Wyndham Platinum resales

Is it possible to purchase a Platinum level memberships for 250000 points for example. I thought to reach that level you had to have a ton of points. It does not make sense that we can buy something that has no maintenance fees. I am trying to word this post correctly, but am worried a listing I saw is not on the up and up or am I missing a catch?

There are companies that "rent" access to a platinum members accounts and then allows those that buy in as members to their company to use the points paying a fee based on how many points they use. In the short term it seems to work buy it is hard to say how these business will fare over the next few years.

gstepic said:

Is it possible to purchase a Platinum level memberships for 250000 points for example. I thought to reach that level you had to have a ton of points. It does not make sense that we can buy something that has no maintenance fees. I am trying to word this post correctly, but am worried a listing I saw is not on the up and up or am I missing a catch?

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You arent buying a timeshare you are just renting those points. If you search here for the company I think you are referring to you will find some info.

Thanks and a due diligence question

So there was a catch, not surprised. I guess i am a little too cautious as it seems pretty risky to me. I saw the ad in the TUG classifieds and don't remember seeing a company. I just assumed it was an individual selling their TS.

i have seen where it is important to do due diligence when buying a resale. I imagine using a trusted closing company is an important step, but I think someone said they cannot let me know if property free and clear and if MF are current. Am I correct that if I got the property info I wanted to buy I could contact Wyndham and they would let me know if property free and clear and MF are current?

I am not assuming this because many companies will not give out information if you do not have an interest in whatever you are contacting them about.

Gary

sorry dup post

You are talking about winpointvip.com, or a company like it, They are middle men between owners and renters. They pay platinum owners for the use of their accounts. and the renters pay them for the vacation accommodations at vip rates (50% discount)

To clarify, YOU are not BUYING a timeshare where there would be a closing company. No deed.

You are paying for the RIGHT to set up an account to use, say 300,000 points yearly, to make reservations and you would pay a FEE to use those points -- based on the current MFs of the real owner, a handling charge to call into the "operator of the call center - the company you have a DEAL with", and most likely a higher fee for using OVER the points you contracted to use.

The premise is, you are not permently buying a timeshare. You have access to the discounts and upgrades that may be available at time of booking that the Platinum owners' account has and the point total represents the OBIGILATION of paying money for that BLOCK of points, whether or not if you make any reservations. And I would bet, no personal knowledge, if you want to use MORE points in a year for some reason --- the point per thousand would cost MORE than your contracted for rate is.

gstepic said:

. I imagine using a trusted closing company is an important step, but I think someone said they cannot let me know if property free and clear and if MF are current. Am I correct that if I got the property info I wanted to buy I could contact Wyndham and they would let me know if property free and clear and MF are current?

I am not assuming this because many companies will not give out information if you do not have an interest in whatever you are contacting them about.

Gary

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Title companies and wyndham USUALLY will not transfer until its paid off. Wyndham will not tell you financial info but the owner should provide an estoppel letter which will give you the information you are looking for. Wyndham charges a fee for this that is why the big sellers dont want to provide for you unless they have a "deal".

The advantages to someone buying into a membership program like this are several

1) Platinum VIP benefits (50% discounts) on all your reservations. These guys play the cancel / rebook and upgrade game to the maximum

2) much lower up front cost to become "VIP" You can buy access to any size block of points you want and even the small packages get Platinum discounts

3) no ongoing maintenance fee obligation. Once the initial fee is paid, its a "pay as you go" deal (To Linda's point, I dont know what happens if you exceed your allocation. I would think its no different than an owner, ie just like an owner can only use the number of points he owns, a member of a program like I describe can only vacation up to their size of membership....If you want access to more points, pay for a larger membership)

4) cant vacation any more...dont, This program is perfect for a person that wants an exit strategy. There are folks that sell their Wyndham ownership through winpointVIP (check ebay for examples) and then buy a membership in the program. They still have access to the Wyndham resorts, often times at a lower ongoing cost than thay had. and they dont worry about monthly mf or what they are going to do with this stuff as they age. ie its a good estate planning tool)


Knowing what I know now, If I wanted to use Wyndham for 10 or more weeks a year (as my second home) Id be looking real hard at a program like this

The potential problem is that you are dealing with a small company or even an individual, and there has to be a fair amount of trust established. and who knows what happens if the guy running the show gets run over by a truck? As I see it...all you have at risk is your membership fee. If you cant stand that risk, the program is not for you. in fact if you cant stand a little risk, buying a Platinum level ownership from Wyndham isnt for you either.

Since it has been established, that without Herculean effort, Elite status cannot be transferred on resale, in most instances the price difference between resale and developer pricing is not cost effective for the elite benefit received.

What is the upfront differential between this type of membership and a resale purchase ?

Acknowledging that there is no annual fee is you don't or stop using the points

Rent_Share said:

Since it has been established, that without Herculean effort, Elite status cannot be transferred on resale, in most instances the price difference between resale and developer pricing is not cost effective for the elite benefit received.

What is the upfront differential between this type of membership and a resale purchase ?

Acknowledging that there is no annual fee is you don't or stop using the points

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I assume you mean VIP status not Elite.

I know of three different companies doing this and i suspect their rates and fee structures are different, It take a million eligible points to be a Platinum VIP. Wyndham is selling points for 15 cents or more. (they start talking at about 22 cents but can be talked down to "only" 15 ...so $150000. It is possible to get there much cheaper using the PIC program, but even then you need close to 500000 developer purchased points. In the past you could convert several, fixed weeks at certain resorts. to VIP points or do an unlimited number of PICs with one small developer purchase of under 100000 points ($15000) but those days are gone

I think you can buy into one of these membership programs for a small number of points for less than $10000 and I think they will finance it. Access to a million points will probably cost in the neighborhood of $25000...but Im not sure.Whatever the cost I am sure that you will get in much much cheaper than buying a million points from Wyndham.

So, the bottom line if I am following Ron correctly is, if you want the VIP Platinum discount and a regular source on a number of vacations, buying into this "option" is cheaper. Low upfront fees with just ongoing usage (rental) of the discount vacations.

Figure it to be 2 years before Wyndham changes some rule or computer access to limit these "professional" managers.

Figure it will be soon (if not already done) thru a back door, these companies get either computer access to Wyndham reservations systems with an AI program, to book requests FAST -- esp ARP reservations. Money talks - could also be done via all these HOME BASED EMPLOYEES - who are provide the "secure" access directly to Wyndham's computer. Scary thought to us regular owners who are call in a 8 AM on the dot to make HIGH DEMAND reservations.