Trading fees and required memberships?

[boatnut]

Hi, just about to buy my first time share (maybe!). I have read "timeshare 101" etc etc on this site. Learned a HUGE amount. Thank you to all. The questions......

The unit I am looking at is a deeded fixed week (43) two bedroom in Whiski Jack at Northstar. My main interest would be to trade for time in Club Regina P Vallarta in Jan or Feb every year.
After being "ping ponged" back and forth without getting any form of real answer from Raintree or RCI I have been told by what appears to be a very helpfull person (Pete Adkins at Raintreegetaways.com)that the unit is "white season" also "gold" and has an equivelent point value of 45,000 with Raintree. It has not been converted to points. He then goes on to tell me that if I wish to have the ability to trade this unit within the Raintree group I have to buy a "Raintree vacation club " conversion for ONLY $5,496 plus a $499 processing fee! Is this a scam? Do I in fact have to pay any fees to join or trade within the Raintree system if I buy this unit? What , if any, are the costs to "join" RCI so that I could trade on their site? Thanks for the anticipated advise.....

 

[Bill4728]

Raintree /Whiski Jack is a great TS system and a great resort. BUT week 43 is the lowest/weakest week could buy at the resort. There are many weeks which can be bought cheap which would be much better for what you want. You can buy a raintree week which has already been converted for much less than the $5500 that Raintree wants and get much more points.

OR If you'd like to go to Mexico in the winter,you could buy a Mexico Winter season TS.

Don't buy a weak "non ski season" week at Whistler hoping that you can trade into a prime time mexician week.

 

[Jennie]

Welcome to TUG! You have found your way to the best place on the Internet to obtain honest, objective advice from experienced timeshare owners.

I don't know anything about the Raintree program but I'm sure folks who do will come along soon to answer your specific questions. There are so many different Points programs out there and each has its own set of rules.

However, as an owner of 18 timeshares, including fixed and floating weeks and various Points packages, I can tell you from years of personal experience that it is almost always best NOT to buy anything that requires exchanging through RCI or I.I. to obtain the vacation week you really want each year. Despite the promises of ts salespeople, it is not easy to obtain desired trades, especially at prime resorts during the high season. People who own such a week generally use it themselves or rent it out for a nice profit. They tend not to deposit the week with an exchange company, especially if they have been disappointed with the results obtained in prior years. And if they do deposit the week, it will be given to another member who has much higher trading power than you will have with a white week.

Since you have a specific vacation time and place in mind, I would advise you to purchase a week at that location, resale of course. It will undoubtedly cost you more initially. But in the long run, you will be able to save on the cost of airline tickets (or obtain frequent flyer seats) by knowing for sure which dates you will be using your unit. This way you can plan early and catch some sales. You will not need to pay the annual membership fees and the exchange fees to RCI each year. And if the time comes when you want to exchage your high season week to go somewhere else in the world, you will get much better trades from RCI or II or some of the smaller exchange companies (SFX, TPI, Dial-an-exchange, Platinum Interchange, etc...). Some of these alternate exchange companies really love to accept Mexico weeks.

Take the time to read the information on the various bulletin boards here at TUG before buying anything. Do not buy a white week unless it's at a time and place that you would love to vacation every year yourself.

 

[aliikai2]

Are you sure Raintree is what you want??

We have stayed at the Club Regina in Puerto Vallarta, and for the $825 a year that a 1 bedroom 2 bath gold ownership would cost , there are many comparable resorts that are far less.
We have purchased several annual 2 bedroom Mayan Palace lock out units that split into a 1 bedroom sleep 5 with kitchen and a hotel unit, with annual fees of under $550 for both units. They also come with what is called a vacation fair week, that can also be used ( some restrictions apply in Feb and March).
Please take your time and look around before you jump into something you won't be happy with, like a mud week in Whistler.

Greg

Hi, just about to buy my first time share (maybe!). I have read "timeshare 101" etc etc on this site. Learned a HUGE amount. Thank you to all. The questions......

The unit I am looking at is a deeded fixed week (43) two bedroom in Whiski Jack at Northstar. My main interest would be to trade for time in Club Regina P Vallarta in Jan or Feb every year.
After being "ping ponged" back and forth without getting any form of real answer from Raintree or RCI I have been told by what appears to be a very helpfull person (Pete Adkins at Raintreegetaways.com)that the unit is "white season" also "gold" and has an equivelent point value of 45,000 with Raintree. It has not been converted to points. He then goes on to tell me that if I wish to have the ability to trade this unit within the Raintree group I have to buy a "Raintree vacation club " conversion for ONLY $5,496 plus a $499 processing fee! Is this a scam? Do I in fact have to pay any fees to join or trade within the Raintree system if I buy this unit? What , if any, are the costs to "join" RCI so that I could trade on their site? Thanks for the anticipated advise.....

 

[esk444]

Getting prime Club Regina weeks through RCI is a crap shoot. It's much easier to buy a 1-50 floating week off ebay for a few thousand dollars. I see a few every once in a while.

 

[boatnut]

Thank you all for the info. I think the appeal to me was the fact that I got an actual title/deed? The concept of giving a Mexican timeshare company money for a lease or "points" (particularly given the events going on in the economy) is something that I am having a very difficult time swallowing. Maybe I am missing the point of a timeshare? If I pay $5,000 to $15,000 for a time share and have maintenance fees over and above, where are the savings? I can stay in a perfectly acceptable hotel in P Vallarta for $1,200 a week. In fact if I shop around and travel last minute I can get airfare/all inclusive for that amount! I do not see the point in entering into a contract with all it's possible pitfalls to save three or four hundred dollars?I am lucky in that I travel enough on business that I have enough Alaska Air points every year to fly at peak times so do not need to know exact week. Maybe time shares are just not for me?

 

[UWSurfer]

Thank you all for the info. I think the appeal to me was the fact that I got an actual title/deed? The concept of giving a Mexican timeshare company money for a lease or "points" (particularly given the events going on in the economy) is something that I am having a very difficult time swallowing. Maybe I am missing the point of a timeshare? If I pay $5,000 to $15,000 for a time share and have maintenance fees over and above, where are the savings? I can stay in a perfectly acceptable hotel in P Vallarta for $1,200 a week. In fact if I shop around and travel last minute I can get airfare/all inclusive for that amount! I do not see the point in entering into a contract with all it's possible pitfalls to save three or four hundred dollars?I am lucky in that I travel enough on business that I have enough Alaska Air points every year to fly at peak times so do not need to know exact week. Maybe time shares are just not for me?

No, I think you see pretty clearly for someone who isn't already in a timeshare. The trick is to pay maybe a few hundred dollars instead of several thousand at a resort with low maintenance fees and still be able to trade (if you like) to other places you'd like to go. Those who are part of a mini-system are often more expensive than stand alone resort...but not always. Our little San Clemente Inn week is managed by VRI which has just put together it's own mini-system within the resorts (a few hundred I belive) which it manages. There are many others which are operated like this which don't cost alot of money and have low maintenance fee's.

We also paid in the higher $ range buying HGVC resale and its been a fine mini-system as well with a very user friendly program. As we've become a bit more experienced we're learning you don't have to own HGVC to stay there, at least in Las Vegas, but the program is still quite nice.

Whether time sharing will be a financial boon to you depends on how you would use your week and whether the costs work out for you. Those of us who work the systems typically get more for our $$.

 

[MaryH]

If you want to stay in PV, there are people who are now giving Mayan Palace away and you just have to pay the inflated transfer fee (often 5x MF or around $3K) and they are 2 bdrm lockoffs with option of using a vacation fair week (2nd week) by paying the 2nd M/F. The problems with MP is that they have a renovation fee at 1XMF every 5 years and 5xMF every 25 years.

If you need to plan ahead and book early due to school holidays, you would need something stronger than a mud week. Also don't buy a week and pay to convert since you can probably buy a converted week for the same or much less.

Alternatively it might be worth looking into RHC points with a expiration date shorter than the normal 25-30 years since those are also being given away and some owners are willing to even split the transfer fee so you might be able to get 15-30K for under 1K and I use it to book San Francisco, New York and Paris.