Bluegreen Select Connections - Shell Vacation Club assess for Bluegreen owners

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

At the Bluegreen Annual Meeting held on Sept 25, 2007, the board announced that a deal has been reached with Shell Vacation Club to offer Bluegreen owners access to Shell Vacation Club resorts.

Bluegreen expects the program to be rolled out around Oct 22, 2007.

To qualify for the program. Owners must be Traveler Plus owners AFTER July 1, 2006.

Qualifying Bluegreen owners will have access to 18 Shell Vacation Club resorts including the 5 Hawaiian Resorts, the 4 California Resorts, the 3 Arizona Resorts and others.

The reservations rules are as follows:

1. 7-night stays: 8 months in advance of check in

2. 2-night stays or more: 3 months in advance of check in.

The booking fee is $49. No extra housekeeping fees.

The amount of inventory to be shared and the point tables have not yet been released. We will post it when we get it.

[iceeu2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close iceeu2]

Boca,
What does it mean to be Travelers Plus after the 2006 date? Was that the inception of Travelers Plus?

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

Boca,
What does it mean to be Travelers Plus after the 2006 date? Was that the inception of Travelers Plus?

The only way to get Traveler Plus is you need to make a purchase from Bluegreen or a Bluegreen authorized reseller.

You must make a purchase from one of these sources after July 1 ,2006, or you do not qualify for particpation.

There was a lot of discussion about this at the meeting. Needless to say, the owners didn't like it. I can assist owners in getting it through a resale purchase. It just has to be through an authorized reseller and it has to be after July 1, 2006.

If, for instance, you purchase directly from Bluegreen on July 1, 2005 and you buy several resale packages from July 1 to Feb 2,1 2007. All of those points will count toward the Preferred program. But, you will NOT be Select Connections eligible.

Evidently, Bluegreen has decided to make this a new feature only for relatively new owners.

The same is true for the Grand Yacht Club.

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

Will this open up BG inventory to SVC owners as well?

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

Will this open up BG inventory to SVC owners as well?

Yes, it will. I don't know what the rules will be on the Shell side. There will be very tight monitoring of the exchanges that occur to ensure that there is a balance of trade. As long as there is a balance of trade, then it works out really well for owners. It would be exactly like a direct exchange facility.

By the way, as a side note, I have been predicting that Resort Groups would be creating these types of arrangements to cut out the 3rd party exchange companies. Note that the exchange fee is only $49. I expect there to be a lot more of this happening over time in the minis.

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

While not a member of BG or SVC, I find this interesting and discouraging for the long range of timeshare ownership, especially for those who are buying via resale outside of the developers' network. I can see why companies are trying to bolster the value of 'buying retail' and limit the access to inventory to those who didn't buy directly from the developer.

I agree that to build relationships and agreements with the minis, could really put a hurtin on the RCI/II exchange inventory and trades available to their membership.

As someone who is highly invested through resale, mostly in Fairfield/Wyndham, I can see that my ownership over time will become less and less valuable especially if trading is my primary mode of vacationing w/my TS ownership.

I'll sit anxiously on the sidelines to see how this all plays out.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

I agree that to build relationships and agreements with the minis, could really put a hurtin on the RCI/II exchange inventory and trades available to their membership.

As someone who is highly invested through resale, mostly in Fairfield/Wyndham, I can see that my ownership over time will become less and less valuable especially if trading is my primary mode of vacationing w/my TS ownership.

I'll sit anxiously on the sidelines to see how this all plays out.

That's close to the way I see things sorting out as well.

• The resort world will devolve broadly into minis and independents.
• Full access to the minis will be limited to owners who bought retail.
• Mini owners who didn't buy retail will be limited to using at their home resort or doing exchange company trades.
• Mini-owners who didn't buy retail will not be able to access exchange companies through the mini/club, which means that they will not have the "clout" that the minis and clubs have when dealing with RCI and II.
• To the extent exchange opportunities stay within the mini (i.e., owners meet their exchange desires through the mini instead of using an exchange company), availability of the mini within the exchange company will be limited.
• The clout of the minis with the exchange companies will mean that minis will be able to deposit less with the exchange company and get more out of the exchange company - i.e., the quality of mini-units within the exchange company will be lower.

Thus the exchange companies will increasing represent the world of independent owners and resorts. The exchange companies will have challenges adapting to that changed business model. They will likely feel pressure to become more mini-like in their own operations. The exchange companies might very well end up aggregating resorts into quasi-mini groups - think of VRI as a possible model for this.

Of course, if the minis grow increasingly independent of RCI and II, at some point the minis might become a sufficiently small part of RCI and II business that they will begin to lose some of their clout.

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

That's close to the way I see things sorting out as well.

• The resort world will devolve broadly into minis and independents.
• Full access to the minis will be limited to owners who bought retail.
• Mini owners who didn't buy retail will be limited to using at their home resort or doing exchange company trades.
• Mini-owners who didn't buy retail will not be able to access exchange companies through the mini/club, which means that they will not have the "clout" that the minis and clubs have when dealing with RCI and II.
• To the extent exchange opportunities stay within the mini (i.e., owners meet their exchange desires through the mini instead of using an exchange company), availability of the mini within the exchange company will be limited.
• The clout of the minis with the exchange companies will mean that minis will be able to deposit less with the exchange company and get more out of the exchange company - i.e., the quality of mini-units within the exchange company will be lower.

Thus the exchange companies will increasing represent the world of independent owners and resorts. The exchange companies will have challenges adapting to that changed business model. They will likely feel pressure to become more mini-like in their own operations. The exchange companies might very well end up aggregating resorts into quasi-mini groups - think of VRI as a possible model for this.

Of course, if the minis grow increasingly independent of RCI and II, at some point the minis might become a sufficiently small part of RCI and II business that they will begin to lose some of their clout.

I agree with this observation and prediction. The good news is that Bluegreen, anyway, allows owners to get these benefits via an authorized reseller. The fees are reasonable today. Perhaps in the future they will be more. But, there is economic justification for the fees.

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

Direct Exchange like Select Connections has been a long time coming. I'm sure Select Connections allows for other companies to join since it is being referred to as an affiliation. As stated, this cuts out the middlemen and their fees and should be great for the owners. This benefit is open to all Shell Club Members that bought directly from Shell without having to purchase anything additional. The resort page for Select Connections on the Shell Member website shows a very nice fit between the East Coast based Bluegreen resorts and the Shell properties in the West. I was told that the inventory is coming from reduced exchange company activity. Also I found it interesting that there is no 'deposit'. I just use my points based on a point chart to stay at a Bluegreen resort. This must be the tracking mentioned above to manage the usage.

One more thought.. RCI must be wondering how this is going to play out.. SVC has 100,000 owners and with BVC at 165,000 that is a LOT of RCI members that don't have to use RCI anymore for domestic exchange.

eta: I just found 'Select Connections' incorporated in Delaware on July 26, 2007... so it is actually a company and not just a service mark????

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

Boca,

Any hint of how many units per week that Bluegreen and Shell will be making available for each other's members? Until you know what that is, I would be skeptical that this is any big deal.

Wyndham and Worldmark have a "similar" association agreement. Historically, they only made 1 or 2 units available to the other's members at a few resorts. Not much inventory to book. A lot of sizzle but no steak.

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

Boca,

Any hint of how many units per week that Bluegreen and Shell will be making available for each other's members? Until you know what that is, I would be skeptical that this is any big deal.

Wyndham and Worldmark have a "similar" association agreement. Historically, they only made 1 or 2 units available to the other's members at a few resorts. Not much inventory to book. A lot of sizzle but no steak.

What if it's not a set number-but what is available at the time of booking for owners of either club? Without a deposit there is no trading power component. As long as the usages end up equitable across both clubs-it doesn't really matter does it? I mean there is no rental component so as long as it is only members using member space within the rules, all members across both clubs could have access to all member space. A very interesting new exchange model (kind of back to the original). I've worked in the industry and the fact that there is no deposit has had me thinking all day... Time will tell-how many cross club reservations are actually confirmed-But the Shell rep was able to see inventory and confirm right on the phone with me for BG properties.

(and how come there is no forum for non-branded TS owners?)

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

What if it's not a set number-but what is available at the time of booking for owners of either club? Without a deposit there is no trading power component. As long as the usages end up equitable across both clubs-it doesn't really matter does it? I mean there is no rental component so as long as it is only members using member space within the rules, all members across both clubs could have access to all member space. A very interesting new exchange model (kind of back to the original). I've worked in the industry and the fact that there is no deposit has had me thinking all day... Time will tell-how many cross club reservations are actually confirmed-But the Shell rep was able to see inventory and confirm right on the phone with me for BG properties.

(and how come there is no forum for non-branded TS owners?)

If it is open ended great. But I don't believe that Bluegreen and Shell will leave their entire inventory open to one another's members. Their respective members will be quite upset if that happens.

As for forums for non-branded TS owners, have you looked here?

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forums/

What forum would you suggest?

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

Boca,

Any hint of how many units per week that Bluegreen and Shell will be making available for each other's members? Until you know what that is, I would be skeptical that this is any big deal.

Wyndham and Worldmark have a "similar" association agreement. Historically, they only made 1 or 2 units available to the other's members at a few resorts. Not much inventory to book. A lot of sizzle but no steak.

Mike,

I asked that question directly to Bluegreen's SVP of Operations. He told me that they will be closely monitoring it to ensure that there is a balance of trade. He wouldn't tell me how much inventory would be shared. I had the Fairifield-WorldMark experience in mind when I asked.

The only way to know is for us to try it. I will be.

Jim

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

As for forums for non-branded TS owners, have you looked here?

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forums/

What forum would you suggest?

Thanks for the link.. but there is still nothing there that addresses what I was looking for.. a Forum for NON-Branded TS Owners.

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

Thanks for the link.. but there is still nothing there that addresses what I was looking for.. a Forum for NON-Branded TS Owners.

Personally, I would think the forums called:

• General Timeshare Discussions
• All Points Here
• Timeshare Economics

would qualify for forums for "NON-Branded TS Owners".

Besides those, you then have the area forums where all TS's are discussed.