Villa Group Member Update

[huffydogg]

Hello! I am currently at Villa del Arco and will be attending a member update on Tuesday. I currently have 1100 points summer time but I am interested on purchasing more points so that I can stay in a one bedroom suite. What would be a good price to upgrade to the one bedroom suite?

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Hi huffydogg,
I would put - beach.bar.bob - in the TUG search function .
This will bring up most of the TUG Mexican forum post that have Villa / UVC information .

You may find the information you are looking for in a prior thread / or you could message a Villa owner who has posted .
The TUG mexican forum is less active in the summer since a lot of Mexican TS owners go in snowbird season & are less active on TUG in the summer.
- so be proactive , as waiting for an answer may take beyond Tuesday .

Bob is a Villa / UVC owner who has posted quite a bit of Villa / UVC specific information .

*****
PS - there may be ways to buy resale and get what you are looking for .
- however
I have read enough (as a non Villa /UVC owner) to know that some Villa / UVC resales are better than others for specific reasons or the buyer's specific needs .

 

[beach.bar.bob]

Hi huffydogg...

Many of my prior posts have lots of details on this. Look them up...it's worth it. I can't possibly repeat all that info again here.

You are already in the points program, so I'm afraid resale is not really a good option for you. The best resale options are week-based Gold memberships which unfortunately do not combine with points memberships. Nor can you buy points memberships resale as points memberships revert back to week-based Premier memberships which are an older and less powerful membership than Gold. Their new contracts have pretty much killed the resale market.

If want you really want is a one bedroom suite then you'll have to buy additional points. At Villa del Arco, if you want a summer one bedroom it's 1700 points, a winter one bedroom is 2200 points.

At a minimum then you'll need another 600 points. I wouldn't be surprised if they want $12,000 or more for that upgrade or about $20 per point. I'd go in with a plan of paying no more than $15 per point or about $9,000 preferably closer to $12 per point. Remind yourself what you paid for your initial 1100 points. What was the price per point you paid then? Certainly don't pay any more than that. Don't be afraid of walking out the door after your update meeting having refused to buy - most people do! Leave and give yourself time to rethink their best offer. Whatever "deal" they offer you will be there the next day. Don't let the heat of the moment cloud your best judgement.

Good luck!

bbb

 

[huffydogg]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your response! I bought last year. I wasn't going to buy, but the last offer they gave me was odd years 1100 points summer time for $7900.

 

[beach.bar.bob]

So that's $14.36 per point...7900/1100 x 2 (since it's every other year) - to make a valid comparison to my numbers which are for every year use.

Staying below that for every other year would imply less than $4300 for 600 additional points.
Let us know how it works out for you.

Good luck!

bbb

 

[huffydogg]

Apparently we had 1000 points summer months every other year. We ended upgrading to 1200 points winter (floating) months every year now. We were sold on the idea that we can still use our points every other year by banking them and we would have 2400 points and can get a 2 bedroom suite. Initially they began by selling us $25 per point, but ended up purchasing at $17 per point. Shawn helped us out.

 

[easyrider]

Apparently we had 1000 points summer months every other year. We ended upgrading to 1200 points winter (floating) months every year now. We were sold on the idea that we can still use our points every other year by banking them and we would have 2400 points and can get a 2 bedroom suite. Initially they began by selling us $25 per point, but ended up purchasing at $17 per point. Shawn helped us out.

Apparently we had 1000 points summer months every other year. We ended upgrading to 1200 points winter (floating) months every year now. We were sold on the idea that we can still use our points every other year by banking them and we would have 2400 points and can get a 2 bedroom suite. Initially they began by selling us $25 per point, but ended up purchasing at $17 per point. Shawn helped us out.

If I am reading this right it looks like you bought an additional 1200 or 1400 points at $17 per point ? Over $20,000 + the MF's ? This seems pretty expensive considering if you would have taken Bob's advice and bought a 2 bedroom Gold Membership for about $3000 - $5000 and used your existing points for additional nights.

Bill

 

[huffydogg]

I must have calculated wrong. I didn't pay close to $20,000 for 1400 additional points. I paid a little over $11,000.

I've been looking for a gold membership for the past year, but have had no luck.

 

[easyrider]

The easy way to find gold weeks are to google "villa del palmar for sale". You will find most of the resale adds offered on different websites. My resort network and redweek are a couple of good ones. A gold membership will get you into most of the UVC resorts, has benefits and holds resale value.

Bill

 

[beach.bar.bob]

Apparently we had 1000 points summer months every other year. We ended upgrading to 1200 points winter (floating) months every year now. We were sold on the idea that we can still use our points every other year by banking them and we would have 2400 points and can get a 2 bedroom suite. Initially they began by selling us $25 per point, but ended up purchasing at $17 per point. Shawn helped us out.

I must have calculated wrong. I didn't pay close to $20,000 for 1400 additional points. I paid a little over $11,000.

I've been looking for a gold membership for the past year, but have had no luck.

I think your math is pretty close assuming you ended up with 1200 points every year.
You started with 1000 points every other year... which is equivalent to 500 points every year. You upgraded to 1200 points every year thus an increase of 700 points every year. $11,000/700 = $15.71 per point.

Your initial purchase was for $7900 points plus the upgrade for $11,000 = $18,900 total for 1200 points every year which is an average of $15.75 per point for your full membership.

Gold memberships are hard to find on the resale market...but there are some available. A cursory look finds a lot of summer weeks which aren't very interesting but ....There is a Gold Winter one bedroom listed on TUG Marketplace for $1800 under VDP Flamingos...At Redweek under VDP Cabo a Gold Winter One Bedroom for $3,500 and a Gold Winter Two bedroom for $4,000. Also a Gold Winter Holiday Two bedroom at $6,500. I quit looking after that...I'm sure there are more if you keep hunting. Remember, Gold membership do not have home resorts so it doesn't matter which resort they are listed under. The key is a winter season Gold week of the size you desire. These are not as cheap as back in 2010-2012 after the Great Recession...but probably still good value.

FWIW

bbb

 

[Bao Nguyen]

I think your math is pretty close assuming you ended up with 1200 points every year.
You started with 1000 points every other year... which is equivalent to 500 points every year. You upgraded to 1200 points every year thus an increase of 700 points every year. $11,000/700 = $15.71 per point.

Your initial purchase was for $7900 points plus the upgrade for $11,000 = $18,900 total for 1200 points every year which is an average of $15.75 per point for your full membership.

Gold memberships are hard to find on the resale market...but there are some available. A cursory look finds a lot of summer weeks which aren't very interesting but ....There is a Gold Winter one bedroom listed on TUG Marketplace for $1800 under VDP Flamingos...At Redweek under VDP Cabo a Gold Winter One Bedroom for $3,500 and a Gold Winter Two bedroom for $4,000. Also a Gold Winter Holiday Two bedroom at $6,500. I quit looking after that...I'm sure there are more if you keep hunting. Remember, Gold membership do not have home resorts so it doesn't matter which resort they are listed under. The key is a winter season Gold week of the size you desire. These are not as cheap as back in 2010-2012 after the Great Recession...but probably still good value.

FWIW

bbb

Hi Bob, is gold better status then Elite? I just bought Elite four stars. 5100 points.

 

[beach.bar.bob]

No, elite points memberships are the highest status. Gold is an older type of membership sold before they developed the points membership. Gold memberships are more desirable if someone is looking to acquire a membership in the resale market since points memberships revert to an even older, less desirable Premier memberships if resold.

FWIW

bbb

 

[Bao Nguyen]

No, elite points memberships are the highest status. Gold is an older type of membership sold before they developed the points membership. Gold memberships are more desirable if someone is looking to acquire a membership in the resale market since points memberships revert to an even older, less desirable Premier memberships if resold.

FWIW

bbb

Thank you for taking time explain .

 

[Slinger]

Hi Bob, is gold better status then Elite? I just bought Elite four stars. 5100 points.

I am jealous of your elite level status. Congrats and enjoy it!!!

 

[Bao Nguyen]

I am jealous of your elite level status. Congrats and enjoy it!!!

Thank you .

 

[easyrider]

From what I can tell in my 12 or so years of owning UVC is that my premiere contracts reserve the same rooms as gold and point contracts with a lower mf. I have had many upgrades to penthouse units through out the years. What I also see is that point members are stuck with a product that has zero resale-ability as these contracts revert to a premiere membership with a points mf. Currently, the best deal for UVC is a gold winter contract that begins with 18- or 21- as these contracts include most of the resorts.

IMO, getting stuck with a product for 30+ years is not a good thing. The biggest benefit a premiere membership has besides a low mf is that the amount of time left on the contract is about 8 - 10 years for the very last of these that were sold. Many gold contracts have over 20 years left on the contracts. Points contracts have a 30 year right to use and will always have he longest amount of time left as they are new contracts with the exception of a family member taking over a points contract.

Regarding units, there are many fixed weeks units available for rent that include penthouses at all of the resorts and factionals at the Villa La Enstancia which is a more upscale version of UVC condo owneship.

Bill

 

[huffydogg]

The point contracts are now 50 years, I was offered a 50 year contract at the last member update.