# How did Seapointe and Grand Pacific Palisades become part of Worldmark?



## skimble (Sep 17, 2008)

I've never seen anything on site or in the newsletter that shows affiliation with Worldmark.  How did they get affiliated?  And, with this partnership, are there any benefits to existing owners?


----------



## rhonda (Sep 17, 2008)

Not sure when Seapointe was added -- but Grand Pacific Palisades has been available as a "direct exchange" to WM owners since 2003'ish.  WM owners may book either resort by phoning the WM Exchange desk (vs RCI).  The reservations require a 7-night stay and an exchange fee.

I don't believe there are any benefits offered to GPR owners -- unless perhaps there are reciprocal exchanges offered through GPX (GPR -> WM)??

EDITED to add:  Another possible benefit to GPR owners: several WM resorts are offered through ResorTime as nightly, cash rentals.  Access to these rentals might be part of a reciprocal exchange between the two resort families.


----------



## skimble (Sep 17, 2008)

rhonda said:


> Not sure when Seapointe was added -- but Grand Pacific Palisades has been available as a "direct exchange" to WM owners since 2003'ish.  WM owners may book either resort by phoning the WM Exchange desk (vs RCI).  The reservations require a 7-night stay and an exchange fee.
> 
> I don't believe there are any benefits offered to GPR owners -- unless perhaps there are reciprocal exchanges offered through GPX (GPR -> WM)??
> 
> EDITED to add:  Another possible benefit to GPR owners: several WM resorts are offered through ResorTime as nightly, cash rentals.  Access to these rentals might be part of a reciprocal exchange between the two resort families.



I'm guessing...   I think WM probably made a bulk purchase of foreclosure weeks at Seapointe.   (They probably acrued their weeks with GPP in a similar fashion-- a bulk purchase of inventory-- possibly the last of the GPP sales inventory.)  They may have negotiated a deal with GPR that says they will get an even spread of weeks for all seasons to offer to their owners.  And, since Seapointe has mostly floating weeks, this would be an easy agreement to fulfill. 
Somehow there's a sweet deal in this for Resortime.  Resortime takes a very high percentage on owner rentals (owners typically get rent about equal to their maintenance fees.)  But in this case, Worldmark is possibly renting out some of their inventory through Resortime-- prime inventory can fetch a high price, and this benefits both Resortime and WM.  
Total speculation here, but plausible???


----------



## skimble (Sep 17, 2008)

One of the reasons I'm noticing the GPR weeks in with WM is the proposition GPR is making to the Southern California Beach Club Board.  They are "working on negotiating a bulk purchase from a club" to sell off a glut of foreclosure weeks.  
Owners at the meeting scoffed at this and asked why these weeks aren't being offered to current owners at reduced rates.  There was a lot of politicizing and double speak in the answers, but ultimately they were clinging to this concept of a bulk sale to "a club."  
That begs the question.... what club, and to what end?  
What club would purchase a glut of off-season weeks?  And, for what purpose?  To the best of my knowledge, AARP doesn't do club timesharing, so there must be a way to make those weeks appealing to average timesharers.  But how?  
If GPR could take this glut of 30 February and January weeks and magically turn them into 7 or 8 weeks in all 4 seasons, these weeks would be valuable to a club... like WM.  But how could GPR do this?  And, how would it benefit them?  In terms of how they could do this, there are owner deposits in RCI every year for all seasons.  Summer is the hardest to get on a trade.  WM works integrally with RCI, and they could potentially work out a deal where they get a good representation of weeks to offer their owners as WM inventory.  
The advantage to the HOA would be that maintenance fees get paid.  What's the advantage to GPR?  Aside from getting the sale and commissions, there would have to be some sort of lasting benefit. 
The disadvantage to Grand Pacific Resort owners is the depletion of inventory.  It's already difficult to trade into the Southern California Beach Club in the summer.


----------



## Cathyb (Sep 18, 2008)

Gosh Ronda I didn't know that and I own at one of Grand Pacific's resorts (Carlsbad Inn) AND am a Worldmark owner AND even live in Carlsbad - duh!

In the Worldmark newsletters that are mailed out -- do they cover information on affiliates?  If not, where can I keep on top of this?  TIA


----------



## cotraveller (Sep 18, 2008)

Cathyb said:


> Gosh Ronda I didn't know that and I own at one of Grand Pacific's resorts (Carlsbad Inn) AND am a Worldmark owner AND even live in Carlsbad - duh!
> 
> In the Worldmark newsletters that are mailed out -- do they cover information on affiliates?  If not, where can I keep on top of this?  TIA



I don't know that WorldMark pushes the direct exchanges very much.  When I started reading this thread I wasn't aware that the two resorts mentioned were available as direct exchanges.  Note - a direct exchange is one a WorldMark owner can book through WorldMark without belonging to either RCI, II, or any other exchange company.

If you go to the resort gallery on the WorldMark web site you will find the direct exchange resorts listed at the bottom of the resort selection pulldown menu.  There are currently 9 resorts listed as being available for direct exchange.


----------

