Requirements for Points comparison analysis

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Okay, I finally finished another project and I have some time available to start something new. I am thinking it is time to do that detailed comparison of points systems. I'd like to scope out the effort required to do it.

Here is a question. What would you like to see in a detailed comparison of Point systems?

[JudyS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JudyS]

Okay, I finally finished another project and I have some time available to start something new. I am thinking it is time to do that detailed comparison of points systems. I'd like to scope out the effort required to do it.

Here is a question. What would you like to see in a detailed comparison of Point systems?

Hey there, Boca! I've been meaning to email you -- I'll try to do that later today.

I'd love to see a detailed analysis of point systems. I guess the basic characteristics would be cost of acquiring points resale, annual maintenence costs, whether points can be used for daily stays or just weekly stays, whether members can select units to be deposited into exchange companies, ease of use (this is subjective but varies tremedously between point systems) and number of locations.

[gjw007 Member Find all posts View Profile Close gjw007]

Hey there, Boca! I've been meaning to email you -- I'll try to do that later today.

I'd love to see a detailed analysis of point systems. I guess the basic characteristics would be cost of acquiring points resale, annual maintenence costs, whether points can be used for daily stays or just weekly stays, whether members can select units to be deposited into exchange companies, ease of use (this is subjective but varies tremedously between point systems) and number of locations.

I would add transaction costs and unexpected fees such as housekeeping, parking, etc.

[odaddy Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close odaddy]

Hey there, Boca! I've been meaning to email you -- I'll try to do that later today.

I'd love to see a detailed analysis of point systems. I guess the basic characteristics would be cost of acquiring points resale, annual maintenence costs, whether points can be used for daily stays or just weekly stays, whether members can select units to be deposited into exchange companies, ease of use (this is subjective but varies tremedously between point systems) and number of locations.

Excellent ideas, As a part of ease of use, I would add cancellation policies and bonus time.

Sean

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

Boca,

The details of how to exchange using the point system will be very important. Including point systems that are rigid with their point schedules and those that allow a more flexible deposit. These may actually deal more with the exchange companies instead of the point system.

Transferability, rental, of points to other owners. No. of times, amount of points.

Tricks and tips of using cancelled points, renting points from the developer to your financial advantage.

Sources to rent points.

Process to rent and transfer points to others.

Best MF costs vs. location you want every year.

I'll probably think of others.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

Jim,

What Mike said.

Also, I would be interested in learning about the different point systems of the Hotel Based Timeshares.

Thanks!!!.....I'm also willing to help, in any way that I can. Let me know, if I can be of assistance.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

How many pts each system requires for a reservation of a studio, 1br, 2br 3br etc. A range will do, e.g. red 2br in Worldmark is 10,000 or 12,000.
How many resorts there are in each system.

[djyamyam Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close djyamyam]

I'd also add the impact on access to points or related add-ons of buying resale vs. developer.

Which point systems are you thinking about? You'd almost have to limit it as there so many out there (RCI, FF, WM, Shell, Sunterra, RHC, HGVC, CI, Bluegreen, Staroptions, Hyatt, ???) I'm sure I've missed a few.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

This is a very daunting task which is why I believe nobody has tackled it yet. As a result, some simplification of the problem is required. These are all great ideas. To create a meaningful assessment, I need to understand what people care about most.

Keep the ideas coming. I am formulating a structure of the problem in my minds eye. Once I get a structure down, I can go out and collect data from experts.

[JudyS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JudyS]

I would add transaction costs and unexpected fees such as housekeeping, parking, etc.

True -- I was thinking that at least some of this would fall under "ease of use." For example, most of the systems that use housekeeping credits would probably provide enough credits so that many owners don't actually pay for housekeeping -- but who wants to have to keep track of housekeeping credits in addition to points?

How many pts each system requires for a reservation of a studio, 1br, 2br 3br etc. A range will do, e.g. red 2br in Worldmark is 10,000 or 12,000.
How many resorts there are in each system.

There would definitely need to be some way to account for the fact that different systems have different currency "values." Systems seem to range from about 100 points a week for a two-bedroom in high season, to over 150,000 points a week for a two-bedroom in high season. However, it seems that most systems charge about 3 or 4 times as much for a two-bedroom as for a studio, so it might work to just pick one unit size to use for comparison between all systems. Since most people would want to stay during red season, it might be possible to ignore off-season points values as well -- not as sure about this.

For systems that allow nightly stays, another factor that would be good to note is how much more weekend stays cost than weeknight stays. I think some systems charge as much as 3 or 4 times the points for a weekend night; others have a "premium" of more like 60% for a weekend night.

[bookworm Member Find all posts View Profile Close bookworm]

This would be excellent for a newbie like me, though I'm guessing the input you might get on ease of use, etc. will be quite subjective. I am interested in the variety of resorts in each system, how many points it takes/what it costs to get reservations outside of the mini-system itself with RCI/II or alternate exchange companies (eg. 28-70K for Fairfield), and the relative trading power of the systems in RCI/II. Of course, I know that these topics may be difficult to cover since some of these dimensions of ownership are constantly fluctuating. No doubt whatever you do, someone would suggest one section or another needs to be altered.
Still - a great idea if you have the energy for it!

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

It always fascinates me when people say they 'use a 28,000 FF generic deposit' to get Buckingham Palace...LOL
So I will just be interested in seeing your results.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

This would be excellent for a newbie like me, though I'm guessing the input you might get on ease of use, etc. will be quite subjective. I am interested in the variety of resorts in each system, how many points it takes/what it costs to get reservations outside of the mini-system itself with RCI/II or alternate exchange companies (eg. 28-70K for Fairfield), and the relative trading power of the systems in RCI/II. Of course, I know that these topics may be difficult to cover since some of these dimensions of ownership are constantly fluctuating. No doubt whatever you do, someone would suggest one section or another needs to be altered.
Still - a great idea if you have the energy for it!

Bookworm,

You are one of the key target audiences for this exercise. For the most part, the timeshare you own is the one that found you. You either bought it after a presentation that you got invited to while on vacation or you bought a resale after the fact. Hardly ever does someone evaluate all of the options available and then picks the best one for them. That would be the first objective of this task.

The biggest problem is that the available information on each system is a black hole and the truth is at times hard to come by. I've been timesharing for about 3 years. And, I probably have spent an average of 40-60 hours per week doing something in timesharing. My first 6 months, I spent 20-40 hours per week studying the various alternatives. And, after all that, I have barely scratched the surface of the various timeshare alternatives.

So, after the initial choice, there has to be a way for someone to deep dive into the system they want to master it.

This is a big gap in the timesharing industry today. That's the big problem I have in my mind's eye. It may turn out to be too difficult to attempt. But, it does have me intrigued.

If anyone is interested in helping with such a project, let me know.

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

It always fascinates me when people say they 'use a 28,000 FF generic deposit' to get Buckingham Palace...LOL
So I will just be interested in seeing your results.

People will say anything that make it sounds like sale pitch . But in any system that is half decent, you should be able to catch the level field and get a good trade a lot of people will think impossible. However, when a few people start to sing on it, RCI/II will try to make sure the grade is right again.

Beside, I am pretty sure you need to own white house to exchange to Buckingham Palace, or maybe you can contribute enough and they will let you slept there one night?

Jya-Ning

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

Boca:

This is a big task. Will be interesting to see how you determine to create a system to compare it, most systems will have its own advantage and shortcoming, otherwise, it may not be able to suvive. And a lot of it can easily changed. For example, if RCI take away certain trading restriction or adjust a trading power, a lot of what we compared may mean nothing.

Just to chip in.

1. Initial Cost of ownership (retail and resell)
cost, time of transfer, what was protected, what was not in the transfer process. How easy to add points to use,

2. Maintainence cost of ownership (how it structured, What is the range)

3. Internal Exchange
a. size of points needs for single, 2 people, family of 4, 6 to 8 people that needs in the purchase to make sense
b. quality of resorts (this will need an index)
c. location of resorts (this will need an index)
d. limited on the day of reservation (this will need an index)
e. internal inventories size
f. system easy or not for the internal exchange (this will need an index)
g. VC trained enough for internal exchange or not (this will need an index)
h. for 1wk worth of points, max split you can make
i. for 1wk worth of points, if make max split, what will be the cost out of pocket
j. ability to select unit, and cost of it. (this will need an index)

4. External exchange
a. trading power (this will need an index)
b. affliation (this will need an index)
c. min pts for single, 2 people, family of 4, 6 to 8 people that needs to deposit
d. avg. pts for single, 2 people, family of 4, 6 to 8 people that needs to deposit for mid hard level trade
e. max pts for single, 2 people, family of 4, 6 to 8 people that needs to deposit for very hard trade or is it possible.
f. can you get on-line search ability in extrernal exchange, how easy is it (an index)
g. is VC trained enough for doing the external exchange deposit and search

5. When in need
a. can you rent out, and what can you rent out
b. can you save points, how many, for how long (probably an index)
c. can you cancel a week, what is the loss (probably an index)
d. can you extend a vacation, how easy is it, what will be the cost (probably an index)
e. reputation of the management company (this will need an index)
f. how easy to resell, loss (retail vs. resell)
g. can you exchange the points to MF, are there any restriction? Is it make 1/2 of the sense. (this will need an index)
h. can you use the points in other no resort activies, what is the restriction, is it make 1/2 of the sense (this will need an index)
i. if developer belly up, what kind of protection you feel you have (this will need an index)

Jya-Ning