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Celebrity Resorts changing to points system. Need Help!!!!

S

skpr77

TUG Review Crew: Expert
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Location
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***UPDATE*** Celebrity Resorts changing to points system. Need Help!!!!

I just went to an owners meeting in Massachusetts. Well it wasn't at all an owners meeting. A marketing company tells me that my resort at Celebrity Resorts - Lake Buena Vista, is no longer associated with Interval International, and is now affilliated with RCI. So at this point I'm a little surprised but not really upset. I know a few people with timeshares that are quite happy with RCI. So at the end of this "owners meeting", they tell me that I have to pay a fee to convert my week over to the points system. The fee they wanted from me is $4,759. I almost choked and started laughing at the same time. And if I didn't purchase now, it is going to increase to over $7,000. I have never heard of anything like this. Last year we had to pay a special assessment, because the previous management didn't know what they were doing. Now I have to pay this amount if money just because the management would rather be affilliated with RCI. Do the owners have any say as to this decision. I know most owners aren't able to attend owner's meeting at the individual resort, but this seems like it should have been presented to the members to see if it is something that everyone is in favor of doing.

I'm looking for any input from people that may have dealt with this issue.
Thanks for your help.


I found out today from a Sales Mgr. that works in the corporate office at Celebrity Resorts. For people that already own at week at a Celebrity Resort, and that currently use Interval International for their exchanges, are able to continue using II for as long as they want. They will not be asked or forced to switch or convert to RCI Points. All new owners are being set up with the RCI Points system. I told him how his sales staff is telling people that we are no longer members of Interval. He said he will take care of it, and he called it a lack of communication. Hope this info helps.

If you are a Celebrity Resort owner and are requested to attend an "owners meeting" just be aware that there will be approx. 5 mins. talking about your resort and filling out a couple of questionnaires. The rest of the time you will be told that you can no longer use Interval International and that if you wish to do any further exchanges to other locations, your only option is to join RCI Points. All of this is false. I'm fairly certain that you don't have to even attend the meeting to update your resort information. They are also supposed to take your picture for a Celebrity Resort ID. I was told by the manager that this is something that the marketing company has been doing. It supposedly doesn't have anything to do with Celebrity.

I'm only spreading the word of my experience so people will not be coerced into buying something that they don't need or want. Other people I have spoken to have paid a fraction of the fee that is required through Celebrity, to convert to the points system. Between 200 and $2,000 seems to be the average. Send me a message if you have any questions.

Thanks to all who responded and provided me assistance with this matter!!
 
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I went to the presentation in DC area "Owners Update," right! All it was was a sales presentation for conversion to RCI points. My Celebrity resort doesn't have an II affiliation only RCI and I can pay nothing and just keep doing the traditional weeks thing.

Whether your resort actually ended affiliation with II, I don't know, call II and ask them if you can continue trading through them as before, I expect the answer is yes.

see,
http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13135
 
Ultimately, it doesn't matter what management decides in terms of affiliation, unless you own a club. Many resorts in the past have moved between the 2 major exchange companies - The original Marriotts in Orlando were originally RCI resorts, and those owners can still exchange through RCI, though not very many do.

First of all, you DO NOT have to pay their fee - they might hope you think you have to, but you don't. That fee is an option available to you if you want to join RCI points. If you don't want to exchange your week at all, you don't have to join ANY exchange company. If you still want to exchange through II, call them and ask if they will still accept your weeks for deposit; I'm sure they will - they don't want to lose your membership just because your management company saw some profits heading their way.

As for owners who don't attend the meeting - they are the lucky ones, because the conversion isn't mandatory. If they don't attend, they won't know about the possible mistake they might make. If you are happy with what you have, don't convert. If you are excited about RCI points, then go ahead, but their price is awfully high.
 
Thanks Spence & Mel,

I was told that if I didn't join RCI points then I would only be able to go to my home resort or possibly do an internal exchange. But the fact that I'm told the price is going to jump over $2,000 if I decide to join later. I told them that I was currently unemployed (which I am), and they dropped the price by $500. I felt as if they were trying to sell me a car.

I did call II before I posted this thread, and I told them what was happening. They checked with their management and they said they have heard nothing about Celebrity switching from II to RCI. They said this will affect them a great deal because they have a lot of customers through Celebrity.

I still have a year left on my II membership, and I have unused weeks still in the system. And the sales crew I dealt with, kept telling me that my membership with II is no longer valid. And that if I want to exchange, the only way to do that is to join.

Thanks for your help and info.
 
I own at Resort World aka Celebity Resorts Orlando. They called to "invite" me to an owners' update several months ago. It was a sales pitch for RCI Points and I didn't go. At that time I called RCI. They didn't even have my resort affiliated (yet?) Management seems to be able to do anything they want without consulting owners. I haven't been able to figure out how; maybe somehow they own a majority of the weeks. But I don't know how they could possibly force us into Points; we have deeds.
As of today, my Resort World weeks are still showing availablity for exchange on II. I don't think II will stop accepting our deposits/exchanges. Even if they did, there are other options. I've exchanged my Resort World week through Dial an Exchange several times with very good results.
Don't let those Points salespeople scare you into doing anything you don't want to do. If you think they might be telling the truth, ask them to put it in writing ;)
Maybe we'll end of dual affiliated with II and RCI weeks. :)
 
I think Mel has explained it correctly. That is the highest price I have seen for a conversion into RCI points. When RCI turned points conversion over to Wroman [maybe others] it was not with their members' best interests in mind. These people are salesmen, at best, and liars who use scare tactics to make a buck at worst. They are a plague on the timeshare industry. There has to have been a kinder, gentler way to introduce points.
 
The hokiest part of this 'owner's update' was that they wanted a picture to produce a resort ID, I refused. Also refused to bring my wife, she ended up having to come anyway because I had had an endoscopy that day and wasn't supposed to drive. But they were ready and were going to 'let' me attend w/o spouse. I enjoyed the endoscopy more than the owner's update. They were glad when I left quietly.
 
The other thing to keep in mind is that you can exchange with any of the independant exchange companies like DAE and SFX. I suspect that you will be able to continue using II and maybe, since they now have affiiation with RCI, you will be able to deposit with RCI weeks. So it may work out to be a benefit to you without costing anything by having both II and RCI available to you.

Don't get me wrong, I am a very happy RCI Points member as well as RCI weeks. But I bought my points in Australia and paid less than $300 to convert, including my first year of membership fee. I would never have paid one of those high fees. RCI only charges $199 and the rest is pure profit back to the developer. So see this for what it is, a rip off by Celebrity.
 
I find this very interesting and have posted a question to Madge. Stay tuned for her answer.
 
caribbean said:
The other thing to keep in mind is that you can exchange with any of the independant exchange companies like ..... SFX.
Click to expand...
Celebrity Orlando accepted by SFX
Funny-Above.gif


This was meant to be a joke. SFX does not accept deposits from Celebrity Resorts Orlando.
 
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Generally there are two situations where your choice of exchange company can be changed by the resort, without your consent -

1 - you own a club, not a deeded property, and your exchanges are done through that club (Disney is a prime example of this. They were originally affiliated with RCI, and moved to II several years ago). This could include clubs like Hilton, or many of the points based systems (Fairfield - as if that's going to happen - Sunterra...) because you don't own what is being deposited.

2 - your resort is disaffiliated by the exchange company (in other words, the exchange company chooses not to accept any inventory from your resort, usually because of bad ratings).

In some cases, different phases of a resort will be affiliated with different exchange companies, in which case the individual unit trades through the company that was affiliated when that unit was built.

In all the cases I know of where a company changed affiliation, deeded week owners have had the option of staying with the old company.
 
celebrity

I am wondering at this point if I should deposit now with II? I do not know how to access the others mentioned sfx and dae???
 
agedurkin, Do you mean should you deposit now with II to avoid possibly losing your exchange privileges there or to get the best possible trading power?

Find Dial An Exchange online.

SFX will not accept deposits from Celebrity Resorts Orlando.
 
Either do I. I called Celebrity and was told that current owners will be able to keep their II memberships and continue exchanging through II. Another TUG Celebrity owner emailed me that he spoke to a manager at Celebrity and was told the same thing.
I have never heard of owners being denied exchange privileges with II when their resorts switched to RCI. Two of my other resorts switched primary exchange companies and I can now exchange my weeks there through either RCI or II. I don't think we'll lose our exchange privileges with II, but who can predict the future? And if we did, how would depositing your week prevent it? Maybe you should ask II. If you do, I'd like to hear what they say.
 
EileenSRN said:
If you buy a resale, will you be put in points or keep whatever the previous owner had?
Eileen
Click to expand...
If it's been converted to points you'd be in points, if not, you wouldn't unless you cough up the money for the conversion.
 
Hi Spence,
We seem to have similar holdings! I was afraid they'd put you into points just like they're doing with new purchasers. Watch for email!
 
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This is the second time I've heard that Celebrity Resorts Orlando is putting new purchasers into Points. What are they selling these new purchasers? This resort was built in the mid 1980's. It has to have been sold out many years ago. There might be a some weeks that were taken back, but surely not enough to mount a new sales promotion :confused:
 
When we were there in July they were actively selling units. Had units for display. We passed a few couples with salespeople in tow. They were selling the 3 bedroom for 19-24 depending on season.
 
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Should I be Worried about Celebrity Resorts?

When I was called to attend the owner's meeting, I was pretty suspicious. So I asked them whether this was really just for information or whether they were going try to get me to spend money in some way. They said ABSOLUTELY NOT, that this meeting was only for information. I didn't believe them so I told them I just couldn't attend and that they could send me the information by mail. They said they weren't doing that, which absolutely convinced me that it was a scam. They tried everything they could do to get me to come; even put a supervisor on the phone. After I read the postings here, I'm glad I didn't.

I own some weeks at Cape Cod Holiday Estates, where almost all the weeks are sold, most to local owners, and there's a real independent owner's orgainzation, which is excellent.

Brigantine Inn seems the opposite situation. The fact that Celebrity Resorts hired this marketing group really makes me wonder how safe Brigantine Inn is in their hands. Is Celebrity Resorts a decent company that did something stupid, or are they greedy sleazeballs who will just run the resort down costing the owners even more money?
 
esc said:
or are they greedy sleazeballs who will just run the resort down costing the owners even more money?
Click to expand...

I wrote several emails to Celebrity through their contact us page on their website after the Owner's Update complaining. They have not answered at all. You may have hit on an excellent descriptor.
 
Celebrity Corporate Office phone #'s

Hopefully everyone saw my update to the original post above. Thanks to all who provided me with info.

Here are a few of the contact #'s I was able to find and use when I was given the answers to my questions.

Main # for Celebrity - (407) 996-3000

I was given the name of Ron Leventhal from the marketing company that I dealt with (Strata Force). There are 5 others that were hired by Celebrity.

Ron's extension # 3036. I didn't speak to him, I spoke with the secretary because he was out of town. He is supposed to be the Chief Strategic Officer, so I don't know if I would have ended up speaking to him even if he
was there.

A person by the name of Sean called me back the next day. He stated he is head of the Sales Department. He gave me all the info I have put in my update above. He is the person that is responsible for the ongoing marketing campaign to get us to part with our money. (sorry I couldn't resist) He was very helpful and did answer all of my questions, and of course said the things I was hoping he would say regarding this situation. I still think they are a bunch of snakes. Sean's extension # as given to me by him is X 55515.

I'm hoping all info given to me by Celebrity was accurate.
 
could you email me regarding how you were able to convert to points for a fee far less than the ostensible "owners meeting ' we were tricked into attending last night :(
No meeting just a sales pitch for the points Celebrity Resorts via Strata Force realtor?
For that we drove an hour and a half one way! :( grumble
thanks in advance
 
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