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Resort fee at Massanutten effective 6/29/18 :(

missyrcrews

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Received the following from RCI this afternoon:


Dear RCI Member:


We have some important information to share concerning your upcoming vacation to THE SUMMIT AT MASSANUTTEN.


The staff at THE SUMMIT AT MASSANUTTEN has notified us that effective June 29th 2018, there will be a Resort Amenities Fee collected at check in. Amenities fee varies from $10.00 to $20.00 per unit per night. Please call 540-289-9441 for details.


I'll give them a call to see what that amenities fee gets me. Sigh. We had planned to purchase activities passes anyway. I've had this reservation almost 2 years, so I'm not cancelling it. Too bad that so many resorts are moving toward these fees.
 

tschwa2

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I just received the email too. I have a feeling that they are being influence by their affiliation with Vacation Villages which has been charging the $25 weekly fee for the last several years. My guess is that nothing that wasn't free prior to June 29 will be included in the fee. The annoying thing is these charges are 100% covered by MF at least for this year. There was nothing in the budget saying that half way through the year additional funding for internet, pool use, etc would be coming in. If this is like the Vacation Village fee it will apply to both owners and exchangers staying at Massanutten and will go right into the pocket of management.
 

Free2Roam

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If they implement this at Woodstone it will put an end to our annual Feb-Mar group ski trip. We usually get 15-20 units from RCI last calls or extra vacation sales. Adding $70-140 to each unit will be a no-go.
 

tschwa2

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If they implement this at Woodstone it will put an end to our annual Feb-Mar group ski trip. We usually get 15-20 units from RCI last calls or extra vacation sales. Adding $70-140 to each unit will be a no-go.
I had read it as $10-$20 per week per unit. After seeing your post I see it is per night. Per week is a nuisance, per night is just ridiculous.
 

bbodb1

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Since you had the reservation prior to this change, have you called the resort to see if they would waive this fee?

It's worth a call...
 

poorguy

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I received the same. Considering this wasn’t there when I booked my exchange this is frustrating. We are going next month and at this point making other plans would be difficult plus not even worth it as I would lose the RCI fees anyway. From what I see most of the activities cost a fee and it isn’t exactly cheap to begin with.
 

Panina

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Received the following from RCI this afternoon:


Dear RCI Member:


We have some important information to share concerning your upcoming vacation to THE SUMMIT AT MASSANUTTEN.


The staff at THE SUMMIT AT MASSANUTTEN has notified us that effective June 29th 2018, there will be a Resort Amenities Fee collected at check in. Amenities fee varies from $10.00 to $20.00 per unit per night. Please call 540-289-9441 for details.


I'll give them a call to see what that amenities fee gets me. Sigh. We had planned to purchase activities passes anyway. I've had this reservation almost 2 years, so I'm not cancelling it. Too bad that so many resorts are moving toward these fees.
Being you have to pay for activity passes, this is unfair for a trade. Let us know what they tell say you get for the fee.
 

Ricci

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I received the email as well. We have reservations at Regal Vistas, and of course this fee was not part of the exchange. I tried to call the number they give for any questions...I hung up after being on hold for 45 minutes. Great job Massanutten.....You just shot yourself in the foot. This is NOT a high end resort and it has a ton of availability. There is going to be a LOT more availability after this. I have to keep this reservation, but I will never go back.
 

kwelty

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If they implement this at Woodstone it will put an end to our annual Feb-Mar group ski trip. We usually get 15-20 units from RCI last calls or extra vacation sales. Adding $70-140 to each unit will be a no-go.

You may want to try Mountainside Villas, they are independent of the Masssanutten developer and have a very good HOA and management company. Their units while dated, are the biggest at Massanutten.
 

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The only reason I have considered going to this resort is because it's cheap.
I'm guessing other people might find this resort provides value in another way, but I'm hard pressed to think of it. Perhaps they'll use these fees to lower other fees. If so, the fee might be a good idea. If this is just a money grab, I can see this back firing big time, mainly because it's a big fee.
 

tschwa2

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Or they might put the money straight to the sales force to use it to pressure RCI guests to attend the presentation. Water park tickets plus a refund of the resort fees. This will really mess with those who are ineligible to attend presentation- travel without spouse, bankruptcy, doesn't speak enough English, etc.
 

Miss Marty

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As of June 20th, 2018
RCI - Website - Search

Massanutten Resorts

Select:

The Summit at Massanutten (#3640)

Woodstone at Massanutten (#5711)

Regal Vistas at Massanutten ( # C152 )


Look under Fees
You will see the following statement


Resort Fees:

Resort amenities fee is 10.00 to 20.00 U.S. dollars.
Cash or Credit is accepted.

Amenities fee varies from $10 to $20 per unit per night
Call 540-289-9441 for details.

:(

It looks like we will not be depositing our Summit weeks
anymore to exchange into other areas of Massanutten.

We were just there about a month ago in a 4 bedroom
It was our (owner) week and there was no mention of
a resort fee. Note: Security Deposit was $100 per unit

This is a joke to add $70 to $140 per week / per unit
Resort Fee to the increasing cost of RCI exchange fee.

Since so many Virginia timeshares have had success
collecting resort fees, I guess it was just a matter of
time before Massanutten started to charge a fee too.
 

dominidude

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Or they might put the money straight to the sales force to use it to pressure RCI guests to attend the presentation. Water park tickets plus a refund of the resort fees. This will really mess with those who are ineligible to attend presentation- travel without spouse, bankruptcy, doesn't speak enough English, etc.
I think that at least some people who find this new fee worth paying for may not go to the presentations because they may value their time higher than what the resort could pay.
On the other hand, I see a lot of people, including myself, not going to massanutten anymore.
So, to me, it seems the sales staff will have quite fewer people interested in their presentations.
 
Last edited:

bbodb1

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I recall a past visit to Williamsburg was the first time I ever experienced an attempt to collect an activity fee. I did not pay it then because it was not disclosed when I made the reservation.

Having said that, I've become more diligent with respect to checking a resort's fees prior to booking a stay (which should become part of the SOP when planning your next vacation stay).

The other issue here is what do you get for your activity fee? It seems like some resorts are trying to collect activity fees for the same tired facilities they had previously.
 

tschwa2

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If they started a resort shuttle and made the water park and golf greens free for everyone staying in the unit, or at least gave you a 100% resort credit that could be used for anything at MassanuttI might be ok with it. I don't think they are adding anything. I encourage everyone to complain on twitter, facebook, instagram, etc.
 

Panina

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So many resorts are now charging these resort fees that many more are following thinking they can too.

Owners at these timeshare need to express their concern. Trade value will diminish for owners as the demand to trade in will go down.

If a timeshare is not high end or a high demand area traders will look at other choices.

Even demand for higher end timeshares are losing demand. I noticed the Orlando prime winter weeks are abundant for hgvc in rci. My guess is with their new resort fees and lots of other choices they are going elsewhere.
 

WinniWoman

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Is this just for RCI (or other co.) exchanges? Not for owners who use their home week?

I believe Smugglers Notch has some kind of fee also for exchangers. It's getting bad with these resorts lately. What is the point of being an owner anymore? Might as well rent.
 

dominidude

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There are other resorts in this area. We never considered them before but I think we might consider those now.
 

missyrcrews

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Is this just for RCI (or other co.) exchanges? Not for owners who use their home week?

I believe Smugglers Notch has some kind of fee also for exchangers. It's getting bad with these resorts lately. What is the point of being an owner anymore? Might as well rent.
We're at Smuggs now. Smuggs didn't charge us for internet either this trip or the last one. (They said that they don't charge RCI exchangers.) I had to pay for the Smuggs Pass, of course...but didn't pay the "resort fee" because I'd held on to the RFID cards from last year. The story I'd gotten last year was if we recycled those cards, we wouldn't have to pay for them again. They just reloaded them at check in.

I'll try to call Massanutten at some point soon. We're on vacation...so not sure it will be this week. Whatever the outcome, we'll keep this reservation. BUT I'm pretty sure we won't be in a hurry to return. And I'm for sure not wasting one minute of my vacation attending a presentation.

I agree with the statement made about the owners being the ones who can make change.
 

tschwa2

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I am complaining full steam but I don't know if it will help. Massanutten is 100% developer controlled. There have been numerous little things that I have brought up and always been brushed aside. I don't think they care if trading value in weeks tank because they are now selling rci points in 2 of those 3 sections and rci points values are set. If trading value tanks it will be another selling point that owners should pay the $5000+ per week to convert to RCI points.
 

bluehende

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I just received the email too. I have a feeling that they are being influence by their affiliation with Vacation Villages which has been charging the $25 weekly fee for the last several years. My guess is that nothing that wasn't free prior to June 29 will be included in the fee. The annoying thing is these charges are 100% covered by MF at least for this year. There was nothing in the budget saying that half way through the year additional funding for internet, pool use, etc would be coming in. If this is like the Vacation Village fee it will apply to both owners and exchangers staying at Massanutten and will go right into the pocket of management.

We love Massanutten and usually get their once or twice a year. I use last minute deals and our last one was a 99 dollar week through DAE. You can imagine what a 140 dollar fee does to change my plans. We spend money there that they will now not get. I have a lot of options. Massanutten was always at the top for us , but no more. They could add value that would make this a wash, but I am not holding my breath.
 

bluehende

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I received the email as well. We have reservations at Regal Vistas, and of course this fee was not part of the exchange. I tried to call the number they give for any questions...I hung up after being on hold for 45 minutes. Great job Massanutten.....You just shot yourself in the foot. This is NOT a high end resort and it has a ton of availability. There is going to be a LOT more availability after this. I have to keep this reservation, but I will never go back.

This hits the nail on the head. They are having trouble filling the resort so lets charge them more to come through the door. I have been going for years and the resort has been slowly going downhill. We love the mountain biking there so get value. There is not shortage of timeshares in places with very good mountain biking.
 

Ricci

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I just tried to call again six times. They either don't answer or you are cut off . Great management.
 

bluehende

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Here is a note I just sent RCI

To whom it may concern;
I would like to let you know why I just decided not to join RCI. I am currently on vacation at my owned unit. I was going to join RCI when I returned to take advantage of your last minute vacations as we are retired. One of my main resorts to use was Massanutten. I have been made aware today through TUG that there is now a fee of up to 140 dollars to use this resort. That fee negates any value we had with being a member of RCI. I will continue to rent timeshares through owners at this point. If in the future this fee is ended please feel free to contact us and we will reconsider our decision.

Wayne
 

Ricci

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I just tried calling again. There are seven prompts for different departments.....I tried all of them and was cut off every time.
 
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