# WorldMark Question?



## RIMike (Oct 25, 2009)

I am considering buying into the Worldmark The Club in part because of very difficult to get locations in the west like West Yellowstone and those in Washington State.  However, what I want to know, is, can I buy into any WM property and exchange easily into another property using the points.  What I mean is if I buy into say the Running Y in Ore can I exchange using the points system easily into West Yellowstone.  Is there any benefit into buying into the specific property I am most interested in using and then trading other times or does it really matter?

I am in another points system already and finding that one a little less than hoped for.


----------



## Cathyb (Oct 25, 2009)

RIMike:  First, Worldmark calls their points -- "credits".  Next, you buy credits that gives you the same opportunities as other WM owners to get any property they have -- IF -- you call at least 13 months out. So in a perfect world, if you own 10,000 credits you could get Depoe Bay for a week in the highest demand season (summer).  There are sneaky ways some owners have figured out to actually reserve before 13 months out legally by stringing together, say, 10 days together at different resorts.

We own Worldmark, Marriott, Westin and 3 fixed weeks in Hawaii -- but find WM the most flexible and are happy with our investment.


----------



## RIMike (Oct 25, 2009)

Cathyb said:


> RIMike:  First, Worldmark calls their points -- "credits".  Next, you buy credits that gives you the same opportunities as other WM owners to get any property they have -- IF -- you call at least 13 months out. So in a perfect world, if you own 10,000 credits you could get Depoe Bay for a week in the highest demand season (summer).  There are sneaky ways some owners have figured out to actually reserve before 13 months out legally by stringing together, say, 10 days together at different resorts.
> 
> We own Worldmark, Marriott, Westin and 3 fixed weeks in Hawaii -- but find WM the most flexible and are happy with our investment.



Do you get first right to reserve at your "home resort"? or all are equal and it does not matter where you own as long as you have enough credits? And are you finding WM has good ability to trade within the rest of the Wyndham system?


----------



## DeniseM (Oct 25, 2009)

Hi Mike - have you had a chance to check out the Worldmark Advice article at the top of the page?  I'm sure you will get responses from other owners as well, but it may help answer some of your questions in the meantime.


----------



## Bill4728 (Oct 25, 2009)

Mike,

WM has no home resorts.  Everyone owns credits/points in the club and everyone is on equal standing with every other owner. 

Worldmark and their cousins Wyndham, shares a few units at several of their resorts with each other. But there is little available to worldmark owners at wyndham resorts.


----------



## LLW (Oct 25, 2009)

RIMike said:


> Do you get first right to reserve at your "home resort"? or all are equal and it does not matter where you own as long as you have enough credits? And are you finding WM has good ability to trade within the rest of the Wyndham system?




As Bill said, WM has no home resorts (thus all owners are equals in booking all resorts in the system, and are handicpped only by their own knowledge), and has little availability to book into the Wyndham Vacation Resorts (formerly Fairfield). If you want to use WM resorts, buy WM. If you want to use WVR resorts, buy WVR.

There are a lot of WM owners who _love_ their WM. Most of them participate on www.wmowners.com and share their knowledge and the most recent WM info that they have found - most of them are very active users, and found a lot more information than the average user. The web site is where WM enthusiasts learn how to maximize the value of their WM ownership. Because WM is such a flexible and big system, how much you know about how to use it can easily double your value out of it. 

If you are a limited knowledge owner, it's still an above-average system. But if you are a knowledgeable owner, it's a fantastic system. Credits are the primary currency in WM, and knowledge is the second.


----------



## RIMike (Oct 25, 2009)

Thanks all, you have been most helpful as I consider this option...for the most part I have really enjoyed my TS experiences, love my Royals, Happy with my pickup in Alberta and St Maarten, but the more I learn the more I am leaning towards WM for an additional TS "credit" holding.

So now my question is, if I go this route and plan on using WM once about every other year, how many credits should I consider?


----------



## LLW (Oct 25, 2009)

RIMike said:


> Thanks all, you have been most helpful as I consider this option...for the most part I have really enjoyed my TS experiences, love my Royals, Happy with my pickup in Alberta and St Maarten, but the more I learn the more I am leaning towards WM for an additional TS "credit" holding.
> 
> So now my question is, *if I go this route and plan on using WM once about every other year, how many credits should I consider*?




It depends on 
1. How many bedrooms do you need,
2. When do you go, and
3. What resorts do you want to prepare for.

There are big variances. Info for each resort is here:

http://www.worldmarktheclub.com/resorts/

Click on the map or the drop-down menu to go to the resort. The season dates and credit values are at the bottom of each resort page.

Most people start small, and add on credits later. You may also rent credits from other owners if you run low.


----------



## Cathyb (Oct 25, 2009)

We bought 10000 credits which kept us just under the increase in fees.  We use it every other year which gives us 20000 to do lots of choices.  This works for us; will it work for your ideas???  

We just completed five of WM resorts (Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Seaside and Depot) -- a wonderful vacation in top notch resorts in August -- a difficult season to get.  It took 18 months of planning -- are you willing to devote that much time?   Lots for you to think about


----------



## GregT (Oct 25, 2009)

There are three great things that I can think of about WM ownership (I'm sure there's more):

1) Great properties -- I really like the clean, well-located units if I choose to use my WM credits to book a stay at a WM property. 
2) WM is an amazingly powerful trading property.  I can deposit 5,000 credits into Interval International and great very acceptable 1 week trades into good locations (that's about $250 in MFs for those 5,000 credits)
3) You can rent excess credits needed from other owners, for not too much more than the MFs. - and use them to deposit into II, or to reserve your desired property within WM.

We use WM because we love Hawaii -- we will reserve the Kihei property at 13 months out.  We also like the Big Bear property and will stay there, and will also stay in Indio if we can't trade into other Palm Springs properties (Marriott's are cheap in Palm Springs, and we can trade easily).

It's a great system, I encourage you to look further into it.

Good luck!

Greg


----------



## LLW (Oct 26, 2009)

Cathyb said:


> *We bought 10000 credits which kept us just under the increase in fees.  *



That is smart. Mike, here is the 6-1-09 to 5-31-10 WM Maintenance Fee schedule:

http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21585

Per Club governing documents, MF may only increase by a maximum of 5% each year. But there is no limit for some other fees, e.g. housekeeping, transient occupancy tax, etc.


----------



## Rent_Share (Oct 26, 2009)

The eBay listings may have made you think that there is a home resort, their guidlines are pretty arbitrary

Also many of the other sites fo not have a categorgy for "credits" not tied to a deed so you might find them listed under one of the locations

Make sure you add all of the stated closing costs when comparing apples to apples. Many of the PCC's add all of their standard fees to the sales of a membership that is tied to a deeded property


----------



## Bill4728 (Oct 26, 2009)

Rent_Share said:


> The eBay listings may have made you think that there is a home resort, their guidlines are pretty arbitrary
> 
> Also many of the other sites fo not have a categorgy for "credits" not tied to a deed so you might find them listed under one of the locations
> 
> Make sure you add all of the stated closing costs when comparing apples to apples. Many of the PCC's add all of their standard fees to the sales of a membership that is tied to a deeded property



Recently, Ebay will not allow you list a TS for sale without a location for the TS. This is a problem for pure point based TS systems like Worldmark & Club Intrawest which don't have home resorts. 

So if you're looking on Ebay for listings of these TS systems it may appear that there are home resorts when there aren't.


----------



## Rent_Share (Oct 27, 2009)

Cathyb said:


> We bought 10000 credits which kept us just under the increase in fees. We use it every other year which gives us 20000 to do lots of choices. This works for us; will it work for your ideas???


 
Everyone pays the same % increase in fees 

I believe the original poster was talking about the points increments where the fees chage, they change on unattainable increments since WM only trades in blocs of 1000 with 5000 being the minumum 

Search Optimum size Membership on WormarkOwners.com and you will find the tables


----------



## RIMike (Oct 28, 2009)

LLW said:


> It depends on
> 1. How many bedrooms do you need,
> 2. When do you go, and
> 3. What resorts do you want to prepare for.
> ...



I would probably use this about once every other year and need a two bedroom most years.


----------



## LLW (Oct 28, 2009)

RIMike said:


> I would probably use this about once every other year and need a two bedroom most years.




For high season use, if you go for 7 nights every other year, you probably need a 6000- to 7000-credit account to start with (and rent when you need to go more often, or go to the newer resorts that require more credits). Low season costs fewer credits.

Maintenance fees increase every 2500 credits, and accounts can only be bought in 1000-credit increments, so 7000 or 10000 is where you get the most out of your MF for small accounts (minimum size is 5000, but 5000 accounts are hard to find).

But you will find that once you get in, you will want more credits because you want to go to more places.  That's when you can rent, until you want to buy more credits.


----------

