Gold Crown status

I don't understand why RCI has frozen Powhatan out of even the lowest of its three categories (they have added a new category below International Distinction). I have stayed in or seen some real turkeys that were ID, and Powhatan is way better than those. Do they ever bother to visit the resorts? I don't think they do.

wiscombe wrote:

I don't understand why RCI has frozen Powhatan out of even the lowest of its three categories (they have added a new category below International Distinction). I have stayed in or seen some real turkeys that were ID, and Powhatan is way better than those. Do they ever bother to visit the resorts? I don't think they do.

It is a well known fact by Sunterra Owners that RCI does not like Powhatan for whatever reason - past bad leadership or whatever.. No matter what Powhatan does to improve, RCI will probably never give it a gold crown status again. It had gold crown when we purchased in 1996 and is still as nice today as then. So you figure it out - politics, maybe?

Perhaps Powhatan owners should circulate a petition to RCI, requesting a re-evaluation of the denial of Gold Crown status, and asking to show evidence (aside from a few complaints from years past) why the status is being denied.

wiscombe wrote:

Perhaps Powhatan owners should circulate a petition to RCI, requesting a re-evaluation of the denial of Gold Crown status, and asking to show evidence (aside from a few complaints from years past) why the status is being denied.

I don't think it would help - RCI only listens to whom it wishes. No amount of positives is going to change their minds. We have never had good luck with trading with RCI. We were on a wait list for 2 years for Big Sky, MT. and couldn't get in, so called hotels.com and booked 2 nights and when we checked into the room - guess who owned it? You're assumption is right - RCI! So, why wasn't our trade honored for two years? They will say they didn't have anything, but apparently they sold some units to hotels.com to rent for them. Figure that one out!

Just read your posts and to add my comments: we bought a deeded 4 bedroom 7 years ago and were impressed with the accomodations, etc. We joined Club Sunterra for the point exchange ability and during their reorganization period the exchange Club (RCI) was changed to II. I believe this was politics and now we can only excahnge our points through II. It doesn't matter to us as we stay at Powhatan when in Williamsburg (just retruned from a great Christmas vacation). We think Powhatan has it all over many of the other resorts, even though it is older. Although we are no longer an owner (converted to elite members with ownership at 13 Sunterra resorts) we will continue to use Powhatan with our points.

As a broker & timeshare owner I too am baffled by RCI's resistance to upgrade Powhatan Plantation. However, let's reivew some interesting facts. RCI is now owned by Cendant Corp (publically traded), Cendant Corp also now owns Fairfield Resorts. So let's do some math ... there are 3 Fairfield Resorts in Williamsburg, of course Cendant wants to offer preferential treatment to it's sister corporation's resorts. RCI will most likely never reinstate Powhatan's Gold Crown status ... why? Too many Gold Crown resorts concentrated among a handful of regional resorts in Williamsburg. My company owns (7) 4 bedroom, summer lock-outs @ Powhatan & (4) 4 bedroom, summer lock-outs @ Greensprings. My clients have given high reviews on Powhatan; in fact most prefer Powhatan because of the amount of amenities. My personal opinion ... Williamsburg is becoming increasingly popular (I get more requests for Williamsburg than Disney). Most of my Sunterra summer rentals are sold out by March or April and I have to seek out private owners with availability to fill my client requests. An interesting side note -- many of our clients will not stay at Fairfield Kingsgate due to, what has been described to me as a rowdy clientle. JMHO

schultzie6 wrote:

As a broker & timeshare owner I too am baffled by RCI's resistance to upgrade Powhatan Plantation. However, let's reivew some interesting facts. RCI is now owned by Cendant Corp (publically traded), Cendant Corp also now owns Fairfield Resorts. So let's do some math ... there are 3 Fairfield Resorts in Williamsburg, of course Cendant wants to offer preferential treatment to it's sister corporation's resorts. RCI will most likely never reinstate Powhatan's Gold Crown status ... why? Too many Gold Crown resorts concentrated among a handful of regional resorts in Williamsburg. My company owns (7) 4 bedroom, summer lock-outs @ Powhatan & (4) 4 bedroom, summer lock-outs @ Greensprings. My clients have given high reviews on Powhatan; in fact most prefer Powhatan because of the amount of amenities. My personal opinion ... Williamsburg is becoming increasingly popular (I get more requests for Williamsburg than Disney). Most of my Sunterra summer rentals are sold out by March or April and I have to seek out private owners with availability to fill my client requests. An interesting side note -- many of our clients will not stay at Fairfield Kingsgate due to, what has been described to me as a rowdy clientle. JMHO

Hi, what is the best way to go about renting a Xmas week (51C/D) at Powhatan, since you have experience with this?

RedWeek is always a good start -- the most important piece of advice that I offer to timeshare owners is NEVER pay an advertisement company an upfront fee to rent your condo! A good rental company doesn't need the upfront fee ... they have an established client base AND/OR they effectively market their businesses in order to bring in new clients.

I am considering selling my week 24 C&D 2 bdrm units because of the poor tradability. Do you think it is just because Powhatan is not gold star? We could have bought Greensprings resale instead of Powhatan resale but liked Powhatan's facilities better. I have not banked my 2008 weeks yet.

You state that Powhatan Plantation has poor trading power, but I'm wondering where you're trying to trade into? Many times people try to trade into high demand resort destinations such as Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, OBX, Hawaii & Europe without realizes that achieving these trade will require another top level timeshare.

Greenspring Plantation does have very good trading power but you also need to bank early. We have traded our July Greensprings condos for summer vacations, Gold Crown resorts in San Diego, Sedona, Acapulco, etc. Banking your high demand, Gold Crown condo is the key to getting the trades that you want but I'm not so sure that Greensprings will get you a Gold Crown Europe or Hawaii trade.

I have banked early every year except maybe now. The only place it seems easy to get is Orlando area of FL. I can sometimes get FL beaches. I tried to get beach in MD, DE or NJ but no luck even though there are some RCI beach resorts there. I am thinking it is because Powhatan is not a gold crown resort. I gave up trying to get to Hawaii or even Miami.

Eastern state coastal towns are very difficult to trade into --- all exchange companies place a 'value' on each condo. If your condo is located in a 'saturated' destination you will not be able to trade into area that have just a few resorts, especially during prime season, such as MD, DE, NJ or Miami (Williamsburg isn't necessarily saturated but there are quite a few resorts to choose from). When considering buying a resale, think of it this way: Would someone trade their July beach week in MD for my mid-June week in Williamsburg? Probably not because everyone wants to go to the beach!

We own a LOT of Greensprings & Powhatan condos that we rent out; however, the Greensprings are ALWAYS reserved first --- thus the high demand. I've even had people recently specifically say that they do not want to stay at 2 of the 3 Williamsburg Fairfield Resorts because of the rowdy cliental at those resorts (I'm also a Fairfield owner).

There are also certain condos that I know can trade for certain resort areas --- my NY Catskills unts I trade for summer in Cape Cod and other East Coast areas; my Smugglers Notch, VT ski week for any prime ski week out there; My summer, coastal NC unit for coastal unit in MD, VA, NC & SC. RCI is changing their trade scales & now are basically sending the message that 'what' you trade in will be what you receive. So if you want to be able to trade into high season, beach destinations you'll typically need own a high season, beach destination condo but there are also SOME high demand, Gold Crown condos that will get you there too. Be VERY careful of sales pitches ... everyone has one but you are the one paying the bill. I speak from experience because I'm a broker and I've heard a LOT of horror stories.

schultzie6

Hey schultzie! I own a C&D Unit, week 17 at Powhatan. The maintenance fees keep going up every year, and I'm debating on whether to sell it or not. I've tried putting it out there to rent, but no interest.

I wouldn't mind trading my week for a week somewhere else personally - not going through RCI or points etc. Can you point me to a site or group where like minded timeshare owners exchange their own weeks with each other - sidestepping the commercial side of it?

Mary

maryh353

schultzie6 wrote:

Hey schultzie! I own a C&D Unit, week 17 at Powhatan. The maintenance fees keep going up every year, and I'm debating on whether to sell it or not. I've tried putting it out there to rent, but no interest.

I wouldn't mind trading my week for a week somewhere else personally - not going through RCI or points etc. Can you point me to a site or group where like minded timeshare owners exchange their own weeks with each other - sidestepping the commercial side of it?

Mary

Why not try posting your timeshare on RedWeek.com? It doesn't appear you have tried that yet.

Thanks, Marty

Hi Mary, You could try listing your exchange on RedWeek, although I wouldn't know of the demand level for your week 17. Often times, I refer to RedWeek rental listings when I run out of my own Williamsburg rental inventory (another possible source for you).

Regarding other exhcange possibilities - Timeshare User Group has a direct exchange list - but I don't think it gets much activity. Either RCI or II may be your best bet for exchanging a Spring week in Williamsburg.

JMHO - Janet

Hey schultzie! I own a C&D Unit, week 17 at Powhatan. The maintenance fees keep going up every year, and I'm debating on whether to sell it or not. I've tried putting it out there to rent, but no interest.

I wouldn't mind trading my week for a week somewhere else personally - not going through RCI or points etc. Can you point me to a site or group where like minded timeshare owners exchange their own weeks with each other - sidestepping the commercial side of it?

Mary

Concerning RedWeek rental ads, I recently listed my Christmas Powhatan week (51), C/D units, starting in Apr and running thru Sept, and got not a single bite. Not one. I find this inexplicable.

wiscombe wrote:

Concerning RedWeek rental ads, I recently listed my Christmas Powhatan week (51), C/D units, starting in Apr and running thru Sept, and got not a single bite. Not one. I find this inexplicable.