Bluegreen Vacation Club Forum

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

Welcome to the new Bluegreen Vacation Club forum. My name is Jim and I will be your moderator. Since there are so many Jim's in timesharing, I go by Boca or BB. You can address me in anyway that makes you feel most comfortable.

This forum is all about educating people on one of the best kept secrets in timesharing....the Bluegreen Vacation Club (BVC). I first became aware of Bluegreen through my good friend Bruce CZ who gave me a true education on the finer points of Christmas Mountain Village UDIs. In those discussions, Bruce introduced me to Bonus time. Living in Florida, where Bluegreen Corporation (NYSE: BXG) is headquartered, I found that I would have access to bonus time at dozens of resorts within driving distance for a really low fee. I became a member and got hooked.

There is a really good Yahoo Group for Bluegreen owners. If you become really interested in Bluegreen, I highly recommend joining.

In any event, I'll be compiling information on the Bluegreen Vacation Club in this forum for anyone interested in learning more about it.

If you have any specific questions that you feel better asking privately, please feel free to send me an email or private message. I'd be delighted to help you out.

Enjoy.

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

Jim,
Thanks for doing this! I recently converted my now BG resort to points and was wondering why there wasn't a BG forum here.
Appreciate it!
lovetoroam

[NY Brian Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close NY Brian]

Just purchased BG membership and looking for feedback...

Hi guys, we are Brian and Donna from NYC and we just spent New Years week at LaCabanna in Aruba.
While there, we purchased 20,000 BG points for a price of aproximatly $25,000 and our MF will be around $833, plus the BG annual fee of about $129 per year.
While the package looks great and there are many BG resorts available, as well as the option to use RCI and II for vacation options, I am looking for feedback.
We can afford this, but, what I am wondering is, does this seem like a good deal?
The MF seems a bit high from what I have been reading and if I was to sell this timeshare today (wich we are not planning to) is this the kind of thing that will appriciate well?
I am not sure if we just got caught up in the hype of the sale or if this is a really good deal?
We are looking for advice from other BG members and other people who have purchased similar plans.
We love the idea of points rather than a fixed week, but almost $1000 a year in fees, plus the financing of the timeshare seems high, no??
A few other questions...
Is using RCI and II for vacations easy or is it a chore?
Are the cruise discounts really as good as the saleswoman claimed?
How easy is it to sell / rent / points?
Any feedback would be greatly appriciated and thanks in advance for all the info I have read here already.
We are not only new to BG, but we are new to timesharing. This is alot of info to comprehend, so we are looking to chat with other that can put this into "laymens" terms for us.
A little about us, I am 29 and in sales with a fairly easy to get vacation schedule and Donna is a NY public school teacher, so we will have a good amount of time to vacation for the rest of our lives.
Sincerely,
Brian and Donna in NY

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

Hi guys, we are Brian and Donna from NYC and we just spent New Years week at LaCabanna in Aruba.
While there, we purchased 20,000 BG points for a price of aproximatly $25,000 and our MF will be around $833, plus the BG annual fee of about $129 per year.
While the package looks great and there are many BG resorts available, as well as the option to use RCI and II for vacation options, I am looking for feedback.
We can afford this, but, what I am wondering is, does this seem like a good deal?
The MF seems a bit high from what I have been reading and if I was to sell this timeshare today (wich we are not planning to) is this the kind of thing that will appriciate well?
I am not sure if we just got caught up in the hype of the sale or if this is a really good deal?
We are looking for advice from other BG members and other people who have purchased similar plans.
We love the idea of points rather than a fixed week, but almost $1000 a year in fees, plus the financing of the timeshare seems high, no??
A few other questions...
Is using RCI and II for vacations easy or is it a chore?
Are the cruise discounts really as good as the saleswoman claimed?
How easy is it to sell / rent / points?
Any feedback would be greatly appriciated and thanks in advance for all the info I have read here already.
We are not only new to BG, but we are new to timesharing. This is alot of info to comprehend, so we are looking to chat with other that can put this into "laymens" terms for us.
A little about us, I am 29 and in sales with a fairly easy to get vacation schedule and Donna is a NY public school teacher, so we will have a good amount of time to vacation for the rest of our lives.
Sincerely,
Brian and Donna in NY

Brian and Donna,

You have a private message from me.

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

Welcome to Bluegreen ownership! Your maintenance fee is in line with what 20k. While we are new to Bluegreen the points offer flexibility in vacationing. However, we tried to vacation the week after Easter and nothing was available in the area we wanted to go. We tried for a week at Big Cedar in June and the only thing available was a studio for 5 days so we took that hoping to upgrade later. On the flip side we just enjoyed 5 days at Harbour Lights in Myrtle Beach and took my inlaws for free. I am learning during "Red" season plan AHEAD(five months or more)!!!! As a Silver member you have an additional one month ahead of basic members. If there are places in Blue or white time you can go with little planning. Also be aware(as I found out) that trading with RCI does NOT guarentee anything. You have to trade your points to Bluegreen to get a week then give them to RCI and hope that they may find a match for what you want. Again, there is no absolute possibility of getting what you want at RCI. You have deposited a week with RCI and have 2 years to use it. We have seen 3 of the Bluegreen properties and they are all top notch. I have 3 different bluegreen sites currently and just upgraded to silver membership. The value of this is getting 5-star vacation lodging for the price of Motel 6. Resale of Timeshares is dismal. With your wife's schedule you can enjoy 2-6 weeks a year vacationing at top notch places. Plan far ahead and enjoy years of wonder vacations

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Ok....I just saw this post from NY Brian. The last time he posted was the last time on this site. Did he see and heed the advice? Did he respond to your PM. Not looking for details just curious if this call for help was serious.

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

We exchanged a few messages and he decided to keep his ownership since he was already past the recission period. He had a good attitude about it.

[nfwjlw Member Find all posts View Profile Close nfwjlw]

buying 2 bg

i think i am buying 2 memberships 12k & 15k if they both work out.
should they be combined or kept separate by husband and wife
i probably will want to sell 1 after a year or 2
thanks
charlie

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

i think i am buying 2 memberships 12k & 15k if they both work out.
should they be combined or kept separate by husband and wife
i probably will want to sell 1 after a year or 2
thanks
charlie

All things being equal, it's better to combine them. If for no other reason to only pay one annual dues of $122.48

[nfwjlw Member Find all posts View Profile Close nfwjlw]

Christmas Mt Village vs Timbers

which is nicer
anniversary for my son
March
thanks
Charlie

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

Not totally sure I understand the question, but I'll give my opinion as best I can.

Christmas Mountain Village is the resort. It has several accommondations, including:
Log cabin
Villa
Timbers
Delux Timbers
Cottage
Townhome
Best bet to select is to go to the resort website
Christmas Mountain Village - Wisconsin Dells resort for golf and skiing

I believe the delux timbers are supposed to be nicer, but I like the cottage or cabins (can't remember which).

I have learned that it always pays to call the resort directly and ask them which they would stay in. I can usually find the best units that way.

[Sister Syl Member Find all posts View Profile Close Sister Syl]

I hope you can help me !!!

I am so excited to find this forum for Bluegreen Owners. I purchased more points a few weeks ago from a salesman and it was too late to cancel with them AFTER I found this web site. I would like to get enough points to go to Silver and didn't know if you could help me.
Thanks so much for all your help on these boards.

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

I am so excited to find this forum for Bluegreen Owners. I purchased more points a few weeks ago from a salesman and it was too late to cancel with them AFTER I found this web site. I would like to get enough points to go to Silver and didn't know if you could help me.
Thanks so much for all your help on these boards.

Welcome to the group. You will learn a great deal from watching, listening and asking.

We have all paid too much for our points at one time or another. We have all had promises from sales people who probably didn't know as much about the product they are selling as they should. But with this forum, we learn more than we can from most other methods.

If you are looking to buy more points, I would send a PM to Boca, the leader of this little room of the forum. You will find his name at the top of this topic. He is probably the best to help you in your quest to be silver.

Hope to see you sometime at one of the resorts.

[Sister Syl Member Find all posts View Profile Close Sister Syl]

Welcome to the group. You will learn a great deal from watching, listening and asking.

We have all paid too much for our points at one time or another. We have all had promises from sales people who probably didn't know as much about the product they are selling as they should. But with this forum, we learn more than we can from most other methods.

If you are looking to buy more points, I would send a PM to Boca, the leader of this little room of the forum. You will find his name at the top of this topic. He is probably the best to help you in your quest to be silver.

Hope to see you sometime at one of the resorts.

Thank you so much for your reply. I can't believe I just found this forum....but there is still time for me to use all the info here and increase my knowledge of Bluegreen and hopefully get to silver. We have been owners since 2000 and have loved the Bluegreen resorts. We are retired and can use points during the week which helps. Living in the south is good because of all the resorts in this part of the country.
I am going to leave a PM to Boca and hope to get something going.

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

Welcome, Sis!!!

I'm glad to hear you've been using the system - definitely a good buy for the geographical benefit you've mentioned.

Boca can certainly help you.

Meanwhile, I'd love to hear which resorts you've visited and what you thought of them?