Must Read Post From An Insider on Timeshare Talk!

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

Still playing your straw man games by trying to shift my argument, and then respond to your distortion, I see.

The issue was whether minis would make exchange companies obsolete, and the answer is NO because they are far too limited. I have already conceded, which you do not seem to want to recognize, that there is a certain niche of owners with limited exchange horizons for whom a mini may meet their needs.

I am contending that using a mini alone as a substitute for an exchange company is simply NOT a viable option for most timeshare exchangers. When you respond by talking about people using a mini in conjunction with an exchange company, you are in effect conceding my point, although you don't seem to realize it.

The correct companision on numbers on this issue is that using Raintree Vacation Club alone gives access to 29 resorts, whereas using an exchange company gives access to thousands of them.

Please note that my discussion is about exchangers behavior. I did note that the larger group of owners, those who own to use at a specific resort at a specific times, are themselves not particularly well served by minis. Those people are better off with fixed weeks. What we are discussing is what is better for exchangers.

I don't know about Raintree, but I know that many minis have a huge negative in lack of member control. Their governing boards reflect developer dictatorship instead of homeowner democracy. I'll take a member-run HOA any day!

This is a good summary. I will admit that I have made statements suggesting that the independent exchange companies will go out of business. I did this when I compared the timesharing exchange market to the long distance telephony market. After further consideration, I don't believe that will happen completely. I believe that independent third party exchange will continue to reduce in importance, though. As soon as I can get a metric for it, I'll post it and track it over time.

[Republiman Member Find all posts View Profile Close Republiman]

For a newbie to read the last dozen or so posts on this thread has been fascinating. Like watching the timeshare version of "Clash of the Titans"!

Thanks to all you folks who spend so much time putting your thoughts down on electrons. Newer members really can learn a lot from these exchanges.

Fred

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Still playing your straw man games by trying to shift my argument, and then respond to your distortion, I see.

The issue was whether minis would make exchange companies obsolete, and the answer is NO because they are far too limited. I have already conceded, which you do not seem to want to recognize, that there is a certain niche of owners with limited exchange horizons for whom a mini may meet their needs.

I humbly submit that you are the one shifting arguments, then trying to force others to respond to your distortions.

To review, we started this exchange when you posted the following:

Minis are FAR too limited in what they have to offer. Sunterra is probably the broadest in its offerings, but it too is quite limited, and will be more so if it has to cough up its European operation to someone like Club La Costa as a result of the current scandal or is even broken up completely.

That is the specific statement that I excerpted and responded to.

Nowhere in that statement do I see anything about whether or not minis are going to replace exchange companies. I just can't find it there. Heck, I can't even distort your words to put it there. All I can see there is a statment that minis are limited in what they offer, with the implicit (but clear) comparative being to ownership at solitary resorts.

When I pointed out the absurdity of that statement, then you tried to shift the argument, claiming that the issue was whether minis would become obsolete. I never stated that - that is the straw man. You distorted my words - nay, you didn't distort my words - you wholly fabricated statements that you then attributed to me. The classic straw man device - when you can't win the argument posited, change the argument to something else and pretend that was the contention all along.

Then when I insist on sticking to your original contention (quoted above so there's no doubt as to what you stated and I responed to) instead of your fabricated statements, you accuse me of distorting the argument??

If I didn't know better, I mght think that you were involved in running political campaigns!

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Then when I insist on sticking to your original contention instread of your fabricated statements, you accuse me of distorting the argument??

You have to be more flexible with your definitions just like fixed weeks are!

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I haven't read much of this but assume from it's length that it has wandered a bit.

If that is the case, taking it back to the original topic, I am slow to recall, but this proposal is not all that different than what I asked RCI to do for quite awhile.

When we first bought, at the point when reality set in (and since there was no RCI.com that took a few years) and we knew our weeks would not trade like the sales weasel said they would, I asked RCI to take two weeks for one good exchange, say to go to Hawaii, and they never would.

I don't see anything wrong with the idea of anteing up to get better trades, provided that is the understanding from the git-go and if it is not applied retroactively and it is voluntary.

I would still be willing to do it, ante up or give two weeks to get one good vacation, but I would like to be able to see what I could select from online, so they would have to come up with a way for weak traders to see everything.

If everything was out in the open and above board, that should not be a problem.

Yeah, I would sign on to that, a crappy week plus money or another crappy week for a good week. Seems fair.