mymallard said:
Looking into timesharing for the first time and came across the Fairfield Resorts. From what I can tell, some timeshares are on a fixed week system while some are on a points system?
True. Some are fixed weeks, some are fixed weeks assigned to FairShare Plus (i.e. converted to points), and some are UDI (undivided interest) points.
mymallard said:
1. Is there a big difference in maintenance fees between these two?
I think there is a difference, but I don't think it is a big difference. There is a slight increase in maintenance fees for the Plus Partners options, which allows you to use FSP points for airfare, hotels, nightly stays in RCI points reseorts, etc.
mymallard said:
2. I see that there's two components to the annual fees for the points system - one is the annual maintenance fee, and the other is an admin fee? how much is the admin fee for 2006?
?
I think it is called the program fee and I think it is about 55-65 cents per thousand points. I am not sure.
mymallard said:
3. With the points system, most say RCI membership is included, so would I need to deposit my points to access the online search and "Last Call" features? Is there a fee to deposit weeks or points to RCI?
?
RCI or II membership is included; most Fairfield resorts are RCI affiliates, but a few are II. You need not have Fairfield points on deposit to access extra vacations and Last Call. You need to deposit some points as a "visible, online" week in order to search for an exchange online. When you request a week for online searching, Fairfield chooses a specific week from their inventory and assigns it to your RCI account. It will have whatever trading power RCI assigns to the week. You may also deposit a generic set of points that may not be used for online searching; you have to call RCI to exchange them. These allegedly have trading power that is based on an average value for Fairfield resorts. There is usually no fee to deposit weeks or points to RCI, just the standard RCI fee for an exchange. In FSP (points) Fairfield gives you a certain number of free "reservation transactions" each year, one free transaction per 77K points If you exceed this number, they start charging you $25 per transaction.. In the past, Fairfield considered each phone call in which you made an RCI deposit or Fairfield reservation to be one reservation transaction, no matter how many deposits or reservations you made during that phone call. I do not know if that is still the case.
mymallard said:
4. If I wanted to only exchange between Fairfield properties, what sort of fees am I looking at?
None for FSP points unless you exceed your limit on reservation transactions or housekeeping credits. You get 1 housekeeping credit per 1K points. The number of credits needed for a reservation is based on the length of stay and size of unit, for instance a 1 week or less stay in a 1BR is 63 credits and 77 credits for a 2BR If you book several partial week stays, you may run out. I think additional credits cost about $1.50 per credit.
If you buy at least 300K FSP from Fairfield (not resale) you may qualify for VIP status, which means you get unlimited housekeeping credits. If you buy 500K FSP points from Fairfield, you get VIP gold status and unlimited reservation transactions.
I do not know the current exchange fees for FAX (exchange of fixed weeks within Fairfield). You may not use FAX for exchanging into the newer resorts that have been sold as UDI points.
mymallard said:
I'm looking into the Fairfield Orlando at Cypress Palms - Any insight or things I need to know about this resort?
Thanks in advance,
Tony
We have stayed at Cypress Palms twice and really liked it. The first time we stayed in a 1BR suite once, which was nice and well-equipped but lacking in floor space. The second time we stayed in a 2BR. What would you like to know about Cypress Palms?