Vacation Strategy- now a membership only company?

[zilp]

Just got his email regarding VS becoming a members only vacation club. Here are some highlights:

We are giving all of our past customers the first chance to try out our exclusive, members only vacation club.

Our membership will be limited in openings. It will enhance your vacations and our customer service above what you have already experienced.

It will offer a host of new benefits to our members including 50% off every 4th vacation you take with us. Just that is a big deal. 50% off a Hawaii vacation is something to take seriously. We will also offer vacations at cost on our NEW members only website. You'll be able to pay for your vacations without opening your wallet with our new referral program. There are a host of other benefits to the membership including free room upgrades, waitlist services, and prime reserved inventory.

We fully expect to close down our rentals to everyone except our club members as soon as we reach capacity. At that point, spots will only open up if members sell or cancel their memberships.

Apparently there will be a fee to join the club. I am not sure what the pros/cons of this are. Any thoughts? How will this affect other renters (eg Ken Price, ebay, Redweek)?

 

[BarryS]

I got this email as well. I figure I'll try the first year since it's free, but I'm not sure what the charge will be to continue using it, and whether the service will be worthwhile.

It is interesting that they've chosen to go this route. I think some people will not want to be tied into the club and will just use other renters. Maybe they are thinking that their club members will spend more in the long run?

 

[infopurposesonly]

I'm not likely to use them for anything other than our yearly Disney vacation, so it wouldn't make sense for me to pay for a membership. For other destinations we stay in hotels or rent houses. I can't see why anyone would pay a fee for a membership if they're just going to Wyndham Bonnet Creek. There are too many other ways to rent.

 

[BarryS]

For other destinations we stay in hotels or rent houses. I can't see why anyone would pay a fee for a membership if they're just going to Wyndham Bonnet Creek. There are too many other ways to rent.

Exactly. I feel like most people on these boards will fall into that category. The only reason they ever stayed at a Wyndham timeshare is because they found out about the great deals to be had at WBC.

There might be some who rented through vacation strategy or ken price and discovered other Wyndham resorts in places they wanted to go. For me, there are a few Wyndham timeshares within a day's drive of home. I might look to see if any of them are interesting enough for a long weekend or something, but like you I usually stay at hotels.

 

[fireflyer]

The author didn't sound like someone with good business acumen. I'd pass.

 

[Upatnoon]

Just got his email regarding VS becoming a members only vacation club. Here are some highlights:

We are giving all of our past customers the first chance to try out our exclusive, members only vacation club.

Our membership will be limited in openings. It will enhance your vacations and our customer service above what you have already experienced.

It will offer a host of new benefits to our members including 50% off every 4th vacation you take with us. Just that is a big deal. 50% off a Hawaii vacation is something to take seriously. We will also offer vacations at cost on our NEW members only website. You'll be able to pay for your vacations without opening your wallet with our new referral program. There are a host of other benefits to the membership including free room upgrades, waitlist services, and prime reserved inventory.

We fully expect to close down our rentals to everyone except our club members as soon as we reach capacity. At that point, spots will only open up if members sell or cancel their memberships.

Apparently there will be a fee to join the club. I am not sure what the pros/cons of this are. Any thoughts? How will this affect other renters (eg Ken Price, ebay, Redweek)?

I think they've been trying this for a while. I think I read something about it on Tug a year ago.

I'm sure they'd love this to work for many reasons, but I'm not interested

 

[Jarmo]

Well I signed up for the free one year membership since it didn't ask for any credit card information, but I'm not really clear what the benefit of the membership will be as far as room prices.

I saw elsewhere on the site that the membership price will be $197 a year. That wouldn't make a lot of sense for our yearly trip unless the rooms were significantly cheaper

 

[Upatnoon]

Well I signed up for the free one year membership since it didn't ask for any credit card information, but I'm not really clear what the benefit of the membership will be as far as room prices.

I saw elsewhere on the site that the membership price will be $197 a year. That wouldn't make a lot of sense for our yearly trip unless the rooms were significantly cheaper

One of the big benefits of this club for Vacation Strategy would be a group of customers that they know actually rents and not just "kicks the tires" or people who play the "book and cancel" game.

Whether they can get enough club members to go membership-only is unlikely I think without some kind of savings.

 

[BarryS]

Well I signed up for the free one year membership since it didn't ask for any credit card information, but I'm not really clear what the benefit of the membership will be as far as room prices.

I saw elsewhere on the site that the membership price will be $197 a year. That wouldn't make a lot of sense for our yearly trip unless the rooms were significantly cheaper

I signed up as well. This is from their FAQ page:
"Pricing is based on what the owner pays in maintenance fees for that reservation. Wyndham is on a point system so we take the total number of points the reservation will take and multiply it by the average maintenance rate then add 100 dollars to cover the guest confirmation fee charged by Wyndham."

It sounds like they are taking their profit margin out of the reservation rental process and hoping to make up for it with the membership fees.

 

[Upatnoon]

I signed up as well. This is from their FAQ page:
"Pricing is based on what the owner pays in maintenance fees for that reservation. Wyndham is on a point system so we take the total number of points the reservation will take and multiply it by the average maintenance rate then add 100 dollars to cover the guest confirmation fee charged by Wyndham."

It sounds like they are taking their profit margin out of the reservation rental process and hoping to make up for it with the membership fees.

You can often find rentals for less than maintenance fees, which is why I don't own a timeshare, even though you can get them for free or very little.

For example, a 2BR at bonnet creek in high season is 189K points. The maintenance fees are around $5 per 1,000, so you are paying $1045 for a week not including your membership fee. This isn't a terrible deal, but you can often do better if you shop around.

If you have to pay a "membership fee" on top of that, the deal would pretty much evaporate.


Now, if this club gave you access to VIP-level point discounts, my view could change. These deals are available only to people who bought through Wyndham.

 

[abinormal]

I'm a little confused. This doesn't affect people who are already booked, does it?

 

[Upatnoon]

I'm a little confused. This doesn't affect people who are already booked, does it?

No, its a new-ish product they are trying to launch.

 

[BarryS]

I got a phone call from them a few days ago. I mentioned that I didn't see the benefit to me of the club versus just renting from them like I have in the past.

First, they told me that when they reach a certain number of club members, they will only rent to their club members.

They listed a few benefits for members:
1) 50% off every 4th vacation (they used Hawaii as their example)
2) Credit for referring new club members (I guess this is a limited time thing until they reach capacity on club members...)
3) Access to "hot deals" which seem to be last minute bookings at reduced rates

Then he told me that at the end of my trial membership, if I want to continue I'd have to buy into the club. The buy in was over $3,000 one time fee, plus $97 annual membership renewal fee. If I am an "early adopter" I could buy in now for $1000 with a $47 annual renewal fee. I assume if I later cancelled my membership, I'd lose whatever buy in fee I had paid (I didn't ask about this).

I don't see myself paying to join their club and being locked into using them. We just don't stay in timeshare style accommodations often enough to justify it, even if it turned out to be a great bargain (which I'm not convinced it is).