Special RCI Perks for Board members - Acceptable??

[PA-]

RCI provides each of the board of directors of their affiliated resorts with a VIP deposit. I presume that's a ghost deposit (not associated with a resort) that probably has exceptionally high trade value.

I'm not sure I'm comfortable accepting that freebie, especially since it's a secret from the ownership. I'm thinking of using it as a doorprize at the annual owners meeting.

Priviledge of rank, or improper behavior? What's your take?

 

[sfwilshire]

I don't have a problem with it. That's probably the least offensive way they use our deposited weeks for other purposes.

If it bothers you, though, the door prize idea is certainly a generous idea IF RCI will allow it. Since it would essentially be transferring a deposit (I assume you don't want to have to make the reservation and pay for a guest certificate) it might be hard to get RCI to cooperate.

Sheila

 

[bnoble]

The only conflict of interest would be if, for some reason, your resort exchanges only with RCI. For a dual-affiliated resort that also allows exchanges with the independents, it seems fine to me.

I do also like the door prize idea.

 

[JEFF H]

I feel it could be ethically wrong for board members to accept free points from RCI.
The board has the duty to work in the best intrest of the membership.
If RCI is extending special perks to board members in the hopes they will remain exclusively affiliated with RCI I that as a huge conflict of intrest.
sadly this is they way of the world it seems and I belive very few people would turn down the week if they knew nobody was lookiing.

 

[caribbean]

I kind of look at this like gifts given to my Purchasing Office. Around Christmas every year we enevitably receive unannounced gifts. As a governmental agency, this causes an ethics problem. It always seems improper to return them since it would cost state funds to do so. Since most of the gifts are food related, we have simply put them out for everyone's benefit in the kitchen so all can partake, not just the Purchasing staff. Ethical problem solved.

So to offer it as a prise to one of the members would seem to be a good way to rid the HOA of the ethics problem. If you do have to pay a transfer or guest fee, maybe that could be the responsibility of the winner. Small price to pay for what is essentially a free week.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Sounds okay to me.

 

[beanb41]

Sounds okay to me. It is a small something for all the Free time you put in looking after your fellow members and it doesnt cost your members anything.

 

[Carolinian]

I am not sure how this works at points resorts, but at Weeks resorts, any board member as well as the resort manager can participate in the VIP program, under which you can trade for basically anything in the system with a handful of exceptions (London is the only exception I recall). If it is there you can get it. It is not totally ''free'' however, as you still must pay the exchange fee and provide a week deposit that is similar in season and size to what you get, but trading power factors are not considered. If the HOA has a bulk account with RCI, it can be taken from there, or otherwise can be taken from the board member's individual RCI account. The ''freebie'' the board member gets is virtually unlimited trading power.

I would have a problem with an HOA giving a bulk deposit to a board member for that purpose unless they paid for it in the same way it would be availible to any member, but I see nothing wrong with a board member using a week from his personal RCI account to use the VIP system.

As to door prizes for members attending the annual meeting, if you ask, you wil probably get these as well. OBX resorts that have asked have typically been given a certificate good for a free domestic exchange and another good for a free year's membership. Sometimes they also give knicknacks with the RCI logo as well.

 

[Sandy VDH]

So give me a ball park figure on the actual number of people who get this VIP perk. Total number for all resorts. Then I will decide.

If the numbers are really high then I view it as too many people picking off really good inventory.

Let talk numbers before I make a decision.

 

[rickandcindy23]

It would only be board members at the resort. The board at Twin Rivers, just as an example, has 4 board members, and we have 1300 owners. That isn't a big number, plus high-season in CO already is highly regarded in RCI. I don't think a board member's high-season week will pull much better with the VIP.

I already put inventory in RCI with our CO summer week and see incredible availability, so being on a board and getting VIP, what difference would it make? Would I see more bulk bankings that are usually put out there specifically for in-house trades, like PAHIO Shearwater deposits? I dunno. Would this VIP membership override the 1 in 4? That would be totally cool.

I have never experienced this special trading power as a board member, but I wouldn't mind it a bit.

 

[Carolinian]

So give me a ball park figure on the actual number of people who get this VIP perk. Total number for all resorts. Then I will decide.

If the numbers are really high then I view it as too many people picking off really good inventory.

Let talk numbers before I make a decision.

The numbers are really not all that great. Most HOA board members tend to be own-to-use people rather than exchangers. They really don't get involved with RCI in the first place, so they tend not to take advantage of VIP.

Of course, where a board member would really rack up is if he owns a pink week and can trade it at prime red plus. The week that is given in exchange doesn't even have to be from the same resort, but can be a week at another resort the board member owns.

 

[Sandy VDH]

OK but I guess you missed my point. Does this happen at every board. 1 Board 4 members, but how many boards are out there, thousands right. So that number becomes a lot larger.

If every board gets this perk, them maybe now I see some additional incentive for being on a board.

 

[rickandcindy23]

After being on a board for 2 years now, I think it would be easier to just spend a little cash on a good trader.

Being on a board is a lot of work, and not physical work, but you tend to think about it a lot more than just at a meeting. It takes a lot of my thought and worry. I have been asked to be on another board by a board member who thinks I would do a great job. I am one of the very few people who always attend the meetings for the resort, plus he knows me through my current board work. If I move to another board, I will no longer be on the current one. I cannot do two of them.

Maybe the workload will lessen at some point, but for now, we are in a kind of transition period at Twin Rivers, and I like the direction we are going, but it has been like pulling teeth to get there. So many issues, and our owners are my concern--always.

 

[e.bram]

The BOD sgrees to serve with no compensation. This is also a conflict of interest. End of story.

 

[Charlie D.]

May be the end of “your” story but not of “the” story. Heaven forbid that a BOD member may actually get a perk out of representing the HOA. By golly they agreed not to be compensated, didn’t they? But let them try to raise your MF and all heck will probably break out. Why weren’t you guys/gals more professional and prevent that. I would guess that more likely than not between postage, phone calls, emails, trips, etc. most BOD members lose money by being on the board. A simple note in the annual meeting that BOD members receive this perk from RCI should make it public knowledge. If someone feels that perk is valuable, than they can run for the BOD themselves. I want the best BOD at my two resorts that perks can buy!! I want individuals that are excited about the resorts and will keep them up and exercise good business sense.

Charlie D.

 

[rickandcindy23]

The BOD sgrees to serve with no compensation. This is also a conflict of interest. End of story.

So I am sure you are standing in line to be on the board at your resorts?

We have one board position still open, if you want to be on ours. Shoot, we are making lots of trips to meetings with no compensation, and we are working on a budget and a replacement analysis, plus we are talking constantly to one another. We spent a weekend walking through every unit to see what each one needs immediately, then discussed it the next day. What a way to spend a weekend, huh? So much fun!

We did a survey and one board member compiled the results in an Xcel spreadsheet, which took him lots of time and energy because there were about 18 questions and 100's of responses returned out of a resort with 1300 members.

I talk to the board members more than I talk to Rick. So if you want the benefits of the RCI prime week for a pink week, it's there for ya!

As far as the trade power goes, my weeks are already prime, and my trade power with RCI will probably be exactly what my current RCI week is. Twin Rivers is just now affiliating with RCI, starting August 1st, but I won't see any difference from our other CO weeks, because I honestly am seeing everything on the sightings board that others post with my CO summer week. I own only prime summer, week 28, and ski week 12, which is spring break in Colorado.

 

[Sandy VDH]

Do the boards pay for travel to board related meetings and working weekends like you just described?

 

[Mel]

The BOD sgrees to serve with no compensation. This is also a conflict of interest. End of story.

Who says? The board agrees to serve based on the conditions agreed up in the condo association's bylaws. I doubt RCI only gives this perk to members of resorts who ONLY affiliate with RCI - there are plenty of resorts that are Dual affiliated, plus there are all the other small exchange companies. HOA board members have nothing to do with the affiliation associated with your unit at purchase, either. If anything, this perk should serve to get more board members to exchange their weeks and experience the exchange program - I know most of the Board members at the smaller of our 2 resorts own to use, and hardly ever exchange. How can board members understand the needs of members who exchange (and fulfill their duties in negotiating a contract with the exchange company) if they are not familiar with the program?

Our board members are not compensated for their time, but are reimbursed for travel expenses. They attend 3 or 4 meetings a year, not all on weekends. They must spend their personal time pouring over budgets and adressing changes to resort policy. As longs as everybody is above board, I see not problem with this perk. I don't know many people who would join the board just for this perk (and if they did, I can't picture many who would last more than 1 term).

 

[rickandcindy23]

Do the boards pay for travel to board related meetings and working weekends like you just described?

I have never received a penny of compensation for my gas, and the week we went up to work at the resort, going through all of the units, one by one, was our owned week. Two of the other board members were also there during their owned weeks, and this was planned for the convenience.

So no one had to pay lodging, either. I don't turn in my miles or any other expenses. We did get pizza that was provided by the association's money. But that was it.

 

[tombo]

If that Pizza is a Super Supreme then that is unacceptable compensation. If it is a Cheese Pizza or maybe even a One Topping I think you are ok.

 

[Charlie D.]

Now, that there's funny - I don't care who said it!!!

Charlie D.

 

[Carolinian]

Do the boards pay for travel to board related meetings and working weekends like you just described?

That depends on the resort. On the OBX, most do get expenses, which is set out in the HOA budget. At some resorts, the members vote on that budget and adopt it, and I have never heard of a member objecting to paying board member expenses. Many resorts avoid costs for hotel by allowing board members to stay in HOA owned unit/weeks when they are down on HOA business or if their is an owner week unoccupied, calling the owner to ask if the board member can use it, and I have never heard of an owner objecting in such circumstances.

The most extreme examples, I have heard of were at some Caribbean resorts, where the board members are Americans, and get airfare, hotel, and perdiem to attend meetings at the resort.

 

[e.bram]

Would then be fair for the BOD to receive "perks" from vendors and contractors who do business with thte TS. Essentially RCI is a supplier of services(managment) to the TS.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Would then be fair for the BOD to receive "perks" from vendors and contractors who do business with thte TS. Essentially RCI is a supplier of services(managment) to the TS.

Geez, e.bram, are you assuming everyone is a crook, and every one of us who is on a timeshare board is out to get something for ourselves?

I have already understood from your posts in the past that timeshares are basically worthless, run poorly and are a waste of money.

You also feel you have to protect yourself from your timeshares by assigning your timeshares in an LLC, just so you can walk away, leaving all of the owners with the maintenance fees, until an attorney can retrieve it back through legal means (which would cost thousands of dollars), should you decide the board is not taking care of the resort. You would have the HOA take back your timeshares by force at a great expense, and you think that's okay, but a small perk from RCI is unethical.

Why do you own any timeshares? Why not just rent a hotel?

 

[e.bram]

How about a small "perk" (kickback) from every entity(oil man, linen service , plumber etc) that provides a service to the TS. We are talking slipery slope here.)
Also,this wounld be a great defense(and counterclaim) for an owner sued by TS. The defendant could also file a cross clain against the BOD.
I thank the OP for providing this information and the rest of the posters who re enforced it