[2007] williamsburg plantation owners

[CARTER281]

i just received a call from owner services asking if i wanted 3 nights and 4 days free plus a 50.00 to help with travel expenses. I had to agree to attend a group presentation. he said they will discuss some changes
like an affinity program, and different booking options and other changes
did anyone else receive this call or take up the offer
what is it all about, is it good or bad
or just another way to sell something

 

[tonyg]

I've heard nothing from them so far. The resort is now under the Vacation Village chain management, so maybe they have something new to discuss. Why not take them up on it and bring some printouts of resales and rentals to help convince them that no is the answer in case it's a sales ploy.

 

[CARTER281]

they said it was for a rollout affinity program

anyone hear of this or know what hey are talking about
i asked if we could go in august the rep said when they open it up to august he will give me a call
i cant beleive no one else has heard of this

 

[KenK]

Some of the Weston, Fl owners have reported they have been trying o convert weeks to points. (Daily was). I don't know if they are RCI points or a new & improved Daily idea to suck out more $$ from the owners. RCI = $199 to convert.

Tony, that is now Daily:

http://www.dailymanagementresorts.com/Resort.aspx?resort=6

 

[tonyg]

Last December when I toured VV Berkshires they had WP on their list of resorts. Then the salesperson told me they were all RCI resorts and I told her WP was II. So, how could they go to points with II, unless they are going dual affiliated.

 

[LGinPA]

Hi!
We're owners at Williamsburg Plantation also, and so are our closest friends. We bought early in 1999. Anyway, we received the call too, and always decline those assuming the usual sales pitches.

Our friends go there every year for one of their weeks. (We've only been there 3 times.) Our friends always subject themselves to the 'pitch' each year, just to get the freebies. Here's how it's gone ....

For years they've been trying to convince us that our floating weeks for our 4br/4br lock-off that splits into two 2br/2ba weeks are a BAAAAD thing! Can you imagine that? Trying to tell us that having the flexibility to choose any 2 weeks out of the year is bad? :rofl:

Now they are trying to sell the points concept. But in order to go with the points, you first need to lock in a specific week permanently (and pay a bundle of money of course)! :hysterical:

I really think that's all they are trying to get you to do. BEWARE!!

 

[KenK]

Linda:
What kind of points?

 

[LGinPA]

Linda:
What kind of points?

I'll have to ask our friends that since they sat through the talk. I have a bad habit of not paying much attention to that kind of ts talk.

Next time I talk with them, I'll ask and see what they remember.

 

[dougp26364]

They may be trying to go to a points based reservation system like Sunterra has done. If so, they may try to get you to pay thousands of dollars to convert your ownership from a floating week into a point value that can be spent on internal exchanges within their system or used to purchase travel services, possibly pay MF's or use for cruise exchanges.

You really just have to sit down and do the math to figure out if it's a good deal for you or not. For instance, Polo Towers ownership recently purchased Sunterra. They're not trying to get Polo Towers owners to convert their weeks ownership into a points value for internal exchanging throughout the Sunterra system (if I understand it correctly). They only want to charge us $2,995 plus an additional $151 per year club membership dues on top of our MF's (which are over $700 for one unit and over $800 for the other).

For some this might make sense and could work out to benefit them. We own 7 weeks and I just don't really need to spend that amount of money plus increase my MF's by $151 just to enjoy a little more flexibility and internal exchange priviledges.

 

[donnaval]

We purchased our Williamsburg Plantation 4br/4ba lockout specifically for the fixed week assigned to it. I can't see any reason why we would want to convert to anything else--maybe they can sense our feelings somehow through the ozone, since nobody has ever contacted us about converting

 

[LGinPA]

We purchased our Williamsburg Plantation 4br/4ba lockout specifically for the fixed week assigned to it. I can't see any reason why we would want to convert to anything else--maybe they can sense our feelings somehow through the ozone, since nobody has ever contacted us about converting

That's exactly right. They want everyone to have a fixed week. You already have what they are trying to get everyone to have. I know it works well for some that way.

That would never work for us. We have a totally flexible/floating 2 weeks. We can select any 2 weeks out of the year. We can select both units for the same week or split them up. Each year can be different, or we can select the same week each year for year after year. Just think of how that can mess up their inventory! I imagine it must be much easier having everyone on fixed weeks.

I really don't know anything about the points system they are trying for. But I'll try to get more info from our friends who sat through the shpiel.

 

[CARTER281]

what research should be done to know if it is a good deal

we are going down there the last weekend in august for the "owners presentation"
i am wondering what i can do to research if what they are offering is worth it. actually i am not even sure what they are offering.
any help would be appreciated

 

[tonyg]

I did the presentation at VV in the Berkshires and never could get an answer as to whether they were trying to sell me fixed or floating weeks. Don't have any idea what they were trying to sell and I'm not sure they had any clue at all.

 

[CARTER281]

they talked us into giving back our 2 bdrm

we gave back our 2 bdrm eoy and paid 7,090 for a 4 bdrm eoy fixed week 20
now we have platinum that allows us exchanges in the sister resorts for 99.00 w/out interval. did anyone else get this offer,
just signed the papers today. is it worth it or shoud i cancel and get my original deed back. i was told my old 2 bdrm wouldn't trade well because interval asked the devolper to do these 4 bdrms and exchange would give the owners more trade power
how do these sales people get away with these statements and how do you verify them or can you.

 

[JoeMid]

we gave back our 2 bdrm eoy and paid 7,090 for a 4 bdrm eoy fixed week 20
now we have platinum that allows us exchanges in the sister resorts for 99.00 w/out interval. did anyone else get this offer,
just signed the papers today. is it worth it or shoud i cancel and get my original deed back. i was told my old 2 bdrm wouldn't trade well because interval asked the devolper to do these 4 bdrms and exchange would give the owners more trade power
how do these sales people get away with these statements and how do you verify them or can you.

Everything they told you was a stretch! You don't say what week you had but a week 20 stinks in my experience with Williamsburg. Summer 'power' doesn't really start until about Wk25.

 

[CARTER281]

update

i owned a float 9-52 week, 2 bdrm eoy
now i own a 4 bdrm lock off week 20 eoy that cost 7,090 plus my original 2 bdrm.

 

[geneticblend]

What is going on at Williamsburg Plantation

I went to Williamsburg Plantation for Christmas week. They have a program called "Affinity Rewards". You can look at the website at www.affinityrewards.net They wanted us to sign up to become members, but we were not interested. Basically, what it seems to be is what they call a "family" of resorts, which of course includes the Williamsburg Plantation. They want those who are owners at the Williamsburg Plantation to send them lists of people who they think might be interested in a trip to one of these resorts. For each person you get to tour one of these resorts, you get 10,000Affinity Rewards, which value $100.00. You can redeem these Affinity Rewards for cash twice a year. (But I think they try to get you to pay your maintenance fee with it.) It is free to join. We didn't join because we didn't want to subject our friends and family to those high-pressure sales pitches.

Also when we were there, we were asked if we wanted to take a tour of one of the new units. We were told we could tour the unit on our own, and then we would have to fill out a survey about the unit, letting them know what we thought about it. For our time, we would be given a free breakfast or lunch, and a $75.00 gift card. When we were hesitant about doing this, we were told, "This is nothing like when you came here to buy!" So we decided to tour the unit. Well, we never did see a new unit. The whole scenario was made up to get you to spend time with a salesperson who as before, gave you the high-pressure sales talk. Talk about bait and switch!

What we thought was funny however, was that when we bought our unit, we were told how wonderful it would be, what a great week we bought, how owning a double unit with a lock-out was the best you could get....Now the sales person told us what a terrible unit we had, what an awful week we had, we needed to upgrade to get better trade value....bla bla bla. It just goes to show you how they will say anything to get you to buy, buy, buy. We told her that we would never buy from them again. (And we told her a few other things too---but nicely...)

Anyway, what started out as a great bargain for a 4 bedroom lock-out that sleeps 12 for $40,000.00, suddenly dropped as low as $4,000.00! Needless to say, we still didn't buy it.

There was never any mention of "points" the entire time we were there.

 

[shawncot]

Does Williamsburg Plantation have a website?

Hello,
Does Williamsburg Plantation have a website to pay maint fees and such? If so what is it? Thanks

 

[Miss Marty]

Affinity Rewards Member


Williamsburg Plantation Website

http://www.resortwilliamsburg.com/

 

[BRN2RDE]

Williamsburg newbee question

I just today inhereted a 2 week timeshare at Greensprings Resort, Williamsburg. I am completley new to this whole timeshare thing, and other than what I have found on this forum, I know nothing about them. Apparently, this is what I have: 2 weeks, with one locked in to Labor Day week. This apparently high season, red(?), up to 12 guests. Apparently I also have this years' fees paid, as well as 4 weeks in 'bank'. At this point I can pass on it, or take it along with the $900 yearly fee. So, anyone familiar with this particular resort care to express an opinion about it? I honestly can't imagine traveling there often, but if I can figure out this trade thing I see some value in it.

Thanks for any input,

BRN2RDE

 

[lprstn]

we gave back our 2 bdrm eoy and paid 7,090 for a 4 bdrm eoy fixed week 20
now we have platinum that allows us exchanges in the sister resorts for 99.00 w/out interval. did anyone else get this offer,
just signed the papers today. is it worth it or shoud i cancel and get my original deed back. i was told my old 2 bdrm wouldn't trade well because interval asked the devolper to do these 4 bdrms and exchange would give the owners more trade power
how do these sales people get away with these statements and how do you verify them or can you.

This is the deal my friend was offered when I told her to rescind. However she likded the idea of being able to trade between the few resorts and not pay a fee to II. She originally paid $12500 for a 4br/4bath in Dec for EOY and "upgraded" to EY October week for just $21000 total (they gave her credit for her previous payments and now she is financing just $19500). I guess in terms of what she had its a good concept, however I told her why pay them and additional $12,500 when you could have just bought a points complement to what you already have for only $2000, and saved yourself $10K. I also showed her a 4br/4bath EY going for $2200 on Holiday group. She didn't get it and felt "safer" going with the "knowledgeable" salesperson who sold her the last dud that couldn't get her decent trades. I don't think anything she will trade with II from Williamsburg will do better, but she will have to see that herself.

 

[geneticblend]

The Affinity Rewards program is FREE to join. I am not a member, but it seems to me that the program is for just a group of "sister resorts", one of which is Williamsburg Plantation. As a member, you can earn points, which are converted into dollars, for referring friends and relatives to go on a tour of the Williamsburg Plantation, or one of the sister resorts. Then you can use your dollars towards "rewards" in the program. I posted a link up above (in an earlier post), and here is another that is specific for the Williamsburg Plantation:

http://www.affinityrewards.net/promotion_williamsburg.html

As far as the "Platinum" status that someone mentioned, I don't think this has anything to do with the Affinity Rewards Program. I think it is just something that the Williamsburg Plantation made up to get more $ out of their owners. They make it sound as if you are getting something better than everyone else, and that if you pay for platinum status, you will have better trading power. Does Interval even look to see if you have platinum status at Williamsburg Plantation? I bet if you ask one of their reps on the phone, they won't even know what you are talking about!

So Williamsburg Plantation is using the Affinity Rewards Program to lure people into their own little private trap. While you are there, at the resort, they will hit you with their "platinum" upgrade pitch. Don't buy into it. As far as the Affinity Rewards goes, I don't see the harm in that. I didn't join only because I don't want to subject my friends and family to the whole sales thing. But I do have one question for those of you who may know the answer...if you join the Affinity Rewards Program, can you still be a member of Interval? I think you can, but I am not 100% positive.

 

[antonios757]

affinity rewards program

(Williamsburg Plantation affinity rewards program) This is a FREE program for owners to earn a little extra cash simply for recommending peers to one of the Vacation Village locations. Owners should think so negative, every vacation ownership property cant be that bad, after all there is over six million owners. If what you see doesn't make sense to you it doesn't mean that it's not true or a sales pitch. Believe or not but we all upgrade in life in some shape form or fashion. Do you still watch analog T.V.? Still have a 8 track in your car? Still have the same cell phone? Please be a little more positive, give people a break from negativity we have a enough going on in the world, at least timeshare resorts give you gifts( it your choice whether to accept them)

 

[STEVIE]

Hi, we are owners at Vacation Village in the Berkshires. I always wondered why Williamsburg Plantation didn't trade with RCI. Does anyone know if it will become dual affiliated? Thanks, Sue

 

[angel72]

Williamsburg Plantation

Probably to try to sell you on Colonies at Williamsburg, a new vacation village resort, I think will be opening later this year or next year.