Last night's Chat party

[Maggie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maggie]

Last night's Chat was spontaneous and I was surprised to see so many show up. With over 10 people all talking at the same time it was a bit confusing, but it was still fun.

One of the points I was trying to answer got kind of lost in all the confusion. I stated that I think some salespeople are really pushing EOY points when they try to sell upgrades. I don't really think it makes much difference if you own 35K annual points or 70K EOY points but there are a couple of differences.

Since this is 2008 let's talk about buying 70K EOY points in April of this year and they are even year points. Let's say your anniversary date becomes May 1. You only get billed for 35K points this year and those maintenance fees are usually included in the upgrade or the sale. This November you will get billed for the other 35K points. Now let's say you wanted to book a presidential suite or 3 units somewhere next March and it was going to take 55,000 points. You don't have to borrow any points in 2008 when you make the reservation because 70K points are already in your account. You still have 15,000 points left that you can use for a July week in 2009 at Shorecrest I or wherever. In August of 2008 you can make your July reservation for 2009 but you won't have paid your maintenance fees on those points yet. During those first 12 months when you get your ownership you can be planning the next two years. After that you will get in the habit of preplanning and getting the reservations you want.

The downside of doing this is if you let the first year slip buy and don't book any reservations then you find yourself with points that have to be used before a certain time or they become saved points and have limited usage. For people who only take one big vacation a year or once every two years and have limited points these EOY points can be more usable.

I hope this answers some questions that were asked last night.

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

I wasn't fortunate enough to attend the chat, but recently had an ‘owner update’. This is pretty much what he tried to sell me too.

I am going to start, what I consider, a pro and con list. Please add to it and see if EOY makes sense for some users.

Pros:
Big chunk of points available for larger units.
Big chunk of points for cruises.
Allows you to book multiple units for family gatherings.
Don’t need to borrow points.

Cons:
Remaining points can only be used for red, blue, white weeks.
Majority of points used in previous year may leave only small number of points for limited vacation.
May have to borrow points to get a full week.

Add on to the list. This may be helpful for anyone looking into EOY.

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

An item in your Con list is misleading.

In Year 2, HALF of your points are available for Prime Time (red, leaf, special)

So if you used none of your points in year 1, only half can be used in prime time and the other half are saved points only good on red and below.

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

An item in your Con list is misleading.

In Year 2, HALF of your points are available for Prime Time (red, leaf, special)

So if you used none of your points in year 1, only half can be used in prime time and the other half are saved points only good on red and below.

So, using Maggie's example, if 70K were avail, 55K are used in the first year, does that means that 7.5K are still available for use in weeks higher than red and 7.5K are red or lower?

I didn't realize that, I thought everything went to old points.

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

I can offer you my experience in dealing with owners.

Many owners view an every other year package as a good first package. That's because they get front loaded with 2 years worth of points and only have to pay for one maintenance fee. That is a one time benefit.

But, after that one benefit, everything else is down hill.

1) Every other year points are harder to sell. When someone adds points, most of the time they want to add annual points or convert their every other year point package to an annual package.

2) Every other year points are harder to upgrade. You need to find a matching points package with the opposite start year (even or odd). Then, you need to upgrade the whole package.

3) Every other year packages are harder to manage. All points are granted on the anniversary date. But, 1/2 of the points turn to saved points after 1 year. So, you need to track how many of them you use every year to make sure you don't get into a saved points situation.

4) If you purchase a small package, you may end up paying more in annual dues and maintenance fees than it costs to rent points from another owner. It only makes sense to own points if you own more than 10000 annual points. If you own less than that, it is better to simply rent points most of the time.

[Maggie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maggie]

As usual Boca really nailed it.

But going back to my example. and answering the question. If you had 70K EOY points and used 55K the first year than the entire 15K would still be good points the second year for High Red. As a matter of fact if you used only 35K the first year the entire remaining 35K would be eligible for High Red. The only downside is if you use less than 1/2 the points the first year than some of the remaining points cannot book High Red or Yellow leaf season. The catch to this is that the first year it may be hard to get prime High Red or Leaf Season reservations.

In my Example: I had the anniversary date starting in May. So if you get your points in May you probably aren't going to be able to book anything that is High Red in June July or August because all those weeks are probably already booked. A new user doesn't know the ins and outs about what seasons are which in the various locations. It takes some time and a learning curve to determine these things.

I used to think that that only June, July and August were the seasons that had such high demand. I'm beginning to learn that February and March in Florida are just as hard to book. The same applies to October in the Smokies. Most of my renters are retirees who want to go when the kids are back in school. It all depends are knowing how you want to use your time.

My first purchase after the sampler package was and EOY purchase. It made sense to me then because it was enough to have a guaranteed vacation once every two years where I wanted to be. That size package makes sense to the sales team because many people are willing to shell out an amount of $10,000 or less. Of course once people by in and start doing research they learn they don't have enough points and they can buy them cheaper.

In my case I started buying cheap deeds through Mike Terry and Ebay and eventually negotiated an upgrade to Gold and then last Janaury upgraded again just to get deeded 100 % at Shorecrest. Oh how I wish I'd known about Boca before I ever made my first purchase. I'm sure I'm not alone in that.