By the way the $183 is per night in July for the AI fee. As you can see that is why some of us members that have been around for a while have got a bad taste in our mouth. They sold us on the fact that we could use our points for Air Fare which was awesome but that lasted 2 years and that went away.
Alpharooms.com. . But we booked in July.. I just added another night through Alpharooms and paid $200+ for it. . April 10-19
I've never sat through a Premier presentation, so I can only speak to the way we book each year. My first trip was in 2006 to BBG...we've always booked through Expedia or Orbitz and the best deal has always been to put together the best flight options from one of two airports as a package deal. 2006 was our most expensive trip...I've probably gotten better over time in finding the variables that gets the prices as low as possible (shopping 3 different airports, months and days of the week to travel, booking 6 months in advance, etc). We always pay the same or less than the prior year - so we've actually seen better prices each year. Lately Orbitz seems to always have a $150 promo code that works. Alpharooms has always been a great room price, but to book flights separately for us makes the Orbitz packages the best option. I work in sales, and to be honest customers who sign long term deals with my company get some perks, and good up front pricing...but as time goes by, those customers who just go year to year with pricing do much better money wise over time because of the 4-5% CPI price increases. It's like a compound interest deal...that 5% increase each year really adds up, so that by the 4th or 5th year, you're paying more than people like us who buy from 3rd party companies )like Orbitz because competition keeps the prices low and often goes down year to year rather than up. The reasons I've never been interested in looking at Premier is that by committing to Premier, we'd lose some flexibility...we'd have capital tied up long term for vacations (which doesn't make sense to us)...member perks wouldn't add value to our vacations (we're not foodies...Skyy Vodka, beer and frozen drinks suit both of us...we like to sit around the Sexy Pool with our friends rather than the gated section...we don't sit down in Paty'Os...and don't care what color our towels are). Just like a vehicle purchase, some opt for a BMW or Lexus...and I love my Ford Pickup. Everyone values different things...which means that the Premier perks and other benefits suit some but not all. If the resort will allow members to book their best third party deal and still get their perks, then it seems like it'd make sense to shop around.
We just got about $155/night through Alpharooms for the last week of May (booked a couple weeks ago)...just checked now and they're showing around $188/night.
Its just really affordable going to Cancun from Minneapolis so Premier doesnt make sense for us. Our friends Bob and Angela live in a small town in Colorado with expensive flights and not many options. For them it works out perfectly.
A bit late to this thread but hope the following helps to clear up any remaining misunderstandings about the contract pricing The rates displayed on the "Cover Page of Membership sale Contract" under "Membership Information" are specified for the year of the contract sale. In the body of the contract there is a provision for year to year rate adjustment according to inflation. How this is calculated nor on what it is based is not clear. The above rates on my page do not include the room cost nor VAT which has also increased since the year (2013) of my latest contract When I enquired about 2015 rates for my contract I was quoted the total cost AI+room+VAT $180 high season for Jacuzzi room, which I find quite reasonable considering that over the 12 years since I've been a member, the VAT has increased from 10% to 16%
We live in La Crosse, and always price Minneapolis, Milwaukee and La Crosse airports. La Crosse will always be on the high side, but I don't need to pay for parking or a motel from there. Sun Country out of Minneapolis always has cheap non-stop flights if we book early enough.
That's where my wife and I met in college I know the area very well...our daughter still goes to school there at UW-L. BTW if you're ever looking for extremely cheap parking for MSP airport you can actually park downtown Mpls in one of the city ramps and ride the light rail to the airport. Not exactly a time saver but it cost us like $15/week.
We were also under the old contract (2007 with points for air etc) but we did upgrade in 2013 ($3K btw) and got a helluva lot better deal on rates ($125 /n for a couple)...is it for everyone? maybe not but we are making it work better than the old contract.
