Recent changes with Bluegreen

[hcarman]

Just wondering whether other Bluegreen owners have been noticing a lot of changes recently. For years we have been wanting to book a Grand Yacht Club vacation as our Bluegreen charter membership will allow this through the Traveler's Plus program. I contacted Bluegreen the other day only to find out that they terminated the contract with the Grand Yacht Club this year. I also noticed that Select Connections to exchange into West Coast Shell properties is no longer an option (possibly because of Wyndham). And the real icing on the cake was today I went online to convert some of my high season points that will expire next month to Choice Points as I have done in the past. I found out that the 4:1 ratio is gone - it is now 2:1. Covid was blamed for this? So I am seeing a real scale down of options these days. The Bluegreen agent said "maybe there was an e-mail about these changes" - but we have certainly not seen a thing. It seems like these options silently changed or disappeared. The Choice conversion was good for those expiring points or when you wanted to stay in a location without a Bluegreen or maybe travel with a pet. But at 2:1 and the same $50 conversion fee not sure that even makes sense. Shell was good because you pretty much were trading into another timeshare style unit that was more focused in the western part of the country - that is gone. Now there are some hotels through Select Connections but not generally a good deal. The flip side of these options disappearing is the maintenance fees seem to be increasing much faster than before. We have owned since 2010 and for probably the first 5 or 6 years the fees didn't increase much, if at all. Ironically we were living in Florida at the time and using Bluegreen and Bonus Time a lot more. Now we have been noticing 4 -6% annual increases. The woman at Owner's Services told me it was because cost of living went up so much this year? Am I missing something? These properties were closed from March-June and employees were laid off, sales offices closed, energy and activities costs significantly decreased - so not sure I am understanding her reasoning for this year's increase. Anyhow, just wondering what others have noticed.

 

[Glynda]

I haven't kept up with recent changes and have never had Traveler's Plus as I didn't see it as worth it.

 

[hcarman]

I haven't kept up with recent changes and have never had Traveler's Plus as I didn't see it as worth it.

When we initially purchased Bluegreen we didn't use Traveler's Plus a whole lot either. However, due to a move a few years ago and changes in how we travel we have been using it more often. We were surprised how much has been going on "behind the scenes" with no notice to owners in the program who pay an annual fee each year for the privilege.

 

[JohnPaul]

Interesting. I own Shell and have been expecting Select Connections to disappear as soon as the contract ended.

As of now all of the info is still on the Shell website. Don’t know what happens if you call to try and book. We stayed at Hotel Blake in Chicago a couple of times through this program.

 

[bogey21]

My per peeve for years has been how cavalierly programs, some of which were incentives to buy, are discontinued or changed. I know it is their right to do it but I still think it stinks...

George

 

[TimeshareTraveller]

If you look at the Maintenance Fee historical listing, during points when the economy was in a recession (or pseudo recession for 2012), maintenance fees rose by huge amounts in those years. 2008 and 2012 were notable (>10%). I expect that all maintenance fees are going to shoot up this year. For the hotel chains that have timeshare chains, the timeshares are literally their only bright spot on the books since the hotel business has just crashed out due to Covid-19 fears.

 

[robi79]

All good observations. I am not sure what is really driving these reductions in benefits, but Bluegreen has also been reducing their Premier Owner benefits as well (most recent change was to the waitlist processing).


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[bizaro86]

MFs are probably going up to cover expected delinquency. I would imagine the amount of people who don't pay will go up quite a bit this year.

 

[hcarman]

All good observations. I am not sure what is really driving these reductions in benefits, but Bluegreen has also been reducing their Premier Owner benefits as well (most recent change was to the waitlist processing).


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What is the change to the waitlist processing? I like that you now can request online instead of calling in. I used to feel like they just wrote your name on a paper list, as several times they lost our request.

 

[robi79]

Waitlist requests used to be processed just before the 11 month window opening for all owners (1 to 3 days prior). Beginning August 3rd, BG changed the process to execute the waitlist requests after the opening of the 11 month window. At the same time all owners are able to book their reservations. This change significantly negatively impacted the benefit of the premier waitlist.


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[hcarman]

Waitlist requests used to be processed just before the 11 month window opening for all owners (1 to 3 days prior). Beginning August 3rd, BG changed the process to execute the waitlist requests after the opening of the 11 month window. At the same time all owners are able to book their reservations. This change significantly negatively impacted the benefit of the premier waitlist.


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Oh wow - I didn't know that. So what good is the waitlist anymore if there isn't any priority? And how come all these changes are so hush, hush. I even listened to the virtual annual meeting this year. Funny thing is we have been thinking about cutting back on the Bluegreen points. We still enjoy the properties but not sure we need as many points right now and the maintenance fees are climbing. The waitlist and the free week were the two premier benefits that I felt we got some use out of. The others are almost never able to be used for our purposes. This might help with our decisions. I wouldn't have had as big of a problem if they wanted to say that each owner only gets a certain number of waitlist requests at a time - but to take away the benefit all together?

 

[robi79]

I agree. The Premier Waitlist was one of the only Premier Benefits that we use, and with the decrease in benefit, we do not see an incentive to upgrade to the next premier level. We will find cheap secondary market points if we find we need more points to travel.


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[xzhan02]

Sorry about resurrecting an old thread. I took a break from TUG and timeshare in general for a few years due to moving etc, and used BG points only for NYC hotel stays. Now I am ready to come back, and reading these updates is helpful but infuriating, particularly the premier wait list. Last year I waitlisted for the Aspen resort for this summer, and when it didn't clear I thought it's just a fluke, and booked myself as it was available 11 months out. I also noticed that NYC Ascend hotels went from 3000 pts/nt to 5000 pt, while the hotel rate went down from $300/nt to $150. The end of Shell connection is so had, as we have fond memories of Kauai Hanalei Bay Resort and SF Donatella exhanges. I will read through these threads to learn all the recent changes. Thank you.

 

[Wanzy]

MFs are probably going up to cover expected delinquency. I would imagine the amount of people who don't pay will go up quite a bit this year.

I've been looking for a note like this. We have had BG for 10.5 years and can't afford it due to medical issues. We still owe 24K ( we are HORRIBLE) at saying no.
Do we have any way out?

 

[bogey21]

I've been looking for a note like this. We have had BG for 10.5 years and can't afford it due to medical issues. We still owe 24K ( we are HORRIBLE) at saying no.
Do we have any way out?

Default and suffer the consequences. If your account is set up for automatic payments for loan or MFs, close the accounts and open new ones first...

George

 

[geekette]

I've been looking for a note like this. We have had BG for 10.5 years and can't afford it due to medical issues. We still owe 24K ( we are HORRIBLE) at saying no.
Do we have any way out?

Not really a way out, but try to rent out condos. You can save people a lot of money off retail rental and chip away at the debt.

I’m sorry that med issues found you. Not sure it is timely nor helpful, but my hospital financed big bill at 0%


I hope you have returned to health.

 

[Wanzy]

Not really a way out, but try to rent out condos. You can save people a lot of money off retail rental and chip away at the debt.

I’m sorry that med issues found you. Not sure it is timely nor helpful, but my hospital financed big bill at 0%


I hope you have returned to health.

Thank you! Is there a place on here t that can educate me how to do that?

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[Grammarhero]

Thank you! Is there a place on here t that can educate me how to do that?

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If you make the hard decision to default, please kindly let us know if your credit got affected. It would help tuggers in similar situations moving forward. We currently track default stats and whether their credit got affected at: https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/2...eport-collection-tracking.304138/post-2682864

 

[Grammarhero]

Thank you! Is there a place on here t that can educate me how to do that?

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@Wanzy11 We hope you are well and healthy. If you make the difficult decision to default, please kindly let us know if your credit got affected. It would help tuggers in similar situations moving forward.

 

[Jeddy]

@Wanzy11 Sorry to hear about the medical issues; get well soon.
DO try to list your BG membership for sale here in the TUG Marketplace.
Even if the sale price is low, you get the debt cleanly off your credit rating/score.

 

[GrayFal]

@Wanzy11 Sorry to hear about the medical issues; get well soon.
DO try to list your BG membership for sale here in the TUG Marketplace.
Even if the sale price is low, you get the debt cleanly off your credit rating/score.

@Wanzy11 still owes $24,000
They can’t sell it or even give it away until the debt is paid off.
Very sad

 

[Jeddy]

@Wanzy11 still owes $24,000
They can’t sell it or even give it away until the debt is paid off.
Very sad

...I'm sure something could be worked out with a flexible buyer. But yeah, a current mortgage is a downer...

 

[Jeddy]

Changes at Bluegreen (2022 February). We're gold level members, now 8 years, and just had our 'owner review' / sales pitch.
--BG looks to adjust the Charter points necessary for their Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum levels upwards
<edit> forgot to add: current owners will be 'grandfathered' in, according to the salesman, but if it ain't in writing...
--BG looks to add another level - "Century Club" at to 100k point level
--BG looks to increase the 'minimum' size of each sale, was 7000 points, now 10,000 points

Some operational and financial changes in the past 3 years. BG is now a freestanding company (no longer a subsidiary of BBX Holdings), whose stock trades on the NY Stock Exchange (symbol: BVH) and so if you want to look 'under the covers' of how a timeshare company works, download a copy of the Annual Report / 10k filing (that public companies must file with the SEC every year) and look at how they run the business from an investor's point of view. As far as I know, it's the only 'pure play' timeshare company in the market (everyone else is hotels first, like Wyndham, Marriott, Hilton, etc). Not investment advice; do your own due diligence. Disclosure: I own some shares.

I have also noticed that BG has, since mid-2020, become more aggressive about exercising its ROFR ('right of first refusal') in BG timeshare sales on eBay and otherwhere.

...and yes, I agree that BG doesn't do a particularly good job of advertising its internal program changes. Maybe it's their way of bringing current owners in for reviews periodically; don't know.

 

[GrayFal]

...I'm sure something could be worked out with a flexible buyer. But yeah, a current mortgage is a downer...

How flexible would a buyer have to be to pay someone $24,000 for a timeshare worth under $1,000?

This is just not realistic.

 

[GrayFal]

Changes at Bluegreen (2022 February). We're gold level members, now 8 years, and just had our 'owner review' / sales pitch.
--BG looks to adjust the Charter points necessary for their Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum levels upwards
<edit> forgot to add: current owners will be 'grandfathered' in, according to the salesman, but if it ain't in writing...
--BG looks to add another level - "Century Club" at to 100k point level
--BG looks to increase the 'minimum' size of each sale, was 7000 points, now 10,000 points

Some operational and financial changes in the past 3 years. BG is now a freestanding company (no longer a subsidiary of BBX Holdings), whose stock trades on the NY Stock Exchange (symbol: BVH) and so if you want to look 'under the covers' of how a timeshare company works, download a copy of the Annual Report / 10k filing (that public companies must file with the SEC every year) and look at how they run the business from an investor's point of view. As far as I know, it's the only 'pure play' timeshare company in the market (everyone else is hotels first, like Wyndham, Marriott, Hilton, etc). Not investment advice; do your own due diligence. Disclosure: I own some shares.

I have also noticed that BG has, since mid-2020, become more aggressive about exercising its ROFR ('right of first refusal') in BG timeshare sales on eBay and otherwhere.

...and yes, I agree that BG doesn't do a particularly good job of advertising its internal program changes. Maybe it's their way of bringing current owners in for reviews periodically; don't know.

They have been saying new level above Platinum since they added Platinum.

Bluegreen will sell you 7,000 points EOY, unlikely to change.

Nothing new with the company that in any way affects owners.

BG continues to strip owners of perks and benefits of ownership while pushing for additional point purchases.
It's pretty discouraging for knowledgeable, long time owners