# why the vacation village fee of $125?



## lindner (May 1, 2013)

Does anyone know why it seems that only Platinum Interchange guests are charged a mandatory fee that is not charged to owners or to those exchanging with RCI, II, etc.?   Here is the wording from the PI website for the Vacation Village at Parkway or at Weston:

Resort Fees:
This resort charges a resort fee, which is collected at the time of confirmation, in addition to the exchange fee.
This resort fee is determined by the suite size that you are confirming into.
1BDA Suite - $75 Resort Fee
1BDB Suite - $60 Resort Fee
2BD8 Suite - $125 Resort Fee

Is this the only way PI could gain access to all their Vacation Village inventory?  Without that, perhaps half their Florida inventory would disappear?


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## Larry (May 1, 2013)

lindner said:


> Does anyone know why it seems that only Platinum Interchange guests are charged a mandatory fee that is not charged to owners or to those exchanging with RCI, II, etc.?   Here is the wording from the PI website for the Vacation Village at Parkway or at Weston:
> 
> Resort Fees:
> This resort charges a resort fee, which is collected at the time of confirmation, in addition to the exchange fee.
> ...



this is a total rip off and i stated so in my RCI comment card. It is a fee imposed by VV resorts after you have already paid for your maintenance fee, exchange fee and RCI membership fee. I exchanged to VV at weston for spring break 2013 as I had in several previous years and they now charge mandatory fees for wifi,safe deposit box and "free morning coffee". Very bad precedent


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## lindner (May 1, 2013)

*Platinum Interchange only fee*

Larry, I agree that a $25 fee for wifi, etc. should not be charged to exchangers.  However, that fee applies to all exchangers, including RCI.  The $25 fee I understand and is not the fee I am asking about.  The $125 fee I mention in post #1 applies ONLY to platinum interchange exchangers.  To my knowledge, RCI, II and others are not required to pay this $125 'resort fee' that Platinum Interchange requires at time of booking.  This fee only applies to Vacation Village (any of their resorts) and a few other resorts.  For most resorts platinum interchange does not require this 'resort fee'.  No mention is given of what this fee is for.  I have a theory that perhaps Platinum Interchange noticed that they were strong on the west coast but weak on the east coast and struck a deal with Vacation Villages to offer a lot of their inventory on Platinum Interchange in exchange for an extra $125 under the table.  I understand the logic as this will increase their presence and bring more exchangers into the system.  I'm all in favor of doing things to turn platinum interchange into a bigger exchange system to rival II and RCI.

Don't get me wrong.  I like platinum interchange and will continue to use it.  Even with the $125 fee, it runs about the same price as RCI when one factors in all the various RCI fees.  I just wish there were an explanation for why this $125 fee exists and why it seems that only platinum interchange exchangers pay it.


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## lindner (May 3, 2013)

Vacation Village does have an affiliation with Platinum Interchange of some kind.  Could that somehow be related to these unusual fees?


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## MaryH (May 3, 2013)

I think the management company of Vacation village is a sister company to PI.  The ones you see load of inventory of are managed by the sister company..

I gave a bonus week to a friend last year and she was charged the fee for a 1bdrm.


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## lindner (May 3, 2013)

Did they perhaps explain to you or your friend what the fee was for?


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## tschwa2 (May 3, 2013)

My guess is that it is 90% developer inventory and instead of straight out giving it to Platinum Exchange, Vacation Village agrees to make it available for a $125 "resort fee" charged to "exchangers."


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## dioxide45 (Sep 8, 2013)

tschwa2 said:


> My guess is that it is 90% developer inventory and instead of straight out giving it to Platinum Exchange, Vacation Village agrees to make it available for a $125 "resort fee" charged to "exchangers."



And II and RCI won't go along with also charging the fee?


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## tschwa2 (Sep 8, 2013)

dioxide45 said:


> And II and RCI won't go along with also charging the fee?



I don't know about II, but I suspect RCI has its own "deal" to get the developer inventory plus gets a fair amount of owner deposits.  I think the deal with RCI involves giving Vacation Village owners higher tpu's and points than it would otherwise get with more people wanting to exchange out and so many weeks that get traded into in the 5-10 range.  Vacation Village backs up the boost by depositing extra units (the back room deal).  Vacation Village can then talk about what a strong trader the 2 br l/o unit is and that if you like you could deposit your week and then stay 4 weeks most in a 2 br unit instead of 2 weeks in a one bedroom unit or 1 week in the two bedroom.

In other words I think Platinum Interchange needs Vacation Villages a lot more than RCI needs VV and Vacation Villages needs RCI to sell units more than it needs PI.


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## rapmarks (Sep 8, 2013)

I complained on this site a long time ago, and was told it was because VV gives the inventory to Platinum and it is to cover some cost for VV.  It made no difference to me what the excuse was, I didn't give weeks to Platinum.  Most of their inventory in Massachusetts and Florida is VV.


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## tschwa2 (Sep 8, 2013)

Same with the middle atlantic region.  If Vacation Villages didn't deposit Williamsburg Plantation (and charge the additional "resort fee") there wouldn't be anything most of the year.


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## Crif (Dec 12, 2013)

Hello,I think this fee only applies to Vacation Village  any of their resorts and a few other resorts. For most resorts platinum interchange does not require this 'resort fee'. No mention is given of what this fee is for as well.


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## rapmarks (Dec 12, 2013)

yes we know it only apples to VV, but most of he inventory in certain states is VV and nothing else.


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