# Club Intrawest questions



## Pebbles1727 (Sep 20, 2006)

Hi Everyone,
looking for some feedback from present or past owners of point-based timeshares, especially Club Intrawest membership.  My husband and I just returned from one of CI resorts where we attended club membership presentation and loved the idea, but of course have too many questions to count. If any of you can help me with at least some of it, I'll greatly appreciate it.
1.  How does CI point membership compares to other programs?  Better, worse, comparable?

2.  If you currently own CI points, are you satisfied?  How many points do you own?

3. If you owned membership in the past, why did you sell or traded them?

4. If you had or currently have their minimum 120 points, do you find that to be sufficient for your travel needs?

5. How far do your 120 points go?

6. Is there any benefit of purchasing points from the CI directly or is it more benefitial of purchasing privately?

7. Do you find that it takes more point every year to stay at the same level accomodations, i.e. this year it took you 40 points to stay at this resort, and the following year, same time same room cost you 50?  Do you find yourself upgrading the points on a regular basis just to keep up?

8. During the presentation, we were shown a book of short notice travel (booking 45 days or less in advance), where each week will cost only 40 points. For those who've done it, did you have problems with availability on the short notice?  My husband and I can only book 2 to 4 weeks in advance, but was not sure if it's actually doable for good accomodations.

9. Any of you have an idea of what 120 points will buy if you go with one of CI partners, such as Abercrombie & Kent, Cruise lines, or Disney?  The reason I'm asking is if the minimum points it takes is more than 120, then purchasing their basic package will lock us in only CI resort (9 I think).

10. Do you have any idea of what the turnover rate is for CI points, meaning how many people choose to get rid of this timeshare vs how many people choose to keep it?

Sorry for so many questions, but considering that CI site is pretty basic, and the saleperson would not allow us to take any printed information out of her office, I feel that extra research  is needed.
All your help is appreciated. Thanks in advance,
Pebbles


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## Bill4728 (Sep 20, 2006)

Pebbles1727 said:
			
		

> 1.  How does CI point membership compares to other programs?  Better, worse, comparable?


We love our CI membership. The quality of the resorts is the best we found anywhere. As good or better than the HGVC and Marriott we just stayed in when we went to Hawaii. 


> 2.  If you currently own CI points, are you satisfied?  How many points do you own?


We own 150 points and think it would be better to have more but have 3 other TS so will keep 150.


> 3. If you owned membership in the past, why did you sell or traded them?


 N/A


> 4. If you had or currently have their minimum 120 points, do you find that to be sufficient for your travel needs?


 120 points is not enough the smallest number you should have is 150. (150 pts gets you a RCI trade of a 2 bd during red season) Since we often stay for less than 7 days 120 would work but my BIL says 170 isn't enough for him


> 5. How far do your 120 points go?


 120 pt is a studio during the holiday season for 7 days. Much more during lower seasons but seldom enough for peak travel in a 1 bd.


> 6. Is there any benefit of purchasing points from the CI directly or is it more benefitial of purchasing privately?


There is no benefit from buying directly with CI. For about $85-$90 (US) you can buy on the resale market and save over the $160 which CI charges.  BUT you can only buy resale in groups of 120 pts or more. So if you start with 120 pts, you must buy more points from CI if you want less than 120 more. So again buy at least 150 pts.


> 7. Do you find that it takes more point every year to stay at the same level accomodations, i.e. this year it took you 40 points to stay at this resort, and the following year, same time same room cost you 50?  Do you find yourself upgrading the points on a regular basis just to keep up?


The points needed for a unit are fixed and can only change at a new CI  resort. The points needed to reserve a 2 bd unit at Whistler have never changed. But the points need to reserve at the newest Mexico location are more than the whistler location.



> 8. During the presentation, we were shown a book of short notice travel (booking 45 days or less in advance), where each week will cost only 40 points. For those who've done it, did you have problems with availability on the short notice?  My husband and I can only book 2 to 4 weeks in advance, but was not sure if it's actually doable for good accomodations.


 These are last minute RCI availablities. Yes there are some but since you can't search yourself but only call CI to look for you we never use this. On the other hand we often use the CI get-a-way time. You call 2 weeks before you want to stay and if there is an opening, you can rent it very cheap. 


> 9. Any of you have an idea of what 120 points will buy if you go with one of CI partners, such as Abercrombie & Kent, Cruise lines, or Disney?  The reason I'm asking is if the minimum points it takes is more than 120, then purchasing their basic package will lock us in only CI resort (9 I think).


 Used CI points to go to HGVC hawaii last month, Same number of points as staying at CI, but 120 isn't going to cut it at all. we used 170 for 6 nights.



> 10. Do you have any idea of what the turnover rate is for CI points, meaning how many people choose to get rid of this timeshare vs how many people choose to keep it?


 no idea. 

Also read the TUG advice on CI   link here 

Hope this helps.


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## tashamen (Sep 20, 2006)

I should have known Bill would beat me to a response!

We also own 150 points, and love our CI membership.  Regardless of how you travel I agree that 150 is probably the minimum you want.  My inlaws have 200 but they're retired and can travel more so that's a good amount for them.

On #7, Bill's response isn't quite accurate.  CI can and does reallocate the number of points for given days/weeks annually, so there are times when the point values can change.  But they can only do this once a year.  This has only been an issue for me once - last year I booked CI in Palm Desert for my spring break week in March for 125 points (1BR for 6 nights) - this year they raised it to 180 points for the same 6 days (by reclassifying that week as a "holiday" week instead of "peak").  Otherwise we have not noticed major differences from year to year - we primarily go to Tremblant for 2 4 or 5 night trips each year.  We generally don't stay on weekend nights which cost more points.

I can't repond directly to #8 or #9 because we have an individual membership in II (which came with CI when we first bought), rather than the Extraordinary Escapes thing that gives you limited access to RCI.  I say "limited" because you can't deal with RCI directly.  We were members of that for two years but went back to solely using II now for exchange.  I can get an AC from II for any CI week that I deposit.  As for #9 - I don't think the cruises or travel packages are good value so you should not factor that into your purchase.  However if you're interested in exchanging into Disney through CI you should be aware that overall they only allow as many exchanges into Disney as Disney members are exchanging out into CI - so it's not a guaranteed exchange.  You would probably have a better shot at exchanging into Disney properties through II.


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## Pebbles1727 (Sep 20, 2006)

I'm sorry, what is II?


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## Bill4728 (Sep 20, 2006)

CI trades with it's own private exchange company but almost all exchanges come from RCI. The other big exchange company is Interval international which is II.  I just joined II and got a great exchange with my CI week  (98 pts) to a 2 bd Marriott in SoCal. So II really works for CI members.

But,  CI owner have had a choice about which exchange company they want to use RCI or II. This may be changing because CI has been pushing its members toward RCI for about 4 years now. There is a rumor that CI members will not be able to choose II anymore but who really knows.


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## Pebbles1727 (Sep 20, 2006)

So, whould it be better just to have RCI points instead of CI?


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## Bill4728 (Sep 20, 2006)

CI has a few deposits into RCI but if you want the high quality resort which CI is known for I'd buy CI. 

The best advice anyone can give you is to stick around TUG for awhile and get yourself some education into timeshares. Then, when or if you buy, you'll be able  make an educated purchase.


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## hybridcdn (Oct 15, 2006)

*8 year owner with Club Intrawest*

I've owned Club Intrawest for 8 years now and although I have only 120 points, I am well satisfied with that for now and there are ways to get that 120 to go further than just 1 week's vacation. I am not yet retired so getting up to 3 weeks exchange from my points is plenty for me!

 I personally love their system. I have also owned at Sheraton in the past and find that CI are a better value; the resorts are top-notch and well situated and also, if you are a member of ExtraOrdinary Escapes, you can trade for up to 3 weeks to RCI gold crown resorts if you use the "short notice" requests (45 days prior to travel) and can get even 3 bdrm exchanges for the same 40 points if that is what you need. In the 8 years I have been a member, they have found me pretty much what I wanted/needed.

Quote:
8. During the presentation, we were shown a book of short notice travel (booking 45 days or less in advance), where each week will cost only 40 points. For those who've done it, did you have problems with availability on the short notice? My husband and I can only book 2 to 4 weeks in advance, but was not sure if it's actually doable for good accomodations.

This is exactly what I have been doing for most of the time I have owned although I also regularly book 1-2 day stays at my home resort (with their Getaways program). For exchanges, I usually have booked about 4 weeks in advance and haven't really been disappointed yet as they have always found me something except once, in the beginning of august.

Being a member of RCI or II "on the side" (as well as ExtraOr.Esc.) also allows you to "buy" a week in the Extra Vacations/Last Call programs which I have done a few times as well. The cost of the yearly membership is worth it if you want to be able to go away an extra week or two for $150-250 a week...I have done that several times as well but you have to be flexible about the destination (not a problem for me as long as it is sunny and a good resort!)

I originally bought directly from Intrawest but that is an expensive proposition.
My ex-husband bought my share when we divorced and I then re-bought one on the resale market and got it at less than half the price that Intrawest currently sells... So in my opinion DON'T buy directly from Intrawest there is no advantage to it, you'll pay more than you need to.


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## kimmysue (Oct 16, 2006)

is anybody worried that things will change, given that Club Intrawest was just sold?


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## Bill4728 (Oct 16, 2006)

The Intrawest corp which was sold last month, but the club is seperate from the parent company. Therefore, I'm not worried at all about the direction of the club due to the sale.


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## ssharpey (Oct 29, 2006)

*Deleted*

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