R7 MEMBER USER GUIDE

Transcription

1 1 R7 MEMBER USER GUIDE CONTENTS CLICK ON ANY OF THE SECTION TITLES BELOW TO GO TO THAT SECTION Welcome!... 2 Getting Started... 2 Internal Member Benefits... 4 External Member Benefits... 5 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)... 5 Points Usage Charts... 8 Glossary List of Fees... 14

2 2 WELCOME! W e re pleased and excited to welcome you to Raintree Vacation Club, the premier provider of innovative and flexible multi-resort timeshare and private residence club accommodations in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. This Member User Guide is designed to help you get the most out of your Membership. It contains step-by-step instructions on how to most effectively use the unmatched flexibility and convenience that being a Raintree Vacation Club Member affords you. The Guide also contains a Glossary. If you have any questions that this Guide does not answer, please don t hesitate to contact a Raintree Vacation Guide using the contact information provided at the bottom of each page. GETTING STARTED A t Raintree, we believe that knowledge is power especially when it comes to travel. The more you know, the easier, more affordable, and more amazing your vacations will be. Since vacations have been proven to contribute to longer, healthier lives, we want your vacations to be utterly sublime from the first moment of planning until the doors of our resorts are in your rearview mirror. You purchased a Raintree 7 Membership; your Membership gives you seven biennial Points Allotments over the course of fifteen years. These Points are your currency within the Club; you can use them to book your reservations, unlock additional benefits, and more. The number of Points in your Points Allotment depends on the type of Membership you chose, and the Points required for a given resort for a given date is based on the specific resort and the time of year. As you read this guide, you will learn about all of these things in detail.

3 3 If knowledge is power, what could be better than insider tips? Here are a few quick pointers to help you get started: Always plan ahead. You will have a much better chance of reserving the accommodations you want on the dates you want if you book your room(s) well ahead of time. You can make a reservation with Raintree Vacation Club up to one full year in advance, so why wait? Don t wait to pay your fees. Staying current with your Maintenance Fee and other Club fee payments will ensure that your Membership is never interrupted. Maintenance Fees are used solely for the operation and maintenance of current resort properties and the administration of Raintree Vacation Club. Be flexible. Before you call a Raintree Vacation Guide, we recommend having a few different destinations in mind, as well as several dates on which you can travel. Sit back and relax. If you feel anxious about your vacation, we re not doing our jobs. Booking a vacation should never be frustrating, complicated, or inconvenient, and it is your Raintree team s mission to make your booking experience easy and fun.

4 4 INTERNAL MEMBER BENEFITS These are the benefits that you can enjoy within the Raintree Vacation Club family of resorts: Accelerated Usage: For reservations in a given use year, you can request to accelerate your usage anytime from 365 days to one day before your check-in date. As a Raintree 7 Member, you are limited to a maximum of three Points Allotments per use year and one Points Allotment per non use year. Remember that once you accelerate from future year s Points Allotments, this cannot be undone. Please note: You can accelerate Points from the end of your Membership term at the rate of two annual Points Allotments per year beginning on the first year of their Membership and may only accelerate one Points Allotment per off year. Borrowing Points: You may borrow Points from your next use years Points Allotments. For borrowed Points in a given use year, you can make a reservation up to 365 days before your check-in date. Deferred Usage: Raintree 7 Members can defer their Points Allotment and related Maintenance Fee for a given use year to the following use year, which gives you more Points in future use years. At the time you defer usage, you pay an administrative fee. You must notify Raintree Vacation Club if you wish to defer your usage for a given year no later than 90 days before your annual Maintenance Fee is due. Please note: This feature is available in the second through fourteenth years of your Membership; it is not available for the first or fifteenth year and only one deferred Maintenance Fee can be outstanding at a time. Members cannot defer usage for two or more years in a row. Free Accommodation Upgrades: You may contact a Raintree Vacation Guide from fifteen days to twenty-four hours before your confirmed check-in date to request a unit size or level upgrade at no additional charge. This benefit is based on availability; if available, you will be upgraded by one unit size. Guest Certificates: You may gift a vacation to an immediate family member for no charge. We consider immediate family members to be your parents and children. If you want to gift a vacation to anyone outside your immediate family, a fee will apply.

5 5 Vacation Flexibility: Stay at a resort for just one night or for as many nights as your Points Allotment will allow. EXTERNAL MEMBER BENEFITS These are additional benefits that you can enjoy through our preferred business partners: Bluegreen Resorts give Members access to dozens of distinctive resorts in amazing destinations throughout the east coast of the United States. You can access these resorts through Prizzma, an easy-to-use website that allows you to search for resort availability by destination or experiences and make reservations using your Raintree Vacation Club Points. Please log on to to access Prizzma through the Member s Only Area. RCI Weeks give you access to a vast array of additional resorts and accommodations. These reservations can be made two years prior to your check-in date. As a Raintree Vacation Club Member, you have the option of using the On-Going Search feature before committing to using RCI is the largest vacation exchange company in the Weeks. On-Going Search allows world. It has over 4,500 resorts in 100 countries. Members to have on ongoing search for specific accommodations at resorts within RCI. You will receive a notification if we find accommodations that meet your search criteria. A refundable RCI exchange fee is required to enable this feature. Please contact a Raintree Vacation Guide to take advantage of On-Going Search. RCI Points give you access to resorts affiliated with RCI Points. These reservations can be made up to ten months prior to your check-in date. You pay an opt-in fee for this extra flexibility only if you choose to use it. RCI Points Partners lets you spend RCI points on travel arrangements like air transportation and car rentals. Additional fees may apply, including a flat transaction fee.

6 6 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) Q: WHERE CAN I TRAVEL WITH RAINTREE VACATION CLUB? Raintree Vacation Club has twenty different resorts in fifteen select destinations, and you have access to all of them. We frequently add new resorts to our collection, so please visit our website and review our Resort Map to see what s new. If you have a specific destination in mind, you can use our website s search engine to check if Raintree has resorts there. Q: HOW DO I MAKE A RESERVATION WITH RAINTREE VACATION CLUB OR RCI? Members now have two ways to make reservations: by calling a Raintree Vacation Guide at the contact numbers listed on this document or by logging onto and selecting the desired resort or clicking through to the Alliances tab to book with RCI. Please note that Maintenance Fees must be current for you to use your Raintree Vacation Club Membership. Member reservations will be cancelled 10 days prior to check-in if there is a pending Maintenance Fee on the account. Q: HOW DO I MAKE THE MOST OF MY POINTS ALLOTMENT THROUGH RAINTREE VACATION CLUB? Please have a few different options in mind when you start the reservation process. It s also best to book your reservation as far in advance as possible so you ll have the widest range of options. If your Membership allows you to make multiple reservations, you can use them at different resorts and/or on different dates during the current use year. You do not have to make all of your reservations at the same time. You also have the option to save Points with the Club or RCI for your next use year. Q: HOW DO I MAKE THE MOST OF MY POINTS ALLOTMENT THROUGH RCI? Again, have a few different options in mind when you start the reservation process. Please call a Raintree Vacation Guide to book through RCI. As with Raintree reservations, your Guide can help ensure that you re getting as much as possible out of your Points Allotment.

7 7 Q: WHAT IF MY POINTS ALLOTMENT DOESN T COVER THE UNIT AND WEEK THAT I WANT TO RESERVE? You have the option to either borrow a points allotment from your next use year or accelerate a points allotment from the last use year of your contract. If borrowing points you will pay a maintenance fee at the current year s rate and then be billed the difference on the next use year. If accelerating points you will pay an acceleration fee equal to that of the current year s maintenance fee less the annual Membership fee. You can request any of these options up to 365 days prior to your check-in date. If you cancel a reservation that was made with borrowed or accelerated Points, we will refund your Points but not your Maintenance Fee(s). Q: I HAVE AN ALTERNATE MEMBERSHIP TYPE AND IT IS NOT MY USE YEAR, CAN I STILL REQUEST A RESERVATION? Yes: you can either make a reservation using Raintree Rentals or call a Raintree Vacation Guide and ask him or her to review your travel options available through RCI or you may also choose to accelerate one Points Allotment into an off year. Q: CAN I USE MY POINTS TO MAKE RESERVATIONS WITH RAINTREE VACATION CLUB AND RCI IN THE SAME USE YEAR? Yes: both types of reservations can be made concurrently since all transactions have a certain Point value. You may make both types of reservations at any time during your use years. Q: DO I NEED ANY DOCUMENTS TO CHECK INTO A RAINTREE RESORT? Yes: please bring your printed Raintree Vacation Club reservation confirmation, which you will receive after your reservation is confirmed, a credit card for incidental charges, and a valid photo ID. You will need to present these items upon check-in. Q: ARE CHECK-IN/CHECK-OUT TIMES THE SAME FOR ALL RAINTREE RESORTS? No: check-in/check-out dates and times, along with housekeeping fees and other fees, are specific to each resort. Please visit the Members Only area of our website and review the Member Directory for more information on check-in/check-out times.

8 8 POINTS USAGE CHARTS E ach resort has a Points Usage Chart, which you may find by visiting our website and logging into the Members Only area. Point Usage Charts are a tool that you can use to see how many Points you will need to book at a specific resort for a specific date range. Step 1: Select the type of unit you want to reserve, which should be based on the number of people traveling in your party. Step 2: Confirm that you've chosen the unit that best fits your needs by reviewing the amenities that are available in each type of units. Step 3: Ensure that your party will not exceed the number listed in Maximum Occupancy (Max. Occ) for your selected unit and will be comfortable with the number of private bathrooms available per bedroom (Priv. Occ).

9 9 Step 4: Select the dates you want to travel. A week is defined as a seven-day stay (for example, a Saturday check-in and a Saturday check-out). Step 5: Check to see how many Points you will need for the unit type you want on the dates you plan on traveling. If you have an equal or greater amount of Points in your account, you're ready to book your vacation! Check-in days and times are controlled by each resort s operating policies. For more information about check-in days and times for a specific resort, please visit our website or call a Raintree Vacation Guide. Please keep in mind the following: If you choose to use a date from a Points Usage Chart equal to your Points Allotment, you will have used 100% of your usage rights for the year. If you choose a date from a Points Usage Chart that has a lower value than your Points Allotment, you have the right to add one or more additional nights to your stay.

10 10 GLOSSARY Alliance Resorts: These are resorts with which Raintree Vacation Club has an agreement for rooms to be made available that our Members can then reserve. Please note that these resorts are not managed by Raintree Vacation Club. Alternate Membership: You purchased this type of Membership and you have usage rights in either Odd or Even years. For example, if you purchased an Even Year Membership in 2012, your next Point Allotments will be available in 2012 and 2014; if you purchased an Odd Year Membership in the same year, your next Point Allotments will be available in 2013 and Associate Resorts: These are resorts where Raintree Vacation Club has an allocated block of rooms that Members can reserve. Please note that these resorts are not managed by Raintree Vacation Club. Cancellation Policy for Internal Reservations: If you cancel your reservation Cancellation fee? Points back? 90+ days prior to check-in No 100% days prior to check-in $ % 0-29 days prior to check-in* $150 50% *For this timeframe, you may also avoid the $150 fee by forfeiting all of your Points. *For cancellations at The River Club, Telluride: Member will be responsible for resort fees if cancelling less than 30 days prior to check in or no show. All payments which are due and payable in accordance with this document, shall be paid in US dollars, legal currency of the United States of America, or its equivalent in pesos, legal currency of the United Mexican States, at the applicable exchange rate published by Banco de México at the Federal Official Gazette on the date when the corresponding payment is made As a Member of Raintree Vacation Club, your Maintenance Fees must be current for you to use your Raintree Vacation Club Membership. Member reservations will be cancelled 10 days prior to check-in if there is a pending Maintenance Fee on the account. Fees: All Raintree Vacation Club fees are in U.S. dollars. No additional taxes apply. Please refer to the List of Fees for more information. All payments which are due and payable in accordance with this document, shall be paid in US dollars, legal currency of the United States of America, or its equivalent in pesos, legal currency of the United Mexican States, at the applicable exchange rate published by Banco de México at the Federal Official Gazette on the date when the corresponding payment is made

11 11 Internal Exchange: All reservations at Raintree Vacation Club resorts are internal exchanges. Your first internal exchange each use year is free. Additional fees will apply to any subsequent exchanges within the same use year. You can make a reservation up to 365 days prior to your check-in date. All Maintenance Fees and other Club fees must be current to use your internal exchange benefits. Membership Type: You purchased a specific type of Membership. Raintree Vacation Club Membership Types each have a unique Points Allotment, ranging from Diamond Memberships (320,000 Points) to Bronze Memberships (20,000 Points). Points Allotment: Currency within the Club given based on Membership type. Points are valid for twelve months and then saved automatically within Raintree Vacation Club. (Points are valid for a total of 24 months). Points Plus Cash: Members have the option to purchase extra Points with cash to complete a reservation without having to Accelerate or Borrow from a future Use Year. These transactions can only be completed by calling a Raintree Vacation Guide. Points Plus Cash purchased cannot exceed total point allotment. Raintree Rentals: As a Raintree Vacation Club Member, you are eligible to make reservations at Raintree resorts at a discounted rate. For more information, please contact a Raintree Vacation Guide. If you cancel your reservation Cancellation fee? Refund Amount? 15+ days prior to check-in No 100% 0-14 days prior to check-in 50% 50% Raintree Resorts: These are resorts that Raintree Vacation Club owns and operates. RCI Exchange Benefits: Your RCI Weeks Membership is included with your Raintree Vacation Club Membership. You have the ability to make external exchanges within the RCI network of resorts. To view RCI resort properties and view applicable fees, please visit RCI s website through the Alliances tab in the Member s Area of VacationClub.com. To make a reservation with RCI or for more information, contact a Raintree Vacation Guide. All RCI exchanges are subject to RCI fees, policies, and procedures, which may be different than those of Raintree Vacation Club.

12 12 RCI Instant Exchange: This benefit allows you to take advantage of RCI s last-minute extra inventory at a discounted Points rate. You can use Points for an RCI Instant Exchange thirty days prior to your check-in date. This option requires at least 9,000 RCI points for all accommodation types, plus an exchange fee. There is no fee discount for this benefit. Remember, once you convert the Points Allotment you receive from the Club into RCI Points, you cannot undo this. RCI Points for Deposit: As a Raintree Vacation Club Member, if you own at another RCI Weeks resort (outside of the Club), you can convert that week into RCI Points. You may only request four of these conversions per use year. The chart below shows what percentage of RCI Points you will receive for your RCI Week, depending on how far in advance you opt to convert your Week. The Deposit Lead Time is how many days in advance you choose this option. Deposit Lead Time Percentage of Points Given % % % 0-29 Conversion not allowed RCI Points Exchanges: You have access to RCI Points, which are equivalent to Raintree Vacation Club Points in terms of Points Allotment. You can make multiple reservations using RCI Points. Reservations are on a first-come first-served basis and can be made up to ten months prior to the check-in date. An opt-in fee plus an exchange fee is required at the time of reservation; this fee is waived for your first use year. You may subsidize an RCI Points reservation by purchasing additional Points up to 50% of your original Raintree Vacation Club Points Allotment (e.g. if you want to make a reservation through RCI that required 120,000 Points, and your Points Allotment is 80,000 Points, you may purchase up to 40,000 additional Points to cover the reservation). Remember, once you convert the Points Allotment you receive from the Club into RCI Points, you cannot undo this. RCI Points Partners: This feature allows you to purchase travel-related items like car rentals, air travel, and hotel stays using RCI Points. You may use RCI Points to make Points Partners reservations up to 365 days prior to the start date of a given service, and you may use 33% of your Annual Points Allotment. This type of reservation requires RCI Points plus a discounted rental fee. For Points Partners cancellation policies, please see the chart below.

13 13 Cancellation Received Returned Points 90+ days 100% days 75% days 50% 0-29 days 25% RCI Points Transfer: You can transfer your Points into another Raintree Vacation Club Member s account if the other Member is also affiliated with RCI. This feature can only be used for external exchanges. This is considered an Internal Points Transfer. RCI Rental: Since you have access to RCI via Raintree Vacation Club, you can reserve unlimited extra vacation rentals with RCI. Please contact a Raintree Vacation Guide for rates and availability. Room Requests: Members may make special requests at the time of booking with a Raintree Vacation Guide or subsequent to online booking ONLY by calling a Raintree Vacation Guide. Please note that any requests for Room Request and/or Room Upgrades are requests and are not guaranteed. Room numbers are not confirmed until check-in. Room Requests and upgrades are subject to resort availability. Room or Upgrade requests made directly to resorts cannot be honored. Use Year: A 365-day period that begins on the day you are eligible to receive your Annual Points Allotment

14 14 LIST OF FEES All payments which are due and payable in accordance with this document, shall be paid in US dollars, legal currency of the United States of America, or its equivalent in pesos, legal currency of the United Mexican States, at the applicable exchange rate published by Banco de México at the Federal Official Gazette on the date when the corresponding payment is made INTERNAL FEES o $29 fee per reservation for all subsequent Raintree Vacation Club reservations made in a given use year after the first reservation (which is free) is made o $120 Administration Fee paid upon deferral of one Points Allotment o $182 Annual Member Fee o $100 cancellation fee for reservations cancelled days before check-in o $150 cancellation fee to save 50% of Points for reservations cancelled 0-29 days before check-in o $29 fee for saving Points from use year to use year o $50 fee for Guest Certificates for people other than your immediate family members o $65 fee for subsequent copies of contract after the original copy provided at sale EXTERNAL FEES for U.S. and Canadian residents. o o o o o o o $54 RCI Points Access fee This fee is waived during your first use year $26 fee for saving RCI Points from use year to use year $84 fee for RCI Guest Certificates $239 fee for RCI Domestic/International Exchanges $98 fee for Points Transfers $49 fee for each Points for Deposits Fees vary for RCI Points Exchanges, see chart below RCI Points Nightly Fees Nights Cost (USD) 1 $59 2 $79 3 $109 4 $139 5 $179 6 $ $ $288