Castleburn--Fixed weeks or NOT??

[loosefeet]

I bought a week at Castelburn a few years ago. It was a FIXED week, however, it doesn't seem to be the week that is deposited with RCI. And, each year I have to "verify with the resort" before it will be deposited in RCI. In other words, Castleburn has to assign a week to me. Anyone understand this--or have the same problem with deposits? The reason I bought a fixed week is so I wouldn't have to get a week assigned every year.
Also, I have not read this forum for awhile. I have also found a great decrease in trading power. Do n't know what happened, but my Castleburn pulls nothing. It was fine last year.

 

[vincenton]

Lyoder,

I also have a few weeks at Castleburn. From what I understand.. You have a fixed week, but the week changes as it follow the SA school calendar. You just need to email Brigitte at Castleburn, she will give you your week start date. Her email address is..

"BliebenB@legacyhotels.co.za"

I find it much quicker if I email Brigitte and ask her to help me deposit it into RCI.

Yes, I have also notice my Castleburn weeks trade very poorly.

Vincent.

 

[Janie]

That is how it works with my week too....

I own a fixed week 26 at Wilderness Dunes, but the dates correspond to the South Africa school calender, not the regular RCI timeshare calender. The reason for that is that I have a peak week, which is always guaranteed to fall during the school holiday. So they determine the dates for my week based on the school calender.

 

[JustPlainBill]

My impression is that the fixed week is more or less fixed but varies slightly as the above posts suggest. It should still be a desirable week. Castleburn is a gold crown resort and reputedly one of the great resorts in the world. If you read earlier threads on this board, you will see that RCI has squashed the trading power of South African weeks. On the "Ask RCI" board, Madge, the RCI rep, claims that the South African resorts are now being valued by the same criteria as the U.S. resorts. I think Madge is full of baloney. I used to be able to trade my 2BR Castleburn for a 2BR at Pahio Shearwater on Kauai; now I can't trade it for the shed behind Ralph's truck stop in Fargo. My paranoid self thinks that RCI has pounded the S.A. resorts because of a terrible "outing" of the S.A. timeshare possibilities in the N.Y. Times a while back, aided, by the way, by such estimable tuggers as Fern Modena. But until RCI chooses to tell us just how they rate the trading power of a resort (big, big secret for no reason), we will not know what the heck is going on. Consider doiing business with Dialanexchange. Lower fees. Less hassle. If your Castleburn unit has not been assigned out by RCI, you can jerk it back and deposit it elsewhere without charge.

 

[girard]

What other exchange companies will take Castleburn?

 

[michelle]

Castleburn is a gold crown resort and reputedly one of the great resorts in the world. If you read earlier threads on this board, you will see that RCI has squashed the trading power of South African weeks. On the "Ask RCI" board, Madge, the RCI rep, claims that the South African resorts are now being valued by the same criteria as the U.S. resorts. I think Madge is full of baloney. I used to be able to trade my 2BR Castleburn for a 2BR at Pahio Shearwater on Kauai; now I can't trade it for the shed behind Ralph's truck stop in Fargo. My paranoid self thinks that RCI has pounded the S.A. resorts because of a terrible "outing" of the S.A. timeshare possibilities in the N.Y. Times a while back, aided, by the way, by such estimable tuggers as Fern Modena.

Well, lets not jump to conclusions too quickly, or make statements that are too generalised... Some SA resorts trade better, some trade worse. So far, most SA resorts mentioned here trade pretty much as expected for what they are. In other words, the trade changes made by RCI seem to be much more in line with what the resort offers.

To my knowledge, Castleburn has been the only resort so far to raise questions regarding tradability. The poster asking Madge about the trade power was supposed to contact Feedback to request an explanation/investigation, and results of this has not been posted on TUG yet.

Yes, Castleburn might be a fantastic resort, and it is in a beautiful location, but it is unfortunately not in a popular location, and is not close to a city with a major airport. Is this what is counting against it, or was there a mistake made with attributing its trading power? That's what we are trying to find out.

 

[loosefeet]

I got so depressed when my strategy to buy Castleburn failed. I can't get anything with it this year! Now what??!

 

[JustPlainBill]

I believe Dial An Exchange accepts Castelburn deposits. Don't forget that if you have deposited a week with RCI and it has not yet been assigned out, you can retrieve it and deposit it elsewhere. There should be no charge for this. Brigette (bliebenb@legacyhotels.co.za) who handles timeshare deposits at Castleburn seems quite competent. I am not quite ready to give up on RCI. My 2006 Castleburn week traded for something decent (before the rules changed) but I can't tell you what it is because the RCI mainframe (a Mac Plus, I believe) is "down for maintenance" as it is every week about this time. What do they do, wash the RAM?

P.S. Our 2006 Castleburn week traded for an April week at Arroyo Roble in Sedona in 2007.