Universal Vacation Club..

[easyrider]

I found some info that UVC members or people thinking about buying a UVC contract might want to know. I have always thought that buying premiere memberships with a low mf is the way to go.

Older premiere contract winter mf for a one bed can be as low as $480.00
Older premiere contract winter mf for a two bed can be as low as $580.00

Gold mf one bed unit average $770.00
Gold mf two bed unit average $885.00

VPA points is 2600 points for two bed winter week $885.00. I cant find a point chart for VPA points so this is just a good guess calculated by watching auctions and taling to resellers.

I thought the info below really explained the programs.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
" Articles of Incorporation

http://www.myuvc.com/files/Amended and Restated Rules Articles and Bylaws - dated 10-8-05.pdf
___________________________________________________________
VILLA PREFERRED ACCESS COMPARISONS TO PREMIER AND GOLD MEMBERSHIPS

SPLIT WEEK USE
PREMIER - May reserve a portion of a week at one project and the remainder of the same week at another project subject to the reservation can be made only during the last 60 days prior to the beginning of that week. There is no mention in the Rules and Regs about these splits can only be in three and four day segments.

GOLD - May reserve a portion of a week at one project and the remainder of the same week at another project and is not subject to the 60 days time limitation. May split your week into three and four day segments as long as you use only one weekend per each seven day period.

PREFERRED ACCESS - May split your week into three and four day and five and two day segments as long as you use only one weekend per each seven day period.


PREMIER - Must pay an additional fee for splitting their week and the stay must include a Saturday or Sunday. Subject to availability.

GOLD AND PREFERRED ACCESS - May reserve a portion of a week at one project and the remainder of the week at another project. No fee applies for splitting their week. The stay must include a Saturday or a Sunday. Subject to availability.


VACATION BANK
PREMIER - May vacation bank for a maximum of three consecutive years and a fee per year per week shall be charged.

GOLD AND PREFERRED ACCESS - May vacation bank for a maximum of five consecutive years at no additional fee. Preferred Access Members should be aware they are required to bank their unused points every year.


VACATION BORROW
PREMIER - May vacation borrow for a maximum of three consecutive years and a fee per year per week shall be charged.

GOLD AND PREFERRED ACCESS - May vacation borrow for a maximum of five consecutive years at no additional fee.



RESERVATION STATUS
PREMIER - May request reservations for weeks at the primary use resort commencing 24 months prior to the commencement of the week being sought.. To be guaranteed this right, the request must be during the first two months of the 24 month period.

PREMIER - May request reservations for weeks at all the other projects commencing 10 months prior to the commencement of the week being sought.

GOLD - May request a reservation for weeks at any of the projects commencing 24 months prior to the commencement of the week being sought and receive priority during the first 13 months of such 24 month period. To be guaranteed this right, the request must be during the first 13 months of the 24 month period. This is not a guarantee of a reservation at a specific resort.

PREFERRED ACCESS – There is no documentation in the Bylaws addressing this, but I would assume the same applies as in Gold.

UPGRADES
GOLD - Upgrades in season or unit size can only be made within 60 days prior to the commencement of the week being sought.

PREFERRED ACCESS - There are no time restrictions regarding upgrades per the memo from Bob Kistner that follows.



RESERVATION UPGRADES
GOLD AND PREFERRED ACCESS - There are free unit and building upgrades upon availability at check-in.


EXTENDED NIGHT STAYS
All Members may extend their stay at maintenance fee rates if there is space available.

SUITE GETAWAY FIRST OPTION RENTAL PROGRAM
GOLD - Members will receive priority over Premier members in depositing their rental weeks in the Suite Getaway Rental Pool.

PREFERRED ACCESS - Members will receive priority over Gold and Premier Members in depositing their rental weeks in the Suite Getaway Rental Pool.


GOLD AND VPA PREFERRED TIME USE
Use additional vacation time equal to the number of weeks owned anytime from May to October (weeks 18-43) each year, if the time is available. A maintenance fee is applicable.

The week may be traded, as full weeks only, through the Interval International exchange company as a high season week.

Gold (summer) time can only be used by the Member or his immediate family.

Gold (summer) time cannot be rented at any time.

Gold (summer) time cannot be split into smaller unit sizes as in regular time.

Gold (summer) time cannot be banked or borrowed.


MULTI-DAY CHECK -IN
Check in may occur on any day of the week


COMPARISONS OF THE FOUR PROGRAMS

The above information was obtained from the UVC Rules and Regulations, UVC Bylaws, the myuvc website, written literature received from UVC Members who upgraded to the Villa Preferred Access program and also in written documentation from the Developer Sales staff and Bob Kistner, President of UVC.


You can draw your own conclusions from the above but the cost to upgrade to VPA status is highly questionable in the value for more flexibility. If there are no changes in unit size or season, to upgrade to the Villa Preferred Access, the Developer will charge 20% of what a new week cost now (already an inflated price) with a $7,950 minimum for Gold Membership and $10,500 minimum for a Premier Membership. Additionally the Developer charges $595 per week closing cost. "
________________________________________________________________

 

[EJC]

Thanks for taking the time to gather and post that information. Very informative!

 

[beach.bar.bob]

More UVC Villa Preferred Access Info...

We own a UVC VPA (aka Villa Preferred Access or points) membership.

Here are some of the points/maintenance fee schedules from the information we received with our membership kit January 2010...of course MA fees are subject to change. I will not include the entire chart as it is too extensive for my fat fingers to keyboard.

For Arco/Flamingos/Cancun/Loreto

Studio Summer = 1000 points = $580 MA fee
1BR Summer = 1700 points = $706 MA fee
2BR Summer = 2200 points = $796 MA fee

Studio Winter = 1200 points = $616 MA fee
1BR Winter = 2200 points = $796 MA fee
2BR Winter = 2900 points = $922 MA fee

There are additional schedules for holiday weeks and for penthouse suites that I've not included here. Contact me if you need. Slightly lower points required for VDP Cabo and PV rentals. MA fees are NOT determined by a simple fee per point - there is a base fixed fee per unit (currently $400 for units listed above) plus a $0.18 per point fee - according to this schedule. As they adjust MA fees in the future I assume they will tweak both of these amounts.

I own the points equivalent of a 2BR Winter Gold week. I just paid my 2011 MA fees which were as indicated above.

It may be interesting to some UVC members how we obtained the VPA membership. We originally bought a 2BR winter gold week in March 2009 in Cabo while staying at Villa La Estancia for the second time. We were impressed with Villa Group resorts and went to the presentation open to buy - which we did. Truthfully, the sales experience went off without a hitch and without a lot of half truths and unfulfilled promises. Of course, now that I know a ton more about the timeshare business, I wish that I had saved a bundle and bought a resale unit for pennies on the dollar - expensive lesson.

In November 2009 we stayed for 2 weeks on the UVC two-for-one special at the VDP Flamingos in NV. While there we attended a "member update" session. This was a disaster - the sales person was the prototypical timeshare salesperson from you know where. The big pitch was the conversion of our Gold membership to a VPA membership. After the pitch the sales rep trial closed us with the question: "...and do you see how that might be worth an additional $10,000 investment?" After we both stopped laughing hysterically he caught on that we didn't think so. Then things got ugly...short version is we finally we had to stand up and walk out of the office - steaming. After the positive sales experience in Cabo I was very outraged by how we were treated in NV.

After our stay I rec'd a followup email from the "concierge" that had helped setup our "member update" session asking how it went, if we had upgraded, and if not, why not. I was blunt and honest...finishing with the comment that since we had bought our Gold membership about 90 days before they launched the VPA program that I honestly thought they should upgrade me for free. Well, apparently my email made it's way to the San Diego office as I got a call from a very nice, thoughtful fellow from "Owner Services" asking me for more information about my visit and probing me about my thoughts on the new points program. In the end, he mentioned that they (UVC San Diego) were trying out a new program with the developer and offered to see what he might be able to do for me if I wanted to upgrade. In the end, they took the equity we had in our Gold membership (which was the full Gold membership amount as we had paid in full - less about 8 months of depreciation) and applied it against the cost of a new VPA membership if bought that day. In the end I paid an additional $1565 including all costs to upgrade to the VPA membership in Jan 2010. We were able to keep 3 years of existing Gold reservations we had already made at Arco for our 2009/2010/2011 Gold membership years. Our VPA membership became effective as a new 30 year membership in 2010 thus we had both our Gold membership and our VPA membership weeks available to us in the 2010 and 2011 membership years... worth the $1500 in my opinion.

Personally, I see little advantage of the VPA membership over the Gold membership - at least for us - as we intend to use a 2 BR winter unit at Arco/Flamingos/Cancun every winter. We don't plan to break up our points for multiple studios, visit for 2,3,4,5 days, extend our value by staying at VDP PV/Cabo which have the lower point requirements, or save up and get a holiday week or penthouse suite. If I had originally purchased a VPA membership I'm sure I would think it was a great deal. If I had to pay $10,000 to upgrade, I'd save my cash.

On another note that may be of interest to UVC members. We were in Cancun last week staying at the Westin Lagunamar on a Gold week exchange. While we were there, we called the new VPA Cancun to see if we could stop by for a tour...which we did. The new resort is located north of the new Puerto Cancun on Playa Mujeres (mainland) between Puerto Jareuz and Puerto Sam...right next to the old car ferry in Puerto Sam. It was about a 30 minute taxi ride from the Westin. We actually got a tour from Charlie - brother of the developer - rather than a sales presentation. He introduced us to the project manager, construction manager and others working on the project. It was truly an interesting visit and I appreciate that they went out of their way to welcome us. The new resort is stunning. Same architect as Arco/Flamingos. You'll see a ton of similarities with small upgrades all around. If you like the Arco/Flamingos resorts, you will love this one too. Nice white sand beach...view is of Caribbean blue waters across to Isla Mujeres. Eventually, there will be three horseshoe shaped complexes...two will be VDP Cancun, the third will be a Villa La Estancia property. Phase 1 will be done December 20 - about 1/2 of a horseshoe property...Phase 2 in August 2011. If you stay before August you will have construction activity nearby.

bbb

 

[flexible]

Thanks Easyrider & Bob for your informative post about UVC.

I came upon http://www.universalvacationclubmembers.com tonight for the first time. Luckily when I glanced through it I realized MF are due this week and I would have had a penalty if I paid after December 1.

The comments about "surrendering ownership" to the club are interesting but I need to read it again to understand it then call UVC to find out if it is an option.

My husband purchased first at Villa del Mar (I think that is the name) about 1990 or so, then after using it once upgraded to Villa del Palmar in December 1993 - expiring 2023. It's a one bedroom unit that floats for weeks 18-43. We are rarely in Mexico as late as week 18 and rarely in PV by week 43. So the contract has minimal value and generally I deposit it to RCI weeks, pay the PFD fee to convert it to RCI Points. So far I have gotten the same number of RCI points for other 1 bedroom units in PV (Sheraton Buganvilias & Velas Vallarta) and the 2011 MF for $507 is lower than Velas. But we need to burn through about 350K RCI points soon or lose them so I'd rather surrender it to the developer if it is an option.

 

[easyrider]

http://www.universalvacationclubmembers.com/

I ran into it too for the same reason as you. The portion of my post below the line is quoted from here. I owed $5.05 per week in extra MF for our 1 bed units.

Those summer weeks are not as popular as winter but you could try giving it away at tug, redweek or ebay. You could get a dollar. BTW if the buyer trusts you , you can transfer the contract yourself with the form provided at www.myuvc.com faq




A. Click on the link for the property you are an owner to download complete instructions and requirements for Ownership Transfer. Memberships must be paid in full and have currently paid maintenace fees to begin the process. | Owner Transfer Puerto Vallarta Docs | Owner Transfer Cabo Docs | Owner Transfer Arco Docs | Owner Transfer Flamingos Docs |
Q. How can I add a name, change a name or remove a name from my Ownership contract?
A. Click on one of the links to download complete instructions for making legal changes to the name(s) on your ownership contract. Change a Name | Add a Name | Remove a Name

 

[sleder10]

UVC Upgrade

Just food for thought, but I own a couple of gold weeks. If you upgrade to the points system, you can't sell them as points, they revert back to Gold or Premier. I learned this from the Timeshare 101 class at Flamingos that Mark Baker puts on each week