Raintree Westin Whistler

[Bwask]

Yes we Westin Raintree/Whiskey Jacks owners are screwed big time. Our rates are now more than the average Joe can book via the Westin website for a week yet we own the deed??? Lawsuit to finally sink Raintree is not far off!

 

[Bill4728]

This is an growing problem with some TSs not just Raintree @ Westin Whistler. The annual MFs keep growing so high that it does become cheaper to rent the TS than the MFs of the owners.

FYI the Westin hotel in Whistler BC has several suites which were bought and made into TS. They are not part of the Starwood TS system but part of the Raintree system.

 

[Kriegnein]

I'm now a former owner of a Whistler Westin timeshare. I retired several years ago and realized I could no longer afford the escalating MFs and also the possibility of additional assessments sometime in the future. Publishing my unit "for sale" at $1 on TUG and on RedWeek got no interest. I didn't want to go through the experience of refusing to pay my MF and then have a collection company come after me and possibly suffer a drop in my credit rating. So here's what I did: I offered the board of the Westin Timeshare Owners Corp. two years' worth of my maintenance fees, plus, I would pay for the expense of making the legal transfer of my deed back to them. The board liked the idea and agreed to the transfer! Yes, it cost me roughly $2,600, but that's less than a transfer company wanted ($5,000) and then ended up telling me the Whistler Westin units weren't property they could handle for some reason!

I set up a Google group for discussion for non-TUG folks, but so far no one has found it and joined: whistler-westin-timeshare-units@googlegroups.com

 

[Bill4728]

The Westin resort in Whistler is one of the nicest resorts in all of Whistler ( if not the nicest) It is hard for anyone not familiar with resale TS pricing to believe that you couldn't even give it away.

I offered the board of the Westin Timeshare Owners Corp. two years' worth of my maintenance fees, plus, I would pay for the expense of making the legal transfer of my deed

This sounds like a great way of getting rid of a TS that you don't want. If the members of the board will not take a free unit why should anyone think about owning there?

 

[Corman]

I think the high maintenance fee , the daily cost for parking and internet would cause me some concern . I was offered to trade into the resort and they wanted $30 per day for parking. Unless owners get a better deal , that in itself would cause me to pass.

 

[Bunk]

There was a TUG post in 2011 that steps were being taken to remove Raintree from management: http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149419

Whatever happened with that?

 

[Bwask]

Con game at best!

The Westin Whistler is the only one of the former 17 Whiskey Jack HOA 's in Whistler that are still associated with Raintree as they keep the majority of the weeks in the 19 units they originally bought to timeshare. Now they are trying to hold us hostage. We have deeded titles but our MF's are now more than it costs to book a room on the Internet, plus we get to pay the expensive parking. We are going to put Raintree on notice very soon and fold their interest that they have in the building. It's coming folks, trust me! I've started a fire that will build and collapse them in Whistler!

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

There was a TUG post in 2011 that steps were being taken to remove Raintree from management: http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149419

Whatever happened with that?

I don't know all of the details of the current situation. Since I don't have a goose in that pot I haven't needed to worry about all of the specifics. What I am aware of is as follows:

• Whiski Jack was kicked out as property manager and replaced with Trading Places.
• As part of that whole process the resorts were generally renamed as "Whistler at xxx" where "xxx" is the old Whiski Jack resort name.
• Raintree Vacation Club has a continuing presence at the resorts because some WJ owners brought their deeds into RVC. In addition, after Raintree bought out Whiski Jack many of the sales made since that time were sales of RVC, where the deed was added to RVC. Those sales continue as part of RVC, as I believe those deeds are held in a RVC trust. For many of the newer properties, such as Westin, most of the sales were made with Club membership included. Those owners continue to be part of RVC even though RVC (nee Whiski Jack) is no longer managing the properties.
• The Whiski Jack name appears to only be associated with inventory that is assigned to RVC. If the inventory is not involved with RVC, the Whiski Jack name does not appear.
• I can access inventory at those resorts in any of three ways: through TPI via my ownership at a VRI resort, through my Raintree membership, or through my DRI membership (via the inventory sharing arrangements between DRI and RVC). The "Whiski Jack" appellation appears only with the inventory I see via RVC or DRI.

 

[Bwask]

Raintree is done!

I can't wait to see the collapse of Raintree, at this point it's a con game at best. They have scammed the owners at the Westin in Whistler and increased our fees 156% since I bought mine, really? People should go to jail, take note current board an Raintree employees, when the lawsuit flys you will be named! Good luck!

 

[jbcabosnowbirdwhistler]

Maintenance Fees

My fees are up over 300% since I bought...How can Raintree do this? They also took a huge group of owner's in Mexico...took the money, never built the project and the money has vanished. So, I take a huge loss on one project I bought when I traded my Whistler week, and now they are holding me hostage for more money?

 

[Ryes]

I came close to buying one that was for sale thru whistler remax last summer, but didn't want to pay over $1000 a week for whistler since we prefer 2 shorter trips to whistler instead of 1 longer trip. What is the annual fee now for a week?

 

[Neesie]

[*]I can access inventory at those resorts in any of three ways: through TPI via my ownership at a VRI resort, through my Raintree membership, or through my DRI membership (via the inventory sharing arrangements between DRI and RVC). The "Whiski Jack" appellation appears only with the inventory I see via RVC or DRI.
[/LIST]

What is TPI? I'd like to know since I love Whistler and own at a VRI resort. I didn't think VRI went outside of the US, with the exception of handful of Mexican resorts.

 

[eal]

Trading Places International
http://www.tradingplaces.com

 

[ceodad]

Westin HOA/Raintree Ponzi

We have started a Google Group for owners (past/present) of the Westin timeshare through Whiski Jack/Raintree. As is evident in the thread on this forum, we are being screwed over. The biggest power that Raintree/Westin HOA has is lack of communication between members.

We represent a group of owners (currently around 70+) that we have emails for that we are contacting to join this group: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/westinraintree

We are also finishing off a website where members can upload documents for members to review.

PLEASE NOTE: This Google Group was just set up so it may not have alot of the members enrolled yet.

We have a core group of talented members who have alot of information on this issue. We would love anyone who is an owner and wants to be informed to join. This is in no way to replace this board, but rather to enhance the intended outcome we all desire.

Cheers
John

 

[mikeben]

exchanging into resort

we are looking at exchanging into a 1 bdrm there...does anyone know if there is a full kitchen, stove, oven and full fridge?