Reservation Availability?

[965Hawk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 965Hawk]

Hello, I'm new to Bluegreen. I've been looking through the forum and I've learned quite a bit (thanks for all the information you have shared!). However, I'm still confused as to how difficult it will be to book a BG resort (I understand that there are the common variables of supply/demand, but I would like to hear about personal experiences so I can get a better understanding).

Could you please share your experiences with booking a timeshare through BG? Specifically I'm interested in hearing how early you have found you need to book to get a resort/roomType you wanted? What resort/roomType did you try to get that you weren't able to get and how early did you try?

I have four kids so I'm excited about the idea of being able to plan ahead for vacations and I know that planning ahead will be necessary if I want get specific resorts/roomTypes. I also know that flexibility will help.

Finally I have a newbie question: Let's say I want to stay at a BG beach resort in Florida over the christmas break (week 52?). Do you call BG and a person tells you what is available (if you are lucky enough to have anything available?) during that week and then you can tell them what you would like to book? Or do you wait a few days and they get back to you? Obviously I don't know how this works so please help get me up to speed with how the process goes (I'm hoping it isn't too painful...)

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

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

Call early

Specifically I'm interested in hearing how early you have found you need to book to get a resort/roomType you wanted?

Let's say I want to stay at a BG beach resort in Florida over the Christmas break (week 52?). Do you call BG and a person tells you what is available (if you are lucky enough to have anything available?) during that week and then you can tell them what you would like to book? Or do you wait a few days and they get back to you?

I too am tied to the school calendar. I want Myrtle Beach in summer and Florida at spring break. I also want ocean front. I called at exactly 11 months out. I am fussy. I am now a premier member so I wait list even before that. So, I am of little help on your first question other than call early!!

I would suggest that you join TUG (Timeshare Users Group) so that you can get a rating on various resorts. Then pick the resort you want to stay at. Pick the time you want to go (which week and which checkin day). Decide on how many points you want to spend to get the unit type you need. Then pick a second and third choice. Then when you call, ask for exactly what you want. If they don't have it, they won't have it 3 days later (unless someone cancels). If they don't have what you want, then go to your second choice, etc., etc. That way you have the best chance of getting what you want. If such planning is too much, simple say I want a 2 bedroom anywhere in Florida with a checkin date of December 29 for 6 days and not using more than 10,000 points (or whatever you want). The reservation person will find one (first on the list or one that they feel confident there is space) or say there is nothing available. Then you say you could checkin on the 28th. If nothing try the 27th, etc. (If your second choice is the 29th and you call 11 months out, you will have to wait til the next day to call for the 29th. I have been told that you can ask if there might be something on the 29th that you might be able to reserve on the next day.)

They are generally quite helpful. If the person gets you frustrated, say you have to talk to your spouse and will call back. Then call right back and hopefully you will get someone else.

And feel free to ask questions on this forum. We all started out at one time or the other.

Charles

[965Hawk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 965Hawk]

Thanks that's exactly the type of information I need.

Have you had any good/bad experiences at Florida beach resorts that you would be willing to share. I guess I should look into joining TUG to get some more info.

Thanks again.

[965Hawk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 965Hawk]

Not planning ahead?

Can anyone share their experience attempting to get stays when they aren't 11+ months away from their desired date?

For example has anyone been able to get a resort/roomType only 6 months out? (obviously there has to be some resort/roomType available, but I would like to hear what your experiences have been)

Right now, I'm guessing if you try to do that too often you become dissappointed and decide you better plan further out ahead. However, that's just my guess from what I have seen posted. Am I being too pesimistic?

[bfdretired Member Find all posts View Profile Close bfdretired]

yes booking early will give you a better chance of getting what you want. Although as you know plans change and sometimes reservations have to be attempted on short notice....this is where flexabilty comes in. a couple years ago I wanted to go to florida in january...of course prime weeks were booked but....i was able to get 5 days in st augustine...then non BG for a weekend and then down to marathon for another 5 days.....yes i got lucky that there was openings but...i found that it is possible...


I have wondered if B/G reservations would ever go online. when you call for reservations now they must look at a master file to tell them what is available and what is not......if we could look at the master schedule online we could speed up reservations and it would be more convenient to make a choice......

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

Bonus Time Online Now

I have wondered if B/G reservations would ever go online. when you call for reservations now they must look at a master file to tell them what is available and what is not......if we could look at the master schedule online we could speed up reservations and it would be more convenient to make a choice......

I understand that it is in the works but it is not a trivial task. You can do Bonus Time online now 48 days in advance (only 45 days in advance by phone). You select a resort, size, and date and then choose if you can be flexible.

Charles

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

Very iffy if your dates aren't flexible and high season

Can anyone share their experience attempting to get stays when they aren't 11+ months away from their desired date?

I was able to book a southern Florida 2 bedroom for a Spring Break week calling 4-6 months in advance. The unit had a mural view but outside it was sunshiny and warm which meant the most to we northerners. It was a unit most people wouldn't want. Everything else in that choice time and area was gone. But that was before the Fountains in Orlando was in the Club so I can't speak for Now. So, reserve early or take your chances. If you don't have to fly, you can luck out when you get close to the time you want due to cancellations.

Charles

[965Hawk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 965Hawk]

Charles, can you explain what you mean by Fountains in Orlando being in the Club?

What is the Club?
How does that change the Fountains availability?


We are from Iowa so anything above freezing, even if it is for half of the day is a treat during the Winter...we're getting another snowstorm today.

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

In each annual meeting held in September, Bluegreen reports the resort utilization statistics for the Club. Here are the stats that were reported in Sept 2008 for the prior year:

Utilization stats. This was provided last year and voted upon by the board. We should watch these figures every year to see if there is a shift in utilization of Club inventory. As I recall, this is higher than it was last year. I believe that is good.
- 65% Club Points; 717k use nights
- 8.4% Bonus Time; 92k use nights
- 0.2% Exchange through RCI or II
- 7.3% for Sampler packages (off season only)
- <1% for rentals at Bluegreen Rentals.com for delinquent owners
- 1.6% for employee use
- 5% for resort use and upkeep.

Off season is readily available. Holidays and Summer have much tighter availability since there are so many owners who have families with small children.

The key to understanding availability in Bluegreen is to know the inventory that is available. You can find that in your Multi-site Public Offering statement which was provided to you when you purchased your Bluegreen points. Each resort has all of its available inventory summarized in that document. And, it is updated annually. If you don't have a copy, you can download an older version of it from the Bluegreen Owner website. It is about a 20M file, so make sure you can handle such a download before attempting it.

In general, the key principles for assessing availability are as follows:

1) Availability at Club Resorts is much better than at Club Associate Resorts. A Club Resort. A Club Resort is one where Bluegreen owns and operates it. A Club Associate Resort is one where Bluegreen just has inventory at it for owners to book. Here is how you tell if a resort is a Club Resort or a Club Associate Resort.

Here is the website link for The Fountains. Notice Orange dot above the picture of the resort that says "Club Resort." Whenever you see such a Club Resort, there is usually good supply of inventory at that resort.

Here is the website link for Mariner's Boathouse. When you click on that link, you see a Green Dot above the picture of the resort that says "Club Associate Resort." This usually means that this resort was one of the original resorts in RDI before it became the Bluegreen Vacation Club and there isn't much inventory there. Most Gulf Coast of Florida resorts are Club Associate Resorts and have very little inventory available for owner bookings.

About half the Bluegreen Vacation Club resorts are Club Resorts. The remaining are Club Associate Resorts.

2) To get Club Associate Resorts reliably, you need to be a Premier owner who knows how to use the waitlist effectively. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to get a reservation at one of these resorts.

3) At a Club Resort, availability is as you would expect. Holiday weeks and Summer weeks and Beach weeks go first. Especially oceanfront units are units with great views. You need to book those early or be left out. If you travel off season or in shoulder seasons, it's usually not difficult to get what you want. But, even during many holidays, it's possible to get something if you call right around the 11 month mark prior to check in.

4) Bonus time is available a lot. I find that I can get something just about any time I want to go. That's because there are a lot of cancellations that happen within 45 days from check in. You just need to be persistent in checking for availaibility. And, you can do it online.

Relative to the question of whether or not Bluegreen will give us online reservations. The answer is YES. They will as soon as they can develop it. We already have Bonus Time online booking capability and have had it for a couple of years. The priority for Bluegreen was to get us the ability to see our online reservations. It was supposed to be done in November and we just recently got it. Online Reservations was targeted originally for this summer. But, given the layoffs, we probalbly won't get it until next year.

It is a very high priority feature because having it will reduce call holding time for reservations which will dramatically reduce costs. So, Bluegreen is motivated to get it done for us. Personally, I can't wait until we get it.

Bluegreen is a fantastic Vacation Club. Have fun with your new ownership.

Jim

[965Hawk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 965Hawk]

Wow, that is some very good information. Thanks for sharing! Currently I'm in the process of getting points resale (Jim, you are already aware of this, since you are doing a great job of helping me with the process). So if everything goes well I'll soon have access to all the member information! I didn't realize we have access to specific resort inventory information, that is a great resource.

Getting access online is also going to be great, I wish I could help. I do software development and this scope of project really shouldn't take months and months to complete unless it isn't well defined/managed. Oh well, I'm happy that BG has it as a priority since it will help streamline the reservation process.

Thanks again!

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

Just call and ask

Sometimes, I just call up to see what's what.

"Any Presidentials available for Fourth of July?"

"Any beach resorts over Christmas?"

"What is open for any Fri/Sat night in the next two months that is driving distance for me?"

or whatever. It is rare that I will get a rep that finds this tedious when the outcome is not a reservation, but it does happen. Usually, I tell the rep right up front that I am just on a fishing expedition, and give them some criteria.

Calling frequently is really the only way to know what's available when. And remember, you always have 24 hours to cancel without penalty.

People do cancel, so maybe the zillionth time you call hoping to score LAI or Surfside Solara for your wedding anniversary, you can get one for the entire weekend (found that recently for a friend @ Marathon)! But, crap, spouse is unavailable, will they still want to go since we thought we couldn't get it?? BOOK IT. Check air, check with the SO, cancel or keep it.

Honestly, some of the trips we've taken we didn't know we wanted to take until we found out they were available. I realize that's not how most people do things, but it's been a lot of fun for us. "Hey Honey, guess what I just booked us?!"

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

Boardgirl, you are opposite of me. I look about a year out, research, figure out where we may want to go, find out the area and what is there, then see if I can get in for the specific week I want. But then, I am married to a teacher with limited vacation schedule (and going to be worse next year). We go when she doesn't have school, we put in our requests very early, and we go where we want, or we get our second choice.

[fendervo4 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fendervo4]

I checked this morning on availability at SC in VA and they had availability for mid July in the new 3 bedroom cabins. I have almost always gotten what I wanted and when I wanted it. You just have to be a little flexible. Good Luck!

[965Hawk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 965Hawk]

Thanks for giving me some insight. I really thought you had to book 11+ months out or hope to get lucky (I guess I'm too pesimistic...)

So the next question I have is how important is it to get a specific building? Are the rooms for a given type (say 2 bedroom unit) significantly different or is it more that some rooms will have a better view/more convenient?

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

So the next question I have is how important is it to get a specific building?

That depends on where you are going and what's important to you. For instance, I would want building 3 at Hershey, because I like the view there, because it has a whirlpool bath in the master bed room, and because it's directly connected to the indoor pool. Others might prefer building 1 because you can see the trains and because it's closer to the outdoor pool, and they don't care about the whirlpool bath.

Are the rooms for a given type (say 2 bedroom unit) significantly different or is it more that some rooms will have a better view/more convenient?

Depends on what you consider "significant." I would say whether a room is suitable for someone who lacks mobility "significant", and most of the differences between rooms aside from that pretty insignificant. But if it's five below, and you want to go swimming, whether your room is connected direct to the pool or not is going to seem pretty significant I'd think.

As a general rule, the differences between units of a given type are along the lines of "better view/more convenient". I would say the units at Christmas Mountain Village vary more than average, since I would not be happy in the cottages down by the RV campground, but I'd be fine in the villas or townhomes or timbers units, even though I think they're all considered two bedroom.

OTOH, I was offered a chalet when they didn't have any townhomes left at Mountain Loft and I ended up liking the chalet better (the townhomes are more likely to have a view there, though). I think CMV is unusual not just in the range of options but in the fact that I'd be seriously unhappy with some.

There appears to be more variety from place to place, though - with the possible exception of Solara, beachfront units look to be smaller than average, for instance. At least in terms of fitting my family (I may be setting "average" a little strangely since I'm generally looking to sleep eight). And units that are remodeled hotels tend to be smaller than units that were designed as condos from the git go, I think.