You made a very sound opinion and I truly agree with you. Especially on the maintenance fees. I am now debating if having a deeded week is better than points due to my family size and what we would need when we travel. I am looking at getting a lockout 3 or 4 bedroom which would be good for now and the future because it affords us to take 2 or 3 vacations a years as the children get older. But I am researching my options in regards to the different resorts and the availability of the unit/s we may need versus the points system. All in all I believe they work out the same in some regards but as time goes by(for example purposes) the 224k points seems like it can go a very long way for a retired couple in about 20/25yrs versus a deeded week with a 3/4 bedroom lockout. Any thoughts on that?
At which resorts are you seeing the 3 or 4 bedroom unit weeks?
Your situation is a little more complex with needing the larger units at specific times so you may not have as many options as other people do. I'm not a big fan of fixed weeks but in your case owning a fixed week might actually work best for your main vacation of the year. You could also purchase a points week in RCI that would give you more options for the other times.
My sister and brother-in-law own a highly sought after March Spring Break fixed week in a beautiful three bedroom/3 bath unit at Orange Lake in Orlando. They bought a two bedroom unit before their youngest was even born, 34-35 years ago and spent the money to upgrade to a three bedroom unit when the kids got older and they needed more space. It was wonderful for them all those years when their kids were growing up, then before they retired (both teachers) and is now again that they have grandchildren in school and need that specific week.
My sister and brother-in-law had the option to go to points when they upgraded to the three bedroom unit but they didn't understand about how points worked and passed on it. At that time RCI was just starting to get into points and I don't think the person at Orange Lake explained it very well to them so please don't think they were just plain stupid. But nonetheless it was a big mistake. Thanks to TUG there is a resource for people to learn from others mistakes. BTW, yes they did buy from the developer but when they bought almost 35 years ago buying resale was often pretty risky unless you were buying from a person you knew and trusted.
I'm not a fan of owning fixed weeks for several reasons but my reasons may not apply to you. If you ever want to convert your fixed week to points you will have to spend to $3k-$5k to do it from what I've seen in the posts. However if you get a good price on the week, fixed, and the unit size you need then years down the road rather than pay the money to convert it you do have options. Rent it to other people in your area who have that week as Spring Break, deposit it for trade or sell/give away your deed. I'm not sure if RCI or other timeshare systems offer anything for fixed weeks should a situation arise that you wouldn't be able to use the week. RCI offers points protection for an additional fee when you book a week using your points. My last personal objection to fixed weeks is that from reading OP's posts on various threads it doesn't seem nearly as easy to get good exchanges when you deposit your week and get TPUs, Trading Power Units?, as it is with points. Not sure if this is true just my take from reading the posts. I do know an advantage with a fixed week is that if you only want to use your week at your resort that you don't have to pay the yearly RCI fee to keep your week in their exchange system but you wouldn't be able to trade if you didn't. I would guess that you could opt into it at any point as long as your resort is still in the RCI exchange system but I don't know for sure that you can. And I don't know if it would be more expensive to do if you dropped out and later wanted to come back. Something else OP can probably answer.
You can own a points week at a resort in the RCI system and elect to use "your" week at your home resort instead of using the points for that week to book other weeks and places. Sorry I never use "my" week so don't remember exactly what you do but I think you have to notify RCI by the start of your use year that you intend to use "your" week and I know for sure that there is no exchange fee. When you use the points however you like which is what I do then there is a $230 fee for every week I book. I don't mind the fee because I get several weeks out of those points vs just one week if I used "my" week. I use my RCI points to get some fantastic very low point reservations because I know when I need to be online to get them and I set up searches.
I personally don't care for CWA (Club Wyndham Access). However that doesn't mean it isn't worth considering and that OP aren't completely happy with their CWA purchases. I don't like the way CWA is set up and want to actually own something that is deeded instead of having access to points held in a trust. Another thing I don't like about CWA is that the maintenance fees are higher than at a lot of the Wyndham resorts. I see people saying that you don't have to worry about any special assessments. We have owned for 15 years now with Fairfield/Wyndham and 13 years with a resort in the RCI system and have never (knock on wood) had a special assessment. I fully admit to being prejudiced against CWA because I remember how CWA started out, as a dumping ground for all the deeds Wyndham couldn't sell and resorts that needed a lot of work done on the buildings and units. Wyndham has expanded the number of resorts and inventory that are in CWA but not all the Wyndham resorts are in CWA even now. In watching the eBay listings I usually see a large number of CWA listings with nice chunks of points in them. It seems a bit odd to me to see that many listings for such large amounts of points when the CWA program hasn't been around that long. It could even be Wyndham selling them through someone else for all I know.
With Wyndham points as OP have posted in other threads if you are planning your big trips ahead and can be on the phone at 8am ET at the 13 month window or online at 7am ET at the 10 month window you are very likely to get the reservations you want. When it gets down to the last 15-45 days you can often find great reservations if you are able to go more last minute with both Wyndham points and RCI points. Also as OP have posted if you are open to trying other resorts rather than just one particular resort you can get some fantastic reservations with both Wyndham points and RCI points.
One of the big advantages of Wyndham points is that you can book stays starting any night of the week for as many nights as you want. You won't have nearly the check in day options with RCI that you will have with Wyndham points. When you book weeks, traded or points, with RCI they start on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday. You don't get to pick which unless there is more than one check in day available when you are booking and I would never count on that happening. With RCI it is possible to book partial week stays or extra nights but they not usually as available or even an option at all resorts.
It could be that my experience with using my RCI points vs my Wyndham points is different from OP. I live in Florida and can drive to so many fantastic resorts here in Florida so I get a lot of bang for my buck with my RCI points. You can use RCI points to book Wyndham resorts like Bonnet Creek, Star Island, Cypress Palms or Reunion in Orlando. Ocean Walk in Daytona Beach. Panama City Beach. Sea Gardens, Santa Barbara and Palm-Aire in Pompano Beach. Smokey Mountains and Great Smokies Lodge in Tennessee. Resorts in Branson, MO, Williamsburg, VA and Las Vegas. I'm sure there are more but these are just the ones that I've actually booked myself or often see available.
You can book Star Island in Orlando with Wyndham points but it, like many other Wyndham resorts, can also be booked with RCI points. RCI often has sales and you can book a two bedroom lock off unit at Star Island in Orlando for around $300 for the week with no points used. Once in a while I've seen three bedroom units at Summer Bay offered in the sale weeks too. I particularly like the two bedroom lock off units at Star Island because they function nicely as a three bedroom unit and accommodate larger families better. The bedroom in the smaller side has two double beds vs a second king bed like most other resorts have. Another feature I like about the SI lock off units is that the bathroom is located off the middle of the foyer separating the bedroom and the living room/kitchen in the smaller unit. Both the BR and LR/K each have a door so if you are using the sofa bed or even just watching TV in the LR/K you can shut either door for privacy and quiet. I've even booked a few extra nights at SI with my Wyndham points to extend my RCI sale week and they kept me in the same unit.
If you want to pick my brain you are welcome to pm me and I will give you my email and phone number.
Jan
