What to do? Bonnet Creek

[latexscooter]

Earlier this year we bought a weeks worth of points from Wyndham with the plans to use them for our family vacation during the summer. Well, quite unexpectedly I had to have surgery which resulted in us moving things out. I called up Wyndham and they were wonderful and told me I could pick any location time but I had to use my purchased points by the end of Feb. 2013. So we booked a vacation for FEb. 2 to 9 and have been looking forward to it. Cut to Sept. of this year and I get a job offer in Houston and took it. Since then my family has been living in San Antonio (215 miles away) while we sell our house and I come home every weekend.

Well, we were fortunate enough to experience a Christmas miracle and we finally are under contract. But the catch is they want to close and we have to be out by Feb. 8. So, needless to say we won't be using our Wyndham points. It's a shame to just not use the points so I was trying to think of ways to make them not go to wast. Does anyone have any suggestions or knowledge on how to donate the weeks stay and if its even plausible considering the date is just a hair over a month away?

 

[softballmom3]

Would you be able to resell them somewhere like ebay? I don't know much about stuff like this but if you could transfer your points to someone able to vacation then, that may be an option. Hope it all works out for you!

 

[Southernswthrt]

I would be surprised if someone wouldn't want to rent from you for that week! That way you can get some money for it! I rent at Bonnet creek from an owner. Good luck.

 

[latexscooter]

I didn't realize I could rent my points to others but I guess it's no different than donating.

Thanks for the info and Ill explore further.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[upstateNYdad]

I am looking to go around that time. Normally, we rent through RCI, but I have not booked yet. If interested, reply and I will give you my email address.
Thanks

 

[JimMIA]

You can donate an existing reservation to a charity, but in most cases, you will not get a tax deduction for doing so.

I know that Give Kids The World -- a wonderful charity in Orlando, strongly supported by the DIS -- accepts donations of reservations. (Not points, they have no way to use points.) They can't use the ressies for their kids, because all of their kids need medical care, but they use them as rewards for their volunteers who donate hundreds of hours each year to the kids.

[ETA: if you donate, the user of the reservation will need a Guest Confirmation. If you don't have one in your account, I think Wyndham will waive that requirement if you call them and explain the situation to them. Don't leave that to chance, however, because if they see someone else using the reservation and no Guest Confirmation 15 days out, they will cancel the reservation and the points are forfeited.

You will also need a Guest Confirmation if you rent the reservation. In that case, I am sure they would not waive the requirement.

Guest Confirmations cost $99 if you purchase them online; $129 if you do it by phone.]

Although you don't normally get a tax deduction unless you donate your entire timeshare holding to a charity, your particular situation might meet that test. If you bought a one-time-use Wyndham Discovery contract and the ressie consumed all your points, you might be able to deduct the donation because you are gifting the entire contract. You would have to check with a tax professional (which I am not) on that.

 

[JimMIA]

I called up Wyndham and they were wonderful and told me I could pick any location time but I had to use my purchased points by the end of Feb. 2013.

If you purchased one of the one-time-use packages, Wyndham might extend the expiration a few months for you. The objective of those packages is to lure you into a stay at one of their resorts so they can sell you a full membership. And there is no place they'd rather lure you to than Bonnet Creek!

So there is an incentive to Wyndham in having you actually use those points. When you talk to them, emphasize that you were really looking forward to the exploratory visit because you are really interested in purchasing.

(But whatever you do, DO NOT actually purchase directly from Wyndham. You can buy Wyndham contracts on eBay for $1...seriously.)

If you bought a regular annual or biannual contract (doesn't sound like it), you can deposit your points into RCI prior to the expiration of your Use Year. That will give you the use of the points through RCI for two years from deposit.

You will need a Wyndham/RCI account, which is seperate from your Wyndham account and is not set up automatically. You have to get Wyndham to set it up for you, and that process takes several weeks.