The action is in points

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

There has been a real flurry recently regarding the accelerating trend to points based exchanges. Just to highlight a few:

- OLCC moving to at least a limited, multiresort system using points
- A decided softening of the TST stance against points. The letters
to the editor this issue talk about using points effectively, wanting to
buy into RCI Points but the cost being too high (RCI are you listening?).
how weeks exchanges aren't what they were
- the recent Smartmoney article that highlights the fact "you are no longer tied to one week in a specific locale". Doesn't sound like weeks based, does it?

- not directly points related but there are other TST letters that talk about the "disappointment" of getting a Westgate resort that had the only "feature" of being on the beach. Another talks about the need to get a "7" level resort if you deposit one - not to get a "3" in return. Sounds like quality owners want equal quality as well as just a unit on a plot of land somewhere.

The only negative was a letter from a former Marriott owner (not by choice) who's resort isn't worth many points anymore and thus needed more than one weeks worth to get the resort they wanted. Not exactly a points issue as the week probably shouldn't get that resort on a straight one for one trade either.

Overall the trend continues to revolve around points and full featured, quality resorts not only from developers but owners as well. Now we just have to get the points systems working well and we're on a roll.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

a unit on a plot of land somewhere.

The only negative was a letter from a former Marriott owner (not by choice) who's resort isn't worth many points anymore and thus needed more than one weeks worth to get the resort they wanted. Not exactly a points issue as the week probably shouldn't get that resort on a straight one for one trade either.

This might be the only negative that you hear about now but wait. I am sure that this will happen to all the resorts. With points it is easy to change the grid and devalue what was once gold.

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

Points is first and foremost a scam by developers to make you buy your timeshare all over again. It has the further advantage to them of allowing them to keep selling sold out locations forever by deediing points elsewhere and claiming ''points are points''. Points is all about developers, not consumers.

When they have shaken the money tree as long as they can, they simply come out with a new ''improved'' type of points, and you have to pay again if you want to stay in the game. This has already happened at some of the older multi-developer points systems in Europe, and in their country of origin, South Africa.

Fortunately, there seems to be massive market resistance among consumers to this numbers racket, although too many do get sucked in.

[Republiman Member Find all posts View Profile Close Republiman]

Points is first and foremost a scam by developers to make you buy your timeshare all over again.
...

Fortunately, there seems to be massive market resistance among consumers to this numbers racket, although too many do get sucked in.

I hate to sound like a flack for a points company, but converting my weeks to Fairfield Points once after they acquired my resort has enhanced my well-being almost as much as getting my dog.

1. The winter weeks I picked up for a song through resale now have much enhanced value to me. I can (and have) split them up into a half-dozen weekends, or instead used them at other sister resorts in the same town because the amenities are better in a given season (i.e. I like an indoor pool in the winter vs outdoor in summer).

2. I can take that 126,000 point white week and now turn it into multiple vacations through RCI trades.

3. I now have the benefit of the Fairfield Resorts website so I can sit for hours every day when I should be working and figure out where I can go in the next 60 days for really cheap points! I've created a whole new hobby for myself by figuring out shoulder seasons which go for discounted points in places I would like to visit.

Obiously, points allow the developer to sell winter weeks for the same price as summer, since "points are points". But since there are always going to be people who don't want to learn the system, won't book every year, etc., it does lead to better deals for those of us who travel in the off-season, and was of particular value for me since I converted off-season weeks into points which I can now use in-season or multiply into more vacations than I had before in the off-season.

Fred

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

3. I now have the benefit of the Fairfield Resorts website so I can sit for hours every day when I should be working and figure out where I can go in the next 60 days for really cheap points! I've created a whole new hobby for myself by figuring out shoulder seasons which go for discounted points in places I would like to visit.

That's exacty what I do exact with all our TS and checking out all the different exchange companies I wanna stop cause my work will start to really suck but it's addicting

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Glad to hear where the action is!

This past week we confirmed our 92nd exchange in that fuddy-duddy old Weeks program, another crappy 2-bedroom Gold Crown on the beach in a highly desirable area of Florida in January.

Like I've been saying, when it all goes to heck in a handbasket, we'll just walked away, but I can't really see us being held hostage for more bucks to continue to do what we've done for almost 20 years.

When timeshare Armageddon arrives, I guess we'll just hunker down here at the lake.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Can I hear an Amen!?!

It has always amazed me how someone who states the obvious gets so much crap for doing so. Perhaps it rubs some the wrong way, huh? Can anyone say Whistleblower?

I also can't believe how gullible and naive tens of thousands of owners are, those who cannot see how they are being herded like lemmings toward the cliff. "Well, Lem, everyone else is jumping! . . . " "OK, Clem."

PS: The stuff about the lemmings . . . present company excepted.

Points is first and foremost a scam by developers to make you buy your timeshare all over again. It has the further advantage to them of allowing them to keep selling sold out locations forever by deediing points elsewhere and claiming ''points are points''. Points is all about developers, not consumers.

When they have shaken the money tree as long as they can, they simply come out with a new ''improved'' type of points, and you have to pay again if you want to stay in the game. This has already happened at some of the older multi-developer points systems in Europe, and in their country of origin, South Africa.

Fortunately, there seems to be massive market resistance among consumers to this numbers racket, although too many do get sucked in.

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

Can I hear an Amen!?!

It has always amazed me how someone who states the obvious gets so much crap for doing so. Perhaps it rubs some the wrong way, huh? Can anyone say Whistleblower?

I also can't believe how gullible and naive tens of thousands of owners are, those who cannot see how they are being herded like lemmings toward the cliff. "Well, Lem, everyone else is jumping! . . . " "OK, Clem."

PS: The stuff about the lemmings . . . present company excepted.

I think that the way RCI markets RCI Points is exactly as described by Carolinian. That scheme to try to charge $1995-2995 for a product worth $199 was clearly sold by RCI to its resort affiliates as a way to double and triple dip its customers.

Don't forget, selling timeshares in the first place is nothing more than a vehicle for selling quarters and fifty cent pieces for a dollar. This is true whether or not weeks or points are involved. So, I wouldn't single out RCI Points in terms of this scam.

The fact is that the general case of most other points mini-systems is that the point system adds value to the fixed or floating week. The evidence is in the fact that when you compare most fixed and floating week resales to their points equivalent that the points equivalent is worth significantly more.

Obviously, RCI tried to leverage this into the selling and marketing of their product. The problem is that they executed it terribly.