Hi There- My Pleasure To meet all of you here

[holidayclubonly Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close holidayclubonly]

Hi there this is Michael Mackinnon and I’m a newbie here. And like the majority of you here. I do also love traveling and spend some time with my family and friends especially during the holiday.

Anyone there who can share their travel experiences using their travel club membership?

This forum site looks great and looking forward to establish a good rapport and interesting discussion with all of you here.

Thanks and Have a wonderful day

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

Anyone there who can share their travel experiences using their travel club membership?

Fall of 2008 hubby's boss gifted us a week at a Bluegreen resort he'd traded his Florida week for through RCI. When we checked in, hubby signed us up to talk to a salesman, which irked me mightily. I pointed out that we didn't vacation, and that if we were going to vacation, we wouldn't do it by the week and we wouldn't want to go the same place every year. Which he agreed with, but he wanted those free tickets.

But as soon as we found out about the points system, and the fact that you could stay in a condo for a few days to a week and a half, and the fact that you wouldn't have to trade through RCI to go somewhere different, we wanted in. We bought a Sampler that day, because we weren't going to commit to a long-term contract without some serious research, but Bluegreen turned out to be a good fit for us, so we bought a resale before the Sampler expired.

I hated vacationing before discovering points systems -- hate staying in hotel rooms, want a full kitchen, not those little kitchenettes you get in hotel suites -- now I'm wishing we could go more. I love being in a points system, but also like that BG is small enough I could try out all the resorts if so inclined. While I've heard good things about big systems like Wyndham, I've also heard horror stories about some of the big guys (Diamond comes to mind), and my gut says that Bluegreen is more responsive to owners.

I'd recommend that you "try before you buy" -- we'd stayed in three or four different Bluegreen resorts on the Sampler, so before we bought our points we knew it was a good fit for us. Not all the points systems offer Sampler kinda things, but most of them you can find rentals or otherwise stay there without being an owner. Do your homework! If you like the locations of a particular points system, talk to some owners, hang out on some boards, listen for common complaints.

Mind you, every system I've ever checked into, one common complaint is that the Maintenance fees are too high. But I'm talking things like, does the resort system take care of problems promptly; do you get hassled a lot to see a salesperson; do the salespeople bully; are there lots of extra fees, and that sort of thing. With Bluegreen, you pay your yearly fees, and you're pretty much done. A couple of resorts have parking fees or whatever, but even then, they're all less than $10 a day, most of them considerably less.

Some resort systems, your maintenance fees are really low, but you pay housekeeping fees after a certain point, or if you don't stay a full week, or whatever. Some have fees for making or changing a reservation. Etc. Some people prefer that because they fit with what the system wants and they get a good deal; others feel "nickled and dimed to death." When you compare yearly fees, compare them for your style of vacationing, which may mean adding in those extra fees.

Some resort systems, you always get a full kitchen with a two bedroom; some you don't. Some resort systems usually have a jacuzzi in the master bath; some that's a rare thing. Some have small but snazzy dazzy units; some have large but very basic units; some have a mix of the two, along with Presidentials and whatnot. You'll be happier with one that is a good "fit" for your family, meaning you need to know going in what's a good fit. You need to know what's a nice extra for you, and what's fundamental. For me, the kitchen is fundamental; a jacuzzi is just bells and whistles. Some people, that's reversed.

It's great and smart to get reports from others, but ultimately what matters is knowing what's best for *you*, and no one here can tell you that.