Legacy Vacation Club - convert or buy new, newbie q's

[robeadam]

I've owned at the Spas, Legacy Vacation Club Orlando, since 1996 when they were Celebrity. Just this year I got information about the problems they were having and the points conversion. I've been offered a "last time deal" for converting to the points system 3 times now. The first two times I chuckled and said no thanks but my last experience booking through II left me wondering if RCI wouldn't be better and lead me to your site. So I have a couple questions if yo don't mind.

1) If I buy a week off someplace, how can I tell if it's a deeded week or a points week? Example; this eBay listing says it's a sale for a "deeded property" but talks about the RCI points system and even tells what the points for the unit are: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110758443264

Would I just need to call the resort and inquire if a particular week was converted or not?

I'm currently being offered 81K points for my week (odd years) if I convert it. The cost is $2995 + processing fee of $220 but they'd give me a credit for my 2012 due's I just paid of $378 making my conversion cost $2617. However, if I can buy one cheaply that's already converted, that's a no-brainer, like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/280798193028
Or better yet, get one for free in the bargain basement and offload this one in the bargain basement.

2) I've always been with II but if I wanted to change my week from II to RCI, could I do that and put it in their weeks system?

Thanks,
Robert

 

[theo]

A few thoughts...

I've owned at the Spas, Legacy Vacation Club Orlando, since 1996 when they were Celebrity. Just this year I got information about the problems they were having and the points conversion. I've been offered a "last time deal" for converting to the points system 3 times now. The first two times I chuckled and said no thanks but my last experience booking through II left me wondering if RCI wouldn't be better and lead me to your site. So I have a couple questions if yo don't mind.

1) If I buy a week off someplace, how can I tell if it's a deeded week or a points week? Example; this eBay listing says it's a sale for a "deeded property" but talks about the RCI points system and even tells what the points for the unit are: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110758443264

Would I just need to call the resort and inquire if a particular week was converted or not?

I'm currently being offered 81K points for my week (odd years) if I convert it. The cost is $2995 + processing fee of $220 but they'd give me a credit for my 2012 due's I just paid of $378 making my conversion cost $2617. However, if I can buy one cheaply that's already converted, that's a no-brainer, like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/280798193028
Or better yet, get one for free in the bargain basement and offload this one in the bargain basement.

2) I've always been with II but if I wanted to change my week from II to RCI, could I do that and put it in their weeks system?

Thanks,
Robert

Any "points" program within Legacy Vacation Club began only relatively recently (i.e., following the creation of LVC after the bankruptcy filing of Celebrity Resorts). A "search" on LVC posts here will easily retrieve info to more precisely pinpoint the time frame. Any "conversions" are necessarily then also relatively new. Personally, I'd be very surprised if many (...if any) LVC resales you might see advertised have already been "converted". That would mean that someone ponied up around $3k (within just the past year or so), promptly followed by now selling it off (likely for much less than $3k). Sure, that's possible, but I have to believe that it's also highly unlikely.

In any case, in my opinion it would be a waste of $3k to pay Legacy to convert to points. I wouldn't pay three dollars to do so, let alone three grand. You would almost certainly be better off just dumping the Celebrity / Legacy albatross entirely --- giving it away for free, if necessary (as I did with my own LVC ownership). You could easily buy a points package for much less than $3k, with lower maintenance fees, any day of the week.

Just my personal opinion, as a former Celebrity / Legacy owner who is very grateful to now have nothing to do with them.

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

What is better with the $3000?
1) Give away your timeshare (here on TUG), buy Wyndham 154000 (or higher) points for $1 + $299 Transfer Fees on eBay, pay the year's Maintenance Fees (approx $900-$1000), and take the vacation!
2) Do nothing. You OWN the week, they can't FORCE you to change your title/deed. Use the $$$ for things around the house, or maybe a vacation.

TS

 

[JPD]

Let's say he doesn't convert his week to points. Will he still get a good trade in weeks, or is he just able to get leftover weeks?

 

[Judy]

I'm currently being offered 81K points for my week (odd years) if I convert it. The cost is $2995 + processing fee of $220 but they'd give me a credit for my 2012 due's I just paid of $378 making my conversion cost $2617. However, if I can buy one cheaply that's already converted, that's a no-brainer, like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/280798193028
Or better yet, get one for free in the bargain basement and offload this one in the bargain basement.

I've owned at Legacy Vacation Club Orlando since 1984 when my section of the resort was called Resort World of Orlando (the Spas is another section of the same resort). In that time the resort has changed names several times, but the management remains the same. I've learned one thing in all that time: Other than the required yearly MF, DON'T GIVE ANY MONEY TO THESE (bad word) MANAGERS. If you really want to get into RCI Points, buy them at another resort. But be sure you're buying enough Points to get the exchanges you want for reasonable membership, exchange, and Maintenance Fees.

2) I've always been with II but if I wanted to change my week from II to RCI, could I do that and put it in their weeks system?

There is no need to "change" from II to RCI Weeks. If your ownership is a deeded week at the Spas Legacy Vacation Club Orlando, you can exchange through II, DAE, and probably other independent exchange companies. If you want to exchange through RCI Weeks, you'll have to join and pay their membership fee. You could then cancel your II membership if you no longer want it. I belong to II, RCI Weeks, and DAE.

If you'll tell me which week and size unit you own, I'd be happy to research on rci.com and tell you how many TPU's you could get from depositing it.

 

[robeadam]

Converting or buying a unit already converted

I'm currently with II but was thinking of switching to RCI but staying with my weeks instead of buying into the points system. I was wondering what everyone else is doing so I created a survey that would be informative to all. There are only 9 questions so please take a minute to complete it. If you include your email address for the last question I will send you the results once they are tallied.

[link deleted]

I created it specifically for Legacy owners so I could see where I stand (apples to apples) but there is an "Other" option for non-Legacy owners.

Robert

 

[DeniseM]

Please contact TUG Owner Brian Rogers for permission to post your survey on TUG. tug@tug2.net

Your intentions maybe completely honorable, but from time to time we have people who use requests like this to harvest information - without permission.

 

[robeadam]

Thanks everyone. When they called me to convert (again) yesterday, they said I needed to let them know right then. I said if you need an answer now, it's NO, that i have to do my research first so they offered to call me back a few hours later. When they called back I had been able to read enough to believe it wouldn't be in my best interest financially to pay them to convert but told them I needed more time. After telling me how they might get in trouble for doing it, they allowed me until Saturday.

Here's where I'm leaning, you folks let me know what you think about it:

1) Buying a property with low MF, < $300 per year, hopefully with 30k-40K RCI points annually.
2) Joining or transferring RCI membership from purchased property (that makes me a points member)
3) Depositing my biannual week into RCI. I was told by Antonio @ RCI that if the names on the deeds are the same than I have have both under 1 membership (Save $$$ on membership fee's).

If I do this, I can use inventory from either the weeks or points system. Given that I only vacation once per year, I suspect my points need will be around 60k-80k each time which I would accumulate every 2 years. If I needed extra points, I see plenty of $.01 sale offers (exercising caution of course). The in-between years where I'm accumulating points, I could use my week to exchange somewhere.

Oh, BTW, I created a survey that I've posted in a separate thread to try to find out what other Legacy owners are doing but the results might be interesting for all so if you're so inclined to respond... (if I get approval from the owner).

Regarding my week, I was told it was worth 81K RCI points on odd years, I have Week 26, Unit 572 which is a 3/8 lockout with kitchen.

Thanks,
Robert