Point to Point Destination conversion to pts

[SueB]

Our home resort in Sedona, Arroyo Roble, has signed an agreement with PTP Destination to give us the option to convert our weeks ownerships to points. We spoke with a PTP employee tonight and they've offered us the "online" deal of conversion for a one time fee of $2,995 if we sign within the next 24-48 hours or $3,995 if we wait. Arroyo Roble is assigned an annual points value of 69,100.

On the surface, the points deals sounds good - we can potentially get more than one week of use, trade into more resorts, have more flexibility.

Is this a reasonable fee? Could we get 69k in points some other less expensive way? Any advice for us as we decide if we want to lay out a bunch of money in these days of economic uncertainty? Thanks!

 

[Egret1986]

Yes you can get that many points for a lot less right now.

If you watch auctions on eBay or look at the completed auctions, you will see that it is a buyer's market. Before things got really, really bad in the economy back in August, I won an eBay auction for 68000 RCI points with an underlying July 4th week for $480 plus $395 closing and $75 resort ownership transfer and $100 for the transfer of the 2008 points into my RCI points account ($1050). The maintenance fee was $535 for 2008 and will be $560 for 2009. Since then, I have seen similar amounts of annual points go for less and for some the seller paid the closing and transfer. One seller even gave the buyer the 2008 points for free with no reimbursement of the maintenance fee on top of paying closing and transfer fees.

I wouldn't recommend anything that requires making a decision within 24-48 hours because the deal won't be available at the same price. That's the same spiel the timeshare developers give you when they're selling timeshares. "This deal is only available right now. It won't be available tomorrow." With this economy, I'll bet they won't turn your money down next month if you change your mind.

Think long and hard before you pay to convert to points when you you can pick up the same number of points for a third of the cost or less.

However, the idea of owning another timeshare with an additional maintenance fee may not be something that appeals to you. However, if you got a really good deal on the points and bought somewhere with a reasonable maintenance fee, then the difference in costs savings over what this company wants to charge to convert could pay for several years of maintenance fees.

I would not let the 24-48 hour stipulation rush me into a decision though. I believe you can get the same deal next month.

 

[lprstn]

You have to ask yourself how you feel paying that amount for a conversion, or if you would rather just purchase a points product that is cheaper in initial price (of course added mf's) and complements what you have.

Everyone here will tell you to hold your dollar closely, and I kinda agree. However, if you don't want an additional TS and want to make the one you currently have work better for you than do what fits your plans...JUST MAKE SURE THAT YOU RESEARCH what the "Points" program they are offering you really is, how flexible it really is, and how many owners are happy with it, before you convert.

 

[SueB]

Thanks for your responses to my first ever question on Tug. Your advice is much appreciated. I spent more time reading other threads last night after I'd posted my question and I came to the same conclusion that you did. It just doesn't make sense to pay so much now to convert to points.

I do like the idea of having the flexibility that it seems like owning points would bring so I plan to continue learning more about the subject before I attempt to buy something. I also see that we might benefit from owning two different timeshares for two different reasons. We love our timeshare at Arroyo Roble and would really prefer to go there every year rather than trading out for somewhere else. So if we could get another points timeshare at a great price with low maintenance fees, we would probably be better off. Guess I better start reading on TUG to figure out what to buy and how to buy it. No urgency though!

 

[Egret1986]

We loved Arroyo Roble when we've stayed there on exchanges.

If you love to use it, then a separate points timeshare is possibly a good choice. There are many different points systems to look into and read up on. There's great info here on TUG and always folks willing to assist further!

 

[JamminJoe]

I paid to convert one of my units about 3-4 years ago and the price at that time was $2995.00 I did not want to sell my unit or purchase another. The conversion price now is $5995.00 at my resort which I would never even consider. I am glad I did it, I am happy with RCI Points. I was able to get 0.00% financing for 12 months which helped. For me, it was a simpler route as opposed to taking on another MF and the hassle of selling/buying, etc. I think given today's conversion prices it seems to be a reasonable charge, I know some charge less and some considerably more.