OLCC - "Welcome to Holiday Inn Club"?

According to a news release Orange Lake Country Club is rebranding at least the newest area - with the waterpark - as "Holiday Inn Club Vacations" Now that sounds cheesy to me and seems like yet another way they plan to extract more money for "upgraded memberships" from owners. Is this a start to separating the older 3 sections from the newest - maybe limiting access to non-Club members? Nothing is beyond these groups so it would make me nervous as an owner.

They plan to add a hotel on site and "market OL villas". Oh -oh.

Anyone have anymore dtails about the upcoming change in name / branding?

timeos2 said:

According to a news release Orange Lake Country Club is rebranding at least the newest area - with the waterpark - as "Holiday Inn Club Vacations" Now that sounds cheesy to me and seems like yet another way they plan to extract more money for "upgraded memberships" from owners. Is this a start to separating the older 3 sections from the newest - maybe limiting access to non-Club members? Nothing is beyond these groups so it would make me nervous as an owner.

They plan to add a hotel on site and "market OL villas". Oh -oh.

Anyone have anymore dtails about the upcoming change in name / branding?

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This was announced in September, http://www.orangelake.com/GlobalAccess/hcv.html. Has there been a new announcement? There is not a lot of information on this and I'm not sure what advantage this is suppose to give OLCC Global Access owners other than the ability to use their points for hotel rooms something that can already be done. Given that Holiday Inn is a not a top-tier hotel, it makes me wonder if the "standards" at OLCC will go down and if my maintenance fees will go up to pay for the facilities that the Holiday Inn guests will use. In effect, this the standard situation where an owner will take more care, in general, of their property than non-owners.

I talked with a representative from Global Access and much of the announcement is still up in the air including the building of a Holiday Inn on the OLCC site. Again, I still can't figure out what OLCC gets out of the deal unless it is cash for allowing Holiday Inn to build a hotel onsite yet the announcement seems to indicate a non-cash deal for the Holiday Group. The best guess that I have is that it allows OLCC to develop more resorts and gives them a builtin list of possible future owners from the Holiday group. I can't help but feel this devalues my ownership at OLCC. Realistically, I don't have enough information to come to that conclusion but I don't see any positives either. It might be different if the hotel was a top-tier hotel but while Holiday Inns are okay, they are not the Marriotts, Sheratons, Ritz, etc.

My understanding it was all the sections in Orlando initially followed quickly by the non-Orlando site. Unless there is something positive, which I don't see at the moment, this has the look of something that doesn't provide any benefit for owners.

Gary, I remember when Rick and I thought Holiday Inn was expensive. Actually it still is! We rented hotel rooms for a family reunion in the brand new Holiday Inn in Kearney, Nebraska, and the price for each night was $109.50 + tax. They were nice rooms, even had a microwave and mini-fridge. Gotta love timeshare!

Isn't Kemmons Wilson associated with Holiday Inn? I think I read about it once, a while back.

I just came back from my usual week there. My week coincided with the annual owner's meeting, which I attended, and Spence Wilson himself announced this was an attempt to reunite Holiday Inn and Orange Lake (both founded by the Wilson family). They acknowledge that the current Holiday Inn chain was still standard hotels. Their vision for the future is to build new spa-like facilities. When in the future, noone knows.

I can't see the benefit to it - or Global Access - myself. Someone in the audience asked the exact question about maintenance going up from useage from non-owners and no answer was given.

MidlifeTraveler said:

Someone in the audience asked the exact question about maintenance going up from useage from non-owners and no answer was given.

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Why would fees need to go up because of non-owners? If you have people exchanging in, the maintenance fees should take care of the expenses no matter who uses the pools and amenities.

The thought is that OLCC will draw more people who will not take pride in ownership as owners. Especially once they put the "hotel" in that will be used to accomodate their rental market.

Not saying I agree - just sharing what I heard firsthand at this owner's meeting.

rickandcindy23 said:

Isn't Kemmons Wilson associated with Holiday Inn? I think I read about it once, a while back.

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He started both companies.. This cobranding relationship has been in the works for some time. There is another thread about this same issue here. http://www.timeshareforums.com/foru...ransfer-fee-increase-effective-11-3-08-a.html

(I'm not an owner here)

I would think having additional hotel guests stay at the resort, while they might not care as much about the property, would bring in additional revenue. Their daily room rate would add up to more than the maintance fee charged to an owner who owns one week, so that would cover their share of the maintenance. Yes?

rsnash said:

(I'm not an owner here)

I would think having additional hotel guests stay at the resort, while they might not care as much about the property, would bring in additional revenue. Their daily room rate would add up to more than the maintance fee charged to an owner who owns one week, so that would cover their share of the maintenance. Yes?

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You may be confused a bit on the agreement. Holiday Inn now has the right to build a motel onsite, the motel guests won't be using timeshare accommodations but will get access to amenities- Orange Lake pts owners will be able to trade their timeshare pts for Holiday Inn motel stays..

What this agreement does is primarily give Holiday Inn access to a premier development in Orlando with an incredible amenity package.. The question for timeshare owners will be if the motel stays (never a good exchange value in most systems) are worth the additional usage and maintenance costs.

I've personally always worried that Orange Lake has created future problems by overdeveloping the amenities there, whose upkeep and insurance liability could someday become a real financial burden on the HOA's. I hope this doesn't happen- but too often the developer simply focuses on current sales and doesn't consider future costs.

rickandcindy23 said:

Why would fees need to go up because of non-owners? If you have people exchanging in, the maintenance fees should take care of the expenses no matter who uses the pools and amenities.

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Cindy,

I tend to agree that the cost of hotel rooms in general are expensive. I stayed in an Econolodge for over $80 for just myself. One problem with the association, rightly or wrongly, OLCC bills itself as a luxury resort. That means different things to different people but nobody think luxury when they think Holiday Inn (Econolodge with a pool).

As far as exchanges, what maintenance fees are these people paying since Holiday Inn doesn't have a timeshare unit or division? One possibility is that guests will come from a Holiday Inn Loyalty programs that will let them stay at the resort or a cash paying customer. Another possibility is Holiday Inn guests staying at the proposed Holiday Inn onsite and having access to all OLCC facilities.

Granted, some of these will generate income and help offset maintenance expenses. One problem is the announced hotel so while the guests may stay there, they have use of facilities which are payed for by the owners, not the Holiday Inn guests, although I would hope that there is some agreement to help cover the cost. Second, let's be frank, the name Holiday Inn is a respectable name and brand but it lowers the expectation of guests as well when compared to other chains such as the Marriotts.

This just doesn't appear to me to be very well thought out, at least not what has been publicly announced.

Just a note, I believe your son stayed at OLCC in the last month or so; I hope he had a pleasant stay.

Holiday Inn has some very nice hotel resorts in Aruba and Whistler, BC. I would hope that the TS owners at TSs picked up by Holiday Inn would have access to these hotel resorts with their points. If so, that could be advantageous.

Holiday Inn Vacation Club URL, http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi...BPWCK44CTGWAJCJ0QKM0YBUIY4?_requestid=2972323

Personally, I think that the move devalues Orange Lake.

For most people, the name Holiday Inn evokes a sense of clean, reliable, if basic lodging. When you attach the Holiday Inn name to OL, OL will seem to the outsider to be a clean, reliable, if basic resort. That is not what OL ought to strive to be, and I seriously doubt that owners who have paid thousands of dollars would care to be "Holiday Inn Vacation Club" members, should it come to that.

veenstra56 said:

Personally, I think that the move devalues Orange Lake.

For most people, the name Holiday Inn evokes a sense of clean, reliable, if basic lodging. When you attach the Holiday Inn name to OL, OL will seem to the outsider to be a clean, reliable, if basic resort. That is not what OL ought to strive to be, and I seriously doubt that owners who have paid thousands of dollars would care to be "Holiday Inn Vacation Club" members, should it come to that.

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Exactly. I think it devalues OLCC to value resort rather than a premier resort.

I traded through RCI to stay at Orange Lake Orlando next week. I was surprised when suddenly the Orange Lake listing on Trip Advisor changed to Holiday Inn-Orange Lake. As a non-owner, my opinion is that building a Holiday Inn hotel there is not something I would like as an owner. Now, I've never been there, and maybe there is so much land that you won't even notice the hotel, but I'd hate to be paying MF for hotel guests to be using the "resort" facilities. Unless, of course, they drastically cut the MF due to the added income. LOL

I don't see it being a big problem because of the way the resort is already set up. The units in the West Village Clubhouse were originally studio units - a slight improvement over a hotel room. Many years ago those were upgraded, and while they still call them "studios" I don't think they are individually owned any more - if you look at the resort website, they note that certain unit configurations are only available as rentals from the resort.

Those units, plus anything owned by the developers are rented out, plus units available through the resort rental program. So there are already renters staying on the property, aside from those who rent directly from individual owners.

Also, the resort has several HOAs, with each HOA owning certain portions of the resort. Thus each of the amenities is owned either by the Wilson Group, or by only one of the HOAs. Each HOA pays a fee to use the amenities not owned by that HOA. This would be no different with a hotel on-site. If anything, it might reduce the cost of the amenities to the HOA groups (or the income generated by the HOA for any amenities they own).

It may be a smart move in terms of what will happen with future development. They have space to build more accomodations, but if they build a hotel it doesn't have to be sold. They can collect annual fees in the form of room rentals, which may be a smart move in the current market.

As for the name, it doesn't really matter to timeshare owners. We are still Orange Lake owners, not Holiday Inn Club members - the club is the new name for Global Access. No, it doesn't have the appeal of Marriot or HGVC, but I think it sounds better than Global Access. Trip Advisor may have changed their listing, but they may also end up adding a separate listing for Orange Lake vs. Holiday Inn at Orange Lake, as they are likely to end up being different types of accomodation.

I am an OlCC owner..weeks and attended my owner update today. Of course it is an owner upgrade..not update....I listened to what the salesperson had to say...basically that there will be less and less inventory in RCI for weeks owners within the resort, that trades will be like trades within the same village...and for the same size unit. This is for weeks owners, not points. The salesperson was "surprised" i had already booked 2010 in a week outside of what i owned. Basically it was a you'd be wise to change to points or you will be limited to your village , unit , week in the future. So be it for now. I won't go into the offer i was given to upgrade. Anyway...i did take a look at the rentals at OLCC..through the OLCC website. It now directs you to the Holiday Inn website and you can book rooms, villas at OLCC, up to 3 bdrms..through it...with nightly stays.so they are the same accomodations as the owners..so depending on how many weeks owners and if they spacebank there is some truth to what they say..we need to keep units available. As far as the studios..the bottom floor is currently being rennovated in the west village...i suspect it is for nightly stays..hotel type accomodations. I did not ask if they were going to build a hotel. If i learn anything else..will keep posting.

Holiday Inn Club

I posted my question on this under Florida so I guess this is the right place.
No one seems to know anymore about this than I do. I am worried. Let me know if you find out anymore info as I would like to travel using my former Global now Holiday Inn points. And if I get any more info I will gladly share with you. Thanks! TerryC

You can book a June week for around $1000 including tax in a 2 bed room 2 bath through Holiday Inn using their cheapest advance purchase rate. No 1 in 4 rule to worry about, no potential assessments, no investment, and your choice of any week during the year you would like to travel without paying an exchange fee. With MF's of $731 and RCI exchange fee of $164, you will spend $895 to stay there any week you don't own. An owner will only save $100 to $200 exchanging their week for another week over what they would have to pay Holiday Inn. If you stay the week you own you will save about $300 to $400 over booking through Holiday Inn's advance rates. Of course all of us TUGGERS are used to advance reservations since most of us plan our trips a year or more in advance. FYI the River Island rooms are about $1200 total for a June week through Holiday Inn reservations.

It will be even harder for owners to rent their weeks than it is now with Holiday Inn competing for renters. It should make it harder to sell weeks resale when people realize that they can rent anything they want at the resort without being an owner. I can't see how Holiday Inn's affiliation will do anything favorable for owners at Orange Lake. Having said all of that I have found a week at OLCC I am seriously considering buying. I really do like this resort a lot. I am torn and need to decide quickly. If Holiday Inn hadn't entered the picture it would have made my decision so much easier.

silentg said:

I posted my question on this under Florida so I guess this is the right place.
No one seems to know anymore about this than I do. I am worried. Let me know if you find out anymore info as I would like to travel using my former Global now Holiday Inn points. And if I get any more info I will gladly share with you. Thanks! TerryC

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I'm not sure what your question is. You can still use your points for internal exchanges, external exchanges through RCI (hotels, car rental, airline ticket, and cruise included) plus exchanges through the Holiday Inn network (hotels, car rentals, airline tickets, etc.). In theory, it should open up more possibilities of exchanges than just through RCI. Your most cost effective exchanges are back to the resorts but this is true even for RCI Point usage (and the other points-based systems that I've seen as well).