Is taking over an Embarc - Club Intrawest contract a bad idea?

[marmite]

Hi there, my parents bought points for the Whistler Club Intrawest, directly from the developer ages ago (I would have stopped them had I been a tugger back then). I know they are wanting to either gift this, or leave it in their will to either myself or my sibling at some point (whomever would use it and pay for the dues). At this point it looks like only I would be able to take it.

It will honestly take me too long to understand their system thoroughly and the concerns of CI /Embarc owners with the takeover of Diamond. If you could give me the abridged version it would be greatly appreciated!

Under what conditions would you take this over? Is there a certain amount of points it would have to be worth to be a good trader in II (I don't know how many points they have)? Or do you only think it is worth keeping IF you want to stay in the Embarc system and use it for their limited destinations?

Is the process of trading Embarc in II straightforward, or do you actually have to pre-book a unit in Embarc and then deposit it somehow into II?

I currently own a Sheraton with low maintenance fees that trades very well in II, but it seems to be a whole different animal than Embarc.

Thanks so much!

 

[echino]

Not worth it for II, fees are too high. Only worth it for Embarc Whistler if you ski, and if you have enough points to book a full week in a 2br in peak ski season, which is 304 points, if I am looking at the chart correctly.

 

[marmite]

Thanks for the advice, a ski vacation so close to home doesn't really appeal to me. I could only really see using the Palm Desert location, but it is so easy to trade into other excellent resorts in the same area using the Sheraton unit I have now I think the Embarc points would be wasted on that. It makes me sad they bought that for so much $$$$$ ... now if it was a Hyatt or a Marriott I would have been all over it!

 

[middleoforchid]

Hi Marmite,
I don't even know where and how to explain it to you. Since you mentioned it will be a gift from your parents...if you can afford the annual maintenance fees (about $8+/pt CAD), then keep it. It's worth very little nowadays on the resale market.
My husband has been in the construction industry all his life and he told me how to look for the construction "details" in the villas and take note of the European name brands of the appliances used( 20 years ago). Most of the locations are custom built w/local designers. You will appreciate the unique local flavour...more of a "boutique feel" than the 'run of the mill" big villas with no character, using huge furniture to fill up the spaces. I noticed all those finer things when I was in my 20's but not until I'm in my 40's did I really start to appreciate them...
Each year I use 33 points to book a studio at Whistler during mud season, deposit with Interval and get excellent trades e.g. to 4Seasons Aviara, Marriotts,Hyatt Carmel etc. Cost me 264CAD+exchange fee+upgrade fee.Since I live on the west coast, Embarc has Palm Desert, Ucluelet,Panorama,Whistler, and Zihuatenejo that we can use.
If you have more questions, please don't hesitate to email me or private me.

 

[Bill4728]

I've own CI /Embrac for many years I've found that trading in II has been a great deal for me. And just like middleoforchid we reserve a 1 bd during the fall for about 50 pts and great trades in II

"Each year I use 33 points to book a studio at Whistler during mud season, deposit with Interval and get excellent trades"

With my 150 pt / yr I can get two 1 bd and one studio trade every year BUT we sometimes just book a really good ski week at whistler and rent it on Redweek.com

Yes you do have to reserve a SUNDAY to sunday week then use it to deposit into your II account. We have a couple of TS which are independant of the large TS companies so we have our own II account.


Good Luck

 

[cd5]

Hi there, my parents bought points for the Whistler Club Intrawest, directly from the developer ages ago (I would have stopped them had I been a tugger back then). I know they are wanting to either gift this, or leave it in their will to either myself or my sibling at some point (whomever would use it and pay for the dues). At this point it looks like only I would be able to take it.

It will honestly take me too long to understand their system thoroughly and the concerns of CI /Embarc owners with the takeover of Diamond. If you could give me the abridged version it would be greatly appreciated!

Under what conditions would you take this over? Is there a certain amount of points it would have to be worth to be a good trader in II (I don't know how many points they have)? Or do you only think it is worth keeping IF you want to stay in the Embarc system and use it for their limited destinations?

Is the process of trading Embarc in II straightforward, or do you actually have to pre-book a unit in Embarc and then deposit it somehow into II?

I currently own a Sheraton with low maintenance fees that trades very well in II, but it seems to be a whole different animal than Embarc.

Thanks so much!

I believe that if you are taking over the points from your parents (immediate family), you can keep their Extraordinary Escapes program (if they have it). Here's the chart for exchanging with Interval and for Last Minute exchanges (below):