I have no doubt that you're right, Dean. I know you know your stuff. But why?
I had the same problem when I was trying to learn about Wyndham. And if you ask questions, they are not as patient as DVCers. As my mother, a teacher, used to say, "Knowing something and knowing how to teach it are two different things." That being said, as a Wyndham (very few points) owner/DVC owner, I will say that:Thanks for that link. The Primer is very helpful - sort of a Wyndham Points for Dummies, which is exactly what I needed.
The TUG link was helpful too, in a way. The "advice series" has a lot of information (as far as it goes) in a pretty redundant way -- sorta repetitious over and over, again and again, with a lot of duplication...if you get my meaning. If they took out about 1/3 of the words, it would be a much better piece. But it does cover the material in more depth.
Also, the guts of the advice -- the nuts and bolts stuff about how best to utilize your points -- is either not there yet, or it's hidden until you pony up $15...which would be really tacky if that's the answer. I'm not sure which, but I did see portions of the hidden chapters quoted in some of the other threads...
From what I've seen so far, it's not a matter of transparency, it's just a more complex system. There is good and bad in complexity -- yes, there's a steeper learning curve, but a lot of those complicated aspects of the system give it more power than DVC may have.
Yes, they do have tremendous bargains for late bookings. However, for these you must be a points owner, not a week owner. Now, I DO get 49,000 points a year. But for their purposes, I am considered a weeks owner! Therefore, not only do I not qualify for those bargains, but I my trades to RCI are also considered weeks trades, which leads to other problems, such as not being able to book on-line, and thus incurring an extra fee from Wyndham for phone calls! I'm not knocking Wyndham if you use it correctly--I'm just saying they make things very complicated, and not for the benefit of the owners. For example, owners used to be able to rent points to each other. (Great if you had points left over at the end of the year that you would otherwise lose.) Wyndham ended this last year, so you must rent the points at inflated prices from them, and any points you have left over are lost.
For example, if you wantewd to stay at Bonnet Creek, which is a beautiful resort within WDW, the points for a 1 bedroom per week are:
Because Wyndham chooses the resort and week deposited where with BG, you can chose the week and resort and it acts like a fixed week deposit. You can get cheap or you can get stront trade power based on your choices. As for resort desirability I think BG has a couple that are above Wyndham which puts you back to the idea that you get to chose the resort to deposit based on availability of course. Also several trade with II and RCI so you work both sides. I've also used BG as points for deposit to RCI points.
What kind of Wyndham do you own: Fixed week, converted fixed week, or Undivided Interest?
To me, that's fair. If I stay a week, they thoroughly clean the villa once. If I stay only one night, they still have to completely clean the villa before the next person arrives. Same thing with transaction fees -- there's no difference in the MS time spent making a one-night reservation or a two-week reservation. It's one transaction, one fee. If I choose to make 5-6 transactions a year rather than 1-2, I should pay more.
There is no one answer. Wyndham is likely the best to do what you say because of Bonnet Creek but will not trade well to DVC unless you have the VIP options that allows you to trade points AND your points are not based in Orlando. Bluegreen is likely a better choice to trade to DVC but there are no guarantees. A good week at one of the Marriott's that trade in RCI (none Orlando) should be a good option as well. Worldmark points may be another consideration, likely more expensive but more consistent in getting DVC.
