WATCH OUT PREMIER MEMBERS

TODAY! I received the offer to visit and upgrade our package. It states you must travel by 10/31/08 and the cost is $315 for 2 for 3 nights /4days. Nice amount of notice!! That gives you 4 weeks to complete your trip. How many of us can just drop everything and jet off to Mexico this month! I imagine airfare on such short notice would be pretty high as well (certainly can't use those RCI points for the 2 airfares). I had already scheduled a trip to TTR to discuss my contract. Now the price thre're offering to come brings the Fee down to $52.50 pp/day. I paid the $68 pp AI fee & used my bonus week. I wonder if the are going to rebate my 3 nights of $31??? Anyone wanna guess!
I am very curious to know if anyone knows the price they are expecting to get for these 2 "upgraded programs" I tend to think no matter how much you have already paid, no matter how many points you own or what you have used, they will make up a price that forces you to pay more for this so called upgrade!
From what I have learned here we were all pretty much offered all kinds of packages with all kinds of prices. Guess they just kept adjusting things at the table until they sold you something! Probably the longer you held out the better deal you got. To me the programs do not seem to be an "upgrade" for what I paid so paying more would be out of the question.
I would appreciate anyone who has been offered the new program letting me know what your original price was and how much more they want so I have this knowledge BEFORE I sit down with them. Seems I always come out on the short end so knowing what others have been offered would help. If you prefer not to post it you can PM me. I will be happy to recipricate when I get back.

 

Hola, Got an email from Chris, the resort emailed him today and said they where extending the deal till the end of Nov. I dont think that will help me. I really think they should extend it to ,say June when all this happaned. Some people can only vacation certains times of the year and alot of people have already used their vacations for this year. At one time we could go whenever we wanted, but my other half in in college so we have to work around when classes are held.Terry

 

Hola, Here is what I think, we should all do, and I mean every body, email RCI and ask them to send you and email stating why they made this decision, and why they singled us out, tell them not to call you just email a reply. Nobody I know of has their reason in writing. And if they dont reply, more fuel for the fire. Make a copy of your email to them. Try to do it today or tomorrow. The more people they hear from the more presure on them. I think they are scared of being sued. Thanks Terry

 

Terry.
I believe you are absolutely right. I have already tried to contact the President & CEO of RCI, Geoff Ballotti by sending a letter of concern to him at one of their corporate offices. Apparently I had the wrong address and just received this reply from someone at their Consumer Affairs Executive Division. Here is the reply I received via email with contact info for Mr. Ballotti (indirectly):

Dear Mr. Fishman,

Thank you for your recent letter to Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. I am sorry to have to inform you that Geoff Ballotti is not reachable at the address included on your letter.

I have contacted the RCI Member service group on your behalf to obtain the correct contact information for Mr. Ballotti. I have been given the following information.

E-mail address: feedback@rci.com

Fax number: 317-805-9335.

The mailing address is:
Global Headquarters
7 Sylvan Way
Parsippany, NJ 07054
Phone: (973) 753-6300

Mr. Fishman, I wish you the best of luck in resolving your concerns.

Kindest regards,

Jennifer Hearty | Consumer Affairs Executive Division
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. | 1111 Westchester Avenue, White Plains, NY 10604
Tel: 914.640.2690 | Fax: 914.640.2655

It appears that their President and CEO is very insulated from outside contact. But I would hope that all of you can join me in attempting to contact him at the email, fax & physical addresses I have been given. Maybe if they receive a bunch of complaint letters re: the recent limitations imposed on Premier members we might get someone to listen!

 

Hola, I will send an email and a hard copy, who is starwood hotels? Is it RCI or the group that bought RCI points( Blackstone group)? You are right , getting to the CEO is the best thing to do. The easest way to fix this is to get RCI to resend in some way. Terry

 

I was under the impression that Starwood fell under the Wyndham Worldwide Corporation which owns Group RCI. See the below excerpt from an article about Ballotti.

Parsippany, N.J. (March 11, 2008) — Geoffrey A. Ballotti, former president of the North American Division of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, has been named president and CEO of Group RCI, the worldwide leader in the vacation exchange and rental business, a part of Wyndham Worldwide, (NYSE:WYN).

I have not seen anything about the Blackstone Group who a few people on this thread have said recently purchased RCI. If you google Blackstone Group you will not find anything about them owning RCI, so I would have to believe that it was just some mis-information.

 

The reason I thought that he was still affiliated with Starwood can be seen on the following website:
http://investing.businessweek.com/b...people/person.asp?personId=7226369&symbol=HOT
Apparently there is still some connection since their Consumer Affairs Division sent me Ballotti's contact info.

 

no please... if you will look at the new contract they are offering 4 free AI plus $4000 to switch . That will cover the AI for 4 weeks. Don't go for that .

 

Night Train,
You are correct! They are still trying to screw us, it seemed like a good deal if we were drinking cause they kept offering us drink.

Just think, you will be paying upfront. Once they got your money, they can screw you again as they had done it before.

They gave us the same offer last May, I told them "no thanks, why do you think I would give you any more money".

 

You guys are exatly right . They want you to pay your A.I. fees up front and then they limit the # of points you use below what RCI restricted . That makes me believe even more that they are walking hand in hand with RCI plus the fact that they won't do a thing to help thier members out. THEY ARE CROOKS .