The average Wyndham owner has something like 250000 points I don't think the VIP sales are are a big part of the Average Wyndham salesmans income. In fact the typical VIP owner doesn't get there all at once. They reach that level in several smaller sales. The point is that there are relatively few million point sales and that most sales are for less than 300000 points And the salesmen really don't need cancel and rebook to make sales. they will sell VIP to the status seekers
Two contrarian points to your statements which I am not sure I understand. First worldmark does not do as well as Wyndham in sales according to the few sales reps I have spoken with. I would not compare the bulky Wyndham product to worldmark in a different tier. Second you didn't offer what would be Wyndham's pitch to VIP upgrade sales if they took away point discounts. VIP is their poster. They tell every owner 'this is where you want to be'. It is the fully loaded lexus, though most buy the lower model - it is the one that catches every eye and for which they base all comparisons to. I do not think anyone cares enough about status to spend 100k with a timeshare company and without the VIP point discounts they have nothing of value in VIP and I simply do not see another upside. Look - no one strives to be a million miler just for the cool colored card. They want the ability to get on the plane first, get discount booking points and free upgrades. Sound familiar? Heck I would just rent the points AND it would send aftermarket points prices WAY UP as the only downside is no VIP. Who would ever again buy developer points?
Ron you're a great guy and I might agree with your inclination that Wyndham could void themselves of the c/b issue if someone could point out to me a benefit that would be used as the replacement lead selling point to upgrades. To state that people will spend hundreds of thousands for 'status' is wrong and there is absolutely no proof of this in any other model. In every VIP instance, there are significant benefits that can be applied to the value. That might well apply to reserve where the units are better but in EVERY sales pitch I have been to, every video, every update VIP and discounts has been the leading push. All those 250,000 contracts are simply the price of admission on the way to a life time of upgrade pitches about how much better life is as a vip with point discounts.
Also, let us all not forget the impact of removing or changing the VIP program rules. Wyndham has the ability to change anything in VIP at any time with no remuneration. This we can agree on but I also hope that we can agree that for every action comes an equal and opposite reaction. So Wyndham has to calculate that cost against the other. Do they lose mega renters? Do they lose potential sales to new owners from said mega renters who send in fresh meat? Can they quickly resale 1 billion points if they make the market untenable for businesses? Are those points held in names or llc's (Wyndham allowed this several years back. I know mine are how many others are? Are they paid for free and clear? Who's going to replace the MF on 1 billion or more points?
Many have stated that Wyndham will just expand into the rental market while I agree, I think they want both. Wyndham wants 100% occupancy at every resort all the time. It is the mechanism which feeds leads into the sales system. What they don't want is the overhead attached to that. Mega-Owners in the rental market are providing Wyndham a very valuable service - putting sales leads in the system while also paying MF on their product. IF Wyndham takes this over they may well see an increase in revenue - but an increase in their inventory on their rental channels might also churn prices in those segments. As a corporation they will not engage the Ebay/craigslist/homeaway market as individual sellers do (tell me who is and why they would take on that liability).
Since I have been an owner people have complained about CB - honestly since before I was an owner from my days reading here. CB wasn't removed when folks first started complaining about it and the volume isn't any louder today than it was 4 years ago or longer. The new reservation system that was going to 'put an end to CB' has come and gone and come in many fashions but they larger premise has been to better track points.
Without the 'total overhaul' (which is rumored to have been a failure) they have implemented many changes on the booking system. They have changed the return of points to contracts as opposed to cancelled points. They have been able to alter the return of cancelled units to the system. They have been able to alter inventory and options on a per user basis. They have been able to collect meta-data on owner bookings to feed the aforementioned algorithms.
Wyndham according to the stock price and latest update is doing just fine. There are lots of complaints in their world but I hear nothing about CB being one they want to get into and while it might seem like a simple fix to many - it has serious consequences I cannot imaging Wyndham will ever move into. Ultimately it will come to this for any major corporation - is the risk worth the reward. This would be a VERY risky venture and Wyndham has always played the risk averse angle.
Think about this -- does Delta airlines care that paying passengers are pissed off that they can't get free upgrades, or flight availability because VIP travelers took up inventory with free miles or got to pick the best seats at no additional cost? No they don't but you can bet your bottom dollar that Delta customers get pissed about it. I listened to a guy at the airport waylay a check-in associate about luggage fees after watching two people skip the line of 70 people, to drop off three bags each at no charge after he waiting an hour to pay $200 for his bags. What we are witnessing here is just the cost of doing business.IMHO
If they change it I am gone. It will make my resale worth more since no one will care about VIP status any longer and resales will be the way of the future. I will become a full time customer to many of my friends on here and rent through ebay at already discounted pricing as a result of inventory movements. Everyone likes their timeshare for different reasons. I like mine because I get discounts with 2 million points I give them away to folks to use and bank the rest. I'm not a mega renter, though I have rented.