Resort West new points system - good deal for owners???????>?

Today (!), I came back from The Ridge having rented a studio in The Tower. It was great! I am in escrow for a 2 Bdr in The Tower. Can't wait to return.

I attended the Resorts West seminar aimed at selling would-be owners and converting current owners from deeded weeks ownership into points "vacation owners". All very low key.

I'd appreciate input regarding people's views on the pros and cons of converting and on how this newly implemented system is viewed by other members/owners at The Ridge. Thank you.

I have been an owner at The Ridge, in The Plaza, for 8 years. I also own at Kings Creek in Williamsburg Virginia. I have stayed at the Tower and it is very nice, I'm sure you'll be very happy with it. I have recently been approached by The Ridge to convert to the point system. The conversion costs $2900 and an added $175/year on top of maintenance fees. Everything I have ever been told about timeshares is to make sure you get a deed! This means you actually own part of the property and you can do as you wish with it: sell, rent, will it, etc. It also means that they can't just take it away from you. Do a lot of research on the point system before you convert. Enjoy and Welcome to The Ridge!

Dear Wesley62, Thank you for your welcome and response. At the "presentation" the representative answered the audiences' questions and did not make a traditional presentation wherein information was volunteered to the audience. Several of us did ask a bunch of good questions. We did find out about the increased annual fee for points users but there was no mention of the conversion fee (& none of the 11 vacationers at that meeting stayed to discuss sales or conversions).

The presenter did say that Resorts West had been buying ownership weeks at The Ridge so Resorts West could develop their points system that begun in June.

I'll keep my deeded ownership. Points do not equate to real estate ownership.

I'd very much like to know about the legal differences between deeded weeks' ownership and ownership of points in a trust.

Best regards, Rosemary

We were at a sales meeting today re the conversion. As owners at the 'Terrace for the past 15 years we were told we would have to purchase 1800 more points to the tune of $5400 and the annual fee would be increased $800. This would grant us 8800 points annually but maintenance would now be $1790 annually. This seemed like quite a lot. The deal you were offered seems more doable to me.

alidam4 wrote:

We were at a sales meeting today re the conversion. As owners at the 'Terrace for the past 15 years we were told we would have to purchase 1800 more points to the tune of $5400 and the annual fee would be increased $800. This would grant us 8800 points annually but maintenance would now be $1790 annually. This seemed like quite a lot. The deal you were offered seems more doable to me.

Are you sure of the $1790 for MF'S because this year 2008 is $884.00 and that is getting high?

The resort called us last July 4th week and asked if we would have any interest and we told them no and that I always want to own deeded property and not points.

They never bothered us again about it.

PHILL12

One difference was noted in an earlier response: Deeded means you own part of the property. If you have a deeded week, you are the owner of that unit in that week and have the unquestionable right to use it - if your maintenance fees are paid.

Another is that you can deduct the property taxes on your income tax return, if you itemize deductions, for a second home. This Deeded property would qualify, making part of your 'maintenance' payment deductible on your return.

A POINTS week is not deductible. It does not involve deeded ownership (usually) and is only a right to use - if maintenance fees are paid.

We own serveral weeks, most deeded, some points and right to use, some for a specific number of years. (Yeah we own that many!)

Points work for short stays in multiple locations, or for resorts that you can 'buy' with the points but couldn't trade in to. Floating weeks, in my humble opinion are trash - you can use your resort IF (and sometimes that is a BIG if) the resort has vacancies. This has proven to be a problem more often than not, even though we make our request for a specific week a year out.

Our happiest moments are when we can return to our resort each year, during our preferred week. It allows us to plan our vacations, get to know people from the resort, and exchange when we want. Our fixed, deeded weeks we rarely exchange. The others are almost always exchanged.

One final thought: the vacation sales and use are designed primarily for the sales staff and profit. Deeded property is your security that they won't oversell your unit in their eagerness to make money. If they can put you in any unit (not the one you bought for) they can count on a vacancy factor that they can't use when selling actual weeks. It doesn't lower your cost to purchase, it increases their profits.

I think you made the right choice. The resort is desirable and has good trade, but is a great place to spend your vacation.

There appears to be some misinformation in this discussion. I did convert from owner to points. The maintenance fees are 21 1/2 cents per point per year. Yes that is high, but I like to exchange my points with II and one of the benefits is no exchange fee - it is included in the maintenance fees. I owned in the Cascade building and always wondered what the other building were like. I just recently spent a week in the Tower and loved it and looking forward to a week in the Neagle sometime soon. In addition, with the point system you can book a week for a lot less points and trade it with II to get multiple weeks some where else. In addition, the cost to convert is now over $4,000 - so unless you want to visit other building and trade a lot this might not be for you, but for us we think it has worked out very well. Good luck.

It isn't clear to me how many resorts are available outside of Tahoe under the Resorts West point system. Were I interested in buying a timeshare and receiving points instead of a deeded property, I think I would look at Hilton or Marriott which have hundreds of properties all over the U.S.A / world.