# [2006] Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?



## sandesurf (Jun 14, 2006)

We were original owners at the Palm Canyon resort in Palm Springs. They eventually talked us into converging our points into Monarch Grand points two years ago to be able to use the points at several other timeshares. I notice that there are Palm Canyon points still available on EBAY for an extremely low price. Since that is where we use most of our points it's tempting to buy more but does anyone know a reason for these points selling at such low prices?
Thanks for any info. anyone has.


----------



## sandesurf (Jun 14, 2006)

*Re: Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?*

????????????


----------



## JohnnyO (Jun 15, 2006)

*Re: Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?*

Basically it is supply and demand......Palm Canyon points have been available for low low prices for years now.  Monarch is known for 'pitching heat' in their sales and they get many people to buy from the developer....and everyone is a prospect no matter if they can afford it or not.  Many people who can't afford it or don't want to go there anymore just give up and want to get rid of the timeshare and the maintenance fees....so they default, give it away, or sell for cheap once they realize they cannot get even close to their original price back.

So if you really like the place and use it then it is bargains galore out there....just be a selective shopper.....you may be better off making offers to private parties on the many classifieds web sites as the closing costs are usually pretty high from several of the ebay re-sellers.


----------



## Bill4728 (Jun 18, 2006)

*Re: Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?*

Monarch grand and their resorts have been selling cheap for a long time. 

We enjoy the MGV locations (esp Riviera Shores) and were thinking of picking up some more points. 

The question is should we get MGV points or points at one of the resorts?

With a $2000 fee to convert to MGV plus the added cost of deed transfer, I wouldn't buy one of the resorts with the idea of converting. But in some ways I like owning RS as a stand alone resort.


----------



## ricoba (Jun 18, 2006)

*Re: Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?*



			
				JohnnyO said:
			
		

> B  Monarch is known for 'pitching heat' in their sales and they get many people to buy from the developer....and everyone is a prospect no matter if they can afford it or not.  Many people who can't afford it or don't want to go there anymore just give up and want to get rid of the timeshare and the maintenance fees....so they default, give it away, or sell for cheap once they realize they cannot get even close to their original price back.



The WORST  TS presentation we ever went to was at Palm Canyon, it was even worse than the ones we did in Mexico.  We were basically humiliated, harrassed and embarrased for nearly two hours.  As I remember we sat through 3 different closers, till the final one said "Why did you come here any way?"  To which I simply replied..."You gave us a free weekend"...needless to say he was furious but it ended the conversation.  

While we were there we met folks who admitted they were pressured into buying.

This was before TUG, but thankfully we didn't buy there nor would I ever want to take them up on their "free weekend" offer again....


----------



## Bill4728 (Jun 22, 2006)

*Re: Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?*

Please be warned about Monarch Grand Vacations, We are a happy owners of MGV but MGV does two things which could cause people problems.
1. Their MGV product is *a 24 month usage*. So instead of annual or EOY, their product is for  24 months. Your points are issued every 24 months and valid for use during that time period. There is no banking or borrowing of points. 
2. They are the *only TS company *which sells a product which will not get you a full week stay. They sell a 72 pt membership which isn't enough to get you a full week at any size, location or time during the year. Since they don't allow banking or borrowing of points, this means that owners of the 72 pt membership can never trade with II because they can never reserve a whole week. 

MGV can pe purchased on Ebay for under $10/pt but since the developer is selling at 6-10 times that price, many people are trying to sell the point memberships at significantly higher prices.


----------



## sandesurf (Jun 23, 2006)

*Re: Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?*

Thanks for the replies! 
Bill, our biggest regret about converting is that the HOAs are higher with MGV. The 24 mo. window has not been an issue except that we usually use up the points way too fast, having two grown kids who like to help use them! I will definitely look into buying specific resort points. 
Thanks again!


----------



## bnevins (Jul 16, 2006)

*Re: Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?*

I purchased 133 points for Palm Canyon in 1995.  Since then I upgraded to MGV and 155 points, which has turned out to be a waste of money.  The last time I stayed at Palm Canyon I was very disappointed with the condition of the resort.  The room was very dirty and needed to be refurbished, although the pool area was clean and maintained.  I noticed a lot of people in the pool area had plastic bracelets on, so I am assuming they were day only users of the resort.  I have used points to stay at the Tahoe Seasons Resort, which was like staying in a hotel room and had only a limited kitchen.  I have not stayed at the Southern California MGV resorts or the one in Las Vegas.  This was my first timeshare purchase and since then I have purchased a Marriott timeshare which has been GREAT.


----------



## sandesurf (Jul 16, 2006)

*Re: Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?*

Hi Barbara,
We purchased our 133 points in 1995 also. Converted (only 133) to MGV two years ago and regret it. Mostly because of the highter HOA fee since we stay at Palm Canyon 98%of the time. We've stayed at the Riviera Beach Club three times. Very nice location. The rooms were okay. NO windows in the one bedrooms!(Just a sliding glass door from living room) Limited kitchen. Not sure about the two bedrooms. We may try to reserve a Vegas week to trade. I'll let you know how that works.
Elena


----------



## nazclk (Jul 17, 2006)

*Re: Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?*

I just reserved a room at Palm Canyon for Labor Day weekend. I have been told that all the rooms have been refurbished in the last few months. 
Hope it's true


----------



## Pila (Jul 17, 2006)

*Re: Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?*

I have 155 even year for MGVC and 2-133 pt odd year memberships at Palm Canyon.  I did the switch several years ago from Palm Canyon to MGVC, but went to EBAY and the TUG resale board and bought the two 133 points PC memberships.  I use one PC for personal use and use the other PC for banking.  I find that the 2 bedroom units at PC trade almost as well as a 2 bedroom for MGVC, so why waste the money?

Monarch Resorts when they are making the pitch make it sound like that anytime you want to stay, just give them a call and you can get in.  Well, most of the time, buyers want weekends when the place is booked solid anyways.  They get frustrated and give up.  When I stay for full weeks, you can spot the owners vs. the exchangers as many of the owners are there just for the weekend.

Another issue is that they push the bi-annuals like crazy.  This means that you pay for two years for an I/I membership, but can trade only once per year.  This is one of the reasons that my memberships are both even and odd.


----------



## Bill4728 (Jul 18, 2006)

*Re: Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?*



			
				PILA said:
			
		

> Another issue is that they push the bi-annuals like crazy. This means that you pay for two years for an I/I membership, but can trade only once per year. This is one of the reasons that my memberships are both even and odd.


Pila,
MGV doesn't have even or odd memberships. They have only 24 month memberships. You may get your points in an even year, but you have a full 24 months to use them. This is different from the useage at PC. At PC (or the other resorts) you do have a true EOY ownership. 

I've heard that there are some annual PC ownerships but I seldom see them for sale. To the best of my knowledge there are NO Annual and NO EOY MGV memberships.


----------



## sandesurf (Jul 18, 2006)

*Re: Palm Canyon/Monarch Grand owners?*



			
				Bill4728 said:
			
		

> I've heard that there are some annual PC ownerships but I seldom see them for sale. To the best of my knowledge there are NO Annual and NO EOY MGV memberships.



Bill, true about MGV but our 133 PC points were annual. Hence when we switched over to MGV we now have 266 every 24 months. I've seen annual P.C. points for sale, just not as often.
Elena


----------



## RedDogSD (May 7, 2010)

This is a very old thread, but I am hoping that someone will answer it now that it pops to the top.

How many points does it take within MGV to do 1 week at:

Palm Canyon 1 bed
Palm Canyon 2 bed

Capistrano Beach 1 bed
Capistrano Beach 2 bed

We live in So Cal and want a TS that could be traded, or used locally for those years that we cannot get away on full trips.  So, the Monarch resorts are close enough, but I don't know how many points I need.

Thanks


----------



## ginnylbs (May 9, 2010)

*Monarch Points chart for exchanging within Monarch*

Here is the current exchange chart showing points for the week -day or buying bonus time.


----------



## WALLstAL (Dec 20, 2010)

I spend most of my points at Palm Canyon and Riviera Beach & Spa Capistrano Beach (1 bed) Monday thru Thursday, an excellent value for your points during the week (retired 14 yrs). 

All one bedrooms at Capistrano Beach face the ocean!


----------



## 9391 (Jan 27, 2011)

*HOA*

I am looking at 155 pts every year, for $150 per quarter. This seems low, anyone else have these rates per point??

Thanks.



WALLstAL said:


> I spend most of my points at Palm Canyon and Riviera Beach & Spa Capistrano Beach (1 bed) Monday thru Thursday, an excellent value for your points during the week (retired 14 yrs).
> 
> All one bedrooms at Capistrano Beach face the ocean!


----------



## nshugg (Jan 15, 2012)

*Respond to inexpensive points*



sandesurf said:


> We were original owners at the Palm Canyon resort in Palm Springs. They eventually talked us into converging our points into Monarch Grand points two years ago to be able to use the points at several other timeshares. I notice that there are Palm Canyon points still available on EBAY for an extremely low price. Since that is where we use most of our points it's tempting to buy more but does anyone know a reason for these points selling at such low prices?
> Thanks for any info. anyone has.



Monarch Grand Vacations has just been sold to Diamond Resorts Intl.  Note that if you you buy points from other people you will not be able to combine them together unless you buy a total of 400 points from the Monarch developer which will end in about 2 weeks.

Your next contact will be for Diamond to invite you in to spend a lot more money for access to their resorts and markedly increased HOA fees.


----------



## nshugg (Jan 15, 2012)

*HOA fees*



9391 said:


> I am looking at 155 pts every year, for $150 per quarter. This seems low, anyone else have these rates per point??
> 
> Thanks.



Your HOA fees are low compared to many other resorts however they just increased 9%.  Everyone pays $4.25 per point regardless of how many you own.


----------



## nshugg (Jan 15, 2012)

*No More*

The party is over.  Diamond Resorts Intl. taking over and you will no longer be able to purchase Monarch Grand Vacation points from the developer.  Diamond costs more along with their HOAs.  If you convert you will pay much more in HOA fees.

If you don't own 400 points from developer forget buying on secondary market.  You cannot combine points for higher end properties and don't get the same benefits.



Bill4728 said:


> Monarch grand and their resorts have been selling cheap for a long time.
> 
> We enjoy the MGV locations (esp Riviera Shores) and were thinking of picking up some more points.
> 
> ...


----------



## nshugg (Jan 15, 2012)

*Point explanation*

It takes 133 points for a week and 155 points for a week - 1 bd/2bd during premium times.

You won't get into the beach in Summer unless you get a week and block a year in advance.



RedDogSD said:


> This is a very old thread, but I am hoping that someone will answer it now that it pops to the top.
> 
> How many points does it take within MGV to do 1 week at:
> 
> ...


----------



## nshugg (Jan 15, 2012)

*Stay Home*

People like you come into timeshare presentations on a regular basis with closed minds, no interest in possibly upgrading and more or less there for your $60 in vouchers.  People who sell new timeshare and timeshare upgrades are people trying their best to help you maximize your ownership, tell you about new programs and yes hope that you will see what great benefits timeshare ownership has.  I wish all of you people who are interested in sponging payoffs would just say no when they get the call.  Sales people are just trying to make a living too.  Do us a favor...stay away.



ricoba said:


> The WORST  TS presentation we ever went to was at Palm Canyon, it was even worse than the ones we did in Mexico.  We were basically humiliated, harrassed and embarrased for nearly two hours.  As I remember we sat through 3 different closers, till the final one said "Why did you come here any way?"  To which I simply replied..."You gave us a free weekend"...needless to say he was furious but it ended the conversation.
> 
> While we were there we met folks who admitted they were pressured into buying.
> 
> This was before TUG, but thankfully we didn't buy there nor would I ever want to take them up on their "free weekend" offer again....


----------



## RX8 (Jan 16, 2012)

*Timeshare salesperson?*



nshugg said:


> People like you come into timeshare presentations on a regular basis with closed minds, no interest in possibly upgrading and more or less there for your $60 in vouchers.  People who sell new timeshare and timeshare upgrades are people trying their best to help you maximize your ownership, tell you about new programs and yes hope that you will see what great benefits timeshare ownership has.  I wish all of you people who are interested in sponging payoffs would just say no when they get the call.  Sales people are just trying to make a living too.  Do us a favor...stay away.



Although you don't say so directly, you must be a Timeshare salesperson as you ended it with "Do *US* a favor...stay away."

I recently attended a Timeshare presentation in Las Vegas.  I told the person trying to sign me up that I had NO INTENTIONS OF BUYING and her response was "no one does."  She convinced me to attend by increasing her "gifts" and also because I AM interested in a Timeshare and thought another perspective would be beneficial.  In short, I was asked to go even though they knew I was not going to buy.

I personally have no problems with people trying to make a living at selling Timeshares.  What I do have a problem with is the high pressure methods some use, including giving out FALSE information.  Whether it is lack of knowledge or outright lies, it is still FALSE info that an uninformed buyer may very well base the decision on, which my guess is what many are hoping for.  

With my presentation, along with the some false statements, I was presented a price of almost *$50,000 *for something that could be bought on eBay for about *$1,000 *that also included a BONUS of a years free points.  This was the EXACT SAME RESORT/SIZE/POINTS on eBay that was being sold by this developer.  

Wouldn't you agree that a "closed mind" on a purchase such as this was the RIGHT financial decision for ANYONE? 

Put another way, why would I pay $100 for a bottle of ketchup when I could buy the same thing for $2?

I've only attended three Timeshare presentations and all three salespersons talked about all the great use/trades they have had with their Timeshare.  If they weren't lying about owning, I would bet big that they didn't pay FULL price for that Timeshare.


----------

