Bonnet Creek Yah or Nah for DVC members?????

[Bob Roberts]

On my last trip I checked out Bonnet Creek, I was thinking it would not be a bad idea to by into Wyndham due to the great deals on Ebay and it would be great to compliment my DVC stays. However this resort minus its location seems to be missing something for me.

Maybe it was the height and the colors of the buildings. Or the awful top 40 modern music that was blaring on the speakers everywhere you walked. But it just did not seem right.

Give me the Old Key West tropical themed buildings and Buffett, Jimmy Cliff, and Krosfya blaring in the background (ahhhhhhh relaxing) anytime of the week.

Also I have stayed several times at Marriott Grande Vista, Cypress Harbor, and Harbor Lake, I would take any of these 3 any day of the week over Bonnet Creek.

What are your thoughts?

Bob Roberts (Old School, Old Key West, DVC Member)

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Well, if you buy Wyndham, buy resale! I think I spent $700 closed on my 203K point Wyndham contract a few years ago. I'll bet that those points are even cheaper now! We can stay for a couple of weeks in a BC 2 bedroom on those points, but we generally deposit them into RCI to get DVC trades instead. BC can be had so cheaply on Ebay that those points have more value as traders right now. Wyndham points are pretty easy to get for nearly-free and easy to give away if you want to divest yourself of them. They are probably my favorite resale timeshare purchase.

I love Bonnet Creek, but DH does not like having to drive everywhere. The units are nicer at BC than at DVC IMHO, and DH agrees...better maintained, too. After our recent icky BWV unit, DH is more on-board with staying at BC over DVC.

That said, I'll take Marriott anyday over BC or DVC!! We love Lakeshore Reserve and trade in with a cheap resale trader that we own. We also really liked Harbour Lakes, and Cypress Harbour looks nice. Grande Vista was great too. Marriott is just top-notch IMHO...love it.

 

[edith76]

I traded into Bonnet Creek through RCI - 3 weeks last May. I'd say NAH! Have stayed at other Wyndham properties and been happy with them but we had a lot of trouble at BC most of which was due to lack of a any housekeeping. It took way too much effort to get our sheets changed one time in the three weeks and forget about a full cleaning. Bathroom was never cleaned. Our villa was not great but ok. Think some are better. Its close to Disney but you still have to drive to the parks. I also wondered about security. There is a guard when you drive in, but there were people wandering around during the day that I don't think were staying there.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Well, if you buy Wyndham, buy resale! I think I spent $700 closed on my 203K point Wyndham contract a few years ago. I'll bet that those points are even cheaper now! We can stay for a couple of weeks in a BC 2 bedroom on those points, but we generally deposit them into RCI to get DVC trades instead. BC can be had so cheaply on Ebay that those points have more value as traders right now. Wyndham points are pretty easy to get for nearly-free and easy to give away if you want to divest yourself of them. They are probably my favorite resale timeshare purchase.

I love Bonnet Creek, but DH does not like having to drive everywhere. The units are nicer at BC than at DVC IMHO, and DH agrees...better maintained, too. After our recent icky BWV unit, DH is more on-board with staying at BC over DVC.

That said, I'll take Marriott anyday over BC or DVC!! We love Lakeshore Reserve and trade in with a cheap resale trader that we own. We also really liked Harbour Lakes, and Cypress Harbour looks nice. Grande Vista was great too. Marriott is just top-notch IMHO...love it.

What sort of trades into DVC have you been getting with your Wyndham points? I have heard various accounts of it on tug, its either a) incredibly easy or b) incredibly difficult. I imagine its somewhere down the middle, but I am curious to hear it from someone who has actually done it.

Bob Roberts (Old School, Old Key West Member)

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

What sort of trades into DVC have you been getting with your Wyndham points? I have heard various accounts of it on tug, its either a) incredibly easy or b) incredibly difficult. I imagine its somewhere down the middle, but I am curious to hear it from someone who has actually done it.

Bob Roberts (Old School, Old Key West Member)

Incredibly easy...to the point where I no longer see the need to actually own the majority of our DVC points. I kept those only for Thanksgiving as that does seem to be a difficult DVC trade. However, after this DVC Thanksgiving trip, I'm done. It was harder to trade into DVC when they were with II, although we always got what we wanted even then. The RCI DVC inventory is ridiculous IMHO. Going by memory, this year I traded into:

Aug SSR 2 bedroom
Sept. VWL 1 bedroom X2 (one week was for a friend), one of the 2 weeks was labor day weekend
Sept. again BCV 1 bedroom
Sept. AKV 2 bedroom

I think there was another week because I swear we had 6 week-long trades (we had some leftover Wyndham points sitting in the account from the previous year). Most of the time we use the weekend nights plus maybe 1 night and give or throw the rest of the nights away. We could have had tons of other DVC trades too...those were just the ones we actually wanted/could use. This coming year I'll def. do the SSR Aug. 2 bedroom again...that was fun. Not sure what else we'll grab...maybe AKV again. All but BCV came from open inventory, not ongoing searches BTW. Easy peasy trade...way, way easier than getting my beloved Marriott Lakeshore Reserve trades off of II. Those are getting hard

The weirdest thing is that Bonnet Creek costs MORE Wyndham points in trade than DVC does...hence, we have stuck with DVC for trades and paid cash on Ebay for Bonnet Creek.

I should add that we live locally!

 

[Bob Roberts]

Are you serious about the points being lower then to stay at Bonnet Creek? Wow that is impressive, I think I will look into buying at Smokey Mountains or one of the low MF Wyndham resorts. Just hope that DVC would stay in RCI for a long time. Do you have to pay an extra $300 bucks plus an additional $85 or so for a DVC exchange? Even if you do its totally worth it.

Most of the Marriotts are incredibly easy to trade into on II except for Lakeshore. I have a cheap II time share I paid a buck for on ebay that has low MF's and I trade in to Harbour Lake and Grande Vista all the time. Nice resorts.

Bob Roberts

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Are you serious about the points being lower then to stay at Bonnet Creek? Wow that is impressive, I think I will look into buying at Smokey Mountains or one of the low MF Wyndham resorts. Just hope that DVC would stay in RCI for a long time. Do you have to pay an extra $300 bucks plus an additional $85 or so for a DVC exchange? Even if you do its totally worth it.

Most of the Marriotts are incredibly easy to trade into on II except for Lakeshore. I have a cheap II time share I paid a buck for on ebay that has low MF's and I trade in to Harbour Lake and Grande Vista all the time. Nice resorts.

Bob Roberts

We used to be able to get Lakeshore 2 bedrooms in the summer with ongoing searches. This is the first time we have failed I'm so sad over it! I love that place. We *might* have to suck it up and buy a Marriott resale for the preference in getting into Lakeshore. Harbour Lake and Grande Vista are easy to get and my kids LOVE GV for some funny reason, but I love Lakeshore.

Yes, BC is usually more Wyndham points than DVC. That alone has to tell you something about the value of DVC trades at this point I want to say that I own at a Wyndham resort in Colonial Williamsburg. I chose it because of MFs and the fact that they had just finished a special assessment (so hopefully were far off from another one). I don't see why DVC wouldn't stay with RCI. It's a way bigger company than II, and honestly I personally just don't see DVC as the same quality as the standard II resort anymore. I've been on DH to agree to sell the DVC points since they affiliated with RCI. I don't want to wait until our DVC points are worth little on the resale market. After this past week's stay at BWV, he is finally on-board with selling the BWV contract.

Even if they went back to II, you could still use the Wyndham points to book BC directly or to trade in through RCI. One thing I like about RCI is how much inventory they have. They might not have the same caliber of resort that I expect from II, but they have a straight ton of inventory so I have a higher chance of finding something when I want to go somewhere.

As for what you pay, you pay your trade-in fee of I think it's $189 now and then the $95 at check-in, so about $300 total. You figure that if you use it for 3 nights, you're at about $100 a night for a 1 bedroom. You can give the rest of the nights to friends or just throw them away and you're still WAY ahead of the game. You can't even rent points for a 1 bedroom anywhere near that cheaply!

 

[Bob Roberts]

Wow thanks for your insight!!!!! Where do you own with Wyndham???? I was thinking of getting around 220,000 points or so.

Bob Roberts

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Wow thanks for your insight!!!!! Where do you own with Wyndham???? I was thinking of getting around 220,000 points or so.

Bob Roberts

It's in Colonial Williamsburg, but I can't remember the name offhand I think it might be Kingsgate? We have 203K points, and that works out to be more-than-enough trade-wise. However, if we wanted to stay often during high season I'd buy a bigger contract. Those fall weeks we had were in the 60K point range, so not high points at all. The summer 2 bedroom SSR was more...like 120K points.

 

[JimMIA]

Are you serious about the points being lower then to stay at Bonnet Creek? Wow that is impressive, I think I will look into buying at Smokey Mountains or one of the low MF Wyndham resorts. Just hope that DVC would stay in RCI for a long time. Do you have to pay an extra $300 bucks plus an additional $85 or so for a DVC exchange? Even if you do its totally worth it.

With Wyndham, the RCI exchange fee is $199 online and then you pay $95 to DVC at checking.

We will be at OKW in a couple of weeks on a Wyndham RCI exchange which cost us 126,000 points. I own at Great Smokys, and my total cost including my Wyndham points, RCI fee, and the DVC fee is a little under $860 for seven nights in an OKW 2 BR. That is about 60% of what the same thing would have cost me using OKW points.

As far as WBC is concerned, a couple of years ago we were doing a split stay, Sunday-Monday at OKW on OKW points, followed by 3 nights at WBC. Both reservations were one bedrooms. My OKW cost was $189 per night. my WBC cost was $49 per night. We canceled OKW and stayed the whole time at WBC...and were very pleased with our accommodations.

 

[Dean]

On my last trip I checked out Bonnet Creek, I was thinking it would not be a bad idea to by into Wyndham due to the great deals on Ebay and it would be great to compliment my DVC stays. However this resort minus its location seems to be missing something for me.

Maybe it was the height and the colors of the buildings. Or the awful top 40 modern music that was blaring on the speakers everywhere you walked. But it just did not seem right.

Give me the Old Key West tropical themed buildings and Buffett, Jimmy Cliff, and Krosfya blaring in the background (ahhhhhhh relaxing) anytime of the week.

Also I have stayed several times at Marriott Grande Vista, Cypress Harbor, and Harbor Lake, I would take any of these 3 any day of the week over Bonnet Creek.

What are your thoughts?

Bob Roberts (Old School, Old Key West, DVC Member)

We like BC but we like the Hilton's, The Fountains and 4 top Marriott's better. We prefer Grande Vista for the Marriott's over Lakeshore because of locations and we're usually with kids plus I'm generally trading in with cheap options. Overall we prefer the Fountains as our top off property option. We still prefer the DVC resorts due to feel and location but find that many of the off property options are better in some areas including pools overall, size, maint and activities.

 

[bwvBound]

You might also want to check out 'WinPoint VIP Passport,' a non-equity rental relationship. We added a 250k WinPoint contract earlier this year to close a gap in our various timeshare ownerships/memberships. We've enjoyed two great reservations so far -- one of which was a "tough to book" stay in San Francisco in the 2BR Penthouse (? or Presidential?) unit.

Basically, WinPoint VIP gives me easy access to booking Wyndham locations as if I were a VIP owner (discounted reservations, presidential reserve, etc) but with no obligation to ongoing dues. This has worked well for me so far!

Link: http://timeshare-marketplace.com/timeshare-resales/wyndham-membership/

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

You might also want to check out 'WinPoint VIP Passport,' a non-equity rental relationship. We added a 250k WinPoint contract earlier this year to close a gap in our various timeshare ownerships/memberships. We've enjoyed two great reservations so far -- one of which was a "tough to book" stay in San Francisco in the 2BR Penthouse (? or Presidential?) unit.

Basically, WinPoint VIP gives me easy access to booking Wyndham locations as if I were a VIP owner (discounted reservations, presidential reserve, etc) but with no obligation to ongoing dues. This has worked well for me so far!

Link: http://timeshare-marketplace.com/timeshare-resales/wyndham-membership/

So basically you are permanently using someone else's points? I guess I don't entirely understand the scheme. It says that you can will the points, but then it looks like you don't technially own them We bought our Wyndham resale well after you could buy resale and keep VIP, so I'd like a method of having the VIP perks...this could be interesting, but I think I need to learn more.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

We like BC but we like the Hilton's, The Fountains and 4 top Marriott's better. We prefer Grande Vista for the Marriott's over Lakeshore because of locations and we're usually with kids plus I'm generally trading in with cheap options. Overall we prefer the Fountains as our top off property option. We still prefer the DVC resorts due to feel and location but find that many of the off property options are better in some areas including pools overall, size, maint and activities.

Does The Fountains trade on RCI or II? I'm not familiar with it, but I'm always open to new options.

HGVC is a 1-in-4 I think, so we've never tried it...I'm afraid I'll like it too much and then have to wait 4 years to book again Looks like I'm going to have to find my GV love this coming summer...Lakeshore just isn't matching for us like it always has. I should have taken the 1 bedroom and not held out for the 2 bedroom.

 

[bwvBound]

So basically you are permanently using someone else's points? I guess I don't entirely understand the scheme. It says that you can will the points, but then it looks like you don't technially own them We bought our Wyndham resale well after you could buy resale and keep VIP, so I'd like a method of having the VIP perks...this could be interesting, but I think I need to learn more.

Yes -- exactly what you said in bold above.

Granted, it is a leap of faith -- but the initial investment is almost trivial so I'm not too worried. I figure if I get 3-5 years out of this program I'm ahead -- I'm not overly worried about willing it to any survivors.

 

[Dean]

Does The Fountains trade on RCI or II? I'm not familiar with it, but I'm always open to new options.

HGVC is a 1-in-4 I think, so we've never tried it...I'm afraid I'll like it too much and then have to wait 4 years to book again Looks like I'm going to have to find my GV love this coming summer...Lakeshore just isn't matching for us like it always has. I should have taken the 1 bedroom and not held out for the 2 bedroom.

RCI. It's actually listed twice as The Fountains and Oasis Lakes. Nice pool, all 2 BR except a few 4 BR presidential villas and a few 3 BR in the Oasis section and that's why we prefer it, we're mostly in the 4 BR units. Don't let the 1 in 4 scare you plus there are always ways to get in outside RCI. While I haven't followed it for HGVC, generally the 1 in 4 is by resort, not system (there are exceptions) and for RCI points, it's generally treated independently. Plus stays gotten through other means (privately, independent exchanges) are normally not subject to the rule.

 

[bwvBound]

What sort of trades into DVC have you been getting with your Wyndham points? I have heard various accounts of it on tug, its either a) incredibly easy or b) incredibly difficult. I imagine its somewhere down the middle, but I am curious to hear it from someone who has actually done it.

Bob Roberts (Old School, Old Key West Member)

Our trades into DVC using either II or RCI include:

• 1 exchange into BWV Studio unit, January arrival, through II against Worldmark points (now "Worldmark by Wyndham")
• At least 7 exchanges into BWV 1BR units, January arrivals, through either II or RCI, against Worldmark points, South Africa or SoCal fixed weeks
• 1 exchange into SSR 3BR Grand Villa, October arrival, through RCI against SoCal fixed summer week

I consider the annual January exchange fairly 'easy' but it always feels so good!

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Yes -- exactly what you said in bold above.

Granted, it is a leap of faith -- but the initial investment is almost trivial so I'm not too worried. I figure if I get 3-5 years out of this program I'm ahead -- I'm not overly worried about willing it to any survivors.

Interesting...I need to look into this more. There are some VIP benefits that would intrigue me, mainly the upgrade at 60 days or whatever the rule is.

 

[Bob Roberts]

RCI. It's actually listed twice as The Fountains and Oasis Lakes. Nice pool, all 2 BR except a few 4 BR presidential villas and a few 3 BR in the Oasis section and that's why we prefer it, we're mostly in the 4 BR units. Don't let the 1 in 4 scare you plus there are always ways to get in outside RCI. While I haven't followed it for HGVC, generally the 1 in 4 is by resort, not system (there are exceptions) and for RCI points, it's generally treated independently. Plus stays gotten through other means (privately, independent exchanges) are normally not subject to the rule.

Hey Dean,

I have heard alot of people say good things about the Fountains. Its funny because when ever I drive by it, I think nothing of it. But then I look at photos online and it looks great.

Out of all the offsite places I have stayed at over the years, I still feel that nothing compares to OKW, Saratoga, or VWL. Mainly on the look, the feel, and the atmosphere. As far as amenities and price goes, they are at the bottom.

Bob Roberts (Old School, OKW member 4 life)

 

[Dean]

Hey Dean,

I have heard alot of people say good things about the Fountains. Its funny because when ever I drive by it, I think nothing of it. But then I look at photos online and it looks great.

Out of all the offsite places I have stayed at over the years, I still feel that nothing compares to OKW, Saratoga, or VWL. Mainly on the look, the feel, and the atmosphere. As far as amenities and price goes, they are at the bottom.

Bob Roberts (Old School, OKW member 4 life)

Disney is lightyears beyond most all timeshares (maybe all, I haven't personally seen an exception) when it comes to theming and I agree that there is a calming affect for my family being at Disney. However, looked at objectively, there are maybe 9 or 10 other timeshares that are at that level or above when you look at the maint, room size, quality of furnishings, pools and activities and a number of others fairly close. Ignoring theming and location (difficult to do I know both emotionally and intellectually), I think several of these are above DVC but it's difficult to argue they are not, at least, comparable to DVC with the exceptions noted. There are people who actually prefer to stay off property at the same cost.

Specific to the Fountains, it has one of the nicer pools, probably better than all DVC except SAB and it has private cabana's. Harbour Lakes has the best pools for little kids and Lakeshore maybe the best big person pool of the ones I've seen (haven't seen 1 of the Hilton's). The units at the Fountains themselves are nice but likely not to the level of Grande Vista, Lakeshore or the Hilton's though close UNLESS you get the 4 BR presidential which we've had every time we've stayed there but 2, usually at $79 a night. One of it's benefit for exchanging is it's all 2 BR or above, so it's easy to up trade though that's not as much an issue with RCI now as it was a few years ago. I prefer on property but don't find myself missing it when we're off property at the level of resort we're discussing. We just approach things a little differently without making a big deal of it and we usually drive to the parks anyway when staying on property except MK and if we're hitting more than one park.