Disadvantages to buying via resale?

[Dean]

It's actually kind of a mixed bag with the other systems. I did a bunch of research to see what kind of things other timeshare systems have done (figuring DVC might follow suit).

• Hilton has no real resale restrictions at all. Everyone is in the same boat.
• Marriott has resale restrictions that don't really matter financially; they're just minor exchange and convenience features like DVC.
• Starwood has some serious and eye-popping restrictions on most of their resorts, basically completely blocking access to their internal reservation system for non-home resorts (though you can use external exchange companies like RCI). A few resorts are apparently grandfathered in to having only minor restrictions, again sort of similar to DVC. There is a way to get the restrictions lifted by buying more points/weeks direct.
• Wyndham has significant restrictions. Not sure if you can get them lifted.
• Bluegreen has significant restrictions. I believe you could get some or all of them lifted in the past, but some of those methods may not work any more.

I consider a "significant" restriction to be something that impacts your ability to book rooms in-system, i.e. the primary value of the timeshare. Things like giving booking or waitlist priority to direct buyers, or giving them extra booking time, or blocking non-home resorts via internal booking.

I think there's an indication that the more popular and valuable the brand is, the less egregious their resale restrictions are. If you have a big national brand to protect, you can't be seen to be unfair to your customers. And frankly, I find the idea of making certain features of membership non-transferrable to be fairly slimy, which may be why Hilton doesn't do it, and Marriott and Disney only have minor restrictions. No one would buy a house from a developer under the terms that you can't transfer certain features when you sell it, so I wish people would raise more of a stink about timeshare companies doing it.

I own 3 of those. I think Marriott has upped the ante with the trust points situation, as that side grows the weeks only owners will suffer a reduction in options. How important it is depends on a lot of factors but for a larger owners such as myself, it would have been significant had I not been able to take advantage. However that option to concert to the points system exchange option (Destination points) is no longer available to anyone and doubtfully ever will be for resale owners or even participating owners who buy additional resale weeks.

For Wyndham and BG it's more that they have a VIP system and resale buyers are now excluded from that system. Jim and Brian can likely give a more authoritative answer for Wyndham but I don't believe there's any way to convert a resale holding to VIP status. For BG this is currently the case, there is not way to convert resale points or fixed weeks to qualified points that I am aware of.

From a DVC perspective, I'm very surprised they haven't created a VIP system based on # of points and qualified status but given they haven't so far, I think it's not very likely going forward. However, I do think we'll see some more resale restrictions at some point. I think DVC has missed out on a lot of possible retail sales by not enticing current members to buy new resorts and extending their current contract as part of the process.

 

[JimMIA]

Jim and Brian can likely give a more authoritative answer for Wyndham but I don't believe there's any way to convert a resale holding to VIP status.

I don't believe there is any way to convert, except possibly buying a large direct contract with the stipulation that your existing resale points are lumped in and counted toward VIP status. I don't know if that is actually available, or is just Wyndham weasel-speak, but even if it is possible I think the cost would be crazy.

Wyndham also offers a cruise program -- and it's available to ALL Wyndham owners. They have a nice variety of 3, 4, 5, and 7 night cruises on Royal Caribbean and Carnival departing from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Port Canaveral. If you go off-season, the points costs actually aren't that bad. Looks like the 3 & 4 day cruises off-season (which is when we'd go anyway) are about the same point costs as a 2BR at Bonnet Creek for a week. And that's for two adults in the same cabin.

Like DVC, cruising would not be the best use of Wyndham points, but it's an option...and a much lower-cost option than DCL for DVC owners.

They also have an "Adventure" program, but I didn't look that up. I'm sure the prices are stratospheric like Disney Adventures.

 

[Dean]

I don't believe there is any way to convert, except possibly buying a large direct contract with the stipulation that your existing resale points are lumped in and counted toward VIP status. I don't know if that is actually available, or is just Wyndham weasel-speak, but even if it is possible I think the cost would be crazy.

Wyndham also offers a cruise program -- and it's available to ALL Wyndham owners. They have a nice variety of 3, 4, 5, and 7 night cruises on Royal Caribbean and Carnival departing from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Port Canaveral. If you go off-season, the points costs actually aren't that bad. Looks like the 3 & 4 day cruises off-season (which is when we'd go anyway) are about the same point costs as a 2BR at Bonnet Creek for a week. And that's for two adults in the same cabin.

Like DVC, cruising would not be the best use of Wyndham points, but it's an option...and a much lower-cost option than DCL for DVC owners.

They also have an "Adventure" program, but I didn't look that up. I'm sure the prices are stratospheric like Disney Adventures.

BG has a fairly extensive network mostly aimed at VIP owners but some options are available to others and some to anyone. You can use points for cruises, owner adventures, camping options and for some non BG hotel stays. You can use points to pay dues. You can exchange with RCI weeks, RCI points and they have a special short notice exchange option called hotweeks which costs 3000 BG points but no exchange fee, roughly $150 for any week available. As a rule, the return is not good just like for DVC but there's one big difference, DVC points are very liquid while BG's are not as much so. I've used points for 2 cruises that I wouldn't use otherwise rather than letting them expire.

Marriott has a lot of options mostly tied to the points options but with special options for VIP members. Cruises, trips akin to what ABD offers, final 4, super bowl, BCS championship, Masters, TPC, CMA, etc. Again, not a great value but if you have the points you won't use, it might be worth it.

IMO the discussion of this nature is simplest and purest for those looking to buy in to DVC or add on with these items in mind. It's a little more cloudy and individual if you've got the points you wouldn't use otherwise. I still feel that the risks involved with DVC (which has more limitations and downside than the other similar options I have) AND the sheer dollars involved make most cruising options with DVC a less than optimal choice at best. For example, with BG if I cancel a cruise reserved on points, I get all the points back under the same formula as if I canceled a cash reservation with that cruise line. I also get the actual cruise line price and not an inflated rack rate. I have no additional fee and no change fee. I do get slightly less than maint fees so I would not use except for use or lose points.