Owner's update 3/14/2008

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

My wife and I just went through an owners update today at Laurel Crest resort in Pigeon Forge TN.
This was our first time using our Bluegreen vacation club membership. I understand that Laurel Crest was one of Bluegreens early resorts and There were some things there that could use some work. The shower door bumped into the tub and couldn’t even open to 90°. The stairs to the upstairs bedroom were very steep and narrow, also the treads were so shallow you couldn’t fit your whole foot on them.
I heard several interesting things during the update. Some of them I believe some of them I don’t.
The Bluegreen rep showed us a layout of a new resort in Sevierville TN. just a few miles from Laurel Crest, supposed to break ground later this year. This will be the third Bluegreen resort in the area.
He said that Bluegreen was trying to go for a more upscale clientele and the new price structure was going to be $4.00 per point. But they could make me a deal for only $1.50 a point , what a deal. According to him the new clientele were the type who could write a check and afford that price.
When I asked about the bronze and platinum ownership levels he said that he believed that Bluegreen was going to skip that and readjust the silver level to 35,000 points and the gold to 50,000 points. His logic was that so many people bought a starter package then upgraded a few times over the years and ended up with silver level benefits. Which he felt should be a more exclusive benefit and thus the new higher levels. It kind of ticked me off as that is how I would expect reach silver level myself.
He also said that Bluegreen had done a trial runs on an all inclusive package in Branson MO to see how that would work as they had a lot of feedback requesting an all inclusive resort.
He talked about the Shell vacation club and the exchange program.
Along the way he talked about how a silver level member could come to a free 2 day update each quarter on a weekend, use points for during the week and get the gift card. That sounds like a great plan if you could coordinate it.
Over all it was a rather low pressure sales pitch. We were out in less than an hour with our $100 prepaid Visa card and on our way home.

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

A third resort in the area would be great!!!

I don't think I've ever had a high-pressure pitch from Bluegreen, and I do like that about them. Takes the "ugh" out of doing owner updates.

Did you get to see any of the newer units at LC? What I found at the Mountain Loft resort was that they learned some things from the first buildings and incorporated changes in the newer ones, so things like the stairs and shower door snafu may have been remedied in later construction.

I think he's mistaken about the Preferred levels. I tend to believe what Corporate Bluegreen says over anything from the sales dudes, and they don't have a habit of taking bennies away so I believe Silver and Gold will stay where they are and the new levels will join them.

Thanks for the report! Hope your trip was great!

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

We were in one of the 2 bedroom Chalet type units. The trip was ok but I did leave the desk a list of items in need of fixing in the unit. The celling fan in the living area maid a lot of noise and wobbled like it was about to come down off the celling. Also the weather-stripping on the front door was torn along the bottom and let in cold air.

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

We were in one of the 2 bedroom Chalet type units. The trip was ok but I did leave the desk a list of items in need of fixing in the unit. The celling fan in the living area maid a lot of noise and wobbled like it was about to come down off the celling. Also the weather-stripping on the front door was torn along the bottom and let in cold air.

THANK YOU for telling them about the repairs. I think many times people just deal with it and don't report it. I tend to feel that ownership gives me a responsibility to point out the deficiencies.

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

We were in one of the 2 bedroom Chalet type units. The trip was ok but I did leave the desk a list of items in need of fixing in the unit. The celling fan in the living area maid a lot of noise and wobbled like it was about to come down off the celling. Also the weather-stripping on the front door was torn along the bottom and let in cold air.

We reported similar problems last summer at LC.

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

We just got back from World Golf Village. We had our owner update on 3-9-08. Our guy had been on the job there for a week. One question he asked us was if we were owners. Our meeting went down hill after that.

We heard nothing about possible new resorts. He said nothing has been firmed up on the new levels and didn't say anything about silver or gold changing, so I will agree with Boardgirl. BG doesn't change points or levels.

He tried to talk us into one account-every other year rather than our 5 every year accounts. He thought that would be easier for BG to handle. It would give us some benefits as we could use what we want for large point requirements and have points left over for the next year. That idea really didn’t work for us, so we said no.

Since we had to sit there for an hour, we wrote down the maintenance list. We had a big list. Unfortunately, GWV had storms and a big power spike the day before we got there, so maintenance was doing a lot of repairs of electrical items. I reset the phones and the garbage disposal, but other items needed to be repaired or replaced.

Vacation was good, and I highly recommend GVW and a St. Augustine visit, but no more owner updates with guys that can’t even get the paperwork package in front of them before they speak with us.

Note to BG if they read this-don't use a beginner sales person when talking with gold owners. We want to know what is next for BG and where and how we will be able to use our points.

[Maggie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maggie]

I had renters who went to Laurel Crest a couple of months ago and they complained that the heat unit made so much noise going on and off they could not sleep all night long. They are going to Mountain Loft next month. I have noticed when I've stayed at Laurel Crest that there are numerous burned out light bulbs and other items that do not work as they should. I always leave a list at the front desk of things that aren't as they should be but I do think that the maintenance at Laurel Crest is not up to par with what I've experienced at other Bluegreen resorts.

I've often found little things at other resorts like dead batteries in the remote control or doors that don't work propertly, and usually a maintenance person shows up within an hour of the time the complaint is called in. I didn't find that true at Laurel Crest. On my last visit the lights in one of the bathrooms was burned out when I checked in and never got replaced during my four day visit. It wasn't that much of an inconvenience because I had an extra bathroom because I had booked a two bedroom and my other traveler didn't make the trip. But I was dismayed that noone ever showed up.

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

[ The Bluegreen rep showed us a layout of a new resort in Sevierville TN. just a few miles from Laurel Crest, supposed to break ground later this year. This will be the third Bluegreen resort in the area.


I'm glad to know this is actually going to happen. The last time we did an owner update at Laurel Crest (2 or 3 yrs. ago), they had just purchased the land.

As far as the maintenance items, I have had Laurel Crest maintenance come right away and I have also had to call them repeatedly!