Holiday Inn Club Vacations- Orange Lake Resort (Weeks)

[TamaraQT]

Hello All....I am considering a purchase on resale market for Orange Lake. The deed states Week 23 which is an early June week. My family usual travels in July and/or August. For those that own at Orange Lake, is it easy to trade/book my week 23 to a week in mid-July to late August? Does a week 23 have any blackout dates/periods besides 4th of July?

 

[tschwa2]

Orange Lake is a fixed week resort. If you want to stay a different week you would have to deposit and then exchange through RCI paying any applicable exchange fees. You would have no more priority or discounts staying at Orange Lake than if you owned elsewhere. It is unwise to buy an Orange Lake week that you won't use regularly yourself.

Also a week 23 probably gets fewer tpu's than you would need to exchange into a July week.

 

[TamaraQT]

Thanks. Another owner advised the same thing. I am surprised Orange Lake doesnt allow you to change your week. I just want to travel later than week #23 but to have a week at River Island during a summer month is what I am looking for. Sounds like I need to let this pass me by.

 

[tschwa2]

They do let you change your week if you are a points member with HICV. If you are a resale weeks owner, they don't care to make it easier or more flexible unless you are will to make a retail purchase to enroll your deeded week. Fixed weeks can work out well if you have a fixed week you actually like. It's nice to know that you will have the location/unit and week without have to reserve a week if you know that you want to visit the same resort, at the same time each year. More popular fixed weeks will be slightly harder to find and you might not get a prime week for free with free usage thrown in like you can find for the off season weeks but they are findable and still should be priced reasonably. River Island is going to be harder to find during prime time than the other villages.

 

[TamaraQT]

Ok....I just found the answer to my question. The most recent handbook i see online for owners is the 2010 handbook and on page 35-36 it states "Same place, different time". Meaning you can reserve 12 to 10 months prior to go to your home resort on a different week than scheduled. It doesnt mention any deposits with RCI. In fact, RCI is an option to join not mandatory. I just want to change my week at my home resort. Not to use for trading power. I dont want to trade.

 

[tschwa2]

If y

Ok....I just found the answer to my question. The most recent handbook i see online for owners is the 2010 handbook and on page 35-36 it states "Same place, different time". Meaning you can reserve 12 to 10 months prior to go to your home resort on a different week than scheduled. It doesnt mention any deposits with RCI. In fact, RCI is an option to join not mandatory. I just want to change my week at my home resort. Not to use for trading power. I dont want to trade.

If you are looking at a hand book that is for HICV (points) owners. Even if you buy a week that has been converted to points at Orange Lake it will revert back to the fixed deeded week. Buying resale (at that resort) you aren't a HICV (Holiday Inn Club Vacation member) you are an Orange Lake Deeded week owner and there is no handbook to look at. There are 3 resorts within the system that do retain points and HICV membership upon resale, (Lake Geneva, WI, Gatlinburg, TN, and Myrtle Beach, SC) all other resales are deeded owners only. Some of the resorts have float weeks you have to reserve within your season and others like Orange Lake only have fixed week/fixed units and if you want something else you need to pay to convert to HICV or do it through RCI.

 

[TamaraQT]

ok...i found the link for the 2017 owners guide. I see the week 23 converted to points will NOT allow me travel during July and August as I would like. Week 23 is a prime(gold) season but I am looking for a peak(platinum) season. Thanks so much for helping me get a better understanding. I dont think it will work for me.

 

[theo]

The most recent handbook i see online for owners is the 2010 handbook and on page 35-36 it states "Same place, different time". Meaning you can reserve 12 to 10 months prior to go to your home resort on a different week than scheduled.

As pointed out already, you're looking at a deeded fixed week 23. If that fixed week 23 is not what you want for use and occupancy, don't buy it (IMnsHO).

It seems counter-intuitive to buy a deeded fixed week you don't want or intend to use, just to attempt (with no guarantee of availability) to use it to maybe access a better, higher demand week at the same place --- and also have to initiate that effort (with uncertain results) 12-10 months in advance to boot.

It would seem to make a lot more sense to hold out for a fixed week that you want to use, with its' guaranteed access. Why buy into the uncertainty of attempting to use a lesser week to (only maybe) access a better week of higher demand (and surely less availability) at the same property? Owners of those higher demand July / August fixed weeks likely own them to use them or rent them out or deposit them for exchange (via RCI). It would be little more than a "hope" that any of those higher demand weeks would ever actually be made available to you at all.

Just my personal opinion. I admittedly know nothing about that particular resort, but the reality of the reservation obstacles mentioned above still apply.