Harborside Banking with II for Fall 09.

[SDKath]

Grabbed a week with my PGA. More power to my $500 eBay purchase!

Katherine

 

[esk444]

Please delete this mesage and refer people to visit the sightings board for a good sighting. There are not many 2br available and it's unfair to post it on the public board

 

[Ken555]

Please delete this mesage and refer people to visit the sightings board for a good sighting. There are not many 2br available and it's unfair to post it on the public board

Actually, I think this is a valid point. I believe we discussed membership vs public in another thread earlier this week, and this is a good example of the disconnect between the two.

Don't worry about it, Kath. We've all done this before... but I think we should discuss a new policy for not posting these types of info to the public.

 

[grgs]

We go with a middle ground--perhaps a suggestion to check the sightings board for an item of interest to Starwood owners?

Glorian

 

[Ken555]

We go with a middle ground--perhaps a suggestion to check the sightings board for an item of interest to Starwood owners?

Glorian

It would be nice if the forum software supported including some threads that are only visible to members. If possible, then we could include it here without worry. I think this would be an improvement for various topics, which was my point in my posting earlier this week in another thread. Not all threads should be public, and in fact at some point a public thread might even need to be restricted to members. Is that flexibility possible with this forum software?

 

[LisaRex]

Great grab, Kath!

 

[DeniseM]

Please delete this mesage and refer people to visit the sightings board for a good sighting. There are not many 2br available and it's unfair to post it on the public board

1) For 3 days, only Starwood owners can see and reserve other Starwood resorts, so I'm sure that's why it was posted here.

2) This info. is available to the public and anyone with a II Acct. can see it whether they are a TUG members or not.

 

[grgs]

1) For 3 days, only Starwood owners can see and reserve other Starwood resorts, so I'm sure that's why it was posted here.

Yes, but it would be a nice way to encourage Starwood owners who are not TUG members to join.

2) This info. is available to the public and anyone with a II Acct. can see it whether they are a TUG members or not.

True, but I doubt most people constantly check their II accounts to see what's available.

It's certainly up for debate whether or not these things should be posted publicly, but then why is the sightings board members only? I assume it's to encourage TUG membership?

Since I don't believe SDKath broke any TUG rules, her post should probably not be deleted. However, I think the larger issue of posting sightings publicly is a good discussion point.

Glorian

 

[rickandcindy23]

I am not a paranoid person. I belong to a Yahoo Usergroup of owners that are very protective of their trading power. There have been a few of those owners who don't appreciate me posting sightings using my weeks that I own. I have been told to stop sharing the trading power of my weeks.

But I think the TUG community is pretty small in the scheme of the entire timeshare industry. I know there are millions of timeshare owners, but how many people really belong to TUG? We have lots of Guests who choose not to be members of TUG, and we have lots of lurkers who never post. If these people want to see the sightings, they can pay to see them. You only have to pay once, too. TUG only charges $15, then if you submit nice reviews, you get more months for free. You can also get ten people to sign up and get a Lifetime Membership, or you can get months of free membership for every person you sign up. You don't ever have to pay again.

So I think allowing only members to see the Sightings board is fair. I don't want the lurkers that never post to see the Sightings. I just don't think they should benefit from TUG that way. Many of the lurkers are PCC's, salespeople, and others who are trying to gather information from us that I am not wanting to give to people whom I don't know. There are lots of Guests that would probably join, if they knew how active the sightings board has become. They have no way of knowing what is going on there.

So Katherine's post was okay because she was letting people to know about the sighting, but it did invite people to look at II today that would otherwise not have known, which could affect the ongoing searches that others have placed today, knowing they might get something on Monday morning.

I am always torn on this.

 

[tomandrobin]

So Katherine's post was okay because she was letting people to know about the sighting, but it did invite people to look at II today that would otherwise not have known, which could affect the ongoing searches that others have placed today, knowing they might get something on Monday morning.

I think the way Kath posted the exchange was correct. She got a great exchange, but did not expose what was on the sightings board.

Isn't the whole purpose of this board to learn how to better use your ownership and exchange information?

 

[rickandcindy23]

Yes, I think that is true, but salespeople at the Hyatts, Starwoods, Marriotts, and even some of the owners at these resorts, often are bitter that a resale week can pull these bulk banks. I think this could hurt us, eventually. So at least if the information is under Sightings, it is the members who see it. Now if a salesperson at Harborside paid for a membership, that salesperson would already know what we know. But should we alert these people that we have "figured this out?"

It's a good debate, and it is somewhat a dilemma.

 

[LisaRex]

Yes, I think that is true, but salespeople at the Hyatts, Starwoods, Marriotts, and even some of the owners at these resorts, often are bitter that a resale week can pull these bulk banks. I think this could hurt us, eventually. So at least if the information is under Sightings, it is the members who see it. Now if a salesperson at Harborside paid for a membership, that salesperson would already know what we know.

I think salesmen have way more to be bitter about than an II sighting... such as, I don't know, our "RESCIND NOW!!!" mantra. How exactly do you think ticking off salesmen could hurt us, eventually?

Personally, I consider this debate to be a "meh." If I were a lurker who received such valuable information, I'd join just as a sign of gratitude.

 

[esk444]

I think the way Kath posted the exchange was correct. She got a great exchange, but did not expose what was on the sightings board.

Isn't the whole purpose of this board to learn how to better use your ownership and exchange information?

rickandcindy23, you ROCK. I frantically have been on the phone with several people seeing if they would commit to go to Ricky Martin's favorite resort. Booked two weeks and I am super excited.

I thought all info on the timing of bulk banks was only for the sightings board. It's huge advantage to know when the bulk bank hits, as its sometimes that only way mediocre traders get superior trades.

Shouldn't that knowledge go to paying members instead of guests?

I would hate to lose out on a superior trade at that resort because a Vistana owner not didn't join TUG happened to be lurking to complain about their special assessments and saw this post (vs. a member that checks out the sightings board every couple of days).

Anyways, I just want to let everyone know that I am superpsyched and really, really appreciate the efforts of the sighting board volunteers. You make TUG one of the best bargains around and a pleasure to visit.

PS, I've tried to post several really good sightings in the past, but rickandcindy23 and icydog always beats me to it!

 

[rickandcindy23]

I think salesmen have way more to be bitter about than an II sighting... such as, I don't know, our "RESCIND NOW!!!" mantra. How exactly do you think ticking off salesmen could hurt us, eventually?

Personally, I consider this debate to be a "meh." If I were a lurker who received such valuable information, I'd join just as a sign of gratitude.

Lisa, even though this doesn't belong here, because it is a Wyndham issue, I will share what happened when people were bragging to their sales people, and on this site and the other timeshare sites. They talked up their RCI trades with low numbers of points, and they were using their points for rentals for some extra cash, but they made a huge deal of the lack of value for the developer purchases (with the salespeople). These same people were buying up lots of points for pennies on the dollar on eBay and basically told timeshare salespeople just how they were doing everything through resale, so why pay $20K for a new purchase?

Well, Wyndham got tired of hearing the salespeople complain, and they were tired of having people figure things out, and sharing that information with everyone in these forums, so they started charging hefty fees for guests ($99 and $129 for a guide to add the name). They also took away resale value a few years ago, not allowing any original benefits of the VIP membership to transfer. The points have not only tanked in value as a result of the VIP membership not transferring, but they have gone further down in value with the recent announcement of guest fees. Resale buyers get a single free guest certificates, and only developer purchasers get a large number of guest certificates. This is what happens when sleazy developers feel they cannot sell the product because resale buyers are throwing it back at them during the presentation. They get as good as they get.

Starwood could take away the preference for resale owners at some point.