Aim program

[justamom2six Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close justamom2six]

Hi Charles. We are a family of 8! My husband is a professor and I home school my children, so we like to travel off season, and we don't need to go to the top resorts. We do like to have very nice units, 2 bd or 3 bd four weeks a year, and 1 bd four weeks a year.

We are considering 10,000 to 15,000 BG points. We want to know how to work the system to our advantage. I know that owners who use and love their points, usually know how to get the most from their points.

Up until now, we have been able to do this with Wyndham, but as of January 2012, they have changed their relationship with RCI (and, as we all know, RCI fees have been going up, up, up!) We need something new, to travel the way we want to.

Let us know what you recommend! And thanks for always taking the time to answer my many questions.

That question is open to many interpretations.

The obvious answer is to buy more points to the extent that you do not go bankrupt.

However, I am guessing you are asking how can you maximize your benefits of whatever points you have or can afford to have. And then it depends upon what you want.

Do you want the maximum number of days away from home?

Can you afford to travel (dollars and time) to far off resorts?

Do you want a highly sought after area or is just about anywhere but home adequate?

Do you want a large spacious unit or are you satisfied with a smaller unit that just barely fits?

Do you have to travel prime time or can you travel and enjoy off time?

Do you want to go for a week or so or will 5 days do?

And I could go on and on.

Fortunately, a Point system such as BG allows anyone to maximize their benefits of their points by playing one need (want) against another. Of course, the more people who are involved, the more difficult it is.

Charles

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

One Reason Why We Bought Bluegreen

WOW !!! I now know that one of the reasons we bought Bluegreen. We are not exactly world travelers, but all this trading and switching around makes our heads spin. Bluegreen has enough places to go to satisfy our needs and with Shell TS as a western possibility, it made good sense to buy Bluegreen. I know a lot of owners who exchange through RCI, etc. and are happy about it, but I also hear about all the hassles they go through. We wanted to go on vacation without raising our blood pressures. We stay within the Bluegreen system.

[justamom2six Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close justamom2six]

Actually, up until now, RCI has been a piece of cake! We have been able to vacation 8 - 10 weeks a year in beautiful resorts for around $200 - $300 a week! (including all our fees!) Seems like the honeymoon is over! The have raised their point requirement AND their fees.

I'd like to work inside the BG system. I just need some tips on how to make it work. Their resorts are in the places we like to go, and they are beautiful resorts!

Any help, suggestions, tips or comments are greatly appreciated.

WOW !!! I now know that one of the reasons we bought Bluegreen. We are not exactly world travelers, but all this trading and switching around makes our heads spin. Bluegreen has enough places to go to satisfy our needs and with Shell TS as a western possibility, it made good sense to buy Bluegreen. I know a lot of owners who exchange through RCI, etc. and are happy about it, but I also hear about all the hassles they go through. We wanted to go on vacation without raising our blood pressures. We stay within the Bluegreen system.

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

Tips

Buying: Two main options - Bluegreen / Pinnacle qualified points ($$$$ / $$$) or resale non-qualified points ($). Non-qualified points are just points for you to take a vacation....basically, a point is a point no matter how you got it. We have a 50 / 50 mix of Bluegreen and resale and are a bronze level owner which allows some perks like requesting a location 12 months out rather than 11 months out (you can still be 'outbid' by the patinum, gold and silver owners who can put their reservations in early than us). We can also request upgrades, if available, 24 hour before arrival.

Maintenance fees: These are based upon the trust in which the deed resides. Our are in TRUST E which cost us $320 per year plus $.045 per point. If you bought through Bluegreen you will probaly pay the $129 per year for Traveller's Plus (basically a travel agency...which can provide some good deals). Specail assessments can be made if warranted....so far none for us.

Reservations: Plan ahead if you are wanting prime time (4th of July, etc.) as these fill up quickly. Be as flexible as you can. Check the resort's point table online to see how many points you will need. Reservations can be made by calling Bluegreen or online....very easy. You can insure your points for a small fee to keep them if anything goes wrong (sickness, death in the family, etc).
You have use you points from you anniversary date to be able to travel on any resort's schedule, otherwise, the revert to 'red' or lower use in the next year. There is a small fee to bank your points....you must call to bank or poof go the points.

If you wish to use Shell TS, there is a small fee to get you over to their system. I think you have to be a Traller's Plus member to do this. We have not done it yet, but it seems easy to do.

This is just a general reply to your question. I would read the information about Bluegreen online. There are other features as 'hot weeks' for 3000 ponits, bonus time, travel deals for points, etc. that are available. We look as ourselves as simple users of the sytem and are quite happy with it. So far for 2012 - March,Club 36 (Las Vegas); May, Lodge Alley(Charleston) & Shoreline (Myrtle Beach); Sept, Cas del Mar (Ormaond Beach) & Via Roma (Bradento Beach); Dec (The Fountains).

By the way, we do enjoy the 'sales updates' in an odd way. We are also stockholders in Bluegreen and usually know as much or more than the sales people. The sales pitch usually degenerates into talking about how sales are going, capacity issues, stock value....not exactly what the sales person had in mind....but very interesting to get their perspective sometimes. We try to go at times they are not busy so we won't take up valuable sales time. They have make money to eat too. We have only had one real jerk of a lady at an update. I called Bluegreen about her abusive customer behavior. She wasn't there the next time we visited.

[justamom2six Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close justamom2six]

Thanks Tom for all the great information! This is really helpful, and kinda what we would like to do. If we can get BG points and use them well in house, I think we would be happy with the resort. We have also looked at booking Sunday - Thursday nights instead of weekly stays.

We also do not mind the "owner updates"! haha. We have made plenty of money this way, and they've never sold us a thing.

Buying: Two main options - Bluegreen / Pinnacle qualified points ($$$$ / $$$) or resale non-qualified points ($). Non-qualified points are just points for you to take a vacation....basically, a point is a point no matter how you got it. We have a 50 / 50 mix of Bluegreen and resale and are a bronze level owner which allows some perks like requesting a location 12 months out rather than 11 months out (you can still be 'outbid' by the patinum, gold and silver owners who can put their reservations in early than us). We can also request upgrades, if available, 24 hour before arrival.

Maintenance fees: These are based upon the trust in which the deed resides. Our are in TRUST E which cost us $320 per year plus $.045 per point. If you bought through Bluegreen you will probaly pay the $129 per year for Traveller's Plus (basically a travel agency...which can provide some good deals). Specail assessments can be made if warranted....so far none for us.

Reservations: Plan ahead if you are wanting prime time (4th of July, etc.) as these fill up quickly. Be as flexible as you can. Check the resort's point table online to see how many points you will need. Reservations can be made by calling Bluegreen or online....very easy. You can insure your points for a small fee to keep them if anything goes wrong (sickness, death in the family, etc).
You have use you points from you anniversary date to be able to travel on any resort's schedule, otherwise, the revert to 'red' or lower use in the next year. There is a small fee to bank your points....you must call to bank or poof go the points.

If you wish to use Shell TS, there is a small fee to get you over to their system. I think you have to be a Traller's Plus member to do this. We have not done it yet, but it seems easy to do.

This is just a general reply to your question. I would read the information about Bluegreen online. There are other features as 'hot weeks' for 3000 ponits, bonus time, travel deals for points, etc. that are available. We look as ourselves as simple users of the sytem and are quite happy with it. So far for 2012 - March,Club 36 (Las Vegas); May, Lodge Alley(Charleston) & Shoreline (Myrtle Beach); Sept, Cas del Mar (Ormaond Beach) & Via Roma (Bradento Beach); Dec (The Fountains).

By the way, we do enjoy the 'sales updates' in an odd way. We are also stockholders in Bluegreen and usually know as much or more than the sales people. The sales pitch usually degenerates into talking about how sales are going, capacity issues, stock value....not exactly what the sales person had in mind....but very interesting to get their perspective sometimes. We try to go at times they are not busy so we won't take up valuable sales time. They have make money to eat too. We have only had one real jerk of a lady at an update. I called Bluegreen about her abusive customer behavior. She wasn't there the next time we visited.

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

Thanks Tom for all the great information! This is really helpful, and kinda what we would like to do. If we can get BG points and use them well in house, I think we would be happy with the resort. We have also looked at booking Sunday - Thursday nights instead of weekly stays.

We also do not mind the "owner updates"! haha. We have made plenty of money this way, and they've never sold us a thing.

A good place to look might be a the BG points chart - you can access it thru the Yahoo Group as well as a sticky here.
See what 2BRs in the areas u would like to visit and the time of year would "cost" you.
It would probably be worth it for you to buy some "qualifies" points thru Boca/Pinnacle to be able to access bonus time as this is an inexpensive way to get 2BRs during the 45 day window at ALL BG resorts plus you would have access to the Shell Vacation Club properties. Then you can buy more resale points and add them to your ownership to achieve the number you need.

[justamom2six Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close justamom2six]

Thanks Pat! I'm looking into that right now. I think that might be the way to go. All of the great ideas really help.

A good place to look might be a the BG points chart - you can access it thru the Yahoo Group as well as a sticky here.
See what 2BRs in the areas u would like to visit and the time of year would "cost" you.
It would probably be worth it for you to buy some "qualifies" points thru Boca/Pinnacle to be able to access bonus time as this is an inexpensive way to get 2BRs during the 45 day window at ALL BG resorts plus you would have access to the Shell Vacation Club properties. Then you can buy more resale points and add them to your ownership to achieve the number you need.

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

Hi Charles. We are a family of 8! My husband is a professor and I home school my children, so we like to travel off season, and we don't need to go to the top resorts. We do like to have very nice units, 2 bd or 3 bd four weeks a year, and 1 bd four weeks a year.

We are considering 10,000 to 15,000 BG points.

I am sure you looked at the point chart in the Sticky above (way above) but since I already did the exercise, I will post it.

You stated you wanted weeks (I assume full weeks and not the point saving Sunday-Friday time). For 8 people most BG units will require 3 bedrooms. The best 3 bed I found in Blue time was at Shenandoah Crossing at 8,000 pts/week. Most are around 12,000 pts/week. Many 1 bedrooms go for 4,000 pts/week but SeaGlass is 3,000.

So 4 weeks in a 3 bed and 4 weeks in a 1 bed would require 44,000-64,000 pts/year. Again, this is for full weeks and Blue time. If you want white time and more exclusive resorts it would be higher. Note, I have not factored in using bonus time nor point saving partial weeks.

Actually, when you think about it. 50,000 points to be gone for about two months is not a bad deal.

What did you learn in your research on the points chart?

Charles

[justamom2six Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close justamom2six]

Hi Charles - we did check out the points chart (thanks for the suggestion). We are use to full weeks when staying at resorts (with our current system); however, if we move over to BG, and use their in house system for exchanges, we are going to use the cheaper sun-thursday nights, and not the full weeks. We attended a sales presentation earlier this week, and were told we would only need a 2 bd unit for the eight of us! haha. I should have checked the unit size requirements more carefully. In fact, the "manager" at the presentation tried to tell us we could use a studio for all eight of us! I know better than that.

Also, we are interested in "hot weeks" (if this really works!) to fill in the extra time. Out of the 8 to 10 weeks we vacation, we only have 2 weeks that we need to go a certain place. The rest of the time we are very flexible. We also vacation off season, so we can pick up the less expensive time.

I am sure you looked at the point chart in the Sticky above (way above) but since I already did the exercise, I will post it.

You stated you wanted weeks (I assume full weeks and not the point saving Sunday-Friday time). For 8 people most BG units will require 3 bedrooms. The best 3 bed I found in Blue time was at Shenandoah Crossing at 8,000 pts/week. Most are around 12,000 pts/week. Many 1 bedrooms go for 4,000 pts/week but SeaGlass is 3,000.

So 4 weeks in a 3 bed and 4 weeks in a 1 bed would require 44,000-64,000 pts/year. Again, this is for full weeks and Blue time. If you want white time and more exclusive resorts it would be higher. Note, I have not factored in using bonus time nor point saving partial weeks.

Actually, when you think about it. 50,000 points to be gone for about two months is not a bad deal.

What did you learn in your research on the points chart?

Charles

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

We attended a sales presentation earlier this week, and were told we would only need a 2 bd unit for the eight of us!

I have actually seen listed two bedroom timeshares that will sleep 8. Sometimes they have a loft or an extra pullout couch and sometimes the 2 bedrooms are actually a one bedroom with a one bedroom lockoff which gives you 4 + 4 = 8.

Charles

[justamom2six Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close justamom2six]

Thanks Charles - I guess I was assuming all 2 bd would sleep 8. Most Wyndham's will. Also, I did my homework:

Charleston, red week 1, studio, 5 nights 3,900 pts
Gatlinburg, Mt Loft or Laurel Crest, combined 2bd, red, 5 ngts. 7,100 pts
Harbour lights, 2b villa, red, 5 ngts. 5,350

16,350 pts. So we might need 20,000 pts. to get 3 nice weeks. (5 night weeks). Hopefully I'm doing that right.

Any better way to do this?

I have actually seen listed two bedroom timeshares that will sleep 8. Sometimes they have a loft or an extra pullout couch and sometimes the 2 bedrooms are actually a one bedroom with a one bedroom lockoff which gives you 4 + 4 = 8.

Charles

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

Back to the original thread of AIM

1) My most recent chart (May, 2010) is a black and white copy of a copy of a colored original and I can't read most of it. My latest legible chart is from 2004 and a 2- bed Gold Crown would give 10,000 BG Points.

The May, 2010 illegible chart shows that the seasons and unit size has been expanded and the location also enters in. I can only read white time.

I acquired a more recent 2011 copy that is legible. Here are additions pertaining to #2 and #6 in my original message.

Bluegreen has expanded the AIM program to include non-Gold or Silver Crown resorts and non-Red time. For a 2 bedroom, 48 contiguous states, Mexico, and Canada, the number of points one would get depending on season and foreign resort status are:

Red – RCI Gold Crown or II 5-Star 10,000
Red – RCI Silver Crown 8,000
Red 6,000
White 5,000
Blue 4,000

Charles

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

Okay... I 've read through the thread and am still confused.

What is the AIM program? I 've been a BG owner for 6 + years and have never heard of it. Does anyone have links to it. Thanks in advance.

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

Sale Type

This is off of subject but I've been looking at the resales on ebay. I currently have 6,000 BG points every other year and am looking at purchasing more just to get the points I need to travel more. I know I need Trust "E" to keep my fees down but the sales also say sales type "Y". What does this stand for? I can't find any info about it anyplace. Thanks.

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

Okay... I 've read through the thread and am still confused.

What is the AIM program? I 've been a BG owner for 6 + years and have never heard of it. Does anyone have links to it. Thanks in advance.

A program where you can trade a non-BG timeshare week in to BG, pay a fee, and get points to use within the BG system.