You premier members always ''forget'' to factor in the thousands you had to spend to get that ''special'' rate,,, just saying
While yes, we had to come up with $ up front, even if I factor that in (up front money divided by number of nights we purchased) to what alpha rooms is advertising right now, my rate is over $100/night cheaper for our next trip.
Also depends on the time of year you go (not so much lately, I remember when April was a low season) During low season I have heard many complaints about Premier members paying more then Non-premier members even after there discounted rates. Also depending where your flying from if your room is per-purchased you can-not take opportunity of discounted charter flights. All depends where and when your flying from and if your actually going to use all your nights , glad its working out for you.
Got to say we booked around that same time last year. Prices are high right now because of Christmas. They'll drop.
I compared our same days in May 2013 that we are booked. May - Oct is the low sears on for rates. I'm not sure what all the flight stuff is about... We booked the days we want and the flights we want for the number we want. We are useing 8 nights this year out if our pool.
I am confused for us looking at our dates right now I find the trips cheap our october trip is going to be $433 each for the room through Alpharooms for the week, thats $61 a night love that price and July came out at about 70 per night. flights I will book closer to the the dates they normally come down to the 400 to 500 range. Right now the flights are around 580 still not too bad.
The membership thing isn't for everyone, as much as the Original Resorts folks at TTR want to present it as such, you've got a point. For us, about the only thing we spend our fun money on is traveling around, and our favorite place we've found to go is TTR, so that was half the sale. The true "closer" on the thing was the RCI weeks trade thing. We can fly, at our cost of course but we get discounts on that too, to Rome, say, and stay for a week for flights + $399 and have an extra bedroom in case we wanted to invite friends along. THAT part is what nailed us. I went back and checked, and if I'd already been a Premier Member, when I booked and paid for our last trip to Hawaii, I'd have saved about $3K.
My conclusions were based on TTR and what people have said. If I'm wrong please correct me and clarify Yes TTR is a small part of the package but I ve read members have to pay a 75$ per night per person AI fee (food and beverage) $150 Total +++Yes that gets you an upgraded room and personal waiters poolside BUT... room are readily available for $135 to 150 a night on Travel republic and alpha rooms (excludes Xmas and March break to be fare). So conclusion,, the $8 to 12 grand gets Members a better room and pool service and is not worth it if you dont plan on traveling to other places ?? I always find Members reluctant to talk about the fees they paid and what is actually offered, do they have to sign a confidentiality agreement or are they just embarrassed they got suckered into it ??( Question not a comment ) Convince me I,m wrong , who knows, I travel a lot and I may be missing out on something
I have heard the same thing in the past. I think that is the difference between older contracts and newer ones. I was looking at purchasing a contract off someone that had weeks they could no longer use and they sent me their contract. Then I went down to TTR on a referral week and saw there offer, which was based on nights. I have seen people talk about the old points system, flights, etc... and how their value went down over the years. Ours is pretty simple, we purchased a number of nights, basically paying a portion of those nights up front. We have a guaranteed rate plus the AI fee (which everyone pays). We have the RCI program if we want it like John said. And we do get all the perks... which does add value if you use them. I just reserved the yacht for a time block when we are there in May As far as the perks, there are mixed opinions out there if it is worth it. For someone that doesn't use the yacht, don't care where there room is, wants to play the hunt for a deal game on the web, stand in line to make dinner reservations, etc... it may not be worth it. I travel a lot and am a Hilton Diamond and Delta Platinum. I kinda like that status and the benefits. So when I go to TTR, getting the top shelf booze, the butler service, stopping in at the Premier desk and making dinner reservations any time I want, better rooms, spa discounts, etc... it does add value for us. It is not for everyone, there is a lot of truth and myths out there, and when we purchased we did a lot of math to figure out when the payout was going to be vs. current rates.
Airfare is definitely way higher than it had been in the past. Non stops from STL are now $650-675. We flew the same flight a few years ago for $99 to $299.
