OT: Free Timeshares

[ziravan]

How difficult with Wyndham is it to get into a resort that is not your home resort? Is it possible to see the point charts for other resorts?

https://www.myclubwyndham.com/ffrweb/pdfs/cw_wyndham_club_pass_supplement.pdf

 

[ziravan]

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[ziravan]

Now. With DVC, if you buy direct, you pay about 60% more, $155 vs $90/ point.

With Wyndham, the spread is like $1/1000 points resale and $200/1000 points direct.

Wyndham is breakeven good deal at $1/1000 points.

$200/1000 is always a very bad deal. Never buy Wyndham direct and never attend a sales meeting/owner update.

 

[JimMIA]

How difficult with Wyndham is it to get into a resort that is not your home resort? Is it possible to see the point charts for other resorts?

Like many things...it depends.

There are some resorts, at certain times of the year, which are virtually impossible to get unless you own there and book right at the opening of your 13-month window -- for example, either of the New Orleans resorts for Mardi Gras, Daytona Beach for race week, and a few other resorts at their absolute peak seasons or special events.

But you never know -- sometimes things you would not expect to be open are.

• Like right now Christmas is available at the Wyndham Midtown 45 in Manhattan.
• Christmas is also open at Wyndham Canterbury in San Francisco and Wyndham Grand Chicago Riverfront.
• And Reunion -- all 3 BR units with a nice waterpark and very convenient to WDW -- is available just about any time late summer 2016 (July 5 through August)...which is surprising to me.

Here's a link for the 2014-2015 Wyndham Plus Members Directory. I don't have the 2015-2016 link yet, but this directory should be pretty complete.

Click on the bullet button on the top bar of the page for the table of contents, which has links to the rest of the book. The Wyndham Club Plus resorts are the 100+ resorts at the core of the system, listed alphabetically by state (with the little quirk that neither of the DC resorts are actually in DC, but both are very convenient to DC). Any member can book at any of those at 10 months, subject to availability, and availability is usually pretty good.

The Club Plus resorts start on page 8, and the pictures I've looked in that directory are very representative of the resorts where I've stayed -- not "glamor shots." The points charts are there for each resort, although they may be on a second or third page for that resort. Unit information (types, sizes, bed arrangements, etc, etc.) is also shown.

You will see some other types of Wyndham ownership mentioned (Club Pass, Access, Presidential Reserve, Margaritaville Vacation Club, etc.). Ignore those for the time being because they probably will not apply. If something is available ONLY via Club Pass, or is an "associate" or "affiliate" resort, assume that you will not have access to it.

Most of the technical aspects of how to use the system are explained later in the book, starting on page 300

 

[JimMIA]

Also, the locations of the Wyndham Club Plus resorts are shown on pages 1-2 of the Member Directory. The red dots are Club Plus resorts; ignore the other colors.

 

[Dean]

That is why foreclosure laws were established in this country. People always have an option to walkaway from a home, business, timeshare, etc. for whatever their reason may be. A trust allows you to walk away from an unknown timeshare without havong it intermingle with your personal finances. In all cases you need to live with the outcome of the decision in the context of the law. Ethics have nothing to do with the decision, same as when people go in for bankruptcy.

The wealthy use these tools everyday, and if the regular working man realized the benefits, they would be all over them as well. The costs can be very inexpensive if you do not get lawyers involved.

We'll have to disagree on the point that there are no ethics components. Bankruptcy laws were established for people who got into trouble, not as a financial tool to be planned for. To go into something planning on bankruptcy or a trust with the idea of possibly walking away, then there is a big ethics issues.

 

[JimMIA]

For these free time shares, I would recommend you establish a Trust and use it to hold the asset. If you ever want to dump the timeshare and there are no takers, they can't go after a trust with no other assets, so it would preserve your credit, etc if you decide to stop paying the fees.

To establish a trust just to hold a relatively small asset in order to try to put a barrier between you and creditors seems like a questionable strategy. I'm not talking about ethics; just common sense. Forming a trust for a small timeshare holding sounds like "jailhouse lawyer" stuff - probably using an Office Depot Universal Declaration of Trust, or even worse, some stupid form found on the Internet with Google!

A trust is only one of many legal structures which can be used for legitimate financial strategies. I would encourage anyone interested in something like this to consult a real lawyer who specializes in trust and related areas, and get some real advice -- rather than relying on "Google smarts."

Our timeshare holdings are held in a family trust, along with many other assets -- but it's part of an overall financial strategy that has served us well in many areas for many years.

Honestly, giving ourselves the option of stiffing creditors never entered the discussion.

 

[DisneyfromDeland]

Thanks for the great information and links!

 

[carlbarry]

You have to watch the ones on eBay. They are sometimes odd or even years, so it seems to me that you are paying MF on the years that you don't have a week.

I wouldn't mind owning Wyndham. Which resorts have lower MF? Is it different than DVC's "own where you want to stay?"

There is currently a Wyndham Bonnet Creek up for sale on ebay, every other year, $1 ---with no takers.

 

[carlbarry]

How difficult with Wyndham is it to get into a resort that is not your home resort? Is it possible to see the point charts for other resorts?

I've been a Wyndham owner since 2008. My home resort is Star Island in Orlando. I have never stayed there since becoming an owner. I've stayed at Bonnet Creek, Flagstaff, Puerto Rico, Berkshires, Poconos, Old Town Alexandria/D.C.

 

[DisneyfromDeland]

I've been a Wyndham owner since 2008. My home resort is Star Island in Orlando. I have never stayed there since becoming an owner. I've stayed at Bonnet Creek, Flagstaff, Puerto Rico, Berkshires, Poconos, Old Town Virginia/D.C.

Wow! Good to know!

 

[Brian Noble]

The member fees I'm seeing of over $1900 per year are more than price quotes I've gotten to rent a 2 br at Bonnet creek for 10 days at VRBO .

It can depend very much on where and what you own. My $/K ratio for annual dues is about $3.90. This isn't the very lowest in the system, but it is close. That said, if the only reason you were thinking about buying Wyndham is due to Bonnet Creek, I'd agree that renting is probably a better bet. The resort is huge, and so it's relatively easy for VIP owners (who can book rooms at half the nominal point costs at 60 days or less) to secure rooms at low cost. The other reason to rent is if you plan on traveling at off times or non-peak locations.

But, if you want to e.g. spend Easter Week/Cherry Blossom Festival at Old Town Alexandria, owning starts to make a lot more sense. That's one I booked during the "Standard" reservation period, and I do not own there. But, I did get online the very instant reservations opened to give myself a shot at it. The 2BRs were all gone within about 20 minutes.

 

[DisneyfromDeland]

This thread has really gotten me thinking about supplementing my DVC membership with another timeshare, such as Wyndham.

 

[Dean]

This thread has really gotten me thinking about supplementing my DVC membership with another timeshare, such as Wyndham.

It can be a great choice, DVC for Orlando stays and another timeshare for others. I think one needs sufficient volume to justify it, maybe a full week in each per year as a minimum. I like Wyndham, Bluegreen, Marriott and others depending on what/where you want to use it. I'd suggest you look at where you want to go and see who does well there then work backwards. Marriott is better in many ways but more expensive and is bitten by some of the same issues as DVC in that trading the high end options often doesn't make sense and their points option is very expensive as well. Wyndham has more better resorts but I think Bluegreen is a better system in many ways.

 

[DisneyfromDeland]

It can be a great choice, DVC for Orlando stays and another timeshare for others. I think one needs sufficient volume to justify it, maybe a full week in each per year as a minimum. I like Wyndham, Bluegreen, Marriott and others depending on what/where you want to use it. I'd suggest you look at where you want to go and see who does well there then work backwards. Marriott is better in many ways but more expensive and is bitten by some of the same issues as DVC in that trading the high end options often doesn't make sense and their points option is very expensive as well. Wyndham has more better resorts but I think Bluegreen is a better system in many ways.

Thanks for this information. I will continue to do more research on tug. There is a lot of good information there.

 

[JimMIA]

I like Wyndham, Bluegreen, Marriott and others depending on what/where you want to use it. I'd suggest you look at where you want to go and see who does well there then work backwards.

As usual, good advice from Dean.

Look first at where you want to go and see who has resorts there. With most systems, you will find some level of focus with one or more geographic areas -- for instance, Wyndham used to be much stronger in the Eastern US and Worldmark (also owned by Wyndham) was much stronger in the West. That has equalized somewhat in recent years, but check where you want to go with any system.

Also, check the relative ease or difficulty of booking at non-home resorts. How is that process? Can you do it reliably, or do you have to get struck by lightning?

If you don't NEED home resort in a particular place, look carefully at the annual recurring cost of owning the timeshare. If your home resort doesn't matter, select one which gives you lower MF's. For example, in Wyndham, Brian's MF's are below $4 per 1000 points, mine are $4.50-something -- but there are Wyndham resorts with MF's over $7. If non-home use is easy (as it is in most places with Wyndham), you don't want to be paying double what you need to pay.

And finally, do your own research; honestly, nobody can tell you what is best for you. When I was buying, I received priceless advice from Dean, Brian, and several other knowledgeable people here on the DIS and on TUG. But the bottom line is, none of them know my family, none of them know our priorities, or finances. So in the end, I did a ton of personal research before buying our contract. And I'm glad I did.

Don't buy something because some anonymous person on the Internet spoke highly of it. Do your own research!

 

[sarah4770]

Do these other timeshare companies have a contract end date like Disney does? or are you stuck paying the maintenence fees until you are dead and then have to unload them on someone else?

 

[JimMIA]

Do these other timeshare companies have a contract end date like Disney does? or are you stuck paying the maintenence fees until you are dead and then have to unload them on someone else?

It varies from company to company, but the typical timeshare contract is open-ended, not fixed-term like DVC.

 

[carlbarry]

Do these other timeshare companies have a contract end date like Disney does? or are you stuck paying the maintenence fees until you are dead and then have to unload them on someone else?

Wyndham is open ended. Once they have you, you're stuck for life.

 

[Brian Noble]

Do these other timeshare companies have a contract end date like Disney does? or are you stuck paying the maintenence fees until you are dead and then have to unload them on someone else?

Most are open-ended. However, if you follow Jim's advice and do your due diligence in the buying process, you'll end up owning something with enough value to get rid of it when the time comes. I could get rid of my Wyndham contract tomorrow for a little something, but that's because I have a low $/K ratio. I also have some summer fixed weeks in Wisconsin that have been nice traders over the years; I could unload those with a little more effort but it would not be hard.