Trading places international

[Shirley1]

Just wondering if anyone may know why I would be receiving a bill for $99 for TPI annual fees when in our contract it indicates: “in addition to the initial purchase price for your interval, you will be required to pay to the Association maintenance fees, including Basic and Special Charges, for each Interval you own. These fees are used to pay the costs of operating and maintaining the plan, including property taxes, maid service and so on, as well as annual renewal fee for TPI’s Premier Access Program”.

We are owners at Kona Hawaiin Resort and also club WYNDHAM Plus program (ACCESS). We are also with RCI. Due to COVID we cannot travel so decided to deposit all points for future use into RCI. My assumption was that since all our maintenance fees are being paid to Wyndham that the annual fee to TPI was also paid by Wyndham on our behalf as per above quote in the contract. Are we obligated to pay this $99 fee to TPI. Has anyone come across this? Also sEems like a waste of $ to use both RCI and TPI?

Any information/suggestions on how to handle this invoice and any information any members can pass along as to how TPI works would be helpful I.e. are there other fees that TPI charges?

Thank you

 

[VacayKat]

At least in my contract they pay for first 3 years. After that it’s up to you.

 

[Shirley1]

At least in my contract they pay for first 3 years. After that it’s up to you.

It doesn’t indicate in ours, unless I’m looking in the wrong place.

 

[VacayKat]

It doesn’t indicate in ours, unless I’m looking in the wrong place.

Ok- so if you are owners with Wyndham and purchased a Hawaii contract it comes with three years of TPI. That should have been a specific disclosure/contract page you signed. The sales people and QA don't tell you it‘s just three years you have to read the fine print. They say you can get 2-for-1!!!!! And usually thats enough not to question it for most people. I questioned the sales person a lot on this one as it just didn't make sense to me that I’d get so much free- and in Hawaii.

 

[schenriq]

Just wondering if anyone may know why I would be receiving a bill for $99 for TPI annual fees when in our contract it indicates: “in addition to the initial purchase price for your interval, you will be required to pay to the Association maintenance..as well as annual renewal fee for TPI’s Premier Access Program”.

Quick read by me hints that this payment is for membership to the TPI exchange program. Confusing though since you seem to have VOIs on Wyndham-managed program/resorts (Access/Kona Hawaiian) yet [sales] contract seems to suggest payments toward a competing (to WYND's RCI) exchange network. TPI is owned by ILG.

If my hunch is correct, you don't need to pay this yearly. Your Access ownership gives you a free (as part of the Wyndham program fee) account at RCI weeks but you already know that.

>Also sEems like a waste of $ to use both RCI and TPI?

Depends where you want to go and how often. RCI gets rare deposits too but TPI is the manager of a Yellowstone area resort and hence has LOTS of weeks relative to what RCI has. Even bright red July and August weeks in most years.

 

[Eric B]

I started getting the TPI annual bills three years after purchasing at Bali Hai, too. I never paid them since I never used them; I had investigated and it looked like the "2 for 1" weeks for depositing a Bali Hai week would be just a 1 week exchange plus a bonus week I would have to use by booking within 45 days. Since I already have access to that sort of inventory in RCI and it didn't look like TPI had anything really special to offer, I let that one lapse and it has not diminished my ability to use my Wyndham ownership or my vacation travels in the least.

 

[Shirley1]

Thank you so much to all who replied. Your answers surely helped. I will let this invoice lapse then since I've been depositing all our unused points into RCI. Hopefully when COVID is done we can go back to safely travelling again. Stay well in the meantime. Happy holidays from Canada.

 

[JudyS]

TPI has a free membership, too. You might be able to sign up for that if you don't want to pay.

 

[VacayKat]

Well I have bad news- was just informed that as of 1/1/21 trading places has been cancelled. Apparently has been discussed since 2018 at owner meetings and voted to discontinue in Nov 2020. I had no notice of this. Apparently notice is to be sent from TPI not wyndham. Unless folks can send me to better info- sounds like it was barely discussed at owner meetings and if you weren't there you wouldn't know.

 

[Eric B]

Well I have bad news- was just informed that as of 1/1/21 trading places has been cancelled. Apparently has been discussed since 2018 at owner meetings and voted to discontinue in Nov 2020. I had no notice of this. Apparently notice is to be sent from TPI not wyndham. Unless folks can send me to better info- sounds like it was barely discussed at owner meetings and if you weren't there you wouldn't know.

My best guess at interpreting what you are saying is that the relationship between the Hawaiian Club Wyndham resort you own and Trading Places International is ending on January 1, 2021. There have been prior postings about Club Wyndham declining to confirm reservations for weeks deposited in TPI for some resorts (IIRC it was Waikiki Walk), but I haven't really followed that because I don't use TPI myself despite Bali Hai being one of the Hawaiian Club Wyndham resorts with the arrangement with TPI. Could you confirm that is what you were saying and identify which resort it is? If I'm wrong, could you explain what has been cancelled?

 

[VacayKat]

My best guess at interpreting what you are saying is that the relationship between the Hawaiian Club Wyndham resort you own and Trading Places International is ending on January 1, 2021. There have been prior postings about Club Wyndham declining to confirm reservations for weeks deposited in TPI for some resorts (IIRC it was Waikiki Walk), but I haven't really followed that because I don't use TPI myself despite Bali Hai being one of the Hawaiian Club Wyndham resorts with the arrangement with TPI. Could you confirm that is what you were saying and identify which resort it is? If I'm wrong, could you explain what has been cancelled?

My understanding is that all of the Hawaii resorts (only ones TPI came with) have terminated their relationship with TPI due to low member usage. This comes from owner care at Wyndham, so make of it what you will. I *think* you might still be able to do the membership for $99 but it might just be their regular $79 membership. (Difference I see = $ for maint fees if you don't use the exchange.)

 

[Eric B]

Thanks, @VacayKat; TPI does have a free membership and there are always other independent exchanges you could use. Not sure I understand what $ for MFs if you don't use the exchange is about; as far as I know, TPI never gave $ for MFs and I'm not aware of any cost to the HOA for Bali Hai for having the relationship with TPI. Never saw any indication of that on the HOA budgets. I won't be losing any sleep over the change as I'm one of the reasons for it - low usage. YMMV, but when I looked into TPI after buying my first Bali Hai contract, I concluded that there were much more efficient ways to use my ownership than exchanging through TPI.

 

[VacayKat]

Thanks, @VacayKat; TPI does have a free membership and there are always other independent exchanges you could use. Not sure I understand what $ for MFs if you don't use the exchange is about; as far as I know, TPI never gave $ for MFs and I'm not aware of any cost to the HOA for Bali Hai for having the relationship with TPI. Never saw any indication of that on the HOA budgets. I won't be losing any sleep over the change as I'm one of the reasons for it - low usage. YMMV, but when I looked into TPI after buying my first Bali Hai contract, I concluded that there were much more efficient ways to use my ownership than exchanging through TPI.

Basically if you deposit your week you had the option of receiving $499 (or for some deposits $699) back as a credit to maintenance fees. I would have used it but it wasn't easy to understand or get access to - almost like it was a perk they didn't want you to use. oh well!