• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Tahoe Ridge—considering converting my week to points

Bnicholerose

Guest
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
18
Reaction score
2
Points
63
I have been contacted by the marketing team at my resort a few times about converting my prime week at Tahoe Ridge in the Cascade building for their newer point system. I am kind of interested, as a few of the couples we have met over the years there have done it, and are saying they enjoy the flexibility the point system offers in regards to trading to travel to other places, or using their points for a week at the ridge during spring time, and then having a lot of points still left to use for another week or two somewhere else.

My friends only paid $1,500 to convert their week, but they did it about ten years ago, when The Ridge first came out with the point system. I have heard the price to convert has gone up, but I don’t know by how much. Our friends had a prime week in the Naegle and got 5,200 points for that.

I am wondering if anyone knows how the point conversation works. The Ridge won’t tell me up front, and they want me to wait until I am there next to attend a 90 minute presentation to get the info of how many points my 2 bedro prime week in the Cascades will get me and how much the conversion will cost. Anyone know how I can get that info without waiting till I’m there next and sitting through that presentation?
 

bluehende

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
4,507
Reaction score
3,967
Points
598
I am sure the fact they are cagey on the only two pieces of data you need means it will not be good for you in the long run. If it was so good they would be glad to share that info with you now instead of during a high pressure sales presentation where the over under on the phrase "only available today" is probably 10. I will ask one question. How much are the converted weeks selling for now. I don't know but I will guess it will be well below the conversion fee. If you have a good week rent it out for the best and most flexible point system......cash.
 

jlp879

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2008
Messages
1,147
Reaction score
338
Points
443
Location
SF Bay Area
I've owned at Ridge Tahoe in the Plaza building since I found a very cheap week on eBay. Love the place to death but I would run from the points conversion. Ridge Tahoe is an easy trade most times and if you already own a "primo week" then you can just trade it with II yourself. With the points conversion, you pay a new, higher maintenance fee because they're throwing in a lifetime II membership.

There are some old threads on TUG where people are paying $4000-$7000 to convert their deeded weeks to points. Here is one where the prospective buyer says her new points conversion wouldn't be enough for her to book her current winter prime week.

https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/convert-deeded-week-to-points.247625/

The points conversion program is a great deal -- for the resort but not for you.

https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/who-can-tell-me-about-resorts-west-vacation-club.131473/
 

WinniWoman

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
10,762
Reaction score
7,057
Points
749
Location
The Weirs, New Hampshire
Resorts Owned
Innseason Pollard Brook
Whenever a resort wants you to spend more money on this kind of thing it is for their benefit- not yours!
 

Bnicholerose

Guest
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
18
Reaction score
2
Points
63
Thanks so much for the info! I think we will keep our week as it is after reading that! We actually use our time at the ridge every year to ski and also use their bonus time another 4-5 times a year to stay at the resort on the weekends. We only live an hour from the resort, so it’s a perfect weekend get away spot during the winter when we ski and also the summer when it is too hot in the valley.

Besides going to the ridge several times every year, we do a big vacation once a year where we go somewhere tropical like Hawaii or turks and caicos. We used to own a week in Maui, but since we started wanting to go other places, we sold it because it was just a hassle dealing with trading, even though it had a good trading power. And then we also take about three little weekend trips to LA, San Francisco, or Vegas to see concerts every year. I have recently put together an international list of places I’d like to travel to with my daughter who just turned 16. Basically, we were thinking points would be good for us since we like skipping around on short notice and don’t want to bother with the trading all the time.

I am thinking of keeping my week at Tahoe (since that is the one place we always go to year after year) and buying another timeshare that is points system that would give us enough points for a week somewhere tropical every year plus some additional points for weekend get always when we go to concerts. We like to stay in a 1-2 bedroom 4-5 star (mostly 5 star) resort when we travel. Do you have any suggestions on a point system that might fit our needs best? We pay $1,200 for our current MF at the ridge and could pay up another 1,500$ a year in MF.
 

barrey

TUG Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2011
Messages
25
Reaction score
12
Points
213
Location
San Jose, CA
Pros:
More flexible use of Ridge Properties (short stays, different unit sizes, etc)
More flexible exchanges with II (ShortStay, Larger units, etc)
II Platinum membership paid.
More usage time (since you have to add "new points" to your "converted points" - i.e. what they give you for your week)
They stop bugging you to convert to points :rolleyes:

Cons:
More $$, both up-front (to buy those "new points") and ongoing (MF's on more points = more $$)
Still hard to get the high-demand properties (Hawaii, etc) with II.

My $.02 : If you currently use and are happy with your week, either by trading or at the Ridge, stick with the week.
Pay no attention to the "Weeks are going away" pitch.
Ridge guys are nicer than the average TS salesman, but they're still not getting paid unless they sell you...

If you're not using it and think you'll take advantage of the points to do shorter stays there, or to trade with II, and you have the cash, go for it.
If you have to finance it, skip it.

We did it a couple years ago.
I have things I both like and dislike about it, but we ARE using it more now.
In the year before we converted, we ended up giving our friends and relatives 3 TS week stays that we couldn't use.
Last year I ended up losing a small amount of points since I couldn't fit in a short trip around year-end.

-Barrey
 

Bnicholerose

Guest
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
18
Reaction score
2
Points
63
Thanks for the reply, Barrey! We do use our timeshare every year at the ridge. I think I’m going to keep this timeshare at the ridge how it is, but also buy points to do our other traveling. I’m just not sure yet what company to get points from. Looking around a bit, fees do seem to be more expensive for points than the typical weeks we have always bought and owned at all the timeshares we have had over the years.


Pros:
More flexible use of Ridge Properties (short stays, different unit sizes, etc)
More flexible exchanges with II (ShortStay, Larger units, etc)
II Platinum membership paid.
More usage time (since you have to add "new points" to your "converted points" - i.e. what they give you for your week)
They stop bugging you to convert to points :rolleyes:

Cons:
More $$, both up-front (to buy those "new points") and ongoing (MF's on more points = more $$)
Still hard to get the high-demand properties (Hawaii, etc) with II.

My $.02 : If you currently use and are happy with your week, either by trading or at the Ridge, stick with the week.
Pay no attention to the "Weeks are going away" pitch.
Ridge guys are nicer than the average TS salesman, but they're still not getting paid unless they sell you...

If you're not using it and think you'll take advantage of the points to do shorter stays there, or to trade with II, and you have the cash, go for it.
If you have to finance it, skip it.

We did it a couple years ago.
I have things I both like and dislike about it, but we ARE using it more now.
In the year before we converted, we ended up giving our friends and relatives 3 TS week stays that we couldn't use.
Last year I ended up losing a small amount of points since I couldn't fit in a short trip around year-end.

-Barrey
 
Joined
Apr 15, 2018
Messages
7
Reaction score
1
Points
1
I've owned at Ridge Tahoe in the Plaza building since I found a very cheap week on eBay. Love the place to death but I would run from the points conversion. Ridge Tahoe is an easy trade most times and if you already own a "primo week" then you can just trade it with II yourself. With the points conversion, you pay a new, higher maintenance fee because they're throwing in a lifetime II membership.

There are some old threads on TUG where people are paying $4000-$7000 to convert their deeded weeks to points. Here is one where the prospective buyer says her new points conversion wouldn't be enough for her to book her current winter prime week.

https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/convert-deeded-week-to-points.247625/

The points conversion program is a great deal -- for the resort but not for you.

https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/who-can-tell-me-about-resorts-west-vacation-club.131473/
 
Joined
Apr 15, 2018
Messages
7
Reaction score
1
Points
1
I had two fixed weeks. I traded one to points. Every year the points are worth less and less because the points required by each resort to.book there keep going up. On the other hand my remaining fixed week is still a week and trades for a week. Too much slight of hand with points.
 
Top