Orange Lake Purchases Colonial Crossings in Williamsburg, VA

[crowmg]

We received a letter with no date and the letter essentially says, Dear CC owners, Orange Lake Resorts is pleased to announce that on July 15, 2013 we closed on a transaction to purchase all of the interests in Colonial Crossing of Williamsburg. Welcome to the family! Of course Orange Lake is a member of the Holiday Inn Club Vacations brand and that's a good thing. The last paragraph talks about all the upgrades they will be doing and then the kicker...maintenance funds were not collected in the past to properly maintain your units and the resort. They will be working with the homeowners association (there isn't one that I know of or I would be at their meetings or on their board) to determine how best to "re-balance" your MF structure and properly fund your reserves. I foresee our MF's doubling by 2014. Has anyone else experienced this, the sale of their resort to a bigger corporation.

 

[smtundra]

I got the letter too, trying to figure it out!

I got that letter too. I think this result is a good thing and a bad thing. I know there were problems paying taxes, lawsuits and people not paying maintenance fees. We decided to hold on and see what happens, and we have had no trouble trading our unit. I think it is good that someone a little bigger and better has bought Colonial Crossings. I guess we will find out how much the maintenance fees go up. Unfortunately for me, it appears that Orange Lakes (Holiday Inn) is part of RCI and not Interval. My other resorts are only affiliated with Interval, so if this turns out to be the case, then it was cause me some trouble. Other resorts that have been bought out have tried to get people to change their weeks into a points system.

I would love to hear others thoughts as we prepare to have discussions about our ownership with management. (Ugh)

 

[crowmg]

We have RCI weeks and have no points resorts. It works out just fine. I also never had a problem trading through II. I wished that Colonial Crossing had notified the owners that the sale was imminent. I'm wondering if they are required to do so. They have dropped the ball on so many levels. I've had many meetings with their General Manager and all I got was lip service.

 

[dwojo]

I experienced a large increase in maintenance fees when DRI took over Sunterra. I was very unhappy until I saw the results at the resorts. They were updated and upgraded and are now better maintained.
I am a member of Holiday Inn Club vacations points system. My deed is at the Southbeach resort in Myrtle Beach. Orange Lake keeps their resorts in excellent condition.

 

[crowmg]

Their plan is to spend about $8 million in refurnishing and upgrading the resort. It is much needed because when then economy tanked so did all the future plans for this resort. So many of the planned ammenities (indoor water park) that we counted on being there have not happened. Orange Lake and Holiday Inn Club Vacations are known for their excellent reputation in the timeshare world. I'm just upset that the owners were never notified of any impending sale or that the company was even considering selling the resort. Where is the transparency?

 

[momeason]

Your resort may be dual affiliated in the future. There are some HIVC properties in II. Often, owners with II can stay with II if you do not change your contract. New owners may be in RCI.

Whatever you do, do not believe any " You must buy our points" scenario.
Buying from the takeover company benefits the takeover company, not you.
Remember " If a timeshare salesman lips are moving, he's lying"
(Goes for the female TS salesperson also)

A new contract may not trade in II plus you would be out money and Williamsburg is not going to get you a lot of points or a good TPU in RCI

 

[crowmg]

Never have liked the points and never wanted them, still don't. I've never had any issues with all my weeks (5 per year at 5 different resorts). We use them or trade them. We have bought them all as resale except 1, our first one purchased over 28 years ago.

 

[johndeb]

I am an owner at Holiday Inn Club and went through the change of ownership with them at Desert Club in Las Vegas, NV (formerly Summer Bay). Holiday Inn Club offered a very attractive deal to convert my week to Holiday Inn Club Points. My Summer Bay week was a 2 bedroom in "Summer Season" and previously was worth 65,000 RCI Points. I was able to convert to Holiday Inn Club Points at 154,000 (they are worth 2 to 1 RCI Points) for $133.00 conversion fee. So, my Point value with RCI increased immediately from 65,000 to 77,000.
I find Holiday Inn Club Point system as one of the best I've experienced and their Resorts are very well maintained. I also own Wyndham Points and Holiday Inn Club beats Wyndham hands down. Wyndham has many more resort locations to choose from, so your destination choices are much wider. But if you explore the Holiday Inn Club Resorts and think the destinations they offer are attractive, I would not hesitate to convert your week to Holiday Inn Club Points, especially if they offer a limited time low conversion fee for existing weeks owners. Most Holiday Inn Club Points Contracts (not all) are backed by a specific DEEDED week at your home resort.... a big advantage for the control of the HA and budget approvals. Also, there are advantages of using the RCI Points Account you receive as a Holiday Inn Club Points owner. Furthermore, Holiday Inn Club will pay your RCI Weeks Account membership fees. In my opinion, Colonial Crossings weeks owners just got very lucky. Even if you keep your week, you will still be better off with Holiday Inn Club.

Just my opinion....

 

[annep71]

Why do you think Holiday Inn Club beats Wyndham?

Except for reserving your deeded week 13 or more months out, anything you do with Holiday Inn Club points costs more money. Wyndham has a lot more locations. With Wyndham you don't have to pay more for the RCI membership (Holiday Inn Club charges $104 more per year for RCI membership and the free Wyndham RCI membership cannot be used).

FYI, We own Holiday Inn Club in Gatlinburg and Wyndham Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Except for reserving your deeded week 13 or more months out, anything you do with Holiday Inn Club points costs more money. Wyndham has a lot more locations. With Wyndham you don't have to pay more for the RCI membership (Holiday Inn Club charges $104 more per year for RCI membership and the free Wyndham RCI membership cannot be used).

FYI, We own Holiday Inn Club in Gatlinburg and Wyndham Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach.

You pay a minimum CWP fee for Wyndham points - go look on the online financial page for assessments and it is the last line of each contract. If is either 54 cents or 56 cents per 1K points with $114 dollar minimum per OWNER NUMBER.

 

[andex]

I agree with JohnDeb. OL beats Wyndham hands down in my situation.
1) Low maintenance fee out of Vegas.
2) Access to RCI points inventory with OL
3) point program is simple to use and understand
4) points are good for two years that a big plus no need for banking like Wyndham.
5) Great hotel program with points that never expire.
What I don’t like is not having extra vacation which I get through Wyndham.
My opinion of course.

 

[johndeb]

Except for reserving your deeded week 13 or more months out, anything you do with Holiday Inn Club points costs more money. Wyndham has a lot more locations. With Wyndham you don't have to pay more for the RCI membership (Holiday Inn Club charges $104 more per year for RCI membership and the free Wyndham RCI membership cannot be used).

FYI, We own Holiday Inn Club in Gatlinburg and Wyndham Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach.

Most important is choosing a system that has resort locations where you like to vacation. If you like the Holiday Inn Club locations, then here are some observations that make Holiday Inn Club Better than Wyndham. Your HIVC Points are usually based upon a specific DEEDED week at a specific resort. This provides owners of the highest demand weeks a significant maintenance fee cost per point advantage over a Wyndham UDI Contract (even against Wyndham's lowest maintenance fee resorts). You can get HIVC points at $4.50/1000 which also equal $9.00/1000 RCI Points (2 HIVC Points = 1 RCI Point). The BEST I can find with any Wyndham UDI Contract is $3.90/1000 which might seem lower, but is NOT. Wyndham UDI Points have no specific conversion rate to RCI Points, but my experience is about 3 Wyndham Points to 1 RCI Point, making the Wyndham Points cost $11.70/1000 RCI points. So, just based upon maintenance fees alone, HIVC costs about 30% less than Wyndham for a comparable number of Points. There are several other advantages with HIVC over Wyndham, but too lengthy to write in this Post. I'd be happy to discuss further with anyone interested.

 

[andex]

FWIW In my case I am paying $7.84 per 1000 RCI points. This includes the $104 HIVC membership fee. Sweet deal!
Using your math I am paying $15.56 per thousand through Wyndham! (After looking for a few months I was comfortable paying $5.18 per thousand for BC, liked the location,location,location)

 

[FamFunTyme]

For any CCX resort owner not pleased with how you have been treated by resort owners. Some history: there was a previous class action suit by 465 CCX owners seeking $30 million for being misled about a nonexistent water park against the developer, Land’Or of Williamsburg, along with the CCX timeshare homeowners association. Back in 2010-11 the suit was settled without any pay-out, but many owners were allowed out of their contracts – sorry, I don’t have details on individual agreements. Note, at the time of settlements the defendants were already nearly bankrupt – we can’t go back to previous management for the ill-treatment we have suffered.

Now with Orange Lake Resorts acquiring CCX resort, new increased fees are being assessed and new "promises" are being made to owners.

As a CCX resort Charter Member, I am not convinced Orange Lake intends to meet the obligations in our contracts. Obviously, increased fees are their answer! Such treatment has been the same for many years as owners have been financially manipulated, and we have still not received the services as was contractually established nearly a decade ago.

So, I recently talked with attorney Stuart Sadler, Esq. (http://www.stuartsadler.com/p-timeshares_rep.htm) and he was very well informed and willing to assist owners. To move forward, we need to get a group of about 500-1,000 CCX owners to make another class action suit against the new owner/management continuing questionable business practices like the previous owners, Land’Or and English Garden LV, LCC.

Let's PLEASE organize ourselves! Contact Mr. Sadler or reply here so we may contact one another.

We deserve to receive the products we have been paying for all these years! Our families deserve to enjoy timeshare, not to feel dread because we are being continually cheated by fraudulent billing and property mismanagement.

 

[gjw007]

For any CCX resort owner not pleased with how you have been treated by resort owners. Some history: there was a previous class action suit by 465 CCX owners seeking $30 million for being misled about a nonexistent water park against the developer, Land’Or of Williamsburg, along with the CCX timeshare homeowners association. Back in 2010-11 the suit was settled without any pay-out, but many owners were allowed out of their contracts – sorry, I don’t have details on individual agreements. Note, at the time of settlements the defendants were already nearly bankrupt – we can’t go back to previous management for the ill-treatment we have suffered.

Now with Orange Lake Resorts acquiring CCX resort, new increased fees are being assessed and new "promises" are being made to owners.

As a CCX resort Charter Member, I am not convinced Orange Lake intends to meet the obligations in our contracts. Obviously, increased fees are their answer! Such treatment has been the same for many years as owners have been financially manipulated, and we have still not received the services as was contractually established nearly a decade ago.

So, I recently talked with attorney Stuart Sadler, Esq. (http://www.stuartsadler.com/p-timeshares_rep.htm) and he was very well informed and willing to assist owners. To move forward, we need to get a group of about 500-1,000 CCX owners to make another class action suit against the new owner/management continuing questionable business practices like the previous owners, Land’Or and English Garden LV, LCC.

Let's PLEASE organize ourselves! Contact Mr. Sadler or reply here so we may contact one another.

We deserve to receive the products we have been paying for all these years! Our families deserve to enjoy timeshare, not to feel dread because we are being continually cheated by fraudulent billing and property mismanagement.

I am not sure that I understand what you want. You acknowledge a lawsuit against the original company of your contracts where they were bankrupt and the court allowing the owners out of the contract (voided the original contract) and now with new owners you wish to sue them to enforce a contract that the courts voided. I don't see how you can win that one but I admit that I may be missing something as I don't have any information other than what was posted above.

I don't own at Orange Lake but had in the past so I don't have anything vested except curiousity