posted 03-21-2005 09:50               

You may recall a post I made recently that I was going to buy in, specifically to find out more info on the club. I finally received my membership, so now will be able to answer any questions you may have on the Shell Vacations Club.

So ask away.

posted 03-21-2005 12:12               

Ok so lets say I own 2 weeks at a shell resort, do I have to "upgrade" both units to SVC to use / trade my units in SVC?

I know I don't have to convert my units to SVC, but by owning one RCI points resort, I can deposit non RCI point weeks into my RCI point account. Does SVC work something like that?

Thanks PA

posted 03-21-2005 12:29               

quote:

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Originally posted by myip:
Some of the Shell Property are both II and RCI. IF you do a trade in SVC, will you be able to get into the resorts in both II and RCI. How does the external trading work? Do you book a resort and deposit into you own II or RCI account? Do you deal directly with SVC? How many points do you need to trade?

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You can only exchange into RCI, and you will be given a seperate RCI account number which is only used for Shell. No option, you get this account, whether you want it or not. The way it works is you deal directly with SVC to place a request, and when confirmed, you are charged the following # of points (Plus the exchange fee).

Season Studio 1br 2br 3 br

RED 2500 3500 4500 5500

WHITE 1500 2500 3500 4500

BLUE 1000 2000 3000 4000

posted 03-21-2005 13:09               

How do you like Shell? I’m assuming you must like some or all of it to buy in.

I know nothing about Shell, but I know they bought MountainSide in Whistler so they must have some smarts.

How does it compare to WM or FF or Marriott?

Thanks,

posted 03-21-2005 14:20               

quote:

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Originally posted by PerryM:
PA,

How do you like Shell? I’m assuming you must like some or all of it to buy in.....

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Don't assume that. I only bought in to find out more about the club. Based on what I've learned so far, I'm not wild about it.

Of course, I bought at a price at which I'll make money when I sell it in a week or 2, after I've learned as much as I need to about the club.

posted 03-21-2005 17:01               

quote:

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Originally posted by Bill4728:
Thats great, PA and thanks in advance for the info.

Ok so lets say I own 2 weeks at a shell resort, do I have to "upgrade" both units to SVC to use / trade my units in SVC?

I know I don't have to convert my units to SVC, but by owning one RCI points resort, I can deposit non RCI point weeks into my RCI point account. Does SVC work something like that?

Thanks PA

---

You can upgrade one or both, but it wouldn't be a very wise decision, the converted points are cheap on the aftermarket. The only way to convert is through the developer, and they'll charge big, plus they take your deed for keeps.

If you want in, just buy the points on the aftermarket. Then, if you want, you can sell your deeds at the resort. I suspect your maintenance fees will be higher for the points than the weeks.

No, SVC doesn't work like RCI Points. You can't use your non-SVC weeks to get more points.

posted 03-21-2005 18:51               

quote:

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Originally posted by myip:
How much points do you need for urban hotels and Hawaiian Air miles? Once you pay the developer to convert to points, if you sell it, is SVC transferrable or is it like Sunterra where the new owner has to pay again to join the club.

[This message has been edited by myip (edited 03-21-2005).]

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Urban hotels seem to average around 1600 points per night during high season. If you have specific hotels, I'll give you the exact charges. Maintenance Fees on 1600 points is around $350 or thereabouts, so no bargains there.

Continental US to hawaii tickets cost 3500 points, so no bargain there either. Maintenance fees of around $750 or so on this many points.

posted 03-21-2005 18:52               

quote:

---

Originally posted by myip:
How much points do you need for urban hotels and Hawaiian Air miles? Once you pay the developer to convert to points, if you sell it, is SVC transferrable or is it like Sunterra where the new owner has to pay again to join the club.

[This message has been edited by myip (edited 03-21-2005).]

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Unlike Sunterra, once converted, it's converted for life (until Shell goes out of business, then you have nothing).

posted 03-22-2005 03:07               

quote:

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Originally posted by reddiablosv:
I own two SVC managed properties, Kona Coast11 and Paniolo Greens. They are both owned as weeks and not points. I have resisted converting these weeks intervals into points as when I look at the maintanence fees for the SVC points product, they seem way too high. Am I missing something? Ben

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posted 03-22-2005 09:25               

quote:

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By PA
That's only 1 excellent reason to avoid converting to points. I can name several others.

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What are the other reasons?

Thanks

------------------
Bill

posted 03-22-2005 11:33               

quote:

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Originally posted by Bill4728:

What are the other reasons?

Thanks

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In addition to the higher maintenance fees once converted, there are 2 compelling reasons NOT to convert:

1) The cost of converting your deeded timeshare to points is very high. The only way they will convert your property to the points system is if you make a purchase from the developer at the same time. The higher point value your week converts to, the more points you have to buy from the developer. Developer points range from $3.83 per point to a little over $5 per point, depending on how many you buy. The fewer points you buy at one time, the more expensive the points.

2) In addition to the cost of converting (and the developer priced points they force you to buy), they actually take your deeded property as a trade, so you no longer own it. When Shell goes out of business, you are left with nothing. In the case of similar companies, like Worldmark, the deeds are held by the HOA (Worldmark), rather than by the developer. So even if the developer stops growing, has trouble selling, has legal problems, or whatever, at least the properties remain in the hands of owners. I don't believe that is the case with Shell, although I'll have to look into that to make sure.

posted 03-23-2005 10:20               

He said, and it was the one true thing he said, that if I just wanted a another timeshare week in Hawaii, the best thing I could do would be to buy another Kona Coast week on the resale market. He conceded that it made no sense for me to give Shell upwards of $10,000 plus the deed to my existing week to join Shell's system.

The reason maintenance fees are so high with the points is that the normal expenses associated with operating the timeshare still exist, and on top of that the expenses of running a bearaucracy to exchange points for travel must also be covered.

The story is that this whole points scheme was developed by a Hilton executive. When he proposed that Hilton implement it, they had no interest and told him he could do it on his own if he wanted to. Given that Hilton does have a points based timeshare system, one would suspect that the now-Shell system was deemed to be an inferior or too costly alternative.

posted 03-29-2005 11:54               

More questions for you about Shell.

I understand the people who own at a Shell managed resort can either:
-own the week and not belong to SVC.
-deed their week to Shell and get Shell Vacation points which can be used at any of the Shell resorts.

But is there a third class of owners?
People who have converted to RCI points and not SVC.

Since according to RCI all SVC locations are in RCI points, how does RCI points work at a SVC location?

Does this mean that owners of non-converted units (to SVC) have the option of joining RCI points outside of SVC?

Thanks for your help

posted 03-30-2005 09:53               

"What could I use my points for?

It would cost me 4250 points to use my 1 BR Fall KCR week. Varying numbers of points could be used within SVC to request days or weeks at other SVC resorts. Alternatively, Shell would use 1500 points (studio), 2500 points (1 BR), 3500 points (2BR) to deposit a generic red week with RCI/II on a request first basis to arrange a trade for me."

No comment was ever made about joining the RCI points system. Likewise I have never received any independent solicitation from Shell or anyone else about RCI points.

An interesting fact about SVC and Kona Coast is that with SVC, one must trade thru RCI. However, a KCR week can be traded thru II or RCI or an independent such as SFX. Another reason not to convert a Kona Coast week to shell points.

posted 03-30-2005 15:16               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bill4728:
PA,

More questions for you about Shell.

I understand the people who own at a Shell managed resort can either:
-own the week and not belong to SVC.
-deed their week to Shell and get Shell Vacation points which can be used at any of the Shell resorts.

But is there a third class of owners?
People who have converted to RCI points and not SVC.

Since according to RCI all SVC locations are in RCI points, how does RCI points work at a SVC location?

Does this mean that owners of non-converted units (to SVC) have the option of joining RCI points outside of SVC?

Thanks for your help

---

For clarification:

1) If you are not a Shell Vacation Club owner (you haven't converted to Shell points) but you own at a resort managed by Shell, I don't know if there are ways to convert your ownership to RCI Points, but I doubt it.

2) If you are a SVC owner (you HAVE converted to shell points), you can request an exchange through RCI. SVC will handle the request, and will search BOTH rci weeks and rci points. The exchange fee will be the same as if you went directly through RCI ($149 domestic for a weeks exchange, or up to $79 for points reservation). However (IMPORTANT), there is no discount for reservations inside the 45 day window using points. So for a Points exchange through the weeks side, which would normally be 9000 RCI Points or less, you still pay 4500 SVC Points for a 2bedroom red season week.