Occupancy Tax [and other fees on RCI exchanges]

I use RCI for exchanges and recently have seen a number of units requiring an extra, per day, occupancy tax. Is this a City or Municipality added tax or another way of increasing daily fees that have been added per day to members who exchange timeshares? Are the owners of that week who have exchanged out also paying that occupancy tax too. Thanks for any help or redirection where I can read more on this.

Every resort is different - some resorts have extra fees, and some local governments have extra taxes. There can also be charges for WIFI, energy, resort fees, etc.

For instance:

Hawaii has an accommodations tax (TAT) that everyone must pay - owners, renters, exchangers.

DVC Exchangers are charged a $98 additional fee at check-in.

Some resorts in Mexico have mandatory all-inclusive fees.

There is no hard and fast rule - it's all over the place.

They are going to require your credit card at check-in, and they will charge you for the fees at check-in, or check-out - there is no way to get around it.

tugatlast said:

I use RCI for exchanges and recently have seen a number of units requiring an extra, per day, occupancy tax. Is this a City or Municipality added tax or another way of increasing daily fees that have been added per day to members who exchange timeshares? Are the owners of that week who have exchanged out also paying that occupancy tax too. Thanks for any help or redirection where I can read more on this.

Click to expand...

Denise has answered your question quite capably. I'll add just one more thought since it seems that within your inquiry lies the question of whether or not "exchangers" are somehow "targeted" for occupancy taxes, while others somehow are not charged. Regardless of geographic location, I truly believe that is not the case.

Some facilities charge separately for WiFi access, but I'm not aware of any that let owners "slide" on paying that fee but yet still charge "exchangers". I can't honestly say that I would particularly disagree if they did have that policy in place at the resorts where we own weeks, but I'm not actually aware of any such practice.

Theo:

Check out Westgate Lakes Resort on Turkey road in Orlando.

Last time I stayed there on II exchange WIFI was $39.95 a week for exchangers which is waived if one agrees to do battle with their sales goons.

Not enough info...

pacodemountainside said:

Last time I stayed there on II exchange WIFI was $39.95 a week for exchangers which is waived if one agrees to do battle with their sales goons.

Click to expand...

You have not indicated whether that WiFi fee is imposed exclusively upon exchangers, or upon everyone there who wants WiFi access. Some facilities (Celebrity / Legacy comes to mind as a specific example I've personally encountered) impose such a a WiFi fee upon upon all occupants who want WiFi access --- including owners.

theo said:

You have not indicated whether that WiFi fee is imposed exclusively upon exchangers, or upon everyone there who wants WiFi access. Some facilities (Celebrity / Legacy comes to mind as a specific example I've personally encountered) impose such a a WiFi fee upon upon all occupants who want WiFi access --- including owners.

Click to expand...

Westgate includes wifi and various other amenities (parking, waterpark, etc) to owners but charges if anyone other than the owner stays in the unit. This includes exchangers, renters, and friends/family members not on the deed.

theo said:

...
Some facilities charge separately for WiFi access, but I'm not aware of any that let owners "slide" on paying that fee but yet still charge "exchangers". I can't honestly say that I would particularly disagree if they did have that policy in place at the resorts where we own weeks, but I'm not actually aware of any such practice.

Click to expand...

I owned at a resort where WiFi was free for owners but had a fee for exchangers or renters as the stated policy.

The last time I stayed there the code was in the Info Book, so anyone who took the time to read it got the free WiFi.:hysterical:

They had just changed managers and the new one was trying very hard to make the resort friendlier.