Vacation Clubs

I am just learning about vacation clubs. Is it better to own a timeshare or to have membership in a vacation club? I recently vacationed in Florida in what I thought was my sister in law's timeshare. I have since learned she belongs to a vacation club (Royal Holdiay). Apparently she has a "home resort" but there are several home properties that she can have access to. But she can also exchange through RCI. I am not understanding it all. I can't get a handle on how much either of these options cost. Can anyone provide information? Many thanks.

Many of these “Vacation Clubs” require you to purchase a POINTS PACKAGE, then pay an annual fee gee, it sure sounds like a timeshare to me...buying a timeshare and then paying annual MFs. People have trouble selling their membership.

I do not know much about Royal Holiday, except that it is a Points based club where you purchase a package that has X points per year. You use those points to book vacations around the world. Many people are unhappy with the availability in some locations. Many of the units are obtained from the leftover inventory of exchange companies or resorts. If all else fails, reps from the clubs start searching the Rental ads. For example, I’ve had reps from Vacation Clubs call me asking to rent my summer New England timeshare so they can fulfill a client’s request. I don’t know how this club exchanges with RCI, but everything is based on trading power of the unit deposited with RCI. I’m not saying vacation clubs are bad, but like everything else, do youi homework before purchasing. Salespeople are great at promising the world, but disappear when you have a complaint. Just like timeshare exchanges, you might not like what's available to book for a vacation. It’s better to save the $$ spent on annual dues and just rent from other TS owners.

If you are looking for a low cost way to get into a Points based timeshare. There is a way to purchase a 3 year RTU in a RCI Points resort. You get to try the Points system and if you are not happy, then you just walk away (don’t renew) at the end of the three years

Click on the following link to read more about Royal Holiday in the TUG Forum.

Personally, I would not get involved in a Vacation Club, but to each their own.

Apparently, RCI no longer does the RTU thing. If anyone knows of a company that deals in points and short term right to use deals, please let me know.

arlenec46 wrote:

Apparently, RCI no longer does the RTU thing. If anyone knows of a company that deals in points and short term right to use deals, please let me know.

The only place that I know of is CLUB TRinidad in Palm springs. They do 3-year RTUs.

You might want to call the resort directly to get info.

I have some other contact info, but I do not want to provide it in this Forum, since I might be violating some rule against advertising.

SO, if you provide your email, I will forward it to the contact person, and I can send you any info I might find.

Mike

arlenec46 wrote:

I am just learning about vacation clubs. Is it better to own a timeshare or to have membership in a vacation club?

Not an easy question to answer, since there are good timeshare ownerships and bad timeshare ownerships as well as various forms, costs (and RTU durations) of "vacation club" memberships.

Most "vacation clubs", in my opinion, aren't very good as most provide only very limited access to assorted off-weeks in what are usually lower demand locations. Even obtaining use of these low demand weeks can be a logistical nightmare when it is difficult to communicate with the "vacation club" (if they rarely answer their phones, for example).

There are exceptions to the rule, however. I am certainly NOT advertising for them, but a few years back I had a membership in a Nevada-based entity called Perennial Vacation Club. PVC was (and presumably still is) a company which actually OWNED their facilities outright (as opposed to merely gaining occasional access to excess RCI inventory, like most "vacation clubs" do). PVC had (2) locations in Florida and one each in Texas, Nevada (near Lake Tahoe), the Dominican Republic, and at least one other location I can't recall. I used that PVC membership for a few years, visiting several PVC locations, then sold the membership for a bit less than I had paid for it (resale) in the frst place. Overall, it was a pretty good arrangement, but I also suspect it was the exception rather than the rule when it comes to "vacation clubs", most of which I think are just a very bad joke...

That is so right and Florida is such a nice place to spend vacation.