Wyndham is closing a handful of legacy resorts - dedicated chart/tracker located in the first post for this unfolding set of events

[dioxide45]

As previously mentioned, some of these Wyndham locations (and others in HIVC) seem to be victims of 'changes in vacationing patterns'. The demand for getaways to the countryside seems to have declined (unless there are other draws nearby).

I came across this mini-documentary on the Catskills that is representative of this concept. Just amazes me how something this large went into decline and collapse.

Go further back in time and there are many examples across the country of failed resorts/development around hot springs.

Just some examples from history ...

This has to make you wonder. Will social norms and such change over the next 50 to 100 years to the point where Las Vegas or Orlando suffer the same fate?

 

[Arimaas]

The video in the post above yours shows many that are flat out abandoned and the decline started in the 60s. Are there still timeshares in the Catskills?

I didn't watch the entire video yet, but I don't believe any of these were timeshares. They were hotels. Most are out of business. Killed by cheap air travel to Florida.

 

[dioxide45]

I didn't watch the entire video yet, but I don't believe any of these were timeshares. They were hotels. Most are out of business. Killed by cheap air travel to Florida.

Yes, that is what the video explained. I was just wondering if there were timeshares there as brian had mentioned something about 20 years ago but the Catskills started going downhill 60 years ago.

 

[Marianne g]

Has anyone heard the outcome of Bentley Brook HOA meeting today

Waiting for this info too

 

[Arimaas]

Yes, that is what the video explained. I was just wondering if there were timeshares there as brian had mentioned something about 20 years ago but the Catskills started going downhill 60 years ago.

I never remember any timeshare properties ever up there. Folks owned their own bungalows and would stay at the hotels. There for sure isn't anything up there now as a timeshare.

 

[Floridaman76]

The Catskills as a destination existed because it was relatively close, by train and by car, to major population areas, especially the NY/NJ metro area.

Once jet aircraft travel became relatively safe, quick and moderately inexpensive/accessible to a larger percentage of the population, the Catskills became infinitely less attractive. See also: the Poconos

Jet travel opened up California (previously 3-4 days by train or a week by car in the 1950's) and Florida (previously a day and a half by train or 2-3 days by car) as legitimate destinations where you weren't spending your entire vacation "getting there and back". Also ski destinations like Colorado via Denver and the mountains of Utah via Salt Lake City.

 

[Purduece]

Waiting for this info too

I just called the Property Management at Bentley Brook.

I too missed the zoom meeting although I did submit the proxy.
The amendment passed overwhelmingly
Next meeting is a couple of weeks Tentatively Oct 30. A real estate and legal representative(s) will go over the next steps and it will include a zoom meeting as well. A package similar to the one received will be sent.
The resort is closing December 31 and all have been notified of their termination. These people have the roughest part to play here. They are still working and looking for other jobs. Please be kind to them they don't deserve what is happening. They are not to blame.
A skeleton crew will remain after December 31 to keep the resort up until a buyer is identified. There is no information about a buyer or rumors or anything like that at this time. Although it might make sense that an real estate appraisal was carried out by Wyndham to facilitate their decision.
The third step will be determination of residual values for owners and until then expenses will be taken out of reserves. There will be no fees after December for owners.

Hope this helps

 

[Marianne g]

I just called the Property Management at Bentley Brook.

I too missed the zoom meeting although I did submit the proxy.
The amendment passed overwhelmingly
Next meeting is a couple of weeks Tentatively Oct 30. A real estate and legal representative(s) will go over the next steps and it will include a zoom meeting as well. A package similar to the one received will be sent.
The resort is closing December 31 and all have been notified of their termination. These people have the roughest part to play here. They are still working and looking for other jobs. Please be kind to them they don't deserve what is happening. They are not to blame.
A skeleton crew will remain after December 31 to keep the resort up until a buyer is identified. There is no information about a buyer or rumors or anything like that at this time. Although it might make sense that an real estate appraisal was carried out by Wyndham to facilitate their decision.
The third step will be determination of residual values for owners and until then expenses will be taken out of reserves. There will be no fees after December for owners.

Hope this helps

Thank you so very much for all this Info. It’s very helpful

 

[Arimaas]

This has to make you wonder. Will social norms and such change over the next 50 to 100 years to the point where Las Vegas looks or Orlando suffer the same fate?

I mean, if history is any prediction, that is likely. Any location that's entire economy is based on one industry, ends up at some point, in a bad place.

 

[FL Guy]

I mean, if history is any prediction, that is likely. Any location that's entire economy is based on one industry, ends up at some point, in a bad place.

Many of my working years were spent working for two of the (at the time) largest shopping mall companies in the United States. I vividly remember the CFO of one of the companies stating during a presentation at an annual convention meeting that the company could change anything except 2 things about a shopping mall that the company owned: 1) How much they had paid to build or buy the mall, and 2) Where the mall was located. Timeshares are essentially the same. If it's located in an area where no one wants to vacation any longer, it will ultimately fail financially, then physically.

 

[chapjim]

Could be the BOD is consorting with real estate brokers to buy it cheap and make some bread in this deal??????????

No need for another conspiracy theory (based on a lack of understanding of the relationship between a BoD and the resort).

 

[shawnee83]

Many of my working years were spent working for two of the (at the time) largest shopping mall companies in the United States.

Like timeshares, it seems that all but the most profitable malls in the best locations are having big troubles these days.

 

[Sandi Bo]

Still really struggling with Bentley Brook being on this list of 14. Has anyone seen numbers as far as occupancy rates, etc? I continue to be shocked that they are exiting this property. I can't speak to others resorts, but still struggling to understand this one.

 

[HitchHiker71]

This article is behind a paywall, but it's officially "out there" now for Wyndham Shawnee: https://www.bizjournals.com/philade...wyndham-shawnee-village-closing-for-sale.html

If you listen to the 30 second preview, it states that the resort is being put up for sale and that 124 employees are being laid off, and it mentions both Club Wyndham and Worldmark.

 

[Sandi Bo]

Something I don’t think I’ve seen discussed here. OK, maybe I’m starting another conspiracy type theory. But it’s not a conspiracy, it’s an observation… Can part of the problem at places like Bentley Brook be that the points aren’t allocated well? It can be shamefully cheap to stay there. It’s super easy to get an upgrade. The rooms are cheap to begin with and the way things are structured you can jump from a studio to a two bedroom in a heartbeat, perhaps that adds to the problem? Does sales still foot the bill for VIP benefits? That wouldn’t make me happy if I were Wyndham, especially if I didn’t have a sales presence at the resort.

I know it’s unheard of to re-point a resort and maybe my observation is not valid, but too bad they can’t make changes like that? If it were my vacation rental and I had the rules currently in place, I’d block out my studio and 1 bedroom units so at least only 2 bedrooms could be booked. Also earlier weren’t some smaller units available in RCI, maybe someone wised up to that, but a little late at this point.


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[HitchHiker71]

Still really struggling with Bentley Brook being on this list of 14. Has anyone seen numbers as far as occupancy rates, etc? I continue to be shocked that they are exiting this property. I can't speak to others resorts, but still struggling to understand this one.

The resort HOA meeting to vote on the amendment of the HOA bylaws occurred yesterday. We are not sure on the results of that vote, nor do we know if additional votes were held or if another meeting for a future date was scheduled for the corresponding HOA bankruptcy and 2026 resort operations votes as yet. Hopefully someone who attended the meetings will reply here in this thread or in one of the FB groups and someone will pick that up and post it here on TUG.

 

[schreff]

Still really struggling with Bentley Brook being on this list of 14. Has anyone seen numbers as far as occupancy rates, etc? I continue to be shocked that they are exiting this property. I can't speak to others resorts, but still struggling to understand this one.

I too fail to understand Bentley, Shawnee and Skyline Towers. We frequently stay at all 3 extensively along with our children. Each resort is under total control of Wyndham and naturally Wyndham gets what they want with little or no communications with their owners. It is grossly unfair that we have not only received nothing on the planned closure of 4 of our owned resorts but also on the numerous vacation weeks we have booked at Bentley and Skyline Towers in 2026. Naturally, we also had plans for Shawnee which is the closest resort to home. Many folks will make excuses for Wyndham's lack of communications but with Wyndham having full control and knowing the outcome of the vote before it happens it is only courteous common sense to communicate to owners!!!!

 

[dioxide45]

I too fail to understand Bentley, Shawnee and Skyline Towers. We frequently stay at all 3 extensively along with our children. Each resort is under total control of Wyndham and naturally Wyndham gets what they want with little or no communications with their owners. It is grossly unfair that we have not only received nothing on the planned closure of 4 of our owned resorts but also on the numerous vacation weeks we have booked at Bentley and Skyline Towers in 2026. Naturally, we also had plans for Shawnee which is the closest resort to home. Many folks will make excuses for Wyndham's lack of communications but with Wyndham having full control and knowing the outcome of the vote before it happens it is only courteous common sense to communicate to owners!!!!

You should have received communications related to the votes for properties where you are an owner. Are you sure your contact information is correct with the HOA? If you get electronic communications, it didn't perhaps go to spam?

 

[paxsarah]

Can part of the problem at places like Bentley Brook be that the points aren’t allocated well? It can be shamefully cheap to stay there. It’s super easy to get an upgrade. The rooms are cheap to begin with and the way things are structured you can jump from a studio to a two bedroom in a heartbeat, perhaps that adds to the problem?

I think this actually supports the rationale given in some of the resorts' HOA letters (not sure if Bentley Brook included it or not), which is low occupancy. If the points are too low and that made it wildly popular, then it would be difficult to get an upgrade because it would have high occupancy. The ease of getting an upgrade is a symptom of the problem.

 

[Sandi Bo]

There are only 2 or 4 studios/ 1 bedrooms each. Only 2 mobility 2 bedrooms. Unless that has changed with recent renovations. IMO that greatly increases the odds of one happening.

Star Island also easier. Contrast with Ocean Boulevard where views come into play. Or Reunion that only had 3 bedrooms. Not just easier, studios and suites give so much more value (to the owner at booking).


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[comicbookman]

I too fail to understand Bentley, Shawnee and Skyline Towers. We frequently stay at all 3 extensively along with our children. Each resort is under total control of Wyndham and naturally Wyndham gets what they want with little or no communications with their owners. It is grossly unfair that we have not only received nothing on the planned closure of 4 of our owned resorts but also on the numerous vacation weeks we have booked at Bentley and Skyline Towers in 2026. Naturally, we also had plans for Shawnee which is the closest resort to home. Many folks will make excuses for Wyndham's lack of communications but with Wyndham having full control and knowing the outcome of the vote before it happens it is only courteous common sense to communicate to owners!!!!

Skyline is obvious. It was rarely difficult to get a reservation (other than holidays) and the building was never really meant to handle the wear and tear of a timeshare. The elevators are a prime example of the design problems. They would have been fine for a residential tower, but it took decades (building up reserves to pay for improvements) to get to where they are now, still not great, but a lot better. Also, plumbing issues have been multiplying and I believe that was going to cost a pretty penny in assessments. Bently and Shawnee, are I agree a mystery.

 

[HitchHiker71]

Skyline is obvious. It was rarely difficult to get a reservation (other than holidays) and the building was never really meant to handle the wear and tear of a timeshare. The elevators are a prime example of the design problems. They would have been fine for a residential tower, but it took decades (building up reserves to pay for improvements) to get to where they are now, still not great, but a lot better. Also, plumbing issues have been multiplying and I believe that was going to cost a pretty penny in assessments. Bently and Shawnee, are I agree a mystery.

Shawnee isn’t so much a mystery to me. With the exception of Crestview, most of the units are 50 years old now, and they really weren’t built to last. While they have been updating the exteriors and some interiors over the past few years, you can still feel the floorboards in the older units flexing way more than they should, you can feel divots in the floors under the carpets and in some of the tub/shower enclosures for example, which indicate hidden structural problems. I’m sure Wyndham is certainly aware of these types of major issues if I can find them. These older units would really have to be torn down to studs and undergo major renovations to make them last, hence the references to SAs and such.

Please remember this is coming from an owner who stays at Wyndham Shawnee more than any other resort since we’ve become owners in 2018. We don’t mind the older units though we do typically limit ourselves to those with king beds whenever feasible. That means we typically stay in Crestview, RidgeTop Summit, or Depuy (WM). I’m simply saying I understand the rationale on some level, even if it impacts us personally in the process.


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[comicbookman]

Shawnee isn’t so much a mystery to me. With the exception of Crestview, most of the units are 50 years old now, and they really weren’t built to last. While they have been updating the exteriors and some interiors over the past few years, you can still feel the floorboards in the older units flexing way more than they should, you can feel divots in the floors under the carpets and in some of the tub/shower enclosures for example, which indicate hidden structural problems. I’m sure Wyndham is certainly aware of these types of major issues if I can find them. These older units would really have to be torn down to studs and undergo major renovations to make them last, hence the references to SAs and such.

Please remember this is coming from an owner who stays at Wyndham Shawnee more than any other resort since we’ve become owners in 2018. We don’t mind the older units though we do typically limit ourselves to those with king beds whenever feasible. That means we typically stay in Crestview, RidgeTop Summit, or Depuy (WM). I’m simply saying I understand the rationale on some level, even if it impacts us personally in the process.


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I defer to your personal experience. I have not stayed there in a very long time.

 

[e.bram]

i am an owner f a summer bay front unit at Newport Overlook and will get screwed at the payout after the alleged highest amount for the TS!

 

[Floridaman76]

i am an owner f a summer bay front unit at Newport Overlook and will get screwed at the payout after the alleged highest amount for the TS!

Yep the Jamestown summer owners are the ones who are getting so screwed over. Most of them go every year and what little payout you will receive probably won't even allow you to book one year's stay in a similar location in the vicinity.