Requirements for Points comparison analysis

[bookworm Member Find all posts View Profile Close bookworm]

Boca,

You are so right about the need for people to learn before they make their first purchases. Thankfully, I was able to find TUG and this forum before I made any purchases and have landed up with a nice big sum of fairfield points with low fees for relatively little (just a portion my tax return - awesome!). However, I think there are many more out there who haven't had the opportunity to learn about the industry and I must say that the information on internet forums can be a little disjointed and daunting at times. Having a set of files to look at on a website is a big help and something like what you want to develop could be very helpful for the uninitiated. I'm still reading whatever I can get my hands on so I can put these points to good use!

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

Boca, this is a huge task. If you need help, just ask. There are people here who know about the various systems or can research it. So you could set up the criterias and we could all answer what we could, if that would help.

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

True, Boca, we have used RCI points for airfare with great success and Rick and I bought Disney 7-day passes with our points, too, which are 44,400 points currently. We have also exchanged with points. That is the only one I know of that giant list. We really like RCI points and probably would not have rescinded the Fairshare points, but RCI points is doing what we need it to do for now.

I am not looking forward to June 1st. opkansas sounded the alarm when he said that RCI was going to "improve" their system on that date.

I can't believe I don't know much about any of the other points systems. We don't have enough timeshares.

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

There would definitely need to be some way to account for the fact that different systems have different currency "values." 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.

True. That way, people can work out realistically how many pts they really need to buy in each system.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

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

there may have been something you missed but I can't think of anything but maybe a little more about getting into the system. Some are very straight forward like WM "you buy a WM membership and your in" and some are much more complicated like sunterra " you buy a resale week, then must buy more from the developer, making sure that the developer will let resale week in"