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Vacation Resorts International / VRI

cubigbird

cubigbird

Tug Review Crew Veteran
TUG Member
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Messages
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Location
Western US
Resorts Owned
Westin Lagunamar, Westin Kierland X2, Westin St John-Sunset Bay X2, Westin Desert Willow, Westin Aventuras
I am hoping to know more about how VRI works and what VRI actually is?? From my own research, They seem to be a condo management company managing smaller resorts. Is there an internal exchange component to exchange at other VRI condo / resorts? Is the main exchange II or RCI?
 
VRIety is the internal exchange company option. TPI I believe runs the exchange option.

My VRI resort is associated with II, RCI (weeks and points) and also VRIety. I have priority booking back into my HOME RESORT with RCI Points.

I believe your HOA decides to go with either RCI or II. More independent that a Wyndham or Marriott management association with allowing the resort's HOAs to control operations ... but I get an earlier booking windows in RCI Points for other VRI resorts.
 
Vriety no longer exists. ILG owns VRI and Trading places. Both companies still exist as management companies but exchanging is done through Trading Places. You can still book discounted rentals through VRI I believe.
 
How easy is it to book resorts and exchange within the VRI network? How are the quality of the resorts??
 
I can't offer info on exchanging because I always rent my unit for Comicon. VRI resorts are generally older but always seem to be well kept and clean. Being older often means better locations because they were in first.

None of them would one consider swanky but always functional. Just remember, its Trading Places now. No more VRI network.
 
cubigbird said:
How easy is it to book resorts and exchange within the VRI network? How are the quality of the resorts??
Click to expand...

As correctly noted in the posts above, VRI*ety (the former internal trading program accessible exclusively by owners at VRI-managed resorts) no longer even exists at all, having essentially been completely "absorbed" into Trading Places International (TPI) during the past year.

VRI-managed resorts are generally older properties, independent of any "chain", well located and well managed but certainly not fancy.

Truth to tell, TPI was always the "platform" operating behind the scenes for VRI*ety exchanges anyhow, merely separating out the VRI-managed resort inventory (at approximately 125 resorts) for exchange access only by owners at VRI-managed resorts. No longer the case.
Now, all of the exchange inventory of VRI-managed resorts is simply placed into the same "pot" with all of the other TPI inventory; owners at VRI-managed resorts no longer have any exclusive access (or any other exchange priority) in the new post-VRI*ety "one pot" system of TPI. This change was made during the past year and was entirely predictable, maybe even inevitable, after the ILG acquisitions.

VRI underwent some "streamlining" after its' acquisition by ILG. For example, there used to be regional VRI offices (Northeast, Southeast, etc.), but all regional VRI offices were closed down after the ILG acquisition. Everything VRI-related (except for on-site management of individual resorts, of course) is now run out of VRI's HQ location in California.

Although primarily a management company (and generally a very capable one, in my own experience and observation), VRI will also conduct (somewhat overpriced, IMnsHO) rentals on behalf of owners at VRI-managed properties (for a hefty commission, of course). Someone seeking to rent directly from VRI at a VRI-manged resort in Florida, for example, will still have to deal with VRI HQ in California to do so. VRI's rental prices (plus any applicable state or local taxes) are high enough to always make "direct-from-owner" rentals more attractive and less expensive.

P.S. to OP: You asked about VRI association with RCI or II. At the corporate level, there is none. Exchange company affiliation is decided by the individual resort HOA, not by VRI. A VRI-managed resort can be affiliated with either RCI or II --- or both; VRI really has no say in the matter.
 
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theo said:
As correctly noted in the posts above, VRI*ety (the former internal trading program accessible exclusively by owners at VRI-managed resorts) no longer even exists at all, having essentially been completely "absorbed" into Trading Places International (TPI) during the past year.

VRI-managed resorts are generally older properties, independent of any "chain", well located and well managed but certainly not fancy.
Click to expand...
This is accurate.

I recently sold my VRI managed timeshare and no longer have a VRI account. But I still have a Trading Places account that was created when VRI*ety became Trading Places. That said, I always used RCI tro exchange that resort because RCI provided better exchange options.

I have to tell you, one of the reasons I sold that timeshare was because of something VRI did. I booked a week and then they changed my reservation! It was some sort of accident resulting from misunderstanding, but they did it and could not undo it and the result was that I got fewer TPUs in RCI than I originally planned and was unable to make the exchange I wanted to make. I was upset by this and so I finally listened to my husband's insistence that we sell this timeshare and so we sold it. I ensured that the new buyers planned to use their weeks rather than exchange so that this was unlikely to happen to them. I wanted buyers who really knew the resort and what they were getting into. Luckily I found buyers who already owned another unit and knew perfectly well how to get what they wanted from this resort.

This is all to say that the smaller, 'independent' resorts can be a great value but they can also be a little tricky because their policies and management may be quite a bit different than is standard in the industry.
 
I was unaware of Variety no longer being available to VRI owners since the previous VRI managed resort I owned changed to Defenders. We recently banked a week with TPI and found out there are additional fees associated with trading. For one, they now have a seasonal upgrade fee in addition to a unit size fee. It sounds like the benefits of VRI have diminished as a result of the new acquisition.
 
Kozman said:
I was unaware of Variety no longer being available to VRI owners since the previous VRI managed resort I owned changed to Defenders. We recently banked a week with TPI and found out there are additional fees associated with trading. For one, they now have a seasonal upgrade fee in addition to a unit size fee. It sounds like the benefits of VRI have diminished as a result of the new acquisition.
Click to expand...

I do not agree. It's true that VRI*ety no longer exists, having been dissolved and folded into TPI (TPI always ran VRI*ety behind the scenes anyhow). The only discernible decrease in "benefits" is minor; loss of priority access to VRI*ety deposits made by other VRI*ety members, which existed in now-defunct VRI*ety. The VRI*ety exchange fee was always the lowest around; it's no surprise that the (apparently higher) TPI exchange fee structure was adopted in VRI*ety's post-mortem. The available VRI*ety exchange inventory was always quite limited anyhow. Upgrade fees (whether for season or unit size) exist already in both RCI (in the form of higher TPU's) or in II (in the form of cash to "upgrade").
IMnsHO, it's neither fair nor realistic to expect to be able to deposit an iron pipe and get a gold ingot in exchange as a "even swap". YMMV.

VRI*ety aside, VRI's function and capability as a management company has not changed in any way by VRI having been acquired by ILG.
My opinion is that VRI's resort management capability is far more important than a very small (and now defunct) internal "exchange" program.

I know of only two resorts (each one for reasons having nothing at all to do with VRI's acquisition by ILG) that dropped VRI as their management company in recent years. Both of those properties are in in Lee County, FL and both, within the same +/- one year period, adopted Carolina-based Defender Resorts instead as their management company. One was Lehigh Resort & Club in Lehigh Acres and the other was Caribbean Beach Club in Ft Myers Beach. Is it one of those two places or some other property to which you make unspecified reference? :shrug:
 
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buzglyd said:
Vriety no longer exists. ILG owns VRI and Trading places. Both companies still exist as management companies but exchanging is done through Trading Places. You can still book discounted rentals through VRI I believe.
Click to expand...

What is ILG?
 
mpumilia said:
What is ILG?
Click to expand...

Interval Leisure Group is a deep pockets corporate entity and major player in the "vacation industry", with a multi-national presence.
ILG owns Interval International, as well as VRI and TPI. ILG also has some degree of ownership and / or influence with Hyatt and Westin as well, but I do not know the details or extent of those ownerships or influences.

ILG bought Starwood in 2016. I did not follow the subsequent evolution / arrangements involving Starwood's timeshare operations and Marriott's hotel operations, creating new "Vistana Signature Experience". I'm sure that many Tuggers know lots more about all of that.

It's very hard to tell (and keep track of) the players without a scorecard sometimes. :confused:
 
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