Talk to your Home Resort Management

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I just came back from a great trip in St Croix. Many of the smaller resorts do not know what is happening in the time share field. They have no idea about what Rci is doing to the industry as far as rentals and keeping deposited weeks to rent out rather than putting them in the exchange pool where they belong. Inform your resort that it will benefit there owners if they are duel affiliated with II. Inform them that there are other exchange companies to use like, SFX, DAE, TPI, HTSE and so on. Tell them they can use sites like this to help sell extra inventory for free. They can rent out there own weeks here rather than to put them into an rental pool with Rci and have them make the profits.

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

Frank, why don't we make a very special place for this announcement so that more people here will do this too.

We often talk to management at our small independent resorts and I send them links from the forums too when I find an article that they may like to read.

They appreciate it too. Both HOAs do a great job for our timeshare owners.

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

It sounds like the sensible thing to do, and that HOAs would be interested, but if you believe all of them would be, you obviously have not followed the lack of success I have had with mine.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

You will not get the big resorts to listen but it is the small ones that will, The one that I just came back from only has about 60 units. I invited them to come here to sell off there excess weeks and to start an HOA forum here if they would like to have one here. I felt that they liked the idea of selling there units here but I am not to sure they want there owners here since they can rent out there units through here and bypass the resort commishion if the resort would have rented them. I will find out in a fee days if my resort in St Croix wants to have a forum here. if they do thats great and if they don't at least they are now aware of what is going on.

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

It is a small operation in the greater scheme of things.

In their mind they have more to lose than to gain in challenging RCI. They are thankful for any affiliation at all, and yes, they do have two other affiliations.

And they do not appreciate know-it-alls sticking his nose into their business.

I think others will encounter the same response from smaller resorts, with the larger ones more willing the challenge RCI.

That is my experience.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I've talked to management at a couple of smaller resorts and they are really more knowledgeable than you might think. Of course this does vary from resort to resort. I do not think that resorts still in the sales process will be recommending an internet timeshare group to their owners.

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

I more I think about my experience the more I have to disagree, Bigfrank.

My experience is that the larger resorts are less intimidated, less beholding to the exchange companies. They are more independent, more thinking RCI is beholding to them and the ones more likely to take a stand against RCI.

It is the bigger resorts who have given RCI to most troubles over the years, it seems.

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

I tried to talk to the sales manager at Solmar about buying up cheap weeks on the resale market and to partner with him on reselling them. Not at all interested. But I got out of my last timeshare talk in 15 minutes.

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

Resort groups are the most effective competition to thwart RCI and II. The name of the game is to control bulk deposits. Whoever controls the deposits has the keys to the kingdom.

The best advice you can give to a small resort is to affiliate with a group of other small resorts and form their own internal trading system. Then, affiliate with RCI or II.

That group would contorl the deposits and rent off weeks to reduce maintenance fees and affiliate with all exchange companies for maximum trading power.

Most of these resort groups are in a point system. But, the principle still applies even if it's just a weeks system.

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

Talking to our resorts is important. Some keep up with the industry more than others. They NEED to know about the new RCI policies.

One of the keys is figuring out who to talk to. Sometimes it is the manager who is the key, but more often it is one of the HOA board. I have found that HOA board members are more likely to be owners who use at the resort than those who exchange. Thus, the HOA president may have only a passing interest in exchanging, and another board member who does exchange may be willing to pick up the ball and run with it.

Explaining the independent exchange companies to HOA's has some obvious benefits. One of them is that at least two independents, DAE and PI, will pay the postage for an issue of the HOA newsletter if the HOA includes a brochure from the exchange company. That is free postage for the HOA for two newsletters. We should encourage them to take advantage of these offers. One of my home resorts has done this with both DAE and PI, and the othter has with DAE and will do PI on the next newsletter. Members appreciate getting this info. DAE has also sent a rep to one HOA meeting on the OBX so far and send door prizes to a couple of others for their HOA meetings. All a resort has to do is ask for the door prizes. One of my overseas resorts is already very involved with DAE and is dual affiliated RCI/II, so there is no need to do anything further there.

One way to get their attention on the rental issue without having to get too deeply involved is to do it in the form of a question. Email them with something like ''Are you aware of the two class action lawsuits recently filed against RCI? Info on one of them is at www.classcounsel.com/news/rci.html .
Do you think this will impact our exchanging?'' If this goes to the right person, once they read the Green Welling webpage, the wheels should start turning in thier own mind. Of course, I tend to try to get out all of the info, but if someone doesn't want to get that involved, using the question approach is simple.

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

Resort groups are the most effective competition to thwart RCI and II. The name of the game is to control bulk deposits. Whoever controls the deposits has the keys to the kingdom.

The best advice you can give to a small resort is to affiliate with a group of other small resorts and form their own internal trading system. Then, affiliate with RCI or II.

That group would contorl the deposits and rent off weeks to reduce maintenance fees and affiliate with all exchange companies for maximum trading power.

Most of these resort groups are in a point system. But, the principle still applies even if it's just a weeks system.

A resort with a big enough block of HOA weeks to be renting them off is one that has a delinquincy problem. It is in an HOA's interest to sell those weeks to new owners, not hold them for rent. Well managed resorts turn those weeks they get back to resales.

And I have a real problem with a group controlling deposits. Deposits should be up to each individual owner.

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

A resort with a big enough block of HOA weeks to be renting them off is one that has a delinquincy problem. It is in an HOA's interest to sell those weeks to new owners, not hold them for rent. Well managed resorts turn those weeks they get back to resales.

And I have a real problem with a group controlling deposits. Deposits should be up to each individual owner.

I am not talking about renting weeks of deadbeat owners. I am talking about an opt-in rental program run by the resort. You said that you use one yourself. That's what I am talking about. If they create a rental brand across multiple resorts in multiple regions, they will command higher rentals.

Regarding controlling bulk deposits, I am talking about aggregating buying power rather than diffusing it. If a resort group has enough weeks available, they can negotiate maximum trading power for EVERY week deposited instead of just prime weeks. Look at what the mini-systems do. They have so much power, they dictate terms of trade. This is how business in general works.

I strongly believe that timesharing in the future will be dominated by resort groups where members can reserve available time in any of the internal resorts in the group for a nomimal fee of $49 or less. And, they will aggregrate deposits for exchange with II and RCI to get maximum prime week trading power while delivering shoulder and off season weeks. And, they will have their own rental programs so that owners can put their weeks up for rent hastle free. If there is available time less than 45-60 days out, they should offer bonus time at discounted rates to owners or at a higher rate to the general public to maintain high occupancy rates year around.

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

The small independent timesharing resort is going to experience the same pressure that local grocery stores and hardware stores faced when large grocery store chains, walmart and home depot came to town. They need to plan now for their future in a world dominated by branded resort groups.

There still are local grocery stores and hardware stores, but not many.

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

Most resorts on the OBX do not run any rental program beyond making space availible on a board in the office or on a website for members to post rentals. That is what I have used, and it seems to work fine.

As to exchange deposts, I would run, not walk away from a plan where someone else controls when or how I choose to make an exchange deposit.
That is my choice in its entirety, not theirs. Bulkbanking is NOT in the interest of indvidual exchangers and is a massive negative for any prospective buyers who intend to exchange. Ask Bootleg about what it does to your RCI trading power!!!

On the OBX, those who want to rent through an agency already have a very well established business that handles rentals, Outer Banks Resort Rentals, which has been around almost as long as timesharing has on the Outer Banks.
Resorts do not have any need to reinvent the wheel.

I am not talking about renting weeks of deadbeat owners. I am talking about an opt-in rental program run by the resort. You said that you use one yourself. That's what I am talking about. If they create a rental brand across multiple resorts in multiple regions, they will command higher rentals.

Regarding controlling bulk deposits, I am talking about aggregating buying power rather than diffusing it. If a resort group has enough weeks available, they can negotiate maximum trading power for EVERY week deposited instead of just prime weeks. Look at what the mini-systems do. They have so much power, they dictate terms of trade. This is how business in general works.

I strongly believe that timesharing in the future will be dominated by resort groups where members can reserve available time in any of the internal resorts in the group for a nomimal fee of $49 or less. And, they will aggregrate deposits for exchange with II and RCI to get maximum prime week trading power while delivering shoulder and off season weeks. And, they will have their own rental programs so that owners can put their weeks up for rent hastle free. If there is available time less than 45-60 days out, they should offer bonus time at discounted rates to owners or at a higher rate to the general public to maintain high occupancy rates year around.

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

The big difference is that leisure travel is LOCATION driven, not brand driven. While a brand may have a minor impact, it is always going to be location that rules. But this is off topic and this discussion should be in a seperate thread. Let's not try to beat it to death here. The topic of this thread is too important.

The small independent timesharing resort is going to experience the same pressure that local grocery stores and hardware stores faced when large grocery store chains, walmart and home depot came to town. They need to plan now for their future in a world dominated by branded resort groups.

There still are local grocery stores and hardware stores, but not many.