Some thoughts and some questions about Bluegreen aka rant

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

Jim, could we change management companies now?

Only if Bluegreen decides to get out of the resort management business. Or, sells the company.

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

Manhattan Club

I do believe that I heard of people trading into the Manhattan Club but it is very rare since NYC is a prime location 100% of the time.

Charles

Two years ago I booked a first week of July CMV Timbers, deposited it with RCI and traded for a one bedroom Manhattan Club unit in August. MC had banked a large number of units with RCI that month. MC, I believe, has a 1 in 4 rule so we won't even try for it for two more years.

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

Congratulations

Two years ago I booked a first week of July CMV Timbers, deposited it with RCI and traded for a one bedroom Manhattan Club unit in August.

Congratulations!!!!!! Charles

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

We originally bought at Oasis Lakes which was owned by Airtours a UK based travel company (Now renamed the Fountains )
We only purchased one week.
When Bluegreen bought the place off Airtours we had a meeting with a sales guy who said that they were trying to get people with fixed weeks to convert to points.
All we needed to do was buy some.
This was supposedly better for all concerned but tbh it was better for Bluegreen in reality.
Anyway we were told all the rubbish (aka trash) about getting 2 free weeks for the next 3 years.
They turned out to be RCI weeks which aint free in anyone’s book.
He told us that we would have enough points for 2 weeks every year which turned out only to be true if we converted them to RCI points.
We have now been owners for over 10 years and eventually succumbed to the sales pitch and bought enough points to give us 2 weeks a year which we bough at a supposedly favourable rate (when is it not ? )
So we are now silver members whoopee !
At our last owner update (thinly disguised sales pitch) it was suggested that we upgrade to Gold membership and on doing so would not have to pay anymore maintenance fees !
Is this true ? From what I have read here it don’t seem so.
There is no denying that the Fountains and other Bluegreen resorts are quality and we have had many happy vacations.
But here is the rub I don’t feel like I am getting a good deal at the present time.
We used our points this year towards part payment for a cruise we didn’t get a bad deal but tbh I could have got a slightly better one as a free agent.
Its also the same with the Fountains If I just went through a travel agent I could have got 2 weeks for less than my maintenance fee !
Some of the info posted here is either downright wrong or needs updating.
Selling points back to Bluegreen to pay club dues maintenance fees etc is a very bad idea since they stomped on their value. It was nice while it lasted.
IT seem like owners have little control over anything.
Oh the sales guy also said bonus time prices were fixed for life it seems that is BS too.
Does anyone have any info on the trading back your points to Bluegreen for real estate ? or is that just another white lie .
I am not looking to sell as I paid a lot but I feel I am making the best of a bad deal.
As for RCI (blood sucking leeches ) I put some points in their space bank thought I would have a few days in New York in October there is a nice place called the Manhattan club some nice pictures on their website when I rang up to book operator said its never available its only on the website because they get some sort of discount they either use the time themselves or gift it to relatives.
Also the reason I ended up using points for a cruise was the fact that when I checked with RCI for places during peak holiday times there was little to nothing available.
Having spoken to other owners it seems that unless you either own or want to go off season to a popular resort there is hardly any chance of getting in.
It don’t look like I will be using RCI much if ever.
My apologies if this is hard to read I have no literary skills ,grammar, punctuation etc and it was hard to type using 1 finger

You are right about RCI, but if you are retired like me, they are great! Last Minute or extra vacations give me two to three vacations a year for what I pay in a single year MF for one week! I've already purchased 2 weeks this year at around $300/wk for two great two Bedroom condos. Yes these are what you might call off season, but this is the great time for us to go! No crowds, hard time making reservations, and good choices and availability! To each his own, but after owning timeshares since 1977, I have found that joining RCI and not buy a timeshare is the way to go!

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

You are right about RCI, but if you are retired like me, they are great! Last Minute or extra vacations give me two to three vacations a year for what I pay in a single year MF for one week!

We prefer off-season as well, so can get some extraordinary deals through RCI, but we also use our BG ownership and wouldn't give that up unless we had to. I wasn't too thrilled when hubby announced he'd bought 8000 BG points -- wrong kind of BG ownership, too few points to make it a real bargain -- but we've found that with the TS deals it gets us, both RCI and BG, the price per point or price per night is as low as a much larger BG ownership, and far less than any other vacation route I've found that interests us.

So when hubby decided he'd rather buy another house for his business/second job instead of buying more points, to his surprise I thought it a good idea. I had no idea how far our BG points could "stretch" until I actually needed to stretch them, and now I'm glad we didn't make a larger commitment.

It's less about "there's one good way to do it" and more about what's the best fit for you and your family.

[stevec Member Find all posts View Profile Close stevec]

You are right about RCI, but if you are retired like me, they are great! Last Minute or extra vacations give me two to three vacations a year for what I pay in a single year MF for one week! I've already purchased 2 weeks this year at around $300/wk for two great two Bedroom condos. Yes these are what you might call off season, but this is the great time for us to go! No crowds, hard time making reservations, and good choices and availability! To each his own, but after owning timeshares since 1977, I have found that joining RCI and not buy a timeshare is the way to go!

Yes my father has friends who have used RCI for many years and have been very happy both retired ofc.
Being able to travel at the drop of a hat makes things much better.
Saddly for those who still work or have kids at school this isnt always possible