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Sandcastle P'town owners -Festiva

At the annual owners meeting on Saturday April 25th, Cliff Hagberg announced to those present that we would be receiving a copy of the minutes of the owners' meeting in a couple weeks' time. He also promised us that the new Sandcastle website would be up by May 15th. I want to give Cliff the benefit of the doubt so I'm asking here if any owners have received a copy of the official minutes of the owners meeting, and, I've searched the net for the new website....I believe Cliff said it would be something like SandcastleCapecod.com....maybe I'm mistaken?
I did find however new recent photographs of the resort on a website called EVRENTALS.com. That EV stands fo "Endless Vacation", the RCI magazine. And when I enter "EVRentals.com" in my web browser, the website redirects to www.wyndham-vacations.com where the banner in the left corner pronounces I've arrived at "Endless Vacation Rentals by Wyndham Worldwide". Odd- or maybe not? Then, searching for Massachusetts coastal rentals I found Sandcastle Resort and the recently new photographs.
 
The URL doesn't bring you anywhere -

Timesharemogul said:
At the annual owners meeting on Saturday April 25th, Cliff Hagberg announced to those present that we would be receiving a copy of the minutes of the owners' meeting in a couple weeks' time. He also promised us that the new Sandcastle website would be up by May 15th. I want to give Cliff the benefit of the doubt so I'm asking here if any owners have received a copy of the official minutes of the owners meeting, and, I've searched the net for the new website....I believe Cliff said it would be something like SandcastleCapecod.com....maybe I'm mistaken?
I did find however new recent photographs of the resort on a website called EVRENTALS.com. That EV stands fo "Endless Vacation", the RCI magazine. And when I enter "EVRentals.com" in my web browser, the website redirects to www.wyndham-vacations.com where the banner in the left corner pronounces I've arrived at "Endless Vacation Rentals by Wyndham Worldwide". Odd- or maybe not? Then, searching for Massachusetts coastal rentals I found Sandcastle Resort and the recently new photographs.
Click to expand...


http://www.sandcastleresort@comcast.net/ is the URL in the NewsLetter from some time ago. Not working as of today.
I haven't rec'd any minutes either. They're probably coming with the new assessment bills to be mailed this month. (Greg Hughes told me the assessments would be mailed "this month" - "anyday now" - "sign here" - "save money" - "join Festiva")
I was on the RCI corporate site recently trying to find a contact to pose the question about RCI dumping Sandcastle or dumping weeks units and there are Wyndham connections there too. Looks like RCI may possibly be combining with, joining?, being consumed by? Wyndham?
 
I believe rci is owned by Wyndham. Isn't this the case?
Anita
 
I spoke with Cindy today. She told me that Festiva is still active at Sandcastle. She didn't hear anything about Wyndham.

So far, no renovations have begun but the resort "might" shut down this winter to make improvements.

All the regular front desk people still have their jobs but are nervous.
 
Sandcastle shutdown in winter

They are always shutdown in winter because those weeks were never sold as timeshare. Now NEVS or Festiva owns them, and they can use that time for renovations, which when I was there recently appeared to be fancying up the indoor pool area and changing the rugs/drapes/furniture etc. from their posters.
In the past Sandcastle did so many units each year, not all at once.
 
RCI RESPONDED to my questions!!!!! Festiva LIES

From RCI:

Hello,

Thank you for your e-mail. We regret to hear of any misinformation you
may have received.

There are no known plans to disaffiliate Sand Castle Resort from RCI at
this time.
While we at RCI are very excited about RCI Points, this service simply
provides additional vacation options to its participants. Please be
assured that the core of our business has always been the one-for-one
exchange. The Points and Weeks programs are separate, and members have
their own individual preferences. These two programs are provided to
allow more options for our members - not to move all members in one
direction or another. The Weeks exchange system has been the heart of
our business from the beginning, and we are dedicated to the long-term
success of both RCI Weeks and RCI Points.

Thank you for contacting us. Please let us know if we may be of further
assistance.

Kind Regards,

Beth Vaughn
Customer Communications
RCI North America
 
ChrisH said:
I was told that:
1) RCI was no longer going to affiliate with Sandcastle unless it upgraded to a 'star' category resort and that II would not affiliate with Sandcastle until major improvements were made.
2) RCI was giving up 'weeks' resorts for only 'points' resorts.
3) RCI was actually getting out of the business, that the reason the new 'weeks' directory was 'so small' was that they were trying to get out of that business and dropping resorts.
Chris
Click to expand...

So basically, Outfield Marketing sits at the resort and lies all day to try to get owners to convert to points. Uggh. Seems the only way they can steal $3000 from owners for their worthless points. This is the top notch sales company Cliff Hagberg has chosen to affiliate himself with? And he wonders why owners are so ticked off at him. "Outfield is communicating changes at the resort" my eye...if they did, they would not make money...they have to lie in order to get people to give up their deed and get thier 3 grand. This is why Festiva is in hot water with two AGs...lies told by salesreps...and they continue...
 
So a points conversion broker is committing a fraud if they pressure a mark to convert based on lies about the resort being dissaffiliated or RCI ended its weeks program. This makes every one of their conversions subject to legal action to rescind at any time up until the statute of limitations (in NC that would be 3 years). Further, if it is like NC, it would fall under the Unfair or Deceptive Business Practices statutes which would allow recovery of treble damages plus attorneys fees. Outfield would likely be held to be an agent of Festiva allowing a lawsuit against both. The managment company which facilitated all of this could also be a potential defendant.

I would try presenting this evidence of fraud to the state AG, who could sue on behalf of all owners or could open an investigation which would likely halt the practice. Also private attorneys can sue as well. If this happened in North Carolina when I was in private practice I would have taken these cases in a heartbeat for the almost guaranteed court ordered legal fees. If the law there is similar, perhaps you can find a local attoney who will take these cases, and then get the word out to all those who have been conned into a conversion by such false statements.


ChrisH said:
From RCI:

Hello,

Thank you for your e-mail. We regret to hear of any misinformation you
may have received.

There are no known plans to disaffiliate Sand Castle Resort from RCI at
this time.
While we at RCI are very excited about RCI Points, this service simply
provides additional vacation options to its participants. Please be
assured that the core of our business has always been the one-for-one
exchange. The Points and Weeks programs are separate, and members have
their own individual preferences. These two programs are provided to
allow more options for our members - not to move all members in one
direction or another. The Weeks exchange system has been the heart of
our business from the beginning, and we are dedicated to the long-term
success of both RCI Weeks and RCI Points.

Thank you for contacting us. Please let us know if we may be of further
assistance.

Kind Regards,

Beth Vaughn
Customer Communications
RCI North America
Click to expand...
 
Non sequitors...

[QUOTE/]=ChrisH;723768 I was on the RCI corporate site recently trying to find a contact to pose the question about RCI dumping Sandcastle or dumping weeks units and there are Wyndham connections there too. Looks like RCI may possibly be combining with, joining?, being consumed by? Wyndham?[/QUOTE]
==========================================

Wyndham owns RCI outright, an acquisition from Cendant Corp. a few years back. Wyndham owning RCI outright, however, really has little or no impact or relevance in regard to "branding" any timeshare facility as a Wyndham facility. Wyndham already had (and still has) more than enough of its own Wyndham (or former Fairfield) branded properties to handle already.

RCI rarely, if ever, voluntarily "disaffiliates" with any resort under any circumstances. Interval International has minimum standards for affiliation, but not RCI. That said, if Festiva is trying to adopt or implement some sort of "internal" (i.e., non-RCI Points) "club" or "points product" of its own, it might be that Festiva is attempting to distance itself from RCI. :shrug:

Wyndham as a corporation would be highly unlikely to have any interest whatsoever in acquiring (or managing) a facility like Sandcastle, or in having the Wyndham name become associated with it in any way. The facility is much too small and much too seasonal; it would not serve the Wyndham corporate image in any positive way to have its' name associated with such a facility.

Just some scattered observations of fact of (maybe limited) relevance.. ;)
 
theo said:
Interval International has minimum standards for affiliation, but not RCI.
Click to expand...
Funny, that's not what Director/Trustee/Manager Cliff Hagberg told the nearly 200 unhappy owners who came to the annual meeting last Saturday. According to capeguitarguy Hagberg, he wants to affiliate Condo I with RCI but RCI won't accept us as we are. Truth or "untruth", capeguitarguy?
 
What I said was that RCI refused to affiliate the resort with RCI Points.
 
NEVMSLLC said:
By the way, what is this capeguitarguy thing all about?
Click to expand...

It's your secret identity. You know, all super-heroes and villains have them. :)
 
Ah, Eric my friend, how've you been? If I had super powers and a secret identity, I wouldn't be so obvious as to tell people I'm from the Cape and have a guitar! It would be something like Timeshareman!! ;)

Sou13, you're just getting things all mixed up again.
 
NEVMSLLC said:
Ah, Eric my friend, how've you been? If I had super powers and a secret identity, I wouldn't be so obvious as to tell people I'm from the Cape and have a guitar! It would be something like Timeshareman!! ;)

Sou13, you're just getting things all mixed up again.
Click to expand...

Cliff - I have been fine - thanks for asking. Sorry I missed your big shindig.

And I think the owners at Southcape would say that you do have superpowers. At least as it pertains to sucking $$$ out of their wallets.
 
Last edited:
South Cape

First things first - South Cape questions and answers should not be here in the Sandcastle site. All South Cape readers will not see this.

Now Cliff we have dealt with you before at the Ocean Club abd I have no complaints and I am willing to give you chance.

The thing I would like to know is when you were refused by RCI Points, why did you not wait until South Cape was repaired up to standads before going to Festiva, an outfit with questionable practices and a tarnished reputation?

It would seem that we would have been better served by waiting for RCI to approve their points system for us.

Betty's better half AL
 
Hi Al and thanks for the question.

RCI made it crystal clear that they would never consider Sandcastle for RCI Points. Over the years, more and more owners are telling us that a points based system works very well for them and our first option was RCI Points. When they turned us down, we looked for another points based system to give our owners another option. There are many of them out there.

There is a lot on the internet about Festiva. I find it interesting that most of it is about several sales companies that sold for Festiva some time ago. Those outside sales companies did have problems and were fired by Festiva and no longer represent them. Festiva ultimately took responsibility for hiring them and paid the price.

With all of the talk about the former sales companies for Festiva, the reaction and performance of Festiva's points system is actually very positive. They have an excellent program and very nice resorts in areas where New Englanders traditionally prefer to travel. Their system made it a perfect fit with the travel patterns of the owners at Sandcastle. People may have problems with the former sales companies but I've heard no complaints at all about the actual working of their points system.

It's only another option and no one is being "forced" to join Festiva Adventure Club. For some people it works perfectly with the way they want to vacation and for other people it has no value at all. At Sandcastle, it makes no difference to us at all if people join or not. We affiliated with Festiva for the same reason we're working on affiliating the Sandcastle with Interval International. II is a great company and we want our owners to have all the best options possible.

Does Betty know that you're the better half? (I'm not sure she does!)
 
NEVMSLLC said:
Hi Al and thanks for the question.
There is a lot on the internet about Festiva. I find it interesting that most of it is about several sales companies that sold for Festiva some time ago. Those outside sales companies did have problems and were fired by Festiva and no longer represent them. Festiva ultimately took responsibility for hiring them and paid the price.
Click to expand...

Oh, lookey here...here is a company that is selling points for Festiva as I type. In fact Outfield Marketing is selling points for Festiva right now at Sandcastle and you have none other than the resort manager at another resort saying that Outfiled Marketing sells points by telling mistruths to people on no less than the resorts opening page.

"....our owners have been approached while visiting other resorts or at home by members of the sales staff of Outfield Marketing who have made some false statements about Peppertree Maggie Valley during the sales presentation. Two of the statements being made are that “Peppertree Maggie Valley is not in good financial condition” and that “Peppertree Maggie Valley is going to go out of business” if the owners do not convert their week to the Festiva Adventure Club. These statements simply are not true. "

Here's the link...scroll down to Joe Moody, Resort Manager...and keep in mind as you read this that Festiva is currently being investigated by the NC Attorney General where this resort is located.

http://www.peppertreemv.com/owner.htm
 
NEVMSLLC said:
Hi Al and thanks for the question.
People may have problems with the former sales companies but I've heard no complaints at all about the actual working of their points system.
QUOTE]

Well here's a few:

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/festiva-resorts-c84042.html

And a nice little segment that aired this month about a very unhappy points system person in NC who just may be the tip of the iceberg:

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/abc11_investigates&id=6789555
Click to expand...
 
ChrisH said:
They are always shutdown in winter because those weeks were never sold as timeshare. Now NEVS or Festiva owns them, and they can use that time for renovations, which when I was there recently appeared to be fancying up the indoor pool area and changing the rugs/drapes/furniture etc. from their posters.
In the past Sandcastle did so many units each year, not all at once.
Click to expand...

If they are maintenance weeks, they should not be owned as voting weeks by anyone. HOA inventory of foreclosed, deeded back, and never sold weeks when the timeshare is open and not intended for maintenance purposes can be voted in some associations but not others. Maintenance weeks should never be voting weeks, and if management is counting these to maintain control, then they are way off base.
 
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