Did I do good or bad? Bought into BlueGreen

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

I want to first apologize for the length. I'm new to TS & this forum but need to get straight down to business. I hope my blunt entry is accepted since I have yet to intro myself in that forum section. I will after this but for now, here's my story....

My husband & I (43/38 yrs old), along with our 3 kids (19, 20 & 21) went to The Grande Villas in St. Augustine, Florida for a family weekend get-a-way. We were offered $150 for a 90 presentation with BlueGreen. For what it's worth...we missed the "tour" because we were in a tempered state of mind with each other. What a blessing b/c our "sales woman" was straight forward, an owner of BLU for 23 years, on salary, with a "leave it or take it" attitude with the check already made out to us. There were no 'sales pitches' going on, was done with us within 45 minutes as we had already 'toured' the place the day before on our own but we lingered with lots of questions & it turned into a 4 hour amazing encounter. Very pleasant.

Now here I sit....with 8 days left in my grace period to figure out if what we did on a whim was right or wrong. We DID buy into BlueGreen. It is safe to say we have had NO knowledge of timeshare before now. We ARE interested & fill TS will suit our new lifestyle (empty nest syndrome) but did we get taken??? From what BLU offers...I don't think so but I'd love to hear back from the veterans.

From what I've read in the last 2 days, BlueGreen is an amazing company to own TS with but if there is something better, I would like to know. Here's a brief over view of what we are interested in: Rather it be with BLU or another...

** FLEXABILITY !!! Do NOT want a set week per year since our lives are never set in stone.
** MANY weekenders
** MANY St. Augustine / Orlando one day uses / get aways that BLU offers at their resorts
** One week vacation per year (As a couple)
** One week family Christmas vacation (As a family)
** Chances to offer family/friends discounted hotel options through RCI

What we signed into DOES fit that but did we do good?? Here's the deal....

** $10,000 bought us in 8,000 points every other year (Pay off in 5 years or it will cost us $19,000 if done in 10. Less if we have it refinanced?)
** Lifetime Charter Benefits (VIP, Traveler Plus, plus more)
** Bonus Time if we do not want to use our points (BIG bonus for us...this is why we chose 8,000 points every other year.)
** Transfer unused points over to RCI to hold if we do not use them up at nearly 2 years
** First year fees paid for everything - Almost $500 for maintance, $49 to RCI to benefit from their hotels and ? for Enterntainment online. (Might be missing something, don't think so.)
** RCI: 3 year extra vacations - $164/week in US or $199/week outside US (3 times only in 3 years)
** Amazing RCI benefits with their resorts
** Entertainment.com privaledges
** Encore points that will go towards our maintance fees or bonus time vacations or a $50 mastercard

My BIGGEST question:
Are there any availablity issues as far as reserving a place even if well in advanced or on a short weekend? I'm assuming it depends upon the hot weeks? (This is the one thing someone keeps warning me about but they were with WestGate. )

Thank you well in advance for your thoughts,
Julie

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

Julie, the experts will chime in....I know there are many supporters/fans of the Bluegreen system - and I think I will see if we can move this over to that forum.... BocaBum should see this....

Click here Bluegreen Resorts - Timeshare Forums to see the other BG posts.

and to TS4Ms

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

Julie,

The Bluegreen Vacation Club is an amazing timeshare ownership with tremendous versatility. You have barely scratched the surface of what it can do.

To answer your specific questions about availability, when I was full time living in South Florida, I could get bonus time ANY weekend of the year within driving distance of my home. If you live near many resorts, you will almost always have bonus time available.

In terms of availability, owners usually don't have trouble booking what they want if a) it's a Club resort and b) you book sufficiently far in advance. About 1/2 of the resorts are Club resorts. The remaining are Club associate resorts. The main difference in the two types of resorts is that Bluegreen manages and/or sells inventory at Club resorts. As a result, there tends to be a lot more supply of units. When there is ample supply, it's usually not hard to get.

If you want to go to Club Associate resorts, you will need to become Silver or Gold and you need to learn how to use the waitlist. That's because there is far more demand than supply at those resorts. Examples include anything on the Gulf Coast of Florida and Pono Kai in Hawaii. Interestingly, Aruba and Big Cedar have lots of demand, but they are easier to book than the others I mentioned.

You will get a lot of other input regarding Bluegreen from other owners in this forum. If you would like someone to talk to on the phone, let me know and I'll help you answer any questions you may have.

Best of luck and welcome to our forum.

Jim

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

Hi Boca,
I live a wee drive from Gainesville, Florida so there are many resorts above, besides and below me. That is one of the factors I seen when it was being showed on the map. If I lived afar off, BLU would surely not benefit my desires.

Are you an employee with BLU? Don't hit me but you seem to be a seasoned veteran with BLU (or another?).

You stated .... "If you want to go to Club Associate resorts, you will need to become Silver or Gold" .... are you saying basic BLU members, as myself, can *not (ever?)* book at one of the Club Associate resorts unless I go silver/gold? If so, then what about RCI resorts?

I have questions (not so much on BLU but other options of buying TS from auction sites) ... hopefully I can get my fill here on the board but don't run too far ... Rod may take you up on that phone call one day since we are newbies.

GrayFal....thanks for moving me over.

Julie

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

I want to first apologize for the length. I'm new to TS & this forum but need to get straight down to business. I hope my blunt entry is accepted since I have yet to intro myself in that forum section. I will after this but for now, here's my story....

Welcome to TS4Ms!!!

My husband & I (43/38 yrs old), along with our 3 kids (19, 20 & 21) went to The Grande Villas in St. Augustine, Florida for a family weekend get-a-way. We were offered $150 for a 90 presentation with BlueGreen. For what it's worth...we missed the "tour" because we were in a tempered state of mind with each other. What a blessing b/c our "sales woman" was straight forward, an owner of BLU for 23 years, on salary, with a "leave it or take it" attitude with the check already made out to us. There were no 'sales pitches' going on, was done with us within 45 minutes as we had already 'toured' the place the day before on our own but we lingered with lots of questions & it turned into a 4 hour amazing encounter. Very pleasant.

Now here I sit....with 8 days left in my grace period to figure out if what we did on a whim was right or wrong. We DID buy into BlueGreen. Good for you! great program!!It is safe to say we have had NO knowledge of timeshare before now. We ARE interested & fill TS will suit our new lifestyle (empty nest syndrome) but did we get taken??? From what BLU offers...I don't think so but I'd love to hear back from the veterans.

From what I've read in the last 2 days, BlueGreen is an amazing company to own TS with but if there is something better, I would like to know. Here's a brief over view of what we are interested in: Rather it be with BLU or another...

** FLEXABILITY !!! Do NOT want a set week per year since our lives are never set in stone.
** MANY weekenders
** MANY St. Augustine / Orlando one day uses / get aways that BLU offers at their resorts
** One week vacation per year (As a couple)
** One week family Christmas vacation (As a family)
** Chances to offer family/friends discounted hotel options through RCI

What we signed into DOES fit that but did we do good?? okay, you asked....you could probably do better resale. You could save yourselves a ton of money if that's the number of points you would like to obtain on an annual basis. Here's the deal....

** $10,000 bought us in 8,000 points every other year (Pay off in 5 years or it will cost us $19,000 if done in 10. Less if we have it refinanced?) you could probably spend that for triple the amount of points on the resale market
** Lifetime Charter Benefits (VIP, Traveler Plus, plus more)Good!!
** Bonus Time if we do not want to use our points (BIG bonus for us...this is why we chose 8,000 points every other year.) Good
** Transfer unused points over to RCI to hold if we do not use them up at nearly 2 years
** First year fees paid for everything - Almost $500 for maintance, $49 to RCI to benefit from their hotels and ? for Enterntainment online. (Might be missing something, don't think so.)
** RCI: 3 year extra vacations - $164/week in US or $199/week outside US (3 times only in 3 years) If these weeks are their (RCI) bonus weeks, they will allow you to go places like Cape Cod in wintertime...or somewhere else that I personally have never been able to use.
** Amazing RCI benefits with their resorts
** Entertainment.com privaledges
** Encore points that will go towards our maintance fees or bonus time vacations or a $50 mastercard

My BIGGEST question:
Are there any availablity issues as far as reserving a place even if well in advanced or on a short weekend? I'm assuming it depends upon the hot weeks? (This is the one thing someone keeps warning me about but they were with WestGate. )I'm sure someone else can answer to that as I can't, since I currently do not own any BG. Boca is one of the experts on this board along with a couple of others that would be better suited to answer this question

Thank you well in advance for your thoughts,
Julie

Please see my comments inline. Never in my life did I ever think I would own timeshares, but it is very economical for us. We usually buy resale, however; I did buy from a developer once!

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

Hi Boca,
I live a wee drive from Gainesville, Florida so there are many resorts above, besides and below me. That is one of the factors I seen when it was being showed on the map. If I lived afar off, BLU would surely not benefit my desires.

Are you an employee with BLU? Don't hit me but you seem to be a seasoned veteran with BLU (or another?).

You stated .... "If you want to go to Club Associate resorts, you will need to become Silver or Gold" .... are you saying basic BLU members, as myself, can *not (ever?)* book at one of the Club Associate resorts unless I go silver/gold? If so, then what about RCI resorts?

I have questions (not so much on BLU but other options of buying TS from auction sites) ... hopefully I can get my fill here on the board but don't run too far ... Rod may take you up on that phone call one day since we are newbies.

GrayFal....thanks for moving me over.

Julie

Your welcome Julie.... check your pm by clicking on the link at the top right of this page.

You will find there are many experts on this board - for BlueGreen, Marriott, DVC, Starwood and Wyndham - u have come to the right place for all your TSing needs - do I sound like a commercial or what !!!

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

$10,000 bought us in 8,000 points every other year

Bluegreen is great but I think 8000 EOY is not enough. I would buy resale. A trusted source is Jim at Bluegreen - Home.

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

Please see my comments inline. Never in my life did I ever think I would own timeshares, but it is very economical for us. We usually buy resale, however; I did buy from a developer once!

Resale? Can you recommend a good place (PM if need be) where I can read up on this? When I goggled "timeshare resale"....so many sites popped up.

I know I would not receive all the 'extra' deals as BLU can give privately but is that stuff really needed? And what about the maintance fees of other TS being sold off....wouldn't I have to pay that for as long as I owned the TS or is buying the points a one time only kind of thing?

So much to learn....
Julie

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

Resale? Can you recommend a good place (PM if need be) where I can read up on this? When I goggled "timeshare resale"....so many sites popped up.

I know I would not receive all the 'extra' deals as BLU can give privately but is that stuff really needed? And what about the maintance fees of other TS being sold off....wouldn't I have to pay that for as long as I owned the TS or is buying the points a one time only kind of thing?

So much to learn....
Julie

Yes, there is a lot to learn for sure....many of us have purchase resale.
I will pm you with a suggestion...

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

Hi Boca,
I live a wee drive from Gainesville, Florida so there are many resorts above, besides and below me. That is one of the factors I seen when it was being showed on the map. If I lived afar off, BLU would surely not benefit my desires.

Are you an employee with BLU? Don't hit me but you seem to be a seasoned veteran with BLU (or another?).

You stated .... "If you want to go to Club Associate resorts, you will need to become Silver or Gold" .... are you saying basic BLU members, as myself, can *not (ever?)* book at one of the Club Associate resorts unless I go silver/gold? If so, then what about RCI resorts?

I have questions (not so much on BLU but other options of buying TS from auction sites) ... hopefully I can get my fill here on the board but don't run too far ... Rod may take you up on that phone call one day since we are newbies.

GrayFal....thanks for moving me over.

Julie

Julie,

I am NOT an employee of Bluegreen. But, I am a Florida Real Estate broker who was uncontrollably addicted to timesharing. So, I decided to do it full time.

I think I miscommunicated to you. I did not mean that there was an exclusive Club that only certain members would gain access to certain Bluegreen Resorts. There is equal access to resorts based on first come, first served basis, but Silver and Gold owners get access to a waitlist which allows them to get in line first. That's what I mean.

The way to determine if a resort is Club vs. Club Associate, you can go to the Bluegreen website at check out the resorts. Bluegreen's website is fantastic, especially the owner website. When you get your account established, check out the online tutorial. It will give you a great overview of the Club and how to use it. Use us to fill in the gaps.

Here is an example. Daytona Seabreeze is a Club Resort. Here is the page for that resort. Daytona Seabreeze. Notice the orange dot in the upper right that says "Club Resort." That is how you tell if it is a Club Resort.

Here in another example. Surfider Beach Club is a Club Associate Resort. Here is the page for that resort.
Surfrider Beach Club. Notice the green dot in the upper right that says "Club Associate Resort."

That's how you tell.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

I'm not involved with BG, but their TS system looks very good to me. But I have to say "you paid too much buying directly from BG and you should rescind your purchase"

Look into resale, here is the best place to start link

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

I would cancel yesterday, save some cash and buy resale. You should be able to get 8,000 annual points with bonus time through an authorized reseller for a lot less than you paid. I would hate to think I was going to pay for 8,000 EOY points for the next 5 to 10 years. On top of that you will have annual fees (that will increase), membership dues, and an occasional special assessment.

Ask yourself this. Did I go into this with the intent of going $10,000 to $19,000 in debt over the next 5 to 10 years? If the answer is yes then maybe you should just keep it and enjoy it. If the answer is no then maybe you should cancel, learn a little more about the system and consider a resale purchase.

BG is great to be a part of but I enjoy it much more knowing I don't owe thousands of dollars. My thought is that if you can't pay cash then you probably can't afford it.

[Lab Rat Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lab Rat]

The way to determine if a resort is Club vs. Club Associate, you can go to the Bluegreen website at check out the resorts. Bluegreen's website is fantastic, especially the owner website. When you get your account established, check out the online tutorial. It will give you a great overview of the Club and how to use it. Use us to fill in the gaps.

Here is an example. Daytona Seabreeze is a Club Resort. Here is the page for that resort. Daytona Seabreeze. Notice the orange dot in the upper right that says "Club Resort." That is how you tell if it is a Club Resort.

Here in another example. Surfider Beach Club is a Club Associate Resort. Here is the page for that resort.
Surfrider Beach Club. Notice the green dot in the upper right that says "Club Associate Resort."

That's how you tell.

Hello!
I believe this is my first post here on the TSF. My wife and I have owned BG for a couple of years now, and are just starting to get the hang of it. We were about to lose our points (rolled over from our first year), and our current year points hadn't been used. Anyway, to keep it short, my wife got creative and we came up with 2 nights at Outrigger in Ormond Beach, 4 nights at Daytona Seabreeze, and used bonus time for a couple of nights at Grande Villas. All in all a very nice vacation with some variety.

Here's my question for the group. We were happy with Grande Villas and Seabreeze, very disappointed with Outrigger. We got the impression that Outrigger was a Club Associate Resort, but when I look at it on the Bluegreen site, like the example above, it shows that it's a Club Resort. I guess I was wondering if someone here knew for sure. When we checked into the Outrigger, I was very confused when she asked who we were with. I was like, "uh, what?". She meant Bluegreen, RCI, etc. Nobody else had ever asked me that before. Anyway, add that with the general ummm... condition of the resort and what was said to us at both other locations, I was thinking it was an Associate Resort, but the BG website shows it as a full Club Resort. What gives?

Thanks,
Rich

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

What gives?

Thanks,
Rich

Not an owner, and not one know the situation best. Outrigger is a private entity that devloping and manage / own resort, hotel. They start in Hawaii, and they now move their interest toward Asia, Austrial part. They have tried to work with a few different resort group. Wyndham, Marriott, Bluegreen. At the end of 2007, in BG's own reporting, this club is still one of their associate resort.

If I make a guess, I will guess Outrigger decides to move on to other area, and sold this part of operation to BG so now it becomes BG's own club resort.

Jya-Ning

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

Outrigger will undergo renovations

Hello!
I believe this is my first post here on the TSF. My wife and I have owned BG for a couple of years now, and are just starting to get the hang of it. We were about to lose our points (rolled over from our first year), and our current year points hadn't been used. Anyway, to keep it short, my wife got creative and we came up with 2 nights at Outrigger in Ormond Beach, 4 nights at Daytona Seabreeze, and used bonus time for a couple of nights at Grande Villas. All in all a very nice vacation with some variety.

Here's my question for the group. We were happy with Grande Villas and Seabreeze, very disappointed with Outrigger. We got the impression that Outrigger was a Club Associate Resort, but when I look at it on the Bluegreen site, like the example above, it shows that it's a Club Resort. I guess I was wondering if someone here knew for sure. When we checked into the Outrigger, I was very confused when she asked who we were with. I was like, "uh, what?". She meant Bluegreen, RCI, etc. Nobody else had ever asked me that before. Anyway, add that with the general ummm... condition of the resort and what was said to us at both other locations, I was thinking it was an Associate Resort, but the BG website shows it as a full Club Resort. What gives?

Thanks,
Rich

This discussion seems to be turning away from the OP but FWIW I was told by BG that Outrigger will be shut down soon for renovations. I don't have inside knowledge. I just had a reservation there for this fall season.

I got a call a couple of weeks ago from BG and was told that they could not honor this res because Outrigger will be closed for renovations during that week. I don't know to what extent but I'm hoping for a total facelift! What was super cool about this was that they offered me (subject to availability) the same week (or any other week I guess) at any other BG resort with a free upgrade to any unit except for a Presidential Suite. This actually worked out better for me for that week. I may have belly-ached in the past about some fees or policies but I do believe in giving praise where praise is due. Thanks Bluegreen!