Bluegreen 101: Help a newbie out

[SIDA! Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SIDA!]

Okay guys. I have a lot of questions and need your help. I have scanned several pages on this forum and others and read all of many threads on here.

Quick backstory. Took my kid to see Santa at Bass ProShops and signed up for their 2 night $99 pitch for Las Vegas. Went in just looking for the cheap stay and had no desire to purchase. But after the stay at Club 36 and the pitch, I was intrigued and took a positive mindset about the timeshare concept away from it all. Back home now and researching.

Below are some questions and statements as I understand the situation. Please answer/correct me where I am wrong.


1. Even though it is a points based system, regardless of where I buy my points they will be associated with an underlying unit and specific week during the year at which I have priority reservation capabilities.

2. If I buy my points via unauthorized resale, I do not get bonus time benefits except for my home resort location. These benefits are unlimited for the year.

3. However, in order to get bonus time, I must at a minimum own 15000 points to be bronze. Anything less and I do not get bonus time.

4. Bonus time can only be used by me or thru my being present to check my guests in.

5. If I want to get almost all the bennies the developer hands out, I must buy my points from the developer or from pinnacle. I cannot buy say 4,000 points via resale at pinnacle and another 11,000 in the unauthorized resale market to get to the Bronze status and qualify for these bennies. I must purchase all 15,000 points from BG/Pinnacle.

6. My maintenance fees will vary depending on the trust fund my timeshare is bought thru.

7. Unused points can rollover to the next year but will expire if not used by the following year...except for some RCI tactics (which are over my head at this point).

8. Points that have been rolled over have limitations on where you can use them. For example, you cant use them on cruises.

9. Due to anniversary date quirks, I really need to be careful and not get points that renew in the april to september period since I will have a tough time reserving peak summer season weeks...unless, i use a tactic discussed about paying maintenace fees in advance.

10. Are there occupancy utilization reports for each resort? One thing I am afraid of, besides out of control maintenance fees that go up every year, is being unable to reserve time on a short notice. I am not a plan a year out in advance kind of guy. How realstic to think I can book a weekend or a week during the summer three months in advance?

11. I am not sure I understand the renting/selling of points. Is there a difference between selling and renting a single years worth of points or is it synonymous in this context?

12. It seems like people wanting to sell their points try to sell their points outright to someone else and leave it up to them to book their reservations or they try to find a desireable spot at a desireable time of year and book their trip hoping to advertise and sell that week via secondary channels (craigslist, tugg, here, etc.). Is this correct?

13. Are there transfer fees when you rent/sell your points for a year? I do not mean closing costs associated with permanently buying/selling.

Thank you for your patience. Please set me straight and let me know where I am off course.

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

Don't do this unless you can plan ahead.

10. Are there occupancy utilization reports for each resort? One thing I am afraid of, besides out of control maintenance fees that go up every year, is being unable to reserve time on a short notice. I am not a plan a year out in advance kind of guy. How realstic to think I can book a weekend or a week during the summer three months in advance?

Thank you for your patience. Please set me straight and let me know where I am off course.

It is not at all realistic to think you can book a weekend or a week during the summer 3 months in advance unless you're thinking of Orlando or Las Vegas.

If you're not a plan head kind of guy, Bluegreen is probably not going to be a good fit for you.

I'm not *generally* a big planner in most aspects of life, but I love planning ahead on vacations and Bluegreen works great for me. Many of the people who are the most upset and feel the most ripped off about their purchase of Bg points are people who have a misconception about the need to plan ahead.

You've done a great job researching and you have a pretty good grasp of the major details...but really address this one for yourself before you go further.

Anita

[sunseeker64 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sunseeker64]

Regarding your comment about Bonus Time:

"However, in order to get bonus time, I must at a minimum own 15000 points to be bronze. Anything less and I do not get bonus time."

Bonus Time is not tied to any Premier level. If you buy ANY qualified points (from BG or Pinnacle), you get Bonus Time at all the resorts regardless of how many qualified points you have. Since you've already bought from BG directly, you already have that benefit as a Charter Member. Buying any additional points off E-bay or wherever does not take that benefit away.

Karen

[kcbedo Member Find all posts View Profile Close kcbedo]

You can get Authorized points by purchasing directly from BG or from Pinnacle at $1.25 per point or more. The only difference between the two is that if you purchase from BG directly, they will usually throw in a binder, some certificates for an RCI cruise, some one-time Blue/White use points, and possibly some other initial benefits. Long term, there is no difference between the two.

Points purchase through any other method are generally considered un-authorized, though there is a way to pass points between relatives and keep them authorized.

Once you have any level of benefits from authorized points, adding un-authorized points won't take away any of your benefits, but they won't increase your benefit level (Bronze, Silver, etc.)

Jim (bocabum) can help you purchase points through Pinnacle or help you get a combination of authorized/un-authorized points that fit your needs. His help won't cost you anymore than working through Pinnacle yourself.

3 - Any amount of Authorized points will give you unlimited Bonus Time. You don't need to be Bronze.

4 - Bonus Time can be used separately by both you and your spouse if you are both on the deed, and each person on the deed can get their own room if they want. You are required to check in for Bonus Time, but you could let your friends stay in the room.

6 - All new points and a lot of the resale points are in Trust Fund E. Personally, I wouldn't buy anything older than Trust Fund E (B, C, D..).

8 - Saved points can't be used to book peak season reservations, but can be used in the off seasons. They are also more limited in what you can do with things like booking through RCI.

10 - Some resorts like Big Cedar will be fully booked for the summer at pretty close to 11 months out. You can sometimes get lucky and pick up someone's cancellation, but you shouldn't plan on it. Other resorts, like Falls Village and club 36 seem to have more availability.

Since you have a sampler package, you should check availability at the resorts you are interested in fairly often this year, even if you aren't actually planning to make a reservation. This will give you a better feel for how booked they get.

11 - Some people confuse renting points with selling points. Selling points means that you want to get rid of your timeshare ownership and transfer it permanently to someone else. Renting points means that the owner will book a reservation with their points, register your name as the guest, and then charge you. It is not possible to temporarily transfer points from one owner to another.

12 - There are two ways for someone to rent their points. They can book a desirable week and then advertise it, or they can let the renter pick a location/time and then see if it is available. When someone says that they have 4,000 points for "sale" that expire in August, they generally mean that they would like to rent you 4,000 points, so let them know where and when you would like to go, and they will try and book a reservation for you.

13 - BG does not charge any fees when you rent your points. You can put any name you want to on the reservation, and there is no charge.

[SIDA! Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SIDA!]

Just to clarify, I did not purchase any points package. I am actively researching the product because I found the opportunity interesting.

The reason why I was under the impression that I needed to purchase at least 15000 points to get bonus time is that BocaBum's website broke down prices by membership level and I did not see a price for bonus time stays for those with points under the 15000 level.

It sounds like I would have access to the bonus level program in my home resort but at a price higher than what bronze pays. Correct?

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Just to clarify, I did not purchase any points package. I am actively researching the product because I found the opportunity interesting.

The reason why I was under the impression that I needed to purchase at least 15000 points to get bonus time is that BocaBum's website broke down prices by membership level and I did not see a price for bonus time stays for those with points under the 15000 level.

It sounds like I would have access to the bonus level program in my home resort but at a price higher than what bronze pays. Correct?

Hi and

Yes, bonus time is available at your home resort for a certain price. Bronze, silver,gold,plat all pay different prices for bonus time.
With that being the case, if u decide not to get any qualified points (which many people do) you would definitely want to be deeded at the one, two or three resorts where you would want bonus time.

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

You mentioned RCI - it used to be that you could book a week with your points, then deposit that week with RCI and have two more years to use that week via RCI exchange. You paid nothing to deposit the week, and paid an exchange fee when you used the "banked" week to reserve an exchange.

You can no longer do this.

As I understand it, now you access RCI reservations via the Bluegreen website, reserve the RCI week with Bluegreen points, pay the exchange fee, and you have made your exchange into a non-BG resort. I believe you can reserve up to 2 years forward. I never plan that far in advance. This was a major step backwards for me.

[SIDA! Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SIDA!]

Hi and

Yes, bonus time is available at your home resort for a certain price. Bronze, silver,gold,plat all pay different prices for bonus time.
With that being the case, if u decide not to get any qualified points (which many people do) you would definitely want to be deeded at the one, two or three resorts where you would want bonus time.

Oh, so...the authorized points and the corresponding level (bronze, silver, etc.) only apply to the presidential suite bonus time reservations? All other units are a set rate no matter what your point level happens to be?

If I buy 20,000 points on the resale market am I able to reserve the presidential suite at my home resort for the silver premier price of $169 a night? I dont think this is possible because I am assuming that even if I bought 20,000 resale points (unauthorized) I am not officially recognized as a Silver Premier member.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Oh, so...the authorized points and the corresponding level (bronze, silver, etc.) only apply to the presidential suite bonus time reservations? All other units are a set rate no matter what your point level happens to be?

see correct answer below...

If I buy 20,000 points on the resale market am I able to reserve the presidential suite at my home resort for the silver premier price of $169 a night? I dont think this is possible because I am assuming that even if I bought 20,000 resale points (unauthorized) I am not officially recognized as a Silver Premier member.

see correct answer below

I am going to suggest that you start at the top of this page and read all the 'stickies' which exlpains everything u r asking....there are links in the stickies - follow them and read.

Then start reading the posts on this forum, you can pick on the bottom of this page to see post "from last year" rather then the default "last 100 days" - there is a wealth of info there....

[kcbedo Member Find all posts View Profile Close kcbedo]

Oh, so...the authorized points and the corresponding level (bronze, silver, etc.) only apply to the presidential suite bonus time reservations? All other units are a set rate no matter what your point level happens to be?

That is correct.

The rates increased slightly January 1, 2011, and Bocabum (Jim) hasn't updated his website yet. Also, you generally are required to reserve a minimum of two nights for bonus time, and it's cheaper to reserve online.

Here are the latest Bonus Time rates (first number is online, second is over the phone):

Hotel/Studio $59, $69
One (1) Bedroom $69, $79
Two (2) Bedroom $79, $89
Three (3) Bedroom $89, $99
Presidential/ Concierge Villa ($199 to $399), ($199 to $399)

All owners with at least some authorized points (and those with un-authorized points at a particular resort) pay the same rates for Studio through 3-bedroom. The Presidential/Concierge rooms have varying rates base on your Premier level (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum).

I'm pretty sure that you have to be at least Bronze to even be able to reserve Presidential/Concierge bonus time, because $199 is the rate that I would pay as Bronze level.

[SIDA! Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SIDA!]

Thank you, KC.

Gray, I've read probably 6 hours worth of threads and all the stickies but my head is swimming from information overload. trying to synthesize all this information is why I started this thread.

When I read Boca's page I mistakenly interpreted the membership level breakdown associated w the presidential suites as being applicable to the studio to three bedroom units.

[SIDA! Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SIDA!]

Some additional questions or clarifications, if I may.

I read somewhere in these threads about two people buying a timeshare and being able to separately use bonus time or being able to simultaneously use the membership. Say for example, my significant other and I bought authorized points and were silver members. Now, say her and I wanted to take separate trips at the same time w our friends. Could we both use bonus time at the same and/or different resorts at the same time?

For example, could we both book bonus time (if available) for 2 units during the same dates?

Would the same rules apply for unauthorized points so long as you use them at your home resort?



On another matter, are biennial points still subject to annual maintenance fees and club dues or do you pay those every other year? At our Vegas presentation, the salesman said we had to pay the maintenance every year, which seemed odd to me.

[kcbedo Member Find all posts View Profile Close kcbedo]

Some additional questions or clarifications, if I may.

I read somewhere in these threads about two people buying a timeshare and being able to separately use bonus time or being able to simultaneously use the membership. Say for example, my significant other and I bought authorized points and were silver members. Now, say her and I wanted to take separate trips at the same time w our friends. Could we both use bonus time at the same and/or different resorts at the same time?

For example, could we both book bonus time (if available) for 2 units during the same dates?

Would the same rules apply for unauthorized points so long as you use them at your home resort?



On another matter, are biennial points still subject to annual maintenance fees and club dues or do you pay those every other year? At our Vegas presentation, the salesman said we had to pay the maintenance every year, which seemed odd to me.

If you and your spouse are both on the timeshare deed, then you can book 2 bonus time rooms at the same time. They can be at different resorts, but I believe each of you would have to check in to your own room. So if you are not together, you would only be able to book 1 room. I've heard that some resorts are not as picky and may let your kids check in to your bonus time room if you are not there, but that would be against policy.

If you have more than 2 people on the deed, I don't think you can reserve more than 2 bonus time rooms, but I'm not really sure how they would track this if the reservations are made separately.

The same rules apply for un-authorized points if you are at your home resort.

Biennial points are charged MF each year. The formula is the same for annual points, except that you first divide your number of points by half. It basically works out to the same as owning half as many annual points. Biennial points may work better for you if you only take big vacations every other year. In general though, biennial points are more complicated to keep track of, especially if you add additional points later. Some people really like biennial points, but they sell for less (or not at all) on ebay than comparable annual points.

Also, if you own biennial points and you go to an "owner update" sales presentation, the salesman will tell you that what you really need is annual points. If you already own annual points, they will tell you that what you really need are biennial points.

[SIDA! Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SIDA!]

Been doing a lot of reading and studying and I have some additional questions.

1. Is there a limit to the number of people that can be on a deed or are there rules on the relationship between the owners? For example, can my girlfriend and I along with my brother who is married, each buy a quarter interest to a timeshare?

I have been speaking to my brother about the prospect of us buying a timeshare and being able to take trips using the bonus time simultaneously? Is there anything that would preclude my bro and I from each getting a unit at the same resort on the same week and taking our kids?

Is there anything that would preclude all four of us using bonus time simulatenously at a resort assuming we all check in under our names? I would really like to have the option to do a big family vacation.

[I apologize for the duplicitous nature of the question...but I trying to understand this nuance and really want to make this pitch to my bro. Adding to the complication is that his wife kept her maiden name, so we would effectively have four people and three different last names on the deed. Ugh!]




2. Is there a minimum number of qualified points I would need to purchase in order to have bonus time eligibility at all the resorts? I was thinking...what if I could buy 1,000 qualified points and 19,000 unqualified points and get bonus time anywhere. I assume i would have to buy a minimum point increment to make it work.

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

I know you can have multiple names on the deed but I don't know if that means everyone can have bonus time in their own name.

2. Is there a minimum number of qualified points I would need to purchase in order to have bonus time eligibility at all the resorts?

Each deed is connected to an underlying resort and week, and at most they'll break it down to a half-week, which sets a minimum number at, I dunno, 3000 bi-annual points, maybe? Jim (Boca Bum) would know.