[ 2011 ] Questions about Summer Bay/The Desert Club Las Vegas

[LDnJC]

HIVC vs RCI decision

Is there any new information or opinions on HIVC?
I talked with Kassandra at HIVC and it all seemed like it would be great, other than she didn't know too much about what would happen to our current RCI account. And I was surprised that we would be locked in for 3 years. But ... was glad to hear that we could opt out if we didn't like it within 10 days. I had spoken to a HIVC caller a month or more ago and he said no preview period. I suggested they would have more people give it a try if they had an option to get out ... is it possible they listened.

It all sounded too good that all my RCI would transfer over including existing points, Platinum Club, etc. I thought she said we could do the Last Call and Extra Vacations, but am wondering if I am remembering correctly since I see someone else said no Extra Vacations.

I called RCI to find out more and ended up talking to a rep who didn't seem to know anything at all. She just kept suggesting I stay with RCI. She went and spoke with another more knowledgable rep and told me that we would need to keep our RCI weeks at least because we have a separate RCI week timeshare. Special deal on weeks membership 5 years for price of 3.
She didn't think I would be able to keep my Platinum membership.
She didn't now about extending my 2010 points and said HIVC would probably do that, and only after prompting a couple times agreed that I could get my already paid Points membership fee refunded for the portion not used.

So I'm still confused. Will call Kassandra back tomorrow. I think I need some of their claims confirmed in an email. In particular I have concerns about:
- Extra Vacations? Last Call? RCI Platinum Club? RCI cruise exchanges? Points Partners? are these still available with HIVC?
- 90,000 points in my RCI account from 2010/2011 that I would want to be able to bring over to HIVC
- how do I extend the 45,000 2010 weeks ... through RCI or HIVC
- will I be able to deposit my non-points Mexico week to RCI or HIVC, or do I need to keep paying an RCI weeks membership to keep that option
- can this all be completed by the June 30th date that I am issued 2012 points? I want to put 212 points into the Priority Club if possible to use for hotel stays.

and most important:
If not happy with HIVC, I know it is 3 year commitment. But what happens at that point. Can I rejoin RCI? Is there another initiation fee? Will my points timeshare still be considered as RCI Points?

Sorry for rambling. Any help would be appreciated!!!

Lesley

 

[andex]

Great questions? I tried getting an answer a few times on what would happen to rci. Full disclosure seems non existant!
Other OL resort lose their points when the sell! Also might have to pay rci to rejoin after three years! One rep told me that they would stop supporting rci points going forward! It would revert back to float weeks!
For last call I was told the usually excuse...glitch in system. RCI says we can call!

 

[LDnJC]

Opting out after 3 years HIVC will revert to RCI Week not Points

Madbuns, any idea what happens if you leave HIVC. Will the properties go back to RCI points or just regular RCI weeks or none of the above? Just curious what happens if HIVC doesn't pan out.

Thanks

I spoke with a customer service representative at Orange Lake? or perhaps HICV (very intertwined). Anyway, Noreen confirmed that if we were to join and then opt out after the 3 years, then our timeshare would go back to being an RCI Week. It would no longer be RCI Points.

The rep I talked to first did mention that he thought that the RCI membership that I would receive would be able to have my external RCI week deposited to it. I asked about my Platinum Club, existing reservation and current points balance. He said that they would probably just leave me with my current membership #'s rather than transferring that all over ... except that HICV would pay the membership.

I did like the sounds of the Priority Club and being able to use our points for hotel stays. Also confirmed that those Priority Club points don't expire and would still be ours even if we opted out of HIVC after 3 years.

All sounded good about HICV except that we would lose our RCI Points status and could not get it back even at the end of 3 years.
What to do? What to do?

Lesley

 

[roadtriper]

Just a couple of thoughts...
The 10 day recision period really has no bennefit to those of us who already own and are weighing the options of HVIC or not. 10 days isn't enough time to know if you like it or not! OTOH, if you got snookered into signing up on a Timeshare tour and had Buyers remorse upon getting home, then it's a lifesaver!
Secondly, the resale market for Desert Club weeks has been soft to say the least, the units that are tied to RCI points seem to sell better than just plain weeks. they still dont bring much money, but the points to MF ratio is pretty good on 2 bedroom weeks. so loosing the points associated with the unit may effect the resale aspect if you wanted to unload it down the road?
HIVC Points are NOT transfeable at this point, so they have no value on resale the units that seem to bring some money on ebay are ones with transferable points like the Hyatt properties. it would be nice if the HIVC points stayed with the unit, maybe then we'd have some resale value??? RT

 

[andex]

I agree with both of you! Hard decision! I was told that if I stayed RCI point that they would stop supporting it? It would go back to floating week! Truth or misinformation?? Definitely lack of transparency!
RT do you have recommendation on who to vote for the board? Recent paper we received by mail? I know you follow some of the meetings. Your input would be valuable considering we are sitting on the same side of the fence.

 

[roadtriper]

Well, AFAIK the current Board has been doing a pretty good job so I'm leaning towards the incumbents. Mr. Paul Caldwell who use to be an upper Mgmt. person with Summer Bay and was always on the Board in one of the Developer seats. up untill a couple years ago. He is no longer with Summer Bay and is running for a seat on the Board as Just an owner at the Desert Club. Paul was very involved in all the dealings during Summer Bay coming on Board at the old resort, as well as all the dealings with Harrah's etc. I was always very impressed with his Presentations at all the board meetings and felt he had a true passion for the resort and wanted it to be the best it could be. he also seemed to work very well with the "Owners" on the HOA Board, and knows the history of where we've been, and how we got to where we are! My only concern was that he may have some involment with Orange Lake, and would be tilting the balance of owner vs. Mgmt on the board. but I've been assured he is not tied to Orange lake in any way. so I think he has my vote. RT

 

[andex]

thanks man i will add my vote to that! How many do we get to pick? Are they all owners?

 

[roadtriper]

there are 8 owner seats on the board. they are 2 year terms and come up 4open each year. so you can vote for up to 4 folks. and yes they are all owners. the 3 Developer/Mgmt positions on the board are just appointed by Orange lake and we as owners have no say in that. so we have a board that is alway Owner Majority. however the developer has the option to vote their shares of inventory. it wasn't done till a couple of years ago when Summer Bay opted to vote their shares and pretty much controled the outcome of the election due to the quantity of intervals they had in inventory. Not sure how Orange lake will handle this?
as I understand it... Folks who don't cast a vote but have a Proxy on file are just be added to the count of the 4 winners of the balloted election. RT

 

[Sandy]

I am trying to catch up on info...

And roadtripper is a great help.

Here is something I am trying to figure out: It seems that there are only 7 resorts in this group. what is the benefit to joining the HI Club vacations? I can already get into many more resorts through RCI weeks or points. Am I missing something?

I have looked on their various web sites to find out what the Intercontinental hotel resorts are, but cannot find it. Some of the links I click say that is for owners only. But I want to research BEFORE becoming an owner!
I am especially interested in finding the point chart for using some of the other properties, and for airfares and such (car rentals, etc.)

Any other advice out there? We own 3 weeks at SB Las vegas: 2 are point and one is weeks.

thanks
sandy

 

[roadtriper]

Sandy this link http://holidayinnclub.com/pdf/2012_ClubMemberGuide.pdf provided by Fluxmn in post #67 has the most info Iv'e seen it's basicaly the owners guide to the club points system there are a limited number of resorts at present, I would hope that to increase in the future, part of the membership is a Gold level membership in "Priority Club Points" which is the Intercontenental Hotel chain points system. i.e Holiday Inn etc. have you looked at the priority Club website. the HIVC Points can be converted to PC points by Oct. of the year so they won't expire if you arent going to use them. PC points never expire and can be used for hotel stays etc. RT

 

[Sandy]

Thanks

Not sure why I missed this link before. I will print this out and study it. I looked quickly but did not see anything on the value for airfares or any limitation on using points for airfare. I know that RCI points limits you to only using 25% of your annual points (or something like that).

Does the Hol Inn club do the same, anyone know? Perhaps it is in the book, I will read more carefully once I print it out.

sandy

 

[elim12345]

Should a Traditional Summer Bay Member Join Holiday Inn Club?

I have received at least 3 mailings about joining Holiday Inn Club (HIC). It seems like a great deal to convert my Traditional ownership (no RCI, bought on Ebay resale) to HIC for a few hundred dollars.

They make it sound like a great deal, since I can join HIC without purchasing additional inventory. I have 3 units at Summer Bay (which I love).

Is it great to join HIC, seems like the fees would be reasonable, especially with 3 units worth of points. The Priority Clubs seems great to save points that will never expire. I don't like paying to make reservation (must pay $49 if reservation made within 10 months of stay).

I may just join HIC for a few years and see if it is worth it. I figure I will be paying a 200-300 dollars a year for the privilege (annual plus reservation costs).

I know this is not so much a reply to the original question, but i think any responses will be helpful.

Any thoughts?

 

[jackio]

I have received at least 3 mailings about joining Holiday Inn Club (HIC). It seems like a great deal to convert my Traditional ownership (no RCI, bought on Ebay resale) to HIC for a few hundred dollars.

They make it sound like a great deal, since I can join HIC without purchasing additional inventory. I have 3 units at Summer Bay (which I love).

Is it great to join HIC, seems like the fees would be reasonable, especially with 3 units worth of points. The Priority Clubs seems great to save points that will never expire. I don't like paying to make reservation (must pay $49 if reservation made within 10 months of stay).

I may just join HIC for a few years and see if it is worth it. I figure I will be paying a 200-300 dollars a year for the privilege (annual plus reservation costs).

I know this is not so much a reply to the original question, but i think any responses will be helpful.

Any thoughts?

I was told that the $104/year includes a year of RCI points membership. If you have 3 units, would they charge you $104 for each of them? You wouldn't need 3 RCI accounts.

 

[Mel]

The 104 includes all HIVC units for the year, just as RCI membership includes all associated weeks. In effect, you're paying HIVC instead of RCI your annual membership fee.

We own at 2 of the resorts (Orange Lake West Village, and Panama City beach which is in the process of being brought into the fold). Through our PCB weeks we are being offered a similar conversion (as opposed to $3000 or so a few years back for just our Orlando week).

While all our current weeks would be HIVC weeks, the make or break for us is still how the RCI account is set up. If we can still book what we want online in terms of extra vacations, and if we can maintain our Platinum membership (which pays for itself in rebates), as well as our multi-year guest pass for my inlaws, we will probably convert. The only downside for us is that our PCB weeks are valued about the same as the Orlando week in RCI Weeks, but are worth less than that week in HIVC/RCI Points. It's possible we lose some value by converting, or we might gain value for our Orlando week.

Then there's the whole issue of last minute trades - for discounted TPU under RCI weeks, but only discounted under RCI Points if it's not an RCI Points affiliate.

 

[Sandy VDH]

This 2012 HIC guide has changed from the one that I have saved on my computer. Page 97 now only has 4 seasons instead of 5 and they correspond exactly to our seasons as we have always had at our resort. The point values for each season are the same as the average conversion value that I was quoted. In my saved 2012 guide week 52 for a 1 bedroom deluxe cost 121,000 points to reserve, but in the new 2012 guide it only costs 83,000 points. If this is all correct, then you can forget what I said about the finer grain of this system. Also, page 97 no references back to the note on page 37 for Desert Club owners and the note about how Season and Club Point value may differ is no longer there.

Here is the link to the new 2012 guide. The earlier link in this thread was for the 2011 guide and/or the old 2012 guide.

http://holidayinnclub.com/pdf/2012_ClubMemberGuide.pdf

I still feel like I am being shafted for owning what is now Winter Season. I always book New Years and they valued new years at a holiday season in the old chart. I don't get the value of new years, but at least they upped my points allotment from 64K to 83K.

I am feeling kind of sorry for myself for the last few days, but I fell like every other season and many many owners got upgrades. Yeah I don't have a pit for a resort any more, but my unit size was the ONLY one that did not change at all. We were the unit size that got no upgrade in size or room type. I also did not win one of the 2 BR lottery upgrades, which would have doubled my points. Like I said feeling sorry for myself. I am sure that more than 80% of the owners feel that things are way better. I am just in the wrong unit size and was unlucky not to win an upgrade.

 

[elim12345]

I just talked to a HICV Rep.
She said that it is the same price if you own one or multiple units. That multiple units can qualify for a higher membership (I can qualify for a Preferred Membership 300,000 points).

I asked about if I joined and wanted to cancel my HICV membership. She said I can cancel, but once I have been a member for 3 years, I could no longer cancel. I will have to confirm this (seems odd).

She also said my HICV membership was transferable if I sold a unit (this is opposite of what a previous rep has told me in the past).

 

[LDnJC]

My understanding was that you have to stay an HICV member for 3 years minimum, and if you opt out at that point your timeshare will revert back to a 'weeks' timeshare. This would mean that the 'points' timeshare we have now would no longer be able to be deposited to RCI as points ... it would then be weeks.

 

[roadtriper]

Not sure why I missed this link before. I will print this out and study it. I looked quickly but did not see anything on the value for airfares or any limitation on using points for airfare. I know that RCI points limits you to only using 25% of your annual points (or something like that).

Does the Hol Inn club do the same, anyone know? Perhaps it is in the book, I will read more carefully once I print it out.

sandy

I'm not sure on Airfares, don't recall seeing anything in the literature. the price of Airfare is such a "Moving Target" that i would think it would be hard to have anything cast in stone. probably would need to call them? I assume they establish a $ Value of your points and apply it towards the airfare etc.? I would guess converting points for airfare, Cruises etc. probably isn't the best bang for the buck point wise??? BUT, if ya got the points and aren't going to use them for lodging...

as I've said, I'm going to be out there next week. I think I'm going to set up a time for an "Owners Update" (Salespitch) and ask some questions in person. if I do find out anything that I can confirm I'll post it here.

Time is running out, the deadline to get in on the introductory offer is JUNE30.
17 DAYS Away! RT

 

[Sandy]

Roadtripper let us know

Once you go through the "pitch" please post asap with the details. I am considering this, but have lots of questions. I would like to call someone, but I cannot find any mailings from HOliday inn club.

does anyone have the number to call a person with questions?

sandy

 

[andex]

I ran the calcs on airfare, I wasn't impressed here we still have to pay taxes on the ticket which adds up! First you have to convert to priority points at 80 % ratio, then convert it to Airmiles tons of choice! Personally I love the options for rooms with priority club! Great if on the go like a trip in Europe works out often to half price! This is a huge advantage in my opinion!

 

[roadtriper]

Once you go through the "pitch" please post asap with the details. I am considering this, but have lots of questions. I would like to call someone, but I cannot find any mailings from HOliday inn club.

does anyone have the number to call a person with questions?

sandy

Sandy, I'm in transit on my way home from vegas, I'll digest what I heard in the presentation and post it asap. I did sit down with an Orange Lake mgmt person and signed up for the HIVC club right after the annual meeting he would be a good one to call and ask questions of his name is Pedro Valez and he is "Senior Director, Product Development Owner Support" his number is 1.407.905.1470 Pedro seems to know his stuff! the other number they gave us was 1.877.606.2582 I did confirm that anyone with RCI points that opts out down the road will revert to RCI Weeks. and after 6/31/12 the only way to join the club would be to buy another interval
more later RT

 

[Sandy VDH]

Last week to convert. I need to finally pull the trigger this week.

 

[Sandy]

thanks roadtripper

Thanks roadtripper for getting back to me (us). Thanks for giving me a name to contact with questions. I will certainly do so by mid-week before the deadline.

One concern is that they keep changing things at this resort. You know the history better than I do.

Example: some folks bought into the "prestigious" Crown Club a few years ago. Now I think that has gone by the wayside with the affililation to Holiday Inn Club. Wasn't there some other "exclusive" club even before the Crown program?

Anyone else who has addiional info, please post as the deadline nears.

thanks!
sandy

 

[fluxmn]

What to do???

Have you made your decision yet Sandy? I'm also on the fence. I have a couple of units that are weeks and a couple that are points. I like the things in the club but my main concern is the same as yours. What happens down the road if Holiday Inn Club decides to leave? I guess all my units go back to weeks and I have to decide if that risk is worth it. Right now I'm leaning towards joining the HI club and see what happens I guess.

Thanks,

Ed

 

[Sandy]

haven't decided yet

I put in a call to the guy Roadtripper mentioned and left a message. Waiting to hear back with questions.

Also I am hoping that roadtripper will post some more info.

I am just a bit scared that the rules will change again, who knows? Plus I am trying to get a handle on the point values to do trades. Seems like they only have the few resorts, so anything else still has to go through RCI. I am not sure what I gain if I am already getting what I want, pretty much, with RCI.

Decisions, decisions.

plus, I got summer bay to get into points and I am doing alright with it,

Someone else suggested depositing only one week, and keeping the other in RCI. Maybe that will work. But then I would still be paying 2 club fees.

Also, something else I thought about. From reading through the membership guide, it seems that the program operates forward. So anything I now own will not be converted, only future points/weeks. So that may mean that membership only activates next year, when new points arrive in our account. Does this make sense? Can anyone confirm?