Sou13
newbie
Affiliation with Festiva
(Posting from the local community college academic computer lab, where I can scan and send documents via email)
While Mr. Hagberg sees the affiliation with the Festiva Adventure Club as an additional benefit for Southcape owners, our conversation left me with the conclusion that I was right to sound the alarm about Festiva.
Mr. Hagberg told me that his intention is to sell the inventory and turn over control of the resort to the Owners' Association. But what he didn't tell me is that all the owners who "convert" to Festiva are turning over their vote to Festiva, and that will give Festiva the majority rule of the Club!
Furthermore, as I suspected, the weeks that are converted are the weeks you get to deposit in I.I. when you want to exchange a week. This is not the way it works when you are a "float" owner exchanging through I.I.! Float owners reserve the week and unit of their choice from the available inventory and some weeks and units are more in demand than others when it comes to exchanging!
I've been in contact with a TUG member who has nothing bad to say about Festiva, but with good reason. Here's what he has to say (my questions are in RoyalBlue, his answers in italics):
As far as Festiva points go, you can color me satisfied, at least for now. I have stayed in one Festiva property (Church street Inn -- nice place, great location), visited another (Ellington at Washesaw Plantation -- very nice, especially for golfers), and used Festiva points to trade for 5 units. In the last 2 cases, 3600 Festiva points (each) brought me a 2BR unit at the Royal Sands in Cancun, and a 2BR unit at Marriott's Canyon Villas vacation club in Phoenix. Previous trades were for Royal Islander, Cancun (2BR, 3600 PTS), Sedona Springs Resort, AZ (1BR, 3500 pts), and The Ponds at Fox Hollow, MA (1BR, 3500 pts).
My impression is that the best way to use Festiva points is to trade outside of Festiva, not to stay in a Festiva unit.
We owners at Soutcape Resort are very upset about being affiliated with the Festiva Adventure Club but have not heard from any satisfied members. When you trade outside Festiva are you paying a fee as well?
I trade through Interval International, so I pay the standard II fees. There are no Festiva fees (other than an annual maintenance fee).
How long have you been a member, and has your maintenance fee increased since you joined? Do you get what you want when you trade?
Joined in Sept 2007, so I'm a relatively new Festiva member.
I take it from your 2nd question that you know nothing about Interval international...or about trading in general. For a tutorial, you would do well to check out other TUG newsgroups and the II web site.
Were you a deeded owner or did you join Festiva outright? Have you had experience with RCI and the point system?
Yes and yes...it's not an either-or thing (or it doesn't have to be).
I have no experience with RCI (yet), but I'm waiting for them to acknowledge the application I made over 2 months ago. They are very slow in getting things started. I've been very happy with II, but I recently received a free membership in RCI, so I'm going to give them a try. My suspicion is that i will continue to like Interval better.
We would really appreciate it if you could visit our discussion and answer these and many other questions.
Your discussion seems to be about Southgate, about which I know nothing, or about bashing Festiva, which I have no reason to do.
BTW I found you in the Festiva Adventure Club listing on TUG.
Since I'd never even heard of Festiva until the recent takeover of Southcape Resort, I read the Festiva-bashing discussion before joining the forum.
Now that I've had some first-hand experience with Festiva, I wanted to hear from members, and you were listed (there are only 3 who are listed) so I wanted to hear from you how it's working for you.
You've been doing your trading through I.I. which means paying an exchange fee for each trade, as well as paying for membership in I.I. Since I've never traded through I.I. but have been an off-and-on member over the years, I have never had experience from which to draw. But it appears to me that you could have done just as well as a deeded inteval owner, and if not, why not?
Is your home resort affiliated with Festiva, and are deeded weeks no longer available?
I have no home resort. It's a deeded points deal...40 years, renewable at no extra cost. 6000 points per year, with a 6000 point sign-up bonus. My 5 trades have cost me 17,800 points, leaving me a 200 point carryover to next year.
I was already an II member as a result of our Marriott Grande Vista ownership. So there has been no extra cost for me, other than the II trading fees. My maintenance fee for 2009 was $730.
How did you get to purchase points in the Festiva Adventure Club without having a home resort? Are you still a deeded owner at Marriott Grande Vista?
Festiva and Marriott have nothing to do with each other. I have 2 separate ownerships...a floating 2BR week at Grande Vista, and a deeded 6000 annual point membership in Festiva. My wife & I purchased the Festiva membership during a stay at Festiva's Church Street Inn in Charleston.
If you can direct me to info about this I would greatly appreciate it!
You say your maintenance fee is $750. How many points do you own, if I may be so bold as to ask? My understanding is that the MF is based on how many points you own.
Make that MF $730 for 2009, not $750.
FWIW, Festiva says that Peppertree owners who converted from Peppertree points to Festiva points saved money. For example, 3500 Peppertree points converted to 6000 Festiva points, with a 2008 reduction in fees of $274/year.
I have no way of knowing if 3500 Peppertree points truly equal 6000 Festiva points.
Put together with annual membership in II and the exchange fee, are you getting enough for your outlay?
Well...I wish I had paid less but other than that, no complaints.
The issue of II membership is irrelevant in my case. I was already a member before joining Festiva.
This makes no sense to me. How can you trade through II if you have no week to deposit? And how can you get good weeks if your week isn't a good one?
You call Festiva. Early in the year is best. If you have paid your MF, they will issue you a unit (per the number of points you ask to be spent). For example, 3600 points gets you a 1BR red week, 3500 points a 2BR yellow week. You then deposit this unit with Interval. Thereafter it works just like any other deposit...except that Marriott deposits are held by Interval for about 3 weeks while they are made available to Marriott owners only (a special deal Marriott has made with Interval).
(Posting from the local community college academic computer lab, where I can scan and send documents via email)
While Mr. Hagberg sees the affiliation with the Festiva Adventure Club as an additional benefit for Southcape owners, our conversation left me with the conclusion that I was right to sound the alarm about Festiva.
Mr. Hagberg told me that his intention is to sell the inventory and turn over control of the resort to the Owners' Association. But what he didn't tell me is that all the owners who "convert" to Festiva are turning over their vote to Festiva, and that will give Festiva the majority rule of the Club!
Furthermore, as I suspected, the weeks that are converted are the weeks you get to deposit in I.I. when you want to exchange a week. This is not the way it works when you are a "float" owner exchanging through I.I.! Float owners reserve the week and unit of their choice from the available inventory and some weeks and units are more in demand than others when it comes to exchanging!
I've been in contact with a TUG member who has nothing bad to say about Festiva, but with good reason. Here's what he has to say (my questions are in RoyalBlue, his answers in italics):
As far as Festiva points go, you can color me satisfied, at least for now. I have stayed in one Festiva property (Church street Inn -- nice place, great location), visited another (Ellington at Washesaw Plantation -- very nice, especially for golfers), and used Festiva points to trade for 5 units. In the last 2 cases, 3600 Festiva points (each) brought me a 2BR unit at the Royal Sands in Cancun, and a 2BR unit at Marriott's Canyon Villas vacation club in Phoenix. Previous trades were for Royal Islander, Cancun (2BR, 3600 PTS), Sedona Springs Resort, AZ (1BR, 3500 pts), and The Ponds at Fox Hollow, MA (1BR, 3500 pts).
My impression is that the best way to use Festiva points is to trade outside of Festiva, not to stay in a Festiva unit.
We owners at Soutcape Resort are very upset about being affiliated with the Festiva Adventure Club but have not heard from any satisfied members. When you trade outside Festiva are you paying a fee as well?
I trade through Interval International, so I pay the standard II fees. There are no Festiva fees (other than an annual maintenance fee).
How long have you been a member, and has your maintenance fee increased since you joined? Do you get what you want when you trade?
Joined in Sept 2007, so I'm a relatively new Festiva member.
I take it from your 2nd question that you know nothing about Interval international...or about trading in general. For a tutorial, you would do well to check out other TUG newsgroups and the II web site.
Were you a deeded owner or did you join Festiva outright? Have you had experience with RCI and the point system?
Yes and yes...it's not an either-or thing (or it doesn't have to be).
I have no experience with RCI (yet), but I'm waiting for them to acknowledge the application I made over 2 months ago. They are very slow in getting things started. I've been very happy with II, but I recently received a free membership in RCI, so I'm going to give them a try. My suspicion is that i will continue to like Interval better.
We would really appreciate it if you could visit our discussion and answer these and many other questions.
Your discussion seems to be about Southgate, about which I know nothing, or about bashing Festiva, which I have no reason to do.
BTW I found you in the Festiva Adventure Club listing on TUG.
Since I'd never even heard of Festiva until the recent takeover of Southcape Resort, I read the Festiva-bashing discussion before joining the forum.
Now that I've had some first-hand experience with Festiva, I wanted to hear from members, and you were listed (there are only 3 who are listed) so I wanted to hear from you how it's working for you.
You've been doing your trading through I.I. which means paying an exchange fee for each trade, as well as paying for membership in I.I. Since I've never traded through I.I. but have been an off-and-on member over the years, I have never had experience from which to draw. But it appears to me that you could have done just as well as a deeded inteval owner, and if not, why not?
Is your home resort affiliated with Festiva, and are deeded weeks no longer available?
I have no home resort. It's a deeded points deal...40 years, renewable at no extra cost. 6000 points per year, with a 6000 point sign-up bonus. My 5 trades have cost me 17,800 points, leaving me a 200 point carryover to next year.
I was already an II member as a result of our Marriott Grande Vista ownership. So there has been no extra cost for me, other than the II trading fees. My maintenance fee for 2009 was $730.
How did you get to purchase points in the Festiva Adventure Club without having a home resort? Are you still a deeded owner at Marriott Grande Vista?
Festiva and Marriott have nothing to do with each other. I have 2 separate ownerships...a floating 2BR week at Grande Vista, and a deeded 6000 annual point membership in Festiva. My wife & I purchased the Festiva membership during a stay at Festiva's Church Street Inn in Charleston.
If you can direct me to info about this I would greatly appreciate it!
You say your maintenance fee is $750. How many points do you own, if I may be so bold as to ask? My understanding is that the MF is based on how many points you own.
Make that MF $730 for 2009, not $750.
FWIW, Festiva says that Peppertree owners who converted from Peppertree points to Festiva points saved money. For example, 3500 Peppertree points converted to 6000 Festiva points, with a 2008 reduction in fees of $274/year.
I have no way of knowing if 3500 Peppertree points truly equal 6000 Festiva points.
Put together with annual membership in II and the exchange fee, are you getting enough for your outlay?
Well...I wish I had paid less but other than that, no complaints.
The issue of II membership is irrelevant in my case. I was already a member before joining Festiva.
This makes no sense to me. How can you trade through II if you have no week to deposit? And how can you get good weeks if your week isn't a good one?
You call Festiva. Early in the year is best. If you have paid your MF, they will issue you a unit (per the number of points you ask to be spent). For example, 3600 points gets you a 1BR red week, 3500 points a 2BR yellow week. You then deposit this unit with Interval. Thereafter it works just like any other deposit...except that Marriott deposits are held by Interval for about 3 weeks while they are made available to Marriott owners only (a special deal Marriott has made with Interval).
Last edited: