior to
use" deposit that an owner of a fixed week at a less desirable timeshare
resort can make with RCI. Because of the multiplication factor, the less
desirable timeshare may nonetheless have a substantially higher trading
power rating with RCI, even though I may have deposited my Gold Crown Resort
as early as I could have (i.e., ten months). Is this correct? If it is,
what more could I do to increase the trading power of my deposit?
Post by Ron Donze: You hit the same nail on the head as I did. I mentioned
the problem for flex owners to Tammy and she was surprised any resort would
prevent owners from prepaying maintenance fees and banking a week two years
out. Unfortunately, people have no insight into the factors applied throughout
this ratings game. So there's no clear way to improve your trading power.
The resort chooses the week they give you in the first place (unless you
are very persuasive) so there's another strike against flex owners.
Post by David Pearson:
Ron, you mentioned something about pre-paying maintenance fees. No
one has ever said anything to me about pre-paying. I regularly deposit
weeks two years in advance and I pay this year's fees this year...........period.
Post by Fern Modena:
I have owned at Plaza las Glorias (now known as Sun CLub) since the
late 1980's. Since about the second year I owned, they have instituted
a policy that you cannot reserve/spacebank/internally exchange unless your
maintenence for the year in question is paid. Bad as that sounds, they
*do* allow pre-use, so you can use more than one year ahead if you need
a couple of quick credits. Just pay the fee. At one time, they were giving
discounts to people who paid five years in advance...this year if you paid
early, they lowered the cost of internal exchanges by half.
Post by John Cummings:
I own floating time at both my resorts. Neither resort has ever chosen
my week. I call up to make a reservation and they ask what I want. I don't
see how the resort can chose your week for you. By the way, I reserve my
weeks for exchanging and they know that. However I have always gotten what
I asked for within a week or two depending how soon in advance I made the
reservation. They offered me the Christmas week for my last reservation
which is the highest demand week of the year. It must be pretty good because
SFX will take it. Both resorts are high demand. One of the resorts gives
a 3 month head start to owners for reserving weeks.
Post by Basil:
Ron is correct that at least some of the "floating time" resorts will
choose your week for you when they know you are using it to deposit or
exchange. The Fairshare system, where I own, is one. I have been told by
the Fairshare personnel that they never allocate their prime summer weeks
for space-banking, even if the Fairshare member has more than enough points
to request that specific week. I was told that Fairshare reserves the summer
weeks for use by Fairfield members, but that they would give me another
week to deposit that was "just as good" for trading purposes and would
get me what I wanted with RCI. These "just as good" weeks are usually fall
weeks, and though still in red time at good resorts, are not as highly
demanded as the week would be at the same resort during the summer. I found
this our first hand this past spring, when I requested that my points be
converted to specific weeks for deposit, and the Fairfield rep gave me
two summer weeks at Fairfield Pagosa. I called RCI the same day after being
assigned the, and was able to confirm into two exchanges that I wanted
immediately. However, a couple of weeks later, RCI sent me a post-card
saying the space-bank deposit had been denied by Fairfield. I knew I was
current on my fees, and was puzzled. When I called Fairfield about it,
that is when I was told that the counselor I had dealt with earlier had
made a mistake assigning me the summer weeks, and that I needed to let
them assign me a couple of other weeks. Obviously, I wasn't pleased with
that prospect, and after discussing it with the Fairfield reps they decided
to make an "exception" in this case and went ahead and space-banked the
two summer weeks I had been given. This allowed me to keep the confirmations
I had gotten. However, it also caused me concern about my trading options
in future years when the "exception" would not be available, and convinced
me that specific fixed weeks at prime resorts during prime time are superior
to "flex" time at the same resorts.
Post by John Cummings:
I don't doubt that Ron and Basil are correct. I am just curious how
such a system works. How does Fairfield know that you are spacebanking
your week?
I own at San Luis Bay Inn that is managed by RCIM. It is part of a group
of 18 different resorts. I can reserve my use week at any one of the 18
resorts as if it is my home resort. San Luis Bay Inn does allow its owners
to reserve 3 months in advance of the others ( i.e. 15 months instead of
12 ). RCIM asks me what week(s) I would like and if they are available
they give them to me. Never am I asked if I intend to use them or space
bank them. I have sometimes mentioned it to them but they don't care. As
I said in an earlier posting, I usually get what I want or close to it.
It is true that the summer months are harder to get even though the resort
is 'red' all year. As we all know there are various shades of red. However
never does RCIM or anybody else tell me what weeks I can have. In fact
they have always been very helpful in helping me get what I want. They
don't have any idea what I intend to do with my week nor do they care.
I also own at Gaslamp Plaza Suites which is managed by VRI. It works
just like my other one except that they are not part of a group. They also
don't care what I intend to do with my week that I reserved. I have a prime
week reserved right now that I am going to deposit to the highest bidder
among the exchange companies, RCI and II excluded. This year I told VRI
that I wanted the best trading week that they had and I got it.
The only requirement to get prime weeks is to plan ahead and make your
reservations early. I have never had to pay my maintenance fee in advance
although that is an option if I wish.
This is the way I had always though floating time was supposed to work.
I have never had any trouble exchanging my weeks as both resorts are pretty
high demand. The only requirement is that the week must be reserved prior
to depositing it. Only the time hase to be reserved, not any particular
unit number. I don't belong to RCI anymore but that is a different story.
When I did belong, I had no trouble exchanging with them either.
If Fairfield works as Ron and Basil have said then I wouldn't want any
part of it either. Seems like they destroy the whole concept of floating
time.
Post by Basil:
John, It sounds like your resort does indeed work like a floating system
should, and like the way I thought the Fairfield system would. In response
to your question of how does Fairfield know, they generally ask when you
make the request. However, even if you don't volunteer that information,
RCI always confirms with the host resort that any deposit made by a member
is eligible to be deposited (i.e., that maintenance fees are current, etc.).
In the case of Fairfield, when RCI called to confirm the deposits of the
weeks I had been assigned, Fairfield simply refused to confirm the deposits
(though they eventually did in this situation as I explained earlier.
Post by David Pearson:
Fern, RCI allows you to use weeks from next year also, if I'm not mistaken.
Actually, forcing people to pay their maintenance fees BEFORE they can
exchange may not be that bad an idea. I just received my annual report
from Sunset Beach Club and they just this year foreclosed on 538 owners
who owed them over 90,000 pounds (about $150,000). THAT seems a little
extreme to me, but Spanish law is a little tricky about foreclosures.
Post by Fern Modena:
Plaza las Glorias will allow pre-use of several weeks, not just the
next one...many resorts in Mexico allow you to use several years weeks
in one year, if you pay the maintenence.
Post by Fern Modena:
Just this year two of my resorts began using new computer programming,
which evidentally includes the ability to access at least part of RCI/II's
computers. What they do now is "bulk spacebank" many units at once (thousands),
for the "less desirable times" ie, not summer, holidays, etc. When you
want to spacebank a week, you have to tell them, and they go into the computer
and reassign one of these weeks from them to you. You get trading power
credit from the date this week was originally deposited. Sounds good, sorta.
BUT, you can't decide the week, and you get less span-time...I always pick
a December week, so I have two week 48's available to use against it (this
year's and next year's). If they deposit and credit me with a week 20,
say, I would only have a year and a bit to request against. I did request
a longer window from the resort, but they messed things up totally the
first time. When your resort messes up your spacebank in an instance where
they spacebanked, THEY have to fix it, and that took many days and many
phone calls. And you have to check on them what spacebank was made, and
when. I don't like it, but it appears to be the wave of the future, since
more and more resorts are doing it (two of my three, and at both exchange
companies). How I request a week for exchange in one of the smaller companies
still has not been answered, although I have requested clarification on
this. I know I can do a "friends exchange" by giving my week and a letter,
but the other remains unclear.
Posted by David Pearson:
Fern, perhaps that is another good reason to own fixed time as opposed
to floating time. I always know when my weeks are and when I can deposit
them. As a matter of fact, RCI has sometimes called me and asked if I would
be depositing my May weeks (in May). Perhaps, that is an indication of
people looking for work, I don't know but I do know it is easier for me
to know exactly when my weeks are.
Posted by Basil:
David, I tend to agree with you that the fixed time seems to be better.
I own both a fixed and floating time, and even though thus far the results
I've gotten from the floating time has been very good, I see problems down
the road that I don't have to worry about with the fixed week.
Posted by John Cummings:
IMHO what works best for you is the right way. I far prefer floating
time as our system at both our resorts works the way floating time is supposed
to work. I don't have any fixed vacation time as I have my own business.
That allows us to be very flexible. However maybe fixed time is better
for others. What it all boils down to, is simply whatever works for you
is right.
Posted by David Pearson:
John, you are right that what works best for you is the right way to
go. It just seems that if you have fixed weeks you always know their value
when you deposit them. You can exchange them for ANY weeks you want so
you are not set as to when you have to use them if you intend to exchange
them which is one reason I bought my timeshare in the first place: to go
to different places and see different parts of the world. That was one
of the main reasons I bought a timeshare that was affiliated with RCI,
the large number of places you can choose from when you exchange.
Posted by John Cummings:
than I wouldn't want it either. I always know the value of my weeks.
I just make sure that I reserve the most valuable weeks that I can. I have
never been disappointed yet. One of my resorts belongs to a group of 18
differnet resorts in California, Utah, Hawaii, Texas, Arizona. I can use
my week at any one of them as is if it was my own with no exchange fees
etc. By having floating time, I have alot of flexibility. I have stayed
at 5 of the resorts in our group.
You should always buy what suits your preferences. In other words, to
each his own. I wouldn't belong to RCI if they were the only exchange company
in the world. I did once but cancelled my membership. However that is a
personal thing. II has more resorts than I could ever visit in 10 lifetimes.
If RCI works for you, great. My whole point is people should buy and do
what suits their vacation plans. I think it is very valuable that we discuss
these things so people are aware of what is available. I would never have
known that floating time doesn't work at some resorts like it is supposed
to. However there are resorts where it does work correctly and it can be
very valuable if you use it to your advantage. I happen to be lucky and
own at two resorts where floating time does work as it is supposed to.
Posted by Basil:
John, glad things are working for you and appreciate your comments.
One thing that puzzles me though is your intense dislike for RCI but high
praise for RCIM. If I'm not wrong, those are affiliated companies and for
all practical purposes owned by the same outfit. If you go to the RCI homepage
and look under the legal information I think you will find a reference
to RCIM.
Posted by Mary Hanson:
I am very confused after having studied several of the messages regarding
trading power. How does a member of RCI become eligible to trade through
other companies, such as II or others that have been mentioned? Can someone
explain this in a little more detail to me....a new timesharer with a lot
to learn!!!
Posted by John Cummings:
Let me welcome you as a newcomer to time-sharing. You should strongly
consider joining "The Time-Share Users Group" TUG. It will help you learn
and will give you access to the very valuable resort rankings/reviews section.
The resorts are all ranked and reviewed by us at TUG who have actually
stayed at them. The cost is only $15.00 /yr. and you can join on line.
Posted by John Cummings:
I believe that you are absolutely right about RCIM being a part of
RCI. It is quite simple why I like RCIM and have a dim view of RCI. RCI
exchange/travel did me wrong. They lied to me. If you want the details,
let me know and I will be happy to e-mail them to you. I don't have to
belong to RCI and I don't. RCIM however manages our resort group. They
have always given me excellent service. They know my feelings about RCI
exchange and they are very quick to point out that they are NOT RCI. I
am sure that they are but don't admit to it. At least the people that I
have dealt with.
I think the answer lies in the history of our group of resorts. Our
group is the old Glen Ivy group. In my opinion they were absolutely the
greatest thing in timesharing. Do you know that when we agreed to buy at
the sales presentation ( didn't know about resales then ) that a Glen Ivy
VP talked to us to make sure that buying was what we wanted to do. I asked
him why and his reply was that they did not want any unhappy owners. The
Glen Ivy people were very innovative and I believe were pioneers in enhancing
the value of time sharing. They would bend over backwards to satisfy their
owners requests. I have never heard a bad word about Glen Ivy from any
owner. They got me into an affiliated resort ( not member of group ) in
Lake Tahoe for the July 4th week with only one months advance notice. I
pleaded with them because my daughter was coming to visit us and wanted
to go. They never charged any fee for it though they could have. However
they went bankrupt because of a disgruntled employee. The employee was
mad for some reason and accused Glen Ivy of overselling time share weeks.
The state of California suspended their right to sell while the case was
being investigated. The investigation took one year. As you know if a developer
can't sell, then they are in trouble. Do you know that Glen Ivy set up
a special hot line for owners to keep up with the status of the investugation.
They never hesitated to keep us informed of the impending problem and what
was going on. When it was said and done, the state found that Glen Ivy
was innocent but after a year of not being able to sell, it was too late.
Now how does all that relate to RCIM? It probably doesn't except that
RCIM kept the Glen Ivy employees and also have tried to retain the system.
There has been some tightening up and more restrictions but it is still
pretty good. Glen Ivy was much more flexible on carrying unused weeks over
to the next year and they never charged any fee to change your reservations.
RCIM charges $15.00 to cancel or change a reservation.
I guess I have gone on and on about this, probably boring everybody.
It is just that I loved Glen Ivy and am sad about what happened.
Posted by Jake Bercu:
Thanks for the explanation on Glen Ivy. I own at Tahoe Seasons Resort,
and I read a lot about the negative consequences of the Glen Ivy bankruptcy
on my resort, all out of context. Was there any link between VRI and Glen
Ivy?
Posted by John Cummings:
I own at San Luis Bay Inn and we didn't really feel any negative consequences
that I was aware of. Maybe other owners did. Glen Ivy had no choice in
the deal but how they handled it with regard to keeping the owners informed
was remarkable. I also own at Gaslamp Plaza Suites which is a VRI property.
I don't know of any connection between them and Glen Ivy but I could be
wrong. The two groups of resorts are completely separate so I don't think
there was a link.
We have stayed at Tahoe Seasons Resort a couple of times and really
enjoyed it. They were very good about letting us select out unit for the
best view etc. and this was in July both times.
Posted by Jeff Veteto:
Prepayment of maintenance fees should be a requirement if your resort
is being run properly. It is like going to the movies tonight and not paying
until next year because you always pay for going to the movies every year.
The resort is hung out for the value of the trade and if you default, the
other owners are the ones who have to pay. I can't imagine any well run
resort not requiring prepayment when the time is spacebanked.
Posted by Jeff Veteto:
If your resort is doing bulk spacebanking, you had better have a long
talk with the management as they are NOT acting in your best interests.
Bulk spacebanking is giving the shop away to RCI or II or to whomever is
getting the spacebank. They are obligating the resort to furnish that time
no matter what the owners want and that isn't right. Bulk spacebanking
only helps the exchange companies. I would be glad to hear other points
of view.
Posted by John Cummings:
I agree with Jeff. Neither of my resorts do bulk spacebanking. II told
me that some resorts do but ours isn't one of them. In fact our resorts
favor the owners by allowing them to reserve their weeks before the general
public can.
Posted by Fern Modena:
I think you know that I am against "Bulk Spacebanking." Nevertheless,
two of my three resorts do it now, one with RCI and one with II. THEY SAY
it is in our best advantgage, since if we "forget" to spacebank till way
late, we will get a credit for a unit that has been spacebanked for months
and months. What do you see here??? What *I* see is that they are rewarding
the people who do not plan ahead as far, and hurting those of us who do.
I had to beg to get a week 6 months out to spacebank. I sure don't want
something sooner, cause I want the maximum time to use it. If I spacebank
today, and they give me credit for a unit that has a date of April 26th,
even though it may have been in the bank for months, I still have to use
it by April 26th in two years. And I never vacation in April, I vacation
in October. Therefore, the unit will expire with only one go-around for
me, not two. And that isn't fair. So I fight to get as much as I can...
Posted by David Pearson:
I cannot say that I agree you prepayment of maintenance fees simply
because you spacebank in advance. Spacebanking in advance helps you get
better exchange value/power but you should not have to pay the maintenance
fees until you actually use the week to make an exchange or until the year
it is due. For instance, I spacebanked 2 weeks for 1995 in 1993. Why should
I pay the maintenance fees before 1995. AND I actually did not use the
weeks until 1996. If you can't use the weeks unless the maintenance fees
have been paid for that respective year I don't see how the resort can
lose anything.
Posted by David Pearson:
Another check in the "pro" column for fixed versus floating weeks,
IMHO. I can deposit my 1999 weeks this year and thus (since I don't have
to use them until 2001) actually have 4 years to use that week. No fighting
to get a week I want, I already have weeks I want AND plenty of time to
get a good exchange.
Posted by Jeff Veteto:
Once you spacebank that time, the resort is committed to furnishing
it to the exchange company. You can use that spacebanked time at any time,
therefore you should have to pay for it when spacebanked. You can use the
time, bail out of your timeshare and the resort is holding the bag. What
have I missed?
Posted by Chris Mazarati:
As stated in the fairfield example,points systems can hurt your trade
power.You are at the mercy of your home resort to assign you a "quality"
red week as opposed to "just any old red week".As most of us know,red is
not always "bright red".Two of my three weeks i own are floating,but my
resort allows us owners to pick our own weeks every year even if we intend
to deposite with rci.I often trade these weeks so i am always sure to select
the best "red" weeks possible to maximize trade value.I like controlling
my own destiny,especially when it concerns MY real estate.
Posted by Chris Mazarati:
David-what you are saying makes sense ,but it is not always necessary
to own fixed weeks.There are some very real advantages to owning floating.for
example...I own summer floating time on the beach in the san diego area,this
means i can select any summer week i want whether it is for use at my home
resort or for exchange through rci.Every year i reserve july 4th week even
though i intend to exchange,the trade value of this week is unbelieveable!How
much do you think a fixed 4th of july beach week would have cost us???I
get it every year without having had to spend a fortune to have purchased
it as a fixed week.
Posted by Chris Mazarati:
David-you make another valid point for fixed weeks,but how many people
book their vacations 4 years ahead???My wife and i reserve a 4th of july
beach week every year and do so one year in advance.We then,usually,deposite
our week immediately with rci.We book our vacation 7-12 months ahead and
rci then confirms our request either immediately or within 2 weeks.I guess
this is why we never leave rci,they are unbelieveably professional and
always get the job done. Our Ocho Cascades week is occassionaly a pain
in the butt because it is fixed.We never trade it so we have to find a
way to arrange our schedules to accomodate our week there.This year i would
give my left arm to be able to use it a different week. To each his own,i
guess if you own a "bright red" week somewhere (and can afford to) and
are extremely flexible it will work. Of course, I doubt I will ever actually
pre-use a week but anything is possible.
Posted by John Cummings:
Bingo. You hit it right on the head. I do exactly the same thing that
you do. I have the Christmas week reserved at the Gaslamp Plaza Suites
in downtown San Diego. Heaviest demand week of the year. I told then that
I intended to exchange it when I made the reservation. I do the same thing
with the summer months at San Luis Bay Inn. I then see who will me give
the best deal for these weeks. II always gives me a bonus of some form
for San Luis Bay Inn so they usually get that week. Neither of our resorts
does bulk spacebanking.
Posted by John Cummings:
agree with Chris and I use my floating weeks like he does and in the
same time frame. David, you can't condemn all floating weeks resorts. Our
two work very well for us as apparently Chris's do also. I am very glad
that we don't have fixed weeks. It depends a lot on how the resort treats
its owners. At both my resorts the owners come first. We get first choice
on reservations for both use weeks and bonus time. Neither resort does
space banking. We always get the weeks we want within a reasonable time
frame. Of course you will have a little trouble reserving the July 4th
week in June though it happened to me once.
Posted by Chris Mazarati:
John-Glad to see we both have success with our floating ownership.BTW
rci gives me a bonus exchange week every year i deposit with them(otherwise
known as 2 for one trading)....not a bad deal...
Posted by Ron Donze:
If there is anybody in the industry out there who can comment on the
point I'm about to make, I'd sure appreciate hearing it.
Do you think part of the reason for bulk spacebanking is related to
work load for the resort staff. If the resort doesn't bulkbank, I would
think there would be a tremendous rush at the beginning of when reservations
can be made for the prime weeks. With bulk spacebanking, there's nothing
to rush for and they come away feeling like they're helping their owners
and punishing those pesky traders who don't want to come to their own resort
(you bad boys).
Posted by Chris Mazarati:
Ron-You are 100% correct in your saying that there is a certain "rush"
in the beginning of the reservation period for the "prime" weeks,but like
they say.."all's fair in love,war,AND TIMESHARE.Those owners who wish to
use their weeks at the home resort have just as much a chance to reserve
their week as those of us ("bad boys") who might have an interest in exchanging.If
those people who want to stay at the home resort didnt take the time to
call the resort on resrvation day and reserve a week whose fault is that????
My resort is in california and on the beach.The vast majority (89%) of
my fellow owners use their weeks at our resort.They know which days are
reservation days as well as i,therefor we all understand the rules and
peacefully co-exist. As far as work load goes...i think it is part of the
resorts job to handle reservation calls ,even if there is somewhat of a
rush.I know at my home resort the "rush" only lasts about 20 minutes.Owners
know what time the resort starts accepting calls on reservation days and
that is when they call..all at once because they are competing with each
other for certain weeks.The additional work load for the home resort is
nominal.
Posted by John Cummings:
What a coincidence. I also get the same thing from II for our San Luis
Bay Inn property. I Have already exchanged last years bonus week for Mazatlan
this May. This years bonus week we are exchanging at the Polo Towers in
Las Vegas. That gives us two excellent trades without having to exchange
our regular "use" weeks. As well as the bonus weeks we have also received
free extensions to our World Preferred membership at II so we are now paid
up through the year 2003.
Posted by John Cummings:
The resort staff at our resorts are not involved in the reservations
process. That is handled by the management companies RCIM and VRI. Bulk
spacebanking is 100% against what we were sold. Bulk spacebanking hurts
the owners because it restricts their freedom. I have no idea on the rationale
behind bulk spacebanking. Fortunately it is not my problem because neither
of our resort groups do it. An owner is free to rent any week of the year
for whatever reason which is how floating weeks are supposed to work. Owners
are given preference in making reservations at their home resorts by giving
them lead time.
Post by David Pearson:
First, of course, I do not condemn any resorts for their methods or
types of timeshares. It just seems to me that fixed weeks work better.
However, from Chris' response it sounds as though you are saying that if
I have a fixed week I have to exchange that week for another resort during
the same week. That is, if I deposit week 34 then I must exchange for another
week 34. I don't know if that is waht Chris is saying but it is certainly
not the case. I have exchanged my weeks for different weeks in the spring,
summer, fall and winter.
Post by David Pearson:
It seems to me that bulk spacebanking could be the answer for some
resorts who don't want to be bother with the hundreds of phone calls. I
do have a question though about bulk spacebanking. Is it only done with
floating week timeshares? I'm not putting down the concept - only looking
for an answer. Actually, my home resort has what you might consider the
opposite problem: people NOT depositing their weeks and then NOT using
them! When that happens everyone loses because the resort has to hold the
unit until the last day just in case you show up. My resort sends out a
package every year asking the owner to let them know if he/she intends
to use the week. They also offer to provide a special food package for
you so you don't run into that problem of arriving on Saturday and finding
no grocery stores open on Sunday (very much the case in Spain). They also
began offering different arrival dates this year.
Post by John Cummings:
I have a question for you. If the resorts hold your week until you
arrive then I assume that the concept of bonus time does not exist at fixed
time resorts. Is this true? With our resorts you must reserve your use
week no later tnan 14 or 21 days before your arrival date. After that it
becomes available for bonus time which is on a daily basis only available
to owners. In other words all units that are not reserved become available
for bonus time for the next 14 - 21 days. Bonus time can be reserved from
0-14 or 0-21 days before your requested date. We use bonus time a lot for
visits to Palm Springs and downtown San Diego. It is pretty nice to go
out on the town and then be able to stay in a a nice place for $25.00 /nt.
They use the money earned from bonus time to offset some of our maintenance
costs. The rates are set by each resorts HOA. It seems like bonus time
is not possible at fixed time resorts.
Post by John Cummings:
You say that you do not condemn floating time. However in the same
breath you say that fixed time works better. Fixed time may work better
for you. In my case floating time, as our resorts do it, works much better
for us. As far as affordability goes, that is not even an issue with me.
You know that there is no such thing as a standard price for any kind of
a timeshare.
Post by John Chase:
> As stated in the fairfield example,points systems can hurt your trade
power.You are at the mercy of your home resort to assign you a "quality"
red week as opposed to "just any old red week".As most of us know,red is
not always "bright red".Two of my three weeks i own are floating,but my
resort allows us owners to pick our own weeks.
I see how this could happen with points but the way it's supposed to
work is we find the week we want to trade for then Fairfield deposits a
similar week for us. This is to be sure we give & get equal units.
Based on my previous experiences with both II & RCI I think this is
a superior approach. It seems to me like both groups nearly go out of their
way to offer the lowest possible resort regardless of what/when you deposit.
I prefer the clout of a larger organization such as Fairfield trying to
be sure I get an equal trade. I really don't have time to do battle with
exchange companies - nor should I have to. In addition I find that it's
much easier to get both the week(s) and locations I want by using points
compared to a fixed/floating week. Not to say that a point system is always
the best choice but that it is a legitimate option and has added to my
flexibility and enjoyment of my timeshare weeks. I don't consider the un-certain
pedigree of a possible deposited week to be a big factor.
Post by Fern Modena:
Personally, I would never buy Points. Course if you wanted to own and
stay at a specific place always, you might not have a choice. However,
people should be aware that with points, they may not be able to use the
same amount of time next year as they do this year. The point values may
not always remain constant. They do not promise you that they will. They
only promise that ALL THE POINTS, that is, the total number, will remain
constant. But a summer week, 1 BDRM, may be 350 points, for example, this
year. If many people want that, then next year it would be perhaps 450
points, and off season studios would cost less. Or something else, to make
up the difference. But if you only owned 375 points, you'd be SOL for next
year's summer week.
