gift for attending owner update

[kitkat32]

We're going to Wyndham's Bonnet Creek in November and just wondering if someones been there recently and what they are giving for attending an owner update. We're hoping to get a good price on tickets to the parks.

 

[TotoToo]

We're going to Wyndham's Bonnet Creek in November and just wondering if someones been there recently and what they are giving for attending an owner update. We're hoping to get a good price on tickets to the parks.

The recently reported gifts are Visa gift cards from $75-$150 value. In the past they have offered discounted (never free) park tickets but not recently. I'd advise holding out for at least the $150 in value (less & you're giving them your time and putting up with a pressure packed sales pitch) for less than they are willing to pay).

Just be very careful and remember no matter what they may say or offer you can get Wyndham Points on resale for $.02/each or less (maybe far less as in FREE for the closing costs). DO NOT EVER buy from Wyndham sales or you are paying way too much for a great product that is easily obtained for virtually nothing vs thousands or even tens of thousands less. Should you buy in the minute your rescind period ends you will have lost 90% or more of the value - it is a incredibly bad purchase decision to make and you must avoid it. DO NOT BUY WYNDHAM POINTS/BONNET CREEK RETAIL!! No exceptions! If you cannot say NO to a good pressure filled sales push then DO NOT ATTEND!!

On the other hand if you attend and like what you see/hear (Bonnet Creek as well as many other Wyndham Resorts and the Wyndham system in general are a great way to vacation) then you can find all the points you could ever want for extremely low cost resale and buying that way makes the purchase of Wyndham one of the truly great values in timeshare vacations. Just don't fall for all the BS of the slick sales weasels.

 

[Purseval]

Since they were asking about an owner's update they either already knew about the low resale price or bought from Wyndham in the past. As for your advice about never buying retail, if everyone followed it you wouldn't have any resales to buy. Every single deal you get is because someone at some point bought retail. No exceptions.

 

[TotoToo]

Every single deal you get is because someone at some point bought retail. No exceptions.

True enough. But today if there were never another new timeshare unit built there would be no shortage for decades. And why be the one to be stuck with the full cost and thus take the 90%+ equity hit days after you buy? It's not like a car or a home where buying new gets you "first use" and control over choices made on wall finishes, options, colors, etc. The resale unit and the retail unit are the exact same unit - both used by others and not under your direct control - so paying more makes zero sense.

It is virtually impossible to make a reasonable case for any timeshare purchase at retail regardless of brand, location or anything else. The markup of a minimum 50% (and now often far more) over the real price as the market is willing to pay is simply too great.

 

[Brian Noble]

Agreed. I admit that I don't particularly mind when random people pay developer prices, because I like shiny new resorts just as much as the next guy. But, right now, developer pricing at Wyndham is roughly 10 times what you would pay for resale points. The OP presumably knows the deal, but if anyone is reading along thinking that this will be an easy way to make $75---well, it could be the most expensive $75 you've ever earned. Those salespeople know what they are doing, and they close about one out of every eight tours---even though *everyone* says they are not going to buy going in. You don't want to be the eighth guy!

 

[Purseval]

so paying more makes zero sense.

Paying more makes zero sense to you. Buying anything Wyndham right now regardless of cost makes zero sense to me. But it doesn't matter what we think. All we can do is take advantage of other people's decisions.

It is virtually impossible to make a reasonable case for any timeshare purchase at retail regardless of brand, location or anything else. The markup of a minimum 50% (and now often far more) over the real price as the market is willing to pay is simply too great.

Tell that to the smartest real estate investors in the world, DVC owners

 

[Brian Noble]

There was a time when you could make that argument for DVC. But, unless the resale market recovers---and it might---that ship has sailed.

 

[Purseval]

As long as WDW can buy a unit back for less than retail from customer A and resell it at retail to customer B the system will work. If the market slows down to a point where ROFR is no longer worth it DVC will collapse to a point that makes Wyndham resale look like an outrageous price. Then resellers will have to go from stressing low price to stressing that at least you actually own your time, not renting it for X amount of years.

 

[Brian Noble]

As long as WDW can buy a unit back for less than retail from customer A and resell it at retail to customer B the system will work.

Only if B-A is larger than their marketing expenses. Rule of thumb is that those expenses are between 1/4-1/2 the total cost (not the *purchase price*, the cost to the developer.) It will be interesting to see what happens if DVC ever stops developing WDW resorts. I'm not sure that day will ever come, but it might.

If the market slows down to a point where ROFR is no longer worth it DVC will collapse to a point that makes Wyndham resale look like an outrageous price.

Since the beginning of the year, Disney effectively stopped ROFRing anything, except BCV---and even some of those are getting waived at surprisingly low prices. There is the odd exception here and there, but not much. They've also stopped holding the line on OKW developer pricing, and allowed it to drift downward compared to the shiny new resorts, even though they can "extend" the contracts to 2054 for free when they ROFR something. It's not clear whether these are just consequences of the slow market overall, or if the DVC resale market has finally grown large enough to meet the baseline latent demand. Probably a mixture of both---as the economy recovers and fewer people find themselves having to sell, prices should recover on the DVC resale front.

But, Wyndham deeds are basically being given away. I don't foresee DVC ever getting to that point---even in the final year, I'm guessing there will be a significant spread between Dues and market rental rates. As long as that spread exists, a DVC contract has some residual value. Effectively, the DVC owners get to ride Mickey's formidable marketing coat-tails.

Then resellers will have to go from stressing low price to stressing that at least you actually own your time, not renting it for X amount of years.

I'm not sure what your point is here---no one here is a "reseller", as far as I can tell. In fact, most of the independent brokers I know no longer handle Wyndham, because there is just no money in it. I'm also not really sure that "owning" your time is really a selling point. No one vacations forever, and there is no reason to think my heirs will want to vacation the same way that I do. I think RTUs have a real place, personally.

I've long said that if your only interest is *Orlando*, then you'd be much better off renting from full-freight VIP owners who will pass their 60-day discount along to you. There is just so much inventory at Bonnet that you can find discount inventory for all but the most in-demand time.

However, if you have broader vacation interests in places where Wyndham has resorts, Wyndham resale is a pretty darn good value. But, you have to be committed to the idea of taking regular family vacations in condo-style lodging. That commitment isn't right for everyone, but we've been very happy with our usage of the system over the past four years. Lots of comfortable resorts in family-friendly locations, and at resale prices the effective cost is well under what regular hotel rooms cost in the same locations.

 

[Purseval]

I'm not sure what your point is here---no one here is a "reseller", as far as I can tell.

Reseller meaning someone who wants to unload their timeshare as opposed to a developer selling one.

 

[Brian Noble]

Ah, I see. The good news is: if you bought resale, that's just much less of an issue. I've owned my Wyndham deed for just under four years. And, frankly, I paid so little for it, and have already gotten so much value out of it, that I could just give it away and still be happy with the purchase. But, I'm not giving it up yet...too many vacations ahead of me!

 

[Purseval]

We own HGVC and are in the same situation: very little upfront cost, small HOA fees (we have an EOY so we only have to pay on even years) and we could give it away for free without really taking a loss. Since Orlando is our main destination there is always room available in their rental program so we can rent a 1-bedroom for about the same cost as staying in the Pop. Since it's just the 2 of us it works out great. We can also trade in to DVC for less points than it would cost us to stay in our own unit for the same amount of time.

Let the fact that Disney abandoned them sink in (it could take a while. Even Wyndham prices didn't fall overnight) to DVC owners and it won't be long before you'll be able to pick up their units for the same deal.

But that's drifting off my original point, which was that none of us would be enjoying the benefits these beautiful resorts have to offer if it wasn't for the people willing to pay full price. Unless you were willing to pay full price yourself, aand it sounds like you aren't.

 

[mitchel6]

We were there earlier this summer and a $100.00 AMEX card was offered. They never offered anything else.

We declined.