Who has the best timeshare on the market?

[pammex]

Best one of all to own is the one you will USE!!

 

[rocksteadyserg]

Looking for heavy west coast presence (so cali beach,SF,Napa; AZ would be a plus) low buy in and low annual maintenance. Being able to go for just one or two days via bonus time is very important. Would consider a EOY just to get in but being able to still use the bonus time year round for weekend gate away. I was going to pull the trigger on a very low points Shell vacation deal but got cold feet because of the take over. Any suggestions?

 

[VacationForever]

Looking for heavy west coast presence (so cali beach,SF,Napa; AZ would be a plus) low buy in and low annual maintenance. Being able to go for just one or two days via bonus time is very important. Would consider a EOY just to get in but being able to still use the bonus time year round for weekend gate away. I was going to pull the trigger on a very low points Shell vacation deal but got cold feet because of the take over. Any suggestions?

Worldmark, great low MF, 3+ Star quality. About 30 to 40 cents per point to buy. Has resort locations everywhere on the West Coast. Not Napa but Windsor, closer to Santa Rosa than Napa proper. Point based system, you can book 1 or 2 days, weekends, Monday Madness, Bonus Time, Fax Time, all depending on availability. Waitlist system - although does not seem to always work. Best value timeshare system, IMHO.

 

[rocksteadyserg]

What would you recommend on how much points to buy & would be a great price point to buy them at?

 

[VacationForever]

10K points contract is the best way to start. MF is the same for a band of points. 10K is the top end of the band, so you are paying the same MF as an 8K contract. 10K can get you to a 2BR unit for 1 week at most WM resorts. You can borrow against the following year and carry forward current year's into next year. When you book, you can use the points to book for the following year. All at no additional cost. Note that you have to pay for housekeeping charge if you are just booking for a night or two. You only get 1 housekeeping token for a 10K contract... 1 housekeeping token is issued for a contract up to 20K points. However if you use bonus time to book, the pricing includes the housekeeping, typically at 7 cents a point. Lots of lots of flexibility. Expect to pay about USD4K for a 10K fully loaded contract. Fully loaded means it has unused points from current and previous year. If all the points have been used, it should be closer to 3K. Check out wmowners.com. That is the main website that WM owners use, although I don't visit that site. You can also get similar pricing on eBay (with established WM resellers) or directly from resellers site. WMOwners.com will give you those information.

 

[rocksteadyserg]

Thank you so much for the break down summary on how it works. This is one of the reasons why I have been following this site since 2010.

Happy new year

 

[rocksteadyserg]

So I check out the resorts on Worldmark. Its not really screaming at me resort wise. I like the resort in SF and I see they have one in Oceanside by the water. I love the ones by Disneyland. I can see myself going to those resorts but I am not sure how hard it would be to get into them.

I check out the Grand Pacific Resorts & seems they have a lot more so cali ocean front property. I see they have one resort in Napa.

Shell resorts, no ocean front resort which is a minus but they have the one by Disneyland which I hear is easy to get into. I love the Napa resort & the three SF resorts. I can see myself using the Shell resort a lot more for weekend trips to Napa & SF.

Any plus or minus about Shell as I am leaning towards Shell?

 

[icydog]

There is nothing really wrong with Wyndham. You can give her tips on use, suggest resorts, they are nice resorts that are where she wants to go, perhaps not totally top shelf, but kids don't care anyway. There is an active resale market, and 2 grand a year should get her a big enough stash of points to be useful.

Another thought: VRBO rentals. You only pay when you rent, go where/when you want, and with no buy-in cost and no worries about getting rid of a timeshare or paying for a Special Assessment, it's something to think about.

Jim

In what universe is there an activate resale market for Wyndham Resorts? I see them on the bargain forum for free all the time. That's my biggest objection to Wyndham. They don't protect their owners when they want to sell.

 

[Passepartout]

In what universe is there an activate resale market for Wyndham Resorts? I see them on the bargain forum for free all the time. That's my biggest objection to Wyndham. They don't protect their owners when they want to sell.

Perhaps I should have said that there are LOTS of places one can get (or buy) a Wyndham TS. It really isn't just Wyndham of course. There is NO timeshare that holds much- if any- value. Those who bought under the premise that TS was an 'investment' were sold a bill of goods. A timeshare is a luxury good that's only true value is in the memories one gets from family vacations. Financially, it's a black hole.

Jim

 

[uscav8r]

In what universe is there an activate resale market for Wyndham Resorts? I see them on the bargain forum for free all the time. That's my biggest objection to Wyndham. They don't protect their owners when they want to sell.

They are taking back timeshare ownerships through Ovation, so not sure what you are talking about. Buy resale for cheap, get out for cheap. No big deal.


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[uscav8r]

So I check out the resorts on Worldmark. Its not really screaming at me resort wise. I like the resort in SF and I see they have one in Oceanside by the water. I love the ones by Disneyland. I can see myself going to those resorts but I am not sure how hard it would be to get into them.

I check out the Grand Pacific Resorts & seems they have a lot more so cali ocean front property. I see they have one resort in Napa.

Shell resorts, no ocean front resort which is a minus but they have the one by Disneyland which I hear is easy to get into. I love the Napa resort & the three SF resorts. I can see myself using the Shell resort a lot more for weekend trips to Napa & SF.

Any plus or minus about Shell as I am leaning towards Shell?

Shell MF are extremely high and it is very difficult to get rid of it if you don't want it anymore. I do not know if Wyndham has extended its deedback program (Ovation) to Shell at this time.

You may want to explore a combined ownership of 2 different systems that can complement each other (if you can afford it). That has worked well for me with a Wyndham/WorldMark combo.

Or own in one, and just rent what you can't get from that system.


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[theo]

They are taking back timeshare ownerships through Ovation...<snip>... Buy resale for cheap, get out for cheap. No big deal.

Fwiw, Wyndham has reportedly accepted only about half of the +/- 50,000 (...so far) applicants to "Ovation" since that door was opened.
In other words, Wyndham is plainly "cherry picking" what they will take back under Ovation, not just accepting everything.
We haven't owned within Wyndham for some years now. No "agenda" here, just making a relevant observation of fact.

 

[uscav8r]

Fwiw, Wyndham has reportedly accepted only about half of the 50,000+ (...so far) applicants to "Ovation" since that door was opened.
In other words, Wyndham is plainly "cherry picking" what they will take back under Ovation, not just accepting everything.
We haven't owned within Wyndham for some years now. No "agenda" here, just making a relevant observation of fact.

While your observation may be accurate, that still does not warrant ridicule of a "universe in which there is an activate [sic] resale market for Wyndham."

Most of the free TUG giveaways are dogs anyway (Wyndham or not), so any potential buyer should beware. However, there are desirable ownerships that are sold on the secondary market and these have value. Maybe not retail value, but value nonetheless. All things being equal, these ownerships have a higher chance of being accepted back by Ovation in the future than any current dogs.

Ovation has cut into the availability of these desirable ownerships but they still pop up once in a while.


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[theo]

While your observation may be accurate, that still does not warrant ridicule of a "universe in which there is an activate [sic] resale market for Wyndham."

Most of the free TUG giveaways are dogs anyway (Wyndham or not), so any potential buyer should beware. However, there are desirable ownerships that are sold on the secondary market and these have value. Maybe not retail value, but value nonetheless. All things being equal, these ownerships have a higher chance of being accepted back by Ovation in the future than any current dogs.

Ovation has cut into the availability of these desirable ownerships but they still pop up once in a while.

I missed any "ridicule" upstream in this thread, but am just sharing some figures I learned recently from a very well informed "industry" person I met. Fwiw, he further stated that are currently about 900,000 Wyndham owners in total --- a figure that I personally found quite startling. YMMV.

 

[CO skier]

Fwiw, Wyndham has reportedly accepted only about half of the 50,000+ (...so far) applicants to "Ovation" since that door was opened.

Where did you find these statistics?

There are about 3 times as many Club Wyndham owners as WorldMark owners. About 3,000 WorldMark owners have applied for relief through Ovation and all were accepted. Many owners inquired about Ovation, but declined the offer for their own reasons; they were not rejected.

I recall one recent post about a Club Wyndham owner whose deed was not accepted through Ovation. If Wyndham is rejecting half the applications, I think we would be hearing much more about this.

 

[uscav8r]

I missed any "ridicule" input from further upstream, just sharing some figures I learned very recently from a very well informed "industry" person I met. Fwiw, he further stated that are currently about 900,000 Wyndham owners --- a figure I personally found quite startling.

"Ridicule" may have been a little strong. "Sarcasm" would probably be more accurate.

As for the 900k Wyndham owners, sounds like they are conflating many different kinds of owners under a Wyndham umbrella (Club Wyndham, WorldMark, Shell, and perhaps some RCI owners). Between Club Wyndham (~500k in recent years) and WM (I think it was down to 216k this year from 230k the past few years), there are still roughly 170k-186k owners still unaccounted for if your source is to be considered accurate/reliable. I'm not sure how big Shell is.


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[CO skier]

"Ridicule" may have been a little strong. "Sarcasm" would probably be more accurate.

As for the 900k Wyndham owners, sounds like they are conflating many different kinds of owners under a Wyndham umbrella (Club Wyndham, WorldMark, Shell, and perhaps some RCI owners). Between Club Wyndham (~500k in recent years) and WM (I think it was down to 216k this year from 230k the past few years), there are still roughly 170k-186k owners still unaccounted for if your source is to be considered accurate/reliable. I'm not sure how big Shell is.


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The number of ownership interest in 2013 between all the Wyndham Clubs was reportedly 915,000.

 

[theo]

"Ridicule" may have been a little strong. "Sarcasm" would probably be more accurate.

As for the 900k Wyndham owners, sounds like they are conflating many different kinds of owners under a Wyndham umbrella (Club Wyndham, WorldMark, Shell, and perhaps some RCI owners). Between Club Wyndham (~500k in recent years) and WM (I think it was down to 216k this year from 230k the past few years), there are still roughly 180k owners still unaccounted for if your source is to be considered accurate/reliable. I'm not sure how big Shell is.


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I personally dunno --- about any of the above. I am merely conveying precisely what I heard a few weeks ago from the lips of a man who sits very high atop that particular corporate ladder. I'm not attempting to convince you of anything nor taking any sides or positions. I am not running for election either, so am not seeking any votes. Just repeating some figures from a man (...not me) "in the know" on this topic --- no more, no less.

 

[uscav8r]

The number of ownership interest in 2013 between all the Wyndham Clubs was reportedly 915,000.

I personally dunno --- about any of the above. I am merely conveying precisely what I heard a few weeks ago from the lips of a man who sits very high atop that particular corporate ladder. I'm not attempting to convince you of anything nor taking any sides or positions. Not running for election to anything either, so not seeking votes. Just repeating ---no more, no less.

Certainly not disputing your reporting. But it seems from CO skier that, yes, the 900k+ is an aggregated multi-system number. Just adding further detail to the reporting. No more, no less. :smile:


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[CO skier]

I personally dunno --- about any of the above. I am merely conveying precisely what I heard a few weeks ago from the lips of a man who sits very high atop that particular corporate ladder. I'm not attempting to convince you of anything nor taking any sides or positions. I am not running for election either, so am not seeking any votes. Just repeating some figures from a man (...not me) "in the know" on this topic --- no more, no less.

You may have just misunderstood the figures. 50,000 owners may have "inquired" about Ovation, but only half surrendered their ownership to Ovation. It is not that Wydham did not accept the other half; the other half declined the offer for their own personal reasons or just did not pursue it any further.

Still, 50,000 seems high.

What I find most interesting is that Wydham is accepting both retail and resale purchases into Ovation, and resale purchasers are not left on their own to unload their timeshare.

 

[CO skier]

To get this back toward the original topic, Wyndham currently offers one of the easiest exit strategies from their timeshares, and that is something important to consider when getting into a timeshare.

 

[theo]

You may have just misunderstood the figures. 50,000 owners may have "inquired" about Ovation, but only half surrendered their ownership to Ovation. It is not that Wydham did not accept the other half; the other half declined the offer for their own personal reasons or just did not pursue it any further.

Still, 50,000 seems high.

What I find most interesting is that Wydham is accepting both retail and resale purchases into Ovation, and resale purchasers are not left on their own to unload their timeshare.

I very clearly understood the statement that about 50,000 actual "applications" were filed with Ovation (specifically, as of mid-November, 2016); around half receiving '"deedback" approval and commencement of processing and about half receiving a declination / rejection of their request.
It was neither difficult nor too complicated for me to comprehend; I know what I heard and certainly did not somehow "misunderstand" that simple and very straightforward statement --- that's really all I can say. Believe or doubt those cited numbers; I personally have no basis on which to do either.

That being said, it was not clearly specified whether the number 50,000 constitutes individual owners or whether it instead perhaps represents the total number of contracts submitted for "Ovation". Since some people own multiple contracts, the two figures would obviously be somewhat different.

In any event, it's surely a good thing that some Wyndham owners can lawfully and reasonably quickly "dispose" of their unwanted ownerships with very little effort and at virtually no expense, without getting involved with deceitful, thieving scammers or (fraudulent by design) "Viking Ship" operations.
Of course, Wyndham gets the "cherry picked" inventory back for free to just sell all over at full retail price --- a pretty smart move from a business perspective, no?