ChicagoMark

Hi,

The deal that took forever to close, finally closed and the cross booking of properties started this week. Monday morning the site was slow and sticky-but by weeks end running pretty normally.

Ended up booking Soupcon in Stowe for a week in July, and La Quinta for Spring break next year. Anyone surprised by what was or was not available on the system? What did you get booked this week?

Mark

Desties

I squared away time in some of the UR Florida properties. I was really looking forward to that, and booked weekends in the Acqualina and used reciprocity for the Delray Beach beach house. Since the Orlando home is leaving come mid-December, I went ahead and booked some time to check it out next month.

Yes, the booking system recovered nicely after the Monday morning running of the bulls!

As for surprises, I guess it was the wide disparity in availability. Some places like the Delray Beach Elite home is booked practically solid through next April. I found a booking that worked for me, but I guess I was just used to the wide open availability in South Florida during the summer. The Acqualina is also more booked than the Trump. However, many of the Signature Florida properties (Naples, Palm Beach) do seem to have pretty open availability.

The only real near-term letdown is the lack of informaiton on the UR homes. No floor plans. Few, if any, photographs. The one-page guide does spill out the basics, but I really hope that the PE guestbooks, member hints, etc. sections get cracking on beefing that up.

Other than that, I'm really excited about all of the new homes and ultimately relieved that availability is decent.

LTTravel

How does the reciprocity work?

Desties

Here is how I explained it in this thread back in April:

Reciprocity reservations can be booked at any time (up to two years away I believe) BUT there are a few restrictions. They can't be during holiday weeks. No home can have more than 10% of its nights booked by reciprocity during any quarter (i.e. - 9 nights overall). The reciprocity rates are also a bit higher than the nightly rates paid by members within the club.

The one cool perk about reciprocity is that it can be done in tandem with a regular reservation. Let's say you're going to the Outer Banks or Cabo or Watercolor and want to take 20-22 people along? Well, you can book both the home in your club and the one in the other club (if it's available within the reciprocity rules) at the same time.

Reciprocity was thankfully adopted into the new Ultimate Escapes. The holiday week restrictions were widened to 10 weeks out of the 52, but it works the same way.

In my case, even though I am in Signature, I have access to the properties in the other clubs. Instead of paying $145 a night through homes in my own club I pay $86 for Premiere and $525 for Elite. I have seven nights a year that I can use that way.

I had been drooling over the Delray Beach place in Ultimate for a couple of years now. It is prominent in their marketing materials. It is the three-story 7,000 square foot home right on the beach (it's called Palm Beach, though it's technically in Delray Beach). Now I can check it out in a couple of months.

willmyclubmakeit

here are prices for reciprocity provided to forumer UE members.

Premiere Club Member Reciprocity

Signature Club Use: $750 reciprocity fee per day (plus Included Days deducted)
Elite Club Use: $1,250 reciprocity fee per day (plus Included Days deducted)
Signature Club Member Reciprocity

Premiere Club Use: $0 reciprocity fee per day (plus Included Days deducted)
Elite Club Use: $500 reciprocity fee per day (plus Included Days deducted)

Elite Club Member Reciprocity

Signature Club Use: $0 reciprocity fee per day (plus Included Days deducted)
Premiere Club Use: $0 reciprocity fee per day (plus Included Days deducted)

LTTravel

Interesting. It doesn't seem that downward reciprocity is a good deal because of the difference in yearly dues and the higher membership deposit. The upgrade, $380 more per night for an Elite home may be more reasonable, but I will need to do the math.

willmyclubmakeit

downward reciprocity is obviously less value but it does open up availabilty to the 23 premiere club destinations to all and the 35 Signature destinations to Elite members which maybe worthwhile if a specific date and location were desired and the member did not have the need for as large of a home. I doubt I will downgrade but the potential to upgrade is terrific (although pricier than I had expected although fair given the higher cost of the Elite membership).

Desties

The math may not be as appealing on the UE side as it is for PE Legacy, though I wonder if UE members can still use those properties under the Space Available last-minute system and not have to give up any included nights.

Either way, even Elite members may consider giving up the nights for places like the Premiere beachfront home in Belize and the amazing Signature beachfront home in Turks & Caicos or either OBX property. These are destinations that they don't have access to, and they're also very nice properties.

LTTravel

The UE reciprocity rules are a bad deal. If you are in Elite, you pay 50% more in membership fees and 50% more in yearly dues and you get to use one week of Signature properties for the same price? Unfair if you ask me. It is even worse when you consider dropping to the Premiere level. You pay three times higher membership fee and three times higher yearly dues and you get to use the Premiere properties for an equivalent trade in Elite days? To go from UE premiere to UE Elite properties you have to pay an additional $1250 per day? They may as well say there is no reciprocity and be realistic about this.

ChicagoMark

If you're on an unlimited nights plan-it really doesn't make any difference. If I pop into NYC for two nights on business, and stay at a Signature property instead of an Elite property-That Really isn't going to change how the trip turns out for me. It creates incremental options on shorter notice trips, and having additional choices is why most people join DC's in general.

Desties

Mark, yes. Reciprocity is awesome for those of us on the PE Legacy unlimited plan, but LT is correct in pointing out how the math for the UR and new UE members isn't ideal. If you are Elite, using one of your fixed number of nights on a Signature or Premiere property, there should be some form of credit because you are still paying higher annual fees and you have bigger membership deposit at stake, forgoing interest income.

This merger is new ground for the DC industry. They will no doubt feel their way around some of the new rules and features. Once they see that the UE Elite members aren't swapping out their nights for the other two clubs, they may change it. Going by the value of the homes, one would think that a better exchange for the fixed night members would be 3 nights in Premiere or 2 nights in Signature for 1 night in Elite.

Bourne

The first two ring a bell...were the nightly dues for pinnacle $525 before the merger?

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vineyarder

Yes - no change for 'legacy PE members' in the nightly rates for reciprocity... the $500/$750/$1250 rates must be for new UE members and 'legacy UR members' (who previously had no reciprocity)...

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Desties

That is the nightly rate of reciprocity for Platinum/Signature legacy PE members using an Elite property. The actual nightly rate paid by Pinnacle members is less, considerably less (though I can't recall the exact sum since it's not on the website now).

Each club has different reciprocity rates into the different sister clubs.

vineyarder

Nightly rates (when using your own club) are Premiere $86, Platinum/Signature $145, Pinnacle/Elite $195; Downward reciprocity simply pays nightly rate of lower club, upward reciprocity is $525 for Signature to Elite, roughly $350 for Premiere to Signature, and roughly $800 for Premiere to Elite...

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