# Anyone here own RTU Worldmark membership?



## larry_WM (Dec 4, 2007)

Anyone here own RTU Worldmark membership?I saw some RTU Worldmark membership for sale expire in 10 years. Can this membership book bonus time or rent credit from other owners?
Thanks


----------



## PerryM (Dec 4, 2007)

*Big Foot sells "Standard" WM memberships too...*



larry_WM said:


> Anyone here own RTU Worldmark membership?I saw some RTU Worldmark membership for sale expire in 10 years. Can this membership book bonus time or rent credit from other owners?
> Thanks



I once offered a bounty for someone to find one of these "Standard" memberships - we did find one (It was sold by Wyndham/TrendWest within the past 4 years).  There maybe others out there.  When buying a WM account look for "Premier" in the description and call WM to confirm that it is a "Premier" (99.99% are Premier) membership.

Of course the best "Premier" membership is the No HouseKeeping Account (NHK) that will run you $1.50 - $2.50 per WM credit.  (Resale only and about 6 show up in a year)  Wyndham sells new "Premier" WM credits for $1.98 and the NHK seem to mirror that price.

Here is an example.

In case you're wondering why WM created the "Standard" membership - it's a sales gimmick for the Wyndham salesreps.  Folks visiting a WM sales gallery are told that ONLY Wyndham sells "Premier" memberships (ALL resales are "Standard") and that if they don't buy in the next 10 minutes they will be forced to sell "Standard" membership that is a RTU and dies after so many years (40)- has fewer membership benefits too (No BT).  Tick-tock...tick-tock....

Sooo, there are "Standard" memberships, sold by Wyndham, to a few unlucky fools out there....  These "Standard" memberships are eventually resold and you must be careful not to accidently get one of these.  Thanks a lot Wyndham....

P.S.
Since Wyndham apparently still sells these "Standard" things I'm wondering if there is a prize to the salesrep that can find someone who refuses to buy a "Premier" and, instead, demands a "Standard" membership.  Maybe a trip around the world or something like that....

P.P.S.
In case someone want's to corner the "Standard" membership market, here is a link for more info.  Do a search "Standard".


----------



## FLYNZ4 (Dec 4, 2007)

Perry,

That was good work on your part.   I had always assumed they were fictional and I was surprised when you actually uncovered one 

/Jim


----------



## PA- (Dec 4, 2007)

All transfer paperwork has a box to check, to allow the owner to indicate whether they want Standard or RTU.  So it's certainly conceivable that some people have chosen to go with the standard, for whatever reason, when they buy resell or combine accounts or whatever.  Perhaps to have an out, perhaps to shield their heirs from having to deal with it, or whatever.  At one time, Worldmark offered Eagle Crest owners the opportunity to trade in their ownership at EC for a worldmark account, and gave them the option of standard or perpetual.  While I'm sure most took perpetual (same cost as standard), there may have been some that took standard.

For all practical purposes, in most cases, 40 years ownership is as good or better than perpetual, when it comes to timeshares.


----------



## PerryM (Dec 4, 2007)

*Asset v expense*

The problem with RTU v perpetual (Premier ownership) is that a RTU is an expense and a Premier ownership is an asset.  I can almost hear the sales rep “And you can pass this premier ownership on to your heirs”, the 40 year RTU is harder to sell as anything but a coupon book for 40 usages.

Timeshares, with few exceptions (like Disney) are touted as real estate.  “Why by the whole condo - if you only need it for 1 week a year- just buy 1 week?”.  The illusion is that you are 1/50 an owner in the condo and are entitled to all the rights and privileges of whole ownership – but just what you need to use in a year.

A RTU isn’t ownership – it’s a prepaid expense that holds its own value for a while but starts to get less desirable when 15 years away and its perceived valued drops like a lead balloon.  The trick, like Disney has done, is to offer the ability to buy more years of usage and prop up the value of the membership.

This is exactly what the Wyndham salesreps must be getting at – Premier ownership is a tiny fractional ownership of 5,000+ WM condos and Standard ownership is 40 coupons of use.  Americans seem to like to own real estate versus renting it.  Just a guess what the sales spiel is at Wyndham.


----------



## cotraveller (Dec 5, 2007)

PerryM said:


> A RTU isn’t ownership – it’s a prepaid expense that holds its own value for a while but starts to get less desirable when 15 years away and its perceived valued drops like a lead balloon.  The trick, like Disney has done, is to offer the ability to buy more years of usage and prop up the value of the membership.



Not really applicable to the Wyndham/WorldMark properties, but not all limited life properties reach the end of the ownership period under the same terms.  At some, the property is then sold and the proceeds divided among the owners.  Then it is primarily a case of location, location, location.  It is very possible that an out of date or even run down property on a prime piece of land can be a valuable asset and produce a nice return.  You not only have to look at the remaining term, but at what happens when the end of the term is reached.


----------



## PerryM (Dec 5, 2007)

cotraveller said:


> Not really applicable to the Wyndham/WorldMark properties, but not all limited life properties reach the end of the ownership period under the same terms.  At some, the property is then sold and the proceeds divided among the owners.  Then it is primarily a case of location, location, location.  It is very possible that an out of date or even run down property on a prime piece of land can be a valuable asset and produce a nice return.  You not only have to look at the remaining term, but at what happens when the end of the term is reached.



I agree that WM is a funny animal – as timeshare animals go.

WM ownership/membership is really currency in the WM and timeshare universe.  The Premier WM ownership results in new currency, at each annual anniversary, being able to be spent.  The Standard ownership has this happening just 40 times and no BT usage is available.

I guess that if a Standard Membership came up and was dirt cheap it might be attractive to buy.  However, I’d personally just rent WM credits from other WM owners who either own too many credits or don’t use WM anymore.


----------

