The Heck With Class-Action . . .

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

Truly nothing new to say here, just repetition.

The promise/implication/pact/understanding was that timeshare was closed, exclusive to owners, to give owners better vacations than non-owners, and that exchange companies existed solely for the purpose of making exchanges of those ownerships between owners, so that owners were not restricted to their own resorts.

The only mention of use by non-owners was with the permission of the owner of that week, to a guest or as a rental by the owner.

The go-anywhere, anytime, lie/implication seems to be part of both the former and latter business models, and is not something that particularly bothers me. Anyone with half a brain cell can figure out that that can't be, that everyone can't go to the places that everyone wants to go to at the same time everyone wants to go there.

Not sure what the promise is.

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

The promise/implication/pact/understanding was that timeshare was closed, exclusive to owners, to give owners better vacations than non-owners, and that exchange companies existed solely for the purpose of making exchanges of those ownerships between owners, so that owners were not restricted to their own resorts.

That is my recollection too, as an RCI member since 1983 or so.

The other thing that they changed was that if your deposited week goes unused via an exchange, you would get it back to use yourself. I believe the window on that was like two weeks out from the date of the unused deposited week. This applied even if you did make and take an exchange for your deposited week.

For me, that was a HUGE benefit to RCI that was taken away . . . probably around 1990.

With that being said, I still use and enjoy the flexibility and accessibility that RCI has given us in trading to other resorts.

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

The go-anywhere, anytime, lie/implication seems to be part of both the former and latter business models, and is not something that particularly bothers me. Anyone with half a brain cell can figure out that that can't be, that everyone can't go to the places that everyone wants to go to at the same time everyone wants to go there.

And that "lie" is perpetuated more by the resorts and developers trying to sell during their presentations than by RCI. I don't know that I have ever receiving anything from RCI professing to get me anywhere I want to to, anytime I want to be there.

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

From surveys I have seen, a large percentage of timeshare buyers, even who buy resale have been to a timeshare presentation. At those developer presentations, they were usually shown films and other materials produced by RCI that presented the RCI exchange system. Those buyers did in fact rely on RCI's presentation of its exchange system in making their purchase system.
They certainly relied on it when they joined RCI even if RCI was not, itself. a party to the purchase transaction.

Not sure what the promise is. But I believe when I went to the presentation, I was told that I can go whenever and whereever like I own RCI . Since quite a few people now did their research first through internet and bought resell to start with, so there is no promise, not that it is under different business model, so there will be no or less misled. But because people bought without go throught retail thus there is no promise.

And After reading from internet site like tug and this, from author like you, we know the end is here, so it is hardly to cry fault. In a way, you strip our chance to claim we been robbed by RCI.

Jya-Ning

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

That is correct. I equate buying a specific resort such as our Cove @ Yarmouth in Cape Cod or Cypress Pointe in Orlando to use as equal to our Wyndham membership, based on deeded property in Williamsburg. The Wyndham "home" resort is any of the resorts available to use (is it over 80 now - I don't know but it keeps going up) without involving RCI or II or any external trade whatsoever. That is a truly flexible "buy where you want to go" timeshare. Still holding a deed means that if tomorrow the Wyndham system imploded we have a true home resort to drive to and enjoy. It meets all the criteria of buy where you want to go yet opens the door wide to trips all over the country and more. It's one of the big reasons the mini-systems have become the ownership of choice vs straight weeks for use at multiple locations.

John, two questions here. Do the Fairfield points exchange as easy to the hotel based timeshare resorts as Worldmark does? We went once on a tour several years ago at Gleneden, OR and they showed us black and white what was available at these resorts with a current list they had while we, as an owner, had a hard time to reserve where we owned. I was very impressed by their list. Is that the same with Fairfield too?

Second question is why do they not combine these two brands so you have more places to go to yet. That would make sense to me. There must be legal problems with combining the systems or they pick up more fees that way. Do you know?

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

John, two questions here. Do the Fairfield points exchange as easy to the hotel based timeshare resorts as Worldmark does? We went once on a tour several years ago at Gleneden, OR and they showed us black and white what was available at these resorts with a current list they had while we, as an owner, had a hard time to reserve where we owned. I was very impressed by their list. Is that the same with Fairfield too?

Second question is why do they not combine these two brands so you have more places to go to yet. That would make sense to me. There must be legal problems with combining the systems or they pick up more fees that way. Do you know?

No, they don't. That's because most of the Hotel brands are in II and most of the FF/Wyn points can only be used in RCI.

WorldMark can be used seamlessly between II or RCI.

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

Truly nothing new to say here, just repetition.

The promise/implication/pact/understanding was that timeshare was closed, exclusive to owners, to give owners better vacations than non-owners, and that exchange companies existed solely for the purpose of making exchanges of those ownerships between owners, so that owners were not restricted to their own resorts.

The only mention of use by non-owners was with the permission of the owner of that week, to a guest or as a rental by the owner.

Thanks for let me know the promise. It reminds me of FSP membership. Where the trust rule has a written sentence that if there is anything disagree with directory, it should be based on directory. On the other hand, when you bought today, you will have no idea what the directory will say 20 years later. Of course, there is senetence in directory says if there is a diagree between it and trust doc, it should be beased on trust doc.

Alas, RCI does renew its membership and update its disclaimer yearly.

Jya-Ning

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

Second question is why do they not combine these two brands so you have more places to go to yet. That would make sense to me. There must be legal problems with combining the systems or they pick up more fees that way. Do you know?

The short answer is WM is belong to the owner who bought it, not Wyndham. They can select if they want to put property in, but to move whole WM to another system will require owner's willing to do that. I doubt you can find a favorable term to WM that does not hurt FF's feeling. Currently, FSP has the week assigned to it, in order to move to WM, they have to reassign the week, although it is very benefit (they can charge reassign money), they probably will for sure get sued if they do that unless they can pretend there is enough owner representative as trustee and vote that way, or unless it is free of cost, then there is no incentive to do the conversion. However, each POA in FF can vote out if they get owner approve, and FSP trust willing to release their assignemnet, and WM willing to take them in. Which may not possible.

My personal feeling is this is their business model, always have two sets or more in their operation chain, so they can try to attract different group of people, and if the price is right, they can always sell one or the other.

They do have certain arrangement to allow x units exchanged between both systems, but they keep it secretly. That make most sense too, since they still own RCI, and internal exchange will make no money to them, but if you have to go through RCI, they make money per exchange.

Jya-Ning

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

Just Had to Ask

Dear Resort2me:
Just had to ask, what did you do to get kicked out of RCI. I cannot imagine any deed that would keep them from taking your money. Please enlighten us, if I am over stepping excuse my curiosity.

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

He was selling exchanges on TUG.

In his defense, that we when selling/renting exchanges/Spacebanked weeks was prevalent, with a wink and a nod from RCI, before they kicked in the afterburners on that policy. It was a gray area, and done regularly, for a long time.

Coincidentally, the reason for upping the enforcement was to prevent/stop the raiding of prime weeks.

Dear Resort2me:
Just had to ask, what did you do to get kicked out of RCI. I cannot imagine any deed that would keep them from taking your money. Please enlighten us, if I am over stepping excuse my curiosity.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

He was selling exchanges on TUG.

In his defense, that we when selling/renting exchanges/Spacebanked weeks was prevalent, with a wink and a nod from RCI, before they kicked in the afterburners on that policy. It was a gray area, and done regularly, for a long time.

Coincidentally, the reason for upping the enforcement was to prevent/stop the raiding of prime weeks.

Which RCI now does for themselves. Do as I say not as I do.

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

Our first tour was OLCC, when that resort was just a resort, before it was necessary to have villages.

The first item on the agenda was a buffet breakfast in the West Village Clubhouse (the same as our last OLCC tour in 2005 ).

The second item on the agenda was the RCI video. From that point on the presentation was mostly about RCI and exchanging to other locations, not about coming to OLCC every year.

Our next tour that first week was Westgate, when it not much more than the clubhouse and mud. Same there. It hadn't changed at our last WG tour, 12/21/06, almost 20 years later, only RCI had been replaced by II. The pitch was tailored to us, but I heard the same thing being told to everyone around us, buy an EOY to be able to use II.

Back to that first week, four days and a half-dozen tours after OLCC, same at all of them, we bought our first timeshare--same presentation at it.

We did actually return to it once, the next year, but close to 100 exchanges later we have never again stayed at a resort where we own.

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

Buy here today to stay there tomorrow

Our next tour that first week was Westgate, when it not much more than the clubhouse and mud. Same there. It hadn't changed at our last WG tour, 12/21/06, almost 20 years later, only RCI had been replaced by II. The pitch was tailored to us, but I heard the same thing being told to everyone around us, buy an EOY to be able to use II.

Or as Whimpy might say "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today".

Just the fact that the idea is presented at a Westgrate presentation should tell you it's either false or not a good plan. Anyone who depends on anything stated at a Westgrate "show" will learn all too soon that it isn't as they made it sound. Even when they state facts it will be with a twisted interpretation only a weasel could love.

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

Timesharing Today Article

The May/June editon of Timesharing Today has an article on OLCC.
Pg. 40-41.
B.