DVC or Wyndham

[nickspace]

I understand what you are saying and feel the same way, the group of posters that have replied are well educated on many varieties of timeshares. Each have their niche and there is not doubt a learning, I am sure one you studied, you would be fine.

With that be said, I have tried hard to do exactly what you are doing and expand my horizons. Was very close to Marriott resale but am struggling with their "new system" Have look at Spinnaker out of HHI as well.

When all said and done, I know there are better deals there and DVC is generally on the expensive side, however, their system is very easy to learn and use and no doubt a comfort level is there.

Not sure at this point is I want to or need to study and work and figuring out how to go somewhere for a vacation. There is something said for having an easy system I guess.

We looked at HH Spinnaker and did not like it at all. The DVC amenities and surrounding are so much more apealing to our family. The Marriott looked nice but was expensive.

 

[bwvBound]

Also, with Wyndham (one seriously hard word to keep typing!), I assume at 10 months you just go online and if there is availability where you want to go and you have enough points in your account, you just make the reservation. Is it that simple?

For typing purposes, consider using WVO (Wyndham Vacation Ownership). As for reservations, don't forget to factor housekeeping and reservation fees. A certain number of each are free, based on number of points owned with charges applied once you exceed your allocation.

I'm guessing some resort locations will also charge Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT)??

 

[culli]

For typing purposes, consider using WVO (Wyndham Vacation Ownership). As for reservations, don't forget to factor housekeeping and reservation fees. A certain number of each are free, based on number of points owned with charges applied once you exceed your allocation.

I'm guessing some resort locations will also charge Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT)??

True but the system figures all that out and will show you your options etc. I have yet to run out of HK or TC, those factor if you plan on doing a lot of short stays or book and cancel frequently. Off the top of my head I can't remember what they are (I bet Brian has them memorized) I'm not sure about the TOT.

 

[JimMIA]

You tell them I want to deposit a visable 1 br Red Studio to RCI they will pull out 105k of your pts. They will either give a specific week and resort or what they call a generic deposit. Your trade power is based on this within RCI, it doesn't matter where you own.

So your trading power within RCI is determined by how many points you deposit, rather than the quality of the resort you own?

And the fix would be to deposit a visible 2BR or similar? So if you had LOTS of points, you could "buy" trading power for something you really wanted?

 

[Dean]

So your trading power within RCI is determined by how many points you deposit, rather than the quality of the resort you own?

And the fix would be to deposit a visible 2BR or similar? So if you had LOTS of points, you could "buy" trading power for something you really wanted?

The others are more knowledgeable about Wyndham but my understanding is that they pick the actual resort and week to deposit and your trade power is governed by what they give to RCI. Generally they aren't giving RCI the best options and this is the problem Unlike DVC which has a trade power that's more generic to their entire system. That's why I like BG better because YOU can pick the week and unit for deposit

 

[JBx3]

We looked at HH Spinnaker and did not like it at all. The DVC amenities and surrounding are so much more apealing to our family. The Marriott looked nice but was expensive.

Again, same thoughts, HH Spinnaker was very nice very clean but no theming or detailing. disney really does a good job with that stuff and for us, it always seems to transport us to kind of a wonderland for a while. This really helps with decompressing!

Marriot Grand Ocean and Surfwatch were really outstanding but not a shot at buying direct at those prices and with the "new points system", it has put a damper on resale interest for us. As of now resales are attractive but are not allowed into the new points system.

 

[culli]

The others are more knowledgeable about Wyndham but my understanding is that they pick the actual resort and week to deposit and your trade power is governed by what they give to RCI. Generally they aren't giving RCI the best options and this is the problem Unlike DVC which has a trade power that's more generic to their entire system. That's why I like BG better because YOU can pick the week and unit for deposit

Dean is right, but Brian has alluding to Wyndham allowing you to do this for Wyndham in RCI in the future. I really don't know much about it and have heard it from some of his posts on the TUG boards. If you keep it simple with Wyndham and use their internal system it is nice and they have a lot of different options and places to stay. I would not buy Wyndham if your main goal is to mainly trade into RCI. Wyndhams appeal is the large network and coverage they have internally (think DVC but 100x's the resorts) with the ability to exchange in RCI. If you put in a 2br red week (154k pts) you should get pretty good results. I have successfully traded a few times with Wyn in RCI, actually I got into DVC. But I used a 2br red week in Wyndham which got me 1br at the BCV for August. Not a killer trade but my costs are cheaper than what a week would have cost me with my DVC pts. So it is possible but not easy to get into DVC with Wyndham trade with RCI weeks. (Note to Brian this was RCI weeks not the PP trades I have done).

 

[Doug7856]

We are in the process of buying Wyndham resale, so I'm very glad to have found this thread!

I see the "Presidential" category. Can you generally book these at 10 months? We travel primarily during the summer because my wife is a teacher.

Our plan is to bank a year's points and use two year's points every other year (Wyndham). Is that a viable plan? I understand that you must bank before your use year.

The resale we are purchasing has three weeks banked into RCI and start expiring October 2011. I gather that we can book these on the RCI web site. True? Should we book as soon as possible for summer 2011?

Thanks again for this very informative thread!

 

[culli]

We are in the process of buying Wyndham resale, so I'm very glad to have found this thread!

I see the "Presidential" category. Can you generally book these at 10 months? We travel primarily during the summer because my wife is a teacher.

Our plan is to bank a year's points and use two year's points every other year (Wyndham). Is that a viable plan? I understand that you must bank before your use year.

The resale we are purchasing has three weeks banked into RCI and start expiring October 2011. I gather that we can book these on the RCI web site. True? Should we book as soon as possible for summer 2011?

Thanks again for this very informative thread!

Doug it all depends on the presidential units based on resort and time of year, I have two of them reserved this year for upcoming trips (they are in the off season). But they seem to go fast and that is where the 13 month advantage might come in advantage if you have to have them.

As far as RCI bank goes, I'm really not sure if that goes to you or not. I will let someone that has experience with that to comment.

Yes banking the pts if done before your UY starts is very doable, I think you get 2 or 3 years to use them if you do this.

This should be a link to the Wyndhams owners forums and their free primer. I encourage people to read this if they have interest in Wyn:

http://forums.atozed.com/viewtopic.php?f=1337&t=4185

I found this to be very well done with good examples. It is in pdf format.

 

[Brian Noble]

I think I understand the basics of Wyndham points, but what is Wyndham Plus? Is that just a meaningless marketing thing...or does it mean something. I guess what I'm asking is whether there is some kind of VIP thing like Fairfield used to have.

Wyndham keeps changing the names of things because they can't figure out what their branding message is. Club Wyndham Plus is the new name for the old Fairfield FairShare points system. Just a branding change, nothing else. VIP is a different beast, and still exists. Ignore it, because it costs too much (to a first order approximation, you can only obtain it from the developer.)

Also, with Wyndham (one seriously hard word to keep typing!), I assume at 10 months you just go online and if there is availability where you want to go and you have enough points in your account, you just make the reservation. Is it that simple?

Mostly. There are a few restrictions having to do with length-of-stay requirements at various advance dates and nuisance fees for incurring extra cleaning costs or reservations, etc.

And then, there's RCI (I'll ignore II for now, because I think almost all of the Wyndham properties use RCI).

To me, it seems like RCI is where which resort you own really matters because one Wyndham home resort trades differently than another (the dreaded trading power issue). First of all...is that correct?

In general, yes. As a Wyndham points owner, no. Wyndham chooses the units deposited. Most units are "generic"--averaged across all deposits in the system. You can request a "visible" for various reasons, but that's also subject to Wyndham's whim. Your deposit need not (and usually won't) come from your home resort.

And secondly, how do you determine what kind of trading power your resort has?

In general, Wyndham has fairly poor trading power in RCI. That's because Wyndham tends to retain the most in-demand inventory for internal bookings. For example, Wyndham almost never deposits holiday weeks (Easter, Christmas). Likewise for summer coastal or any "event" weeks. Wyndham also gives owners first crack for a couple months before depositing anything. As a result, Wyndham deposits tend to be "late" with respect to RCI's model.

On the other hand, this can be seen as good news. It means that the best inventory is generally available to owners, not exchangers. And, if you are buying to *use* (always a good idea), it's exactly the policy you'd want, because it means you have better access to the "good stuff" in the system.

I'm guessing some resort locations will also charge Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT)??

This is a matter of geography, not system---any resort located in a particular taxing jurisdiction will be subject to it. For example, any resort located in Hawaii charges TOT, no matter who builds or manages it. Aulani will charge TOT, just as the various HI Wyndhams do. I think the WorldMark Anaheim also is subject to TOT, but Dolphin's Cove, for some reason, is not.

Brian has alluding to Wyndham allowing you to do this (editorial comment: choose your week) for Wyndham in RCI in the future.

This isn't the change in the works. The rumored change for Weeks is that it will go to a "credit-based" (i.e. points-like) model. So, rather than trade week-for-week, each deposit would be worth so many "credits", and each exchange woudl require so many credits. If you accept an exchange requiring less credits than you'll deposit, you would get "change back." If you desire an exchange requiring more credits than any of your on-deposit weeks, you could combine deposits to reach the level you needed (with change back as necessary). This removes the main obstacle to trading Wyndham---namely, you don't have sufficient trade power to exchange for the most in-demand inventory---by allowing one to combine deposits. And, depending on how things are valued, this could work out to be in the Wyndham owners' favor, because you have fine grain control on what is deposited, from a low-season studio to a high-season 3BR unit.

It is important to note that nothing has been officially announced by RCI, so this might never happen. But, several folks who sit on various resort boards report being briefed on the change, so it's a pretty credible rumor.

If you keep it simple with Wyndham and use their internal system it is nice and they have a lot of different options and places to stay. I would not buy Wyndham if your main goal is to mainly trade into RCI. Wyndhams appeal is the large network and coverage they have internally

This is exactly right. The first Rule Of TUG is "Buy where you want to stay." With Wyndham's dozens of resorts, you could just use your ownership internally, stay in a couple different resorts every year, and not run out of options for a good couple decades. Our biggest problem next summer is where we want to stay from several compelling options. On the other hand, Wyndham is not the system to "buy to trade"; many others provide much better results there. But, as I said above, this is by design. The best inventory is reserved for owners, the leftovers sent to RCI.

I see the "Presidential" category. Can you generally book these at 10 months?

Subject to availability. These units are in demand, so sometimes home-resort owners book them before the 10 month window opens. Additionally, some are in that "Presidential Reserve" category I wrote about a page or two back---these are not released to the Great Unwashed until late in the game, if at all. On the other hand, the main difference between standard and Presidential units is the quality of furnishings, and the standard units have always been comfortable for us. Sizes, locations, etc. are all otherwise generally similar.

Our plan is to bank a year's points and use two year's points every other year (Wyndham). Is that a viable plan? I understand that you must bank before your use year.

Yes. I pooled most of my 2010 points, and plan to use them for a more point-intensive trip in summer 2011.

 

[JimMIA]

I found this to be very well done with good examples. It is in pdf format.

I found it virtually unreadable and badly outdated. I think it was originally written around 2005-06, before Fairfield became part of Wyndham. It makes Wyndham sound much more complicated than it is.

The comments by you and Brian in this thread were worth FAR more than the hours I spent trying to understand that thing. Thanks!

TUG has a good introduction, but it's either not finished or they withhold the most important parts from non-members....not sure which.

The DISboards are certainly much better places to get good info!

 

[Brian Noble]

written around 2005-06, before Fairfield became part of Wyndham.

There was a second version written recently that cleans up some of this stuff. However, my experience has been that the Wyndham directory is surprisingly detailed and useful, and it explains a lot of the picky little details well. Anyone can read it with the direct link:

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

The new one for '10-'11 should be coming out any day now.

TUG has a good introduction, but it's either not finished or they withhold the most important parts from non-members....not sure which.

Those articles (as well as the Primer) are all written by volunteers---most of whom are not professional writers. There is no conscious effort to keep content for "members only."

The DISboards are certainly much better places to get good info

Actually, I think TUG's discussion forums have a much better signal-to-noise ratio if you want hard information. Timeshare Forums (www.timeshareforums.com) is even better, IMO.

 

[JimMIA]

Brian or Culli -

Are ALL of the Wyndham properties that are available through their internal booking system shown in the "Club Wyndham Plus Members Directory 2009-2010?"

 

[Brian Noble]

Are ALL of the Wyndham properties that are available through their internal booking system shown in the "Club Wyndham Plus Members Directory 2009-2010?"

To a first-order approximation, any "Club Wyndham Plus" Resort is available at 10 months with a few seasonal exceptions at a few resorts. (There are a few with "Very Limited Availability" that are hard to book more or less any desirable time--e.g. the Rhode Island resorts in summer. Those were sold as fixed-week resorts, and very few prime-season owners converted.)

Affiliate and Associate resorts, on the other hand, generally have little or no availability. If you have questions about specific resorts, just ask, and I can look for current availability.

 

[JimMIA]

There was a second version written recently that cleans up some of this stuff. However, my experience has been that the Wyndham directory is surprisingly detailed and useful, and it explains a lot of the picky little details well. Anyone can read it with the direct link:

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

The new one for '10-'11 should be coming out any day now.


Those articles (as well as the Primer) are all written by volunteers---most of whom are not professional writers. There is no conscious effort to keep content for "members only."


Actually, I think TUG's discussion forums have a much better signal-to-noise ratio if you want hard information. Timeshare Forums (www.timeshareforums.com) is even better, IMO.

Yeah, I got the Members Directory file earlier today, and it rivals DVC for production values! Also, really a lot of great info.

The info written by the volunteers, however, can give a completely different perspective -- especially with regard to how the system actually works for members. And, the writers are not trying to sell timeshares, so that adds some credibility.

Despite the problems with the Primer, it's obvious it was a "labor of love" that several people really devoted a ton of time to. Same with the TUG info, and I found it much easier to read.

But, by far, the best has been you guys!

 

[Brian Noble]

Are ALL of the Wyndham properties that are available through their internal booking system shown in the "Club Wyndham Plus Members Directory 2009-2010?"

There are also one or two that are not there yet. There's a new one in Myrtle Beach, for example (Towers on the Grove), and there might be one or two more.

But, by far, the best has been you guys!

That's very kind, but I spend more time answering Wyndham questions on TUG, TS4M, and the Wyndham owners' group (forums.atozed.com) and there are lots of other very knowledgable owners at all three sites as well.

 

[JimMIA]

To a first-order approximation, any "Club Wyndham Plus" Resort is available at 10 months with a few seasonal exceptions at a few resorts. (There are a few with "Very Limited Availability" that are hard to book more or less any desirable time--e.g. the Rhode Island resorts in summer. Those were sold as fixed-week resorts, and very few prime-season owners converted.)

So that's 41-42 resorts, if I counted correctly. For some reason, I thought there were a lot more.

 

[Brian Noble]

There are 40-odd locations, but some locations have several resorts---for example Orlando has four (Bonnet Creek, Cypress Palms, Star Island, and International), there are two in Washington DC, five or six in Myrtle Beach, two in San Antonio, two in the Wisconsin Dells, etc.

 

[culli]

I found it virtually unreadable and badly outdated. I think it was originally written around 2005-06, before Fairfield became part of Wyndham. It makes Wyndham sound much more complicated than it is.

The comments by you and Brian in this thread were worth FAR more than the hours I spent trying to understand that thing. Thanks!

TUG has a good introduction, but it's either not finished or they withhold the most important parts from non-members....not sure which.

The DISboards are certainly much better places to get good info!

I guess I'm just use to wading through stuff to find what I need. I found it very helpful but then again I also spent a lot of time reading other posts on TUG and even DIS. I just found info so hard to come by when I first stating looking it drove me nuts. Then I stumbled upon DIS then TUG and going from almost nothing except developer hype to gloom and doom it was a very welcome relief to find the info.

I gained some "online friends" from TUG and have learned a great deal from them. I have learned a great deal from Brian on both TUG and DIS and Dean is very knowledgable. I know at times TUG can seem a little direct but if you go through it and follow them you start to piece things together. Similar to DIS you seem to get the same questions over and over and if people who do more deligence in searching they would find their answers. If you watch DIS long enough you see the same questions...."which UY is best for me", "can I combine my pts from 2 resorts to get the 11 month window", "when do I have to bank my points".......DIS people are just more patient than TUG. Like Brian said the info is done by volunteers trying to help people make informed decesions and learn from others experiences/mistakes.

I do have to admit I love to find deals and I think I have more fun looking for great vacation scores then the vacation itself I love the thrill of the hunt so to speak

 

[JimMIA]

I know at times TUG can seem a little direct but if you go through it and follow them you start to piece things together.

Yes, I saw some of that "directness" in some of the threads. I haven't asked any questions over there because I didn't know enough to ask anything intelligent...but I know what you mean.

Similar to DIS you seem to get the same questions over and over and if people who do more deligence in searching they would find their answers. If you watch DIS long enough you see the same questions...."which UY is best for me", "can I combine my pts from 2 resorts to get the 11 month window", "when do I have to bank my points".......DIS people are just more patient than TUG.

Yep. Personally, I'd like to know if I can get Disney's Free Dining at a Wyndham. Seems like if I exchange into a Wyndham with my DVC points, I should be able to bring the Free Dining with me and Wyndham should honor it...no?

Or is that only at 13 months?

(Now you just watch...within 24 hours there will be a thread over on the DVC Planning Board - "I heard I Could Get FREE DINING at Wyndham with my DVC Points!!!!!!")