Orange Lake and Holiday Inn

how do you go about renting your Holiday Inn week/days on Redweek? Do you need to make the reservation first and then post?

barbaral498 wrote:

how do you go about renting your Holiday Inn week/days on Redweek? Do you need to make the reservation first and then post?

I don't believe you have to choose a certain week to post in your ad if you own points instead of a fixed week. You post in your ad that the time of the rental 'varies' as others have done under Orange Lake rentals and if you have someone interested you ask them what week they prefer .... you then contact Orange Lake to see if that week is available and go from there. Be sure to have a rental contract in place stipulating the terms of the rental and signed by both you and the renter.

The problem with not reserving a set week would be that renters (especially if they plan on driving) make their plans a lot later than what works well for float time for TS. A renter might make summer plans 3-6 months in advance and by that time the summer months might all be reserved.

Sometimes I think it is best to reserve a prime week but advertise that it may be possible to change and you could check if other dates were available. You don't want to be stuck where the only weeks left to reserve are the off season weeks that generally rent for less than MF's.

Be aware that Orange Lake is a mega huge resort with 4 different villages .... West Village, North Village, East Village and River Island.

Record all conversation with sales people there or the customer care. What is said is not always what is true.

I as I said own week 10 at River Island. How do I go about doing this transition?

toms705 wrote:

I as I said own week 10 at River Island. How do I go about doing this transition?

What transition are you looking to do?

I want to change from weeks to points. I am told that my week is worth 200,000 points from River Island. I have noticed here that some people pay $200 plus yearly to do this. Is this true? Orangelake would like me to spend another$40,000 and that isn't going to happen. IF this is true, whom would I contact?

Don't convert to points stay weekly. All they do is sale you a partical week to get you points. Then you pay annual tax and maintain fees. Plus $200 to be a member of point program to use the points. Stay weekly we just said no for six years then gave in. What a mistake, then got into trouble and could not afford the extra tax and fees. Only my option but I learned my lesson.

toms705 wrote:

I am told that my week is worth 200,000 points... Orangelake would like me to spend another$40,000 and that isn't going to happen.

These sales people will tell you a lot of things that are either exaggerations or outright lies. Of course they want you to spend another $40,000.

Toms705, While $40,000 is excessive, don't count on being able to convert for $200. Those offers were for a select group of resorts that Holiday Inn took over and offered current owners a limited time to chose to enroll in the Holiday Inn Club converting their weeks. That offer was never made to Orange Lake owners. That offer is not available if you were to buy a week at those resorts now.

My guess would be a purchase of $8000-$20,000 would be required of you to convert. You might want to call the corporate sales office if you are interested. You may even get something as low as $6000 but I wouldn't count on that. Don't forget that when you go to sell your week would revert back to the deeded week and the points would not transfer so whatever the cost is you would have to think that it is worth it for the time you (or your children) own the resort and the resale value will not be enhanced in any way by converting.

First, everyone is going to points. If they have not yet, trust me when I say they will. Weeks is truly becoming a thing of the past. It is easier to split and use points. When I changed over from weeks to points, through Orange Lake, the charge was $200 for all 4 units and $104 each year thereafter. I think that soon enough, the resorts will be doing it for the cheaper amount, rather than the huge amounts they have asked for in the past. RCI, II both prefer the points. I would not spend a lot, wait it out, they will come down. And do not talk to Sales! Call Owner Services and ask them what the future will bring, or if you can do it now for the lesser amount. Sales is Sales, and if they can get money from you they will. Good Luck.

All timeshare companies offer these incentives when they first roll out their systems and then only select instances for new resort acquisitions of existing owners. They all work this way and I worked with these transitions for many companies. This is always a limited offer to ensure existing owners have ample chance to change at a fair fee. Wyndham was 149 in 1991 when they led the point system and recently marriott at 600 ish. That is covering your week. Most companies offer you the ability to turn your week into points in their system on an annual basis with a minimum purchase. Every company requires different sizes and what was valid in 2012 will Def not be in 2014. It's just the way it works so their is some truth to this won't last forever.

Looking to purchase a resale week. After reading all the comments, I'm wondering what the equivalent would be in points. I'm concerned that eventually when converted to points that they will not be sufficient to get a full week or a unit in the same village that the week was. Does anyone know what the point value is and what points you would get for a particular unit, village or time of year?

Be extra careful with resale weeks! Sometimes they won't let you convert to points, depending on original deed. One of my weeks was not converted due to it was a resale. Also, Orange Lake has first right of refusal on some contracts, so whem they go to transfer deed they can deny and buy it out instead. If the deed is clear.

are you happy with your conversion to ponts?

I am very happy with points and the flexibility to use them to my advantage.

We have 17 places to use them now inside our own system, and more on the way.

I'm excited to see the growth, was only Orange Lake when we first bought.

Problem I see happening is selling people points but not really enough to have a vacation at prime time but telling them they have all these options. We bought at Orange lake, a 2 bedroom runs 159,000 points so I would shoot for that many points and you can get a vacation at most of the resorts with that #.

Dave

Hello Dave,

I own several weeks with Silverleaf which was just recently bought out by Holiday Inn Vacation Rentals. I went last week to an meeting in which they tried to convince me to covert to points and almost did, absent a non-negotiable statement they required me make that I was concerned would result in my loss of a significant benefit as to my silverleaf accounts.

After additional thought it may be worth the risk. They offered me 160000 point week at Orange Lake for $25k. With my Silverleaf resorts I would have annually over 1 million points and supposedly would be at the highest level of Holiday Inn.

I'm wondering if in theory they will just convert my weeks to points and if I really need to buy anything. Curious if you have any suggestions as to that.

Any info you could provide would be very helpful.

Thank you sir.

John

Don't convert your week to points. Read the contract and there isn't one single benefit for the owner. The developer has the right to decide if you get to stay where and when. If they decide to raise the points needed for a rental they can do that at their discretion.

I'll bet you can think of a lot of other things you can spend twenty five thousand dollars on. Don't forget that they can raise your maintenance fees every year. Read some of the horror stories in the other threads in the forum.

They will not convert your weeks without a purchase. Certain properties they offered free or low price conversions to all owners. At other resorts they did not offer the free or low cost conversion. You may be able to talk them into a lower price (but still no lower than $8000-10,000) but for a smaller package of points. The benefits that they are offering will not transfer on resale so you would have to decide if you really think you will get $8000-$25,000 of benefits especially if you lose silverleaf benefits.