Bluegreen Premier Benefits/Maint Fees

[marshalldillon Member Find all posts View Profile Close marshalldillon]

WHat are the best benefits of having enough points to be considered a Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum member?? I have analyzed the benefits and have realized you dont get early check-in, it is a waste to pay maint fees with points, etc. The only thing I see that is somewhat beneficial is the early reservation list and the possibility of getting an upgrade. Just curious as to how important it would be to buy the points through an authorized seller in order to get these benefits or just buy the points off ebay. Also...how does BG calculate maint fees?? Do you pay a lesser amount per point for maint fees for owning more points. I own 8,000 biennial points and have used this amount to the max. We have loved BG once I figured out how to best use my points. I guarantee there has been no other BG owner with the same amount of points that we have that has done as much...it is just a matter of figuring out how to utilize those points and bonus time. I am interested in purchasing more points and curious of your opinions on the premier benefits and how the maint fees will work prior to purchase.

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

You are correct that paying maintenance fees with points is no longer a good deal for Premier owners.

Here is a summary of the main benefits of each Premier level: Bluegreen VIP/Premier features

I would say that the major benefit of Premier is wait list privileges for harder to get resorts and dates. And, the fact that a certain number of cancellation fees are waived.

Most people I encounter who have more than 20000 points find the $2000 surcharge for getting to one of these higher Premier levels is worth it.

Since you own 8000 bi-annual, you may want to add another 8000 bi-annual because you may be overpaying for maintenance fees for how many points you own. Send me a private email if you want an analysis of your account and some options for upgrading with cheap points or to a higher Premier level.

[marshalldillon Member Find all posts View Profile Close marshalldillon]

I have emailed you privately with an email you can use. I really think I would like to upgrade to an annual points package rather than another bi-annual package. However, what is your rationale for going with another bi-annual package. I appreciate the advice and information. John

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

I have emailed you privately with an email you can use. I really think I would like to upgrade to an annual points package rather than another bi-annual package. However, what is your rationale for going with another bi-annual package. I appreciate the advice and information. John

I imagine he is advising you to buy a complementary package to what you have, so that it, combined with your current ownership, becomes an 8k annual ownership.

So, if you own 8000 odd year, buy an 8000 even year (or conversely).

sc
--

[marshalldillon Member Find all posts View Profile Close marshalldillon]

Yes. I have been PMing Boca discussing options to purchase more points. He has been very helpful and informative. I agree with what you are saying and am considering purchasing an annual package to increase our number of points and to also get a better value for my maint. fees.

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

Be careful

So, if you own 8000 odd year, buy an 8000 even year (or conversely).sc --

One has to be careful about that. Depending on which Trust your two packages would be in, you could end up paying more in maintenance fees than if you had just one annual package in the right Trust. Also, your anniversary dates might not be the same which could make it difficult to get a high red reservation in certain time frames.

Charles

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

One has to be careful about that. Depending on which Trust your two packages would be in, you could end up paying more in maintenance fees than if you had just one annual package in the right Trust. Also, your anniversary dates might not be the same which could make it difficult to get a high red reservation in certain time frames.

Charles

Good points. I assumed that because he was working with Boca, he was going to end up with all his contracts moved to Trust E. While that may be what happens, I should not have assumed that without stating so.

sc
--

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

Good points. I assumed that because he was working with Boca, he was going to end up with all his contracts moved to Trust E. While that may be what happens, I should not have assumed that without stating so.

sc
--

I always verify what an owner currently owns and ensure that what they are buying combines properly. I tell them the before and after maintenance fees once upgraded and/or combined.

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

I always verify what an owner currently owns and ensure that what they are buying combines properly. I tell them the before and after maintenance fees once upgraded and/or combined.

That is one very important reason for working with Jim.

Human nature being what it is, some people will work with a good salesman (I define a good salesman who has both his/her interests AND the potential customer's interest in mind and heart) and then the potential customer sees such an apparently great bargain elsewhere and forgets everything except price and goes ahead and buys the cheap item and then pays more for it in the long run. I feel (as do most Tuggers) that it is important that we who have no personal involvement keep reminding others of potential pitfalls and how they can be avoided.

Charles

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

That is one very important reason for working with Jim.

Human nature being what it is, some people will work with a good salesman (I define a good salesman who has both his/her interests AND the potential customer's interest in mind and heart) and then the potential customer sees such an apparently great bargain elsewhere and forgets everything except price and goes ahead and buys the cheap item and then pays more for it in the long run. I feel (as do most Tuggers) that it is important that we who have no personal involvement keep reminding others of potential pitfalls and how they can be avoided.

Charles

I agree completely. I'll give you a personal example. I've been looking to get into BG points, but I'm a cheapskate at heart, and didn't want to pay the going rate for the last few years. With the downturn in the market, there are now points memberships on eBay going for prices that were unheard of a year ago.

I started talking to Jim about two months ago, peppering him with questions. The reason I started then is that I had found a couple of weeks at Lodge Alley Inn for sale on Craigslist for a ridiculously low price, and was talking with Jim about taking those points and adding in a 12k week to bump me up to Gold. For whatever reason (I seem to bring this out in people), the seller abruptly stopped communicating and sold to someone else, so that deal fell through. I then began to talk with Jim about just getting a full Gold package through him, but I was open that I was going to continue to look for other packages to merge in with his incoming inventory (he had told me, as he also posted here at TS4MS, about his large bunch of incoming packages).

This week, a 28,000 point package was on eBay. It looked like an incredible deal: 28,000 saved points, reasonable closing fees. I thought about making a run for it and told Jim I was considering it. He didn't argue with me or tell me not to, he just said that he would have all his packages sorted out in a couple more days, and left me to make my own decision. In the end, I passed on it, and I'm delighted that I did.

I knew that if I bought the package off of eBay, I would have additional delays and costs (I had told Jim that if I did buy a big chunk of my Gold points elsewhere, I would pay him an extra fee for all the advice and consulting he'd done for me; while that wasn't a required fee, I don't hold with pumping people for information and then leaving them in the lurch). However, I hadn't stopped to consider all of the fees and extra closings that would be involved, plus the difficulty (as noted above in other posts) of being able to combine the weeks into a good package.

It turns out that Jim has an ideal package for me. I had asked him for units at specific BG resorts if they were in the lot of contracts he was getting, and two of the three weeks comprising my package are there; the remaining 9k points are a "best fit" with the rest of the package. In the end, "Points is points," to paraphrase the old Wendy's commercials, so I'll have the option of reserving my two highly desirable weeks, and I'll have 9k points to pick up a week for exchange.

And the best part is that he did it all for less than it would have cost me if I'd won that eBay package, combined it with something else, and paid the Gold upgrade fee. And my closing will go through in MUCH less time than I would've had to wait just for that eBay package to close. The only downside, and it's small one beyond his control, is that I don't get any saved points with this package (cheese with that whine, anyone? :-).

Jim even put up with my misguided griping at one point in the process with nary a word of complaint or reprimand. I felt foolish when I figured the costs correctly and realized how much better the deal was than I'd thought (when calculating the cost per point for comparison to other sources, I was forgetting that Jim's quote included all costs, including the BG upgrade fee).

So, a hearty two thumbs up so far on working with Jim!

sc
--

[marshalldillon Member Find all posts View Profile Close marshalldillon]

Very good information. Thank you for sharing.