# Spinnaker Hilton Head Bluewater Resort Heads UP



## MULTIZ321 (Feb 12, 2011)

My wife and I purchased an EOY 2BR at the Hilton Head Island Spinnaker Bluewater Resort.

This year was to be our first use year but because of other travel plans we decided to bank our week with Interval International (II).

In January, I booked what I thought would be a desirable week - July 3rd, 2011 and received a confirmation letter for the week from Spinnaker. I then deposited the week with II.

I was hoping I would be entitled to an Accomodation Certificate but II said no.

Earlier this week I went to the II website to do an exchange search and discovered that the week I had reserved with Bluewater was now not available to me.  I called II and was told Spinnaker denied my deposit request .  I called Spinnaker and was told the reason my deposit was denied was that Bluewater owners can't deposit weeks 22 to 35
(May 29th to August 28th) with an exchange company.

I said no one had informed me of that rule. The rep from II said that Spinnaker should have informed me of the deposit denial.  However, Spinnaker did not do that.

I've now submitted another email request to Spinnaker for another week to deposit.

Just wanted to inform other Bluewater owners of this rule, in case you weren't aware of it as we were not.


Richard


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## gnipgnop (Feb 13, 2011)

Does this apply to only Bluewater Resort owners or to all Spinnaker Resorts?  We own at Waterside.


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## MULTIZ321 (Feb 13, 2011)

gnipgnop said:


> Does this apply to only Bluewater Resort owners or to all Spinnaker Resorts?  We own at Waterside.



GnipGnop,

We used to own at Waterside too but never deposited our week for exchange.  If I remember correctly, there are different ownship types at Waterside - Fixed weeks and floating weeks. So , you would reserve  either your fixed week or a week within your floating weeks window= and then deposit said week.

We had shoulder season at Waterside - so didn't have to worry about depositing a summer week for exchange.  However, if you within the week 22 to week 35 window  at Waterside, I would call Spinnaker Owner Services and find out if you can
deposit it for exchange.

Richard


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## BarCol (Feb 13, 2011)

we own an EOY fixed week at Waterside (between week 2and 35) and have successfully deposited it with RCI - of course that was a couple of years ago that we deposited and I hope this new "rule" doesn't apply in future as the week we deposited was purchased for trade and frankly it's too hot in HH at that time for us.

FWIW I have heard of other resorts trying to institute the same dumb rule on deposits - strange that they don't limit rentals to non-owners though.


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## elaine (Feb 13, 2011)

for fixed weeks, they cannot prevent you from depositing your week. 
I have a fixed Waterside week and deposited 2011 4th of July week, no issues.  I believe OP is referring to floating weeks--which can be restricted for deposits--but if it is not disclosed in your purchase documents, I would call and protest it, as we all know a summer HHI week is a prime trader. 
Other resorts have variations on this---I think I recall that some have difficulty depositing certain prime floating Starwood weeks in RCI/II. I have a floating week elsewhere and can book a specific unit/view for personal usage, but they disallow those units to be deposited with RCI--only the back units go to RCI.


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## MULTIZ321 (Feb 13, 2011)

elaine said:


> for fixed weeks, they cannot prevent you from depositing your week.
> I have a fixed Waterside week and deposited 2011 4th of July week, no issues.  I believe OP is referring to floating weeks--which can be restricted for deposits--but if it is not disclosed in your purchase documents, I would call and protest it, as we all know a summer HHI week is a prime trader.
> Other resorts have variations on this---I think I recall that some have difficulty depositing certain prime floating Starwood weeks in RCI/II. I have a floating week elsewhere and can book a specific unit/view for personal usage, but they disallow those units to be deposited with RCI--only the back units go to RCI.



Elaine,

You're correct.  All Bluewater weeks float for the entire year. I'll have to look at the purchase docs to see if his restriction is mentioned.


Richard


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## singletk (Jul 19, 2011)

gnipgnop said:


> Does this apply to only Bluewater Resort owners or to all Spinnaker Resorts?  We own at Waterside.



This was a new change this year ... with no notification or warning to owners. I had reserved 2 summer weeks that I intended to place in their rental pool only to learn after the fact that they would no longer rent summer weeks. Apparently there were complaints from Spinnaker owners who wanted these weeks to use and didn't feel it was fair for others to rent or space bank the weeks. I believe the policy is across all Spinnaker Resorts.


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## stevedmatt (Jul 19, 2011)

singletk said:


> This was a new change this year ... with no notification or warning to owners. I had reserved 2 summer weeks that I intended to place in their rental pool only to learn after the fact that they would no longer rent summer weeks. Apparently there were complaints from Spinnaker owners who wanted these weeks to use and didn't feel it was fair for others to rent or space bank the weeks. I believe the policy is across all Spinnaker Resorts.



So if I own a float with Spinnaker and book a summer week, I can not rent that to anyone through a private rental or are you just referring to the Spinnaker rental pool?

Lucky for me my Spinnaker summer weeks are fixed.


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## DavidnJudy (Jul 19, 2011)

Should be First Come First Served. That's a goofy rule.


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## esk444 (Jul 20, 2011)

DavidnJudy said:


> Should be First Come First Served. That's a goofy rule.



It's not a goofy rule at all.  It protects owners that actually want to use and stay at the resort over owners that don't.

The resort is basically deciding it would rather piss off owners by making them have a little less trading power or an easy method of renting, vs. owners that may not be able to use the timeshare if they can't get a week during a school vacation.

I personally don't like the rule because I'm sure I'd be the kind of person making a reservations at 12:01 am (or whatever the earliest time is).  But I can see the benefits of it, particularly at a resort that has a 1-52 float period but a short tourist season.

I have a ski float week that has similar restrictions on week 51, 52, and 7.  If it didn't have it, those weeks would be impossible to book.  Right now it is just really difficult to get those weeks because I just have to compete against folks that actually want to travel during those times versus a larger pool of owners that want those weeks for trading or renting.


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## aliikai2 (Jul 20, 2011)

*Tryng to restrict the use of your ownership*

Is a terrible thing.  This is a very bad change.
 Many of the resorts that have done this have found themselves in court as without a vote of the owners( you and me) they management company can't just change the rules regarding how you can use your week.
I once had a resort in California that was managed by Platinum, I booked a summer week and then deposited it to RCI, it was a tiger, saw everything. About a week later, it was gone and a spring week was in my account, it was a kitten, cute but worthless. I called Platinum and they gave that that same bs excuse,:ignore:  I asked for the written documents approved by the HOA that set forth this policy. 
They redeposited my summer week.   

We own a Waterside, and I have made a summer reservation, which I will rent.

Greg




esk444 said:


> It's not a goofy rule at all.  It protects owners that actually want to use and stay at the resort over owners that don't.
> 
> The resort is basically deciding it would rather piss off owners by making them have a little less trading power or an easy method of renting, vs. owners that may not be able to use the timeshare if they can't get a week during a school vacation.
> 
> ...


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## janej (Jul 20, 2011)

I own at Waterside.  I have not received any communication about this change.  I rented out my week (Aug 6 check-in) just last week and called to provide them the guest names.  No one mentioned this change.  

The management company do provide rental service, but they would not rent out summer weeks for you.  I think that is fair.   But it is not good to restrict usage other wise.  Actually, the resort allows renters to use the golf package.   That is incentive for some to rent instead of exchange through RCI.  I like that.


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## pedro47 (Jul 20, 2011)

Weeks 22 to 35 are prime rental weeks for the island.


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## stevedmatt (Jul 20, 2011)

Jane, is your week fixed or floating?


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## janej (Jul 20, 2011)

stevedmatt said:


> Jane, is your week fixed or floating?



My week is floating.  I don't think the resort rents too well though.  I bought the week later last year when I already planned this summer.  I just picked a week knowing I will have to rent it.   I used Redweek, vacationtimesharerentals.com and stayed on the lower end.


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## JudyS (Jul 21, 2011)

aliikai2 said:


> Is a terrible thing.  This is a very bad change.
> Many of the resorts that have done this have found themselves in court as without a vote of the owners( you and me) they management company can't just change the rules regarding how you can use your week.
> I once had a resort in California that was managed by Platinum, I booked a summer week and then deposited it to RCI, it was a tiger, saw everything. About a week later, it was gone and a spring week was in my account, it was a kitten, cute but worthless. I called Platinum and they gave that that same bs excuse,:ignore:  I asked for the written documents approved by the HOA that set forth this policy.
> They redeposited my summer week.
> ...



I'm 100% with Greg here. I don't see how a management company can just make a change of this magnitude without a vote from owners. 

By the way, I was just telling my husband yesterday that I find Platinum/Tricom hard to deal with. (I own one week managed by them.) Greg's experience doesn't improve my image of them!


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## Maple_Leaf (Jul 23, 2011)

*Waterside is a Developer-Controlled Resort*



JudyS said:


> I'm 100% with Greg here. I don't see how a management company can just make a change of this magnitude without a vote from owners.



Waterside is managed by Southwind Management.  The developer of Waterside is Spinnaker Resorts.  From the Spinnaker website...

"In 1993, Spinnaker formed a property management company to manage Spinnaker developments. This company, Southwind Management Corporation (SMC) currently manages 969 timeshare units."

Southwind manages Waterside on behalf of Spinnaker, the developer, not the owners.


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## Maple_Leaf (Jul 23, 2011)

*Same goes for Bluewater*



Maple_Leaf said:


> Waterside is managed by Southwind Management.  The developer of Waterside is Spinnaker Resorts.  From the Spinnaker website...
> 
> "In 1993, Spinnaker formed a property management company to manage Spinnaker developments. This company, Southwind Management Corporation (SMC) currently manages 969 timeshare units."
> 
> Southwind manages Waterside on behalf of Spinnaker, the developer, not the owners.



Bluewater is owned by Spinnaker and managed by Southwind, so same goes for Bluewater as well.


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## elaine (Jul 23, 2011)

I am not a fan of developer control, but, even though Spinnaker is managed by developer, I have to say that of the 4 Ts that I own, IMHO Waterside is the best run place and the most reasonable maintenance fees. I own another  2BR on HHI (use as a trader) that is not as nice with MF $300 higher than my 3 BR at Waterside--I bet I know where that $300 goes! 
Unlike many "deals" and things that management comes out on top, I can't see how Spinnaker is gaming this? I think this policy is a bit paternalistic ("protecting late-comers, so they can still get a summer week"), but doesn't Starwood do a similar thing--they choose the deposit time if you aren't using it?  
I would be mad about the deposit aspect, so I would get out sales documents--if they are silent as to which weeks are deposited--I would call and complain that you were told/bought under the assumption that you could deposit ANY week you want. Keep calling and complaining and maybe they will deposit a summer week???? Elaine


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## kaio (Sep 26, 2011)

*wow*

Sorry to bump this thread, I dont know much about this resort besides I just called them and got the rudest, most un-helpful concierge I have ever  spoken to - Patricia.  She refused to answer any questions, refused to give me information about the resort, about the rooms, and was just a handful.... eventually she hung up on me.  I spoke to Southwind who immediately called her and apologized on her behalf... but wow, I would never want to stay somewhere that is being overlooked by a very unhelpful concierge ( kind of an oxymoron)


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