Wyndham Timeshare??

[princesspwrhr]

Our timeshare is on weeks still, not points, they tried to get us to convert when we stayed at Bonnet Creek 2 years ago, and last summer in New Orleans at Avenue Plaza. It didn't make $$ sense, and in N.O., my husband wasn't with me so they couldn't do their high pressure gig.

We are finding that it is harder and harder to find places we want to go to with the trading we have. A good bit of that is because we are a family of 5 who usually travels as a family of 6, so we have to have 2 bedrooms (which is what we bought, a 2 bedroom week each year), but the "value" of our trade versus the "cost" of trades where we want to go means we have to bank & combine at least 2 years to get something usually. Or there isn't anything where we want- nearest timeshare trade to the Grand Canyon is an hour away. Not horrible, but for roughly the same cost (2+ years maintenance, combination fee, and trade fee) we could stay closer, or in park. Sometimes there just isn't anything that fits our family- Especially when looking outside of the US.

So I would advise buying resale, and buying somewhere you actually want to vacation at every year, because the value as a trade in isn't as great as the salespeople make it out to be.

 

[jlp879]

A person can have a RCI membership without currently owning a timeshare but you have to been the owner of one to actually get an RCI membership. That said, with a RCI membership, a person can buy extra vacation weeks with their Last Call and Extra Vacation specials. If you have a friend or family member who is an RCI member, you can buy these extra vacations from them.

And even if you are not an RCI member, RCI has some offshoot companies where they sell vacation weeks to the general public. The prices are a little bit higher, but still one can find some good deals. Check out http://www.endless-vacation-rentals.com/ or http://www.skyauction.com/travel/ready-set. There are also $599 certficates one can buy for a week here, and use them when you like, http://www.resortcerts.com/view.

So all of the properites offered above are RCI timeshares, just being sold in other ways besides traditional exchanges.

 

[HeatherC]

When you can rent a week for less than the cost of the yearly maintenance, I don't see any benefit to owning. We have found this to be true every single time we have rented. With so many owners looking to rent their weeks, there are so many options all over the world to stay at without any commitment whatsoever.

If I could be guaranteed that the maintenance/yearly fees would never increase, I may think otherwise.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Wow a 7 yr old thread that was brought back to life.

 

[supersnoop]

Wow a 7 yr old thread that was brought back to life.

Yup, a spammer brought it back to life, but that post has since been deleted. Nobody else seemed to notice the date.

 

[staceyeileen]

When you can rent a week for less than the cost of the yearly maintenance, I don't see any benefit to owning. We have found this to be true every single time we have rented.

Were you renting at Bonnet Creek? I will just say that this is not the case at all of the resorts. On these boards, people are generally referring to Bonnet Creek. Yes, you can often rent BC for cheaper than the MF at BC. But you have to understand how the Wyndham system really works in order to make a true calculation.

1) First of all, I don't own my points at BC. I own them at different resorts and my overall MF comes out to be cheaper than they would be if I owned at BC. Of course, where you own your points is almost irrelevant in the Wyndham system when it comes to booking a reservation at BC.

2) There are a lot of nice resorts in the Wyndham system other than BC. Many of these are very difficult to get a reservation at for non-Wyndham owners, let alone with a price cheaper than the MF. BC is a huge resort that almost always has availability. This pushes the rental prices down. Not so everywhere.

With that being said, I also don't see any benefit to owning if you're going to purchase from Wyndham. I purchased my points resale, and that's the only thing that make the math work for me.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

We own at Wyndham Bonnet Creek. We bought last year 129,000 points for $150 (total of $500 with transfer fees) on ebay. Our annual dues are about $700 a year, but the amount of points we have buys us about a week somewhere and then a long weekend somewhere else (depending on the week we go). My parents have owned at a Wyndham in TN since the '90s and my Mom is really upset that we were able to buy a contract for $150 when they bought a 105,000 point contract for $13k.

Things to keep in mind:

• You can only make your bookings once a year for free. After that it's $30 to make any additional bookings or $59 (I believe, I know it's in the $50s) to book by phone. For example, we booked a week in Destin in January for October. That booking was free. In February, we decided we wanted to use the $30k points we had left over for 3 nights at Bonnet Creek in December. We had to pay $30 to make that reservation online. If we had done both of these together in January, it would've been free (although we would've still had to pay the $27 for additional housekeeping credits to book the second reservation).
• Technically, you can book at the resort you "own" at 13 months in advance. This can only be done by phone. The only reservations that can be done online are 10 month and sooner ones.
• Some resorts really push you when you're checking in to attend additional sales meetings. Some even make you go to a separate desk to get your "parking pass" to try to hard-sell you into signing up to go to their presentations. I'll never forget one that we stayed at in TN left messages on our phone daily and kept stopping by and knocking on the door and leaving notes to attend these presentations. As long as you say "no" and don't give additional info for them to try and rebuff, you'll get out quick. The woman beside us kept saying "No, we're on vacation. We don't have additional time." To which their spiel would turn into how they can work around their schedule. Just a simple "no" works like a charm. Some resorts barely even mention (or don't at all) these sales presentations.

We've loved all the resorts we've stayed at. Bonnet Creek is beautiful and all the ones in TN and Myrtle Beach have been nice. We're staying at the Majestic Sun in Destin for the first time in October and Sedona, AZ next year. It's a great program if it works for you, just don't pay retail price!!!

 

[staceyeileen]

• You can only make your bookings once a year for free. After that it's $30 to make any additional bookings or $59 (I believe, I know it's in the $50s) to book by phone. For example, we booked a week in Destin in January for October. That booking was free. In February, we decided we wanted to use the $30k points we had left over for 3 nights at Bonnet Creek in December. We had to pay $30 to make that reservation online. If we had done both of these together in January, it would've been free (although we would've still had to pay the $27 for additional housekeeping credits to book the second reservation).

You get 1 free reservation transaction per 77,000 points you own. If you owned 154,000, for example, your 2nd reservation in Feb would have been free as well. This is why it's a good idea to own points in multiples of 77,000. With the number of points I own , I get 3 reservation transactions per year.

 

[starry_solo]

I used to work for a timeshare management company and I will echo everyone else's thoughts. DON'T DO IT. If you feel you must buy a timeshare, BUY RESALE. But you can usually get really good deals renting without the hassle of yearly maintenance fees!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

You get 1 free reservation transaction per 77,000 points you own. If you owned 154,000, for example, your 2nd reservation in Feb would have been free as well. This is why it's a good idea to own points in multiples of 77,000. With the number of points I own , I get 3 reservation transactions per year.

That's true! My husband is always trying to get me to get more points because they're so cheap on Ebay. I don't think he realizes that means we actually have to pay more throughout the year for them .

 

[HeatherC]

Were you renting at Bonnet Creek? I will just say that this is not the case at all of the resorts. On these boards, people are generally referring to Bonnet Creek. Yes, you can often rent BC for cheaper than the MF at BC. But you have to understand how the Wyndham system really works in order to make a true calculation.

1) First of all, I don't own my points at BC. I own them at different resorts and my overall MF comes out to be cheaper than they would be if I owned at BC. Of course, where you own your points is almost irrelevant in the Wyndham system when it comes to booking a reservation at BC.

2) There are a lot of nice resorts in the Wyndham system other than BC. Many of these are very difficult to get a reservation at for non-Wyndham owners, let alone with a price cheaper than the MF. BC is a huge resort that almost always has availability. This pushes the rental prices down. Not so everywhere.

With that being said, I also don't see any benefit to owning if you're going to purchase from Wyndham. I purchased my points resale, and that's the only thing that make the math work for me.

We do rent at Bonnet Creek as well as many other locations. My point is that with sites like SkyAuction, govArm, GetTravelop, etc. you can literally rent a week for like $300. We have NEVER had trouble finding a place to book for less than what the maintenance fees would be.

I like the idea of owning, but the reality is that the rental market allows you to stay at the same resorts for less than the cost of owning...and you have no commitment.

 

[staceyeileen]

We do rent at Bonnet Creek as well as many other locations. My point is that with sites like SkyAuction, govArm, GetTravelop, etc. you can literally rent a week for like $300. We have NEVER had trouble finding a place to book for less than what the maintenance fees would be.

If you're primarily wanting to book in Orlando I think renting is a good idea. There are certain cities that are overrun with timeshare (Orlando, Vegas) so rentals are plentiful and cheap. I live in Orlando, so I have no use for timeshare in Orlando.

 

[Lady V]

I used to work for them and we had owners that had a 'no solicitation' added to their account. I don't know how they got it but literally NO ONE is allowed to ask them to attend anything or call them or anything. I would look into that and add it to your membership. I left that company because it was killing me watching the lies people were saying to the guests.

 

[kathy884]

Definitely check out TUG2.net (join the timeshare users group) before you buy a timeshare, as others have said. If you do buy, buy resale. This is just my personal opinion, of course, but these days with the internet, it's very easy to rent other people's timeshares for a very reasonable price, and cash is king. I rent timeshares frequently from TUG2.net classified ads section and Redweek.com, etc, (I've probably done about 15 rentals from timeshare owners). This gives you a great price and the advantage of staying in a lovely condo resort, without the commitment of ownership and maintenance fees. If you have lots of vacation time and know you would use your timeshare every year and most times at your home resort, it might be a good idea to buy. If, though, you will be doing trading a lot, those fees seem to go up every year. And if some years you might do a cruise, a hotel stay vacation, a camping trip, or a stay with a large group where you want a giant house vs. a condo (This is us. We only do two week long vacations a year and we mix things up a lot), just renting timeshare properties when you want to stay in one I think is the way to go. Also, with a timeshare you are locked into maintenance fees that continually go up. Some people are selling their timeshares on ebay for $1 just want to get out of having to pay the annual maintenance fees.

 

[kathy884]

Definitely check out TUG2.net (join the timeshare users group) before you buy a timeshare, as others have said. If you do buy, buy resale. This is just my personal opinion, of course, but these days with the internet, it's very easy to rent other people's timeshares for a very reasonable price, and cash is king. I rent timeshares frequently from TUG2.net classified ads section and Redweek.com, etc, (I've probably done about 15 rentals from timeshare owners). This gives you a great price and the advantage of staying in a lovely condo resort, without the commitment of ownership and maintenance fees. If you have lots of vacation time and know you would use your timeshare every year and most times at your home resort, it might be a good idea to buy. If, though, you will be doing trading a lot, those fees seem to go up every year. And if some years you might do a cruise, a hotel stay vacation, a camping trip, or a stay with a large group where you want a giant house vs. a condo (This is us. We only do two week long vacations a year and we mix things up a lot), just renting timeshare properties when you want to stay in one I think is the way to go. Also, with a timeshare you are locked into maintenance fees that continually go up. Some people are selling their timeshares on ebay for $1 just want to get out of having to pay the annual maintenance fees.

Oh and if you are looking at Orlando - It's very overbuilt and rentals are soooo easy to get for really good prices. No need at all to buy in Orlando in particular IMHO.

 

[MillauFr]

Oh and if you are looking at Orlando - It's very overbuilt and rentals are soooo easy to get for really good prices. No need at all to buy in Orlando in particular IMHO.

Agreed Orlando and Las Vegas are probably about the worst cities to buy a timeshare.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

We rent Wyndham timeshares for much less than what it would cost in maintenance fees. The trick is to rent from a VIP owner with tons and tons of points (these people advertise of eBay quite a bit). VIP owners can book a studio or 1 bed and get an upgrade, so you can get a great deal on a room. I can regularly book most Wyndham 2 bedroom units for $600/ week or so including Bonnet Creek if there is availability.

 

[AlexaDeParis]

I own Wyndham, resale, cost $300. Very good system and I will probably add some points in the future. The Wyndham forum on TUG is very informative.