The we loooooove Bonnet Creek thread! (pics and reviews)

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Checked in today as well, Tower 5. So far, so good. I'm been delighted with how pleasant and helpful the staff is. And the unit is very nice.

No wifi in the unit itself, so I guess our neighbors aren't net freaks. But no big deal :)
 
I have a quick, possibly silly, question.

If the website shows no availability for a certain category for the general public to purchase, does that mean it is also sold-out for owners?

No. The "official" website is run by Wyndham itself, and they only have a small amount of inventory they are allowed to rent directly as they have to keep availability open for the owners. It's sort of how DVC resorts will sometimes "sell out", but you can find availabilty using the cash rate instead of your DVC points.

As you get closer to the dates, Wyndham can take more units to rent retail to the general public if there is unreserved inventory available, but you won't see those open up until the 30/60 day mark I believe.
 
Checked in today as well, Tower 5. So far, so good. I'm been delighted with how pleasant and helpful the staff is. And the unit is very nice.

No wifi in the unit itself, so I guess our neighbors aren't net freaks. But no big deal :)

Take lots of updated pics!!! Hope you have a fantastic time! :cool1:
 
I will be trading my wyndham in Va. for this resort. Is it difficult to get a 1 bedroom? I am going to try to get an exchange for the week or two after next Thanksgiving (2011).
Judy
 

If you are booking it with points, you should be just fine. If you are doing an exchange through RCI, it will probably be more difficult because they have to deposit the week you want into RCI. The two weeks after Thanksgiving are low season which makes it easier to get a unit. The week of Thanksgiving, you would have to reserve early.
 
We are here now too! Tower 4 parking lot view side if you look down BUT Epcot/Illuminations view from all windows and balcony. It's great. I have to mention the elevators are super fast:thumbsup2 We have enjoyed the pool and hot tubs and bar at Tower 4. We took a short walk less than five minutes) over to the lavy river at Tower 5 and then over to the piarte pool. Lots of friendly guests and staff :hippie: our only weird expereince was... we asked for no house keeping at check in but didn't have a do not disturb hanger for the door so a house keeper came in anyway. My dh was in the room and told her no thank you. We have requsted a do not disturb hanger from the front desk and a housekeeper we passed by(he didn't have any on his cart) and they placed it on our door over night :)
 
Is anyone here an actual owner? We're thinking of buying (resale of course) but want to get some first hand accounts of what it's really like to own and if we're better off owning or renting.

Oh, and we did the sales pitch thing yesterday for our $100 AmEx card. Never again! Though I don't regret doing it, it really wasn't a pleasant experience and once is enough! :sad2:
 
Is anyone here an actual owner? We're thinking of buying (resale of course) but want to get some first hand accounts of what it's really like to own and if we're better off owning or renting.

Oh, and we did the sales pitch thing yesterday for our $100 AmEx card. Never again! Though I don't regret doing it, it really wasn't a pleasant experience and once is enough! :sad2:

Here's a MUCH more enjoyable experience than buying through a Wyndham sales weasel: Find a reliable seller on Ebay, find a good price, pay, get your points for 90% less than through Wyndham, and enjoy your stays at Bonnet Creek.
There is currently a 235,000 point Bonnet Creek timeshare on Ebay, ending in about 12 hours, and current price is $26. Yes--two six--I didn't leave out the zeroes that Wyndham would add.
 
Skylizard,
I agree with Carlbarry, at least to an extent. We have actually gone both routes. We bought a bunch of points at Wyndham Smoky Mountains on Ebay several years ago for a fraction of the cost had we bought through Wyndham. Since that time, we have purchased additional points at Wyndham Palm Aire through Wyndham. I wouldn't have done it, but there are some benefits that come from being a VIP owner, and resale points don't qualify for VIP status. My wife really wanted those benefits, and I really like a happy wife :). We were able to pick up the Palm Aire points at a pretty sizable discount to normal retail price, but they were still much higher than buying in the resale market. My suggestion is that if you really want to own Wyndham timeshare points, and if you can live without the extra benefits you might get by purchasing directly from Wyndham, then buy resale.

Now, let's say that you really want to own, the next question is "what resort do you buy?" There are those who would argue that you should buy at the location where you would plan to spend most of your vacations. I personally don't see any value in this. Wyndham points are fungible, so points that you might own in, say, Wyndham Resort at Fairfield Bay in Arkansas, can be used to make reservations at Bonnet Creek, or Hawaii, or any of the other Wyndham resorts. As I mentioned earlier, we own at both Smoky Mountains and Palm Aire. We have stayed at Smoky Mountains once and never at Palm Aire, but we have used our points at probably a dozen or more different resorts around the country, including in Hawaii.

Others insist that it is better to buy a resort that is very popular resort (like Bonnet Creek, for example) than a less popular resort (like Fairfield Bay, for example). The logic behind this is that the high value resort would have better trade value if you wanted to swap or exchange with someone who owns somewhere else. Although this sounds like a good idea at first, I don't personally think it makes any sense, at least if you own Wyndham points. In the past, timeshare owners would buy specific weeks and even specific units at a particular resort. In that case, maybe the swap/exchange option might have some value, but under the point system, you could just as easily make a reservation and then swap/exchange that reservation with someone else.

The bottom line, at least as far as I'm concerned, is that if you really want to be an owner rather than a renter, do some research and try to buy a resort with low maintenance fees. It doesn't matter how attractive the purchase price might be, if you're not careful you could wind up buying a resort with maintenance fees out the wazoo (that's timeshare technical jargon), and those fees go on forever (or at least as long as you own the points). Furthermore, those fees can, and do, go up. I'm not saying it's not worth it, but you really need to honestly assess your situation. The fact is that resort owners don't really get to stay "free." It's just that the cost of their "rental" is spread out in monthly payments rather than all at once at the time of their stay. There are things you can do to mitigate these costs if you are an owner, and maybe even to offset them completely (for example, buy renting your points out), but it will require time and attention on your part.

Which brings me to the other part of your question, whether it's better to own or rent. Speaking to you as an owner, I will tell you that we have enjoyed it and have been able to do some things that we otherwise would not have been able to do. However, to be honest, I'm not sure that I would not have been better off, long-term, just renting when I wanted to go somewhere. Timeshare owners are trying to rent out their timeshares all the time and you can pick up some really good bargains. For example, in the last couple of months, I have rented perhaps a half-dozen 2BR and 3BR units at Bonnet Creek for under $80/night. That's total drive-out cost. No taxes, or other fees. I'm not suggesting that those kinds of deals are always available, but they often are and there are a couple of websites that cater to people who have timeshares to offer and people who are looking for timeshares to rent. There's a lot to be said for paying rent only when you use it and not having the hassle and fret of a monthly maintenance fee that keeps going till the cows come home. I'll admit that I fell for the timeshare sales pitch hook, line, and sinker and didn't think through everything as thoroughly as I normally do everything else. I've managed to make it work for us, so far, but I'm honestly not sure that I would make all the same choices again had I known the things that I know now.
 
Harrell makes some very good points.
I would just expand on one thing Harrell mentions--maintennance fees. Experienced people on Wyndham chat boards always emphasize that they will not buy at a resort where the "MF" is beyond a certain number. This can be a deciding factor.
I would also like to add that I think it is important to not buy more points than you will be able to use. This is more important now that Wyndham has stopped the renting of points between members. If you have points left over, you basically now flush them. And remember, with Wyndham, unlike DVC, points must be "banked" BEFORE the issue date.
So for example, I own 49,000 at Star Island in Orlando. Use Year is Jan. 1. I must "bank" the points (for a fee) BEFORE Jan. 1. If I have points left over in the middle of the year, they're gone. When I first joined, you could rent them out and recover some money. No more.
 
I'd recommend checking out the TUG forum or the Wyndham Owner's site if you have any specific questions about ownership. There is a much higher percentage of owners there who can probably give you a good idea of what to expect. I think the links to those forums have been mentioned before in this thread.

One thing to keep in mind beyond the actual maintenance fee totals is the possibility for a "Special Assessment". Basically, if something big comes up for the resort, such as a roof repair, repairs due to natural disaster (flood/hurricane/etc), and it's not covered by the normal budget which is paid for by your MF, you may end up getting a special assessment to help cover those repairs. An older resort may be more likely to be subject to these special assessments than a newer resort.... so if you are buying someplace specifically for the lower MF fees without knowing about the resort, you may want to keep in mind the location of the resort and it's age into your calculations.


The only advantage you get within the Wyndham system for owning a deed at a particular resort vs. another Wyndham resort is an advanced reservation window. from 13mo-10mo out only owners of that particular resort can make reservations there. from 10mo on any Wyndham owner can make reservations.

VIP vs. Non-VIP status. There are a FEW advantages to a VIP membership at Wyndham, but the general consensus is that those advantages are not worth the price difference between resale and the retail required to qualify. To add to that, Wyndham has been known to change the terms of the VIP program since there is nothing in the contracts which guarentee those program perks.

I did read something on one of the Wyndham forums a while back about how the the LeisurePlan (Perks by Club Wyndham) membership which they will tell you is only available via a retail purchase of the points (Gives you access to several nice programs such as the ability to use your points towards hotel stays/airfare/ etc.... and i believe the point-for-point RCI trade ability), can actually be purchased directly from a department within wyndham for a couple thousand dollars. ($2,000 maybe?). Again, those forums I mentioned at the top of my post you can get more info on that program and if it's worth it.
 
We own at BC and have two different contracts. The amount that you pay to have VIP benefits do not equate the cost of savings that you will incur. We are both teachers, can only travel during 'red' season and always pay top dollar for wherever we go. Since we live in Canada we also can't go away for a quick weekend vacation b/c the closest location is 5 hours away. I researched and researched and checked a variety of websites as well as spoke directly to owners who had purchased through Wyndham. :surfweb: This summer the sales people couldn't believe how cheaply we had purchased points on eBay. We calculated that we paid 3% of what people pay if they go through the developer. It is a huge mark-up in the industry. We are still learning and are still figuring some things out (RCI trade power) but so far everything has been fantastic. It was very funny this past summer when we went for the 45 min. 'owners update.' When they realized that they couldn't sell us anything and could not come close to the prices that e Bay offered they just quickly got us out of there as fast as they could. I am sure that they didn't want us speaking loudly about how much we purchased points off ebay! :lmao:
 
I was wondering if anyone knows about handicapped accessible rooms here at BC? I'm interested int trying out a 1 bedroom with a roll-in shower and I wasn't sure if BC had roll-in showers.
 
We own at BC and have two different contracts. The amount that you pay to have VIP benefits do not equate the cost of savings that you will incur. We are both teachers, can only travel during 'red' season and always pay top dollar for wherever we go. Since we live in Canada we also can't go away for a quick weekend vacation b/c the closest location is 5 hours away. I researched and researched and checked a variety of websites as well as spoke directly to owners who had purchased through Wyndham. :surfweb: This summer the sales people couldn't believe how cheaply we had purchased points on eBay. We calculated that we paid 3% of what people pay if they go through the developer. It is a huge mark-up in the industry. We are still learning and are still figuring some things out (RCI trade power) but so far everything has been fantastic. It was very funny this past summer when we went for the 45 min. 'owners update.' When they realized that they couldn't sell us anything and could not come close to the prices that e Bay offered they just quickly got us out of there as fast as they could. I am sure that they didn't want us speaking loudly about how much we purchased points off ebay! :lmao:

45 minutes--you were very lucky. When I went, the sales weasel opened my file and said, "I see you paid $9,000 for 49,000 points." Apparently, it referred to the previous owner's cost. I said, "No. Ebay. $100." She still kept me hostage for 2 hours.
 
I generally agree with DCTooTall and CdnGal regarding the value of VIP. There are, however, two benefits that come with it that we have really enjoyed and have been able to take advantage of on a number of occasions. The first is that with VIP you get an automatic 25% discount on reservations made within 60 days of check-in. I will often times make reservations well in advance just to ensure that we have a room. Then, when the 60 day window arrives, I will begin checking availability. If the same size room is available, I will reserve it with the 25% discount, then cancel the earlier reservation. If there are no units available during the 60 day window, then I still have my earlier reservation.

The second VIP benefit that we have enjoyed is the ability to upgrade to the next larger unit within 30 days of check-in, subject to availability, of course. That means that you can get a larger unit for the points applicable to the smaller unit. I have been able to get 2BR units for the price of a 1BR unit many times, and on one occasion, was able to upgrade a 1BR to a 3BR unit. When you couple this with the 25% discount within the 60 day window, these two benefits can really stretch the value of your points.

Having said all that, I'm still not certain that the benefits of VIP come anywhere close to offsetting the much higher cost of buying Wyndham retail rather than from a 3rd party (such as eBay, for example). If you're careful in selecting a property with very low maintenance fees, and buying 3rd party at a small fraction of the cost of buying retail from Wyndham, you can buy enough points such that the discount and upgrade benefits don't really matter to you.

The one thing that can push the VIP benefits across the finish line ahead of the other option is if it makes the wife happy. If the wife is happy, everybody's happy. Trust me on that.
 
I was wondering if anyone knows about handicapped accessible rooms here at BC? I'm interested int trying out a 1 bedroom with a roll-in shower and I wasn't sure if BC had roll-in showers.
Bonnet Creek does have accessible rooms. I was assigned to one once, but they moved me elsewhere because I didn't need it.
 
Is anyone here an actual owner? We're thinking of buying (resale of course) but want to get some first hand accounts of what it's really like to own and if we're better off owning or renting.

Oh, and we did the sales pitch thing yesterday for our $100 AmEx card. Never again! Though I don't regret doing it, it really wasn't a pleasant experience and once is enough! :sad2:

My parents are owners and we will be some time in the future as it makes sense to me on how we schedule my vacations. That said, one thing I constantly hear from owners is you are in NO hurry to buy. Once you do buy, your deeded for life. Unlike DVC where the points have an expiration, MF (maintenance fees) never stop. It is always easier to buy than to sell. I agree with the owners out there google TUG and Wyndham Owner forums. There is a TON of info out there. Take your time. When you are ready to buy.. you are looking at about $700-$3000 sometimes higher for about 1B-3B buy in (depending on the points you want and when you want). You will find that Bonnet Creek tends to go for about total $1100 or higher with the closing cost and resort transfer fees.

Personally, for me I know exactly what I want and when I want my points to start. For me, my vacation year starts in June and the goes to the following May. So a contract for me makes sense to start in April. The bidding for vacations are done in February. And now that I know how the banking points works (thanks Carlbaby!) I'm just waiting. :thumbsup2
 
Hi everyone. Going for our second stay. First time was in a 2 bedroom. We may have the option to get a 3 bedroom for the same money. Is everything the same in the 2 bedroom as the 3 but you just get the extra room or does having the 3rd bedroom make the rooms smaller (like take away space in the livingroom, kitchen etc.) I am a horrible sleeper and never sleep well in disney. I live the idea of being able to escape to another room if my DH is driving me crazy.

Also, does anyone know where the locations of the 3 bedrooms are?

Any additional info would be great!
 
We stayed for three nights. We rented from an owner for an incredible price, I won't say how incredible - but, will say I could NOT have stayed at a Motel 6 for the price I paid! She upgraded us from a 1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom. I made my room request 2 weeks prior. I was granted my room request - the main building. It only has 4 floors and it's hard to get this request. We were on 4th floor -end unit facing the pool.
They don't have bed rails but my 3 yr old did fine sleeping in the 2nd bedroom, which had two full beds. His room has a TV, closet, dresser drawers, nightstand - plenty of room; and was beside the 2nd bathroom.
The master bedroom had a king, TV, dresser and was adjoined by 2 room master bathroom w/ jacuzzi and walk in shower, two vanities, closet.
Kitchen was granite and stainless and had everything we needed.
Living room was leather and nicely appointed.
Dining room was large table w/ 6 - 8 chairs - kinda tight.
Noice was a factor. The first night we checked in late (11PM) - all very tired. We kept hearing music - we thought it must be a bar nearby and would stop ~ 2 or 3AM. NOPE - all night long we heard it. I figured out next AM it was the pool music! ON ALL NIGHT!! I spoke to the front desk and they said it should be turned off by 10 PM. Next night - same thing - so i called and they shut off. Yup, 3rd night same thing!!! UUGGHH -ok ppl this is an easy fix - put it on a timer?!?!? but, this time they DID NOT turn it OFF! GRRRR, so finally my husband goes down to front desk at 11:30. They said pools open until midnight - we turn off then - ok, fine. IF that is the rule - then so be it. BUT, guess what - still on 4 AM!! so, now i am pretty mad - they finally turn it off.
I discuss this w/ manager the next day at check out - he promises to look into and get back to me.... well, it's been a week and I haven't heard from him - which, honestly, I didn't expect to - but, what service is that?
We could also hear the ppl in the room next to us ea. AM - just talking, they weren't loud. They really skimped on the wall insulation - just silly when you think about the cost associated with that and how that affects ppls stay and SLEEP!?!
We didn't get hounded by timeshare ppl - they called once and I basically said I would never buy into it due to our problems - no more calls.
The pool areas are beautiful. The lake and boardwalk are great. My son got to participate in an actiivity - the blow up boucning thing. I had a sundae for $2. Great location to the parks and DTD.
Would we go again - you bet. For the rate i paid i would just make sure I requested a diff building w/ a high floor and hope they put my away from other ppl. we usually go during slow periods so shouldn't be a problem. I would NOT pay $$$ for the room though - not with the noise pollution.
The other item that was kinda dissappointing was that they were painting and doing remodeling on our floor - so we had a lot of foot traffic and smelly paint to deal with.
We saw the shuttle buses - seem to run regularly. We only did MVMCP one night so we didn't use shuttles.
Gated property - makes you feel safer somewhat.
Consierge to help you plan park visits.
Gift shop, snack shop/restaurants (2).
We used full WD in the room - this place is very spacious. Great balcony too.
 
What's up with you PManko, you not like a little rock-n-roll music? Seriously though, for me there's is nothing worse than having your sleep disturbed.

I'll let you know in a few weeks how our stay goes.

Cops lied.
 
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