# I am very happy with the price I got, do you agree?



## Holysmoke (Apr 16, 2008)

5 nights at Bonnet Creek for $386 including all taxes and fees.

7 nights at Cypress Pointe for $295 including all taxes and fees.

12 nights at 2 good resorts for an average of $56.75 per night.  

I don't think I could have done much better as a renter.


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## AwayWeGo (Apr 16, 2008)

*I Agree.*




Holysmoke said:


> 5 nights at Bonnet Creek for $386 including all taxes and fees.
> 
> 7 nights at Cypress Pointe for $295 including all taxes and fees.
> 
> ...


That's what I mean by luxury timeshare accommodations at Motel 6 & Super 8 rates. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## riverdees05 (Apr 16, 2008)

You got two great deals!


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## BocaBum99 (Apr 16, 2008)

Very good deals.  What size units did you get?  Did you get them from a private owner or a rental agent of some type?


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## Holysmoke (Apr 16, 2008)

They are both 2 bedrooms, one night at Bonnet Creek from an owner, 4 nights at Bonnet creek from ebay, 7 nights at Cypress Pointe from an owner.


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## Kola (Apr 16, 2008)

Holysmoke said:


> They are both 2 bedrooms, one night at Bonnet Creek from an owner, 4 nights at Bonnet creek from ebay, 7 nights at Cypress Pointe from an owner.



Looks very good ! But what dates are your rentals for ? I have had similar very good deals at Orlando Marriott's in December 2007 but you cannot get anything like it at any other time.
K.


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## BocaBum99 (Apr 16, 2008)

To get a cheap Wyndham rental isn't that tough because there are a ton of what everyone calls the Megarenters who use their platinum VIP benefits to get 50% discounts on reservations less than 60-days from checkin and they rent it on ebay and other venues.

It's a good deal for everyone.  The renter gets it cheaper than the owner.  The megarenter makes a profit.

Owners don't like it much because they think it takes away their inventory to book.  But, it is last minute inventory.  So, I guess it is okay.


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## Holysmoke (Apr 16, 2008)

Kola said:


> Looks very good ! But what dates are your rentals for ? I have had similar very good deals at Orlando Marriott's in December 2007 but you cannot get anything like it at any other time.
> K.



April 27th thru May 9th


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## Holysmoke (Apr 16, 2008)

BocaBum99 said:


> To get a cheap Wyndham rental isn't that tough because there are a ton of what everyone calls the Megarenters who use their platinum VIP benefits to get 50% discounts on reservations less than 60-days from checkin and they rent it on ebay and other venues.
> 
> It's a good deal for everyone.  The renter gets it cheaper than the owner.  The megarenter makes a profit.
> 
> Owners don't like it much because they think it takes away their inventory to book.  But, it is last minute inventory.  So, I guess it is okay.



Can a megarenter get cheaper than 386 for 5 nights? I'd like to go back often, do  you have a link to any megarenters?


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## rickandcindy23 (Apr 16, 2008)

My cost on a full week at Bonnet Creek, two-bedroom, 112,000 points this time of year is only $403.  My points cost $3.60 per 1,000.  That is not with any VIP discounts or benefits.


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## Holysmoke (Apr 16, 2008)

rickandcindy23 said:


> My cost on a full week at Bonnet Creek, two-bedroom, 112,000 points this time of year is only $403.  My points cost $3.60 per 1,000.  That is not with any discounts or benefits.



how much are your maintenance fees?


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## rickandcindy23 (Apr 16, 2008)

Holysmoke said:


> Can a megarenter get cheaper than 386 for 5 nights? I'd like to go back often, do  you have a link to any megarenters?



Perhaps you should buy Fairfield Points.  You don't have to own at Bonnet Creek to go to Bonnet Creek.  We love our Fairfield points, but that company is the worst for rules, there are too many, and the customer service people are hit or miss; there are great ones and there are bad ones.


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## rickandcindy23 (Apr 16, 2008)

Holysmoke said:


> how much are your maintenance fees?



$3.60 per 1,000 points.  Those were resale points.


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## Holysmoke (Apr 16, 2008)

so at wyndham you only buy the points? no maintenance fees? that sounds very enticing.

I just joined tugs membership for $15 yesterday so I have alot to learn.  

only ebay auction for wyndham points mentioned maintenance fees of $1260 per year, I was like, no thanks, I can rent cheaper than that.



300,000 Annual Fairshare Points, Deeded at

Bonnet Creek!



Unit Available: 2008

Usage: Annual Usage

Points: 300,000 Annual Usage Points

Points Issued: January 1st every year

Points are good for 1 year



Maintenance fee:  $1,260.00 due annually ($105.00 monthly)

Special Assessments: $0

Property Tax: Owner is billed by the county ($264.00)

Deeded Perpetual Ownership



The buyer of this unit will be responsible for the additional fees listed below.  All fees are due in escrow one week from receipt of the purchase contract. Resort Closings, Inc. will perform the closing (non-negotiable). Closing costs include account inquiry, escrow services, document prep, recording services and resort notification. 



Additional Fees Include:

Resort Closings Inc. Closing Costs:  $475.00 (excluding title insurance)

County Recording fee:  $100.00

1st 1/2 2008 maintenance fees, taxes & Special Assessments: $630.00

Resort transfer and estoppel Fee: $210.00


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## rickandcindy23 (Apr 16, 2008)

Those are the maintenance fees: $3.60 per 1,000 for our resorts, three points packages.  We paid 2 cents per point, including closing costs, for the packages, totalling 441,000 points.  Angelfire Resort in New Mexico has maintenance fees of $3.09 per 1,000, Kingsgate was higher, so the average is $3.60.

How can you know you can rent cheaper?  Why would you think that?  You think owners are renting for LESS than their maintenance fees?  They are making big money on you, at least those five days, if they were weekdays, at Bonnet Creek, the points were cheap.  Points are arbitrary, and so are the fees, if you don't know how one relates to the other.  You don't have to buy Bonnet Creek to go there.


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## Holysmoke (Apr 16, 2008)

rickandcindy23 said:


> Those are the maintenance fees: $3.60 per 1,000 for our resorts, three points packages.  We paid 2 cents per point, including closing costs, for the packages, totalling 441,000 points.  Angelfire Resort in New Mexico has maintenance fees of $3.09 per 1,000, Kingsgate was higher, so the average is $3.60.
> 
> How can you know you can rent cheaper?  Why would you think that?  You think owners are renting for LESS than their maintenance fees?  They are making big money on you, at least those five days, if they were weekdays, at Bonnet Creek, the points were cheap.  Points are arbitrary, and so are the fees, if you don't know how one relates to the other.  You don't have to buy Bonnet Creek to go there.



how bout you tell me where to get a similar deal


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## Holysmoke (Apr 16, 2008)

double post


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## Holysmoke (Apr 16, 2008)

triple post, wish I could delete my posts


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## rickandcindy23 (Apr 16, 2008)

Sure, you have mail.


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## BocaBum99 (Apr 16, 2008)

Holysmoke said:


> Can a megarenter get cheaper than 386 for 5 nights? I'd like to go back often, do  you have a link to any megarenters?



Cindy says is 112,000 points is what is required for 7-nights for a 2br in the season you are requesting.  5 night will be less.  A lot less if it doesn't include the weekend.

A megarenter can get the whole week for 56000 points.  Assuming their maintenance fees of $4/1000 points, their cost would be $224 for the whole week.

To find a megarenter, just go to ebay and search for any of the wyndham properties for rent.  Anyone who has more than a dozen listings is a megarenter.  You'll find several on eBay.


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## Holysmoke (Apr 16, 2008)

BocaBum99 said:


> Cindy says is 112,000 points is what is required for 7-nights for a 2br in the season you are requesting.  5 night will be less.  A lot less if it doesn't include the weekend.



I think the difference for me is all the years it will take to break even from the initial purchase price.  Say it costs 6 grand to even buy those points. 

Saving 2 hundred bucks a week by owning would take a looooong time before you would break even.  I still don't see the benefit to owning.

I have tried to see the benefits, but they aren't apparent.


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## BocaBum99 (Apr 16, 2008)

Holysmoke said:


> I think the difference for me is all the years it will take to break even from the initial purchase price.  Say it costs 6 grand to even buy those points.
> 
> Saving 2 hundred bucks a week by owning would take a looooong time before you would break even.  I still don't see the benefit to owning.
> 
> I have tried to see the benefits, but they aren't apparent.



I think you should continue to rent.  That is a very good and viable option for many.

As a point of clarification, 112,000 points will cost less than $1000 to purchase.


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## Holysmoke (Apr 16, 2008)

BocaBum99 said:


> I think you should continue to rent.  That is a very good and viable option for many.
> 
> As a point of clarification, 112,000 points will cost less than $1000 to purchase.



looking at redweek they start at $6k, tug classifieds is even worse for odd years.

I have alot to learn but the $1000 ebay listings are over $5 per 1000 points.

the $3.60 per 1000 points like cindy got, is quite a bit more on ebay and redweek is horrific.


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## BocaBum99 (Apr 16, 2008)

Holysmoke said:


> looking at redweek they start at $6k, tug classifieds is even worse for odd years.
> 
> I have alot to learn but the $1000 ebay listings are over $5 per 1000 points.
> 
> the $3.60 per 1000 points like cindy got, is quite a bit more on ebay and redweek is horrific.



Just because something is listed for $6000 doesn't mean you can't get it for less than $1000.


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## lprstn (Apr 16, 2008)

I got mine for .01 a point, so you can definately get a good price for Wyndam resale.


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## Holysmoke (Apr 16, 2008)

lprstn said:


> I got mine for .01 a point, so you can definately get a good price for Wyndam resale.



sounds good


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## JLB (Apr 17, 2008)

For some reason I'm chuckling.  
- - - - - 
I agree, it seems like a good thread to point out the benefits of renting from someone else, letting them lay out the $$$ and assume the responsibilities, myself being one of them, and then just riding on their shirttails.
- - - - - 
I get this strange sensation that this discussion is one of those loose lips ones, you know, inviting correction from those who set policies at Fairham. 



Holysmoke said:


> triple post, wish I could delete my posts


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## Holysmoke (Apr 18, 2008)

JLB said:


> For some reason I'm chuckling.
> - - - - -
> I agree, it seems like a good thread to point out the benefits of renting from someone else, letting them lay out the $$$ and assume the responsibilities, myself being one of them, and then just riding on their shirttails.
> - - - - -
> I get this strange sensation that this discussion is one of those loose lips ones, you know, inviting correction from those who set policies at Fairham.



nah, just a n00b trying to make my way ace.  sorry I got excited about a vacation for my family.


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## bookworm (Apr 18, 2008)

This is true, the mega-renters can get great deals for people - this is a great benefit to renters and an interesting opportunity for owners. At the same time, the mega-renter is not going to get high season weeks in most locations at a few months out in order to get their discount. They will have to use full points like everyone else. Those mega-renters also had to pay a lot at the beginning to the developer in order to get their VIP priveleges. MUCH more than 6K.
 Myrtle Beach weeks offered for rent in the summer, for example, are likely to be rented for much higher amounts by the same mega-renter. Those inexpensive nights at Bonnet Creek in late April/early May aren't too surprising given the fact that this is not prime time. Once you are looking at spring break in March for Bonnet Creek, the rentals are much more. In fact, I'm quite certain that a 28K points deposit could pull a great week in RCI for early May in Orlando. 
The OP certainly made a good move on this one. If someone consistently wants what is basically off-season in Orlando, renting is a great option.


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## JLB (Apr 18, 2008)

No apology needed.  I used to too. . . get excited about trip planning for extended family . . . for 15 years at least.  They call me Gris, after Clark Griswold of National Lampoon Vacation fame, always trying to provide the most excellent family vacation adventure.

To explain my comment, over the years discussions here about ways folks were taking advantage of various industry policies _du jour _have led to their demise, the demise of those benefits being taken advantage of, not the people, although I have not checked on that.

An industry insider once said something to the nature of, "It is great to have a secret society of people to exploit looples I am all for that. . . . to warn you that as you share information with a core group of timesharers that youa re sharing with others resorts, salespeople, managemetn companies . . . I think in reality our ability to process data mirrors society's ability to transmit data . . . perhaps tug expediated the fix."

We have friends, met here virtually, and many times in real life, who take advantage of the Fairham situation.

The past 20 years leads me to believe that whatever benefits, loopholes, etc., we are able to discover and take advantage of, go away, normally in direct relation to how much we talk about it.

But, that I think about it, since so many folks are strapped with timeshares that they don't use and all they want to do is recoup some of their fees, perhaps if we talk more about that, renting from owners rather than buying ourselves, the industry will find a way to prevent saddling folks with stuff they don't want.  

Glad you're having fun with your new family vacation toy!    Bat around a bit, but try not to kill it.   





Holysmoke said:


> sorry I got excited about a vacation for my family.


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## Mel (Apr 25, 2008)

No problem with getting excited about a vacation.  You might not know it from the posts, but most of us here get excited about our vacations, or we wouldn't be here constantly discussing timeshares!  Those of us that have been here for a few years have learned how to use the product to our advantage, and you are in the process of doing so too.  Sometimes there is an advantage to renting, sometime to owning.  Sometimes we even get attached to weeks that don't do all that well - we like the resort, we like certain benefits...

What Jim is alluding to is so true.  What we sometimes see as a benefit, the companies we work with see as flaws.  If we talk enough, and cause more people to take advantage of the "flaws" they decide to eliminate them.  A couple of examples you might be able to read about in the archives:

South African resorts - they started out as a real bargain in part because of the exchange rate, and in part because within RCI they were part of a segregated exchange pool.  This gave some of them much better trade power than they deserved - the segregated pool caused the demand to appear higher than it really was, and limited the supply significantly.

Two things happened with those weeks - first, the number of us buying those weeks increased the number of SA weeks getting into the regular exchange pool (thus increasing supply) and may have caused a small decrease in trade power.  But also, RCI saw what was happening and eventually decreased other factors in the trade power as well.  Of course, the exchange rate right now doesn't make them as much of a great deal either.

Searchable bonus weeks and 1-plus-one weeks.  You couldn't click on the week to get to the search page, but you could select a real week and then modify the URL for the correct "relation number" to access your bonus week and search with it.  Now they use a different number in the URL, rather than the relation number, and you have to call to find out what those weeks can pull.  They're relatively useless, but when you could waste a small portion of your own time online searching all the possibilities, sometimes something interesting would pop up.


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