WATCH OUT PREMIER MEMBERS

[Jim and Kathy in Ohio]

I just called to convert some of my nights to points which I've done in the past without any problems.

BUT NOW THEY ARE CHARGING $200.00 FOR EVERY 240000 POINTS. I AM SO PISSED OFF. THEY ARE CHANGING THE RULES, THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS. THIS SUCKS.

DAMN I AM PISSED OFF.

[nmarcks]

Breath.................................

I know what your talking about. I've been in the program since day one almost. It has changed so much that it isn't even funny. Your not alone in being quite upset with the changes. There is some people that bought in and refuse to even use there nights because of all the changes. When your selling something like that the only changes they make better be for the better on the customer side not the resort's.

In all honesty the current plan(or at least a year ago plan) I've seen I don't think even compares to what I bought into when it all started.

Bottom line is blame it on RCI when they got in there 100% they F'd it up and have ever since. Org. RCI was only brought in to take care of Plaza Las Glorias (sp?) timeshare crap and really had next to nothing to do with what the BBG was trying to do way back in the hay day. Do you believe when it started you couldn't even talk to the PREMIER people unless you were a repeat guest??? Hard to believe but it was true at one time. Orginally the whole Premier program was strictly to say thanks for your business and give us repeaters a nice discount along with the other perks you currently see in the program. Then after about a year or two at the longest. BBG then let RCI take it over full time and start in with all the changes you see today. I guess it works for some people and some it doesn't. But for the once a year or twice a year vacationer I don't see a whole lot of benefits from it. Under the org. program I can tell you as a couple we save anywhere between $500 to $1,000 total on every trip we take for a week. We stay two weeks and we save about $1,500 on avg. over a travel agent (apple vacations or whatever charter company). I don't think you can say that about the current plan.

I feel your pain. The BBG/RCI have made so many changes over the years and many of these changes have been to benefit RCI/BBG and not the customer.

Nick and Renee

[twinimini]

That is one of the big pitfalls with all timeshares. They change the rules and they increase the monthly or annual fees. Timeshares are marketed all over the world very aggressively because they are extremely profitable for the resorts and the timeshare companies. Caveat Emptor as the saying goes....buyer beware!!!!

[nmarcks]

Originally Posted by twinimini

That is one of the big pitfalls with all timeshares. They change the rules and they increase the monthly or annual fees. Timeshares are marketed all over the world very aggressively because they are extremely profitable for the resorts and the timeshare companies. Caveat Emptor as the saying goes....buyer beware!!!!

Exactly and that is why I say the current plan doesn't seem to save the avg. vacationer much money. Not to mention the current plan with all its points, value of these points, points values compared to other resorts, trade in value towards airline tickets or A.I. fees, etc. etc.. Good lord you need to be a math wizard to figure out if its even saving you any money.

That is why I liked the org. plan so much. It really was just a way to say thanks for your business and we would like you to come back. The value that it offered a 10 year old would have no problem telling you that you save money with this plan. After about 6 to 7 one week trips my org. plan paid for itself. After that the next 20 weeks are nothing but savings in my pocket. I think everyone on the org. plan would agree that it was heads above what is offered now as far as money saving goes. I vote they bring back the org. plan for all the great repeaters they built over the years and let the RCI B.S. ride off into the sunset.

Nick and Renee

[Frbo]

Ok I need a little more information as we have a bunch of points and also weeks at the resort. When you are converting nights to points are you then looking to have the points transfered to your RCI account. We just had them send some of our points to our RCI account in December so we could use them for airfare and there was not a charge to do this. We are just trying to figure out if this is something new as of Janurary.

Frank & Bonny

[Steve and Kim in Ohio]

We have also converted nights to points to use for air, RCI has always hit you with a charge of about 50.00 for this but we knew that going in. BBG did not charge us. Will drag out our contract and read it for any varation in the plan..if there is we may need to contract Karan to represent us (as if she needs more reasons to spend time at BBG).

[CRAZYMIKE]

We where going to buy it in May of last year, But was noy sure. Sounds strange. Thank god we did not

[DavenRose]

We bought in September of last year, we have just booked our May trip and will be the first time that we have used it, we purchased our airfare separate and did not use points, looks like we are going to save approximately 4 to 5 hundred $$ on the trip overall, compared to what we had been paying for an 8 nighter with the travel agent. But I have seen some other deals offered recently that were really good and if we had used those our savings would not be nearly as much, so I am still trying to figure out if it is worth it or not.

I will say that we found the booking simple and easy, and that we were impressed with the service, so far.

[Steve]

Doesn't sound good. But I can't say it's the first time I've heard of rules being changed after purchase of a membership :roll: John still has approx 500 or so "premiernights" sitting there that are not allowed to be resold as originally purchased for.

Seems like in days gone by the membership was for the benefit of repeaters, it was almost like a reward. Now it seems there are enough repeaters anyway so it's all about RCI. The way the package is sold now it's almost as if they dont want you to come back to BBG by encouraging you to use your points for other things.

[davidlauraj]

Originally Posted by Steve

Doesn't sound good. But I can't say it's the first time I've heard of rules being changed after purchase of a membership :roll: John still has approx 500 or so "premiernights" sitting there that are not allowed to be resold as originally purchased for.

Seems like in days gone by the membership was for the benefit of repeaters, it was almost like a reward. Now it seems there are enough repeaters anyway so it's all about RCI. The way the package is sold now it's almost as if they dont want you to come back to BBG by encouraging you to use your points for other things.

Steve, you are absolutely right on this! We went through the whole RCI speech on our first trip last year and they flat out told us that they would rather you go somewhere else and let them resell our time at BBG so they could make their sales pitch to somebody new. If it were all repeaters there then they would not have anyone to sell to! (BTW we didn't buy!)

[Jim and Kathy in Ohio]

BUT

In order to use my nights somewhere else I have to convert them to points, and now the ba$tardS want to charge me additional money to convert to points so I can use them at RCI??

I called RCI points, and they are not the ones charging for the conversion it is the premier club. Maybe they should change the name to the premier screwing club. Nobody can (screw you) like premier can.

[nmarcks]

Originally Posted by Jim and Kathy in Ohio

BUT

In order to use my nights somewhere else I have to convert them to points, and now the ba$tardS want to charge me additional money to convert to points so I can use them at RCI??

I called RCI points, and they are not the ones charging for the conversion it is the premier club. Maybe they should change the name to the premier screwing club. Nobody can (screw you) like premier can.

You should call Premier and see if they say the same thing. I'm not so sure they have as much control over that side of things. I was always under the assumption that RCI was the ones in control of that side of things.

Steve hit the nail on the head with his post.

Nick and Renee

[davejoshmd]

WHen did you join BBG Premier Membership. We joined in Apr 2001 This is news to me. I have just sent an email to BBG to get info on a trip and asked about any extra or new fees. Lets see what they tell me.

Dave

[Beverly]

We have also previously converted our nights to points without paying a fee. Now they are trying to charge the 200 dollars saying that it is in our contract. After being persistant that there is nothing in the contract about a fee, Martha in premier told me last Thursday that she would pull the original contract and get back to me. Haven't heard from her yet. Sent an email today, but also no reply. She also tried to tell me that i paid the fee last year. Ah I think I would know if I paid it or not. And believe me, I didn't pay any fee. For either of last years vacations.

This is all BBG premier. Not RCI.

[xoie's omah]

Is this fee just if you transfer a large amt of points or for any transfer? We transferred pts in Dec with no fee, but we only did 80,000 pts.

[Jim and Kathy in Ohio]

any points.

They charged $200.00 and transfered 240,000 points. That's their rate - $200.00 for every 240,000 points. Now if I don't use all of those points through RCI this year, I have to pay a fee to them (RCI) to carry them over to 2008. Does this suck or what?

We paid the fee, I'm taking my contract down with us when we go down this year and you'll probably hear some screaming coming out of the premier room. No one will buy into premier club while I'm in there 'discussing' how they change the rules contrary to the original contract.

Jim

[nmarcks]

Originally Posted by Jim and Kathy in Ohio

any points.

They charged $200.00 and transfered 240,000 points. That's their rate - $200.00 for every 240,000 points. Now if I don't use all of those points through RCI this year, I have to pay a fee to them (RCI) to carry them over to 2008. Does this suck or what?

We paid the fee, I'm taking my contract down with us when we go down this year and you'll probably hear some screaming coming out of the premier room. No one will buy into premier club while I'm in there 'discussing' how they change the rules contrary to the original contract.

Jim

Keep in mind one thing the BBG doesn't do that alot of other resorts do is maintance fees each year. So maybe they are trying this route to make extra money. Just a thought.

I don't know but after spending all that money it would be nice that they would at least keep us Premier Members informed on the BBG and Premier Club changes and happens. Just a newsletter three times a year would be great, or a dedicated website. I've been requesting this for years now and so has alot of other people and it just falls on deaf ears. When your there as a Premier Member they take great care of you. Any problems and its handled ASAP. Once you leave its like they don't even know who you are.

Nick and Renee

[Beverly]

Kathy and Jim, when you guys going.

[soonn]

Originally Posted by nmarcks

Keep in mind one thing the BBG doesn't do that alot of other resorts do is maintance fees each year. So maybe they are trying this route to make extra money. Just a thought.
Nick and Renee

Maintenance Fee or not, my 2 cent opinion is BBG is making plenty of profit with the AI fees the resort charges us. We paid a large amount of money for the membership, we should get more discount on AI. I have been checking, others could pay less if they book directly or through discount websites. We pay more as owners and members if we add the cost of our room to the AI fee.

What do you think of that ?

Please forgive me if I touch on a dead discussion, I am new here.

Soon

[Steve]

Everyone pays the AI regardless of whether they're a member or not. What you buy when you buy a membership is the rights to the room and the privileges, you're not buying the AI.

Our own contract (when we could sell it) worked out at around $20 per day for the room plus the AI per person on top. We always felt that what we offered was a fair price for a great service.

Now though, if you wanted to make the maximum amount of money what would you do:

Choice A - Sell a room for $20 a night offering premium alcohol and other privileges.

Choice B - Sell that same room for $60 a night and just provide the regular deal, but have the room availability limited because you've got members using them.

Choice C - Sell that same room for $60 a night, provide the regular deal and encourage members to use their points somewhere else to free up that room.

Choice D - Sell that same room for $60 a night, provide the regular deal, encourage members to use their points somewhere else to free up that room, and then charge them for it.

I love Mexican business!

[ffto]

Steve
Are you saying that if you sell the room for a week with choice A:

Choice A - Sell a room for $20 a night offering premium alcohol and other privileges

The question is do the ones that rent the room get all the priviliges of the above and what other priviliges do they recieve?

Do they need to make the 8 am reservations at the restuarants or can they go at any time without reservations. What other priviliges????

I have been informed that they wear the Blue wrist band. The Blue wrist band as far as I know does not include any priviliges.

Can they work with the Premeir Office and get these???

Thanks for all you help on this website, we appreciate you for all you do!

[nmarcks]

Originally Posted by soonn

Maintenance Fee or not, my 2 cent opinion is BBG is making plenty of profit with the AI fees the resort charges us. We paid a large amount of money for the membership, we should get more discount on AI. I have been checking, others could pay less if they book directly or through discount websites. We pay more as owners and members if we add the cost of our room to the AI fee.

What do you think of that ?

Please forgive me if I touch on a dead discussion, I am new here.

Soon

They are making plenty of money. Which is also why I think the current plan doesn't have the value there that the org. plan had. I think the A.I. fee is a little high compared to alot of time share resorts. I've found that many resorts through out Mexico and Caribbean are around $40 to $90 a day. Most seem to be right at about $55 a day. But also keep in mind alot of those resorts are priced even higher then the BBG to get into there program. Not sure what the current rate is this year at the BBG cause I haven't made my reservations yet. But I'm expecting its around $65 to $68 for April. Which between two people for a week does come out about $140 to $175 higher them some resorts. I was in it from the start which was around 7 years ago (I have to check my contract to be exact) and back then the cheapest A.I. fee was $50 I believe. So in that time frame it has gone about $15 or so. Which I don't find to bad. There has to be some increase for inflation over that time. Not too mention they did a ton of upgrading of the resort during that time. But when you figure alot of timeshare resorts charge maintance fees of anywhere from $150 on the bottom end(and that might be a little low) all the way up to over $500 a year. But from talking to people with timeshares on other boards the avg. maintance fee is somwhere in that $300 range a year for alot of resorts. So maybe the BBG made a decesion that they would rather charge a point conversion fee to members converting points instead of hitting us all with maintance fees. I actually believe in my contract its written that there will never be a maintance fee during my contract period. Who knows maybe BBG is trying to squeeze another dime out of its members, I honestly don't know, its just a thought.

I'm not sure what the current cost is for there middle of the road plan or bottom line plan is right now. For giggles two to three years ago I went in and talked to them just to see what it was all about now. Like I said in my first post you need to be a math wizard to figure out if you really saved much money. From going over it briefly it seemed like you saved some money but not much. So maybe under the new plan you could go for around the same as a travel agent/special. But you still won't get a Ocean View room, premium beverages, enhanced menu opitions, spa discount, etc. etc.. To me the new plan if your not careful and think out each move with it you could blow through your night/points very quickly and not save much money if any in the end.

It bothers me they change the rules all the time and nail us in the end on it. I honestly think they run the whole PREMIER MEMBERSHIP very poorly. Its like a said before, when you there they are great, your gone and forgotten about til you show up again.

Welcome to the board. Hope you stick around. Lots of good info around here and very nice people.

Nick and Renee

[soonn]

Originally Posted by Steve

Everyone pays the AI regardless of whether they're a member or not.

Now though, if you wanted to make the maximum amount of money what would you do:

Choice A, Choice B, Choice C, or Choice D
I love Mexican business!

Steve,

Hmmmm.. I really do not understand what you are trying to say, but it is OK no need to explain cause I may figure it out one day. Are you saying, BBG is changing the way they conduct business from choice "A" to choice "D" ?

A.I. fee for Apr. is $90.00 PPD. That is 1260 USD a week, I guest you are right, that is not too high as long as BBG does not change the rule regarding MFee on us.

BUT take a look closer:

Here is the break down:
visit one week a year:
1260 - 476 (prepay AI) = 784 ($56 per person per day).
visit two weeks a year:
2520 - 476 = 2044 ($73 ppd)
visit 4 weeks a year:
and you will pay $81.50 ppd.

This is Mexican business alright; have never know of a business charges more for buying more. I think it call large volume surcharge, the opposite of large volume discount.

Ha-ha... BBG is laughing all the way to the Bank!

Steve try not to love it too much. I remember a story told by my Dad once, it's a story about: a dog with a bone in its mouth, while walking across a bridge, it notices that there is another dog with a bigger bone in the water, so he drop his bone, and jump in to go after the bigger bone".

I hope I am telling the story correctly, it might get lost in the translation.

Have a good week every one.

Soon

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Steve

Now though, if you wanted to make the maximum amount of money what would you do:

Choice A - Sell a room for $20 a night offering premium alcohol and other privileges.

Choice B - Sell that same room for $60 a night and just provide the regular deal, but have the room availability limited because you've got members using them.

Choice C - Sell that same room for $60 a night, provide the regular deal and encourage members to use their points somewhere else to free up that room.

Choice D - Sell that same room for $60 a night, provide the regular deal, encourage members to use their points somewhere else to free up that room, and then charge them for it.

Sorry if I wasnt clear in my message above. Basically what I was trying to say is that there seems to have been a shift over the years from point A to Point D, and that it seems to be about maximising revenue.

For the sake of clairification I'm not connected with Blue Bay or Premier in any way, nor do we offer Premier deals any more. The above is just my view as a neutral observer with no personal interest, financial or otherwise.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by ffto

Steve
Are you saying that if you sell the room for a week with choice A:

Choice A - Sell a room for $20 a night offering premium alcohol and other privileges

The question is do the ones that rent the room get all the priviliges of the above and what other priviliges do they recieve?

Do they need to make the 8 am reservations at the restuarants or can they go at any time without reservations. What other priviliges????

I have been informed that they wear the Blue wrist band. The Blue wrist band as far as I know does not include any priviliges.

Can they work with the Premeir Office and get these???

Thanks for all you help on this website, we appreciate you for all you do!

This refers to people who have bought their own Premier package, it's not something I sell.

I'm not too up to date on the list of current benefits, but OV room, premium alcohol, free room safe, discounts in the spa, room service, extra menu choices in the restaurant are a few I know of.

Premier members wear the gold wristband and make restaurant reservations through the Premier VIP room, but it's still subject to availability. The blue wrist band is for first timers.

[nmarcks]

If BBG is up to $90 a day for A.I. fees they are flipping crazy. You sure that is across the board??? They have sold about 4 or 5 different versions of Premier Memberships through the years. I know last time I was down there I talked to a RCI member that used his banked points from his "home resort" (or whatever you want to call it) to go too the BBG and he was paying a higher daily A.I. fee then I was.

I'm going to email Premier and find out for sure. $90 a day BBG can sink into the ocean. :lol:

90 x 7 days x 2 people= $1260 for fees
Airline tickets out of most major airports usually run around $400 each with all your taxes. Sometimes more and sometimes less.
So that brings you up to $2060. Plus transfers to the and from the airport another $40 or so. So your up to $2100 for a couple.

Hmmmmmm.......most travel agents in are area charge anywhere from $1100 to $1350 pp for a week depending on the time of the year. You find a special and its about $1,000 a person. On avg. though its about 1175 to 1250 a person. So a couple can go for about 2200 to 2500 tops usually. Now I know we get the perks but boy at a 100 to 500 savings at tops a trip. Plus there charging you to bank points. It would take you a while to make your intial investment back if you even would. I wonder if the BBG realizes this.

Oh well off to email Premier. If I hear $90 a night back I think I might sell off my remaining contract.

Nick and Renee

[Tina]

I understand the perks to rci, our friends are members, but after watching her wait and wait for the paperwork to come, then finding flight, then checking points, then booking hotel, then waiting for confirmation, then payin her A/I fee then transfer then using her free week then end up spending $xx a piece for flight, but then using points and having to call and get all this set up?

I went online to apple, orbitz, cheaptickets and travelocity.....cheaptickets was at 1800 for a week for both of us.....booked it online, and that was it...no phone call, no hassle, nothing but an email back saying confirmed. Took me 20 minutes, took my friend 3 days-emails and phone calls to get her stuff done. I just dont have that kind of time!

Not to burst anyone's bubble....but flying out of chicago last two years cost us 2100 1st time, 1850 2nd time and 1800 this last time out of milwaukee.....I'm not sure where your savings is for being rci member?

I do understand the perks though, its nice to walk into rci and grab water, get nice room (although our room was bigger and had balcony) you do get jacuzzi! Liquor is better, and you have better chance of getting into specialty restaurant.....I guess for some people its important and for some its a deal....I guess its just not a good deal for us that go once a year?

Just a thought

[soonn]

Originally Posted by nmarcks

If BBG is up to $90 a day for A.I. fees they are flipping crazy. You sure that is across the board???

Oh well off to email Premier. If I hear $90 a night back I think I might sell off my remaining contract.

Nick and Renee

Nick and Renee,

I hope you and others who have older contacts receive a better deals, pay less A.I. Fee. I have prove from BBG member service.

All-inclusive fee for 2007: FEE IS PER ADULT PER NIGHT.
JAN 04 – JAN 31: $82.00
FEB 01 – APR 14: $90.00
APR 15 – JUN 30: $80.00
JUL 01 – AUG 19: $85.00
AUG 20 - DEC 20: $68.00
DEC 21/07 – JAN 03/08: $118.00

Charging $200.00 for converting to points is nothing, when compare to A.I. fee.

I am sorry for bringing the bad news, and please do not shoot the messenger.

Good luck!

Soon

[soonn]

Originally Posted by Tina

I understand the perks to rci, our friends are members,

I went online to apple, orbitz, cheaptickets and travelocity.....cheaptickets was at 1800 for a week for both of us.....booked it online, and that was it...no phone call, no hassle, nothing but an email back saying confirmed. Took me 20 minutes, took my friend 3 days-emails and phone calls to get her stuff done. I just dont have that kind of time!

..I guess its just not a good deal for us that go once a year?

Just a thought

That is exactly why Jim and Kathy from Ohio started this treat, "Premier Member Watch out".

And I see it just as Tina said above, there is no good deal. If I could get cheaper from orbitz, etc. with the money I save, I could buy my own brand name liquors, buy our own first class a la carte meals, go to jacuzzi, and more, and still paying less without the commitment, and the initial membership payment.

So sorry to open up this can of worm.

Soon

[Bart/Annette]

Comparing a Premier room along with the AI fees to a regular room plus the "Go Silver" package is a good value to me when you consider the Section D rooms and the other Premier benefits.

There are ways to cut $200-$400 out of a trip, but having the flexibility to travel whenever and have access to the Premier rooms is a big bonus to us.