Bonnet Creek resale instead of another DVC contract

[diaman]

We are DVC owners and thinking about buying a timeshare at Bonnet Creek as an add on instead of another DVC contract. I see one on Ebay for about $3k after everything is said and done for 210,000 points. Which should get us about a week in a 2 bedroom.

I am unfamiliar with how Wyndham's point system works. Can you use those points to stay at other resorts? Would this be a good property that is in demand to trade out to other RCI properties?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
TIA

 

[swilshire]

Go over to www.tug2.net for answers to all things timeshares. It sounds like a good plan, since the DVC maintenance fees are high for exchanging. There are probably lots of other nice timeshares you could buy for trading that might be more cost effective than Bonnet Creek.

Sheila

 

[FlFairygirl32405]

I own at BC. The property exchanges in RCI which also includes Disney Properties. I think Disney rotates between RCI and II every few years. Judging by these boards, I would say that BC would be easy to echange because of its close proximity to Disney but I've never tried to exchange. The last call getaways in RCI are so inexpensive that we always save our points to use for ourselves and just purchase an extra vacation. I agree with the other posters that TUG is a good resource. You have to be a member to access the resort reviews. I can tell you that BC does not rate in the top 10 Wyndham resorts on TUG. I was surprised by this. I think it may have something more to do with location because a majority of the top 10 list are in Hawaii and other islands.HTH!

 

[TotoToo]

We are DVC owners and thinking about buying a timeshare at Bonnet Creek as an add on instead of another DVC contract. I see one on Ebay for about $3k after everything is said and done for 210,000 points. Which should get us about a week in a 2 bedroom.

I am unfamiliar with how Wyndham's point system works. Can you use those points to stay at other resorts? Would this be a good property that is in demand to trade out to other RCI properties?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
TIA

Wyndham points at resale are a true steal. They work at any Wyndham resort so you are not limited to your home resort or unit size or dates. The only thing the home resort gets you over all other resorts is 13 months reservation window vs 10 months for non-home resorts.

BC is one of if not THE premier resort in the Wyndham system. It trades well IF you use it to trade outside the Wyndham group (for internal trades where a point is based doesn't matter for use - only the one case of home resort advantage is different). IF you place an RCI trade request with a Wyndham deposit you may not get the resort you own as they simply take the number of points needed from any location that gets the trade you desire. It's a version of request first. You name the resort/unit size/time and they say yes, its available for XXX,XXX points. What those point represent as an actually use deposit doesn't matter to you as you already know what you're getting. The rest is up to RCI.

That is different than making a blind deposit to RCI to search on. You can take a bunch of points - representing a studio/1, 2 or 3 bedroom and ask too have a deposit made in RCI. Then you can search on that for whatever trades RCI may offer. In many cases if you go for slightly "off season" times you can get a 2 or 3 bedroom trade for a 1 bedroom (28,000) point deposit thus stretching your points. Again what resort they actually give RCI - it usually is NOT your home resort - doesn't matter to you. And you cannot force them to deposit resort "X" for search-able exchange.

Combined with the free, full RCI membership (that allows you to use non-Wyndham deposits with RCI as a full member) the ability to pool, borrow and rent points as needed the Wyndham system is extremely flexible, low cost as long as you start with resale purchase and can get you almost anything you want either internally or through trade. Tough value to beat. Having the #1 timeshare within the gates of Disney is just one of many benefits of Wyndham ownership.

 

[SamiL]

We bought a Wyndham resale recently. Haven't traded yet, but from what I understand the trading value isn't great. Wyndham points are best used within the Wyndham system.

If you'd like a better idea of your options for Wyndham resorts, you can access an online version of the Wyndham Directory here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/wyndham/memberdirectory0910/

VIP members get some better perks, but you have to buy from the developer to get those. Not really worth it when you can get a resale so cheap.

Buy Wyndham to use at Wyndham resorts. If you are flexible with travel dates and not traveling at really high demand times then buy at any Wyndham resort, but look for for resorts with low maintenance fees, since you can book pretty much anywhere.

Tug is a great resource. I learned a lot there before we bought. There is also a Wyndham owners group at http://www.wyndhamowners.org.

You can find some great deals. (check the Tug for sale ads and the Wyndham Owners sales pit threads) Be prepared for a long closing process. We started in August and were finally in the Wyndham system in January. There was a issue with our title that had to be corrected, so ours was even longer than expected. But, Wyndham is known for dragging its feet transferring ownership for resales.

 

[SamiL]

One other thing--when we were looking at resorts to buy at, we came across info indicating that Disney blocks rci trades into DVC for owners who own non DVC timeshares in the Orlando area. So we took Bonnet Creek off the table. Just in case we buy another resort at a later time that DOES trade well and have a shot at getting DVC with it.

I don't know how they would do it, or if if the info is accurate, but it did come into play when we were making our choice. Thought I'd mention it in case you to look into it.

 

[Cdn Gal]

It works for us b/c we can only travel in peak times. Also we like the fact that there are so many Wyndham across the US and there is a close ski hill within 3 hours for us in the winter. We bought at BC b/c if we ever do want to sell it again I don't think we'll have a problem. We have 500,000 points and paid $3,100 for it. My godfather bought from the developer and paid close to $50,000 for 346,000 points. Unfortunately he purchased when it was first being built and he is not very computer savvy.

 

[Brian Noble]

I wrote this in answer to the OP over at TUG, but thought it would also be worth posting here for interested parties:

There have been several DVC owners adding Wyndham resale to their portfolio, for exactly this reason. I'm sure some of them will chime in.

Wyndham's point system is not as simple to use as DVC's. There are some minimum stay requirements, and some relating to check-in/check-out days, though both of these requirements are waived for offseason and short-notice bookings. There are several nuisance fees in Wyndham's system that can be avoided with a little planning, and even if you pay a few, the cost of resale ownership is so low that it almost doesn't matter.

You can use points at other Wyndham resorts; the scheme is similar to DVC's model. Owners at a resort get an exclusive window for booking (starting at 13 months). Everyone else gets a crack a littel later (at 10 months). In general, points are points, though there are a few times of year, at a few resorts, that are hard to book without the home resort advantage. In general, "non-home" availability is probably a little better in Wyndham than it is in DVC.

Wyndham points cannot get the top-shelf weeks in RCI Weeks. They can be useful for getting inexpensive access to off-season weeks or over-deposited areas, and there is some ability to trade up for internal exchanges. But, in general, Wyn trades poorly in RCI.

To get started, I'd encourage you to read the "Primer" over at the Wyndham owners' forum:

http://forums.atozed.com/

Full disclosure: I do own Wyndham (resale). I do not own DVC. I'm very happy with my Wyndham deed, and would buy it again. As John puts it, one of the true steals in timeshare.