Got rid of all my RHC Contracts.. I am so happy

icydog · Apr 24, 2009

I finally got rid of my three Royal Holiday Contracts. Thank God. Notice I didn't say I sold them. It cost me money to be rid of them but I'm glad they are gone..I found the company so hard to deal with, and the cost of the vacations so high, I was glad when I got them out of my portfolio.

Bill4728 · May 2, 2009

When you look at RHC they seem to look good. Point based, nice locations, but you're not the first to complain that they are very difficult to deal with.

Glad you're happy

icydog · May 5, 2009

Never again!!!!!! Done with RHC and good riddance.

Difficult has new meaning when dealing with RHC. They kept on billing me for things I paid for and then sending me dunning notices from their collection agency, Concord. I am so happy to be done with them. It is like a gigantic weight has been lifted off of my head. I will never buy an off brand timeshare again, no matter how cheap or free it is.

bcti · Dec 11, 2009

How did you get rid of them? What would happen if a person just stopped paying them?

icydog · Dec 11, 2009

They will send your name to a collection agency. In this case it would be
theirs, Concord. Then they will mess up your credit to the best of their ability.

I had to pay people to take them off my hands. It cost me close to $2K to get rid of the three contracts I had with them.

e.bram · Dec 11, 2009

Tell us. who, what and when and how!!!

PeelBoy · Dec 11, 2009

Wow, 2K is alot of money. I wonder if they can mess up my credit since I live in Canada.

icydog · Dec 11, 2009

I'm talking about fees to list on eBay and closing costs for contracts that fell through etc etc. I had to pay for the closing costs for all three of my contracts, then I paid for the special assessment RHC imposed plus all the maintenance fees.

The way I did it was to list them on ebay. I put on my listing that I would pay half of all costs including maintenance fees and closing costs. My two weekly RHCs closed pretty smoothly (but not without encountering two non-payers for each week and then the cost to re-list on eBay) considering it took me several months to get them done.

The one that gave me the most trouble was the 15K contract I had. I had three non-payers on ebay. Finally I sold the contract but the buyer took so long to fill out the papers that the special assessment came through. In order to be rid of the contract I paid the special assessment and the maintenance fees for 2010 and 1/2 the closing fees. That contract, which I bought for $1 cost me over $1K to get rid of. The other two cost me around $500 each.

bcti · Dec 12, 2009

A guy i know is trying to decide what to do. He paid 26000$ down and still owes $27000 on 80k points. He is broke and might be going through a divorce. How much do they mess with canadian credit? Do you think it would be worth asking them to take it back? thanks for the reply.

icydog · Dec 12, 2009

bcti said:
A guy i know is trying to decide what to do. He paid 26000$ down and still owes $27000 on 80k points. He is broke and might be going through a divorce. How much do they mess with canadian credit? Do you think it would be worth asking them to take it back? thanks for the reply.

You should start a new thread detailing everything you have written here on the Buying, Selling and Renting Forum. You will get better advice there on this complex problem. http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=13

Jya-Ning · Dec 22, 2009

angsulbit said:
A guy i know is trying to decide what to do. He paid 26000$ down and still owes $27000 on 80k points. He is broke and might be going through a divorce. How much do they mess with canadian credit? Do you think it would be worth asking them to take it back? thanks for the reply.

1. If he don't ask, he will never know. So he should ask.

2. If he is broke and will go divorce, I don't think it changes his credit any less.

JMHO, if I am in his shoe, I will list the stuff based on the importance, like tax, house mortgage, car loan, ...
Than I will talk to the credit based on these order.

Jya-Ning

drivable · Dec 24, 2009

PeelBoy said:
Wow, 2K is alot of money. I wonder if they can mess up my credit since I live in Canada.

$2K is not a lot of money in the scheme of things. I have had a terrible experience with RHCs collections/billing from Concord Services and therefore had a very bad opinion of Concord. I had a billing problem with another timeshare company that uses Concord, I took it up with the timeshare company and they said, no problem, we'll take care of it, Concord just does what we instruct them to do. Tells you more about RHC.

carl2591 · Jan 3, 2010

i did a quick search on google,, "Royal Holiday" man the stuff that showed up especially on u-tube was nuts..

20/20 did a undercover package on this and got a lot of lies from all the producer came in contact with.

glad to hear you got rid of Royal Holiday Club and it sound more like they are a royal pain the the a$$..

sorry to hear about hubby health.. hope you had a merry christmas and happy new year.

boyblue · Jan 9, 2010

So are we in agreement on this, RHC is not worth the hassle even if your just buying it to go to NYC every now & then?

JMAESD84 · Jan 9, 2010

boyblue said:
So are we in agreement on this, RHC is not worth the hassle even if your just buying it to go to NYC every now & then?

I'm a second year owner of with a Royal level RHC points contract (resale of course) and have used it almost exclusively for NYC reservations (Rome being the exception).

I added RHC points to my portfolio for the big city locations. In my first year availabilty was limited because I got to the party late and all the great weeks where taken, but I rolled over most of my points and was able to reserve great weeks this year by being early to the party and loaded with points.

With RHC points the annual cost per point decreases as the level increases. So the best value is with the largest point contracts.

NYC is essentially out of reach for anyone below a platinum level. So I wouldn't consider owning a 15,000 point contract, which has little useful value, no resale value and with a $500 transfer fee becomes a real hassle to get rid of(as has been posted in this thread).

Having to call and not knowing when inventory will be becoming available are a hassle, but I'm getting the reservations now that I intended when I made the decision to acquire RHC points.

Let's see how I feel about RHC ownership a few years from now.

icydog · Jan 9, 2010

I had two "weekly" contracts that cost $800 in maintenance fees each. They always got me a week in NYC or Rome or London. BUT the hassle of owning RHC was not worth it in my estimation no matter where the resorts were located. Always special assessments and then the outrageous $500 transfer fees and then those horrible folks at Concord made me sell at a loss to get away from them. I figure I got several nice vacations using them and therefore the loss was not important in the scheme of things.

The one that cost me the most to get rid of was the almost free 15K RHC points I won on Ebay. The contract proved to be virtually worthless to me since I didn't have any other point contracts to tack them onto. I did use the 15,000 points in a roll over when I first won them and got a gorgeous one bedroom at the Park Royal. The room was outrageous with a hot tub and a view of the beach. In fact that year I had to pay three special assessments and I got three free Mexican weeks in trade. I took five friends and we occupied three one bedroom villas. Plus RHC lowered the cost of the AI for that promo so it was a great deal and we had a ball.

But after that week of frivolity it went downhill. I would not own them again if you gave me a ton of money to do so..Only my opinion but that's how I feel.

Whirl · Jan 9, 2010

Weeks vs. Pure Points

Jsut to provide some balance to this discussion......

As always, I am thus far, on the other side of this RHC argument than many. I do think it is important to realize RHC has different plans that have evolved over the years. My observation has been that the people who own the Weeks contracts ( with a number of points assigned to a particular resort) are far unhappier than pure RHC points/ credits owners).

I have not had to deal with continuous special assessments ( as a pure credits owner). My annual fees have been raised over the 10+ years I have owned, but nothing draconian and not more than the average of any other resort that I own (10 currently).

I have not had any problems with annual billing errors, reservation errors, and accommodations have always been as promised...no deception or surprises. Of course, do you research ahead of time, and know what the property is like since most have their own websites.

I have used credits in NY ( every year, used to use multiple times a year...jury still out on the Crown Plaza property,however), Paris ( twice), Hawaii ( to add on to a regular timeshare stay), Vegas ( wasn't the nicest, but location was great-- right on strip, next to Ceasar's), Bahamas ( add-on to Harborside stay)....can't remember where else. But ALL have been more economical stays than other alternatives and suited my personal purposes quite well.

Some properties are really nice, most I would say are just nice and a few just ok...but all in all, a good experience. I probably don't need them as much anymore and I have toyed with selling-- just because I have more weeks than I need and thus have to do more work than I would liek to make sure that the weeks get used, rented, etc, --but it actually quite hard to do. Thus far, I figure, if for some reason they went bankrupt, tomorrow, I have more than gotten my money's worth.

For those still contemplating buying here, there are some important things that will may improve your experience. Do NOT buy multiple contracts. Buy ONE contract that is the number of credits that you think you will need. Study the travel charts and think about this carefully to avoid the fee to combine. Do not buy the WEEKS system, even if it is FREE!

Just another perspective.....

Trash to treasure....it has been a real treasure to me, despite being trash to so many. Importantly, I paid trash prices for this hidden treasure, so that obviously influences my perspective, but I truly feel so lucky to have taken a risk many years ago and gotten so much out of it....

PeelBoy · Jan 9, 2010

I am a happy camper with RHC. Haven't been to New York City yet, but have booked Rome, Madrid and Paris. Would consider my investment through resale well worth every penny even after factoring in the maintenance fee and the special assessment. 5000 points will give me a deposit with independents.

RHC is not the greatest timeshare mini system but no other system gives me bit city locations, so it is a nice supplement to my current TS portfolio.

MULTIZ321 · Jan 9, 2010

PeelBoy said:
I am a happy camper with RHC. Haven't been to New York City yet, but have booked Rome, Madrid and Paris.

PeelBoy,

What Paris RHC property did you stay at? How was the experience?

Thanks

Richard

Whirl · Jan 10, 2010

Funny, just typed all this and realized the question was not directed to me....oh well. Maybe it will be helpful anyway, so will not delete...will be interesting to see Peelboy's, more recent commentary.

MULTIZ321 said:
PeelBoy,

What Paris RHC property did you stay at? How was the experience?

Thanks

Richard

Stayed at Hotel Napolean ( 2000?) and Citadines Bastille ( 2001?)....taxing my memory, here. HAd great trips on both occassions, however.

Its been a while, but the impression I am left with is that I would not choose the Citadines Bastille location again...It was a bit out of the city and therefore a hefty metro ride to get anywhere in Paris. neighborhood was very residential, not at all touristy, which was interesting and fun, but quiet in the evening, so felt dark and questionable. It was nice to check out some of the restaurants there when we wanted to stay close to home, all locals dining so quite a different experience. I think the nearest metro was closed or something as it was a good hike to a metro (had a bad ankle at the time, so this could color my memory on distance) or the closest stop required too many train changes to get anywhere, so we walked to a farther stop ( memory shaky on this).

There was an incredible market on the weekend with amazing produce and seafood, meats and everything you could imagine.....as crazy as it sounds in Paris, this inspired my friend and I to buy a bottle of wine and actually attempt cooking our own dinner one night with all our freshly purchased beautiful market ingredients!

Anyway, this is one of the ones I would put in the "just ok" category. It was a small apartment and felt tired and in need of updating. There was an open hallway you had to walk out in that felt a bit motelish and for some reason as two women traveling together, felt less secure than I would have like...but that being said, it was a diversifying experience and we had a great ( cheap accommodation girl's weekend.... but if returning via RHC would choose Napoleon.

So Napoleon, was a lovely, typically small European hotel, but found the rooms to be lovely, well maintained, clean and updated

Code:

. We had a small suite wit the bed, kitchenette ( I think, don't recall using it and could be confusing with the other place) but friendly service. Not many amenities, at least that we took note of, but a restaurant on premises. IT was just a couple minutes ( maybe !/2 a Paris block) to l'arc de Triomphe, metro stop was not far, if I recall correctly, easy to grab a taxi as well. Would stay here again as a good choice, although, if going completely out of pocket, would probably choose a different location ( maybe lating quarter.....tough call, haven't been in years, so these are just my residual thoughts). Was nice location to spend with my husband....touristy tosome degree. Definietly most restaurants we earmarked to hit were not here.

Sorry, been a while on both trips.

caribbean · Jan 10, 2010

I have owned RHC for 6 years. I bought a two-weeks a year resale contract from The Holiday Group for a total cost of about $850. I never got any paperwork from RHC confirming my ownership despite repeated requests. Yes we had to pay the SA on both weeks. I bought exclusively for usage in NYC. We own the Ambassador week size (not points) which has given us a 1BR in either of the Affinia hotels. I have to say I have been extremely pleased with the accomidations. Hopefully we will also be pleased with the Crown Plaza as well.

As to Concord, I have read of the horror stories on TUG, but fortunately have not had problems. I decided from day one to make all payments online in order to have paper documentation. I make a printout of my account before making payment, during the process, and then go back several days later to make a printout when the payment shows up on the account. I have saved all of the paper files. So far this has worked for me.

I have to say that I have been pleased with the reservations agents. As a weeks owner, I am not supposed to be able to book into some of the resorts, but I have had the agents offer me the weeks anyway. I have been able to get the exact week I want into NYC.

The MF is running me $780/week plus the taxes on Affinia which seems a bit high for a normal TS. But when we use it for NYC and compare it to what it would cost to rent a similar unit in NYC, you can't beat it. It is a good value when used in a high cost area like NYC. Basically I am paying for two nights and staying 7 nights. So although RHC does have a lot of problems, I have been able to make it work for me. You do need to stay on top of things and reserve early. And although I felt the SA was a pure rip-off, when I looked at my original purchase price and annual value, I decided I was still way ahead.

Blondie · Jan 10, 2010

I fall into the "thumbs up" group as well. I have 50,000 points and I did by resale so I paid very small money even with consolidating contracts. One contract I bought from an owner who also gave me his three years of RCI plus a week in the RCI bank. I did very well with all he gave me... and I too bought for NYC as our daugher lives there. Have gone there for about 5 years with no problem. Will see how that goes. I am concerned that when I look at the current points chart for Crowne Plaza I see only full weeks of usage and not 3-4 day stays. We also plan to spend a month in Puerto Vallarta when we retire in three years, and that would be added to our several weeks at Raintree PV. So, in the end it has worked and hopefully will continue to...

MULTIZ321 · Jan 10, 2010

Blondie said:
I am concerned that when I look at the current points chart for Crowne Plaza I see only full weeks of usage and not 3-4 day stays.

Blondie,

I don't think all the reservation possibilities show up online. When I recently booked our upcoming April 2010 NYC trip, I looked online first and then called RHC and spoke with a rep who mentioned several choices that weren't available online. Also, the week we are staying is broken up into 2 segments (requiring two separate reservations) one segment is 4 days in an RHC Ambassador suite and the other segment is 3 days in a RHC Studio suite - this was all accomplished through the RHC rep and you wouldn't have seen that option online.

So, if you're interested in a 3-day or 4-day stay, definitely call but I think you need to make the reservation as early as possible to increase your chances of availability.

Richard

SteveH · Jan 18, 2010

I'm also a thumbs-up, two year owner of RHC. We bought a 30K contract on ebay and just finished 2 weeks at Scottsdale Camelback. Next week we'll be at Wave Crest in Del Mar, CA for another week. In the spring we have a week in London followed by a week in Rome. I'm quite pleased so far and no accounting errors to date.
I preferred the old web site which showed many more exchange options then the current version.
Beats RCI weeks hands down.
Steve

marinersfan · Apr 9, 2010

Currently Frustrated!

I know I'm running a little late on this post, but thought I'd let my opinion be heard. Prior to the past couple of months I’d have probably given a thumbs up on RH, based on the value that I paid on the aftermarket. I've been a week’s owner of an Ambassador unit for the past 5 or 6 years and have enjoyed using my time as well as renting it. Other than dealing with the constant MF and All-Inclusive (AI) hikes, I’ve had pretty good luck – until now:

My sister-in-law and a number of her friends were renting a week in Dec 2009, to give another friend with cancer one last trip. She was encouraged to purchase insurance in case one or all were not able to go. With my week and location (Park Royal Cancun), it is a mandatory AI so you pay for a minimum of 2 AI’s upfront with the remaining to be paid later. If you wait and pay at check-in you will get charged a higher fee (no, I don’t know why). All AI fee’s were paid a month before travel. The friend with cancer was bed ridden a week before the trip, and ended up passing away about 2 weeks later. My sister-in-law and the rest of her friends made the trip anyway. When my sister-in-law asked for a refund, Cancun told her she would have to request it through Royal Holiday. A very long story short;

RHC told her the insurance would only cover if the entire reservation was canceled not just one person not showing up.
She would not get a refund, but a credit would be added to my account.
It’s April, exactly 4 months later, multiple calls with promises, even from a manager, and I still don’t have the credit. I’ve tried to talk to the same person each time, but that’s impossible, and the manager I talked to towards the end of March? Well, he’s in a different position/department now and not taking calls!

Other issues:

I was told by the seller and RHC that my contract was grandfathered in so the AI fee was optional, not mandatory. After two years the grandfathering part of the contract was void without warning or notification (this was an issue to me, but my wife preferred the AI so I didn’t pursue it).
A request for documentation was never provided. RHC said there is none, but not to worry, the contract is in my name, and what the seller told me I was buying they confirmed over the phone.
After a special assessment, I was verbally told that I would receive a bonus week equal to my size of unit anywhere in RHC’s inventory (I smartened up and asked for this promise in writing). When making the reservation for the Bonus week, I was told all I was getting was a small studio unit. Thanks for the written promise I got equal value.

Now the good:

95% of the time, the RHC reps are very kind and helpful.
The few resorts I’ve stayed have been well taken care of and nice.
The staff at the resorts has been awesome.

I didn't pay much for this contract so it's been worth the money, but not the hassel. I personally have considered buying into the points (resale of course), but because of the # of issues I’ve had, and especially the last one, I will not purchase or take over anything to do with RHC, or Mexico for that matter. I’ll pay a little more (or less

) and rent a week or two.

Got rid of all my RHC Contracts.. I am so happy

icydog

TUG Review Crew: Expert

Bill4728

icydog

TUG Review Crew: Expert

bcti

icydog

TUG Review Crew: Expert

e.bram

PeelBoy

icydog

TUG Review Crew: Expert

bcti

icydog

TUG Review Crew: Expert

Jya-Ning

drivable

carl2591

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

boyblue

JMAESD84

icydog

TUG Review Crew: Expert

Whirl

PeelBoy

MULTIZ321

Whirl

caribbean

Blondie

MULTIZ321

SteveH

marinersfan