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Re: Global Access thru Orange Lake Resorts

Well, you are obviously luckier than many others. Firstly, according to anyone I've spoken to at HI (Holiday Inn Club, formerly Global Access) you indeed pay a membership fee of $89.00-99.00 to HI who in turn pays your membership fee to RCI. You stated you own another timeshare week unrelated to HI correct? We do as well, previous to being a points member and buying into the points program changing our former HI property (Orange Lake) weeks to points "because it was going to offer us so much flexibility and advantages that only points members enjoy blah,blah,blah..." well now INDEED one must pay a yearly membership fee of $89.00 to HI (Orange Lake) on top of our yearly maintenance and taxes. Previously, all we needed was to pay 1 membership fee to RCI and all of our timeshare properties were covered under the one fee. If and when one signs up to convert to points the first year membership to RCI is paid for you generously by Orange Lake, after year one is over you start paying an additional $89.00 to be affiliated with RCI. This is absolutely factual. We were never made aware of this at our "pressure cooker conversion experience". Some additional interesting facts many once weeks owners who paid between $999.99-1999.99 to convert to points via joining Global Access then to the morphed HI club which was not an option as Global Access no longer exists may find interesting are: 1. The greatest disappointment for us has been the news that we CANNOT combine our points for HI (Orange Lake) with our points properties to take a longer stay at another property. I am convinced we were NEVER told that! We now have approximately 3/4 of our 2008 points left which will expire Dec. 2009, we thought we'd use them for a hotel stay spring of 2010 but it will be too late. It is also to late to use them for hotel stays period as they must be used in the 2008 calendar year. So yes, we have paid our maintenance fees and taxes and our 89-99 fee to RCI via HI but will be forced to LOSE 55,000 rci points because we are unable to travel sooner. In effect one looses a full year of usage compared to RCI banking rules and remember one has only 1 year to use HI points for HI affiliated hotels. Also check out the no. of required for 1 night stay in Holiday Inn express level hotel. Ridiculously high. Contrary to the sales pitch the no. of points allocated for my beautiful 2br'/2 ba at Orange Lake with all the fabulous amenities isn't equal to a run of the mill Holiday Inn express in basically an industrial area in Toronto?????? Wow that was exhilarating information. 2. Points can be carried over only 1 year once you become a HI club member as opposed to RCI allowing 2 years banked points. 3. Old (apparently stagnant) points from a previous year cannot be used for Hotel, car rentals etc. Priority Club is "completely different and separate from HI and Priority Club will only accept "new" or "current" year points. 4.Yes, you must pay a $40.00 fee with each reservation. We have not been back to Orange Lake since converting from weeks owners to points owners so I can not comment on the housekeeping fees. I cannot believe there is yet another disadvantage to having converted to points!! 5. I have been told more than one version as to what happens to your points if one chooses to sell privately (at present Orange Lake no longer operated a secondary market for members wishing to sell there week/points) 1st Version: an owner is "unable" to sell points, only the originally purchased deeded week may be sold unless the purchaser is already an HI points member. 2nd Version: Points may be sold if sold to a family member. 3rd Version: Only underlying deeded week may be sold because points cannot be deeded??? I'm just documenting what I have been told over many calls to HI club. The previous post states you switched over your points from Mayan property through RCI and added a partial week. I am unclear as to what you mean, is your Mayan property not a points property ? If so, you would be dealing with RCI not the "Special" HI club RCI division. If so, you would not be dealing with the HI division of RCI but with RCI proper and of course you would not have a problem. The problem arises if one attempts to combine a non HI property points with an HI points property. In closing I was informed that one can "dropout" of HI club after 3 years with no penalty and no money back. Interestingly, cost almost 2,000 to convert to points, the new system is in fact vastly MORE expensive than the previous weeks system and vastly restrictive in use compared to previous "weeks" membership ( 1 year less to utilize points, must book home week 12 months in advance?? have kids??? not always possible and the economy has stricken seniors' disposable incomes substantially. I really feel duped. Orange Lake now has "tiers" of membership which I personally resent. I appreciate that new purchasers are paying a hefty fee for River Island property. However, at the time many of the original owners joined we paid a substantial fee as well. Let's also take into consideration the contribution made by the first wave of purchasers who helped build OL in the first place! They all play a very real role in giving OL the reputation it enjoys today. Many of us brought family and friends to OL to have them purchase timeshares as well. It is not just the amenities that one enjoys at OL it is the wonderful owners and extended families we have enjoyed over the years. We personally have made many wonderful friendships with other owners over the years. This wonderful group of members have made OL what it is together with the shareholders. This new paradigm Orange Lake (the flag ship)and other properties in the HI family have adopted is not one I am pleased with. In the end HI will be entitled to keep the money (almost $2,000 in our case) of those who decide to opt out of the program! No doubt a sales division will be ramped up to entice the next group of visiting owners to a prestigious breakfast or lunch meeting at the "Founder's Club" to discuss "new developments" at Orange Lake and other properties. This will follow with many others like us converting to points only to be disappointed with the results. Atleast at this time there exists an actual handbook explaining the HI Club. When we signed up it did not exist and has gone through the changes from Global Access to HI Club and the rules have seemingly changed along the way. I believe if things stay as they are more former happy owners will only feel duped and information will be "misinterpreted". It is the fine print which in our case was never gone over that holds up in the end. It is not a lot of handshakes, "you'll never regret this decision", "we are only offering this opportunity for a short period of time and the "trust me", without the points system you just won't have any options in the future" etc.etc. My understanding is that a salesperson can say anything they wish to make a sale as has been pointed out to me by HI. So buyer beware... I really wish we had the option of reverting to our weeks with a full refund of our inital investment. They can keep the 89-99 dollar membership fee for the 2009 and 2010 as a goodwill gesture on our part. I would appreciate any information or corrections on what I have written. I have greatly appreciated Jay and a number of other contributors including a gentleman who is a lawyer who often comments on this site. Any advice you can offer would be appreciated. I am a Canadian citizen and imagine only one with a knowledge of Florida state law would be able to advise us. This has been a nightmare, would love my money back and just return to the weeks deed!!! Thank-you very much, I truly appreciate the insight members provide!