# Bonus weeks available for $99 from DAE..  What does it say about the vacation market?



## mamiecarter (Aug 21, 2007)

Just got an EMail from DAE. All weeks starting  from now to
September 15 are now $99. A big list. Wish I could go. Saw several tempting weeks.

RCI has also been EMailing me about $299 rental weeks and $49 a night rentals in nice places. Is this a slower than usual fall? Is it the economy? Watching the stock market and bad loan /credit crisis may make people more conservative about spending money on vacations. Any one notice a timeshare rental slowdown? Or is the a weather thing? Or maybe this happens every fall and I just never noticed before.


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## dougp26364 (Aug 21, 2007)

Or maybe it's just bigger profits to take membership fee's, accept deposits and then put them on the rental market at any price for a few extra bucks rather than only getting the exchange fee in return. $299 is still 56% more than the $169 exchange fee. Rent enough of those units and your profit goes up considerably without much more effort or expense than before.

DAE is still small enough that they may not have a large enough base to accomadate exchange requests efficiently or, they may just be taking the same road as RCI.


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## geekette (Aug 21, 2007)

Gas prices are one thing keeping me home more.

DAE has always had last minute bonus weeks @ $99 - this isn't new.


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## pedro47 (Aug 21, 2007)

what is the web address?


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## Dave M (Aug 21, 2007)

DAE's address is http://www.daelive.com/

I think you have to be a member (free) to take advantage of their offers.


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## Judy (Aug 21, 2007)

www.daelive.com but bonus/rentals is a "members only page".  Membership is free.  Here is the list from the email:

Last Minute Bonus Weeks reduced to $99*! 
We have discounted all bonus weeks with check in dates earlier than September 15th, 2007. Take advantage of these last minute discounted getaways today! 

La Serranita Natural Resort Argentina Fri Aug 24/2007 1b/4 
Rue Esplanade New Orleans Fri Aug 24/2007 1b/2
Puerto De Luna Puerto Vallarta Sat Aug 25/2007 St/4
Silver Lakes Vacation Club Southern California Mountains Sat Aug 25/2007 2b/6
El Dorado Seaside Suites - "All-Inclusive" Cancun Sat Aug 25/2007 St/2
WIVC Coral Mar Resort Cancun Sat Aug 25/2007 2b/6
WIVC Mar Azul Acapulco Sat Aug 25/2007 1b/4
A Place At The Beach III North Carolina Sun Aug 26/20072b/6
Royal Aloha Vacation Club/Waikiki Oahu Mon Aug 27/20071b/4
Rue Esplanade New Orleans Fri Aug 31/2007 1b/2
Hillcrest Lake Villas Louisiana Fri Aug 31/2007 1b/4
Club Bali Hai Moorea Tahiti Sat Sep 1/2007 HR/2
Thunderbird Resort Reno/Tahoe Sat Sep 1/2007 1b/4
Ocean Landing Orlando / Disney Sun Sep 2/2007 HR/4
RH Grand Okanagan Kelowna Sun Sep 2/2007 1b/4
Silver Lakes Vacation Club Southern California Mountains Fri Sep 7/2007 2b/6
Steamboat Landing Panhandle Fri Sep 7/2007 1b/5
First Cabin Club @ Nautical Inn Lake Havasu Fri Sep 7/2007 1b/4
Indian Palms Intervals Palm Springs Sat Sep 8/2007 2b/6
Marco Resort & Club South West Sat Sep 8/2007 1b/4
Morritt's Tortuga Club Cayman Islands Sat Sep 8/2007 St/2
Ocean Forest Plaza Myrtle Beach Sat Sep 8/2007 1b/6
Silver Lakes Vacation Club Southern California Mountains Sat Sep 8/2007 2b/6
Blue Bay Getaway Phase II -"All-Inclusive" Cancun Sat Sep 8/2007 St/4
FRP Holly Bluff Marina North East Sat Sep 8/2007 HB/6
El Dorado Royale -Ocean Landing Orlando / Disney Sun Sep 9/2007 1b/6
FRP Holly Bluff Marina North East Sun Sep 9/2007 2b/6
Silver Lakes Vacation Club Southern California Mountains Fri Sep 14/2007 2b/6
El Dorado Seaside Suites - "All-Inclusive" Cancun Fri Sep 14/2007 St/2
FRP Las Gaviotas Resort Other Mexico Fri Sep 14/2007 2b/6
FRP Portofino Resort Cabo San Lucas Fri Sep 14/2007 2b/6
La Serranita Natural Resort Argentina Fri Sep 14/2007 1b/4
El Dorado Royale - "All-Inclusive" Cancun Fri Sep 14/2007 St/2
Los Tules Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta Sat Sep 15/2007 St/2
Rancho Banderas Vacation Villas Puerto Vallarta Sat Sep 15/2007 1b/4
Sciota Village At Big Valley Pennsylvania Sat Sep 15/2007 3b/6
Daytona Resort And Club North East Sat Sep 15/2007 1b/4
Silver Lakes Vacation Club Southern California Mountains Sat Sep 15/2007 2b/6 

Plus: Call in and ask us how to save another 15% off all bonus week prices now! 

866-905-8670


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## JoeMid (Aug 21, 2007)

DAE membership is FREE.  What it says is that nobody wants to travel now through September 15th, that's nothing new, school starts.


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## geekette (Aug 21, 2007)

> What it says is that nobody wants to travel now through September 15th, that's nothing new, school starts.



I have to disagree.  I usually only travel when school is in session.  You can call me a Nobody.      Many people where I work wait for after Labor Day.  There are a lot of timesharers not tied to a school calendar.  

They have expanded the date range that applies to the $99.  It used to scale up from there but I don't think 99 applied for farther out than 2 weeks.


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## dougp26364 (Aug 21, 2007)

JoeMid said:


> DAE membership is FREE.  What it says is that nobody wants to travel now through September 15th, that's nothing new, school starts.



I guess I'm a nobody as well. We already have a trip planned for Sept. 7th.

There's a lot of timeshare owners that don't have kids at home and aren't restricted to traveling during the really busy summer months. Of the 6 to 9 trips we take each year, only 1 or 2 will be between the months of June to August. Otherwise our trips are when school is in session. 

I always thought shoulder season started after Labor Day and Sept. 15th is only about a week outside that date.


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## Parkplace (Aug 21, 2007)

Thank you Judy for giving us the list of resorts.  I applied just now for membership but the list was not available to me yet.

So its great that you shared with those of us who could not see it.


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## timeos2 (Aug 21, 2007)

*Rentals are required*



mamiecarter said:


> Just got an EMail from DAE. All weeks starting  from now to
> September 15 are now $99. A big list. Wish I could go. Saw several tempting weeks.
> 
> RCI has also been EMailing me about $299 rental weeks and $49 a night rentals in nice places. Is this a slower than usual fall? Is it the economy? Watching the stock market and bad loan /credit crisis may make people more conservative about spending money on vacations. Any one notice a timeshare rental slowdown? Or is the a weather thing? Or maybe this happens every fall and I just never noticed before.



What it says is weeks, points, hotels, cabins, whatever the available times to use for vacation aren't going to match up perfectly with what travelers want. It says there are times that will go unused even if someone is paying for them.  It says no exchange company can find a trade for every use period they get. It says that trying to rent them is a fixture and not something that just happened the last few years or only because some companies changed policies or expanded venues for rentals.


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## dougp26364 (Aug 21, 2007)

timeos2 said:


> What it says is weeks, points, hotels, cabins, whatever the available times to use for vacation aren't going to match up perfectly with what travelers want. It says there are times that will go unused even if someone is paying for them.  It says no exchange company can find a trade for every use period they get. It says that trying to rent them is a fixture and not something that just happened the last few years or only because some companies changed policies or expanded venues for rentals.




Now there you go using prefectly good logic again.


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## dioxide45 (Aug 21, 2007)

We purposely bought a gold week at MGV just so we could travel when school is in session. My wife and I are still young with no children, we definitely don't want to be traveling with throngs of families with screaming kids. Even though we enjoy Disney we don't enjoy the kids, but we tolerate them. We look forward to the parades, because this is the only 15 minutes that every kids attention is turned to one thing and away from crying, screaming and throwing tantrums.
Please don't beat me up for not liking your kids; I know that some are very well behaved (as I know all of yours are). It’s just those that are not that keep me going to Orlando when school is in session.


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## mamiecarter (Aug 21, 2007)

*What I Am Really Thinking About Is the ECOCNOMY and Time*

DAE used to list a lot fewer $99 bonus weeks, now it has a lot.It is a great time to join DAE, rent from RCI or II but is it a good market to own timeshares? 

I know it will be harder to rent weeks, particularly off season weeks with this kind of competition. 

Would I buy another timeshare while I wait to see if the bottom falls out of the economy?Not a good idea. 

Anyone out there cutting back on vacation spending? I am for the time being.


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## short (Aug 21, 2007)

*Home equity going going gone.*

I personnelly have not reduced my vacation time but this year have taken several nontimeshare vacations.

The credit crunch however is going to suck the extra discretionary cash out of the system.

I had previously thought the city I lived in was somewhat immune to at least sharp drops in house prices but since one of the largest employers of (highly paid) workers just announced a 25 percent work force reduction I will have to rethink this thought.  I am thinking that at least 10 percent of the 2300 people losing there job have timeshares.  Thats 230 timeshares on the market because this will be the first thing to go.  After that it will be the house.  The next few years will be interesting.

Short


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## donnaval (Aug 22, 2007)

DAE may be getting more inventory than usual, too.  I know I have shifted a couple of weeks to them since I'm boycotting RCI.  In time it may all balance out better for them.


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## Aldo (Aug 22, 2007)

donnaval said:


> DAE may be getting more inventory than usual, too.  I know I have shifted a couple of weeks to them since I'm boycotting RCI.  In time it may all balance out better for them.



I suspect that's probably the prime driver.  DAE is just growing.


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## geekette (Aug 22, 2007)

With their Redweek partnership, some could be coming from RW deposits.


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## BocaBum99 (Aug 22, 2007)

$99 specials are more a symptom of a company who has a product that doesn't have sufficient access to the market.  It's like garage sales.  If you hold a garage sale, your market is limited to those who show up to your house on the day you have your garage sale.  The supply is what you have, the demand is the population of garage sale enthusiasts who happen to be in your neighborhood.  Net result:  very low prices.

These $99 bonus weeks hurt owners even though many Weeks exchange apologists try to "spin" it as a benefit to owners.  It's not.  Why?  Because timeshare exchange is a ZERO Sum game.  

To balance the exchange system, weeks need to be injected back into the system in order to make up for the expired weeks, the rentals and any bonus weeks they give out.  Yes, even DAE has given out bonus weeks.  But, they don't tell everyone that.  I guess they want to keep it secret.

So, the concept of the EXCHANGE GAP is by definition the difference between the exchange credits owned to exchangers less the expired, rented and bonus weeks.  The exchange gap needs to be addressed otherwise depositers will be chasing fewer and fewer weeks.

How does the exchange company address their exchange gap?  They get free weeks from developers through affiliation agreements and some even purchase weeks to put back into the system so that an exchange can occur.

In essence, if an exchange company is renting off a week at $99, then it does not have much money to purchase additional weeks to put back into the system.  If they could get $500-1000 for those weeks, they could afford to go purchase high quality inventory for its depositers.  Since DAE has chosen the route of political correctness with depositers, it is left with $99 weeks for rent.

Instead, what they should do is change their policy.  They should make any unit available for rent or exchange less than 60-days from checkin.   They should make the rentals open to the general public so that the demand is higher for their weeks and they can get more than $99/week.  Then, they should commit as a policy that anything over their $99 exchange fee should be used to purchase high quality weeks for deposit into the system.

The problem is not with the rental market.  It's still strong and probably will get stronger.  The problem is with the DAE business model.


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## jejones3329 (Aug 22, 2007)

If you sign up and don't get name and password within a couple of days check your spam, I thought I might have to wait till I got packet in mail then happened to be checking Spam and it was there, Judy


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## Ask DAE (Aug 22, 2007)

Hello, 

Just chiming in... 

DAE does keep all inventory - even less than 60 day inventory available for rental and exchange. All inventory with check in dates within 60 days show available in this rental/bonus pool. Typically the rental or bonus  price ranges from $99-$499 depending on unit, location, etc. 

The $99 offer is only for bookings made by the end of the month (August). It's a 10 day offer) then all inventory goes back to regular bonus week pricing. These are limited time an invetnory offers that we only make available for  members (timeshare owners only). 

DAE would rather have a member enjoy a week for less than to let the unit go unnoccupied. DAE does not go out to the general public with our inventory for rent or promotional price offers on week vacations.


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## DTLE949 (Aug 22, 2007)

*DAE Silver Lakes Vacation Club Southern California Mountains*

Hi all,
Has anybody stayed here recently?
I tried but could not get info regarding this resort.
Is this a good place to go for a get away?
Any input is certainly appreciated.
Thanks
Trang


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## pedro47 (Aug 22, 2007)

DTLE949 said:


> Hi all,
> Has anybody stayed here recently?
> I tried but could not get info regarding this resort.
> Is this a good place to go for a get away?
> ...



The last reviews from The TUG Resort Database are old.  Maybe the resort  has improved over time.  Like a fine wine.


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## Malibu Sky (Aug 23, 2007)

pedro47 said:


> The last reviews from The TUG Resort Database are old.  Maybe the resort  has improved over time.  Like a fine wine.




I also took a look at this exchange as an end of summer trip...the TUG reviews, indicating graffiti, a "cement" pond as the lake and low-income housing next to the "resort" sort of turned me off.  

If anyone has been to Silver Lakes recently, I would love to know the scoop!!


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## theo (Aug 23, 2007)

geekette said:


> With their Redweek partnership, some could be coming from RW deposits.



I was of the belief (perhaps I'm mistaken) that RedWeek deposits remain in the RedWeek system alone and do NOT become available inventory for DAE. While DAE does provide back-end service and support for the new RedWeek exchange program, I didn't (and don't) think that any RedWeek inventory (such as it is....) then becomes available as DAE inventory. I'll stand to be corrected if mistaken on this point.


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## travel bug (Aug 23, 2007)

Thanks for posting this thread - I have signed up with DAE and should get my membership number in a couple of weeks.  Very prompt service from them as well - had made a mistake on the City I listed and got a very pleasant call from a rep within a few hours to clear it up.  We will be needing accommodations in December in the Palm Springs area and if RCI doesn't come through with an acceptable trade for us it's nice to have a backup plan!!


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## jejones3329 (Aug 23, 2007)

Copied rom the DAE forum

June 15, 2007, 07:07 PM    #4  
Ask DAE 


TUG Member


BBS Reg. Date: Apr 16, 07
Posts: 45  We will be sharing selected inventory with Redweek and they will be sharing selected inventory with us.

The shared inventory benefits both of our respective member bases, in that we have a wider reach to a large base of members from whom we can accept inventory deposits, opening up the availability of a larger and more diverse inventory for both groups of members.

RedWeek is taking deposits for every exchange and is making the acquired inventory available for exchange, keeping their rental pool separate (they post peer to peer rentals). They are committed to creating a first class online exchange service. We believe in their integrity and look forward to a long and prosperous relationship with them!


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## Lee B (Aug 23, 2007)

The U.S. economy is softer than usual these days, due to the sub-prime home loan bust.  This can result in deposits from owners who won't be traveling this year and other reasons.  Also, it's a slower time of year anyway.

I hope that TUGgers can take advantage of these DAE deals (DAELS?) and spur the popularity of that exchange company.  They seem to be working hard for our business.

Lee


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## Aldo (Aug 23, 2007)

Ask DAE said:


> Hello,
> 
> Just chiming in...
> 
> ...




BRAVO!

Did business with you for the first time this year.  EXTREMELY satisfied and intend to do business with you in the future.

A business model based on fairness to timeshare owners!  What a concept!


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## Judy (Aug 24, 2007)

travel bug said:


> Thanks for posting this thread - I have signed up with DAE and should get my membership number in a couple of weeks.  Very prompt service from them as well - had made a mistake on the City I listed and got a very pleasant call from a rep within a few hours to clear it up.  We will be needing accommodations in December in the Palm Springs area and if RCI doesn't come through with an acceptable trade for us it's nice to have a backup plan!!


You don't need to have your membership number before you can search DAE online.  If you find what you want, you can just call in and make your exchange.
RCI has more inventory than DAE in many areas.  If you find what you want on DAE, I recommend that you book it and then use RCI for something else.


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## John Cummings (Aug 30, 2007)

Judy said:


> www.daelive.com but bonus/rentals is a "members only page".  Membership is free.  Here is the list from the email:
> 
> Last Minute Bonus Weeks reduced to $99*!
> We have discounted all bonus weeks with check in dates earlier than September 15th, 2007. Take advantage of these last minute discounted getaways today!
> ...



I see a lot of weeks at Silver Lakes Vacation Club. If Silver Lakes is representative of the other resorts then the quality of the resorts are pretty low. Silver Lakes had the dubious honor of being voted the worst California Timeshare. I have stayed there on bonus time and must say that they definitely deserve the worst rating.


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## John Cummings (Aug 30, 2007)

mamiecarter said:


> DAE used to list a lot fewer $99 bonus weeks, now it has a lot.It is a great time to join DAE, rent from RCI or II but is it a good market to own timeshares?
> 
> I know it will be harder to rent weeks, particularly off season weeks with this kind of competition.
> 
> ...



We are spending more on vacationing this year and next. I see no reason to cut back. Economy is good. Gas prices are much lower now though that has never been a factor for us.


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## Carolinian (Aug 30, 2007)

These are *last minute* rentals and *for members only*.

This is NOT the same thing RCI is doing with widespread rentals to the general public.

It is DAE's approach to diposing of short shelf-life last minute inventory to members.  The old pre-Cendant RCI handled this through the 45 day window, although that is only part of the approach of the new RCI.  



dougp26364 said:


> Or maybe it's just bigger profits to take membership fee's, accept deposits and then put them on the rental market at any price for a few extra bucks rather than only getting the exchange fee in return. $299 is still 56% more than the $169 exchange fee. Rent enough of those units and your profit goes up considerably without much more effort or expense than before.
> 
> DAE is still small enough that they may not have a large enough base to accomadate exchange requests efficiently or, they may just be taking the same road as RCI.


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## Carolinian (Aug 30, 2007)

BocaBum99 said:


> $99 specials are more a symptom of a company who has a product that doesn't have sufficient access to the market.  It's like garage sales.  If you hold a garage sale, your market is limited to those who show up to your house on the day you have your garage sale.  The supply is what you have, the demand is the population of garage sale enthusiasts who happen to be in your neighborhood.  Net result:  very low prices.
> 
> These $99 bonus weeks hurt owners even though many Weeks exchange apologists try to "spin" it as a benefit to owners.  It's not.  Why?  Because timeshare exchange is a ZERO Sum game.
> 
> ...



The DAE business model lacks the conflicts of interest that are absolutely inherent in a model like RCI's where they rent what they want to the general public.  I'll take the *non-corrupt* model like DAE, thank you!


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## JRStewart (Aug 31, 2007)

*Better values in cruises too*

It's not just TSs, but cruises, like Alaska, Hawaii and Mexico, have been lower this year too. 
Instead of buying a resale TS cheap, it might be wise to go short notice and be flexible. Cheaper than a MF and no SA or long term commitment.


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## Rent_Share (Sep 1, 2007)

DTLE949 said:


> Hi all,
> Has anybody stayed here recently?
> I tried but could not get info regarding this resort.
> Is this a good place to go for a get away?
> ...



Because it's in the high desert they are calling it "Mountain"  - It's closer to Victorville.

You could buy a week there for $99 what does that tell you


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## John Cummings (Sep 1, 2007)

Rent_Share said:


> Because it's in the high desert they are calling it "Mountain"  - It's closer to Victorville.
> 
> You could buy a week there for $99 what does that tell you



I was also very surprised about it being called "Mountain". In fact I had to look it up on the Internet to make sure it was the same resort we had stayed at for one night. It is the same resort and yes, it is high desert near Barstow and Victorville. It is definitely not a place I would want to vacation at.


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## leskiw (Sep 11, 2007)

Do you have to deposit with DAE in order to access these specials? These seem to be much better than the "getaways" on II.

Dave


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## GregD (Sep 12, 2007)

No deposit is required to take advantage of the bonus weeks.


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## Kola (Sep 12, 2007)

GregD said:


> No deposit is required to take advantage of the bonus weeks.



These are not called "bonus" weeks, but rather sell-off weeks at fixed prices that range from $99 to $299 depending on resort, location, etc. Some are very good deals if you want a specific destinations offered. Unlike SFX "bonus" weeks (one of which is for Mexico only), DAE sell-off weeks are available without a deposit and are not limited in terms of quantity you can buy. Another advantage is the very availability of the DAE list which gives everyone an opportunity to see what is being offered and at what price. You can buy from the current list or wait for the next one. Your opportunity to buy a DAE sell-off week does not expire. 

Michael


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