# Is Welk the best?



## Shankilicious (Apr 9, 2019)

I know that title is click-bait, so sue me.
The more I read about other major/minor timeshare systems, the happier I am with my ownership of Welk, even after buying retail. (Yes, I would have bought 3xs as many points resale if I had known about that option 4 years ago....)
To be clear I am talking about Welk Platinum Points ownership and these are the reasons I believe it's the best and simplest.

High quality accommodations with great ratings in RCI and II
Great trade-ability in RCI and II, depositing into either system gets you a bonus week.
RCI platinum membership included in MF
Only one annual fee. Just the MF no club dues or house keeping
No transfer fees to go to any of the 5, soon to be 7 Welk resorts
16 affiliated resorts and growing also without transfer fees.
No Guest Cert fees.
No fee to roll/borrow points to/from the next year.
No parking fees
Great customer service
MF are average compared to other resort systems.
Can book as little as a two day stay to spread the points out.
Good availability
Easy to book online and see availability through owners lounge.
Other than not having any resorts out East or in Florida, yet, I haven't read anything to make me want to own with anybody else.


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## Passepartout (Apr 9, 2019)

So, how IS that Kool-Aid anyway?


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## VacationForever (Apr 9, 2019)

It is important that owner of whatever timeshare likes what they own.  

I posted in another thread, we are never Welk again.  Horrible leaky ceiling rundown condo building in Cathedral City.  At Escondido, horrible housekeeping, cobwebs covered corners of ceilings, toilet and other areas, shower head as drip drip drip with no water pressure.  Wifi not working.


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## mjm1 (Apr 9, 2019)

Glad to hear you are enjoying your ownership.

We are former owners having first owned a fixed unit in Escondido and then converting to the points program. The resorts, other than Palm Springs, were always very nice. The only down side for us was the locations were not in prime locations at least for us. We love San Diego and Escondido is a 45-60 minute drive from there. At least 30 minutes to the nearest beach. We observed the same thing with their resorts in Cabo, Branson and Northstar. We weren’t very excited about the proposed location in Poipu either. Again, these are personal preferences. We decided to move on.

The staff was always very helpful when we stayed at a Welk property. The sales team is terrible, but that can be said of most sales teams.

I hope they continue to add more properties in good areas. That will help owners and those who exchange in. Enjoy your experiences with them.

Best regards.

Mike


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## Shankilicious (Apr 9, 2019)

VacationForever said:


> It is important that owner of whatever timeshare likes what they own.
> 
> I posted in another thread, we are never Welk again.  Horrible leaky ceiling rundown condo building in Cathedral City.  At Escondido, horrible housekeeping, cobwebs covered corners of ceilings, toilet and other areas, shower head as drip drip drip with no water pressure.  Wifi not working.


Did you post a review in trip advisor about your Palm springs experience? Cuz that sounds familiar. And I've heard that Palm Springs needs renovating badly. Escondido is renovating the oldest section (Welk resort villas) now. 

I've never been to Hawaii as beaches are not my thing. I love the water, hate sand. But the two affilliates in HI are on the cliffs at princeville and pono Kai resort on Fuji beach. Not the best but decent.

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## VacationForever (Apr 9, 2019)

Shankilicious said:


> Did you post a review in trip advisor about your Palm springs experience? Cuz that sounds familiar. And I've heard that Palm Springs needs renovating badly. Escondido is renovating the oldest section (Welk resort villas) now.
> 
> I've never been to Hawaii as beaches are not my thing. I love the water, hate sand. But the two affilliates in HI are on the cliffs at princeville and pono Kai resort on Fuji beach. Not the best but decent.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk


It was in another thread on TUG with you.  I did not post on TripAdvisor.


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## rhonda (Apr 9, 2019)

So glad you are happy with your ownership.  That is the best one can hope for with each our decisions, right?  Well done!


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## Shankilicious (Apr 9, 2019)

Passepartout said:


> So, how IS that Kool-Aid anyway?


I'm not saying it's perfect. I almost dropped them regardless of the consequences when I was an EOY owner. There are a lot of limitations there. But I have learned as much as I can about the system I own and compared it as best as I can to many others and this is my conclusion. 
Im open to discuss/back up my opinion if you want to convince me otherwise. 

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## Shankilicious (Apr 9, 2019)

VacationForever said:


> It was in another thread on TUG with you.  I did not post on TripAdvisor.


Gotcha. It seems at least two people have had that problem then. I'm still planning to go out there and see for myself though.

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## OldGuy (Apr 9, 2019)

Like _better_, _best_ is also in the eye of the beholder.


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## JohnPaul (Apr 9, 2019)

OldGuy said:


> Like _better_, _best_ is also in the eye of the beholder.



Better and best are in comparison to what is important to you, which varies greatly by individual.  As discussed, what's important is that it works well for you.


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## Icc5 (Apr 9, 2019)

Shankilicious said:


> I know that title is click-bait, so sue me.
> The more I read about other major/minor timeshare systems, the happier I am with my ownership of Welk, even after buying retail. (Yes, I would have bought 3xs as many points resale if I had known about that option 4 years ago....)
> To be clear I am talking about Welk Platinum Points ownership and these are the reasons I believe it's the best and simplest.
> 
> ...



I've been real happy with our Welk but we bought for a real cheap price for a Villa in Escondido about 25 years ago.  We've also been to Welk in Palm Springs about 20 years ago and enjoyed it.
The Villa in Escondido has always been my favorite even among our other holdings of Orange Lake, Donatello, and Worldmark plus the 200 or so trades we have done.  I've said this on Tug many times before that when at our Villa I feel as if the weight of the world melts off my shoulders.  
Bart


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## nuwermj (Apr 9, 2019)

Shankilicious said:


> Can book as little as a two day stay to spread the points out.
> Good availability



The standard reservation window is 15 months prior to check-in date. But the reservation must be for a full week starting on the resort's standard check-in day (typically Friday, Saturday or Sunday). A split-week reservation cannot be made until 9 months before check-in. I understand why this is done from a management point-of-view (fewer holes, or unused rooms, in the inventory), but it makes non-standard reservations more competitive in the high demand seasons. Air-fares are sometimes lower mid week and a Wednesday to Wednesday reservation might be desirable. Or a 10 or 12 day reservation might be more desirable than a 7 or 14 day reservation. Welk's rules make these non-standard reservations more difficult.


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## Shankilicious (Apr 9, 2019)

nuwermj said:


> The standard reservation window is 15 months prior to check-in date. But the reservation must be for a full week starting on the resort's standard check-in day (typically Friday, Saturday or Sunday). A split-week reservation cannot be made until 9 months before check-in. I understand why this is done from a management point-of-view (fewer holes, or unused rooms, in the inventory), but it makes non-standard reservations more competitive in the high demand seasons. Air-fares are sometimes lower mid week and a Wednesday to Wednesday reservation might be desirable. Or a 10 or 12 day reservation might be more desirable than a 7 or 14 day reservation. Welk's rules make these non-standard reservations more difficult.


Reservations further than 9 months out do have to be a week long, booked checking in on Fri-Sat-Sun. Reservations inside of 9 months, "short stay/split week" owners can check in any day of the week.
I can book a stay right now from 11/5-11/16 at any Welk resort. That's a Tuesday check in to the following Sat check out.
I can also book past 9 months for whatever length of stay I have points for as long as check in is Fri,Sat, or Sun. I could book a 1/4/20-1/15/20 stay at Northstar in Tahoe right now if I had the points.


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## bizaro86 (Apr 9, 2019)

What are the MF for Welk points? Is it just calculated by points or is there a fixed portion as well?


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## Shankilicious (Apr 9, 2019)

There is a minimum fixed amount and then calculated by amount of points from there. I don't know the exact numbers. But my MF for 240k points is 1450. For 540k points in 2017 it was around $2k.

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## Sandy VDH (Apr 9, 2019)

There are a list of pros and cons for every resort or resort system. 

It all depends on a number of factors:
Where you live
Where you want to go
What you like
What level of luxury you like
How far in advance you can you plan
How much flexibility you need
Bla bla bla....

This is not 1 right answer for what is Best.


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## Shankilicious (Apr 9, 2019)

Sandy VDH said:


> There are a list of pros and cons for every resort or resort system.
> 
> It all depends on a number of factors:
> Where you live
> ...


Those things only matter in initially figuring out which company to go with. My praise and opinion is based mostly in the simplicity, flexibility, and lack of extra/hidden fees

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## Sandy VDH (Apr 9, 2019)

Shankilicious said:


> Those things only matter in initially figuring out which company to go with. My praise and opinion is based mostly in the simplicity, flexibility, and lack of extra/hidden fees
> 
> Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk



Well if that is your criteria then a VIPP Membership at Wyndham is likely a better choice. Given the choice of resorts and the usage and value your points obtain.  Now if you don't have a VIPP Membership then I think you could knock it down a few notches.  Considering that I back doored my way into a VIPP I can't complain.  Convert 3 fixed week, PIC 2 weeks and buy 160K point to get to VIPP, then I can't complain.


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## Shankilicious (Apr 9, 2019)

Sandy VDH said:


> Well if that is your criteria then a VIPP Membership at Wyndham is likely a better choice. Given the choice of resorts and the usage and value your points obtain.  Now if you don't have a VIPP Membership then I think you could knock it down a few notches.  Considering that I back doored my way into a VIPP I can't complain.  Convert 3 fixed week, PIC 2 weeks and buy 160K point to get to VIPP, then I can't complain.


See, I've looked into wyndham and all that you just said, with the different levels getting different perks and only certain owners can book at certain resorts at certain times..... That's my main argument. Every Welk platinum owner can book at any Welk resort, any time of the year as long as they have the points. 
The sub 540k point owners have the 15month window. The 1million plus point members get I believe three months earlier access. That is the only real difference to owning more points. But resale owners don't get that perk anyway. 

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## bizaro86 (Apr 9, 2019)

Wait - so developer owners of large accounts can book sooner!?!? IMO that is an automatic no deal for me. That means they get first access to the very best inventory. I'd take a couple of extra fees to have access to the best inventory in a system.


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## Shankilicious (Apr 9, 2019)

bizaro86 said:


> Wait - so developer owners of large accounts can book sooner!?!? IMO that is an automatic no deal for me. That means they get first access to the very best inventory. I'd take a couple of extra fees to have access to the best inventory in a system.


But only a maximum of 20% of total inventory is available for those extended reservation windows. Those people are paying anywhere from $75-125k to get between 540k and 1M points. So there aren't very many of them. Ive never had an issue booking anything I wanted in the 6-9 month range and I only own 240k points.

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## bizaro86 (Apr 9, 2019)

Shankilicious said:


> But only a maximum of 20% of total inventory is available for those extended reservation windows. Those people are paying anywhere from $75-125k to get between 540k and 1M points. So there aren't very many of them. Ive never had an issue booking anything I wanted in the 6-9 month range and I only own 240k points.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk



How strictly is that 20% calculated though? 

Because weeks 51/52/7/12 at Northstar could be 100% booked in advance and that would only be 7% of the inventory at Northstar... 

If it's a max of 20% of the rooms at any given resort/week that's better but still not great, imo.


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## Shankilicious (Apr 9, 2019)

The attached is from the contract. It reads like it's total inventory. Which makes your point somewhat more considerable. However, just a month or two ago, I was still able to book a two bedroom at Northstar during Christmas. 
I never realized until joining TUG how much people do Christmas at a resort..... Foreign thought for me. Christmas is always at a family members house for mine and my wife's family. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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## bizaro86 (Apr 9, 2019)

20% of the weeks in Escondido would be 10.4 weeks. So hypothetically, you could see pretty much all of the good summer weeks booked before the 15 months. 

The big risk I see is that the Welk Platinum Points is still probably only a small percentage of the total Welk system. As it gets bigger you'll naturally see more bigger memberships, and people will get better at using their points. 

Although I'd say the fact that Christmas at Northstar was available after the window was open for quite awhile is a pretty good sign.


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## Shankilicious (Apr 9, 2019)

Welk doesn't sell fixed weeks anywhere anymore from what I've been told. They never sold anything but points at Cabo, Branson, or Northstar. 
And as I said, above 540k points and above gets real expensive real fast. A guy posted on TUG  back in January that he had just bought 1M Welk points for $125k..... 
The extended reservation window isn't open to resale purchasers so those two factors plus Breckenridge opening this fall, should mean even more ski availability. 
There's plenty open in weeks 1-8 of 2020 at Northstar, except presidents weekend, week 7.

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## Guitarmom (Apr 11, 2019)

I have to admit that I'm completely in agreement with you, Shankilicious. I love Welk! Keep in mind that's a totally uneducated opinion, because we literally never looked at anything else. Our extended family lives in Escondido, so it was Welk or nuttin'! But the cares of the world melt away when we're at Welk, and we love going there.

There's a perk of being a large points owner that I don't often see mentioned here: Depending on your membership level, last minute reservations (i.e. 30-60 days in advance) get a % discount in points. At our level, Platinum Select, last minute reservations get a 20% discount, so a small one bedroom costs 90,000 instead of 120,000 points if I make the reservation less than 45 days in the future. (Keep in mind, these perks don't transfer to resale owners.) My six small one bedroom weeks can stretch to eight!

We're seriously considering upgrading one level and spending winters in Escondido. If we do, then their new catch phrase, "Welkome Home," will be quite on point for us!

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## Shankilicious (Apr 11, 2019)

Hahaha! Yeah I didnt add that discounted last minute bonus for two reasons. I don't have it as only owning 240k points and resale owners don't get it.....

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## Guitarmom (Apr 13, 2019)

bizaro86 said:


> 20% of the weeks in Escondido would be 10.4 weeks. So hypothetically, you could see pretty much all of the good summer weeks booked before the 15 months.


You have a good point. But only 5% of Welk owners are Premiere/Select/Elite/Pinnacle. So the P/S/E/P owners simply cannot book "all the good summer weeks" because there aren't enough of them. There was a post in January that someone paid $125,000 for 1.5 million points making her a Pinnacle owner (she wisely decided to rescind). Since P/S/E/P is only available when you buy from the developer, I just can't imagine that the 5% is going to grow much at those prices.


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## RunCat (May 21, 2019)

Guitarmom said:


> You have a good point. But only 5% of Welk owners are Premiere/Select/Elite/Pinnacle. So the P/S/E/P owners simply cannot book "all the good summer weeks" because there aren't enough of them. There was a post in January that someone paid $125,000 for 1.5 million points making her a Pinnacle owner (she wisely decided to rescind). Since P/S/E/P is only available when you buy from the developer, I just can't imagine that the 5% is going to grow much at those prices.


To prevent the PSEP owners from grabbing all of the high value weeks, only a small part of the inventory is made available for the extended reservation windows. Even though, I am in that PSEP category, I think this system is a good for all owners


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## Icc5 (May 26, 2019)

Love our Welk Villa that we bought 30 years ago fo only a few thousand dollars after falling in love with it.  It is one of 4 systems we own and by far my favorite.  We own in Escondido a week which we've kept, never converted.  I've written this before but when I walk into our unit it feels like the weight of the world is lifted off my shoulders.  It is also a favorite for our friends and relatives.
If I knew what made me relax so much here I would convert our house to get the same feeling.
I have stayed at other Welk Resorts in trades thru RCI but none give me that same feeling.  We also own in S.F. at the Donatello, at Orange Lake in Florida, and in Worldmark.
Bart


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## TUG25 (Jul 12, 2019)

Shank, signed up now, just to say, my family has enjoyed Well Escondido for the last 23 years! I know I had a TUG account back then but it was under a prodigy.net user email, which is long gone.  Learned so much back then with TUG , that when an opportunity came up to buy 2 summer weeks at Broadway Hill we jumped. Personally we have loved the consistency of the same 2 weeks in the same unit. Yes, things have changed, house keeping has gotten worse over the last several years, fewer plays, not enough umbrellas (maybe a unique complaint due to our summer use). But the overall experience makes it a vacation we look forward to year after year.


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## Shankilicious (Jul 13, 2019)

TUG25 said:


> Shank, signed up now, just to say, my family has enjoyed Well Escondido for the last 23 years! I know I had a TUG account back then but it was under a prodigy.net user email, which is long gone.  Learned so much back then with TUG , that when an opportunity came up to buy 2 summer weeks at Broadway Hill we jumped. Personally we have loved the consistency of the same 2 weeks in the same unit. Yes, things have changed, house keeping has gotten worse over the last several years, fewer plays, not enough umbrellas (maybe a unique complaint due to our summer use). But the overall experience makes it a vacation we look forward to year after year.


I feel like the Escondido property with it's three rec centers and large golf course (especially foot golf) make it a destination I could spend two weeks at, and intend to in 2022 for my 10 year Anniversary.


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## BJRSanDiego (Jul 13, 2019)

I think that Welk is an okay resort chain but not the best.  I have stayed at Cathedral City once and Northstar twice (second time was a free comp because of the disaster of the first visit - - review on file on tug2.).  Cathedral city is, IIRC, only 1 BR units.  It is a converted apartment complex.  It was okay but probably got a B grade.  The washers/dryers are not in the units but are located in the clubhouse.  

In the OP's post, he mentioned that Welk trades well in both RCI and II.  But that needs to be explained a bit.  Welk basically pulled out of II.  So, the Welk owners have their RCI membership included in their annual MF.  That means that the vast majority of owners no longer are no longer in II.  If the Welk owners want to exchange through II, they would need to separately pay the annual II membership fee themselves.  I think that those resorts that have always been in points no longer can exchange through II.  So, if a Welk owner only owns points, I'm not sure if they can exchange though ii.  Perhaps, I'm wrong.  If I'm wrong, I hope that someone clarifies that.  

I think that there are only 5 or 6  Welk resorts.  So, doing an internal exchange in Welk is limited.  

I prefer Marriott TS because of their in-network preference period in II for exchanges.


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## Shankilicious (Jul 13, 2019)

BJRSanDiego said:


> I think that Welk is an okay resort chain but not the best.  I have stayed at Cathedral City once and Northstar twice (second time was a free comp because of the disaster of the first visit - - review on file on tug2.).  Cathedral city is, IIRC, only 1 BR units.  It is a converted apartment complex.  It was okay but probably got a B grade.  The washers/dryers are not in the units but are located in the clubhouse.
> 
> In the OP's post, he mentioned that Welk trades well in both RCI and II.  But that needs to be explained a bit.  Welk basically pulled out of II.  So, the Welk owners have their RCI membership included in their annual MF.  That means that the vast majority of owners no longer are no longer in II.  If the Welk owners want to exchange through II, they would need to separately pay the annual II membership fee themselves.  I think that those resorts that have always been in points no longer can exchange through II.  So, if a Welk owner only owns points, I'm not sure if they can exchange though ii.  Perhaps, I'm wrong.  If I'm wrong, I hope that someone clarifies that.
> 
> ...


You are correct in that Welk owners have to pay their own II fees. But I am a points only owner and can still "exchange" through II. 90% of Welk owners only own points. They have made a huge campaign of converting deeds to points in the last 5 years.

Right now there are 5 Welk Resorts with the Breckenridge location opening this fall. There are 14 (I believe) associate resorts that we can exchange with for no fee.


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## OldGuy (Jul 13, 2019)

Oh, I've been misreading it.  I thought you were Skankilicious.

But, you're actually just a bad golfer.


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## Shankilicious (Jul 13, 2019)

OldGuy said:


> Oh, I've been misreading it.  I thought you were Skankilicious.
> 
> But, you're actually just a bad golfer.


I've stepped foot on one golf course in 15 years. I had a cigar in one hand and beer in the other the whole time. #neverleavethecart lol!

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## rickandcindy23 (Jul 13, 2019)

Escondido is okay, but when our kids wanted to go to CA, they wanted to be near the ocean.  I didn't care, but they did, and so we stayed at GPR Palisades and then of course Newport Coast for early June that year.  

The kids have all been to Welk, but not for a long time.  They were kids last time, and now they are 38, 40 and 42 and all have kids of their own.  When they saw how inland it was, they just weren't impressed.  

Now the Branson Welk resort, I am going to stay there sometime, and I will try out the new Mountain Villas in Escondido.


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## OldGuy (Jul 13, 2019)

Shankilicious said:


> I've stepped foot on one golf course in 15 years. I had a cigar in one hand and beer in the other the whole time. #neverleavethecart lol!



braggert


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## Sea&ski? (Sep 14, 2019)

What is 120,000 Welk points or 240,000 points get you for exchange in II or RCI?  Is it one bedroom at Marriott or Hilton or Disney?  I am trying to get an idea of some comparison.  We did like the Welk at North Tahoe and we are still trying to figure out where we should buy for timeshare.


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## Shankilicious (Sep 14, 2019)

Sea&ski? said:


> What is 120,000 Welk points or 240,000 points get you for exchange in II or RCI?  Is it one bedroom at Marriott or Hilton or Disney?  I am trying to get an idea of some comparison.  We did like the Welk at North Tahoe and we are still trying to figure out where we should buy for timeshare.


240k points welk points will get you a 2br almost anywhere through RCI or II except Registry resorts.

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