Still hopelessly confused

[funbunnie]

I am trying to figure out the difference between the Wyndham points, the Wyndham Fairfield Points, and a fixed red week. I thought Wyndham did not use fixed weeks, but on ebay I saw a lovely timeshare in which I would like to make a bid and hopefully own. If I was the winner, would Wyndham automatically convert the TS into points? If so, I have no idea how many points it would convert into. Second, I saw a TS for over 500k Fairfield points with a starting bid at $1.00. Contrary to that, was the same TS location with 205K Wyndham points starting at a $499 bid. That is a big difference in bids and points. Do the Fairfield points and Wyndham points trade differently. If so, which points are more preferable. If someone could explain this to me like you would explain it to a kindergartner, I would greatly appreciate it. TIA

Oh, I have been a member of TUG for a little while. I have been trying to gleam as much information as possible to avoid making a TS purchase disaster. This will be my first timeshare, so if my question seems juvenile, please forgive me. Again, TIA

 

[WeLovetoTravel]

I can only answer 1/2 of your question. Fairfield points and Wyndham points are the same thing. Fairfield was renamed Wyndham. If you buy a fixed week at a Wyndham property, I am not sure, but there might be a fee involved in changing your week into points. Keep looking. There are a lot of good deals out there. People are selling for the price of closing costs & transfer fees only.
-Deb

 

[vacationhopeful]

Wyndham (or its predacessors) have been around a long time. There is just about everything at one or more resorts of options in timesharing sharing possibilities.

Fixed weeks, floating weeks, RTU leases (Sea Gardens still has some of them and there one on a current ebay auction), converted fixed weeks, UDI, Club Access (a form of a vacation club), Even/odd year ownership, Points for Deposit, etc.

I own at Wyndham managed resorts a combination of: fixed weeks, converted fixed weeks, odd year fixed week, even year UDI points, UDI points.

As for which auction is best for you. Read and learn more. Buying 500,000 UDI points incurrs a MF of close to $2,500 per year. If you are going for the newest resorts or big units or prime season only vacationing, you might need that many points. If you are going to do a big vacation only once every 2 or 3 years, then you might do better on learning to plan - banking points or exchanging into multiple weeks in a lessor season than prime.

As for the prices which are set on an ebay auction - it is done by a buyer who is agreeing to a price. The $1 auction may sell but the $499 might never sell - a buyer has to buy for a price to be set.

If some of this borders on Greek to you, just remember - it is far easier to buy a TS than it is to sell one. Read much more, ask many questions, and decide WHAT YOU NEED before you buy ANYTHING.

Have fun ...

 

[Jya-Ning]

I am trying to figure out the difference between the Wyndham points, the Wyndham Fairfield Points, and a fixed red week. I thought Wyndham did not use fixed weeks, but on ebay I saw a lovely timeshare in which I would like to make a bid and hopefully own. If I was the winner, would Wyndham automatically convert the TS into points? If so, I have no idea how many points it would convert into. Second, I saw a TS for over 500k Fairfield points with a starting bid at $1.00. Contrary to that, was the same TS location with 205K Wyndham points starting at a $499 bid. That is a big difference in bids and points. Do the Fairfield points and Wyndham points trade differently. If so, which points are more preferable. If someone could explain this to me like you would explain it to a kindergartner, I would greatly appreciate it. TIA

Oh, I have been a member of TUG for a little while. I have been trying to gleam as much information as possible to avoid making a TS purchase disaster. This will be my first timeshare, so if my question seems juvenile, please forgive me. Again, TIA

Unless the ad says Worldmark, if it says point, it is very likely to be Wyndham point. Which is the same as Fairfield point (who change its name to Wyndham about 3 years ago, since its parent company bought the name right of Wyndham and decides to rename everyone relate to its hotel/resort/renting business to Wyndham).

Wyndham does has fix/float week as well. If you bought it, it usually requires $2,395 to convert the 1st week.

As to eBay starting bid. Some seller has no cost some do and need to at least cover some of it. It is an auction field, any starting price is possible. I will suggest you first read and at least go use some of the Wyndham resort through renting, than decide how many points you will most likely to need and use.

Jya-Ning

 

[Bill4728]

Almost everything that Wyndham ( the developer) is now selling is in Club Wyndham /AKA Wyndham points. BUT as others have said there are lots of current owners who bought many years ago who own Wyn in other ways.

The key thing is:
IF you want to be in Wyn pts, buy a wyn pt TS from a current owner and save more than 90-95% off what the developer wants for the same TS.
BUT you may want to own a Wyn TS that is not in Wyn pts. That is because you may wish to only visit that one Wyn resort ( like one of the great Hawaii resorts) and do not want to compete with all other Wyn pts owners for that week at your favorite resort.

 

[Rob&Carol Q]

If some of this borders on Greek to you, just remember - it is far easier to buy a TS than it is to sell one. Read much more, ask many questions, and decide WHAT YOU NEED before you buy ANYTHING.

Have fun ...

One of the better lines I've read...spot on!

Well, you are way up on some of us here, you found this place before buying! Congratulations. One thing really working for you is that there doesn't seem to be any increase in ebay pricing for Wyndham Points in the near (6 month) future so urgency and rapid action on your part is not required. I do have a question for you...have you been to a Wyndham Timeshare Resort yet? Not the vacation site...the actual resort. If you haven't, a rental of points might be in order. Remember, you don't need to rush anything and once you own it, it's pretty much yours to keep...Maintenance Fees and all.

That said, I intend to purchase ebay points later this Summer. My searching will revolve around lower Maintenance Fee first, Location second. Points only, probably 158k or so...my Dear Sweet Bride will let me know the how much and where when the time comes.

After all, if Momma ain't happy...

Seriously, unless the location really, really matters to you...points is points.