Dropping of Marriott to VRI

I suspect that in the coming months VRI will make a push to convert Cedar/Aspen owners to RCI points. I personally will resist that because I prefer a fixed week. If only a third of the Cedar and/or Aspen owners convert to RCI points the possibility of Marriott again managing Cedar and/or Aspen at the end of the VRI contract becomes even more remote.

Can they force us to do that?

deborahb3 wrote:

Can they force us to do that?

No they cannot force you to convert to RCI points and in fact it will cost you money to convert to RCI points. I hope all owners at Cedar refuse to convert if and when VRI makes a push to convert to points.

carvana wrote:

I suspect that in the coming months VRI will make a push to convert Cedar/Aspen owners to RCI points. I personally will resist that because I prefer a fixed week. If only a third of the Cedar and/or Aspen owners convert to RCI points the possibility of Marriott again managing Cedar and/or Aspen at the end of the VRI contract becomes even more remote.

This is an update to above post. We were invited to a meeting for Cedar/Aspen owners where VRI representatives made a pitch for Cedar/Aspen owners to convert their weeks to RCI points. We received one of those "act today or miss out" offers to convert our week to points for a one time conversion fee of $2,900. Failure to act at the time of the presentation meant that in the future one wishing to convert must first purchase another points week for $6,900 plus $1,000 to convert the old week. I am keeping my fixed week.

Why isn't everyone notified of these meetings? Anyone have an idea as to why and shouldn't we be?

deborahb3 wrote:

Why isn't everyone notified of these meetings? Anyone have an idea as to why and shouldn't we be?

Our invitation was for owners living in the Austin, Texas area and included a free meal to hear the VRI presentation. These are apparently regional meetings and I suppose it is only a matter of time depending upon where you live until you receive an invitation. It was was a very pleasant meeting with no high pressure but still the sales pitch was an "act now" or face a higher conversion price later on.

carvana

deborahb3 wrote:

Why isn't everyone notified of these meetings? Anyone have an idea as to why and shouldn't we be?

We have been owners at Cedar since 1983 and there should be some communication made to ALL owners to discourage them from changing the status of the units. Whether VRI remains the manager, or there is a change in the future to Marriott or some other management company, we should have the flexibility of handling our units as we do at this time.

I am an owner in Streamside Cedar in Houston. I was invited to a presentation about RCI points, but had to leave before it even got started because they were taking so long to get to the point and I had to get back to work. Can someone explain what this is all about?

edl32 wrote:

I am an owner in Streamside Cedar in Houston. I was invited to a presentation about RCI points, but had to leave before it even got started because they were taking so long to get to the point and I had to get back to work. Can someone explain what this is all about?

We attended the RCI presentation in Austin, Texas last March. The purpose of the meeting was to inform Cedar and Aspen owners that they have an opportunity to convert their fixed week to RCI points. The speakers spent about an hour addressing the benefits of converting the week to RCI points. They told each of those present how many points they would receive for converting their fixed week. Those who converted would have an option of coming back to Cedar/Aspen but not necessarily their former fixed week or they could trade their points for a RCI partial week or full week elsewhere.

The number of points you receive depends on your season - obviously ski weeks command more points than mud weeks and/or summer weeks - and the size of your unit.

We were told we had a one time opportunity to convert that evening for $2,900. Our failure to act that evening would result in a requirement that we buy an additional week for $6,900 and pay a $1,000 conversion fee. Real high pressure! It was an act today or else you will pay more later on.

After about an hour long presentation, multiple salesmen entered the room to meet one-on-one with the owners. We left at that point.

Needless to say we prefer a fixed week and did not act on their offer and do not plan to do so in the future. We subsequently sold our week at a loss but are very relieved to be free of this mess.

I think there is no chance these two resorts will ever be manged by Marriott again. The RCI conversion will prevent this.

carvana wrote:

edl32 wrote:

I am an owner in Streamside Cedar in Houston. I was invited to a presentation about RCI points, but had to leave before it even got started because they were taking so long to get to the point and I had to get back to work. Can someone explain what this is all about?

We attended the RCI presentation in Austin, Texas last March. The purpose of the meeting was to inform Cedar and Aspen owners that they have an opportunity to convert their fixed week to RCI points. The speakers spent about an hour addressing the benefits of converting the week to RCI points. They told each of those present how many points they would receive for converting their fixed week. Those who converted would have an option of coming back to Cedar/Aspen but not necessarily their former fixed week or they could trade their points for a RCI partial week or full week elsewhere.

The number of points you receive depends on your season - obviously ski weeks command more points than mud weeks and/or summer weeks - and the size of your unit.

We were told we had a one time opportunity to convert that evening for $2,900. Our failure to act that evening would result in a requirement that we buy an additional week for $6,900 and pay a $1,000 conversion fee. Real high pressure! It was an act today or else you will pay more later on.

After about an hour long presentation, multiple salesmen entered the room to meet one-on-one with the owners. We left at that point.

Needless to say we prefer a fixed week and did not act on their offer and do not plan to do so in the future. We subsequently sold our week at a loss but are very relieved to be free of this mess.

I think there is no chance these two resorts will ever be manged by Marriott again. The RCI conversion will prevent this.

We should all be contacting the Board of the Cedar Building relative to this issue to communicate to the owners. For those of us who belong to RCI or Interval World, we already have a method to turn in a week and go in their exchange process. There is no reason to spend more money to go to points and as suggested if (and I to doubt it would happen), we reverted to Marriott, all the unit owners would be shortchanged.

How do we contact the board? Shouldn't they be in contact with us. I haven't received anything from the board since last year.

deborahb3 wrote:

How do we contact the board? Shouldn't they be in contact with us. I haven't received anything from the board since last year.

I will be at Streamside next week and will try to get as much information about the Board and also see what is going on. As stated by others we do not need points. I am not excited about the current management company and whether it is Marriott (which I don't believe will ever happen) or some other management agent, there is no reason to give up our units for points.

Thank you for offering to do this for us. I know that the annual meeting is traditionally held in late August. For whatever reason, we seen to be 'conveniently' notified of the Board meeting about two weeks prior to the event seemingly due to 'shipping delays' of the newsletter. This doesn't allow us enough time to submit comments to the Board and make their meeting agenda. I'm glad that I'm not the only one concerned about our investment in this property! I'd be willing to create a 1-page website for owners with this info if we see there is a benefit.