# Why Worldmark?



## dominidude (Feb 9, 2015)

Newbie here,
I'm trying to figure out why Worldmark is popular.
My understanding is that using Worldmark to get a 2bdr during a high season, it takes about 20K points, say in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, or Myrtle Beach.
I've looked around, and it seems that to  get about 20k Worldmark points it would take about $1500 in MFs.
Given that there are plenty of 2bdrs during high season with much lower maintenance fees, I just cannot see why would Worldmark would be so popular.
Anyone care to comment?


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## blr666 (Feb 9, 2015)

It's 10000 for a two bedroom during high season (except for the newer resorts).


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## VacationForever (Feb 9, 2015)

Yep, most of the resorts only require 10K points for 2BR, with MF of around $700.  Worldmark also has lots and lots of locations in the middle of cities on the West Coast up to British Columbia.  You won't find other resort groups that have locations like Worldmark.


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## Rent_Share (Feb 9, 2015)

To get access to the Wyhdam Vacation Ownership Properties, you would need to buy developer points. Since you are on the East Coast I would suggest you look at RESALE WVO not Worldmark  which has a west coast bias.

Club Wyndham Access acts like WorldMark but there needs to be CWA inventory available for the week you desire, Worldmark started as points so you are not competeing against other ownership interests, as CWA points do


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## ronparise (Feb 9, 2015)

dominidude said:


> Newbie here,
> I'm trying to figure out why Worldmark is popular.
> My understanding is that using Worldmark to get a 2bdr during a high season, it takes about 20K points, say in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, or Myrtle Beach.
> I've looked around, and it seems that to  get about 20k Worldmark points it would take about $1500 in MFs.
> ...



Worldmark is popular for the low mf"s (you are off by a factor of 2) and the locations of their resorts (not Myrtle Beach) and the flexibility of the system. (any day check in, short stays allowed, long stays available, cash options available, owner to owner credit transfers allowed,)

and did I mention the low mf


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## PassionForTravel (Feb 10, 2015)

Ron and sptung nailed it. There are a couple that they didn't mention, the best reservation and cancellation policy in the industry and wonderful trading power in both II and Rci. we started with worldmark and have since added HGVC, Marriott and Starwood for very specific goals, but if I had to pick only one to keep (which might be the case in retirement) it would be an easy decision, worldmark.

Ian


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## LLW (Feb 10, 2015)

dominidude said:


> Newbie here,
> I'm trying to figure out why Worldmark is popular.
> My understanding is that using Worldmark to get a 2bdr during a high season, it takes about 20K points, say in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, or Myrtle Beach.
> I've looked around, and it seems that to  get about 20k Worldmark points it would take about $1500 in MFs.
> ...



Why WM?
1. Flexibility: Over 80 resorts (and growing); no home resorts so every owner has the same chance. No booking fee, no guest fee, liberal cancellation policy (2 to 30 days before check-in). Free owner-to-owner transfer of points. Points automatically have 2-year life.
For the 10K points, you may book 1 red week one year, 2 shoulder weeks another, or 3 low weeks another, or a combination thereof; a 3BR one year, a studio another.
Check-in on any day of the week. Stay 1 to 2 (from 10 months on) or limitless number of nights, as long as you have the points. 
2. Low MF with 5% annual increase cap.
3. Great trade power. Cheap 4,000-credit last minute exchanges for all size units.
4. Has urban resorts: San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver. Has amusement resorts: Orlando, Anaheim, Las Vegas. Has national park resorts: Yellowstone, Banff, Yosemite. Has coastal and mountain resorts. Has drive-to and fly-to resorts.
5. One of the most fully-equipped kitchens in the timeshare world.
6. Ease of booking: Good on-line reservation system. Friendly call-center staff.
7. Like-new 3-star lodging with friendly resort staff, with set-up consistent amongst resorts, so it feels truly like a home away from home anywhere you go in the system.
8. Owner group enthusiastic about the product and friendly to pass on knowledge. Many owner group and Club on-line teaching tools. Those who are willing to spend the hours to learn can become sophisticated owners in a short time.


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## ronparise (Feb 10, 2015)

LLW said:


> Why WM?
> 1. Flexibility: Over 80 resorts (and growing); no home resorts so every owner has the same chance. No booking fee, no guest fee, liberal cancellation policy (2 to 30 days before check-in). Free owner-to-owner transfer of points. Points automatically have 2-year life.
> For the 10K points, you may book 1 red week one year, 2 shoulder weeks another, or 3 low weeks another, or a combination thereof; a 3BR one year, a studio another.
> Check-in on any day of the week. Stay 1 to 2 (from 10 months on) or limitless number of nights, as long as you have the points.
> ...



Louise

I took the liberty or reposting your comments on the Worldmark Owners Facebook group  That group is loaded with folks that dont know and refuse to learn how Worldmark works.  As a result they complain a lot.  My hope is that after reading what you said, they will take the time to figure things out.

If you want me to take it down, let me know...I will


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## dominidude (Feb 10, 2015)

Thank you everyone, this is really good information


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## cotraveller (Feb 10, 2015)

I'll add one more that comes to mind that I don't think I saw in the previous posts (I skimmed it quickly, I might have missed it.)

Not only do WorldMark credits have an automatic two year life, as a WorldMark owner you can borrow your next years credits for making a reservation in the current year.  Without paying next years maintenance dues in advance.  If you want to plan a big trip and don't want to fuss with transferring credits from another owner, you can save last years credits, borrow next years credits, and have a 3 year supply to use now.  For example, a 10,000 credit account could use that to have 30,000 credits to work with.


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## ronparise (Feb 10, 2015)

cotraveller said:


> I'll add one more that comes to mind that I don't think I saw in the previous posts (I skimmed it quickly, I might have missed it.)
> 
> Not only do WorldMark credits have an automatic two year life, as a WorldMark owner you can borrow your next years credits for making a reservation in the current year.  Without paying next years maintenance dues in advance.  If you want to plan a big trip and don't want to fuss with transferring credits from another owner, you can save last years credits, borrow next years credits, and have a 3 year supply to use now.  For example, a 10,000 credit account could use that to have 30,000 credits to work with.



Buy a fully loaded contract of for example 10000 credits and you will have 30000 one time use credits that you can sell (rent)in the first year  for almost $2000 and 10000 credits to use for your own vacation...Damn near pays for the purchase.


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## Rent_Share (Feb 10, 2015)

ronparise said:


> Buy a fully loaded contract of for example and you will have 30000 one time use credits that you can sell (rent)in the first year for almost $2000 and 10000 credits to use for your own vacation...Damn near pays for the purchase.


 
20,000 credits (prior year and current year) would rent for around $1,300, and the resale price for an account with 30,000 available would be closer to 4,000.

Since you're in the business of renting units to non owners, you have a mechanism to generate a higher rental rate than the owner to owner credit rate.

I stand by that unless the OP wants a trader, that is not impqcted by TPU's of the reserved week, If they plan on using the system they would be better served looking at Wyndham Vacation Ownershio since they are in Maryland


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## ronparise (Feb 10, 2015)

Rent_Share said:


> 20,000 credits (prior year and current year) would rent for around $1,300, and the resale price for an account with 30,000 available would be closer to 4,000.
> 
> Since you're in the business of renting units to non owners, you have a mechanism to generate a higher rental rate than the owner to owner credit rate.
> 
> I stand by that unless the OP wants a trader, that is not impqcted by TPU's of the reserved week, If they plan on using the system they would be better served looking at Wyndham Vacation Ownershio since they are in Maryland



I bought Wyndham initially because of the Maryland resort, so I do agree with you about  Club Wyndham

but regarding my post on renting credits...Im not talking about renting reservations...My calculation goes like this for a 10000 credit account. 

10000 last years credits
10000 current years credits
10000 credits available at your first anniversary
10000 credits to borrow, at your first anniversary

so in the first year  30000 credits to rent at 6.5 cents = $1950  plus a nice vacation


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## CO skier (Feb 11, 2015)

ronparise said:


> I bought Wyndham initially because of the Maryland resort, so I do agree with you about  Club Wyndham
> 
> but regarding my post on renting credits...Im not talking about renting reservations...My calculation goes like this for a 10000 credit account.
> 
> ...



You forgot to deduct the maintenance fees between now and the next anniversary and the $716 to pay for the borrowed credits, so it would be $1950 - $716 = $1234 minus maintenance fees until the next anniversary plus a nice vacation.  Still a good deal, if it could be found, but a fully loaded 10,000 credits WorldMark account typically sells for more than $2000.

One could be a perpetual borrower, but WorldMark buyers offer more for fully loaded accounts and less for stripped accounts, so the owner would "pay" for the rented credits when they sell the account for less than they paid for it.

A recent EBay auction for 10,000 WorldMark credits from a reputable seller sold for $2035.  It was a fully stripped account with no credits available until July, so add 4 months of dues to that, and the total is about $2250 with no credits to rent.  Add in the $475 closing costs plus the $299 transfer fee, and the cost is $3024 or about $0.30/credit all in.  This is more typical for the sale price of a 10,000 credit account.


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## GregT (Feb 11, 2015)

LLW said:


> Why WM?
> 1. Flexibility: Over 80 resorts (and growing); no home resorts so every owner has the same chance. No booking fee, no guest fee, liberal cancellation policy (2 to 30 days before check-in). Free owner-to-owner transfer of points. Points automatically have 2-year life.
> For the 10K points, you may book 1 red week one year, 2 shoulder weeks another, or 3 low weeks another, or a combination thereof; a 3BR one year, a studio another.
> Check-in on any day of the week. Stay 1 to 2 (from 10 months on) or limitless number of nights, as long as you have the points.
> ...



This is a great summary for WM -- I would also echo Ian's comment that it is a very powerful trader in both RCI and II.

Best,

Greg


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## ronparise (Feb 11, 2015)

CO skier said:


> You forgot to deduct the maintenance fees between now and the next anniversary and the $716 to pay for the borrowed credits, so it would be $1950 - $716 = $1234 minus maintenance fees until the next anniversary plus a nice vacation.  Still a good deal, if it could be found, but a fully loaded 10,000 credits WorldMark account typically sells for more than $2000.
> 
> One could be a perpetual borrower, but WorldMark buyers offer more for fully loaded accounts and less for stripped accounts, so the owner would "pay" for the rented credits when they sell the account for less than they paid for it.
> 
> A recent EBay auction for 10,000 WorldMark credits from a reputable seller sold for $2035.  It was a fully stripped account with no credits available until July, so add 4 months of dues to that, and the total is about $2250 with no credits to rent.  Add in the $475 closing costs plus the $299 transfer fee, and the cost is $3024 or about $0.30/credit all in.  This is more typical for the sale price of a 10,000 credit account.




one is a perpetual borrower



There are two sets of costs when talking about any second home  purchase, ( timeshare or otherwise) . The cost to purchase and the cost of maintaining the thing

Im only talking about the cost to purchase... of course there is maintenance
I assume anyone with any sense budgets for both before buying

Im suggesting that you could recover your purchase price by selling one time use credits in your first year, and by then by considering the value of that first vacation

and yes selling a stripped contract will net you less than one fully loaded, but Im not thinking that far ahead. All Im saying is that your out of pocket over the first year of ownership can be pretty small if you take advantage of what you have already said are great features of the program ie 2 year life of credits and the ability to borrow a year

As David has already said, I do it differently. I make as many high value reservations in the first year of ownership as I can,  a 10000 credit contract would yield 4 10000 credit reservations that I would expect to rent for $6000, lay that against  about $4000 to purchase and about $700 mf and  I pay for the purchase and the maintenance this year and I can bank the maintenance for next year...I dont recommend that approach for anybody,  but it works for me.


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