RHC Due diligence - How?

[MaryH]

Probably in a month or two, there will be RHC contracts for sale that would not require you to reimburse the M/F and may have some banked points.

Not all RHC weeks contracts are created equal. I would not take any low or mid-season weeks and if the one you looked at excluded July, Aug, it is probably a mid season week. Excluding Xmas and New Years is okay. I definitely prefer points since it offers far more flexibility and usually lower costs than weeks. For example, if you get 60k, your M/F cost per point is about 1.5 cents US which makes 700$ M/F week 45-50K points. Only a few properties are in that range. If you really must buy a week, buy one that can be split to 2 reservations just in case since you might not be able to get a full week at some popular places.

Mary

 

[jerseygirl]

I assume you are speculating about seasons, since the most popular weeks membership sold was HIGH season, which excludes July in August in some locations, but not others. Prime season memberships are very hard to find. And, despite what you read on ebay, there is no such thing as a weeks membership that only excludes the holidays. The seasons are resort-specific, not membership-specific.

It's very easy to use the website to determine which weeks fall into which season. It's the same chart for points and weeks users.

 

[MaryH]

I remember seeing a prime week for sale on eBay and the problem was I would have to pay the resort transfer fee and it had only 3 years remaining on the contract, adding an extra 120+ per year so ended up passing on it. Do not remember which was the home resort... I am pretty sure that one excluded holiday weeks at 1-50.

 

[jerseygirl]

Ebay ads are misleading/wrong more often than not. To reiterate, you can determine the exact season information, on a resort-by-resort basis, by reviewing the credits section of the resort directory.

It's surprising that you ran across a membership with only 3 years remaining. RHC started selling the multi-resorts weeks membership in the late 80s. They had a 30 year term, making the earliest expirations in the 2017-2018 range. You must have run across a seller who took advantage of the "over 50" acceleration rules.

I wish I had $1 for every RHC membership sold with bad information on eBay. I'm trying to keep it from spreading to this board as well.

 

[MaryH]

I know I usually get the contract number from the seller and check direct with RHC. On 2 occassions I found incorrect information from the seller / broker. The 2 weeks contracts I was looking at last fall I did check with RHC and one was week 1-50 and the other was excluded the summer.

I did expected the short expiry was due to accelertation since most other contracts end in the 2020 - 2030 range.

 

[jerseygirl]

Mary,

The information you received from RHC was also incorrect unless you were considering buying a "single resort" membership (the earliest membership types they sold). I think all owners are used to getting conflicting information when we call RHC, so this shouldn't surprise you.

Once RHC started selling multi-resort memberships, the seasons became resort-specific. So, while High Season might be 1-50 at one resort, it will be everything except for July and August at another resort, or only July and August. Like a lot of things with RHC, there's no real rhyme or reason to how the specific seasons were assigned. For example, when Two Hyde Park was available, High Season there was different than High Season at Allen House. Both are in London, so that makes no sense ... but, that's the way it was. At Wave Crest resort (So. California), Prime Season is President's, Holy Week, Easter Week, Christmas and New Year's. But, High Season includes July and August, when most people like to go to the beach. Again, it makes no sense -- but that's the way it is.

Those of us who actually own weeks memberships have online account access that is specific to our own memberships. If I have two different weeks memberships, one will include a different set of resorts (and associated sizes and seasons) than the other one --- the contracts were defined upon purchase, so one orginially sold in 1992 will be different than one originally sold in 1993.

The important thing to note is that you received incorrect information if you were told that a specific weeks membership was limited to 1-50 or no holidays. That's simply not true (unless the membership was limited to one resort only -- the very earliest memberships they sold).

-- Jerseygirl

 

[MaryH]

good information Jerseygirl.

I looked at weeks briefly and could have been given incorrect information from HG and RHC very easily. I decided against it since the points were more suited for my needs and the week M/F cost is higher vs equivalent costs for points if you have a large points contract.

 

[royalholidayclubbed]

Over 50

You cannot borrow from 2008, they will try to 'rent' you points at an outrageous rate or even sell you more points.

I would not throw lies into the mix, it's hard enough as it is. I don't know what they require as proof.

I agree with the way danmac reads the over fifty rule but from phone conversations it appears that it may be interpreted as "if you are fifty, you can accelerate"

Why can´t you borrow form 2008?

I know the acceleration rule is applied by taking off the LAST year the contract is to run for and double it into this year (if that is what you want).

But remember - you still need to pay the TWO maintainance fees !!!!
One for each year of points used.