Holiday Inn Club points not transferred when reselling?

Hi.

We own a week at Orange Lake and we're considerding selling our timeshare. When I called for information today, the lady at the Customer Service said that we could keep our Priority Club points because that's an independent system, but that not only we would lose ownership of the HIC points if we sell, but they wouldn't be transferred to the new owners either. She explained the timeshare would be reverted to fixed week and the new owners would need to buy a HIC membership to get points. In other words, the flexibility of our timeshare that made it possible to visit other Holiday Inn Club resorts or through RCI and at different dates than our home week could not be transferred unless it was sold to our parents or our children.

Does everyone know this? No wonder the resale value is so low. I can't believe we paid 15,000$ for a point system that isn't even transferrable. This sucks because the flexibility is exactly what sold us, but now we can't use it to sell it ourselves. To think they tried to upgrade us this year too, saying that we needed more points to make the most out of our vacations...

Has anyone gotten any other information about this? Is Orange Lake / Holiday Inn Club the only timeshares that don't transfer their point systems to the new owners?

Thanks.

I think there are 2 or 3 locations where the points do transfer but in general they do not. Orange Lake is one location that does not transfer. Upon resale the week reverts back to the deeded week only for the new owner. This way they can use it as an excuse to get money to convert the week again.

It is fairly common in the timesharing world to have converted fixed or floating weeks in membership points system to not transfer upon resale. If the points are deeded into a trust then the points generally transfer but if you retain the actual deed to a specific unit then the points won't follow the sale.

In general the developer doesn't care if the resale value is low. If it is low enough and they need excess inventory they can reacquire some. By not allowing the benefits to transfer upon sale they eliminate the resale competition so when someone says - why should I buy from you for $$X when I can buy it for $1.00 resale, they can say but if you buy resale you would not have access to the full program including the internal exchange system.

Talk to a timeshare lawyer. The timeshare business is a total scam with all kinds of misleading information at the point of sale not counting the information not revealed except fine print in all the shuffling of paperwork. I think you’ll get the results you want by going through one of them

carolyneb4 wrote:

Hi.

We own a week at Orange Lake and we're considerding selling our timeshare. When I called for information today, the lady at the Customer Service said that we could keep our Priority Club points because that's an independent system, but that not only we would lose ownership of the HIC points if we sell, but they wouldn't be transferred to the new owners either. She explained the timeshare would be reverted to fixed week and the new owners would need to buy a HIC membership to get points. In other words, the flexibility of our timeshare that made it possible to visit other Holiday Inn Club resorts or through RCI and at different dates than our home week could not be transferred unless it was sold to our parents or our children.

Does everyone know this? No wonder the resale value is so low. I can't believe we paid 15,000$ for a point system that isn't even transferrable. This sucks because the flexibility is exactly what sold us, but now we can't use it to sell it ourselves. To think they tried to upgrade us this year too, saying that we needed more points to make the most out of our vacations...

Has anyone gotten any other information about this? Is Orange Lake / Holiday Inn Club the only timeshares that don't transfer their point systems to the new owners?

Thanks.

rogerc207 wrote:

Talk to a timeshare lawyer. The timeshare business is a total scam with all kinds of misleading information at the point of sale not counting the information not revealed except fine print in all the shuffling of paperwork. I think you’ll get the results you want by going through one of them

You realize that you are responding to a four-year-old post, don't you? That aside, what will a timeshare lawyer do for you or Carolyne?

I know that many people who bought timeshares based on the lies and half-truths that the sales people told them are angry and frustrated. However, most legitimate lawyers will tell you that what was in the contract you signed is what will hold up in court. The best a lawyer might be able to do for a frustrated owner is negotiate a deedback with the resort rather than suing the resort, developer, or sales people.