Berkley Group

While searching for timeshares with low MF but high trading power I stumbled upon the Berkley Group - many myth exist around this company and my first thought was, that something that sound to good to be true is mostly not true.

I didn't took long to find several posts and information implying that there is something wrong with this company. The trading power (in RCI points) is way too high for the actually demand (Vacation Village Parkway - implying there are side-agreements with exchange companies) or the MF are kept artifically low to get customers (Williamsburg Plantation - implying that they just dont fill the reserve).

I tried to get an own picture of this and maybe some of you can comment on this or give me additional information.

The Berkley Group itself seems to be hidden timeshare mogul, mostly because resorts are never directly connected to them. Instead they have many subsidiaries:

• Eldorado Resorts (Las Vegas)
• Lando Resorts (Florida)
• Williamsburg Plantation (Virginia)
• Patriot Resorts (Massachusetts)
• Berkley Vacation Resorts (Florida)

Their propertymanagement division is called "Daily Management Inc." and seems to be reliable for most properties (http://www.dailymanagementresorts.com/), however not all (Massanutten for example) but also some others which are not connected to Berkley.

The customer facing brand of the berkley group is called Vacation Village Resorts (http://www.vacationvillageresorts.com/) where you will find a list of all resorts they own.

Berkshire Mountain Lodge
Affiliation: RCI - RCI Gold Crown
Tripadvisor: 5 / ? %

The Cliffs at Peace Canyon
Affiliation: RCI - RCI Gold Crown
Tripadvisor: ?
MF: $665.00 2BR

The Colonies at Williamsburg Resort
Affiliation: Interval - premiere resort
Tripadvisor: 4,5 / 87%
MF: $759.00 4BR Lock-Off

The Grandview at Las Vegas Resort
Affiliation: RCI
Tripadvisor: 4 / 79%
MF: $699.00 2BR Lock-Off

Massanutten Resort (Eagle Trace, Eagle Trace at Killy Court, Shenandoah Villas, Shenandoah Villas at Killy Court, The Summit, Summit Hillside, Summit Sunrise, Woodstone Meadows, and Woodstone Casa De Campo)
Affiliation: RCI - RCI Gold Crown
Tripadvisor: 3,5 / ? %
MF: $730.00 4BR Lock-Off

Mizner Place at Weston Town Center
Affiliation: RCI - RCI Gold Crown
Tripadvisor: 4 / 74 %
MF: $727.00 2BR Lock-Off

Palm Beach Shores Resort & Vacation Villas
Affiliation: RCI - RCI Gold Crown
Tripadvisor: 3,5 / 66 %
MF: $842.00 1BR

Vacation Village in the Berkshires
Affiliation: RCI - RCI Gold Crown
Tripadvisor: 3,5 / 71 %

Vacation Village at Bonaventure
Affiliation: RCI - RCI Silver Crown
Tripadvisor: 3,5 / 52 %

Vacation Village at Parkway
Affiliation: RCI - RCI Gold Crown
Tripadvisor: 4 / 75 %
MF: $768.00 2BR Lock-Off

Vacation Village at Weston
Affiliation: RCI - RCI Gold Crown
Tripadvisor: 3,5 / 64 %
MF: $790.00 2BR Lock-Off

Presidential Resort at Chancellorsville
Affiliation: RCI - RCI Gold Crown
Tripadvisor: ?

Williamsburg Plantation Resort
Affiliation: Interval - premiere resort
Tripadvisor: 3,5 / 63%
MF: $766.00 4BR Lock-Off

Furthermore Berkley seems to own Platinum Interchange.

So bascially I think what I am trying to say is, they seem to know what they are doing.
They seem to be able to keep the maintenance fees low and nevertheless the resorts are attractive enough to satisfy the visitors and - more important- the exchange companies.

I am not aware of any special assessments, despite the fact that some of their resorts are some years older (Vacation Village Parkway seems to be built in 1999, so 15 years old) - nor does the MF increase too much.

Would you say that purchasing a Berkley Resort is risky or does it deliver good value for what you pay?

At least you get a 4BR Lock-Off for less MF than other resorts charge for a 2 BR Lock-Off.
All in all I would assume that, even if the quality is a less lower, two 2 BR (Berkley) would have more trading power than one 1 BR + 1 Studio at some brand timeshare in a medium location. Would you agree?

[Information regarding the points value of parkway can be found here: http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showpost.php?p=988751&postcount=18]

Where do you get the idea they own Platinum Interchange?

I own two of their resorts and the MF's have been pretty stable.
I own in VV Parkway & Grandview.
They aren't in bad shape either so they seem to know how to reasonably manage a resort.

One Woody Cary, who has been involved in the timeshare industry for many years, has formed several companies over the years. Two of the companies he started were TriCom Management and Platinum Interchange, companies that were purchased from him by Berkeley Group in 2004.

It might be that Berkeley no longer owns Platinum, but they most definitely did at one time.

rod said:

One Woody Cary, who has been involved in the timeshare industry for many years, has formed several companies over the years. Two of the companies he started were TriCom Management and Platinum Interchange, companies that were purchased from him by Berkeley Group in 2004.

It might be that Berkeley no longer owns Platinum, but they most definitely did at one time.

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Maybe that explains why they have so many deposits from their resorts.
But then again RCI seems to have just as many without the $150 extra fee charged at check in to exchangers with PI. :annoyed:

chriskre said:

I own two of their resorts and the MF's have been pretty stable.

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Do you know if there were any special assessments?

chriskre said:

Maybe that explains why they have so many deposits from their resorts.

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I read something like they would offer exchange companies availability of developer owned condos and therefor improve their rating within the exchange network. Actually I can not tell if that makes sense or not.

FYI

While its true some of Vacation Parkway has some years on it, its a big place and there are brand new buildings as well. When I was last there, there were buildings under construction. and some of the first buildings were closed for renovation

There have been posts here in the past where some have said that the trading power at Vacation Village at Parkway is too good to be true, and is evidence of the crooked nature of RCI and the "special" arrangement that they must have with Vacation Village...I dont know and I dont care about the back room dealings within the timeshare industry. What I care about is a clean room, comfortable bed and good value (and good trading value) for my mf dollar. I get it here.

I don't have a comparison for all of those resorts but Williamsburg Plantation has increased 77% since 2003. Those are moderate increases, probably higher than inflation, but maybe a little less than typical of timeshares. There have been no SA's during that time. You really should exclude property tax because it skews the numbers a bit. As you can see from the increases they kept them in check during the economic downturn rather than increasing them due to an increase in bad debt. That's where I think they were really smart.

2003 - 399.00 -
2004 - 439.00 - 10.0%
2005 - 485.00 - 10.5%
2006 - 485.00 - 0%
2007 - 485.00 - 0%
2008 - 577.00 - 19.0%
2009 - 638.00 - 10.6%
2010 - 674.00 - 5.6%
2011 - 679.00 - 0.7%
2012 - 679.00 - 0%
2013 - 706.00 - 4.0%
2014 - 706.00 - 0%

I own at a couple independents that rarely ever increase maintenance fees. One of them has very high trading power. Better than this group for equal size. I don't think it's necessarily a matter of what is being done that is right, but more of what so many management companies are doing wrong. They act in their own interest rather than that of the HOA.

I actually own at this resort by accident, or fraud. One of the bad PCC's had it listed as another more valuable resort. When the transfer got rejected they went behind my back and modified the deed. It was still wrong so they modified it again. I finally got the transfer but not what was listed or contracted. I suppose I could have ended up with worse.

The sister resort, The Colonies, has had the same $699.00 maintenance fee for 5 years straight.

That is really helpful - thank you so much!
So this averages to 5.3% if I have done the math right. While this is not exactly inflation it is not too bad either I think.

urbiman said:

That is really helpful - thank you so much!
So this averages to 5.3% if I have done the math right. While this is not exactly inflation it is not too bad either I think.

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You did the math right. It's an average 5.3247% per year.

Saintsfanfl, may I ask which week you own at Williamsburg Plantation that you are "dissatisfied" with (in terms of trading power)?

urbiman said:

Saintsfanfl, may I ask which week you own at Williamsburg Plantation that you are "dissatisfied" with (in terms of trading power)?

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I am in no way "dissatisfied" with the trading power. It trades plenty well enough. I own lots of weeks with a wide variety of trading powers. My dissatisfaction is that I paid for week 27 at The Colonies and after two deed changes behind my back it was "transformed" into week 27 at Williamsburg Plantation. I suppose I should feel fortunate that it did not become a January week. I estimate the "ebay" resale value of WP to be about half that of The Colonies. They do instant trade very similar but The Colonies should have more power. I paid more than twice as much as I probably would have and the criminal PCC operation refused to do anything about it.

Wow, week 27 should be a pretty good trader, too bad it didn't work out exactly like you planned. Thanks for clarifying!