Top 10 reviews?

[TNrazorbacker]

I'm a newbie researching options so wanted to get some opinions on the review linked below. Would you agree with this ranking? Why or why not?

http://vacation-club-review.toptenreviews.com

 

[tschwa2]

Everyones needs are different, and I don't think that chart really does much if you aren't more familiar with the systems. It doesn't take into account resale purchases at all.

 

[DeniseM]

Putting Holiday Inn and Blue Green above Disney, Hyatt, and Hilton is laughable!

It's also inaccurate - they obviously included HOTELS in their numbers:

Number of Resorts 2,900+ 2,900+ 4,500+ 4,500+ 4,500+ 2,900+ 4,500+ 2,900+ 5,000+ 4,500+

But it's great that so many of these resorts don't have maintenance fees:

Maintenance Fees $1,188 N/A $743 $1,148.80 N/A N/A $828.83 Did not disclose N/A Did not disclose

 

[Passepartout]

Vacation clubs in general are not well thought of on TUG. Members don't own anything. We don't know where their inventory comes from, and what happens when the promoters move on.

What I saw of the website above, showed only hotel branded (well,) hotels, not timeshares. All the up front prices appeared to be developer prices- don't they know there is a healthy resale market?

OP, that does not appear to be a very viable comparison of similar timeshare facilities.

Jim

 

[TUGBrian]

exchanges are free with marriott in II? thats a new one =)

I do like the idea behind the spreadsheet, if the numbers were accurate! I might make this a project!

 

[Ty1on]

My observation of their rating system is that they equate SALES WEASELS with "Member Support." To me, member support is what you get after either the weasels have done their number on you, or you have discovered resale in time. Wyndham, for example, got 0% on both. While I have seen the comments and reviews regarding the veracity of Wyndham weasels, I find it difficult to grade them 0 compared to an outfit like BlueGreen. 0. So they would have to be something like you find in the Mexican timeshare scams. I will admit that my contact with Wyndham Owner Care has been limited, but they have been wonderful every time I have called them. Also, it is awfully lazy to simply grade them as "Not Disclosed" for items like points and retail cost, when those items are easily estimable with a little online research. I grade this ranking a ZERO, although I think they did get lucky ranking Marriott #1.

 

[glmyers]

My observation of their rating system is that they equate SALES WEASELS with "Member Support." To me, member support is what you get after either the weasels have done their number on you, or you have discovered resale in time. Wyndham, for example, got 0% on both. While I have seen the comments and reviews regarding the veracity of Wyndham weasels, I find it difficult to grade them 0 compared to an outfit like BlueGreen. 0. So they would have to be something like you find in the Mexican timeshare scams. I will admit that my contact with Wyndham Owner Care has been limited, but they have been wonderful every time I have called them. Also, it is awfully lazy to simply grade them as "Not Disclosed" for items like points and retail cost, when those items are easily estimable with a little online research. I grade this ranking a ZERO, although I think they did get lucky ranking Marriott #1.

Their point is the buyer should not need to go hunting for the information and it should be readily provided to interested parties.

I agree the label "Member Support" is misleading; somehow that is fitting given the topic.

 

[SueDonJ]

exchanges are free with marriott in II? thats a new one =)

I do like the idea behind the spreadsheet, if the numbers were accurate! I might make this a project!

For some Marriott Owners it's true. Members of the Destination Club, whether they've purchased Trust Points or have enrolled Weeks which can be converted annually to Exchange Points, do not pay exchange fees in II if they limit their requests to only Marriott resorts and process the transactions through their corporate II accounts. They do pay an annual Club Dues fee (currently $175 or $215) which covers Marriott and II membership and transaction fees.

Marriott Owners who process exchanges through their individual II accounts do pay per-transaction fees.

 

[presley]

The top 10 is subjective to each individual person. This exact chart was posted/discussed here a few months ago.

The resort #s are not how many resorts the system has. It is showing how many resorts you can exchange to in RCI or II.

If this is your chart and you are looking for feedback, I'd say you did a nice job putting everything together. However, the list will always be completely subjective to each and every person.

 

[dioxide45]

exchanges are free with marriott in II? thats a new one =)

I do like the idea behind the spreadsheet, if the numbers were accurate! I might make this a project!

For some Marriott Owners it's true. Members of the Destination Club, whether they've purchased Trust Points or have enrolled Weeks which can be converted annually to Exchange Points, do not pay exchange fees in II if they limit their requests to only Marriott resorts and process the transactions through their corporate II accounts. They do pay an annual Club Dues fee (currently $175 or $215) which covers Marriott and II membership and transaction fees.

Marriott Owners who process exchanges through their individual II accounts do pay per-transaction fees.

I think they have the booking fee and exchange fee switched on Marriott. For most owners, the exchange fee is $130, there is no booking fee with Marriott.

 

[TUGBrian]

thats how I understand it as well (and what I was charge for my last trade with II)

 

[SueDonJ]

I think they have the booking fee and exchange fee switched on Marriott. For most owners, the exchange fee is $130, there is no booking fee with Marriott.

thats how I understand it as well (and what I was charge for my last trade with II)

That makes sense for un-enrolled Weeks, that the numbers may be switched on that chart. It's hard to tell what they used as the example because the "2,450" Points doesn't equal an even number of BI's and the MF's are off as well - so maybe an enrolled Week? But it's still true that Marriott DC Members don't pay an exchange fee if they work with only Marriott resorts within their corporate accounts.

Brian, are you saying you exchanged a Marriott Week that you own? I don't remember knowing that about you (not that I'm supposed to, it's not my business!)

 

[TUGBrian]

Exchanged one thru II yes. its a legacy week at hilton head. Traded it for a frenchmans cove unit next month =)

 

[dioxide45]

That makes sense for un-enrolled Weeks, that the numbers may be switched on that chart. It's hard to tell what they used as the example because the "2,450" Points doesn't equal an even number of BI's and the MF's are off as well - so maybe an enrolled Week? But it's still true that Marriott DC Members don't pay an exchange fee if they work with only Marriott resorts within their corporate accounts.

Brian, are you saying you exchanged a Marriott Week that you own? I don't remember knowing that about you (not that I'm supposed to, it's not my business!)

I think the developer of that chart is confusing the legacy and DC systems and it is causing confusion. Hard to tell what they intended. The list points and since that is what you can buy today it would lead you to believe that they are referring to the new program where DC point owners don't pay an exchange fee, inside or outside of DC. However, there is no booking fee, so I don't know what they mean. They obviously were not well versed in the program. Perhaps not enough so to write about it.

 

[TUGBrian]

nearly impossible to account for every possible system/situation within all the different timeshare systems out there.

or if you did, the chart would be so ridiculous as to be nearly unreadable.

 

[DeniseM]

I'm guessing that the writer doesn't really know anything about timeshares, and he took a bunch of data that he didn't understand, put it in a chart, and tried to write an article about it.

 

[SueDonJ]

I got the impression the writers had a set list of questions and used sales reps to get the answers. With Marriotts they would have been better off separating the two products, Weeks and Points, but they may not have known enough to know that and a sales rep probably would have just confused them further if they did.

Brian - your Marriott Week is not eligible for DC enrollment? Or you chose not to enroll it for some reason? (You know you don't have to answer - I'm just curious.)

 

[glmyers]

Do you suppose the writers ever heard of Google?

I got the impression the writers had a set list of questions and used sales reps to get the answers. With Marriotts they would have been better off separating the two products, Weeks and Points, but they may not have known enough to know that and a sales rep probably would have just confused them further if they did.

Brian - your Marriott Week is not eligible for DC enrollment? Or you chose not to enroll it for some reason? (You know you don't have to answer - I'm just curious.)

I think your impression is quite accurate. The only sign of any actual research is to identify the cost of 20 years of vacations purchase through normal retail channels is less than the costs of "vacation club" membership. Even the slightest research would have added greatly to the rankings.

Given the ready availability of material like this listing on complaintsboard.com or this one on consumeraffairs.com I would think they would go beyond saying, "it is difficult to get a straight answer from the company’s support staff" when presenting the cons of the Shell club.

 

[TUGBrian]

I got the impression the writers had a set list of questions and used sales reps to get the answers. With Marriotts they would have been better off separating the two products, Weeks and Points, but they may not have known enough to know that and a sales rep probably would have just confused them further if they did.

Brian - your Marriott Week is not eligible for DC enrollment? Or you chose not to enroll it for some reason? (You know you don't have to answer - I'm just curious.)

tis a very old week, and is actually used regularly by the family.

also trades very well in II, do not see the value in the cost of upgrading it.