WATCH OUT PREMIER MEMBERS

Steve
Are you saying that if you sell the room for a week with choice A:

Choice A - Sell a room for $20 a night offering premium alcohol and other privileges

The question is do the ones that rent the room get all the priviliges of the above and what other priviliges do they recieve?

Do they need to make the 8 am reservations at the restuarants or can they go at any time without reservations. What other priviliges????

I have been informed that they wear the Blue wrist band. The Blue wrist band as far as I know does not include any priviliges.

Can they work with the Premeir Office and get these???

Thanks for all you help on this website, we appreciate you for all you do!

 

They are making plenty of money. Which is also why I think the current plan doesn't have the value there that the org. plan had. I think the A.I. fee is a little high compared to alot of time share resorts. I've found that many resorts through out Mexico and Caribbean are around $40 to $90 a day. Most seem to be right at about $55 a day. But also keep in mind alot of those resorts are priced even higher then the BBG to get into there program. Not sure what the current rate is this year at the BBG cause I haven't made my reservations yet. But I'm expecting its around $65 to $68 for April. Which between two people for a week does come out about $140 to $175 higher them some resorts. I was in it from the start which was around 7 years ago (I have to check my contract to be exact) and back then the cheapest A.I. fee was $50 I believe. So in that time frame it has gone about $15 or so. Which I don't find to bad. There has to be some increase for inflation over that time. Not too mention they did a ton of upgrading of the resort during that time. But when you figure alot of timeshare resorts charge maintance fees of anywhere from $150 on the bottom end(and that might be a little low) all the way up to over $500 a year. But from talking to people with timeshares on other boards the avg. maintance fee is somwhere in that $300 range a year for alot of resorts. So maybe the BBG made a decesion that they would rather charge a point conversion fee to members converting points instead of hitting us all with maintance fees. I actually believe in my contract its written that there will never be a maintance fee during my contract period. Who knows maybe BBG is trying to squeeze another dime out of its members, I honestly don't know, its just a thought.

I'm not sure what the current cost is for there middle of the road plan or bottom line plan is right now. For giggles two to three years ago I went in and talked to them just to see what it was all about now. Like I said in my first post you need to be a math wizard to figure out if you really saved much money. From going over it briefly it seemed like you saved some money but not much. So maybe under the new plan you could go for around the same as a travel agent/special. But you still won't get a Ocean View room, premium beverages, enhanced menu opitions, spa discount, etc. etc.. To me the new plan if your not careful and think out each move with it you could blow through your night/points very quickly and not save much money if any in the end.

It bothers me they change the rules all the time and nail us in the end on it. I honestly think they run the whole PREMIER MEMBERSHIP very poorly. Its like a said before, when you there they are great, your gone and forgotten about til you show up again.

Welcome to the board. Hope you stick around. Lots of good info around here and very nice people.

Nick and Renee

 

Steve,

Hmmmm.. I really do not understand what you are trying to say, but it is OK no need to explain cause I may figure it out one day. Are you saying, BBG is changing the way they conduct business from choice "A" to choice "D" ?

A.I. fee for Apr. is $90.00 PPD. That is 1260 USD a week, I guest you are right, that is not too high as long as BBG does not change the rule regarding MFee on us.

BUT take a look closer:

Here is the break down:
visit one week a year:
1260 - 476 (prepay AI) = 784 ($56 per person per day).
visit two weeks a year:
2520 - 476 = 2044 ($73 ppd)
visit 4 weeks a year:
and you will pay $81.50 ppd.

This is Mexican business alright; have never know of a business charges more for buying more. I think it call large volume surcharge, the opposite of large volume discount.

Ha-ha... BBG is laughing all the way to the Bank!

Steve try not to love it too much. I remember a story told by my Dad once, it's a story about: a dog with a bone in its mouth, while walking across a bridge, it notices that there is another dog with a bigger bone in the water, so he drop his bone, and jump in to go after the bigger bone".

I hope I am telling the story correctly, it might get lost in the translation.

Have a good week every one.

Soon

 

If BBG is up to $90 a day for A.I. fees they are flipping crazy. You sure that is across the board??? They have sold about 4 or 5 different versions of Premier Memberships through the years. I know last time I was down there I talked to a RCI member that used his banked points from his "home resort" (or whatever you want to call it) to go too the BBG and he was paying a higher daily A.I. fee then I was.

I'm going to email Premier and find out for sure. $90 a day BBG can sink into the ocean. :lol:

90 x 7 days x 2 people= $1260 for fees
Airline tickets out of most major airports usually run around $400 each with all your taxes. Sometimes more and sometimes less.
So that brings you up to $2060. Plus transfers to the and from the airport another $40 or so. So your up to $2100 for a couple.

Hmmmmmm.......most travel agents in are area charge anywhere from $1100 to $1350 pp for a week depending on the time of the year. You find a special and its about $1,000 a person. On avg. though its about 1175 to 1250 a person. So a couple can go for about 2200 to 2500 tops usually. Now I know we get the perks but boy at a 100 to 500 savings at tops a trip. Plus there charging you to bank points. It would take you a while to make your intial investment back if you even would. I wonder if the BBG realizes this.

Oh well off to email Premier. If I hear $90 a night back I think I might sell off my remaining contract.

Nick and Renee

 

I understand the perks to rci, our friends are members, but after watching her wait and wait for the paperwork to come, then finding flight, then checking points, then booking hotel, then waiting for confirmation, then payin her A/I fee then transfer then using her free week then end up spending $xx a piece for flight, but then using points and having to call and get all this set up?

I went online to apple, orbitz, cheaptickets and travelocity.....cheaptickets was at 1800 for a week for both of us.....booked it online, and that was it...no phone call, no hassle, nothing but an email back saying confirmed. Took me 20 minutes, took my friend 3 days-emails and phone calls to get her stuff done. I just dont have that kind of time!

Not to burst anyone's bubble....but flying out of chicago last two years cost us 2100 1st time, 1850 2nd time and 1800 this last time out of milwaukee.....I'm not sure where your savings is for being rci member?

I do understand the perks though, its nice to walk into rci and grab water, get nice room (although our room was bigger and had balcony) you do get jacuzzi! Liquor is better, and you have better chance of getting into specialty restaurant.....I guess for some people its important and for some its a deal....I guess its just not a good deal for us that go once a year?

Just a thought

 

Nick and Renee,

I hope you and others who have older contacts receive a better deals, pay less A.I. Fee. I have prove from BBG member service.

All-inclusive fee for 2007: FEE IS PER ADULT PER NIGHT.
JAN 04 – JAN 31: $82.00
FEB 01 – APR 14: $90.00
APR 15 – JUN 30: $80.00
JUL 01 – AUG 19: $85.00
AUG 20 - DEC 20: $68.00
DEC 21/07 – JAN 03/08: $118.00

Charging $200.00 for converting to points is nothing, when compare to A.I. fee.

I am sorry for bringing the bad news, and please do not shoot the messenger.

Good luck!

Soon

 

That is exactly why Jim and Kathy from Ohio started this treat, "Premier Member Watch out".

And I see it just as Tina said above, there is no good deal. If I could get cheaper from orbitz, etc. with the money I save, I could buy my own brand name liquors, buy our own first class a la carte meals, go to jacuzzi, and more, and still paying less without the commitment, and the initial membership payment.

So sorry to open up this can of worm.

Soon

 

Comparing a Premier room along with the AI fees to a regular room plus the "Go Silver" package is a good value to me when you consider the Section D rooms and the other Premier benefits.

There are ways to cut $200-$400 out of a trip, but having the flexibility to travel whenever and have access to the Premier rooms is a big bonus to us.