posted 02-12-2005 10:03               

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Originally posted by RichM:
Also, couldn't you argue that every credit is a "developer" credit, originally? The right to sell/transfer your membership is in the bylaws. All you're doing by buying resales is aggregating prior developer purchases made by other parties exercising their rights to transfer their memberships.

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Rich,

I agree with you. I don't like the fact that developer bought credits or timeshare intervals at times have greater benefits than those that are sold in the resale market. I wish some group of people tested the legality of this discriminatory rule. The fair market value of any product or service, in my view, should NOT differ based on a structural barrier artificially created of whom you bought it from.

posted 02-13-2005 06:27               

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Originally posted by Debbyd57:
I disagree about FF maint fees. We just cancelled a 2 bdrm penthouse at WM and booked one at FF Grand Desert because it cost us less in maint fees. WM would have been $612 for 6 days and FF was $420 for 6 days. Debby

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It's easy to find specific examples where one system is better than another for a specific reservation or exchange. The question is what is the average case across the board.

Let's examine your example in detail.

I just checked the Fairshare Plus guide for FF Grand Desert. 6-days in a 2br Presidential during prime season is 28000*5+45000=185000 FF points (excluding a Sat stay). If it's high season it's 161500. I just did an eyeball scan of the MFs for all FF resorts. The average appears to be around $4/1000 points/year with the FSP fees. This would be $646-$740 MF for the average FF owner. Not $420. I am leaving out housekeeping fees since both require it.

The 2 bedroom Penthouse in WorldMark Las Vegas is 13250 credits for the same 6-day period. The average WorldMark owner owning 10000 annual credits with an MF of $462. So, 13250 credits would be $612. If the WM owner has 20000 credits, it drops to $536.

So, in your example, you are either using a VIP discount for FF or a very low MF Fairfield. That is not an apples to apples comparison. You can't compare a VIP program or the outlier FF property against an average WorldMark account. If you want to do that, then you should compare the FF against renting credits for $.04/credit and factor in cost of capital.

So, let's do that and let's use the best case for FF. Let's say you bought a FF resort for MF of $2.6/1000 points. I think most FF owners would say that that is a great deal. That would cost you $420 MF. Well, those 161500 points cost you at least $.025/point. That would be a total capital cost of $4037. At 5.5% cost of capital (Prime interest rate). That's an extra $222 on top of the $420 for $642.