Has anyone used Shell Vacation Club through Select Connections?

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

I am on the Big Island of Hawaii for my kid's spring break and I went to a Shell Vacation Club tour to check out their program. The bottom line is that Shell Vacation Club is very expensive. They have a lot of exchange options, but their maintenance fees are very high.

For instance, if you take Kauai Coast Resort at the Beachboy, it takes 6750 shell points to book a week there in Platinum season. No matter how you slice it, Shell maintenance fees and annual dues are about $.20/point. So, that reservation would cost you about $1350 in maintenance fees.

Let's say you are a Silver Premier owner with Bluegreen. Your maintenance fees and taxes are $1052 and annual dues are $129. That makes it $.059/point. The same Kauai Coast Resort is 17000 Bluegreen points. So, the fees would be about $1000 for the same week.

The issue is that you can only book 8 months from checkin. So, you need to get a sense of what resorts have decent availabilitiy at the 8 months mark before employing this strategy.

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

All..... I wish I had known about this a long time ago. Appreciate all the information and input and I'll hang out here now.... As a newbee.... I'm wondering what BG is? so I don't have to book a vacation through Shell Vacations?

Bluegreen and Shell are separate vacation clubs. In the last couple years they came up with a reciprocal agreement where Shell owners could use Bluegreen resorts and Bluegreen owners could use Shell resorts. It's not every resort in both systems, just a few select ones (thus the name of this initiative, Select Connections).

Bluegreen owners have to meet certain criteria to be eligible to use this program and I would expect that Shell owners also have some criteria to meet, but I don't know what it is.

If you are a Shell owner, you can call up owner services to ask how you can access Select Connections (I assume the name is the same for both sets of owners).

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

Wow I didn't know any of this... thanks for all your information... I now have a lot of studying to do....

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

I am a BG owner and went to the Ilikai in Hawaii last summer through select connections. It was an excellent experience. The facility was immaculate. I am going to an Arizona resort through select connections next week and I am expecting the same type of experience that I had last summer in Hawaii.

[jmc Member Find all posts View Profile Close jmc]

Little Sweden

We booked 2 one bedroom units for 3-4 nights in October during the fall color change about 3-4 months in advance last year. It was no problem at all. The accomidations were very, very nice and we did not get hit up for a sales pitch though sales office was right there in the lobby. The location was perfect in the center of the penisula.

[jmc Member Find all posts View Profile Close jmc]

We just booked a week at Little Sweeden for this fall in early October. We originally wanted Saturday to Saturday stay, 2 bedroom. Ended up Friday to Friday for a 2 bedroom villa versus two 1 bedroom units that were available Sat to Sat. I found the process very efficient.
The two bedroom villas have a garage and a screened in porch. We called up to the resort direct and wanted to know how the bedrooms were layed out and there are unts with both bedrooms up and some with one upstairs and one downstairs. Sleeps 6-8 people. They even had a 3 bedroom option I think.
If you live near Wisconsin or a Wisconsin fan, BG's expansion with Select Connects gives you a great alternative place to visit other than the Dells.

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

Shell and Blue Green

I have stayed at a quite a few shell resorts - the absolute best is Vino Bello in Napa - the rooms are outstanding and you can use the facilities at the sister hotel the Meritage - lots to do and close enough to Frisco for a day trip - Both resorts in Canada (Carriage Hills and Carriage Ridge) are well kept and the rooms are great - they are situated between 3 golf courses in the summer and have Horseshoe Valley resort beside it - Horseshoe has winter ski hills. They are both close enough to Toronto for day trips as well they are close to the beaches on Lake Huron - everything is within 5o miles or 1 hr of travel time. The best blue green place I've stayed is at the fountains in Florida - It has great facilities - decent rooms and is situated between Disney and Universal and is right beside Sea World. My advice to anyone wanting to get into Timeshares - try to buy one the has be repod by Shell - they are cheaper and when you buy have as part of the purchase deal the change over to points. Points are so much better - greater options more choices. If anyone wants info on other resorts - Whistler,San Francisco, New Hampshire - we've been to quite a few - I'll be happy to share info

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

Shell

We are going to Kuaui Coast Resort at the Beachboy in October. It was really simple to book. We will let you know how it went when we return.

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

I booked the Donatello in SF via Shell Vaca Club at one month out.

I wasn't able to use the reservation, unfortunately, so I can't tell you about the resort, but I was pleased about the availability. The guy at the front desk when I called to tell them I wouldn't be checking in was very polite and friendly.

Anita

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

Shell - Select Connections -- Great Experience!

I was just wondering if any BG members have booked any time at any of the Shell Vacation Club resorts yet?
If so, where did you book and for what time frame? I assume that much like BG, the highly sought after locations may be booked before us BG's get a crack at them but it would be interesting to hear first hand.

Thanks
BW

In April 09, we stayed at the Legacy Golf Resort in Phoeniz, AZ. Excellent accomodations and excellent experience. Very clean, very nice, free internet in rooms when it works.

In June 08, we stayed at the Marina at the Ilikea in Honolulu, HI. Very old facility but we were very pleased with the accommodations and the experience. No internet in room. Very clean - which is the most important thing to me at anywhere we stay!!!

Hope this information is helpful to everyone. I would not hesitate to use Shell connections again!

[trites Member Find all posts View Profile Close trites]

summer of 2008 we stayed at Little Sweden, WI. We had a relly nice time and the condo was nice.

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

BG Select Connections Experience

I was just wondering if any BG members have booked any time at any of the Shell Vacation Club resorts yet?
If so, where did you book and for what time frame? I assume that much like BG, the highly sought after locations may be booked before us BG's get a crack at them but it would be interesting to hear first hand.

Thanks
BW

I have booked 3 times through Select Connections and had excellenet experiences every time. I am thrilled to have this option with my BlueGreen ownership.

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

Conversion Point Chart

Is there a conversion point chart from Bluegreen points to Shell points? I am thinking about buying some more Bluegreen charter points to get into Travelers Plus to be able to do Select Connections and partial RCI points stays. I like to know all the specifics before I move forward on these things.

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

Point Chart

There is a copy in the Bluegreen Yahoo group under the files section.

bluegreen : Bluegreen Vacation Club Owners

Wendell

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

Thanks!

Thank you for the info. I signed up and should hopefully have access to the info soon.