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email just received - Important Updates to Your CLUB WYNDHAM Plus Program Guidelines

Lita

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Finally got an answer from Wyndham non-customer service. That is at the bottom of my reply to the non-customer service person. I copied my answer to the non-customer service person to Franz Hanning, Jan Wigington and John Monaweck. The one to Hanning was returned. If anyone knows the proper email I would appreciate the info. Here is the exchange regarding the guest pass change:


From: Lita Epstein <lita@litaepstein.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 4:34 PM
To: "Kochinsky, Shea Lyn" <Shea.Kochinsky@wyn.com>
Cc: <franz.hanning@wyn.com>, <jan.wigington@wyn.com>, <john.monaweck@wyn.com>
Subject: Re: Wyndham Vacation Ownership


This is BULL. You have made me a second-class Platinum member because I don’t have enough multiple owners on my membership.



You’ve changed the provisions of my contract and taken away a significant VIP membership benefit – the benefit for which I built my membership. I will now have to waste at least ½ of my guest passes for family vacations and possible as many as three per vacation per unit. One at the time of booking, one when we finally figure out which of my 35 family members will be able to make time given the dates I’ve booked and possibly a third when someone has to cancel at the last minute because of a last minute work or family commitment and I have to find a replacement.



If you truly have not intended to screw Platinum members who have fewer people on as owners, you should decide what is a standard Platinum membership. For example, suppose you decide that four is the most common number of owners on a Platinum membership. Those of us with less than four should get a designation, such as family vacation pass, that we can use to hold units without wasting a guest pass. So in my case, since it is me with one other co-owner, to even up the benefit I would get two family vacation designations.



Right now with the new rules on 48-hour guest pass requirements, I’m screwed. I have a family of about 35 people. I make plans for a family vacation often about 6 months in advance when I can get enough units in one location at one time. Then I send out notice to family members and see who is interested in coming. Sometimes no one can come, sometimes more than I have rooms for can come. With the new requirements, I have to waste guest passes just to hold the time and find out who is interested. I then put in names when they are final – maybe about a month before the final trip. Often one person can’t make it at the last minute because of a job conflict. Sometimes I’ll cancel – likely wasting two guest passes for nothing and sometimes I can change the reservation. In that case I could end of using three guest passes for one reservation – at booking, at time of vacation commitment and at emergency change date.



What I have been doing is booking the rooms without a guest reservation and then finalizing them after I’ve done upgrades or changes and I’m about 30 days out. Less chance of a change. Right now I only have to use one guest pass for each reservation.



You haven’t even mentioned what will happen if I book a one bedroom 6 months out and am able to upgrade to a two bedroom. If that happens in the current system I would have to waste a second guest certificate to take advantage of the upgrade. I’ve refused upgrades to some family members because I didn’t have a guest pass to waste.



Lita



From: "Kochinsky, Shea Lyn" <Shea.Kochinsky@wyn.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 3:50 PM
To: Lita Epstein <lita@litaepstein.com>
Subject: Wyndham Vacation Ownership


Good Afternoon Mrs. Epstein,



Thank you for contacting Wyndham Vacation Ownership. Listening to comments from our owners and guests is an important part of our ability to enhance the service we provide.



We appreciate that Wyndham Vacation Ownership resorts are used as gathering spots for our owner’s families and we want those reunions to continue. While you may not know the names of every family member who will be traveling to your reunion, you can certainly use those who have committed to the date before booking rooms or other owners on your membership who will be attending. Only one name is required per reservation.




Make it a great day,



Ms. Shea-Lyn Kochinsky
Wyndham Vacation Ownership

Owner Care Case Specialist

6277 Sea Harbor Drive

Orlando, FL 32821

Phone ~ 800~251~8736, option 1, option 1

Fax ~ 407~626~6328

shea.kochinsky@wyn.com
 

vacationhopeful

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Canned response with canned auto-fill ... by a low paid clerk or computer program.

I bet the "snake-face" executive will get a BIG bonus on the new revenue stream she/he created ... while the OWNERS who pay their salary WANT to burn them at the stake.

Time to truly reconsider my ownership .... I can't print money as fast as they announce new ways to generate fees to collect DOLLARS from me.
 

Lita

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Canned response with canned auto-fill ... by a low paid clerk or computer program.

I bet the "snake-face" executive will get a BIG bonus on the new revenue stream she/he created ... while the OWNERS who pay their salary WANT to burn them at the stake.

Time to truly reconsider my ownership .... I can't print money as fast as they announce new ways to generate fees to collect DOLLARS from me.

Agree. It took them several days to even put together the canned response. Obviously they have gotten a lot of complaints and didn't expect them so they had to try to come up with a usable answer.
 

Iggyearl

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Lita, FWIW, the new head of Wyndham timeshare division is a Michael Brown, who was just hired to replace Franz Hanning. He was formerly COO of HGV. He is brand new, so he would probably appreciate some owner feedback. Or maybe not. :ponder:
 

ronparise

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Lita, FWIW, the new head of Wyndham timeshare division is a Michael Brown, who was just hired to replace Franz Hanning. He was formerly COO of HGV. He is brand new, so he would probably appreciate some owner feedback. Or maybe not. :ponder:
You beat me to it

Franz dosent work at Wyn anymore
 
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ronparise

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Canned response with canned auto-fill ... by a low paid clerk or computer program.

I bet the "snake-face" executive will get a BIG bonus on the new revenue stream she/he created ... while the OWNERS who pay their salary WANT to burn them at the stake.

Time to truly reconsider my ownership .... I can't print money as fast as they announce new ways to generate fees to collect DOLLARS from me.


There is no new revenue for Wyndham in these changes
 

wjappraise

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This is BULL. You have made me a second-class Platinum member because I don’t have enough multiple owners on my membership.



You’ve changed the provisions of my contract and taken away a significant VIP membership benefit – the benefit for which I built my membership.


Right now with the new rules on 48-hour guest pass requirements, I’m screwed. I have a family of about 35 people. I make plans for a family vacation often about 6 months in advance when I can get enough units in one location.


What I have been doing is booking the rooms without a guest reservation and then finalizing them after I’ve done upgrades or changes and I’m about 30 days out. Less chance of a change. Right now I only have to use one guest pass for each [/EMAIL]

This is a perfect example of the horrible ways that Wyndham proceeds. Lita is one of thousands of Platinum owners who will be collateral damage in Wyndham's efforts to reign in what their sales staff taught many owners. If they would only reach out to their owners for input PRIOR to their heavy handed measures, they might get great advice. But no, they are far too arrogant to recognize their ignorance.


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uscav8r

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There is no new revenue for Wyndham in these changes

I'm not so sure about that, Ron. They've certainly increased the chances owners will pay more in reservation transaction fees if the per-day rule has gone away (which seems to be the case as the excess RT fee dropped to $19).

They've made it so people who book multiple units will have to burn through their GCs faster. That might not affect the Platinum owner with 30-45 GCs, but it will hurt lesser VIP and regular owners who have more guest usage than is the norm.

While these may not be huge profit centers, they do increase revenue for Wyndham to some extent.


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ronparise

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I'm not so sure about that, Ron. They've certainly increased the chances owners will pay more in reservation transaction fees if the per-day rule has gone away (which seems to be the case as the excess RT fee dropped to $19).

They've made it so people who book multiple units will have to burn through their GCs faster. That might not affect the Platinum owner with 30-45 GCs, but it will hurt lesser VIP and regular owners who have more guest usage than is the norm.

While these may not be huge profit centers, they do increase revenue for Wyndham to some extent.


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The fees go to the trust, The fees are not Wyndham profit centers >> No doubt the management fee will go up a bit because of these fees, but the real beneficiaries are the members, The increased revenue to the trust will serve to keep the program fee from increasing as much as it otherwise would.
 

wjappraise

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The fees go to the trust, The fees are not Wyndham profit centers >> No doubt the management fee will go up a bit because of these fees, but the real beneficiaries are the members, The increased revenue to the trust will serve to keep the program fee from increasing as much as it otherwise would.

Ron. That is different from what the suspension attorney told me. The guest fees are Wyndham's. Not the trust's. According to him. They sure act like they are Wyndham's don't they?


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am1

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No matter who actually gets what Wyndham is getting a lot of the fees.

May be directly or as part of their management fees.
 

ronparise

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Ron. That is different from what the suspension attorney told me. The guest fees are Wyndham's. Not the trust's. According to him. They sure act like they are Wyndham's don't they?


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Im remembering this from Peter Hernandez's presentation at the last couple of annual meetings
 
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CO skier

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From: Lita Epstein <lita@litaepstein.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 4:34 PM
To: "Kochinsky, Shea Lyn" <Shea.Kochinsky@wyn.com>
Cc: <franz.hanning@wyn.com>, <jan.wigington@wyn.com>, <john.monaweck@wyn.com>
Subject: Re: Wyndham Vacation Ownership


This is BULL. You have made me a second-class Platinum member because I don’t have enough multiple owners on my membership.
I do not understand your reasoning. Multiple owners would have to commit to the vacation and be designated for check-in months ahead and show up to check-in, just as your family/guest would.

You would have to pay a guest fee, today before the changes, because your family/guest is not an owner. This is the same after the changes.

I understand how things may have changed versus the timeframe for assigning a guest name, but your situation is no different than an owner with multiple owners listed on the account, other than a Guest Certificate is not require for the other owners on the account.


From: Lita Epstein <lita@litaepstein.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 4:34 PM
To: "Kochinsky, Shea Lyn" <Shea.Kochinsky@wyn.com>
Cc: <franz.hanning@wyn.com>, <jan.wigington@wyn.com>, <john.monaweck@wyn.com>
Subject: Re: Wyndham Vacation Ownership

We appreciate that Wyndham Vacation Ownership resorts are used as gathering spots for our owner’s families and we want those reunions to continue. While you may not know the names of every family member who will be traveling to your reunion, you can certainly use those who have committed to the date before booking rooms or other owners on your membership who will be attending. Only one name is required per reservation.

I agree with Ms. Kochinsky. You state that 35 family members might attend the reunion. If you cannot find 3 or 4 adults (or however many are needed for the number of units you need) out of that group of 35 who can commit to attending and having their name designated as the check-in guest when you make the reservation, that is not Wyndham's problem, that is your problem.
 

Railman83

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I do not understand your reasoning. Multiple owners would have to commit to the vacation and be designated for check-in months ahead and show up to check-in, just as your family/guest would.

You would have to pay a guest fee, today before the changes, because your family/guest is not an owner. This is the same after the changes.

I understand how things may have changed versus the timeframe for assigning a guest name, but your situation is no different than an owner with multiple owners listed on the account, other than a Guest Certificate is not require for the other owners on the account.




I agree with Ms. Kochinsky. You state that 35 family members might attend the reunion. If you cannot find 3 or 4 adults (or however many are needed for the number of units you need) out of that group of 35 who can commit to attending and having their name designated as the check-in guest when you make the reservation, that is not Wyndham's problem, that is your problem.

This just got real!
 

CO skier

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This just got real!
The same thing happened when Wyndham/WorldMark made some Guideline modifications that were directed toward the megarenter problem, but affected non-megarenters, too.

Owners could only see how it affected how they used the Club, and could not look beyond that to how the Club was improved for all owners
 

Lita

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I do not understand your reasoning. Multiple owners would have to commit to the vacation and be designated for check-in months ahead and show up to check-in, just as your family/guest would.

You would have to pay a guest fee, today before the changes, because your family/guest is not an owner. This is the same after the changes.

I understand how things may have changed versus the timeframe for assigning a guest name, but your situation is no different than an owner with multiple owners listed on the account, other than a Guest Certificate is not require for the other owners on the account.




I agree with Ms. Kochinsky. You state that 35 family members might attend the reunion. If you cannot find 3 or 4 adults (or however many are needed for the number of units you need) out of that group of 35 who can commit to attending and having their name designated as the check-in guest when you make the reservation, that is not Wyndham's problem, that is your problem.

Clearly you missed what I said. I put a hold on units now - not having to use any guest passes because guest passes are not needed within 48 hours of booking. I can determine my final guest list closer to the time of the actual use of the unit.

That ability has now been tossed out of the window under the new rules requiring the use of guest pass within 48 hours. It's a loss of use of guest passes if I must put names in before I've even had time to contact family members and see what fits in their schedule. if I want to plan a family vacation needing more than two units - one which I will book with my name and one with my co-owner - I must waste guest passes.

This won't matter to someone who has four or five members as co-owners, but with fewer co-owners I have less options. It means I have to place names in with the hopes they can go. Someone with more co-owners can do that without a guest pass.

Therefore, those of use with fewer co-owners will have less flexibility to plan large family gatherings without possibly wasting guess passes. So those who have only one or two co-owners have a lower grade of membership with fewer guess passes if they must waste some just to hold a few units until they can work out the final guest list.

Why should I have to waste guest passes when someone else does not?

If they want to limit owners access to the number of units owners can book by requiring guest passes within 48 hours - then make it a system where all members are treated equally. Not a system where your benefits are based on the number of co-owners you can put on a reservation to hold it for family gatherings in the future.

Lita
 
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CO skier

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This won't matter to someone who has four or five members as co-owners, but with fewer co-owners I have less options.
Clearly, you do not understand that designating a co-owner within 48 hours is no different than adding a guest name within 48 hours.

If I understand the new rules correctly, an owner cannot hold overlapping reservations under their name beyond 48 hours (overlapping reservations in the same name are cancelled after 48 hours), then change to another co-owner after 48 hours beyond the reservation. Changing the name to another co-owner after 48 hours would require the $100 change fee, just as it would with a change to a guest name.

Or am I wrong?
 
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Sandy VDH

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So it might be a reason to pick up some resale points and putting additional names to the contract so that they show up on your list of owner names.
 

CO skier

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I just re-read the new Guest Confirmation policy.


"When booking more than one unit with dates that

overlap within the same period within 48 hours of

check-in, a Guest Confirmation must be added at the

time of booking. If you do not have the required guest

information, the reservation cannot be booked
."


In light of other posts about "confusing, imprecise language" and "we should have seen this coming", does the bolded part imply that changes to guest names will no longer be allowed? That is, the changed guest name was not available when the reservation was made, so the reservation could not have been made for the new guest name.
 
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wjappraise

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I do not understand your reasoning. Multiple owners would have to commit to the vacation and be designated for check-in months ahead and show up to check-in, just as your family/guest would.

I agree with Ms. Kochinsky. You state that 35 family members might attend the reunion. If you cannot find 3 or 4 adults (or however many are needed for the number of units you need) out of that group of 35 who can commit to attending and having their name designated as the check-in guest when you make the reservation, that is not Wyndham's problem, that is your problem.

Do you work for Wyndham? Because it looks like you are thinking like them. Lita now has to alter how she books her family vacations. And she is typical of many Platinum owners. Right now she books a block of rooms (less than 10) and probably uses all of her points. Then as the the trip draws close she assigns the rooms once family members fully commit.

COSkier, if you have never booked rooms for a family reunion you clearly would not understand that a large group always has cancellations and alterations. So don't make your lack of knowledge Lita's "problem." She is deeply impacted in a negative way by the changes and is clearly irritated by this.

Have some empathy. Take this on for size, and see if it engenders some fellow feeling in you: Suppose Wyndham analyzed the repairs needed at various resorts and identified "skiers" as one who routinely provide more wear and tear on the units, so they decided that "skiers" could no longer reserve units in Colorado. Those of us who do not ski would think "great, less maintenance on the units and our MFs go down, plus less competition to get the nice units we want while we go "snowboarding" not "skiing." Would you be concerned over this arbitrary rule change than negatively impacted you? Or would you think, "Clearly Wyndham has the greater good of all at heart and I should thank them for removing this right of use from my purchased ownership"? Start thinking of others, man.



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paxsarah

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Clearly, you do not understand that designating a co-owner within 48 hours is no different than adding a guest name within 48 hours.

The difference is clear to me and I've never even planned this kind of trip - initially designating a co-owner doesn't burn a guest confirmation. I'm sure OP expects to need to use GCs once she's confirmed her guests, but the new system will force her to use GCs up front simply to hold the reservation, and if she hasn't guessed right on who'll be coming, she'll burn a second GC later on to get it right. And it does seem somewhat arbitrary that if she simply had a couple more co-owners on the account (e.g. adult children as many do) she could use those names upfront to make the reservation, then change it to the correct person later, using only the single expected GC per unit.

I just re-read the new Guest Confirmation policy.

"When booking more than one unit with dates that

overlap within the same period within 48 hours of

check-in, a Guest Confirmation must be added at the

time of booking. If you do not have the required guest

information, the reservation cannot be booked
."


In light of other posts about "confusing, imprecise language" and "we should have seen this coming", does the bolded part imply that changes to guest names will no longer be allowed? That is, the changed guest name was not available when the reservation was made, so the reservation could not have been made for the new guest name.

No. This refers only to reservations made inside of 48 hours to check-in. On advance reservations, you have 48 hours to add the GC, but closer than 48 hours to check-in, you need to add the GC/name at the time of reservation if you're booking an overlapping reservation. I presume that if you wanted, after confirming that reservation you could still even change it at the cost of another GC, but hopefully if you're booking something less than 48 hours in advance you'll know the name.
 

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I have done a saturday with a throw away sunday, with no plans to say overnight, just to leave at the end of the day and not have such an early checkout. At least Sunday is midweek night, so that helps with saving points.
I always book the extra day so I can leave in the evening. I just booked in Orlando for November 17 and 18. My wife wanted to enjoy Dapper Dan day at the Magic Kingdom on out way to SW Florida. We will enjoy tge day and then leave late as its only a 3.5 hour drive.
 
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