Owners update at Solara Surfside

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

I just got done with an owner update at Solara Surfside.

VIP services called last night to offer me a 45-minute update of what is happening at Bluegreen. They once again highlighted information on the new Las Vegas resort as a reason to attend. The offer was for $50 plus a getaway vacation. You opt out of that and they will give you $100 cash. Pretty much enough to pay for almost the entire weekend.

There was no new information on Las Vegas. Since it hasn't been announced, I believe it was probably fictitious.

There was no pressure put on me to buy anything. In fact, I was quite surprised at how easy going and honest they were.

They are offering 5000 point upgrades at this resort. But, the claim is that you can no longer only convert some of your fixed weeks and get a new anniversary date. You can only trade in everything you've got for new inventory. The good news is that you can choose any anniversary date you want. I believe that is new. It used to be that your anniversary date was one month after your contract date.

Another thing I didn't know about is that you can do equity trade ins for your timeshares into a Bluegreen community single family home. It might be interesting to buy up enough points on the resale market and get a full single family home and then sell that home. I'm going to check that option out.

The director of sales also told me that since Big Cedar is only a marketing agreement for Bluegreen that that explains why Big Cedar is handled differently than most other resorts.

The Director used to work at Shorecrest and he said that the point owners at Shorecrest who own deeded weeks there tend to exercise their advance reservation privileges there. And, as far as he knew that it was the only resort where that was a common practice. He admitted that he wasn't sure.

I liked these guys. If I need to do another conversion, I might do it here. They showed me the inventory list and they primarily had Marathon, Orando and St. Augustine available in Florida.

Over all, it was a pleasant experience as most Bluegreen updates have been.

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

BG E-Sales and Anniversary Promotions

I recently received a postcard from Bluegreen, congratulating me on our first anniversary with Bluegreen. They also included an offer to sell us more points (surprise, surprise) and at a discounted rate for 4000 and 8000 points. They also offered to give us 4000 bonus one-time points and a free year in Bluegreen Travelers Plus ($39 or $49 a year).

Since our first purchase on site at Shore Crest, we have picked up three more contracts, primarily on e-bay auctions. I figured I could juggle a measy four contracts at once, but the maintenance fees were pretty high, compared to consolidation into one contract. Juggling was beginning to become a major headache, and I had only done it for one year!! A good friend had advised me to buy one more contract, get to gold level before they increase the required points, and merge all into one contract.

Talked with one person at E-Sales, nice and no pressure. Just laid out the options and did a good job of explaining the advantages of using their offer.

Prices were $1.20 per point for 4000-7000, and $1.05 for 8000 (not sure if you could have asked for more than 8000). 8000 was perfect since 1) it just got me over the gold required points, and 2) the cheaper price. It also resulted in a much lower maintenance fee (payback period of about 4-5 years in comparison to buying the same contract for around $.55 per point at an auction).

And, NO CLOSING COSTS! So, payback is even better!

I had about 14000 points available before I merged these four contracts plus the e-sales one, and I would not have any more points coming until December. My new anniversary month is May (the month after the documents are signed), and I get all the points on May 1. I do have to pay an adjusted maintenance fee for the period from May 1 to Nov 1, but I think that will be cheap since I have all the points now.

Good deal I think: I get rid of my four contracts at Shore Crest, Mountain Loft, and Christmas Mountain, and receive one contract and points now. I now own four weeks at Carolina Grande (three in the summer and one white, I think). Points are points, right?

Speaking of Carolina Grande, I think BG has a lot of excess inventory there for the summer. It was one of only three options for my new contract. And then last week Carolina Grande called and invited us down for two free nights "before they open to the public." They wanted me to arrive Sun-Wed, but I said we could only be done for a specific Friday/Saturday in June. They said fine, and mentioned the obligatory owners' meeting. I said only my wife could attend, and they hesitated. But, I said we were staying the week before at Shore Crest, and could take in the tour earlier in the week. That was fine, and they said we would receive $100 in restaurant coupons for the visit.

I would call if you were interested. They must have lots of inventory for this summer, given we got our two specific nights in June. Tough to do that in Myrtle Beach this late in the year!

Good luck!