Choice Privileges has sent out an offer to book a 3-night stay at a Bluegreen Vacations property for $199 and get a bonus 30,000 Choice Privileges points. This is a timeshare offer, which means that you’ll need to set aside ~2 hours for a timeshare presentation. In addition, the terms on this one have some things that make me less enthusiastic than usual, so it’s worth reading into what you’re getting into. Still, this could be a fantastic deal.
The Deal
Key Terms
- Must attend a two-hour Bluegreen Vacations timeshare sales presentation and tour
- Must have a household income of at least $50K (may be waived if one of a cohabiting couple is 62 years old or older) and creditworthy (minimum score of 600)
- Late cancellation / no-show fee of $125 if check-in date is modified less than 14 days prior to check-in date
- $200 no-show fee charged to your debit or credit card if you fail to show up for your reservation (on top of forfeiting whatever you’ve already paid)
- See full terms here
Quick Thoughts
At a base level, Greg recently found Choice Privileges points to have a Reasonable Redemption Value of 0.81c each. That means the points alone have a reasonable redemption value of about $243. That almost makes this offer mattress run worthy (particularly so if you have a use for Choice points that is good for 1c per point or more.
That said, you can’t really mattress run a timeshare offer since you’ll need to attend a timeshare presentation. You should further account for the value of your time. They list the presentation as approximately two hours and exiting timeshare presentations can sometimes be time-consuming. Still, if you’re good at saying no, the juice can be worth the squeeze. I’ve attended a couple of timeshare presentations with an open mind and been thoroughly convinced that they aren’t worth the money for me. Know that their job is to convince you otherwise, so just be ready for that. (Of course some readers are happy timeshare owners, so YMMV)
The email indicated that you can choose from 18 popular destinations. I’m not sure which are included beyond the three mentioned in the email (Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach, and the Great Smoky Mountains), but you can view the full list of Bluegreen Vacations destinations here. Surely some of them will be an outstanding value to get family accommodations for $199 plus 30K points. Ordinarily, I would be pretty enthusiastic about a deal like this.
The thing about the terms that stuck out to me was that the offer explicitly says that it requires a FICO score of 600 or higher. That made me wonder whether they require a hard pull to pay out the offer. According to the terms, they only verify your precise credit score through a hard inquiry upon “consent and decision to purchase a timeshare interest or Sampler product from Bluegreen Vacations”. I don’t know if perhaps they just do a soft pull with your driver’s license before committing to buy, but the terms made me wonder how they go about the process. I’ve heard stories of people who put a social security number down on timeshare presentation paperwork and had their credit pulled without realizing what they were agreeing to. Obviously that can be a matter of not reading the paperwork carefully, so be sure to read things through if you need to fill out information. I think most people greatly overvalue a hard pull, but at the same time you can trade a hard pull for more Choice Privileges points by opening their credit card and meeting spending requirements (no timeshare presentation required), so I’d not want to consent there unless sure I were going to buy (and even then only if I wanted to finance through them).
I also find the late cancellation penalty here hard to swallow in the current environment. Maybe it is because several people I know have tested positive for COVID in the past week, but I’d be pretty hesitant right now to book something that will cost me $125 to change within 14 days of arrival because I know things can change unexpectedly right now. Maybe that’s less of a concern if you are booking far out in advance.
Still, if you can use the points and Bluegreen fits your plans, this can be a great deal as long as you know what you’re getting into.
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[…] Bluegreen Vacations, the official vacation ownership provider or Choice Hotels, has a promotion that will get you a stay of three nights and 30,000 Choice Privileges points for $199. This was first posted by Frequent Miler. […]