Bluegreen Vacation Club Annual Meeting - 9/21/10

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

This is fantastic information. I'm looking forward to learning about the new locations.

A few questions:

How did BG respond regarding the high level of desire for internet access (Other than writing down the pts for usage idea)?

Was there anything you heard at the meeting that worried you?

Overall were you feeling good about the state of the club and the strength of the business plan for the next few years?

Anita

This is a good questions.

1) Bluegreen did not commit one way or another to the idea of free internet. Someone did tell me behind the scenes that the costs are significant to offer such a service across all resorts. If the costs were minimal, I believe that Bluegreen would offer it to us.

I told them that if the support were an issue, offer it for free and charge $10 for a service call. Then, he said "what if the problem is our fault?" Bottom line is that the cost of operating a free internet service is not minimal like some on this message board imply.

2) I expected to hear something that concerned me. I expected high increase in maintenance fees this year. In fact, it came out to the exact number I expected and have been planning for that level of increase.

3) I am very pleased to hear about expansion plans with new Club Resorts and with Select Connections. It was far more than I expected. I was also very pleased to hear that there is a target mix of 50% Bluegreen developed/owned resorts vs Fee for Service resorts. If they have Bluegreen owned resorts, then it makes sense for Bluegreen to make buy vs. build decisions. In other words, is it cheaper to buy back BG points on the secondary market or to build a new resort? If they start buying back inventory, then that will put a nice equilibrium to resales over time. They even gave me the target time frame of 2014. Still a few years off, but tells us when they believe a more normal market condition and balance sheet will be here.

4) I was surprised at how many of our hot button items that Bluegreen is already considering including resort expansion and online enhancements. And, they are very aware of our desire for free internet. Bluegreen does have a good understanding of our needs. They even had the pet friendly resorts question understood.

5) Dave Pontius either said or implied that the cash position of the company along with available credit is fine. They are much more comfortable with the state of the company now than they were a year ago.

6) I think we need to monitor the delinquency rates of owners. The bad thing about the state of the resale market is that if owners can't sell their ownerships to other owners who will pay the maintenance fees, then they will default at a greater rate. So, Bluegreen does have an incentive to keep some type of secondary market flowing. I would be surprised if Bluegreen didn't do something about it over the next year or so.

[kcbedo Member Find all posts View Profile Close kcbedo]

Jim,

Does the 11% delinquency rate mean that 11% of people with mortgages stop paying, or 11% of owners stop paying maintenance fees?

Thanks for all the info. It's good to know that you had a positive feeling about the meeting.

[roach Member Find all posts View Profile Close roach]

RCI Exchanges

I am with Hobbitess and Steve on this one. Everyone likes to whine about their trade value with RCI, but the only ones that complain more are the people who are in clubs that don't get to pick the week they deposit. I haven't seen a positive comment on here or TUG from anyone using RCI with "blind deposits". I realize that we won't be doing "blind exchanges", but the BG-RCI point table would have to be awesome to beat some of the tricks I have learned over the last two years. Do you think they are trying to make RCI Points look better to get BG to switch over completely to it?

Was there any discussion about changing Premier Benefits?

BTW, thanks Jim for attending the meeting and keeping us all updated.

Mark

[swirg53 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close swirg53]

Basically, Bluegreen will have a points table for all RCI resorts. Not sure how generic it will be. My guess is it will be very similar to the current Bluegreen/RCI Points table.

No more depositing will be required. All you need to do is search for availability and pay the Bluegreen Points total required for the exchange.

Would this mean that a person would not be able to use RCI as a way to be kept from losing their points at the last minute and eeking two more years out of their saved points that are otherwise about to expire?

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

I really appreciate your effort to keep all of us apprised. Now, if I can just get all the info in my head...................

McD

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

Would this mean that a person would not be able to use RCI as a way to be kept from losing their points at the last minute and eeking two more years out of their saved points that are otherwise about to expire?

That's a good question. I didn't even think of asking it. By the way it was described to me, it seems that would no longer be an option. We will have to find out in Dec when they launch the new feature.

You can always do it with other exchange companies like II, SFX, DAE, TPI, etc.

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

Jim,

Does the 11% delinquency rate mean that 11% of people with mortgages stop paying, or 11% of owners stop paying maintenance fees?

Thanks for all the info. It's good to know that you had a positive feeling about the meeting.

There are actually 3 categories where delinquencies are involved

1) mortgages (only impacts Bluegreen, not the rest of us owners)
2) Club dues (impacts our annual fee which was unchanged)
3) Maintenance fees. (impacts our annual maintenance fee payment)

The 11% specifically related to Club Dues and Maintenance fees. I am not sure what the rate is for mortgages. I would have to look it up in the 10-k quarterly or annual report.

I think that 11% is very high. I recall asking this question last year and was told that 6% was it and that it only went up slightly year over year. Something clearly happened last year.

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

I am with Hobbitess and Steve on this one. Everyone likes to whine about their trade value with RCI, but the only ones that complain more are the people who are in clubs that don't get to pick the week they deposit. I haven't seen a positive comment on here or TUG from anyone using RCI with "blind deposits". I realize that we won't be doing "blind exchanges", but the BG-RCI point table would have to be awesome to beat some of the tricks I have learned over the last two years. Do you think they are trying to make RCI Points look better to get BG to switch over completely to it?

Was there any discussion about changing Premier Benefits?

BTW, thanks Jim for attending the meeting and keeping us all updated.

Mark

I think the only rationale for changing the nature of how we work with RCI was simplicity for owners to trade with RCI.

It really was hard to teach new owners unfamiliar with RCI how to use it. This new approach will probably cost us more to use, but will be easier for over 95% of the customer base. I can't really disagree with the decision even though I am personally impacted.

[Tom in GA Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tom in GA]

Many Thanks to Jim

Jim, thank you for all the updates. We not only own BG timeshares but also a small amount of stock in the company. While I am no financial guru, the BG timeshare portion of the company seems to be doing everything it can in these difficult economic times to provide good destinations and improved service to its owners. What I worry about is the other half of the company that deals with residential / business real estate. They still appear to be in the dumps in that area.

[Timeshare junkie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Timeshare junkie]

Thanks for the truly above and beyond job of reporting on the AGM.

The increase in MF hurts, but I think we truly have a great club, and should remind ourselves of some the unique offerings that BG provides its owners that sometime go unnoticed.

2 of my faves are:

1) no guest fee when owners book for family, fiends etc. I remember asking RCI why I should have to pay $60 if I want to send my family. They said it was to protect my account. Yeah, good one!
2) WorldHotels through TP. Let's say I have 10k pts that I can't use. I could get 2 nights in Manhattan. It may not be as bargain basement as priceline, but it's probably fair-market value, and a hell of a lot better than having the points just expire. Imagine BG interfaced with WorldHotels and we were able to book hotels without having to go through TP, then get transferred to WorldHotels and then do the tennis match about how many points for a 1-bedroom, and how many points for a suite etc. Maybe after SC is brought online.

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

I wish there were more ways to use saved points. A lot of resorts (and more with every addition) are Ultra Red or High Red where saved points can not be used. Even the World hotel will not take the saved points. I would like more resources to allow me to use them without going to on off season trips.

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

I think that 11% is very high. I recall asking this question last year and was told that 6% was it and that it only went up slightly year over year. Something clearly happened last year.

There was a fairly serious change that made it more expensive to use resale points to get to premiere/upgrade them to authorized. I'd be surprised if that alone could nearly double defaults, but OTOH that is a change Bluegreen has some control over so easy to reverse and see if it makes a difference. It also may be that it was the last straw for some people who were intending to hang in there and try to see, so the impact will be less next year.

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

I wish there were more ways to use saved points. A lot of resorts (and more with every addition) are Ultra Red or High Red where saved points can not be used. Even the World hotel will not take the saved points. I would like more resources to allow me to use them without going to on off season trips.

This. Agreed.

[Timeshare junkie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Timeshare junkie]

I wish there were more ways to use saved points. A lot of resorts (and more with every addition) are Ultra Red or High Red where saved points can not be used. Even the World hotel will not take the saved points. I would like more resources to allow me to use them without going to on off season trips.

I own alot of points, and saved points = depsoit with RCI or II. That gives you 2 years from the check-in date to get an exchange. Unless of course you can actually use the points ar Red or below.

You really do need need to prepay 1 year prior to your points anniversary so you get the max booking window. It sucks in Year 1 because you effectively pay double, but it's worth it.

I remember reading a post very recently that someone didn't like biennial contracts. Biennial points can be a pain to keep track of, but they do give the very large (unintended?) advantage that half the points have an extra year on the expiration because you get all the points at once. Well worth the hassle IMHO.

[hac Member Find all posts View Profile Close hac]

Internet

I know many folks are unhappy about the fees charged for internet. We have been Marriott owners for several years and their vacation clubs do provide free internet to all guests.

One thing we have discovered is that since we have AT&T as our DSL provider, we are able to access Wayport for free, which is the service all of the Blue Green resorts we have stayed at so far use. I don't know what the connection is between AT&T and Wayport - but we were told it would work, and it always has. This might be a good incentive to having AT&T as your DSL provider, if you travel a lot to Blue Green resorts and want to have free internet access.

Another suggestion, many of the hotels provide free internet to their loyal customers (such as elite travelers). I have always wondered why Blue Green couldn't provide free internet to their owners, but charge a fee for renters, exchangers, etc. that want to use the internet. This would help defray the cost, but would reward the Blue Green owners since we are the ones paying the maintenance fees every year. Just a thought..................