What would you do, and when? So many Questions!

[sheilaanthony Member Find all posts View Profile Close sheilaanthony]

Hi again from last month. We are closing on 2 Greensprings resale deeds within a few weeks, each for 13,000 Sunterra Sun Options. With the 18,000 points we have that would bring us to 44,000 points. It seems from our salesperson at the Williamsburg Sales Center we cannot convert this using the same contract we used last month when we initially converted. And this is what she says from an email today:

"Here are the prices you requested. To put both deeds into points you
need to buy a minium of 4000 points, each deed requires a 2000 point purchase.
4000 points = $5360.00
6000 points = $7860.00
These are the lowest prces the company will allow me to sell this to
you for. Now if you do go Platinum now, when we raise the Elite levels to
75,000, you will be grandfatered in at the 50,000 level for Elite."

One of our weeks is for June 10th and she says we can still convert it to points for this year; the other is for September so we're sure that won't be a problem. We had not heard that the Platinum elite was going to 75,000 points. Have you heard about that? Can we do better than these prices, and if so how? Do we need two separate contracts for the two deeds we're bringing in, as this says? Our initial conversation and verbal offer was to try to bring these in on the January contract, and then we digressed to offering to buy an additional 6,000 points for no more than $5000. Or, should we do nothing, and rent out these weeks and come back to the table next year?

Thanks!

[Eileen A. Member Find all posts View Profile Close Eileen A.]

Hi,

Can I ask if they offered any other incentives at those prices; free maintenance fees for a year, or an II week.

I'm in a similiar situation. I was shy 4,500 pts to become plat. elite and needed to bring in a deed worth 30,000 pts into club. I took some advice from the forum posts and bought another 3,000 pts resale from Holiday Group. Now needing 1,500 pts but realizing the minimum Sunterra purchase would be 2,000 pts I went to the Scottsdale sales center on Sunday. They said the minimum I would need to spend would be $5,860 but this would buy me 4,500pts. They also were going to throw in free MF on the 4,500 pts for a year as well as a bonus 4,500 one time use pts and an II week. Realizing that we really had no choice we agreed. I then reminded the saleswomen that we needed to bring 33,000 pts into Club. All of a sudden they pulled the II week. I told her that would upset my husband (the principle of the thing). He was in the restroom. Anyway I was right and the deal went sour. They let us walk.

I still need to purchase from someone. Do you have a contact at the Williamsburg Sales Center?

I have not heard about the Plat. Elite going to 75,000 pts. Maybe we will here from Spence. Our saleswomen said there was not a minimum pts we had to purchase but a minimum price $5,860. Maybe if you needed 6,000 pts you could buy 2,000 pts resale and 4,000 pts from Sunterra.

[sheilaanthony Member Find all posts View Profile Close sheilaanthony]

Hi Eileen!
So far we haven't been offered any incentives. I thought I would ask for that if we ran out of other options. It was useful to see what they offered you, but then they really didn't come through. By the way what was the incentive offer to you for an II week? Was that in addition to the bonus 4500 1 time use pts?

Isn't it curious how each Center seems to have their own agendas? My salesperson said we needed to purchase 2,000 options for each deed we're bringing in. If we follow that logic, it wouldn't help us to purchase a 3rd small deed with small sun options as we would have to buy an additional 2,000 options if we wanted to convert it. I would be happy to give you my salesperson's name; however could Spence tell me if that's allowed on the forum, or should I do it off-forum? Maybe we can make a deal there with volume! I'm just getting my toe in the water here, so maybe the master will come along and enlighten us!

[Eileen A. Member Find all posts View Profile Close Eileen A.]

Yes, I agree each Center has it's own agenda. I believe your salesperson said the 2,000 per contract thing because it got your pts up. I thought of the fact that it might not help if you buy a third small deed but I don't really believe your salesperson's claim of 2,000 pts per contract. Spence has mentioned in the past a cost of $5,000 for 2,000 pts.

The II week is a free II week (except we pay the exchange fee). They gave us this when we purchased last May. We were repeat customers with the same saleswomen and they still let us walk.

We are going to be at the Sunterra resort in Las Vegas this week and may try to talk to someone there. I'm just not sure if my husband can handle. I will keep you posted and can send or you can send me a private message. Thanks!

Eileen

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

Conversion has always been a moving target. Over nine years of personal experience and the stories from others, sometimes it's been done at Corporate, right now it's not... only at the sales centers.

They're out to sell and each sales manager may have a different way to do that. You may certainly share your sales person's name and number here or privately, however you're comfortable.

$5000 for 2000 SunOptions for multiple contracts is the best deal I've heard about lately, maybe it was the end of the month and they had quotas to meet.

It's no skin off their teeth whether you get your week converted or not, they care only about selling those extra SunOptions.

I was by the Desert Paradise Resort last month on a day visit just for a look see, didn't see any sales center type action there, maybe I wasn't looking in the right place I just drove around and walked around myself, didn't introduce myself to anyone.

I've never heard of any changes to Elite thresholds, sounds like a sales person scare tactic to me.

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

One of our weeks is for June 10th and she says we can still convert it to points for this year; the other is for September so we're sure that won't be a problem. ... should we do nothing, and rent out these weeks and come back to the table next year? Thanks!

Good luck renting out 10Jun or September. Those are not easy dates to find renters. 10Jun is a couple weeks early and September is a few weeks late for the masses.

[Eileen A. Member Find all posts View Profile Close Eileen A.]

Thanks Spence. I called the Desert Paradise Resort today and they told me that they have a Sunterra Sales Desk that is closed today but will open again on the weekend. I will post when I return. Did the resort look nice??

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

Thanks Spence. I called the Desert Paradise Resort today and they told me that they have a Sunterra Sales Desk that is closed today but will open again on the weekend. I will post when I return. Did the resort look nice??

Desert Paradise looked nice and neat but had more of an apartment complex feel to it rather than a resort, just my own impression.

[sheilaanthony Member Find all posts View Profile Close sheilaanthony]

Thank you, Spence. So I hear that we will have difficult weeks to rent out. So do you think we should take one of their 2 offers, or should we continue to negotiate for a better price, incentives, or?? The 4,000 points come out to $1.34 pp, and the 6,000 points come out to $1.31 pp. If anyone here thinks it's worth it to have platinum Elite and an extra 2,000 points for the extra $2,500 I'd love to hear it. I'm beginning to understand some of the logic. Are others on this forum interested in purchasing sun options and joining with Eileen and myself to try to persuade Sales with our volume? Any other ideas? Thanks so much! Eileen, I sent you a PM with the contact info before I read Spence's reply.
Sheila

[Eileen A. Member Find all posts View Profile Close Eileen A.]

Update from Las Vegas Sales Center - Spence, LV does have a Sales Center, they have a force of nine. I had no plan of touring but they offered VISA gift card and show tickets and not having completed my conversion at Scottsdale the week before was hanging over my head.

Sheila - We were offered a PP of $1.31 as well. I do believe that is the lowest they can go. The difference between LV and Scottsdale was that the minimum LV made us purchase was 3,000 pts and Scottsdale's minimum was 4,500 pts. They put both our 30,000 Villa Mirage and our 3,000 Trust pts into Club for that price. They also threw in 3,000 extra pts for a year and paid the 1st Year MF. I just didn't think I could do better and we were there so it was easy to sign. I think you live in California, is there any chance of you going to LV, it might be easier to handle in person. I have the names of the folks we dealt with and they were great.

[sheilaanthony Member Find all posts View Profile Close sheilaanthony]

Thanks for the info, Eileen. Maybe then, if I have this correct, since we need an additional total of 6000 along with our 2 resale purchases to get to platinum, we should buy 4000 or more resale points on auction, go to LV and buy 2,000 sunoptions, and convert everything together along with the purchase, once we have the deeds to the 2 resales? Do you think that would work? I'd like to talk with your salesperson there, and make sure that deal would work for us. We could go to LV, but hadn't really planned on it. Did they say anything about platinum becoming 75000 points in the future? Thanks so much for the update.

[Eileen A. Member Find all posts View Profile Close Eileen A.]

Sheila,

They made us buy 3,000 pts. So I think what would work is if you buy 3,000 resale. I bought my 3,000 from Holiday Group. Then go to LV and buy the additional 3,000. I will PM you my contacts there. I think maybe since they are a small sales center they are more willing to cut a good deal. No, nothing was mentioned about plat becoming 75,000 pts. I did mention to them that I have a friend who might be calling them and asked if they could work thru the mail. They said yes. I just didn't believe your salesperson's claim of 2,000 pts per deed. I think it might be worth a call to LV.

Eileen

[Ryne08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryne08]

Can you just purchase 2000 or 3000 points without buying a additional deeded contract and paying an additional m/fees?

Maybe Sunterra owners would purchase more points.

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

Can you just purchase 2000 or 3000 points without buying a additional deeded contract and paying an additional m/fees? Maybe Sunterra owners would purchase more points.

I'm not sure I understand your question... you can certainly buy 2000 or 3000 Trust/Club Sunterra points from a Sunterra Sales Center with a MF of 7.3¢/pt and you can buy Trust points on eBay all day long.