# Sunterra Trades on RCI & II



## nwlibtax (Nov 29, 2007)

I have never owned a timeshare before, and I am thinking of buying a Sunterra/Diamond resale (Gatlinburg Time Square 2BR) through the TUG classifieds.  

I have recently read here that exchanges with Sunterra are not possible in some cases.  The seller of this property indicated that it could be listed and exchanged through RCI & II.

It is a fixed week (14) with a fee option to float.

Can this unit in fact be exchanged through RCI or II?
If it can, how well would it trade...(it is listed as a Gold Crown - whatever that means)?
How expensive is it to join and trade on the exchanges.

Thanks for your help.          

NW


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## Bill4728 (Nov 29, 2007)

"Club Sunterra" trades only thru II but club membership isn't included when you buy resale. 

But *weeks bought resale* at a Sunterra managed resort, sometimes can trade with either RCI or II. The fact that it is Gold Crown, means that it can be traded in RCI.  In not sure if there is a way to find out if a "non Club" week at that resort can trade in II. 

A week 14 at that resort isn't likely to trade very well. And converting that week to a Club Sunterra week so it could float would be very expensive ( as much as $3000 or more). I'd pass.


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## AwayWeGo (Nov 29, 2007)

*Gatlinburg Town Square.*




nwlibtax said:


> I have never owned a timeshare before, and I am thinking of buying a Sunterra/Diamond resale (Gatlinburg Time Square 2BR) through the TUG classifieds.


SunTerra has a timeshare in Gatlinburg TN, but it's not Gatlinburg Time Square. 

The SunTerra folks call their Gatlinburg timeshare Bent Creek Golf Village.  We must have breezed right past it without noticing it when we were vacationing in Gatlinburg the end of September 2007. 

The Gatlinburg timeshare where we stayed is Gatlinburg _Town_ Square, which is a link in the Summer Bay timeshare chain, rather than SunTerra (Diamond) -- not that there's anything wrong with SunTerra or Diamond or Summer Bay. 

Gatlinburg Town Square exchanges through RCI, I believe, possibly RCI Points.  Not Sure about SunTerra's Bent Creek Golf Village. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## AwayWeGo (Nov 29, 2007)

*Whoa!   Never Mind -- I Was Wrong (& Not For The 1st Time).*

Well I'll be dipped. 

At the Diamond timeshares web site, both Bent Creek & 3 Town & Village timeshares in Gatlinburg are listed as part of the Diamond (formerly SunTerra) timeshare line-up, along with another 1 near-by over in Pigeon Forge, TN.   Who knew? 

Whssup with that?  Did Diamond buy up the Summer Bay chain in addition to taking over SunTerra? 

Nobody at Gatlinburg Town Square said anything about SunTerra or Diamond when we were there -- in fact, when we took the in-house tour (for freebies, mainly) the sales folks were touting the virtues of the Summer Bay timeshare chain.  

In just the few years since The Chief Of Staff & I jumped into timeshares, there have been plenty of name changes . . . 

Cendant split into a bunch of renamed subsidiaries.  
FairField is now Wyndham. 
Wyndham Palms is now Mystic Dunes. 
Isle Of Bali became Ron Jon, then changed again to Liki Tiki Village. 
Ramada Vacation Suites Las Vegas became Leisure Resort Las Vegas, then Summer Bay Las Vegas. ​
Shux, the timeshare resorts & timeshare companies are changing names faster than the drugstore companies & bank chains around here. 

Sheesh. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## barndweller (Nov 29, 2007)

GTS is listed in both II and my handy dandy Sunterra/Diamond catalogues. Week 14 is low season so not much in demand. I would guess that it was at one time offered up as a Sunterra points (like many others still in the listings) resort but is not part of the TRUST. Getting trades into those non-Trust resorts is pretty iffy. I don't use RCI for trading but I do use II and have seen this resort often. Buying a low season week for exchange wouldn't be my first choice. It is rated 5-star at II so would probably pull other good quality resorts but only in off season. It would be waaayyy too expensive to convert to Diamond Club membership just to access the other Diamond resorts.

Once you have bought a RESALE timeshare, you then must join an exchange company if you want to trade. RCI and II have a joining fee as well as a fee whenever you exchange. Currently, the only ones with no fee to join are SFX and TPI. Do some searches to find more info on the smaller exchange companies.


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## nwlibtax (Nov 29, 2007)

*changing to floating week*

This is the response I got from the seller...

A fixed week can turn into floating by paying a fee (around $50) each year you don't want week 14.  You can do this when you choose to keep your week, bank it with RCI or II (this resort is affiliated with both, or use your week to be in the pool that is done starting April of each year to pick another week (after paying the $50 extra).  

Does this make sense...or is the fee underestimated?


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## JoeMid (Nov 29, 2007)

nwlibtax said:


> I have never owned a timeshare before, and I am thinking of buying a Sunterra/Diamond resale (Gatlinburg Time Square 2BR) through the TUG classifieds.
> 
> I have recently read here that exchanges with Sunterra are not possible in some cases.  The seller of this property indicated that it could be listed and exchanged through RCI & II.
> 
> ...





Bill4728 said:


> "Club Sunterra" trades only thru II but club membership isn't included when you buy resale.
> 
> But *weeks bought resale* at a Sunterra managed resort, sometimes can trade with either RCI or II. The fact that it is Gold Crown, means that it can be traded in RCI.  In not sure if there is a way to find out if a "non Club" week at that resort can trade in II.
> 
> A week 14 at that resort isn't likely to trade very well. And converting that week to a Club Sunterra week so it could float would be very expensive ( as much as $3000 or more). I'd pass.



When a Diamond/Sunterra Resort is affiliated with II  as well as THE Club affiliation, there are usually multiple resort codes.



AwayWeGo said:


> SunTerra has a timeshare in Gatlinburg TN, but it's not Gatlinburg Time Square.
> 
> The SunTerra folks call their Gatlinburg timeshare Bent Creek Golf Village.  We must have breezed right past it without noticing it when we were vacationing in Gatlinburg the end of September 2007.
> 
> ...





AwayWeGo said:


> Well I'll be dipped.
> 
> At the Diamond timeshares web site, both Bent Creek & 3 Town & Village timeshares in Gatlinburg are listed as part of the Diamond (formerly SunTerra) timeshare line-up, along with another 1 near-by over in Pigeon Forge, TN.   Who knew?
> 
> ...


Where do you get your information?  Certainly not from comprehending posts on TUG.  Those Gatlinburg resorts have always been on the Sunterra/Diamond books.  Does it mean Sunterra manages the resort, no.  But they do have a block of inventory there.  There are many resorts that are split like that in their inventory.  San Luis Bay original wing is RCIM, and there's a Diamond/Sunterra wing.  Village at Steamboat is managed by maybe Wyndham but there's a building of Diamond/Sunterra ownership.  Villas de Santa Fe has a block of rooms that belong to VI as does Cypress Point I/II.  Royal Dunes has less than 25% Diamond/Sunterra owners these days.


barndweller said:


> GTS is listed in both II and my handy dandy Sunterra/Diamond catalogues. Week 14 is low season so not much in demand. I would guess that it was at one time offered up as a Sunterra points (like many others still in the listings) resort but is not part of the TRUST. Getting trades into those non-Trust resorts is pretty iffy. I don't use RCI for trading but I do use II and have seen this resort often. Buying a low season week for exchange wouldn't be my first choice. It is rated 5-star at II so would probably pull other good quality resorts but only in off season. It would be waaayyy too expensive to convert to Diamond Club membership just to access the other Diamond resorts.
> 
> Once you have bought a RESALE timeshare, you then must join an exchange company if you want to trade. RCI and II have a joining fee as well as a fee whenever you exchange. Currently, the only ones with no fee to join are SFX and TPI. Do some searches to find more info on the smaller exchange companies.


The Trust, which is now Diamond Resorts U. S. Collection  has nothing to do with inventory as you insinuate.  Trust doesn't own the whole resort in any case although they are usually part of resorts that are largely in Diamond/Sunterra owners but not necessarily their management. 



nwlibtax said:


> This is the response I got from the seller...
> 
> A fixed week can turn into floating by paying a fee (around $50) each year you don't want week 14.  You can do this when you choose to keep your week, bank it with RCI or II (this resort is affiliated with both, or use your week to be in the pool that is done starting April of each year to pick another week (after paying the $50 extra).
> 
> Does this make sense...or is the fee underestimated?


Yes, it is one way of managing time at a resort.


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## falmouth3 (Nov 29, 2007)

nwlibtax,

May I please suggest that you take some time and read the boards here for a while until you get a good idea of how to get the most of out your timeshare before you buy one.  Once you own a timeshare, it may be difficult to get sell it so you want to make sure it's really what you want and that you'll be able to maximize your usage of it.

If you think you'd enjoy that resort and that week, go for it.  However, other people here have stated that it won't be an optimal week for exchanging.  

Please take your time and don't rush into anything.  

Sue


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## dougp26364 (Nov 29, 2007)

I believe at one time Sunterra (now Diamond Resorts) managed Gatlinburg Town Square but was replaced by the HOA with Summer Bay. DRI still has units that members paid to convert to Sunoptions which is now call THE Club. Buying the unit resale will only give you the unit and not membership into THE Club. You will either have to pay a joiner fee (Polo Towers owners were given this option for $2,995) or buy points directly from the developer and ask that the GTS unit conversion to THE Club be included in the deal. 

GTS is also a dual affiliated resort. Units trade with both RCI and I.I. I'm not certain if all units have the option to exchange through both companies, if only the DRI managed units trade through I.I. or if there is some other set up which might restrict what unit trades were.

GTS is a nice resort. We stayed in a two bedroom phase two unit last June. Great location and a decent unit.

If you want to see our pictures of the resort, click on the picture and it will take you to our Webshots page for GTS.


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## JoeMid (Nov 29, 2007)

nwlibtax said:


> This is the response I got from the seller...
> 
> A fixed week can turn into floating by paying a fee (around $50) each year you don't want week 14.  You can do this when you choose to keep your week, bank it with RCI or II (this resort is affiliated with both, or use your week to be in the pool that is done starting April of each year to pick another week (after paying the $50 extra).
> 
> Does this make sense...or is the fee underestimated?


Oh yeah, the owners of the really good weeks, the really RED weeks, don't often dump them into the resort's exchange pool.  They either use or bank their prime time with an exchange company.


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## AwayWeGo (Nov 30, 2007)

*Well, Shux, No Wonder It's Semi-Confusing*




dougp26364 said:


> I believe at one time Sunterra (now Diamond Resorts) managed Gatlinburg Town Square but was replaced by the HOA with Summer Bay. DRI still has units that members paid to convert to Sunoptions which is now call THE Club.


OK, so Gatlinburg Town Square is an _ex_-SunTerra timeshare*,* because it switched over to Summer Bay, but during its SunTerra era lots of units got plunked into Club SunTerra & remain there today so that as of now the Diamond timeshare folks (formerly SunTerra) still keep on showing Gatlinburg Town Square on their Diamond timeshare web site as part of the Diamond timeshare network -- even though Gatlinburg Town Square in actuality is a Summer Bay timeshare & no longer a SunTerra (now Diamond) timeshare at all.  Is that about it ? 

None of that inside-baseball history came up while we were there on RCI Points exchange in September 2007.  

Who'd a-thunk ? 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## JoeMid (Nov 30, 2007)

AwayWeGo said:


> OK, so Gatlinburg Town Square is an _ex_-SunTerra timeshare*,* because it switched over to Summer Bay, but during its SunTerra era lots of units got plunked into Club SunTerra & remain there today so that as of now the Diamond timeshare folks (formerly SunTerra) still keep on showing Gatlinburg Town Square on their Diamond timeshare web site as part of the Diamond timeshare network -- even though Gatlinburg Town Square in actuality is a Summer Bay timeshare & no longer a SunTerra (now Diamond) timeshare at all.  Is that about it ?


So with inventory in THE Club, according to you, they shouldn't list it in their catalog because they are not the original developer or not the current management??



AwayWeGo said:


> Who'd a-thunk ?
> 
> -- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


Surely, not you.


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## dougp26364 (Nov 30, 2007)

AwayWeGo said:


> OK, so Gatlinburg Town Square is an _ex_-SunTerra timeshare*,* because it switched over to Summer Bay, but during its SunTerra era lots of units got plunked into Club SunTerra & remain there today so that as of now the Diamond timeshare folks (formerly SunTerra) still keep on showing Gatlinburg Town Square on their Diamond timeshare web site as part of the Diamond timeshare network -- even though Gatlinburg Town Square in actuality is a Summer Bay timeshare & no longer a SunTerra (now Diamond) timeshare at all.  Is that about it ?
> 
> None of that inside-baseball history came up while we were there on RCI Points exchange in September 2007.
> 
> ...




I believe there are several more like this in the DRI resorts listings. The old Sunterra seemed to do a good job getting management contracts but a poor job of keeping them. When a timeshare company expands through acquisition and affiliation rather than building they can claim a lot of resorts but those resorts may in fact have very little inventory.


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## AwayWeGo (Nov 30, 2007)

*SunTerra-Diamond.  Diamond-SunTerra.  Mox Nix.*




JoeMid said:


> So with inventory in THE Club, according to you, they shouldn't list it in their catalog because they are not the original developer or not the current management??
> 
> Surely, not you.



Relax, Joe.  You are among friends.  Nobody is throwing rocks. 

I have no complaint about SunTerra-Diamond, nor do I offer any views about whether they should or should not list timeshares the way they do in their catalogs or via Internet.  Not only that, I don't even have any _attitude_ about it 1 way or another.  But I like trying to learn about it & to participate in the TUG-BBS give & take on the subject.  When I confess my ignorance & then remark about stuff I discover in trying to fill the gap, why should that get anybody's goat?  

Surely you don't object to my laying out what I think are the roots of my own lack of knowledge on the subject -- specially when I'm trying to make up for (accidentally) misleading Opie about whether Gatlinburg Town Square is or isn't a SunTerra timeshare. 

Turns out it is -- also turns out that it isn't.  Confusing for sure, eh ?  (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) 

So the bottom line is simply that the question of SunTerra-Diamond affiliation isn't all that simple & straightforward as it regards Gatlinburg Town Square.  As we grapple together with semi-entertaining ways of figuring that out, can't we all just get along ? 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## barndweller (Nov 30, 2007)

Well said, Alan!


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## AwayWeGo (Nov 30, 2007)

*Nice Pix !*




dougp26364 said:


> If you want to see our pictures of the resort, click on the picture and it will take you to our Webshots page for GTS.


Thanks for linking to the pictures -- very nice.  They remind me of the great time we had vacationing there last September (even though our points-exchange unit was a non-balcony studio -- which was still very nice). 

Details of our week-long stay at Gatlinburg Town Square can be seen in the _TUG Reviews_ section. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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