TS Owners Don't shoot yourself in the foot-HELP your trading power!

[JordynMari]

For those of you that trade back into your home resorts using weeks through RCI or II (or trade into resorts within the same company) DON'T submit negative comment cards!

These comment cards go back to RCI and II and can actually bring down your Gold Crown or 5 Star status. It's fine to be honest on cards for resorts you do not own with but it kills your trading power if your home resort loses its status.

Instead, go directly to your resort and submit your complaint. You can be as aggressive as you want and take it as high up in management as you want. For every card that RCI and II get from guests at a resort a score is allocated. Those scores are tallied together and are sent over to the resort. Enough complaints (even for MINOR things) and YOU lose. At the end of the year RCI and II can drop your resorts status and there goes your exchanges.



Help your resort out by submitting good scores regardless of your experience.:whoopie:

 

[philsfan]

For those of you that trade back into your home resorts using weeks through RCI or II (or trade into resorts within the same company) DON'T submit negative comment cards!

These comment cards go back to RCI and II and can actually bring down your Gold Crown or 5 Star status. It's fine to be honest on cards for resorts you do not own with but it kills your trading power if your home resort loses its status.

Instead, go directly to your resort and submit your complaint. You can be as aggressive as you want and take it as high up in management as you want. For every card that RCI and II get from guests at a resort a score is allocated. Those scores are tallied together and are sent over to the resort. Enough complaints (even for MINOR things) and YOU lose. At the end of the year RCI and II can drop your resorts status and there goes your exchanges.



Help your resort out by submitting good scores regardless of your experience.:whoopie:

Gold Crown status has nothing to do with trade power. Location (demand) and season are what drives trade power.

You can lie about your resort all you want but the non-owners who visit will not lie for you. Eventually, a badly maintained resort will be rated less than gold crown.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Trade Power, Shmayd Power.

Gold Crown status has nothing to do with trade power.

Gold Crown timeshare units translate into more points via Points For Deposit than equivalent units at a comparable (e.g., right across the street) Silver Crown timeshare.

That's not exactly trading power, of course, but it's something.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[VacationPro]

Help your resort out by submitting good scores regardless of your experience.:whoopie:

I disagree. Many exchangers use the ranking as one of the determining factors in deciding where to exchange. By submitting false reports, you destroy the credibility which creates more serious issues down the road for all of us who love timesharing.

 

[gmarine]

Your one comment card is going to have no effect on the resorts rating. This kind of stuff has been covered on TUG many times in the past.

 

[JordynMari]

I disagree. Many exchangers use the ranking as one of the determining factors in deciding where to exchange. By submitting false reports, you destroy the credibility which creates more serious issues down the road for all of us who love timesharing.

Which is exactly why I encouraged reporting challenges to the resort directly. I'm not recommending ignoring the problem, but report it to the people who can actually fix it.

 

[JordynMari]

Your one comment card is going to have no effect on the resorts rating. This kind of stuff has been covered on TUG many times in the past.

Not all resorts have a lot of comment cards turned in. If you card is one of 5 received for a single week- you DO make a difference. Regardless of what other people have said in the past.

 

[JordynMari]

Gold Crown status has nothing to do with trade power. Location (demand) and season are what drives trade power.

You can lie about your resort all you want but the non-owners who visit will not lie for you. Eventually, a badly maintained resort will be rated less than gold crown.

Try trading into a Gold Crown resort when you only own at a hospitality resort or equivalent. :hysterical:

 

[philsfan]

Gold Crown timeshare units translate into more points via Points For Deposit than equivalent units at a comparable (e.g., right across the street) Silver Crown timeshare.

That's not exactly trading power, of course, but it's something.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

It is trading power, just in a different way than I was thinking about it. It doesn't have to be PFD either, straight points ownerships are affected, too. I still go with the theory that owners exchanging into their home resorts and filling out inflated ratings could not possibly affect the rating a resort is assigned.

 

[philsfan]

Try trading into a Gold Crown resort when you only own at a hospitality resort or equivalent. :hysterical:

I do it with an unrated resort twice a year and I can prove it.

 

[rhonda]

Try trading into a Gold Crown resort when you only own at a hospitality resort or equivalent. :hysterical:

Hasn't been tough for me ... I've traded non-rated resort weeks for 2BR and 3BR units at Gold Crown resorts several times ... and often for holiday weeks.

 

[Cathyb]

Bright red season and not last minute ???

 

[rhonda]

Bright red season and not last minute ???

Cathy - Who are you asking?

In case it was me ... my non-rated resort week (2BR SA winter week) has traded for:

• 3BR Worldmark Arrow Point, Memorial Day week. Booked at least 8 months prior to travel.
• Twice for 2BR Grand Pacific Palisades, Memorial Day weeks. Booked 12+ months from travel.
• 3BR lockout unit at Summer Bay in Orlando (the unit with two "master suites" each with jetted tub), early Dec week. Booked ~8 months prior to travel.

I also traded a 1BR non-rated SA week for the Manhattan Club (later had to cancel); rebooked for an Oct "peak leaf week" at Smuggler's Notch. I can't recall what I traded a non-rated TX week for ... but it certainly was something good So for me, great resorts, booked far in advance -- but not into "bright red" periods. (Still, all good for me ... I prefer the off-peak periods ...)

 

[gmarine]

Not all resorts have a lot of comment cards turned in. If you card is one of 5 received for a single week- you DO make a difference. Regardless of what other people have said in the past.

I'm not sure what you mean by saying comment cards are sent back to II. They come from II, not the resort.
Interval resort evaluations are given to exchangers by II with their exchange confirmation and can be returned by mail or filled out online. II has semi-annual quality reviews which partially take into account these reviews . One rating card in a 6 month period will have no effect.

You should search the TUG boards as this has been covered many times in the past.

 

[AwayWeGo]

The World Turned Upside Down.

2BR SA winter week

Winter up here is summer down there & vice versa.

Does that affect trade power ?

Only the Gnomes Of RCI know for sure.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[geekette]

Try trading into a Gold Crown resort when you only own at a hospitality resort or equivalent. :hysterical:

Hasn't mattered so far. I think you put too much emphasis on RCI "ratings".

It's a great idea to talk to mgmt directly about problems, but falsifying comment cards is not something I can sanction.

 

[laura1957]

Hasn't mattered so far. I think you put too much emphasis on RCI "ratings".

It's a great idea to talk to mgmt directly about problems, but falsifying comment cards is not something I can sanction.

Me either, I would rather not fill it out at all if I have to lie about it!!

 

[philsfan]

Bright red season and not last minute ???

Waterside by Spinaker in July
Kona Hawaiian Village in July
Maui Lea at Maui Hill in February
Fitzpatrick Castle in Dublin in August
Morritts Grand in February

I could go on and on....all booked at least a year before check-in and almost all larger units than what I deposited.

 

[rhonda]

Winter up here is summer down there & vice versa.

My SA week is in August ... I was referring to winter there.

 

[Mel]

The biggest factor in trade power are supply vs. demand, but the Vacation Experience Profile (VEP) does come into play. The VEP is also what keeps some of us from trading down into resorts RCI thinks we won't find acceptable.

It is VEP that is based primarily on the comment cards, so too many negative comment cards will hurt the resort, but a single card isn't going to make that much difference, even if the resort loses its Gold Crown designation. Not all the best resorts have the Gold Crown rating, and not all Gold Crown resorts are that great - there are many unrated resorts that are far nicer than some of the Gold Crown resorts. In some cases, those unrated resorts didn't have enough amenities, but were nice resorts in an area where there is already plenty to do.

If we all took the stance that we should manipulate the comment cards, the system would fail - you really like a given resort you traded into, so in order to reduce THEIR trade power, making it easier for you to get in, do you ding them for inconsequential things? If you inflate your report on your own home resort, can you trust the ratings of other resorts, knowing that owners at those resorts might be doing the same thing?

Also consider wht gets your home resort to make changes. You suggest going through management to report issues, and try to get them resolved there. Probably a good idea at a small resort, with no developer involvement - but that type of resort is more likely to respond to complaints anyway. What if you own at a developer controlled resort - the developer is still in sales, and controls the HOA board. The developer wants to keep maintenance fees as low as possible to entice new buyers. If your suggestion is going to cost money, you can probably forget it. But if you (and everyone else) ding them on the comment cards, and they end up losing that Gold Crown rating, THEN you impact the bottom line - their ability to sell more weeks. At that point you will see the improvements.

Also consider the full impact of manipulating your trade power. Yes, you will have better trade power, but you will also end up restricting access to your resort. This may mean more exchanger coming from better resorts, and fewer from lower-rated resorts. You might not care, at first, but those coming from higher rated resorts will also have higher expectations. That will be reflected in their comment cards, and the backlash could be worse than your own negative comments. As for impacting points, if you drive the number of points required up, people will then have to consider whether it's worth the extra points. If not, then demand will decrease and upset that part of the balance, and the points will have to drop back down to compensate.

 

[sandcastles]

I've got to put my two cents in about comment cards in RCI. First I've got to say that I think RCI ratings are a joke.

I contradicted a Tugger when he said Sanibel Cottages on Sanibel was not a GC. He told me I had better check RCI web site. I did and found it was not even a hospitality resort. I called to ask RCI why and they had a supervisor call me back. Turns out they had THREE comment cards come back to them in one year and they had negative things to say. Because of this they lost their GC status. This is a resort that I don't own and have never stayed at but have visited friends there. It is a beautiful resort on a beautiful island and there are not many exchanges available there. I'm sure there are none at high seasion. Maybe people stayed there in off season and didn't like the weather or bugs.

Since then a sister resort to them that I do own lost their GC status. I didn't even care enough about the reason to call RCI this time. I have no idea if either of these resorts have regained their GC and at this point I don't care.

Needless to say I pay no attention to RCI ratings anymore. I do think II has much more accurate ratings.

I'm sure some guests give bad reviews to lower the VEP while owners may give too high of review to raise VEP. In the old DeHaan days, RCI had their employees give RCI reviews of resorts they stayed at and also visit other resorts in the area they were staying to write reviews on these.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

If we all took the stance that we should manipulate the comment cards, the system would fail - you really like a given resort you traded into, so in order to reduce THEIR trade power, making it easier for you to get in, do you ding them for inconsequential things? If you inflate your report on your own home resort, can you trust the ratings of other resorts, knowing that owners at those resorts might be doing the same thing?

Yep - the logical corollary to the original post in this thread is that one should never submit a positive comment card when exchanging into a resort other than one's home resort.

After all, by the OP's logic giving good ratings to resorts other than your own makes your resort look that much worse in comparison. Ergo, giving good ratings to other resorts is also "shooting yourself in the foot".

 

[Carol C]

I'm going to agree with JordynMari, who did not btw specifically suggest anybody falsify any comment cards. That OP basically suggested contacting resort mgmt about resort problems & deficits rather than send in a negative comment card on your own resort. When I owned at Foxrun I enjoyed my stays a lot, and I exchanged in using SA weeks and used my Foxruns to get into Marriotts (in all but one case when I did use my own unit/week at Foxrun). Even though Foxrun needed work on decks, retaining walls etc and I've stayed at better resorts, I wasn't willing to dis Foxrun on RCI's comment cards. There's a way to generically give favorable comments and be honest at the same time. If you've had a good time despite your home resort's needed improvements, why not fill out a favorable comment card?

Anyway...I don't think those cards and resulting rankings have that much to do with trade power, especially with RCI. I am another person like philsfan who owns prime summer in SoCal at a standard resort and have gotten superb trades. I'm not even sure if my resort has the "hospitality" rating, but frankly I don't care. The lack of an RCI "award" can often allow one to "see" much more inventory online when shopping your week. There have been many TUG threads on that topic too. Just search for "RCI Gold Crown filters" or some such jargon.

 

[laura1957]

I'm going to agree with JordynMari, who did not btw specifically suggest anybody falsify any comment cards.
QUOTE

I disagree - what she said was -

For those of you that trade back into your home resorts using weeks through RCI or II (or trade into resorts within the same company) DON'T submit negative comment cards!

Help your resort out by submitting good scores regardless of your experience.:whoopie:

to me that means give good scores regardless of whether they deserve it or not, I would much rather give NO score than misrepresent my experience.

 

[Kozman]

GC Rating and Trade Power

IMO, Gold Crown is overated. Having a Gold Crown actually cuts out a lot of possible trades into resorts with lesser VEP. Although you may actually like a particular resort regardless of it's RCI rating you may be locked out of it because of your GC rating. I agree that trade power is 99% supply and demand.