# Using Wyndham points to book Disney resort



## bbarton713 (Sep 4, 2013)

We are recent owners (06/13) and one of the things we were told at the presentation and again when I spoke to the senior manager this Saturday was that we could use our Wyndham points to book a vacation at a Disney resort, specifically Bay Lake Towers.

After I called Wyndham and got forwarded to RCI and had the RCI person laugh at my request I'm thinking that this isn't true.

I called the local office and asked about this again and had someone in Quality Management call me and basically say that is correct.  BUT there are so many other cool places to stay have you considered them? :annoyed:

If you want to skate on the thin edge of truth you could say that it is possible to book a vacation at one of the resorts but the reality is that unless you call in and get really lucky and be willing to drop everything to travel when it comes up, you will never book a vacation at a Disney World resort.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?


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## vacationhopeful (Sep 4, 2013)

We have a thread here on these forums which require you to be a paying member ($15 yearly). Some of your concerns would be shown as to truth or falsehood there.

While you are a very NEW WYNDHAM owner, you will learn a VERY valuable piece of information in the following statement:

*If a timeshare salesman's lip are moving, they are lying.*

Welcome to TUG!

PS I have exchanged into DVC at least 7 times since they have been in RCI. I currently have 2 reservations reserved for future dates -- both AKV.


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## bbarton713 (Sep 4, 2013)

Thanks, Linda!



vacationhopeful said:


> We have a thread here on these forums which require you to be a paying member ($15 yearly). Some of your concerns would be shown as to truth or falsehood there.
> 
> While you are a very NEW WYNDHAM owner, you will learn a VERY valuable piece of information in the following statement:
> 
> ...


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## bbarton713 (Sep 4, 2013)

Hoops all completed, now an official member.


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## vacationhopeful (Sep 4, 2013)

Now, go look on the Sightings Thread under the TUG LOUNGE ....


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## Rent_Share (Sep 4, 2013)

The OP was suggesting it was an RCI employee that said it would be a snowballs chance in hell

1 RCI is owned by Wyndham

2 The transfer may have been to a WVO employee who handles RCI Issues



bbarton713 said:


> After I called Wyndham and got forwarded to RCI and had the RCI person laugh at my request I'm thinking that this isn't true.


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## ilenekm (Sep 4, 2013)

bbarton713 said:


> If you want to skate on the thin edge of truth you could say that it is possible to book a vacation at one of the resorts but the reality is that unless you call in and get really lucky and be willing to drop everything to travel when it comes up, you will never book a vacation at a Disney World resort.
> 
> Has anyone else had a similar experience?



I have booked Disney twice through RCI, both times at Old Key West.  We are headed down next month for Food and Wine. I am very excited.  I have seen other resorts available just not when I was looking to book so you may have luck getting Bay Lake Towers too.

My experience is that Disney deposits in bulk at some interval for units ~6 months out.  So you need to keep checking because they get booked really quickly once released.  The sightings board on this forum is really helpful to alert you to a deposit.

Ilene


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## 55plus (Sep 4, 2013)

Never believe a Wyndham sales weasel or the sales weasels' managers. They are full of lies, half truths and twisted facts...


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## presley (Sep 4, 2013)

I don't know why they would act like you couldn't get a reservation for Bay Lake Towers.  Sure, you can't call in anytime you want and have it sitting there waiting on a silver platter for the taking, but with a little planning, you can get a reservation there.  It operates like any other RCI exchange resort.


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## bnoble (Sep 4, 2013)

They aren't wrong, but it's not as simple as you are thinking.

You are going to use an "exchange system" (like barter) to try to book a Disney property with your Wyndham points.  For that to happen, someone who owns a Disney property has to decide to trade *out* of their home system and into some *other* timeshare.  RCI (like some others) acts as a big "bank" that takes deposits of vacation time, and allows people with something on deposit to later withdraw something "similar".  But, if you want a specific location, you have to wait until an owner at that location deposits some time, and you have to either (a) be quick on your feet or (b) be "first in line" to make the trade.

The way to be "first in line" is to deposit points to RCI, and then place an Ongoing Search for the resorts, unit sizes, and dates you are interested in.  The way to be "quick on your feet" is to also check the Wyndham/RCI portal online frequently to see if your desired exchange is available.  

You have to do both because RCI is really two different systems: one called Weeks, and the other called Points.  You can only place an ongoing search in Weeks.  For Points, you have to check.  As it sounds like you purchased from the developer, you have access to both Weeks and Points inventory.  If you were a resale-only purchaser (like I am) you would only have access to Weeks.

So, this is not at all like booking something internally in the Wyndham system.  For internal bookings, it works more like a hotel: all the inventory starts out available*, and it goes to someone first come-first served.  For exchanging into DVC, all the inventory starts out belonging to someone, and they have to explicitly decide to trade out so that there is room for you to trade in.

(*: This ignores the ARP/Standard distinction, etc., but close enough.)

The good news is that if you are patient, and flexible, you have a very good shot at being able to exchange in to a DVC property.  Over the past five years, I've exchanged into Old Key West (3x), Villas at Wilderness Lodge (2x), Beach Club Villas, and Boardwalk Villas, and have also turned down several other potential exchanges that I could not make work in my travel schedule.  The most recent three of those have all been via Wyndham points in RCI.


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## Shelbyd95 (Sep 4, 2013)

Disney properties are always popping up on RCI especially SSR and OKW...In 2012, I lucked out when Boardwalk popped up in June 2012 with a July 2012availability.  In April 2012, I had Bay Lake Tower on HOLD for July 2012 but couldn't make up our minds what week we were going away.  I was bummed that I didn't take it but then Boardwalk popped up.  We had a 2 bedroom lockoff...the kids thought it was awesome.  They had their own little kitchenette.


Disclaimer:  In no way am I suggesting you book like I do...definately recommend that you plan ahead...Good Luck!


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## bbarton713 (Sep 5, 2013)

presley said:


> I don't know why they would act like you couldn't get a reservation for Bay Lake Towers.  Sure, you can't call in anytime you want and have it sitting there waiting on a silver platter for the taking, but with a little planning, you can get a reservation there.  It operates like any other RCI exchange resort.



That's the way they made it sound, exactly.  I'm glad I found this group and I'm seeing how things can be done.  Unfortunately, this has really bothered my wife and buyer's remorse has definitely kicked in.


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## bbarton713 (Sep 5, 2013)

vacationhopeful said:


> Now, go look on the Sightings Thread under the TUG LOUNGE ....



Found it, just needed to look under the Lounge thread.


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## wed100105 (Sep 7, 2013)

We have booked Bay Lake Tower twice and Beach Club Villas. Read as much as you can and begin thinking of when you would like to go.


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## bbarton713 (Sep 8, 2013)

wed100105 said:


> We have booked Bay Lake Tower twice and Beach Club Villas. Read as much as you can and begin thinking of when you would like to go.



Were you able to use Wyndham points via RCI or did you do it privately through TUG?

Bob


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## ScubaKat (Sep 8, 2013)

bbarton713 said:


> Were you able to use Wyndham points via RCI or did you do it privately through TUG?
> 
> Bob



Nicole booked those weeks with Wyndham points through the RCI portal.. She posted details in the sightings forum.. I have also traded in to AKVx3, BLT and next Feb we have a 2br at Beach Club Villas all using Wyndham points.. There was another match for BLT currently sitting in my account too..


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## got4boys (Sep 8, 2013)

Bay Lake Tower is possible to get if you start an ongoing search and not looking for a specific holiday week (like Christmas, New Year or Easter) and start your search now for next year. 

Studio, 1 bedroom yes, 2 bedroom a little more difficult but can be done.


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## snickers104 (Sep 26, 2013)

Is it possible to match DVC on the RCI weeks side also?  (Wyndham resale owner)


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## bnoble (Sep 26, 2013)

Yes, it is.


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## caterina25 (Sep 26, 2013)

I wish Disney would come back to Interval International


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## lshpak (Nov 17, 2013)

Can somebody tell me how many Wyndham points do I need to exchange into DVC 2 bedroom?


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## ailin (Nov 17, 2013)

lshpak said:


> Can somebody tell me how many Wyndham points do I need to exchange into DVC 2 bedroom?



This is for a DVC in Orlando?  Depends on the season, the most I've seen is 165K.  It's the same number of points for any Orlando resort, so you can search and see what's the point cost for your dates, it will be the same for DVC in Orlando.


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## JimMIA (Nov 17, 2013)

ailin said:


> This is for a DVC in Orlando?  Depends on the season, the most I've seen is 165K.  It's the same number of points for any Orlando resort, so you can search and see what's the point cost for your dates, it will be the same for DVC in Orlando.


This is correct, and is what makes Wyndham/DVC exchanges good values. 

We recently matched (in RCI Weeks) for a two-bedroom at OKW in mid-December for 126,000 Wyndham points.  The dollar cost of our exchange, including all RCI and DVC fees, is just a tad over HALF what it would have cost to stay there using my DVC OKW points.


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## Vacationfuntips (Nov 17, 2013)

I have booked twice using Wyndham points with RCI to book Disney's Beach Club Villas (BCV )

Remember that you also pay the RCI Exchange $199 fee and you pay the $95 mandatory fee to Disney upon check-in.

Availability for prime dates is a hit or miss - you need to keep checking with RCI and be very, very, lucky.  For non holiday weeks it is still limited.  I usually see OKW or SSR plus HHR or VBR.  The others are randomly listed and 

they usually have just 1 or 2 available reservations dates at a time.  

Cynthia T.


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## snickers104 (Nov 17, 2013)

I just booked a Boardwalk Villa 1 bds with a full kitchen for late April early May for 105,000.  I think that was a pretty good deal.


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## lshpak (Nov 17, 2013)

Can you place ongoing request and how do you know how many points go you need? Thank you.


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## ailin (Nov 18, 2013)

lshpak said:


> Can you place ongoing request and how do you know how many points go you need? Thank you.



Yes, you can place an ongoing request and it seems you actually don't need any points deposited for it to match.  Once it matches, you can then deposit the required points, which shows up in your RCI account the next day.  The RCI hold seems to be 3 days unless the third day is a Sunday, then it's 4 days.

At least this is how it's worked for me recently.  On my most recent match, I only had 500 points on deposit and it still matched.  Someone else has reported no points on deposit and it still matched.


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## snickers104 (Nov 18, 2013)

I matched with no points in my account yet...transferred the next day and it worked great!


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## JimMIA (Nov 18, 2013)

Vacationfuntips said:


> Availability for prime dates is a hit or miss - you need to keep checking with RCI and be very, very, lucky.


One thing a lot of people don't understand is that prime dates for DVC are different from prime time for the theme parks, and there is a great deal of variance from resort to resort.

For example, the period after Thanksgiving through the middle of December is probably the most difficult time for all of the DVC WDW resorts.  The reasons are it's the lowest points cost of the year and there are a lot of holiday decorations and holiday special events.  Despite that, however, we were able to get an OKW (only resort I wanted) 2 BR from Dec 14-21.

Another difficult reservation is either BCV or BWV during the annual Food and Wine Festival at Epcot.  Most DVC owners book those dates the minute their 11-month booking window opens, and it is very difficult for other DVC owners from different resorts to get in.

RCI/DVC exchanges are doable, and they are good values, but they usually require ongoing searches.  Most (not all) of their bulk deposits seem to be about 7 months out, so ongoing searches started prior to that will have a better chance of success.


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