Bluegreen: NO INCREASE IN MAINTENANCE FEES!

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

At the Bluegreen Vacation Club annual meeting this morning, Bluegreen announced NO INCREASE in maintenance fees or annual dues. Bluegreen was able to cut costs and reduce delinquencies so that no increase in required. This is the first time ever in the Club's history. Woo hoo! Go Bluegreen.

In addition, Bluegreen announced it will have free wifi at all resorts (except Aruba). Now, most resorts have wifi, but there is a fee for it.

The Pet policy announced earlier in the year has been rescinded. NO PETS at Bluegreen Resorts! Hurray!

More than any other year, I feel that Bluegreen listened to owners. Each of these topics has been discussed in detail on these forums. Many owners contacted Dave Pontius himself to discuss these issues with him. He clearly listened to us.

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

Bluegreen Annual Meeting September 20, 2011

No quorum was reached so no new business was conducted nor were any new board members elected.

Dave Pontius spoke about maintaining value for owners and keeping costs at a minimum for owners. Additional services, resorts and improvements are to be added while Bluegreen itself is managing cost cutting measures to ensure there remains a balance between cost and value for the owners.

Wendy Poe then spoke on the following:

1. Expansion.
Ellis Square is being added in Savannah. There are 28 units which are connected to a luxury hotel called Aria. Stated Savannah was one of the most requested destinations. This is a boutique type hotel. It should open January 1 and will be available for reservations shortly. Sales staff will also begin selling this resort through the club shortly.

Manhattan Club- They are expanding their reach in this resort which will equate to larger units coming available.

Paradise Pointe in Branson is a new acquisition. They have room at this resort to build but have not determined what that footprint will be.

2. Renovations: Casa Del Mar, Shore Crest, Cliffs at Long Creek, Fountains Building 3 have all undergone or are in process or major renovations to the resort and units.

3. Under Construction: The Soundings, La Pension (will open for Mardi Gras 2012), Blue Water and La Cabana have ongoing construction.

4. Club Enhancements:

Free WiFi through AT&T as provider for owners except Aruba due to Intl laws/regulations (they are working on this tho).

5. Maintenance Fees; No increase! First time ever there have been no increases in maintenance fees (only Trust A and Trust C have increases as there are pass through)

6. Owner Adventures: Similar to Adventures by Disney these are group excursions which are offered between 4 -6 times per year. Last year Alaska, Manhattan and Meditteranean were the destinations.

There are 5 offered this year: Carribean, Wine Tasting, Dude Ranch, Hawaii and Europe Baltics.

7. Communication: Switch to digital for owner update format. Blogs at each resort, announcements and activities etc are listed online and delivered as well through these resort blogs.

Facebook and social media sites provide them an opportunity to give status real time online for things like hurricanes, etc. Twitter delivers their TP specials.

8. Tech Enhancements will include owner updates and colorful places online as well as the Friends and Family program online.

9. RCI Exchanges can now be handled online. RCI exchanges were up 14% this year,

10. Select Connections- Direct Exchange:

TP members with Select Connections eligibility can make Select Connections rvs online. SC is coop with Shell.

TP New Tier- Golf discounts, sporting collection (high end fishing and hunting) and Buyers Club which offers discounts on everyday services.

Select Connections has added Cliffs Club in Princeville, Kauai

11. Coming: Voice of the Customer- More focus on customer service from Associates, new surveys will give them the tools to implement more tech and process improvements.

Group RCI: Expanded booking window for saved points from 45 days to 180 days

12. Owner survey results show satisfaction up 3% this year.

13. Breakdown of Usage for 2010

84.5% went to points reservations, bonus time and exchanged
5% developer unsold inventory
3% rentals
5% out of service for maintenance etc.
.5% employee use
2% sampler use

14. Upcoming Advancements: expand search capabilities with the online system including show by resort, etc to give customers more flexibility in utilizing the online booking- making more user friendly with additional search criteria added

15. Bonus Time: Enforcing this for owners only as they found many non owners with Bonus time reservations.
16. Pet Policy- Seems like it will not happen due to the fact that most resorts are governed by an HOA and by-laws do not allow pets or have restrictions. In order to implement the bylaws would need to be changed. There is talk about a coop program with Petsmart, Petco or a similar company to provide a pet resort (again very similar to what Disney did)

Next meeting is Sept 25, 2012 at 10 am.

[shockwave7_7 Member Find all posts View Profile Close shockwave7_7]

Jim,
First, thank you for posting this information for everyone. Second, this is great news. At have been at the point where I would not take more points if they were given to me. I really enjoy my BG vacations, but MFs were getting out of hand. The rate of increases made me wonder where it would stop. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come. I don't expect to never see increases, but rather modest increases and some years with no increase.
I am also very excited about the free wifi. Funnily enough, I am currently on a business trip where my hotel was booked for me. I am at an embassy suites and they charge $10/day for wifi. I am glad to see BG looking out for what the owners want.

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

At the Bluegreen Vacation Club annual meeting this morning, Bluegreen announced NO INCREASE in maintenance fees or annual dues. Bluegreen was able to cut costs and reduce delinquencies so that no increase in required. This is the first time ever in the Club's history. Woo hoo! Go Bluegreen.

In addition, Bluegreen announced it will have free wifi at all resorts (except Aruba). Now, most resorts have wifi, but there is a fee for it.

The Pet policy announced earlier in the year has been rescinded. NO PETS at Bluegreen Resorts! Hurray!

More than any other year, I feel that Bluegreen listened to owners. Each of these topics has been discussed in detail on these forums. Many owners contacted Dave Pontius himself to discuss these issues with him. He clearly listened to us.

All I can say is WOW - no increase and free wifi is actually SAVING us money.

Glad to hear the pet policy was reconsidered - that was the right decision for sure.

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

Thank you again for sharing this news.

Is there a time frame for the online SC to be launched?

And how does one qualify for the higher tier of TP?

This is VERY good news - "Group RCI: Expanded booking window for saved points from 45 days to 180 days"

Any hint that they will be a decreased point requires 45 days out with RCI?

TIA

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

Thank you again for sharing this news.

Is there a time frame for the online SC to be launched?

And how does one qualify for the higher tier of TP?

This is VERY good news - "Group RCI: Expanded booking window for saved points from 45 days to 180 days"

Any hint that they will be a decreased point requires 45 days out with RCI?

TIA

I don't know when Online Select Connections will be available.

To get Traveler Plus 3, you need to make a qualifying purchase after July 1, 2011. I don't see much yet in TP3 worth it, though.

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

I don't know when Online Select Connections will be available.

To get Traveler Plus 3, you need to make a qualifying purchase after July 1, 2011. I don't see much yet in TP3 worth it, though.

Is there a TP 2?
I assume I am just a plain ole TP?
I am REALLY dying to have SC available online - and exciting news about Savannah!

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

Is there a TP 2?
I assume I am just a plain ole TP?
I am REALLY dying to have SC available online - and exciting news about Savannah!

Yes. TP2 includes select connections and the Grand Yacht Club. You need to have a qualifying package purchased after July 1, 2006.

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

Yes. TP2 includes select connections and the Grand Yacht Club. You need to have a qualifying package purchased after July 1, 2006.

That is the one I have.

And discounted points for RCI trades within 45 days???
Any sign of that?

If RCI trades are up 14% then people are going to begin to wonder why there is no point reduction for trades less then 45 days.

And thanks for being such a support to all of us owners - it is certainly appreciated by me and I hope many others.

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

Thanks for all your work, Jim. Great news.



I'm really happy about this. I was first looking into Bluegreen right when Diamond was considering buying them out. On the first day of our first BG vacation (a gift), I sat at a picnic table in CMV watching hubby and the kids down the hill, and listening to owners around me talking about the potential Diamond deal. The consensus there was that BG listened to owners, and Diamond didn't. I won't say that's what everyone I've listened to since says, but it does seem to me there's a lot of truth to that, and it's certainly one reason we went with BG when we bought points. That conclusion feels very validated right now.

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

That is the one I have.

And discounted points for RCI trades within 45 days???
Any sign of that?

If RCI trades are up 14% then people are going to begin to wonder why there is no point reduction for trades less then 45 days.

And thanks for being such a support to all of us owners - it is certainly appreciated by me and I hope many others.

No word on points discount window for 45-days or less. That would be a great feature.

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

Sounds like a lot of good news. Thanks for the information.

I have to wonder though, if they can't keep up with restricting bonus time to just owners, how can they keep up with who has TP1, 2, or 3.....

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

From the owner meeting, it sounded like the bonus time problem was a glitch in the online booking and that has been straightened out now. I wanted to jump in here and thank everyone who voted in the election to thank you for voting. With the lack of a quorum again, no one was elected and BG chose to reappoint the incumbent, Marge Lennon, who has served on the board since its inception.

The free wi-fi (which I prefer to call wi-fi at no additional charge) will be slowly implemented resort by resort and hopefully will be fully implemented by the end of 2012. The neat part about this to realize is that this will cost thousands of dollars and yet they were able to hold our maintenance fees at the same level as 2011. I just hope this won't mean that the maintenance of our resorts will suffer. While I am very excited about no increases, it does make me question this side of it. With all costs going up for utilities, snow plowing, landscaping, insurance and routine maintenance--it just seems as though the maintenance fee budget should always go up. This would technically mean if they were not implementing "free" wi-fi, the budget would have been less than 2011???????

Many of my questions were actually compiled from polling the owners in the BG Yahoo group and when it came right down to it most of them centered around difficulties using the web site. Chad Jernberg of BG who is really a sharp shooter on the ball is working on the web site and we will be seeing some changes forthcoming. Dave Pontius readily admitted that we were way late in getting online reservations and so therefore we are also way late in getting enhancements and corrections. A few of us present are going to work with Chad to give suggestions and have him bounce off ideas with us as well as possibly do some Beta testing (though I am not holding my breath about this).

They realize there are some malfunctions with the wait list process and they are continuing to try to refine that.

Jim did a really nice recap of the owner meeting below so I don't see any reason to rehash all of that for you.

Again, thanks for your votes. Your votes in the election were important as they were a vote to say that all was not well in the state of BG ownership and the owners were restless about some key issues--and that in conjunction with the communication many of you made with BG staff--this is what made these major changes happen. As Jim said, the first time he has seen BG pay such close attention to owners. A big pat on the back to the social networks making such a big difference.

Susan Wirgau