There are 900 replies on 46 pages in this discussion so far, and I'm only about half way through. From what I have gathered so far, the issue could be the following:
1. Accounting issue in Wyndham. Maybe duplicate reservations that add up to more points then the member can have when you factor in points from the credit pool. Or some other bug in their system.
2. Stripped contracts (did not know this was possible.)
3. Someone has found a way to exploit a flaw in Wyndham point tracking system and the rest of the VIPs with large contracts are paying for it.
4. Wyndham is trying to make things more difficult for mega renters that they think are cheating the system. In other words, there could be nothing wrong. It's just a power play to show they can make things difficult on people who try to use the Wyndham timeshare program for profit.
5. Some other factor that I have not read about yet, because I have not gotten through all the replies.
I know there is a lot of complaints about VIPs using the cancel and rebooking method for their reservations to get the discount. The sales guys try to pitch that idea to me as well, when telling me about the benefits of becoming a VIP. I know some will book multiple rooms in case they lose one durning the cancel rebook process, which ties up inventory. One could argue that when they release the unneeded units, it opens up rooms for people to book that wouldn't normally be able to, because they couldn't book 13 months out. It could give them a shot at getting that Christmas week at bonnet. Some could also say that Wyndham is losing money because of mega renters. Their inventory is competing with the inventory Wyndham advertises on places like hotels.com, which charges over $400 a night for a one bedroom in Bonnet over Christmas week. You can get the same rental on eBay for a lot cheaper. However, I would disagree with that argument. If a mega renter puts heads in beds, they are essentially handing Wyndham a lead on a silver platter. Wyndham didn't pay to advertise that room. They did not have to do anything to put someone in that room, that they can pitch a sales presentation to. They got free advertising, and a free lead, and the mega renters are paying MF fees to boot. If the sales guy closes the deal, that also adds to Wyndham bottom line. Mega renting does not cause Wyndham to lose money,. That cheap room on eBay got someone there, that wasn't going to pay $2,800 a week for that one bedroom. Customer acquisition is not cheap. When someone is doing it for you, and paying you money to be able to do it (MF fees, GC, etc), it benefits the bottom line.
With that said, if Wyndham really did have a problem with the mega renters tying up inventory, there are ways to fix that, and still give VIP owners the ability to make a profit. If they gave VIP's that discount from the first booking (13 months out), they would not need to book more then one room. You also wouldn't have the issue of cancel and rebooking adding points that they should not have because the software is flawed. I personally think that if you spent $200k plus dollars to become a VIP, you deserve that discount. They should have the ability to make some of their money back. Lord knows, we cannot do that on the resale market. If they gave me that 50% on every reservation, no matter how far out, I'd pay to become platinum. I MIGHT even pay a little more for it. Keyword is ""might". In addition to that change, I would also like it, if they give regular owners a discount, if they make a new reservation 30-60 days out, BUT they cannot use the cancel or rebook option. The new reservation has to be new, or for a different room type (a 2 bedroom can be reduced to a 1 bedroom for the discount, but you cannot rebook that two bedroom for the discount). I do know it's possible that if someone only wants a one bedroom, that they can book a 2 bedroom, and then cancel and book the one bedroom which would tie up two bedroom inventory. However, if they go that route, they better hope that there are one bedrooms available, or they are stuck with paying full price for more then what they need. I know that my suggestions are not likely anything they would go for, but I thought I'd throw it out there.
Just my two Canadian pennies.
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