A few specific questions about Worldmark

[BevL]

Hello there. I haven't posted on TUG for AGES!!

Essentially, I disposed of my timeshares about three years ago now. Hubby's health had deteriorated and a broken hip in 2014 kept us very close to home until last spring. We ended up in Palm Springs for a week this spring using RCI credits that I still have from combining and extending.

We exchanged into the Lawrence Welk resort in greater Palm Springs for next year. If that works out I'm thinking about dipping my toe back in the water with some WM points for use in 2019 or 2020. Thinking about 20,000 will get us two weeks a year in Feb, March in Palm Springs, which will probably be how we use our points every year.

I really have two fairly specific questions. Number one, I was advised by a WM owner that accessible units - roll in shower etc. have to be booked from the get go. It's not a case of simply reserving at a resort, then putting in a request to be assigned an accessible unit, which is how we've dealt with that issue with RCI. Is that the case? And does anybody know how difficult or in demand they are?

Secondly, as mentioned, the extent of our travels will probably be Palm Springs for two weeks a year. We are limited to the Indio or Cathedral City as I think the other resort(s) there do not have accessible units. We would be looking for mid to late February into early March. Would that be considered a difficult reservation 13 months out? Being a reasonably experienced TS owner, I understand the importance of planning early.

I'm slightly aware of the concept of "throwaway days" and so forth but I'm really just interested in availability where we want to go when we want to go.

As always thanks so much for any help.

 

[rhonda]

Yes, HA units are a separate booking category and are treated as specific inventory. That way they are 'guaranteed' (more or less) rather than by 'request.' From casual observation, over years of booking, I'd say booking an HA unit is no harder than booking 'most' other reservations. I often see HA units available in different size units as I'm skimming for last minute reservations and I image that for "hard to get" reservations (holiday periods) that HA units book just a quickly as standard configurations. That said, I only book ~1 reservation each year for Palm Desert ... it may be that the locations I book more frequently don't have demand patterns matching Palm Desert?

WM Indio is huge. You'll likely find inventory there at 13 months out. There are four WM locations across Palm Desert.
* WM Palm Springs has HA layouts of the 1BR and 2BR units. There are no HA layouts for the Studio or 3BR.
* WM Palm Springs - Plaza Resort has no HA layouts.
* WM Indio offers HA for Studio, 1BR, 2BR Twin, 2BR Queen, 3BR, 3BR Penthouse, 3BR Presidential and 4BR Presidential.
* WM Cathedral City offers HA 1BR but not Studio.

 

[bizaro86]

The original WM palm spring's also has special needs units. The only consecutive special needs availability for feb/March 2018 is Feb 1-5 in a 2 bedroom special needs at Indio currently.

I would say that generally the special needs units book up slightly later than the other units, but there arent many per resort so it depends when/where.

I would think a 1 bedroom special needs wouldn't necessarily be a 13 month reservation for those time frames, especially if you were flexible on resort/exact days.

Throw away days are no longer possible due to a change to the rules around group reservations. I wouldn't worry about it anyway, as I suspect your usage would be easy at 13 months.

 

[ecwinch]

One of the advantages of WM is the ability to rent in credits, so you probably want to be looking at a 10k acct - giving you the ability to rent in up to 20k credits per year. During that timeframe a 1 BR is 18k for 2 weeks, and a 2 BR is 22k.

I doubt you will have a problem booking 13 months out with the exception of the festival periods.

 

[BevL]

Excellent!! That didn't take long. I've considered buying a 10K account but my non risk taking personality might be more comfortable in being able to secure our lodging right at the front end of the booking window. And the reason I am thinking Worldmark is the flexibility, it seems that they are not that hard to rent out if we couldn't use them for a year. Sounds like it will be the perfect fit, although I'm sure I'll have more questions as we go.

I've missed being here and I'm looking forward to having "some skin in the (timesharing) game" again. Thanks all.

 

[BevL]

Just a few other questions and comments.

First question. I know that MF for WM are tiered. But I can't quite wrap my head around whether MF are charged so much per credit owned or just a flat amount.

Example. I found a MF chart that shows that fees for 7.5K to 10K account is 752.43. But it also shows a line that says Monthly Impact is $3.13. So does that factor in so that a 10K account does in fact pay more than a 7.5 account?

If in fact a 7.5K pays the same as 10K, why would anybody buy an 8K account? I keep thinking I must be missing something.

Second question. I know that WM fees are billed quarterly. If I have an anniversary date of, say July, am I paying in advance or behind when I pay my July 1st quarterly payment? I'm just wondering because some auctions seem to request reimbursement of maintenance fees, some don't.

And in case Ron Parise reads this, I just want to thank you for your post on the math of buying a fully loaded account. Very helpful and has encouraged me to look at more than just the bottom line auction price.

Thanks very much in advance.

 

[geist1223]

WM MF's are the flat amount per 2,500 tier. Actually it works out that the more Points you own the less you pay in MF's per Point. If I remember correctly the monthly impact is a statement on how much that Year's increase will affect you on a monthly basis. It is possible - and we do it - to have your MF's debuted to a credit card on a monthly basis. Why buy an 8K Account when the MF's are the same as a 10K account - because a person can not afford to pay up front for those additional 2K Points.

 

[geist1223]

If you are serious about obtaining WM Points I suggest you checkout www.wmowners.com. This is an owners forum by owners for owners and not associated with Wyndham or Worldmark the Club. There is no fee to join. Lots of owners willing to help owners. Sometimes we get in verbal tussles, but don't let that put you off.

Special Need Units are a separate reservation category. Not all Special Need Units have roll-in-roll-out showers. The counter tops are lower. Many sinks will allow wheel chairs. The clothes washers and dryer units are not stacked. The furniture many times is closer to the floor. You do not have to demonstrate a Special Need to Reserve one.

 

[BevL]

If you are serious about obtaining WM Points I suggest you checkout www.wmowners.com. This is an owners forum by owners for owners and not associated with Wyndham or Worldmark the Club. There is no fee to join. Lots of owners willing to help owners. Sometimes we get in verbal tussles, but don't let that put you off.

Special Need Units are a separate reservation category. Not all Special Need Units have roll-in-roll-out showers. The counter tops are lower. Many sinks will allow wheel chairs. The clothes washers and dryer units are not stacked. The furniture many times is closer to the floor. You do not have to demonstrate a Special Need to Reserve one.

Thanks much. I've been lurking at the WM forums as well.

I really like the write-ups on the individual resort pages about the unit descriptions. They give a pretty good description of the special needs units, which is unusual for any sort of temporary accommodation, timeshare or hotel.

 

[rhonda]

Second question. I know that WM fees are billed quarterly. If I have an anniversary date of, say July, am I paying in advance or behind when I pay my July 1st quarterly payment? I'm just wondering because some auctions seem to request reimbursement of maintenance fees, some don't.

MF payment is behind not in advance. Illustrated:

• You purchase a brand new 10k account from the Developer today with an Oct anniversary. On day 1 you receive full 10k. You get to book reservations and burn credits immediately, if you wish.
• The MF bills break the annual dues into either monthly (TravelShare) or quarterly (regular WM) payments ... but these come after you've had access to the credits. It will take you the full year to pay the dues on the points you received on purchase.
• Next year, your account receives 10k annual credits and the process starts all over again.

That said, auctions that ask for repayment of MF do so "because they can" not necessarily because it makes sense.

Note: Regular (including resale) Worldmark accounts are invoiced quarterly for MF. TravelShare (retail, developer) are invoiced monthly.

 

[BevL]

Thanks much. Now for the hard part - patiently waiting for the right deal.

 

[CO skier]

MF payment is behind not in advance. Illustrated:

• You purchase a brand new 10k account from the Developer today with an Oct anniversary. On day 1 you receive full 10k. You get to book reservations and burn credits immediately, if you wish.

If the credits can be used immediately, isn't that paying in advance; i.e. you do not have to pay mf for 12 months before using the first year's worth of credits? The first year's credits were part of the purchase price. The next twelve months of payments pay for the following year's credits, etc.

 

[VacationForever]

Thanks much. Now for the hard part - patiently waiting for the right deal.

You missed a great deal. I just sold mine (under contract), super cheap, fully loaded, with January anniversary... essentially getting 3 years of points (10K pts contract) comes January. I did not collect back MF payments. I had 6 offers to buy within a week of listing. Most of the offers came from wmowners site. I suggest you go shopping over there...

 

[rhonda]

If the credits can be used immediately, isn't that paying in advance; i.e. you do not have to pay mf for 12 months before using the first year's worth of credits? The first year's credits were part of the purchase price. The next twelve months of payments pay for the following year's credits, etc.

Unlike buying a "loaded" resale account with 100% of last years credits + 100% of the current year's credits ... I never viewed the brand-new developer account as "the first year's credits were part of the purchase price." I simply never saw it that way. I s'pose one could see it that way?

When I ran my interpretation, many years ago, past Dave Herrick and the accounting staff, they agreed, "MF follows credits." But really, isn't a matter of interpretation? MF is continuous loop ... getting a fresh set of credits is a similar loop ... so which came first? As Chicken:Egg, Credits:MF?

 

[CO skier]

Unlike buying a "loaded" resale account with 100% of last years credits + 100% of the current year's credits ... I never viewed the brand-new developer account as "the first year's credits were part of the purchase price." I simply never saw it that way. I s'pose one could see it that way?

When I ran my interpretation, many years ago, past Dave Herrick and the accounting staff, they agreed, "MF follows credits." But really, isn't a matter of interpretation? MF is continuous loop ... getting a fresh set of credits is a similar loop ... so which came first? As Chicken:Egg, Credits:MF?

You are absolutely correct when it comes to valuing resale accounts. The buyer must decide whether to value the account based on paying mf forward (the egg) or in arrears (the chicken).

But at day 1, when the account is first sold, maintenance fees are paid in advance and will remain so for as long as that original owner owns that account.

 

[izzymail]

You missed a great deal. I just sold mine (under contract), super cheap, fully loaded, with January anniversary... essentially getting 3 years of points (10K pts contract) comes January. I did not collect back MF payments. I had 6 offers to buy within a week of listing. Most of the offers came from wmowners site. I suggest you go shopping over there...

I saw that deal! It was a really good one... Slightly better than the one I am in the process of purchasing from the WMOwners page. I also asked the seller to book a couple of reservations for us before starting the transfer process (since it can take so long) and they happily did. Allegedly the reservations will "survive" the transfer. I'm excited to take my first trip!

 

[VacationForever]

I saw that deal! It was a really good one... Slightly better than the one I am in the process of purchasing from the WMOwners page. I also asked the seller to book a couple of reservations for us before starting the transfer process (since it can take so long) and they happily did. Allegedly the reservations will "survive" the transfer. I'm excited to take my first trip!

Yes, reservations do survive the transfer.