Wyndham Privileges: new Wyndham VIP Levels starting late 2020 [Merged]

[capital city]

I am a very happy proud Wyndham VIP Platinum PR owner!!
At a Margaritaville Resort now in a 3 br PR unit with family, this morning we sat on the balcony having a cup of coffee talking with the grandkids while listening & watching the waves. Priceless!!!! I have no regrets on our purchases from Wyndham!
As Cyrus24 posted most of us have a story of hard times in our lives. I was within an eyelash of bankruptcy in the 80s so like many here I survived & thrived.

I was referring to here on TUG.
Most of the regular posters that have left or haven’t posted much in the last few months are VIPs: Why??
It‘s been posted that:
It’s stupid -fools with their $$ - worst thing that you could do- it never pays for itself to buy from Wyndham.
Let me be clear a TS purchase should not be financed!! Wyndham sales practices are horrible !!
But I will say we’ve found a couple of sales people that are very honest & helpful!! I can text or call anytime & get an answer!

I’m tired of being falsely accused & then beaten to a pulp with it. Example is in the locked thread:
”How many thousands of TS owners have stopped paying MFs due to what they read in your post? We don’t know”
A question that the answer could be 0!! Instead I’m beaten over the head saying I ACCUSED someone for thousands of owners not paying MFs.

I’ve been self employed my entire career & from a business standpoint here’s something I’d do if I was in charge at Wyndham.
Resell owners are my least favorite customer base staying at the resorts. Why? They’re the least likely to buy from Wyndham. There a few of us that purchased resell & then made purchases from Wyndham to be VIPs but we’re very rare purchasers.
I would tell the resorts to give them the worst units. Why? give them every incentive possible to come buy from Wyndham. Yet resell owners ask for units as if they’re VIPs & sometimes get upset when they’re told no. I don’t blame them for asking but I wouldn’t honor those request saying if you want better treatment come make a purchase.

Renters: I have a better chance of making a sell here verses a resell owner. We’ve had reports here that renters on an owner rental have made purchases from Wyndham. I’d give this group the middle of the road units.

VIPs & direct purchases: do everything I can for them including giving them the best units. They can be my best advertisers & endorsers of my great product. They’re more apt to be a repeat buyer from Wyndham.

On Privileges: I look for a ho hum when everything is done.
Why not just change the point requirements & add 2 new levels? New CEO wants new VIP name.
I’ll repeat myself by saying I don’t need new benefits just give me the benefits that I should be getting now like room request should be mandated that the resorts honor the request.

Which Margaritaville? I'm at Rio Mar right now but leaving in 2 hours for St. Thomas Margaritaville

 

[dgalati]

Which Margaritaville? I'm at Rio Mar right now but leaving in 2 hours for St. Thomas Margaritaville

I love Margaritaville! It's always 5 o'clock somewhere?

 

[55plus]

I love Margaritaville! It's always 5 o'clock somewhere?

I look at it like, it can be 5 o'clock when you want it to be 5 o'clock. But it more fun at Margaritville.

 

[Braindead]

Which Margaritaville? I'm at Rio Mar right now but leaving in 2 hours for St. Thomas Margaritaville

Just missed you, we went to St Thomas first then Rio Mar.
Funny we both went to both just backwards of each other.
Long flight over was 18 minutes! lol

 

[dgalati]

I look at it like, it can be 5 o'clock when you want it to be 5 o'clock. But it more fun at Margaritville.

I agree.

 

[SNA27]

It was not four Italians I was thinking of. That was an allegory for those I think are driving this forum downhill fast. (I could not find a 6-man bobsled video). Congratulations on (barely) making the four-man cut, but every Wyndham forum reader, I am sure, have their own downhill team in mind.

Yes, we do!

 

[SNA27]

I’ve been self employed my entire career & from a business standpoint here’s something I’d do if I was in charge at Wyndham.
Resell owners are my least favorite customer base staying at the resorts. Why? They’re the least likely to buy from Wyndham. There a few of us that purchased resell & then made purchases from Wyndham to be VIPs but we’re very rare purchasers.
I would tell the resorts to give them the worst units. Why? give them every incentive possible to come buy from Wyndham. Yet resell owners ask for units as if they’re VIPs & sometimes get upset when they’re told no. I don’t blame them for asking but I wouldn’t honor those request saying if you want better treatment come make a purchase.

Renters: I have a better chance of making a sell here verses a resell owner. We’ve had reports here that renters on an owner rental have made purchases from Wyndham. I’d give this group the middle of the road units.

VIPs & direct purchases: do everything I can for them including giving them the best units. They can be my best advertisers & endorsers of my great product. They’re more apt to be a repeat buyer from Wyndham.

On Privileges: I look for a ho hum when everything is done.
Why not just change the point requirements & add 2 new levels? New CEO wants new VIP name.
I’ll repeat myself by saying I don’t need new benefits just give me the benefits that I should be getting now like room request should be mandated that the resorts honor the request.

I hope the new VIP Privileges program draws sharp distinctions between retail purchasers and resale and between VIP and non-VIP. I think the entry-level VIP stratum is a good idea but they should offer real VIP benefits. Currently, VIP Silver gets treated like an unwanted step-child with so few benefits. All VIPs should be treated like VIPs.

I have no problem with your disinviting resale owners from sitting with VIP owners at the banquet. But, the way it works now, the scraps at the dumpster are just as good what's served at the banquet! I guess you would deny them even the scraps!

I think there would be a lot of 'internal resistance' to treating resale owners poorly since many Wyndham employees enjoy VIP status through multiple PICs and they also own resale. I don't see them coming up with schemes that would deny themselves a seat at the banquet!

 

[ecwinch]

I was referring to here on TUG.
Most of the regular posters that have left or haven’t posted much in the last few months are VIPs: Why??
It‘s been posted that:
It’s stupid -fools with their $$ - worst thing that you could do- it never pays for itself to buy from Wyndham.
Let me be clear a TS purchase should not be financed!! Wyndham sales practices are horrible !!
But I will say we’ve found a couple of sales people that are very honest & helpful!! I can text or call anytime & get an answer!

As we say in the IT business.... "correlation is not causation".

If regular posters are avoiding forum to the extent you believe, I would encourage you to look beyond your preconceived reasons and try to take a broader perspective. And then consider what actions you might take to improve the decorum of the forum.

I for one, can only say that what you cite as the reason VIP's post less, is certainly not the reason I post here less frequently.

 

[HitchHiker71]

As we say in the IT business.... "correlation is not causation".

If regular posters are avoiding forum to the extent you believe, I would encourage you to look beyond your preconceived reasons and try to take a broader perspective. And then consider what actions you might take to improve the decorum of the forum.

I for one, can only say that what you cite as the reason VIP's post less, is certainly not the reason I post here less frequently.

Agreed, the primary reason I haven't posted as much over the past several months has nothing to do with the tone of anything on the forum. I have a demanding day job that takes up much of my available bandwidth, and the level of commitment required varies over time. I simply haven't had as many cycles to come check the TUG forum, and even when I do, I often just consume content and do not post back because of bandwidth limitations.

 

[buckor]

Agreed, the primary reason I haven't posted as much over the past several months has nothing to do with the tone of anything on the forum. I have a demanding day job that takes up much of my available bandwidth, and the level of commitment required varies over time. I simply haven't had as many cycles to come check the TUG forum, and even when I do, I often just consume content and do not post back because of bandwidth limitations.

Same here...

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[kaljor]

I haven't been posting that much lately because I don't think I have anything to contribute to many of the topics lately. But I have enjoyed hearing the opinions in this thread. I see it's gotten a little heated at times, and yes all involved do have to take a second read before they hit that "Post reply" button! But honestly, I do appreciate that these people who feel so strongly about our Wyndham take the time to make their argument. It's all food for thought.

 

[dgalati]

I hope the new VIP Privileges program draws sharp distinctions between retail purchasers and resale and between VIP and non-VIP. I think the entry-level VIP stratum is a good idea but they should offer real VIP benefits. Currently, VIP Silver gets treated like an unwanted step-child with so few benefits. All VIPs should be treated like VIPs.

I have no problem with your disinviting resale owners from sitting with VIP owners at the banquet. But, the way it works now, the scraps at the dumpster are just as good what's served at the banquet! I guess you would deny them even the scraps!

I think there would be a lot of 'internal resistance' to treating resale owners poorly since many Wyndham employees enjoy VIP status through multiple PICs and they also own resale. I don't see them coming up with schemes that would deny themselves a seat at the banquet!

I thought we already covered all schemes. Are you saying Wyndham sales reps are schemers also because they use resale points with their VIP benefits. Say its not so! So they are beating the system and buyers of developer points?

 

[SNA27]

I thought we already covered all schemes. Are you saying Wyndham sales reps are schemers also because they use resale points with their VIP benefits. Say its not so! So they are beating the system and buyers of developer points?

Not schemers but avaricious humans seeking a bargain regardless of its impact on the entire system! Not a ridiculous scheme like renting from VIPs! But being VIPs on the cheap with multiple PICs! They are people who, while serving at the banquet, get to keep some seats and/or food for themselves!

 

[dgalati]

Not schemers but avaricious humans seeking a bargain regardless of its impact on the entire system! Not a ridiculous scheme like renting from VIPs! But being VIPs on the cheap with multiple PICs! They are people who, while serving at the banquet, get to keep some seats and/or food for themselves!

They are taking home the leftovers? Renting from a VIP is a very similar to taking home the leftovers. It is finacially beneficial to both parties and mutually agreed upon. I like to eat leftovers cold for lunch.

 

[kaljor]

I hope the new VIP Privileges program draws sharp distinctions between retail purchasers and resale and between VIP and non-VIP.

I think there would be a lot of 'internal resistance' to treating resale owners poorly since many Wyndham employees enjoy VIP status through multiple PICs and they also own resale. I don't see them coming up with schemes that would deny themselves a seat at the banquet!

OK. I have learned your feelings about this topic, so a question occurred to me. As a resale only owner, I don't get discounts (except those that apply to all) I don't get upgrades, and I don't get to pick a specific unit. I don't get a midweek cleaning. If I want to bank my points, I only have three months to do so. I can't join Plus Perks. I can't book World Mark resorts nor Margaritaville (unless it's available to all).

Resale owners have an extremely barebones ownership already. If you were the King of Wyndham for a month, what else would you take away from us?

Truly, I'm not trying to instigate here, just trying to continue the discussion. Oh yeah, we also don't get a daily USA Today for free!

 

[dgalati]

OK. I have learned your feelings about this topic, so a question occurred to me. As a resale only owner, I don't get discounts (except those that apply to all) I don't get upgrades, and I don't get to pick a specific unit. I don't get a midweek cleaning. If I want to bank my points, I only have three months to do so. I can't join Plus Perks. I can't book World Mark resorts nor Margaritaville (unless it's available to all).

Resale owners have an extremely barebones ownership already. If you were the King of Wyndham for a month, what else would you take away from us?

Truly, I'm not trying to instigate here, just trying to continue the discussion. Oh yeah, we also don't get a daily USA Today for free!

Many Vip owners want to limit resale owners benefits. The irony of this all is they use their resale points with VIP benefits. Sounds pretty hypocritical to me. See attached. Resale owners can p/u USA Today for free also at the check in desk.

 

[Rolltydr]

Many Vip owners want to limit resale owners benefits. The irony of this all is they use their resale points with VIP benefits. Sounds pretty hypocritical to me. See attached. Resale owners can p/u USA Today for free also at the check in desk.

Should a USA Today really be considered a benefit? Everyone can access a free copy on their phone, tablet or laptop.

 

[Jan M.]

Many Vip owners want to limit resale owners benefits.

I don't recall VIP owners wanting to limit resale owners benefits. As kaljor says they are bare bones already so how is that even possible.? What I have seen too many times to count is resale owners wanting to limit VIP owners benefits.

 

[Eric B]

Should a USA Today really be considered a benefit? Everyone can access a free copy on their phone, tablet or laptop.

I don't really consider the USA Today a valuable benefit, but it is listed as a VIP benefit by Wyndham. In some resorts it's just sitting out in the lobby for anyone to pick up anyway.

 

[dgalati]

I don't really consider the USA Today a valuable benefit, but it is listed as a VIP benefit by Wyndham. In some resorts it's just sitting out in the lobby for anyone to pick up anyway.

If its not out ask and you will recieve a copy no charge.

 

[HitchHiker71]

OK. I have learned your feelings about this topic, so a question occurred to me. As a resale only owner, I don't get discounts (except those that apply to all) I don't get upgrades, and I don't get to pick a specific unit. I don't get a midweek cleaning. If I want to bank my points, I only have three months to do so. I can't join Plus Perks. I can't book World Mark resorts nor Margaritaville (unless it's available to all).

Resale owners have an extremely barebones ownership already. If you were the King of Wyndham for a month, what else would you take away from us?

Truly, I'm not trying to instigate here, just trying to continue the discussion. Oh yeah, we also don't get a daily USA Today for free!

As has been previously mentioned in this voluminous thread by me, I think what a subset of VIP owners would like to see is real priority booking for VIP owners and inventory limits for resale owners via a dedicated trust that would hold all deeds for all resale only owners. Call it CWR or Club Wyndham Resale trust, which would hold all inventory for all resale only users. CWR would not have the ability to use the CWP exchange to book inventory in CWS or CWA. Honestly I’m not even sure this is legally feasible as I have not done the due diligence myself, and a few others who better understand the legalese have indicated it may not be feasible. Others have also indicated that creating an entirely new trust for this function is overkill since all resale contracts are already coded as resale so something like this could be accomplished without having to move inventory around into different trusts. I also suspect, were this to be feasible - it would only be feasible from a point in time forward - meaning current resale only owners would be grandfathered.

This is all just ideation on my part to be clear.

Toward Dominics point about VIP owners who own resale, their resale deeds could also be limited in the same way - though doing so would require changes to the current website and booking mechanisms to enforce such limitations.

Would Wyndham do something like this? Perhaps gradually over time - similar to what Disney and a few other timeshare companies have done to start enforcing limits on resale contracts. Only time will tell.

We have proposed other VIP benefits to several of the Wyndham higher ups when we were at the owners meeting from the surveys Richelle and I performed on the Facebook forums. We will see if they are listening or not. I will say I also agree with many others here that I would like to see some existing VIP benefits that aren’t really enforced persistently today become standardized and enforced. Such as the room request feature for example. With some coding changes to the current website system it would not be difficult to do this IME.

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[capital city]

I think Wyndham is too big and middle of the road to restrict resale too much. If they push out too many people they will be hurting with all the foreclosures, etc. I'm sure it's a hard balancing act and the only way to really judge that it's fair is to recognize that on these forums both sides think they should have more but neither side feel slighted enough to be upset with their access or benefits. Seems like they're doing a good job to me.

 

[Braindead]

I don’t expect or am I advocating to see any changes for what resale owners see for availability, I would truly be shocked if that ever happens.
I’ll also clarify my earlier post on resale only owners getting the least desirable units.
They get what they reserve but it ends there.
Resale only owner reserves Oceanfront they get the least desirable Oceanfront unit. Resorts know which units are the most desirable.

 

[SNA27]

OK. I have learned your feelings about this topic, so a question occurred to me. As a resale only owner, I don't get discounts (except those that apply to all) I don't get upgrades, and I don't get to pick a specific unit. I don't get a midweek cleaning. If I want to bank my points, I only have three months to do so. I can't join Plus Perks. I can't book World Mark resorts nor Margaritaville (unless it's available to all).

Resale owners have an extremely barebones ownership already. If you were the King of Wyndham for a month, what else would you take away from us?

Truly, I'm not trying to instigate here, just trying to continue the discussion. Oh yeah, we also don't get a daily USA Today for free!

Your cup is half-full, not half-empty! You get everything a NON-VIP retail purchaser gets! And even pay a lower program fee!
I thought Plus-Perks is open to all with an annual membership fee! It's free for me now but I have never used it because it's not that useful!
Wyndham Club Pass: I hate the idea of calling and finding out there is no availability. I hope they go to online self-service with everything! I don't like the $99 fee either.
USA Today is a Perk? Funny! I would rather get the local newspaper, if at all!

@Braindead started this 'What would King of Wyndham do?' subtopic. I'm paraphrasing him using your question, obviously! Maybe it should be a thread on its own.

It's all about supply vs. demand. Resale buyers play an important part in Capacity Utilization and pay the MF for the upkeep. Without them, defaults will increase and the rest of the owners will have to make up the shortfall one way or the other. @Braindead's suggestion of treating them as 'undesirables' may not pass legal muster. For example, in a condo complex, an identical unit may have sold for a range of prices over the years. Do you deny pool privileges to the owner who bought cheaply?

All my deeds are governed by HOA rules but I haven't read the actual verbiage which entitles me access to Club Wyndham Pass and the internal exchange. Again, if you limit CWP access to resale buyers, nobody would buy them since resale buyers are buying the deed mainly for access to CWP.

Maybe, they can charge resale owners higher fees for all kinds of services (Title transfer, reservations, GCs, etc.) and give retail purchasers lower fees. Ok, don't beat me up on this? I have no idea if it would be even legal. But I bet they can and do all kinds of things in their Voyager system unbeknownst to us. When I was Temp Silver with CWA in 2017 or Gold in early 2018 with GD deed, the availability calendar used to be a lot grayer than it's now as a permanent VIP-P! I would love to get a peek into the internals of that system. I don't think we all have equal access to availability even in the Standard window.

The hospitality business is a tough business and I have no idea about their business model. I would like to think Wyndham knows a lot more about these complex issues than me or even a businessman like @Braindead!

 

[cbyrne1174]

TBH if I were 40-50 years old, I probably would have bought benefits prior to 2012. Back then you only needed 500,000 pts to be Gold. Also, the purchase price was cheaper back then compared to today including inflation. If you were to do a simple 3% inflation calculation, $40,000 now was $22,147 in the year 2000. Now $40,000 only buys 158,000 points at retail price. What did $22,147 buy at retail price back in 2000?