# New Welk points owner, question about exchanges



## cspariah (Aug 14, 2012)

Hi! Very glad I found this forum, although I wish I'd read it before buying! (I bet everyone says that.)

My wife and I recently purchased 120,000 points/every even year at Welk Escondido. We're very excited about using the points in exchange for time elsewhere. But I have a few questions that either weren't sufficiently answered by our salesman, or that I've thought of as I've started doing more research. Most of these are pretty Welk-centric.

1) Does Welk pay for II membership? My wife thinks our salesman said that II membership is included in our annual maintenance fee, but I don't remember. 

2) Welk really pushes II exchanges, but I saw that the Welk owner's website also allows for RCI exchanges. The sales rep said that RCI exchanges are limited because we're not RCI owners. Is this true? Would I just need to pay the annual fee for RCI membership to do an RCI exchange? 

3) Once I've deposited my points with II or RCI, is it possible to get less than a week at a time from either exchange? My wife and I would rather do several small trips than one long week, generally. I know that timeshare's aren't really built around this but it'd be nice if we can pull it off. On that topic, the sales rep did say that II's ACs have to be uninterrupted weeks, is that true?

Many thanks for any answers!


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## mjm1 (Aug 15, 2012)

First, welcome to Welk Resorts.  Like you and most people, I wish I knew about TUG before we made our first purchases.  But, at least you know about TUG now, which can help you maximize your ownership and save money on any future purchases.

Take plenty of time to learn how to use your membership.  We really like the resort in Escondido and will be visiting Cabo in December.  Branson is very  nice as well.

Cheers.




cspariah said:


> Hi! Very glad I found this forum, although I wish I'd read it before buying! (I bet everyone says that.)
> 
> My wife and I recently purchased 120,000 points/every even year at Welk Escondido. We're very excited about using the points in exchange for time elsewhere. But I have a few questions that either weren't sufficiently answered by our salesman, or that I've thought of as I've started doing more research. Most of these are pretty Welk-centric.
> 
> ...


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## Am Sick (Aug 15, 2012)

cspariah said:


> My wife and I recently purchased 120,000 points/every even year at Welk Escondido.


Do you mind sharing how much you paid for the timeshare? 



cspariah said:


> 1) Does Welk pay for II membership? My wife thinks our salesman said that II membership is included in our annual maintenance fee, but I don't remember.


Your wife is correct. And II can change the fee amount at their leisure. So there's two entities messing with your maintenance fee. Even if you keep your Welk timeshare; you have 7 days from receipt of the public report to rescind membership in II. Faxing is a sufficient way to rescind your membership in II.


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## cspariah (Aug 16, 2012)

Am Sick said:


> Do you mind sharing how much you paid for the timeshare?



I'm almost afraid to say, considering I'm sure if we'd known better we could have gotten the same points for half the price on the resale market. Total price including closing costs is about $12k, although we'd already paid about $1500 as part of a "preview" package we'd bought three years ago. That got put towards the price of the timeshare. MF is $840 EOY. 



> Your wife is correct. And II can change the fee amount at their leisure. So there's two entities messing with your maintenance fee. Even if you keep your Welk timeshare; you have 7 days from receipt of the public report to rescind membership in II. Faxing is a sufficient way to rescind your membership in II.



So here's a question... with us paying maintenance fees only EOY, how does that impact our ability to use II? We pay the MF for 2012, deposit our week, and then we want to exchange for a week somewhere in 2013... do we have to pay the II membership fee ourselves for 2013?


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## mjm1 (Aug 16, 2012)

I forgot to mention in my earlier comments that I responded to your specific questions in the body of your original post, which I quoted earlier.  Sorry for the insight.


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## Am Sick (Aug 17, 2012)

cspariah said:


> I'm almost afraid to say, considering I'm sure if we'd known better we could have gotten the same points for half the price on the resale market. Total price including closing costs is about $12k, although we'd already paid about $1500 as part of a "preview" package we'd bought three years ago. That got put towards the price of the timeshare. MF is $840 EOY.
> 
> So here's a question... with us paying maintenance fees only EOY, how does that impact our ability to use II? We pay the MF for 2012, deposit our week, and then we want to exchange for a week somewhere in 2013... do we have to pay the II membership fee ourselves for 2013?


Do recall the cost of an annual timeshare with 240,000 points? Curious if it was twice your cost or less with a discount for purchasing more timeshare.

You should not have to pay your MF until the year you can use your new timeshare. If my folks had not canceled their new contract and since they used their week already in 2012 they would have started paying the new MF, 1100+, in 2013 the first year they would be able to use their annual 270,000 point timeshare.

I highly recommend you read and digest everything in your timeshare hard bound folder. There's not much legal jargon and most of your questions will be answered. If you have any further questions consider contacting the Escrow Analyst handling your timeshare. Their business card should be the first thing you see when you open your folder. The Escrow Analyst is not the salesman so they will be honest with you.


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## cspariah (Aug 17, 2012)

mjm1 said:


> I forgot to mention in my earlier comments that I responded to your specific questions in the body of your original post, which I quoted earlier.  Sorry for the insight.



Oh, heh! Glad you mentioned it here, I totally scrolled past that.


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## cspariah (Aug 22, 2012)

Unfortunately I don't remember what price they were quoting us for 240,000 points. Also again we're getting 120,000 EOY and they only offered 240,000 annually, so I would expect it to be around 4X more if there was no discount. That said, I'm sure there's a discount. Before I even got my II membership I had a salesman from Welk call me up trying to get me to increase my points. I haven't even used them yet!

We paid a membership fee for 2012 because we want to trade our points immediately, to try and get a few days at a resort in Playa del Carmen next Spring for my cousin's wedding. 

Just got our II membership packet today. I called and asked some questions about how exactly this works for the EOY package, and this is what I was told:

* Welk covers base II membership each year we pay MF. On off years we'll have to pay for membership ourselves in order to get the benefits. 
* Welk upgraded us to Gold II membership for the first year. If we want to stay Gold any subsequent year, we'll have to pay for the upgrade ourselves.

The cost to upgrade to Gold from standard is $59/year with multi-year discounts. I tried to get the guy to tell me what the cost of the base package is for our off years but he didn't seem to understand me, kept quoting me the $59/year number for the upgrade. He did mention $79/year or $89/year at one point but again it's not clear that he understood what I was asking.


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## mjm1 (Aug 22, 2012)

$79 or $89 for one year of II sounds about right. I am not familiar with how the EOY works with Welk.  I know with Starwood, where we own an EOY, we pay the SVN (Starwood Vacation Network) fee every year, which includes II membership.

I would suggest calling the Welk desk at II and ask them how it would work, since you have a corporate II account with them through Welk.

You definitely don't want to rely on what a salesman tells you.  They are often misinformed (that may be an understatement in many people's minds). 

Good luck.


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## Am Sick (Aug 24, 2012)

cspariah said:


> I'm sure there's a discount.


A significant discount. According to my folks paperwork, the annual Platinum 240,000 PPY is valued by the Welk Group at $29,490. Closing/Document cost is $350. You're almost paying half for 1/4 ownership.  



cspariah said:


> * Welk covers base II membership each year we pay MF. On off years we'll have to pay for membership ourselves in order to get the benefits.


Yes, your MF includes the $89 iNTERVAL iNTERNATIONAL fee for that year. Look in your Welk Resort hard bound folder for a yellow carbon page, it's the membership application for iNTERVAL iNTERNATIONAL. If automatic renewal is check-marked yes and the credit card information is filled then II will charge your card. What benefit will you be getting in the OFF year; you do not have any time to trade? Maybe the benefit is the ability to reserve the following ON years time. I know I read where Welk Resort and iNTERVAL iNTERNATIONAL may require at least several months notice of intent to reserve a time.



cspariah said:


> * Welk upgraded us to Gold II membership for the first year. If we want to stay Gold any subsequent year, we'll have to pay for the upgrade ourselves.
> 
> The cost to upgrade to Gold from standard is $59/year with multi-year discounts. I tried to get the guy to tell me what the cost of the base package is for our off years but he didn't seem to understand me, kept quoting me the $59/year number for the upgrade. He did mention $79/year or $89/year at one point but again it's not clear that he understood what I was asking.


According to the iNTERVAL iNTERNATIONAL membership application, one year fee is $89 and the Gold one year fee is $148. So for ON years Gold membership is an additional $59 and OFF years it's $148. Again why would you want to buy a one year membership for the OFF year you have nothing to trade?


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## cspariah (Aug 29, 2012)

Am Sick said:


> According to the iNTERVAL iNTERNATIONAL membership application, one year fee is $89 and the Gold one year fee is $148. So for ON years Gold membership is an additional $59 and OFF years it's $148. Again why would you want to buy a one year membership for the OFF year you have nothing to trade?



For the last several years Welk owners have gotten an AC from II every time they deposit a week. If this continues, our plan is to use the AC on our "on" years and exchange the week on our "off" years, or vice-versa. So we get a week's vacation every year even though we only pay Welk MF every other year.


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## mjm1 (Aug 29, 2012)

Good plan.  We have used two of the AC's that we received for exchanging our unit.  We were very happy with both of them as well.  Good luck.


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## BJRSanDiego (Sep 1, 2012)

*II Getaways are usually a bargain*



cspariah said:


> For the last several years Welk owners have gotten an AC from II every time they deposit a week. If this continues, our plan is to use the AC on our "on" years and exchange the week on our "off" years, or vice-versa. So we get a week's vacation every year even though we only pay Welk MF every other year.



I also live in Southern Ca. and buy 2 to 4 Getaways a year.  I think that my Getaways are of significant value to me.  So that would be a reason to keep your membership active in the off years.  I travel on the shoulders of the high demand season so I pay quite a bit less than the MF for what I'm getting.

Some of my best places within easy driving distance of So. Ca:  Palm Desert, Tahoe, Big Bear, Phoenix, Sedona.  On my "maybe list" is Las Vegas, Lake Havasu, New Mexico, Paxton Az.  I typically pay $250-$500 for a week in a 1 or 2 BR.  Sometimes I pay a bit more or a bit less.  

You will probably find that you can often buy a Getaway week at Welk for less that you are paying in MF.  I have the same situation with my Palm Desert TS.  But Getaways are basically excess inventory and aren't very available in the highest demand periods as perhaps your home timeshare is.

With your Gold II membership you can also do short stay exchanges.  You are exchanging a week (or equiv in points) for two short stays that range in length from 2 to 6 days.  You pay an exchange fee on both exchanges though and the inventory is often pretty limited....


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