Update in Austin

[Eric B]

Sat through another owners' update at Wyndham Austin this morning. They tout the status here as a members' service center rather than a sales site. Lots of useful information like how you can now use points alone to book cruises or through Expedia. Our "educator" (not a salesman as this isn't a sales site) showed us how you can find week long stays to book at homes for just 105,000 points - just ignore the part of the site that says you can use up to 105,000 points and pay the remainder with a credit or debit card, that remainder would just be minor things like taxes, etc., and no more than $100 or so. Great deal to get a week long stay in a home for just 105,000 points. Similar wording on the cruises where you can now use just points to book for 150,000 points (the remainder on credit or debit card would just be port taxes and fees, also no more than $100 or so).

Apparently we missed another Zoom call from corporate this year and inadvertently declined some fabulous offer last year that would have resulted in our getting free usage for the next 10 years and enough extra Wyndham rewards points from using our Club Wyndham points to cover all of our travel needs. We were shown a screenshot of someone's booking thingy showing how they were getting 3 Wyndham Rewards points for every Club Wyndham point they spent and then able to convert them maintenance fees resulting in tripling the value of what we are paying. Fabulous deal; no idea why we didn't buy it last year. Just needed to get a loan that would cover our next 10 years of maintenance fees and invest in something called the TNL Trust. No, there isn't any example contractual language they could provide to see how it would work in real life; there isn't any contract language for VIP benefits so why would there be for this perpetual travel machine?

Educator did us a final favor by reviewing our current ownership and pointing out things that could come up so that we wouldn't be surprised. Apparently everyone got an email on August 6th regarding a PIC Plus audit - did we get that? If we hadn't responded, our PICs would be cancelled and we would fall back down to Silver status rather than Gold. Wyndham is cleaning up things.... Oops, I misread things, you would be Bronze, not Silver, and see the listing on this piece of paper covering your ownership status saying there was an email sent on August 22 regarding an audit of this one specific PIC Plus contract on your list. Not really a big issue; just wanted to be sure there was no surprise when it happens (the removal of the PIC contract) and you fall back down to Bronze.

Is there anything else we can help you with? Do you want me to see if I can fix these things or would you just like to get back on vacation? Just get back on vacation - okay, you just have to wait the last 3 minutes of the 60 minute "education" session you agreed to in order to get the gift card and go. Thanks!

 

[WyndhamBarter]

Yipes. We were just in Austin but luckily had a delayed flight so checked in after midnight
and thus avoided the lobby trolls completely this trip! Thanks for the update update.

 

[FL Guy]

They tout the status here as a members' service center rather than a sales site.

I have been on 6 "owner updates" this year and I'm pretty certain that 5 of the 6 told me that they were a "members' service center" now, rather than a "sales site". (The one that didn't say that was a World Mark property, but even then, the guy told me he was a "manager", not a salesperson.) At least a couple of them started out by saying that they were "managers" and "couldn't even sell you any points if you wanted to buy", yet somehow, miraculously, toward the end of the conversation, it always turned to that they would be able to make an exception and sell me the points I needed for them to be able to "help maximize my account" for me.

 

[geist1223]

How much was the "Educator" willing to put in writing in a Contract. How many Points would you need to access to get all these wonderful nonexistent Benefits? Of course you would have to travel to a "Sales Center."

 

[easyrider]

These presentations are made for the unsuspecting, which are most attendee's, imo. Usually, when they see our small bonus time account, we probably look like we need more credits. If they see our resale Founders level account first, they know we don't. It doesn't stop them from trying some interesting angle. It's all smoke and mirrors with some big half truth lies.

Bill

 

[Eric B]

How much was the "Educator" willing to put in writing in a Contract. How many Points would you need to access to get all these wonderful nonexistent Benefits? Of course you would have to travel to a "Sales Center."

We must have looked untrainable because he just gave up and left instead of actually offering anything. Guess it really is a members' service center....

 

[Phoebe24]

Sat through another owners' update at Wyndham Austin this morning. They tout the status here as a members' service center rather than a sales site. Lots of useful information like how you can now use points alone to book cruises or through Expedia. Our "educator" (not a salesman as this isn't a sales site) showed us how you can find week long stays to book at homes for just 105,000 points - just ignore the part of the site that says you can use up to 105,000 points and pay the remainder with a credit or debit card, that remainder would just be minor things like taxes, etc., and no more than $100 or so. Great deal to get a week long stay in a home for just 105,000 points. Similar wording on the cruises where you can now use just points to book for 150,000 points (the remainder on credit or debit card would just be port taxes and fees, also no more than $100 or so).

Apparently we missed another Zoom call from corporate this year and inadvertently declined some fabulous offer last year that would have resulted in our getting free usage for the next 10 years and enough extra Wyndham rewards points from using our Club Wyndham points to cover all of our travel needs. We were shown a screenshot of someone's booking thingy showing how they were getting 3 Wyndham Rewards points for every Club Wyndham point they spent and then able to convert them maintenance fees resulting in tripling the value of what we are paying. Fabulous deal; no idea why we didn't buy it last year. Just needed to get a loan that would cover our next 10 years of maintenance fees and invest in something called the TNL Trust. No, there isn't any example contractual language they could provide to see how it would work in real life; there isn't any contract language for VIP benefits so why would there be for this perpetual travel machine?

Educator did us a final favor by reviewing our current ownership and pointing out things that could come up so that we wouldn't be surprised. Apparently everyone got an email on August 6th regarding a PIC Plus audit - did we get that? If we hadn't responded, our PICs would be cancelled and we would fall back down to Silver status rather than Gold. Wyndham is cleaning up things.... Oops, I misread things, you would be Bronze, not Silver, and see the listing on this piece of paper covering your ownership status saying there was an email sent on August 22 regarding an audit of this one specific PIC Plus contract on your list. Not really a big issue; just wanted to be sure there was no surprise when it happens (the removal of the PIC contract) and you fall back down to Bronze.

Is there anything else we can help you with? Do you want me to see if I can fix these things or would you just like to get back on vacation? Just get back on vacation - okay, you just have to wait the last 3 minutes of the 60 minute "education" session you agreed to in order to get the gift card and go. Thanks!

We got something similar told to us in Austin…that we had missed an opportunity to have a deal where our maintenance fees would be covered just by staying in Wyndham’s and earning three reward points for every one Wyndham point spent. But, even though they weren’t a sales location, they would make an exception and sell us the deal for $35k. . We didn’t do the deal. They made us sign a piece of paper with scribble on it saying we had rejected the option to have 0 maintenance fees forever. But, they also told us they can’t say that our fees would be offset by this deal because the law won’t allow them to.

 

[jp10558]

They must burn so much money on all this.

 

[Eric B]

We got something similar told to us in Austin…that we had missed an opportunity to have a deal where our maintenance fees would be covered just by staying in Wyndham’s and earning three reward points for every one Wyndham point spent. But, even though they weren’t a sales location, they would make an exception and sell us the deal for $35k. . We didn’t do the deal. They made us sign a piece of paper with scribble on it saying we had rejected the option to have 0 maintenance fees forever. But, they also told us they can’t say that our fees would be offset by this deal because the law won’t allow them to.

They asked us to sign the piece of paper last year. We declined, recognizing that it was a FOMO ploy. They didn't bother asking this year; if they had, I would have rewritten it to reflect what I was really declining - to spend excessive money in an effort to reduce future year costs that would not be guaranteed to be reduced in writing by a salesman striving to earn a commission and unable to come close to describing how it would really work mathematically.

 

[regatta333]

We're in Austin; sat thru presentation yesterday ... same description as above: service center, educational review, 55 minutes duration, etc. but the interesting part was the subtle sales pitch. We were told that we waived our right post-T&L purchase to buy cwa points and register for TravelUp that would have enabled us to apply earned reward points towards maintenance @ $50/10000 points. You earn points "routinely": 30,000 for attending presentation, 30,000 for completing post-survey, and being awarded points for each timeshare stay ("usually 15-20k"). Fortunately (ha ha ), they were able to resurrect the offer for us since we had not actually signed a waiver when this was supposedly presented to us several years ago. The offer is just under $35k for 154,000 cwa points. The net effect would be to earn ~75k points ($375 equivalent) on each weekly stay to apply towards maintenance or other uses. As a result, you could seemingly offset about a 1/3 of your annual maintenance but "some owners offset their entire annual maintenance fees". There was another angle too, I forget the phrase, but it was something like VIP offset or reduction such that with certain reservations in lieu of an upgrade you somehow may receive an automatic partial points "refund" which points can then be reused or of course applied towards maintenance. (Sorry for not being able to describe this last part better.) BTW we were told that the Austin sales group is operational as they are currently selling Eddie Bauer points.

 

[Floridaman76]

BTW we were told that the Austin sales group is operational as they are currently selling Eddie Bauer points.

For what resorts, lol!!!

They better not be taking inventory from Club Wyndham to use for these bookings

 

[chapjim]

Funny how so many of us don't get the emails or letters with those fabulous offers and opportunities. We are so fortunate to have kind souls at Member Service Centers who go out of their way to resurrect those expired opportunities.

Remember, service is what bulls do to cows.

 

[Eric B]

They’ve resurrected the offer for us there each year for the last three years! I guess I just keep forgetting to sign the waiver.

 

[HitchHiker71]

Funny how so many of us don't get the emails or letters with those fabulous offers and opportunities. We are so fortunate to have kind souls at Member Service Centers who go out of their way to resurrect those expired opportunities.

Remember, service is what bulls do to cows.

FOMO in action - one of many good examples!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Floridaman76]

I had a world record in and out update time yesterday at Ocean Walk in Daytona. I literally spent more time waiting in the lobby than I did with the sales weasel.

He asked me what questions I had. I asked about what's coming to replace the 15 closed resorts.

"Sports Illustrated, Eddie Bauer, yadda yadda", under 15 minutes.

I will take that every time

 

[rickandcindy23]

I had a world record in and out update time yesterday at Ocean Walk in Daytona. I literally spent more time waiting in the lobby than I did with the sales weasel.

He asked me what questions I had. I asked about what's coming to replace the 15 closed resorts.

"Sports Illustrated, Eddie Bauer, yadda yadda", under 15 minutes.

I will take that every time

That is a win, Troy!

 

[chapjim]

I had a world record in and out update time yesterday at Ocean Walk in Daytona. I literally spent more time waiting in the lobby than I did with the sales weasel.

He asked me what questions I had. I asked about what's coming to replace the 15 closed resorts.

"Sports Illustrated, Eddie Bauer, yadda yadda", under 15 minutes.

I will take that every time

We got Tuscaloosa! What more could we want?

 

[geist1223]

Our shortest Update was at Bali Hai several years ago. It took the Sales Woman (new) about 5 minutes to realize I do more about timeshares and Wyndham than she did. So she got her Boss. He was a bit slower but after about 10 minutes he realized I knew more than he did. He said how about we give you your Gifts and you can leave. He told us the Sales Staff was depressed. The day before one of the Sales Men had a massive heart attack on the Sales Floor and died. Sorry to hear about that but happy with the 15 minutes in and out.

 

[Floridaman76]

We got Tuscaloosa! What more could we want?

My guy was a very tenured employee and definitely could "read the room". He was very blunt in that there is absolutely NOTHING in the works other than Chicago, Nashville and Tuscaloosa. And when I rolled my eyes at Tuscaloosa, he noticed and made a comment. Honestly, if I was wanting to buy (which i'm not), he would be the kind of person I would want to be dealing with. To his credit, he did not even attempt a pitch, and was completely a straight shooter, above board, no lies, no BS. Which I appreciated.

He did indicate when asked, that we will be able to use our CW points to book these handful of new locations "like you can with Margaritaville". At some point, but didn't know when.

I was just happy to get out of there quickly with my loot.

 

[chapjim]

My guy was a very tenured employee and definitely could "read the room". He was very blunt in that there is absolutely NOTHING in the works other than Chicago, Nashville and Tuscaloosa. And when I rolled my eyes at Tuscaloosa, he noticed and made a comment. Honestly, if I was wanting to buy (which i'm not), he would be the kind of person I would want to be dealing with. To his credit, he did not even attempt a pitch, and was completely a straight shooter, above board, no lies, no BS. Which I appreciated.

He did indicate when asked, that we will be able to use our CW points to book these handful of new locations "like you can with Margaritaville". At some point, but didn't know when.

I was just happy to get out of there quickly with my loot.

Can a straight shooter make a living as a timeshare salesperson? We see so few straight shooters (or even slightly off-target shooters) that it seems not.

 

[Floridaman76]

Can a straight shooter make a living as a timeshare salesperson? We see so few straight shooters (or even slightly off-target shooters) that it seems not.

Oh, i'm sure this guy could turn on the sleeze and crank the lies up to 11 to make a sale, he just saw I wasn't a mark, and it wasn't worth the effort.

He was extremely well dressed (fancy suit, expensive shoes, well groomed) which is something you don't see at that level for a jobber.

 

[CO skier]

For what resorts, lol!!!

They better not be taking inventory from Club Wyndham to use for these bookings

Relax.

The Eddie Bauer Adventure Club is inventory at Moab, UT that was never part of WorldMark or Club Wyndham.

 

[chapjim]

Oh, i'm sure this guy could turn on the sleeze and crank the lies up to 11 to make a sale, he just saw I wasn't a mark, and it wasn't worth the effort.

He was extremely well dressed (fancy suit, expensive shoes, well groomed) which is something you don't see at that level for a jobber.

Part-time straight shooter.

 

[HitchHiker71]

I had a world record in and out update time yesterday at Ocean Walk in Daytona. I literally spent more time waiting in the lobby than I did with the sales weasel.

He asked me what questions I had. I asked about what's coming to replace the 15 closed resorts.

"Sports Illustrated, Eddie Bauer, yadda yadda", under 15 minutes.

I will take that every time

So much for Eddie Bauer: https://www.thestreet.com/retail/10...r-closing-all-stores-in-chapter-11-bankruptcy

 

[Floridaman76]

Relax.

The Eddie Bauer Adventure Club is inventory at Moab, UT that was never part of WorldMark or Club Wyndham.

There's a Worldmark in Moab, Club Wyndham has some inventory at that location too. Is the Eddie Bauer Moab a different location or do they have separate inventory there?