Capitol Vacations and its crazy high pressure sales tactics and confusing offers... (don't worry I didn't buy anything!)

[chazpbg]

Just curious what folks have experienced lately with Capitol Vacations and its club/points program... We're staying at one of the resorts they manage in Cape Cod and did a presentation today -- guy with the resort was practically begging me to do it and we had a free quiet afternoon, so I thought "What the heck... why not?" even though I had almost no intention to buy (and I was upfront about that). Deal was for $150 Amex gift card and some b.s. "free" week (I knew the week was probably a scam but the $150 gift card was for real). I've done some presentations in the past with the major hotel chains (Marriott was the last one) and they're usually pretty easy and if you don't buy, they don't try to insult you. But this got pretty aggressive, with salesman asking at some point in a condescending way, "Why did you come here?" (My answer: "Because we were told it was a no-pressure presentation that would last 90 minutes and you're now in the 93rd minute"... that seemed to wrap things up.) But I have to admit the offers were totally confusing: Something about buying my current timeshare (which I bought resale for next to nothing for exchange purposes 24 years ago and it has worked out very nicely) -- that offer was for $20,000 and seemed to come with 400,000 club points that would supposedly get me two months worth of vacation weeks a year. Or I could buy new from Capitol for $13k with a lesser amount of points. But terms were murky, promises were all over the place and it only got more confusing with hints of cheaper deals and "trial" offers toward the end of the presentation (oh yeah, there was also the proverbial visit from a manager near the point we were wrapping up, but that guy seemed to figure out that we were ready to leave). From what I read here tonight, this is par for the course with Capitol -- I'm curious if anyone has actually gotten a deal with Capitol that made sense and/or can you buy the same points package on the resale market? But honestly, why do timeshare companies continue with such b.s., especially since some of the more reputable brands have adopted a more civil and straightforward approach. Perhaps the answer is that some people will still buy (and I think I saw another couple signing up as we were departing). Still, it's a lousy way to do business.

 

[jp10558]

I'm curious if anyone has actually gotten a deal with Capitol that made sense and/or can you buy the same points package on the resale market?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it basically never makes sense to do a retail deal with anyone. It's certainly not hard to get Capital managed TS resale, and from what I've read, their points program is worthless, just use II or RCI.

But honestly, why do timeshare companies continue with such b.s., especially since some of the more reputable brands have adopted a more civil and straightforward approach. Perhaps the answer is that some people will still buy (and I think I saw another couple signing up as we were departing). Still, it's a lousy way to do business.

This is it, some people will buy with enough pressure or razzle dazzle. And that's the bread and butter for the systems. Anyone who understands anything is on TUG and is looking for resale for what they want. On top of that, many of the more advanced people have very specific things they're looking for and likely understand it all better than the salespeople.

 

[TravelJoy]

Similar experience they wanted to pitch a convoluted deal where they ask me to pay for them converting my ts into points, after which I would never have to pay mf for life and I could get multiple free weeks from my converted week which they could pay me for. After pressing them with the logic of how that works the sales guy wasn't able to answer as that's where the script ended. Walked away with $135 amex and garbage week offer within 60min.

 

[dioxide45]

It seems there are some timeshares and systems that really have no appeal unless they are pushed in a super high pressure environment. I don't understand why anyone would want to buy into Capital Vacations, Exploria, Spinnaker, or even Vacation Village. I think they can only sell the product when they berate the person long enough and into submission. I often wonder if these systems have higher default rates than the Marriott, Wyndham and Hilton timeshare programs.

 

[jp10558]

It seems there are some timeshares and systems that really have no appeal unless they are pushed in a super high pressure environment. I don't understand why anyone would want to buy into Capital Vacations, Exploria, Spinnaker, or even Vacation Village. I think they can only sell the product when they berate the person long enough and into submission. I often wonder if these systems have higher default rates than the Marriott, Wyndham and Hilton timeshare programs.

Well I can't really comment on Exploria or Spinnaker, I do think there are resale reasons (and I took them up TBH) to get Capital. Not their points, but the managed by Capital can have pretty low MFs and trade reasonably well in II. And you can get them near free. Capital also now has added value IMHO to these properties on the RCI side also, with many of them in Trading Places Legacy for free, and that lets you do an RCI Exchange at a much higher tier system than they tend to be "natively" in RCI, so presumably can pull better exchanges, but also a discounted exchange fee of around $170 instead of $299, so that also makes it potentially compelling.

Vacation Village - I don't currently own - but has some good(ish) properties IMHO that can - like Colonies - pull good II or quite good RCI Points MF/pt ratios.

So I think they work ... resale ... as traders, if you're able to grab things with them you want.

 

[buzglyd]

Well I can't really comment on Exploria or Spinnaker, I do think there are resale reasons (and I took them up TBH) to get Capital. Not their points, but the managed by Capital can have pretty low MFs and trade reasonably well in II. And you can get them near free. Capital also now has added value IMHO to these properties on the RCI side also, with many of them in Trading Places Legacy for free, and that lets you do an RCI Exchange at a much higher tier system than they tend to be "natively" in RCI, so presumably can pull better exchanges, but also a discounted exchange fee of around $170 instead of $299, so that also makes it potentially compelling.

Vacation Village - I don't currently own - but has some good(ish) properties IMHO that can - like Colonies - pull good II or quite good RCI Points MF/pt ratios.

So I think they work ... resale ... as traders, if you're able to grab things with them you want.

I own at Gaslamp Plaza Suites. I’ve traded it in RCi a few times and it pulls 47 TPU. It has been a few years since I deposited since it also trades in II and I got a Grand Solmar this year and a Marriott Ocean Pointe in 2026 with it.

Are you saying I will now have additional advantage if I start using RCI again?

 

[chazpbg]

Well I can't really comment on Exploria or Spinnaker, I do think there are resale reasons (and I took them up TBH) to get Capital. Not their points, but the managed by Capital can have pretty low MFs and trade reasonably well in II. And you can get them near free. Capital also now has added value IMHO to these properties on the RCI side also, with many of them in Trading Places Legacy for free, and that lets you do an RCI Exchange at a much higher tier system than they tend to be "natively" in RCI, so presumably can pull better exchanges, but also a discounted exchange fee of around $170 instead of $299, so that also makes it potentially compelling.

Vacation Village - I don't currently own - but has some good(ish) properties IMHO that can - like Colonies - pull good II or quite good RCI Points MF/pt ratios.

So I think they work ... resale ... as traders, if you're able to grab things with them you want.

Thanks for responding. Please explain how this might work. Say, I buy a resale property owned or managed by Capitol (and the one I'm staying at in Cape Cod is one I particularly like -- and I can indeed get a unit on the cheap through resale, though the MFs aren't super low). Does this give me access to the Capitol points system, or do I need to buy something from Capitol to do that? Or is there another way I can exchange them through Capitol's internal system or RCI or II? (I'm already an RCI points member). I think you're confirming what I suspected -- there might be some good features to Capitol's system, but there's no reason to buy new to take advantage of it.

 

[TravelJoy]

Well I can't really comment on Exploria or Spinnaker, I do think there are resale reasons (and I took them up TBH) to get Capital. Not their points, but the managed by Capital can have pretty low MFs and trade reasonably well in II. And you can get them near free. Capital also now has added value IMHO to these properties on the RCI side also, with many of them in Trading Places Legacy for free, and that lets you do an RCI Exchange at a much higher tier system than they tend to be "natively" in RCI, so presumably can pull better exchanges, but also a discounted exchange fee of around $170 instead of $299, so that also makes it potentially compelling.

Vacation Village - I don't currently own - but has some good(ish) properties IMHO that can - like Colonies - pull good II or quite good RCI Points MF/pt ratios.

So I think they work ... resale ... as traders, if you're able to grab things with them you want.

Last I compared RCI vs TP, the inventory for RCI is vastly superior both quality and quantity, but the exchange fee is certainly better at TP if you can get the exchange desired

 

[TUGBrian]

almost every offer during a sales presentation is a poor one for the owner....

some of them however are complete nightmare deals for the owner! heck for many of these we wouldnt even consider a freebie on the resale market as a good deal unless it was a week/ownership/etc someone absolutely had to have.

 

[jp10558]

I own at Gaslamp Plaza Suites. I’ve traded it in RCi a few times and it pulls 47 TPU. It has been a few years since I deposited since it also trades in II and I got a Grand Solmar this year and a Marriott Ocean Pointe in 2026 with it.

So I've never used a standalone RCI Weeks, so IDK what the TPU might be - I just understand that Fox Run or Gaitlinburg Town Square don't get a lot of TPU. But Fox Run anyway gets Tier 5 of 6 possible tiers in Trading Places Legacy (that basically is 98% RCI weeks from what I can tell cross comparing with my Wyndham corporate RCI weeks account). So it went from getting very little in RCI directly to being able to pull up to 1 tier below the highest.

Are you saying I will now have additional advantage if I start using RCI again?

47TPU might be a lot of TPU in which case IDK how it'd compare. It's also possible that if it's higher TPU than my example it might get Tier 6 but the only way to know would be to look at Trading Places Legacy which the resort has to vote to be in from what I can tell, and if they did you'd have gotten an e-mail about it. The main obvious benefit is the quite a bit lower exchange fee though.

 

[jp10558]

Thanks for responding. Please explain how this might work. Say, I buy a resale property owned or managed by Capitol (and the one I'm staying at in Cape Cod is one I particularly like -- and I can indeed get a unit on the cheap through resale, though the MFs aren't super low). Does this give me access to the Capitol points system, or do I need to buy something from Capitol to do that?

I'm pretty sure you have to waste a lot of money with Capitol to get their points system. I personally wouldn't see any value in their points system at all.

Or is there another way I can exchange them through Capitol's internal system or RCI or II? (I'm already an RCI points member). I think you're confirming what I suspected -- there might be some good features to Capitol's system, but there's no reason to buy new to take advantage of it.

Capitol seems to run Trading Places Legacy and if you buy at a place like Fox Run or Gaitlinburg Town Square, you get it for free automatically, and can log in with the same account you use to pay your MFs. It is a kind of an internal system also because for the few locations that are indicated (which I believe are Capitol) you get even cheaper exchange fees than the RCI connection, I think maybe $140 or so. But FWIW I don't know that I'd be that excited over it - I got my ones for II trading, and the backstop of using via RCI for cheaper exchange is a nice feature, but not something I'm likely to actively use. In reality I think if you want to use RCI a lot the RCI Points like Grandview or Colonies for a good amount of points for a low MF/pt ratio makes a lot more sense as even though each exchange is a bunch more, you can easily get 2-5 weeks from one week put into points. Whereas it's week for week with TPL.

 

[jp10558]

Last I compared RCI vs TP, the inventory for RCI is vastly superior both quality and quantity, but the exchange fee is certainly better at TP if you can get the exchange desired

The thing is in TPL pretty much all the available exchanges are actually RCI, and there's a LOT listed, I'd estimate the same amount as I saw in my Corporate Weeks account. So if I did want to trade one of my Capitol weeks for an RCI week, I'd really try and "launder" it through TPL because I'd save around $130 in exchange fees, and be able to get higher level locations as a trade.

There are a very few that are straight TPL to TPL and the exchange fee is even lower, but that seems to be like 10 places around the US.

 

[dioxide45]

Well I can't really comment on Exploria or Spinnaker, I do think there are resale reasons (and I took them up TBH) to get Capital. Not their points, but the managed by Capital can have pretty low MFs and trade reasonably well in II. And you can get them near free. Capital also now has added value IMHO to these properties on the RCI side also, with many of them in Trading Places Legacy for free, and that lets you do an RCI Exchange at a much higher tier system than they tend to be "natively" in RCI, so presumably can pull better exchanges, but also a discounted exchange fee of around $170 instead of $299, so that also makes it potentially compelling.

Vacation Village - I don't currently own - but has some good(ish) properties IMHO that can - like Colonies - pull good II or quite good RCI Points MF/pt ratios.

So I think they work ... resale ... as traders, if you're able to grab things with them you want.

I was referring to the actual program that Capital Vacations sells today. I understand they sell a trust based points product. Sure you can buy a deeded week at a resort managed by Capital Vacations. Certainly, I think and almost in all instances, the legacy programs are superior when it comes to value. But that isn't what Capital sells. I don't understand why anyone would buy into their points program. I have also seen reports on TUG that Trading Places isn't what it used to be. There were lots of complaints about it after Capital acquired VRI Americas, which came with TPI, from Marriott Vacations a few years ago. Has availability in Trading Places improved?

 

[jp10558]

I was referring to the actual program that Capital Vacations sells today. I understand they sell a trust based points product. Sure you can buy a deeded week at a resort managed by Capital Vacations. Certainly, I think and almost in all instances, the legacy programs are superior when it comes to value. But that isn't what Capital sells. I don't understand why anyone would buy into their points program.

I agree - I don't think that makes any sense.

I have also seen reports on TUG that Trading Places isn't what it used to be. There were lots of complaints about it after Capital acquired VRI Americas, which came with TPI, from Marriott Vacations a few years ago. Has availability in Trading Places improved?

No idea, the TPL I got seems to basically be a worse UI skin on RCI, with the lower exchange fees, and higher ratings.

 

[rickandcindy23]

This company calls me almost daily to talk to me about my last Foxrun week. The calls come from what looks like local numbers (Denver area).

 

[dioxide45]

This company calls me almost daily to talk to me about my last Foxrun week. The calls come from what looks like local numbers (Denver area).

Capital Vacations is calling you about Fox Run?

 

[rickandcindy23]

Capital Vacations is calling you about Fox Run?

Yep. They took over management from VRI.

What's with the phony local numbers?

 

[BM243923]

Yep. They took over management from VRI.

What's with the phony local numbers?

Cindy
I own at the Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort and Capital was the management company after they took over VRI until the board terminated their contract. They phoned me for over 2 years twice a day. I would block the number and they would call from another number. One day I spoke to them and told them I would be reporting them if they did not stop calling. It took a while but eventually the calls stopped.