I had a call today from someone in the Regulatory affairs office, V. was leading the call and there were 3 more people in the room; I feel honored (the website I've created might have drawn attention). *
It was a 30 minutes call and we hadn't the time to address all my concerns, so I have another call scheduled for next week. I haven't received any real answer, but I've started to present most of the questions. And I appreciated the call.
Most of the time today has been spent on the lockoff premium.
They told me that (brace yourself) demand for 1BR is much higher than 2BR (and of course studios, but she never spoke about one being in higher demand of the other). She told this like if they're flying off the shelves. So the lockoff premium has to re-balance this.
Since she was referring to higher demand, I've asked what is their definition of demand, what are they trying to balance with this reallocation. I've asked if it is how many rooms go into breakage and she said that no, it's how quickly room are booked and which ones have less availability.
Regarding the lockoff premium they told me that's like buying a package versus single items. At this point I was a bit frustrated: I imagined they didn't have much time and they were telling me very basic definitions (like resort balance and so on). I didn't want to be rude and interrupt but a lot of time was spent on explaining very obvious things, and the clock was ticking...
I asked about the definition of the one-to-one rule and why they think it doesn't apply to studios and 1BR. Now it was time for B. to be frustrated, I guess, because I've read them the definition of timeshare unit and the one-to-one rule and why I think it was relevant. He told he's very familiar with these definitions.
There was a misunderstanding because when I've nominated "timeshare unit" they thought I was talking about what they define as "Unit".
I also made an example about why I think the lockoff premium cannot be increased (because it can be exploited).
At this point I didn't receive an answer to this because we were already over 30 minutes, but V. said that B. took some "very good notes".
At this point V. asked if I could tell her what are my biggest concern so they could prepare for the next call.
I told her:
- the increase in the lockoff premium
- the fact that I do not think they're allowed to move points between different room sizes (as Drusba added recently, I said neither the "Product Understanding Acknowledgement" says so)
- that the balancing doesn't seem right, but I have added that I know they have the data and if she tells 1BR are in high demand there isn't much I can add
- the maximum reallocation: average for studios at some resorts is already over the value stated **
I have another appointment for next week.
* I do not know if it is allowed to name the people on the call here, but I'd rather avoid it and refer to people with their initials.
** I am not entirely convinced about this, but it would be interesting to have a comment on it anyway