Americas Travel Vacation Club and World International Vacation Club

[NotAgain]

Hello all,

I have received a letter from the ATV Club the week before regarding "the end" of the club (see the paragraphs below). The current ATV members are been provided the WIVC membership as an option. Can any TUGGER familiar with the WIVC provide some insight or input on this. Thanks.

Brian G.

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Dear ATV Club Member:
After exhausting all possible solutions and after a great deal of contemplation, Americas Travel & Vacation Club (”Club” and “ATVC”) will unfortunately be forced to either liquidate or partially “merge” with another vacation club. As you know, our Club has not sold memberships since its inception, and the natural loss of members due to time and the effects of the economy have been financially too difficult to overcome.

Your Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to seek your input to either liquidate the Club or to reorganize pursuant to a plan through Chapter 11 bankruptcy where certain ATVC assets would be acquired by another club and ATVC members desirous of doing so could become members of the other club. Any reorganization plan will be subject to creditor and Bankruptcy Court approval. Regardless, ATVC will soon cease operations.

Club members who wish to continue with a vacation club membership are encouraged to consider accepting a membership in WIVC whether or not ATVC liquidates or reorganizes. WIVC indicates that it is prepared to match your ATVC membership in terms of seasonality and number of bedrooms; up to the number of available WIVC memberships. We have diligently searched for alternative clubs for our members to join and feel that WIVC is the best option for most of our members...
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[theo]

The problem with most (...almost all, truth be told) "vacation clubs" is their consistently limited and consistently inferior available interval inventory. There are some rare exceptions, but those rare exceptions are certainly few and far between.

YMMV, but I wouldn't even bother to look at this alternative "vacation club" membership being offered to you as a substitute. Personally, I'd simply just wave goodbye to both "vacation clubs". If you got some use and value out of the "folding" vacation club, that's great and be grateful --- but you are highly unlikely to ever again be able to duplicate any such success in today's "interval" world. It's now a very different game with different rules in a very different economy and any new "vacation clubs" are simply not likely ever going to be able to gain a foothold on any high quality interval inventory, at least IMnsHO.

 

[LannyPC]

How has ATV Travel club been to you over the years? Has it provided satisfactory vacation options for you at acceptable prices?

Now ponder the answers to those questions and use the answers to figure out if it would be worth it to join WIVC.

The general consensus among TUGgers is that travel clubs are rarely worth the paper on which they are printed. Many of the "discounts" these travel clubs offer (for flights, car rentals, cruises, theme park tickets, etc.) can be found on free travel websites such as Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, etc. Also, many of the suites these clubs offer are usually available to rent from independent exchange companies with free membership such as DAE, Platinum Interchange, etc.

Have you looked at renting suites directly from owners here on TUG Marketplace, Red Week, VRBO.com, or E-bay?

 

[pacodemountainside]

Not familiar with this one, but a couple I have checked out were essentially ripoffs. "D" and "F" ratings with BBB as no way could they deliver.

How can a vacation club in Podunk with maybe 200K members get better deals than Wyndham with over 900K members, II around 2 million and RCI around 4 million?

For lodging basically offering what II and RCI have for last minute deals.

 

[NotAgain]

I have been staying at the 4 Seasons Desert Breezes in Palm Desert one or two weeks during the holidays and special events for many years through the ATV Club. This location is also within walking distance to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden during the BNP PARIBAS Tennis Open.

The first time I saw the letter, I thought it will be merged with "World Wide Vacation Club" - WWVC which also owns quite a few Desert Breezes timeshare intervals.

But it ended up be "World International Vacation Club" - WIVC, which is another club that owns different vacation properties. It's very confusing!

http://www.atvclub.com
http://4seasons.desertbreezesresort.com

http://www.wivc.com
http://www.worldwidevacationsclub.com

 

[LisaH]

I was a member of WIVC for a short period of time. My girlfriend still is a member and has been over 10 years.
They have many locations in Mexico, one in Spain, two in US (FL and CO). The club is well run. M/F is kept low (1BR at a bit over $400).
I sold it as I find the quality of the units, amenities, and the locations of the resorts did not quite meet our needs. My friend always use it for exchange into Marriott resorts so she is quite happy with WIVC.

 

[brown822]

WIVC

I have owned WIVC since 1984. One of their resorts is with the WorldMark at LaPaloma/Rosita Beach, Mexico. We have stayed at all of the WIVC resorts except FL. It has good staff, good management and good units. The MarAzul in Acapulco is rated RCI Gold Crown and is located right on the beach near downtown where you can walk to stores, restaurants, grocery, etc. The New Years multiple fireworks over the bay are wonderful. Other WIVC resorts are well rated as well. The CO resort have quite a bit to be desired except it is in the mountains and near skiing. We own WIVC "special weeks" - Christmas, New Years and Easter which gives us good trading power (32-35) with RCI so now we trade them. We would like to sell them and they have a little extra value with the "special weeks", but like many timeshares they would not sell for much. It is a 2 bedroom 2 bath floating week with priority booking for Xmas, New Years and Easter. The maintenance fees are low - about $525.

 

[Rent_Share]

Why did you wait 9 Months to post what appears to me to be a shill post ?

 

[NotAgain]

WIVC Update

To make the long story short, the original ATVC has ceased operatons since a few months ago and was filing for bankruptcy....

I applied and transferred the membership over to WIVC. Since some of the 4 Seasons Desert Breezes intervals were also acquired by WIVC from ATVC. I was still able to make a reservaction at 4 Seasons Desert Breezes this year.

So it worked out okay for now. Thank you all for the helpful information!

 

[NotAgain]

4 Seasons Desert Breezes Check-in

By the way, I was just notified the week before that "4 Seasons Desert Breezes" management agreement has been changed.

It is not handled by TPI at the Desert Breezes lobby any more. The check-in is done off site at Desert Fall Rentals at: 37017 Cook St. Suite 103Palm Desert, CA 92211 USA760-341-2589

Their office only opens 9-5 during regulair business hours. If you are chedking in Firday night or Saturday, you will need to contact them 48 hours in advance.

This applies to 4 Seasons Desert Breezes only. The regular Desert Breezes timeshares are still managed by TPI according to their website.

http://www.tradingplaces.com/rentals/property-details?resortnumber=2105