Questions on Bluegreen

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

I have been reading quite a bit here in the forums. I would just like to verify a few things if I could.

My wife and I took the presentation and signed up for a 6000 point charter member package at Horizons on 77th. We have 2 more days to recind this. We were drawn to the cool places and nice resorts. Plus the ability to pay it off then only have to pay maintenance and club fees to keep it into the future, and give it to the kids afterwards. Traveling on the off periods is not much of a problem for us, even with my son in school. However we wanted the bonus time usage for shorter excursions close by and use of the hot weeks for longer stays. Getting the specific week at Horizons, while it is a good week, is not as important.

We looked online after the presentation, and were horrified at some of the negative reviews. Then I found this forum where people seem to have a grip.

From what I have read here, it seems i can get these features if I go through pinnacle and purchase someones charter member points. There were several 3000 point ones, annually, I looked at for roughly $3500-4000. I guess i need to pay a transfer fee along with the price mentioned to get use of the bonus time/hot weeks/cruises correct?

Then if i need more points per year i can just purchase another deed, with points, not needing to be charter member status (since i already have it).

It is possible to indeed book reservations correct? Many negative revies mentioned never having the ability to get rooms, or a bait and switch from a resort room to a standard (crummy) motel.

I thank you all in advance,
The old man

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

the bait and switch is when someone signs up for a two night stay to preview a resort and take a tour. doesn't happen when you book your points. there are people that can't get what they want, but they may wait til last minute, or they may be trying to get the most popular resort at the most popular time. you have a good idea to rescind and buy through pinnacle for charter benefits and bonus time. you can pick up more points through resale but you want to get the same trust fund..

[stevec Member Find all posts View Profile Close stevec]

At least you can see in real time what's available.

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

Hi and to TS4Ms

I have been reading quite a bit here in the forums. I would just like to verify a few things if I could.

My wife and I took the presentation and signed up for a 6000 point charter member package at Horizons on 77th. We have 2 more days to recind this.

This is a good thing to do today.
Follow the directions exactly.

We were drawn to the cool places and nice resorts. Plus the ability to pay it off then only have to pay maintenance and club fees to keep it into the future, and give it to the kids afterwards.

It is always better to pay cash for a purchase like this as it will most likely have no value in the future other then the fun vacations you can take.

Traveling on the off periods is not much of a problem for us, even with my son in school. However we wanted the bonus time usage for shorter excursions close by and use of the hot weeks for longer stays. Getting the specific week at Horizons, while it is a good week, is not as important.

We looked online after the presentation, and were horrified at some of the negative reviews. Then I found this forum where people seem to have a grip.

From what I have read here, it seems i can get these features if I go through pinnacle and purchase someones charter member points. There were several 3000 point ones, annually, I looked at for roughly $3500-4000. I guess i need to pay a transfer fee along with the price mentioned to get use of the bonus time/hot weeks/cruises correct?

Then if i need more points per year i can just purchase another deed, with points, not needing to be charter member status (since i already have it).

Yes, everything you states is correct.

Pinnacle has contracts as low as 2000 pts. 2000 x $1.25 = $2,500 plus $700 transfer fee
You would have to pay this at time of purchase, there is no loans for this although you can use a credit card and pay it off over several months.

Then, you can add a non qualified purchase making sure it is the same trust fund (preferably E) and sales type (this determines what time of year you pay your maint fee) for the non qualified purchase, you can usually get the points for free just paying transfer fee of $450.

It is possible to indeed book reservations correct? Many negative revies mentioned never having the ability to get rooms, or a bait and switch from a resort room to a standard (crummy) motel.

I thank you all in advance,
The old man

Time sharing is best used by people who can plan ahead. If you want a summer vacation when kids are off school, you really need to book 11 months out. Bookings open up at 12 midnight eastern 11 months out and you can book online. You can also check bonus time online at 42? 45? Days out.

And there is no "bait and switch" when you book using your points or Bonus Time.

When you see people complaining about that, it is when you agree to a promotional stay at a very inexpensive rate to learn about the BG vacation club and instead of staying at the resort, you are put in a nearby hotel. If people read the agreement that they signed to do this, they would see that it says "comparable accommodations" or similar language.

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

As an FYI,
Your year.y fees are as follows
Club Fee $129
traveler Plus $49/59?
base fee of trust fund E $330
Total $510ish
PLUS $0.0508 per points owned
5K add $254
10K add $508
15K add $754
20K add $1016

So 5K cost $764, 10K cost $1018, 15K cost $1264, 20K cost $1524
You do the math.

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

Thank you guys so much for the responses and help I really appreciate it.
After reading the negative reviews I thought that might have been the case with many of them. People wanted the world and couldn’t get it a week before their trip.
I keep seeing the trust fund mentioned to minimize fees. Is there a post listing which resorts are which funds? I thought I saw that newer resorts were E. Perhaps this is in the information given by pinnacle when you request it?

Is there a resort I may want to steer clear of? Again specific weeks are not a big deal to me. We would love to go to the cedar lodge, but not necessarily at the red season either. We would love to go to the Fountains, but again time of the year is rather irrelevant, same with Gatlinburg, las Vegas and Williamsburg.

Also during our presentation they "waived" out initial fee to buy into the charter benefits, and then it’s like $49 per year. Will we have to pay that (initial fee), on top of the amount listed on pinnacle, to receive the benefits?

It seems like I could get a 3000 point contract with benefits for around $4000 (plus any fees), then add another 5000-10000 annual points for another $2000 (plus any fees). This is way more points, for just over half of my package I signed for in the meeting. Am I doing this math incorrectly? Or is it just a better choice to stick with the 1 package with charter benefits and just buy points as needed?

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

sorry for the multi posts here .... getting input request from wifey over emails and text so

Also, we would still have access to hot weeks correct? The idea of hitting a location last minute for 3000 points is rather enticing to us.

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

It seems that the only benefit that you will lose through Pinnacle is access to Travelers Plus 2 or 3 or whatever the current number is. They add a few benefits with each re-incarnation. So at this point to get the latest and greatest I think you need to purchase direct after 2013. What is the difference? No one could give me hard specifics other than with the latest you can book spa packages, hunting trips, golf trips, etc using points. It seems like it ends up being the same as the hotel and cruise benefits with older versions where you can pay $2000 in MF for points that you can then trade in for a trip that would cost you $1000- $1200 or less if booking direct. Yeah.

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

Thank you all. We are sending everything back to them today certified mail. After some more research and questions I will get something at a more reasonable price. I am so glad I found your forum and that you are all so helpful.

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

Thank you all. We are sending everything back to them today certified mail. After some more research and questions I will get something at a more reasonable price. I am so glad I found your forum and that you are all so helpful.

Thanks for getting back to us that you rescinded.
I really enjoy my BG ownership and think you will to once you learn the program

Good luck

[Sharkman Member Find all posts View Profile Close Sharkman]

Wow, I may need to do some more research about buying points

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

Also, we would still have access to hot weeks correct? The idea of hitting a location last minute for 3000 points is rather enticing to us.

Hot Weeks is not a charter benefit; you get Hot Weeks through Traveler's Plus, which I would guess you can get from Pinnacle. Traveler's Plus is an additional fee each year, and if you don't pay for it one year, you'll lose it, and it's gone until you make another purchase including it.

I don't remember what all the charter benefits are, but Bonus Time (being able to reserve for cash instead of points) at all the resorts is one. If you buy from Bluegreen, you will get Bonus Time, and an RCI membership for no extra fee, just the basic yearly membership fee everyone pays.

Another kind of ownership is "unauthorized points", second hand points you can buy from anyone, which do not include Bonus Time or Traveler's Plus. With unauthorized points, you get the points themselves -- which work just like any other kind of points -- and, usually, RCI, but that's about it. I suspect that the Hot Weeks you can get for 3000 points are from much the same pool as RCI's Last Call weeks, which cost $269 for a 1 BR week and $294 for a 2 BR. Which is to say, if you watch closely, every once in a while there's something spectacular because someone cancelled last minute, but for the most part it's stuff no one else wanted. There are other things about Traveler's Plus that appeal to me, but Hot Weeks is like a lot of the "last minute perks" -- most people who think they'll use it, don't. Last minute selection is always limited; add in working out plane tickets and whatnot, and those last minute deals just end up not being useful for a lot of people. Same with Bonus Time -- the people I know who get good use out of Bonus Time use it at resorts within easy driving distance, and often for weekends; if they miss it one week, they'll just try again the next. Most of the people I know who use Last Call have a similar attitude; they're retired or otherwise have a lot of flexibility with their time, and just wait until something that interests them pops up.

Rescinding and doing more research is definitely the way to go, so I'm glad you made that choice. It's a lot of information for a new owner to try to work through! The salespeople make everything sound so crucial, but you need to know what works for you, because there's no point to paying for things you'll never use. I wanted to get more points upfront than we actually did, and while we certainly could have used more points if we had them, OTOH with the RCI membership and whatnot we have more options than we can use, so I've kind of lost interest in getting more points. We'd probably stay in Bluegreen resorts more often if we had more points, but we've enjoyed the RCI resorts we've tried, so for us, owning fewer points pushed me out of my comfort zone, then gave us more choices. I knew we'd love Bluegreen when we bought in (we had a Sampler and had tried 4 or 5 of the resorts before we bought), but I'm kinda getting into RCI as well, which I didn't expect.

Hope you end up getting the Bluegreen ownership that's the best fit for you.

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

For me, the primary reason for buying my first package thru Pinnacle was to get the Travelers Plus Benefit of access to RCI Points resorts. I make frequent trips to Manhattan and can book 3-4 night trips without a problem at 10 months out. I also enjoy having access to the many Caribbean resorts that are primarily in points and can do stays of 9-12 days by booking the entire stay in points or adding days on to a weeks exchange. I just really like that flexibility and that fact they I do not have to deposit anything into RCI, the BG points are transferred when I do the exchange. With weeks exchanges, it is the same. I can put in an ongoing search, but points stay in my BG account until I get a match.

I have used bonus time twice....to fill in a gap day for a friend when we were at La Cabana. Even with wasting one night (2 night minimum) it was still half of what we would have had to pay La Cabana to rent for that one night.

And I have not used Select Connections/Prizma yet, but I can see myself doing so in the future.

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

You guys are a wealth of information ;p

We are currently in a waiting game to make sure nothing unexpected happens with our rescind. We have confirmation that it was delivered, but have heard nothing else. Also doing a lot of research here and at TUG.

Bluegreen seems to be a good fit for us.
1. We live in the southeastern USA and can hit in 1 days drive, SC, NC, TN, GA, and northern FL.
2. Bluegreen seems to have some of the lowest yearly maintenance fees around, so we like that. We love the dunes resorts (I did a brief review on the one in Myrtle Beach) but wow those diamond points were expensive.
3. They have resorts we want to go to close by; perhaps not the highest rated resorts, but not bad ones either.
4. The bonus days hopefully would work great in our area, in the winter (off season I believe) for the quick 3 day weekend stays we like.
5. It appears that we can get "usable" weeks for us off pinnacle and eBay/tug
I do have a couple of more questions; p

Pinnacle has several biennial weeks, with charter benefits, up for sale. On these are the maintenance fees yearly or every other? Do you keep charter benefits on the "off" year?

Our current plan is to get something off pinnacle with charter benefits, if it is biennial and useful to us (say 6000-9000 points) then we would add 1 other biennial for the other year with same number of points roughly. We are looking to stay at or under $1000 per year in fees. If that didn’t work then a small annual package off pinnacle and 1 (annual) or 2 (biennial opposite years) with weeks and locations we like.

I have to run, but thank you all again.

P.S. Grayfal … why can I not get to your travel website?

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

You guys are a wealth of information ;p

We are currently in a waiting game to make sure nothing unexpected happens with our rescind. We have confirmation that it was delivered, but have heard nothing else. Also doing a lot of research here and at TUG.

Bluegreen seems to be a good fit for us.
I do have a couple of more questions; p

Pinnacle has several biennial weeks, with charter benefits, up for sale. On these are the maintenance fees yearly or every other? Do you keep charter benefits on the "off" year?

Our current plan is to get something off pinnacle with charter benefits, if it is biennial and useful to us (say 6000-9000 points) then we would add 1 other biennial for the other year with same number of points roughly. We are looking to stay at or under $1000 per year in fees. If that didn’t work then a small annual package off pinnacle and 1 (annual) or 2 (biennial opposite years) with weeks and locations we like.

I have to run, but thank you all again.

P.S. Grayfal … why can I not get to your travel website?

My website seems to be broken. I have emailed the company.

I am not familiar with how the EOY contracts are billed, you could email Pinnacle and ask them
Yes, your benefits continue in the off year. You pay the Travelers Plus fee every year.