Ocean Key Sales Presentation

[franks01]

Just got back from a sales presentation at Ocean Key Resort in Virginia Beach today. We received a $50 gift card, 7" android tablet, and a 3 day/2night vacation through www.selectmyrewardsnow.com for our time (requires another timeshare presentation).

Some interesting things they mentioned were:
1. RCI gives preferential treatment to owners at "Beach" resorts. Only a small percentage of RCI owners own at "Beach" resorts and these owners see ~98% of the RCI inventory. ~15% of RCI owners own at "Mountain" resorts and these owners see 60% of RCI inventory. ~80% of RCI owners own at "inland" resorts and these owners see ~28% of RCI inventory.

2. They offered me a "Platinum VIP" RCI account. According to them this would give me the same access that they get which includes summer beach reservations in VA and SC for 7500 - 9000 points. They specifically mentioned Sands Beach Club in Myrtle Beach and the other VSA properties in Virginia Beach. I asked if that included Hilton properties and they danced around the question talking about all-inclusives in the Carribean.

Questions:
1. Has anyone ever heard of this limited RCI availability based on where you own? I own at Grandview Las Vegas (inland) so this is most likely why this came up.

2. I can't find any information on a "Platinum VIP" RCI membership. Has anyone heard anything about this?

3. I own 3 Grandview properties (two RCI points and one weeks) they said they would convert my weeks property to points, but I had to do this thru RCI after after I get my "Platinum VIP" membership. I didn't get this written down so I'm a little skeptical of this. Do you think this will actually happen?

 

[SmithOp]

I think it was all a load of sales hoohah. If you are a deeded weeks owner you get tpu to trade with, doesnt matter where you own.

The generally accepted way to get points for Grandview is to buy one that is already converted, paying for conversion is not a good idea.

Platinum is an additional membership level that gives small benefits, anyone can get that upgrade, just make sure you will use the benefits to make it cost effective.

http://www.rci.com/pre-rci-en_US/explore-rci/our-exchange-programs/rci-platinum.page


Sent from my iPad Mini 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Ace]

Sounds suspect to me as well.

If you are a Grandview owner and are an RCI member now (sounds like you are), you should be able to check this out. Go to your RCI account and see if you can see resorts available in, say, Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head (an example there would be Coral Sands). If you are not an RCI member you will not be able to check this, but perhaps someone else can chime in. I just checked, and there are weeks listed for Coral Sands, for example.

RCI has a level of membership called Platinum, which is a step above their standard membership. I don't know if it is called Platinum VIP, but there are only two levels, I believe. There are some additional benefits to Platinum, but I wouldn't know if access to additional resorts is among them. I've never heard that it is, but that could be because I am an owner at one of the beach area resorts. You should be able to check the RCI website to learn more about their memberships, including Platinum.

As far as vacations for 7500-9000 points in the beach areas during the summer, that is highly suspect. What they are referring to, I think, is "last minute" (my term) vacations, similar to the low cost "last call" vacations for cash. I checked many times for such deals in the Carolinas beach resorts, and never saw any, and gave up checking. I think those resorts, at least in summer months, are reserved long in advance with people paying full price (points or cash). It is a theoretical possibility. You can find listings of resorts available for under 10,000 points by doing an exchange search on the RCI site and selecting the under 10,000 search criteria. You will find some. And congratulations if you happen to find one for a beach area during the summer.

Another thing to watch for, though. Sometimes the lower point prices are not for a whole week. Might only be a for a few days.

As the previous poster said, financially it is not worth it to pay the price to convert a "weeks" week to an RCI "points" week. (I don't think you need to be a Platinum member to do that, by the way.) If you really want to do that, maybe the best thing to do is give away your "weeks" week and buy a "points" week on the resale market. It will cost you much, much less.

One other thing I picked up along the way. If you are new to timeshare and RCI, and do not have a lot of points in the "bank" yet, it is possible that the resorts you see during your RCI searches will be limited by the amount of points you have to spend. That is what I was told, anyway, when I could not find some resorts at first. And the beach resorts during the summer cost more points than what I had at the time.

 

[Egret1986]

They are sales people. Lack of knowledge is their friend, not yours.

Just got back from a sales presentation at Ocean Key Resort in Virginia Beach today. We received a $50 gift card, 7" android tablet, and a 3 day/2night vacation through www.selectmyrewardsnow.com for our time (requires another timeshare presentation).

Some interesting things they mentioned were:
1. RCI gives preferential treatment to owners at "Beach" resorts. Only a small percentage of RCI owners own at "Beach" resorts and these owners see ~98% of the RCI inventory. ~15% of RCI owners own at "Mountain" resorts and these owners see 60% of RCI inventory. ~80% of RCI owners own at "inland" resorts and these owners see ~28% of RCI inventory.

2. They offered me a "Platinum VIP" RCI account. According to them this would give me the same access that they get which includes summer beach reservations in VA and SC for 7500 - 9000 points. They specifically mentioned Sands Beach Club in Myrtle Beach and the other VSA properties in Virginia Beach. I asked if that included Hilton properties and they danced around the question talking about all-inclusives in the Carribean.

Questions:
1. Has anyone ever heard of this limited RCI availability based on where you own? I own at Grandview Las Vegas (inland) so this is most likely why this came up.

2. I can't find any information on a "Platinum VIP" RCI membership. Has anyone heard anything about this?

3. I own 3 Grandview properties (two RCI points and one weeks) they said they would convert my weeks property to points, but I had to do this thru RCI after after I get my "Platinum VIP" membership. I didn't get this written down so I'm a little skeptical of this. Do you think this will actually happen?

1. Where you own, the season, size unit, etc. determines the number of RCI Points/TPUs. Availability is limited by the TPUs and Points one has been given. I believe you will still see all the availability, but you may or may not have enough TPUs/Points to complete the exchange.

2. Do a search on TUG about RCI Platinum. The salesperson added "VIP" to the end. RCI has removed many of the initial benefits of this product that anyone can purchase as an add-on to their membership. Many have decided that the potential benefits from this upgraded membership is not worth the annual $69 fee in addition to the regular annual membership fee. I know that I no longer receive any benefit from this membership and will not renew when it expires. Yes, there is additional inventory, but I personally do not see anything with the "P" that is ever of any interest to me. Most are hotel rooms. I don't see this additional inventory (and it's not a whole lot) as any form of benefit. Upgrades to larger units (another supposed benefit) is non-existent unless off-season.

3. Do not convert your "week" at Grandview. It is a costly conversion. Since you already have an RCI Points account, you automatically get an RCI Weeks account. There are no additional fees for the extra account. You have the opportunity to complete deposits and exchanges from two separate accounts.

As far as having the opportunity for those 6500-10,000 RCI Points exchanges, there used to be lots more inventory within 45 days of check-in; however, that inventory is almost non-existent today. If you are able to find any of this inventory, it is usually only inventory that you could find in RCI Extra Vacations for a few dollars over the RCI exchange fee. Any inventory that has any value is no longer reduced close to check-in. I see most of the inventory that is a week or two from check-in that never gets reduced. So, don't let this be a determining factor. You already should be able to see all this since you must have RCI Points and Weeks accounts.

All this was a sales ploy. Nothing new. This is the stuff they will tell you since they have determined that you don't have the knowledge to tell them otherwise. They will spew this stuff all day long, all year long, into eternity to separate you from your cash. You'll have nothing more afterwards, but you will have less money in your bank account because you forked it over to them for "nothing."

You should be skeptical. It's all here on TUG. Do your research. Don't fall for their BS. Be smarter than that. Knowledge is power.

I know what they're selling. None of it is even worth the freebies that you got for attending this sales presentation. The only thing of value was probably that $50 gift card.

Hopefully, you got out of there without purchasing anything. If you fell for their pitch, you need to rescind this "deal" immediately. It's not a deal. They aren't offering you anything that you don't already have with your Grandview contracts.

 

[Talent312]

The long and the short of it is this:
How do you know a TS salesman is lying? -- His lips are moving.
What he told you bears a vague resemblance to the truth, but not really.
Check out www.rci.com. There, you can see for yourself wassup wit dat.

BTW, no premium level program is likely to be worth the cost.
It's a money-maker for them. They sell to make $$, not take a loss.
It's not like a buffet where you might cover the price, if you eat enuff.
.

 

[franks01]

Thanks for the info everyone. We are rescinding. My wife and I are horrible at dealing with these presentations apparently.