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Very New, Don't Own Yet... My Survey

andymul

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1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?

No, we like to go where it's warm, that's really the only requirement

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time?

Will likely trade unless we get Disney which is more than likely too expensive for what we want.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?

Disney
Wine Country
Sedona (maybe Phoenix)
Hawaii
Gatlinburg (or similar)

4) How many people do you usually travel with?

Two couples plus 2-4 kids

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?

Kids are too young for school right now so anytime, but that will change in a few years.

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?

Yes

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?

Yes

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?

Maybe 3. We usually don't care about the rooms as long as they are clean, functional and safe.

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?

Up to $5k. I'd prefer to find something for less as I've seen a lot of the $1 units out there.

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year?

$1000-2000 depending on what I can get in return. Ultimately, if it's worth it, we can afford it.

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?

Not really.

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do?

Yep
 

breezez

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Location
Dover, FL
Resorts Owned
WorldMark 39K
Wyndham 406K
RCI Points 196K
Hyatt Pinon Pointe
Hyatt Coconut Plantation
Based on Survey I would look at Wyndham or WorldMark. Both have resorts in all areas you want to Travel

(1) plus they typically bill MF monthly vs all at once on 1/1

Wyndham you can probably get cheapest, but Worldmark is a bit more flexible. Wyndham is biggest in east, WorldMark biggest in the West including all over Wine Country. Wyndham will have Bonnet Creek for Disney, and WorldMark’s best Disney location is Reunion a bit further away but all units are large 3 bedroom units. There is an on-site water park also.

You can search resort galleries online for both these guys get idea of where you might like to go and how many credits/points you will need.
 

Tahiya

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
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Based on Survey I would look at Wyndham or WorldMark. Both have resorts in all areas you want to Travel

(1) plus they typically bill MF monthly vs all at once on 1/1

Wyndham you can probably get cheapest, but Worldmark is a bit more flexible. Wyndham is biggest in east, WorldMark biggest in the West including all over Wine Country. Wyndham will have Bonnet Creek for Disney, and WorldMark’s best Disney location is Reunion a bit further away but all units are large 3 bedroom units. There is an on-site water park also.

You can search resort galleries online for both these guys get idea of where you might like to go and how many credits/points you will need.
I agree with the previous response. Wyndham will get you close to Disney World, Disneyland, Sedona, Gatlinburg and Hawaii. WorldMark will get you wine country, Disneyland, a little further from Disney World, and Hawaii. WorldMark tends to be the better value from a maintenance fee perspective; however, if Hawaii is a prime destination for you, the Wyndham Resorts are a little nicer than the Worldmark resorts. Both are good traders in RCI if you make a request for enough in advance. WorldMark can also trade in interval. If you live on the west coast, I think WorldMark is a no-brainer. If you live on the east coast, you're probably better off with Wyndham.
 

andymul

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Based on Survey I would look at Wyndham or WorldMark. Both have resorts in all areas you want to Travel

(1) plus they typically bill MF monthly vs all at once on 1/1

Wyndham you can probably get cheapest, but Worldmark is a bit more flexible. Wyndham is biggest in east, WorldMark biggest in the West including all over Wine Country. Wyndham will have Bonnet Creek for Disney, and WorldMark’s best Disney location is Reunion a bit further away but all units are large 3 bedroom units. There is an on-site water park also.

You can search resort galleries online for both these guys get idea of where you might like to go and how many credits/points you will need.

Thank you for your response! Based on what I'm seeing, would it be correct to assume WorldMark presents a better value since they actually sell at resale for a price other than $1? Most of the Wyndham TS that I see are listed at $1 which leads me to believe that they would be harder to resell if I wanted or needed to.

Also, does WorldMark do any fixed weeks or is it all points? And what is a good price and MF per point to pay? I'm seeing a lot listed for about $0.40 per point on the purchase and $0.06-0.08/point on the MF. Does that sound right and/or should I do a lot more digging to find a better deal?

I'm assuming I'll need about 12,000 points (WorldMark) to do about a week per year, is this correct? How many would your recommend at Wyndham?
 
Last edited:

breezez

TUG Member
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Location
Dover, FL
Resorts Owned
WorldMark 39K
Wyndham 406K
RCI Points 196K
Hyatt Pinon Pointe
Hyatt Coconut Plantation
Thank you for your response! Based on what I'm seeing, would it be correct to assume WorldMark presents a better value since they actually sell at resale for a price other than $1? Most of the Wyndham TS that I see are listed at $1 which leads me to believe that they would be harder to resell if I wanted or needed to.

Also, does WorldMark do any fixed weeks or is it all points? And what is a good price and MF per point to pay? I'm seeing a lot listed for about $0.40 per point on the purchase and $0.06-0.08/point on the MF. Does that sound right and/or should I do a lot more digging to find a better deal?

I'm assuming I'll need about 12,000 points (WorldMark) to do about a week per year, is this correct? How many would your recommend at Wyndham?
WorldMark average retail is about $.35- $.37 cents per credit. MF’s in WM vary by # of points people get yearly. The larger the account the cheaper the fee per credit.

WorldMark is a Pure Points Program in that nobody is deeded. All deeds are held in a trust. You have ex amount of credits to use yearly and can always borrow from the following year if need be.

Some pro’s to WorldMark credits last 2 years (plus 13 more months). You can book a vacation 13 months out with credits expiring today and reservation will be good. Wyndham your vacation must end by expiration of your points. Not sure but I think borrow ended also with end to credit pool under Wyndham however they, Wyndham will rent you points.

If you buy a 12K WorldMark account you can rent from other owners up to 2 times your annual credit allotment typically credit rental price is $.07 per credit. So if you need more credits one year not hard to add more at slightly cheaper than MF’s.

Wyndham has VIP benefits that allow owners reduced rentals for units booked within 60 days of travel and upgrades to room size if available so many days before travel based on VIP level. But this takes extremely expensive developer purchase to get these benefits.

WorldMark has reduced price benefits all the time called Inventory Specials. You can pay cash rate of .066 per credit per night any room size which includes housekeeping on any room listed as inventory special. They look at historical occupancy and post these specials 3 months out.

WorldMark has other specials like Monday Madness, Bonus Time, and FAX Time.

Typically 12K credits in WorldMark will get you a 2 bedroom in the newer resorts for a week, but you may find you can get 1.5 weeks a year with this many credits if you don’t stay at all newer locations or pick 1 bedrooms too. Most 1 bedrooms have a full pull down Murphy bed in living room.

Example I have 1 bedroom Hawaii 10K for week, 1 bedroom South Shore Lake Tahoe 8K for the week this year.

Wyndham you would need around 250K points for 2 bedroom week in average newer resort. A good ratio is 1 WM credit is like 25 Wyndham points.

You will see MFs for Wyndham very because each deeded location has different fees some can be over $7 per 1K points others around $3.5 per 1K. So a lot of the higher MF ones people avoid. CWA points have ARP at many resorts but are towards the higher end of MF’s. Because of the ARP advantage many are willing to have higher MFs. But many of those $1 units are higher than normal fees.

If your interested PM I have a 154K Wyndham Branson at Meadows I would give away for just transfer and closing costs.

I also have a 12K WorldMark account with May anniversary month. I would be willing to part with in price range listed above as I am realigning my Portfolio and have to let some stuff go.
 

K2Quick

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Most of the Wyndham TS that I see are listed at $1 which leads me to believe that they would be harder to resell if I wanted or needed to.
Good on you for thinking this through. This is an important nuance that many, even experienced timeshare owners, fail to take into consideration. Tread carefully on getting into any free timeshare and make sure there's a convenient exit strategy before signing anything.

If you're on the west coast, WorldMark makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't buy a deed in Orlando - anything other than on-site Disney properties are easy trades and once you join an exchange company, you can rent getaways for a fraction of maintenance fees.
 

andymul

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With WorldMark,
Good on you for thinking this through. This is an important nuance that many, even experienced timeshare owners, fail to take into consideration. Tread carefully on getting into any free timeshare and make sure there's a convenient exit strategy before signing anything.

If you're on the west coast, WorldMark makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't buy a deed in Orlando - anything other than on-site Disney properties are easy trades and once you join an exchange company, you can rent getaways for a fraction of maintenance fees.
I'm near Chicago, so pretty much any vacation we take, we have to get on a plane. I'm not taking geography too seriously since nothing's really convenient to get to, lol.

With WorldMark - are you able to exchange the points into an RCI or II or is that something reserved for the folks that buy direct from the developer? Are there any other "hidden secrets" to WorldMark for resale buyers to take advantage of?
 

needvaca

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Resorts Owned
MGO, WKV, SVV Bella
You may also want to consider a mandatory Vistana property (Westin/Sheraton). A good option for you in Orlando is Sheraton Vistana Village (Bella or Key West phase) 81,000 or 95,700 staroptions which gets you a 2BR/2BA unit. You can then trade into other Vistana properties (2 in Scottsdale, 5 in Hawaii, and several others) without having to go to RCI or II.

This can usually be purchased for under $2000, sometimes free. and maintenance fees are $1000-$1500/year.

Vistana also includes a membership to II, where you get priority to other Vistana and Marriott properties, but access to everything including Wine Country and Gatlinburg
 

K2Quick

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With WorldMark - are you able to exchange the points into an RCI or II or is that something reserved for the folks that buy direct from the developer? Are there any other "hidden secrets" to WorldMark for resale buyers to take advantage of?
There's very little difference between points bought from Wyndham or points bought resale when it comes to how you can use them. The only thing you don't get from resale points is TravelShare which allows you use your points for non-Worldmark Wyndham properties and it comes with a membership to RCI and you get "free" internet during your Worldmark stays. But you pay extra for that TravelShare membership so those aren't really free perks. Any resale Worldmark owner can get their own RCI or II account. I've had both but recently let my RCI account lapse because I was getting a lot more value out of II.
 

andymul

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Does WorldMark charge any resort fees or taxes when you stay at the properties? Basically Is there anything in addition to the MF I need to consider?
 

K2Quick

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HudsHut

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There are not resort fees, yet, but BOD is considering them.
 

andymul

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Ok! I'm still doing a ton of research and reading, and as most of my bad ideas start... "I think I have an idea!"

What advice would you all give to me potentially getting two small(ish) memberships? One to WM and one to Wyndham or HGVC. That way (I think) I'd have a bit more flexibility as far as the places I go, especially in Hawaii, and still be relatively inexpensive. Ideally I would switch off using them every other year.

I suppose a downside would be that I could lose some trade power since each TS would be smaller. Does Wyndham and HGVC let you bank and borrow like WM?
 

dayooper

TUG Review Crew
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HGVC: The Flamingo, The Boulevard
Ok! I'm still doing a ton of research and reading, and as most of my bad ideas start... "I think I have an idea!"

What advice would you all give to me potentially getting two small(ish) memberships? One to WM and one to Wyndham or HGVC. That way (I think) I'd have a bit more flexibility as far as the places I go, especially in Hawaii, and still be relatively inexpensive. Ideally I would switch off using them every other year.

I suppose a downside would be that I could lose some trade power since each TS would be smaller. Does Wyndham and HGVC let you bank and borrow like WM?

I only know HGVC, so I will only comment on them. HGVC has free borrowing from the next years points and, for a $108 fee, you can save points to the next year. Usually, in October, they run a special that cuts the fee to around $65. Note, you can only bank any given years points for one year. Example, if I saved my 2018 points to 2019, the saved points would expire in December 31, 2019.

As far as giving advice on what to buy, I would need to know what you want to do with it. In general, I would suggest buying a platinum 1 bedroom or larger with the smallest MF you can afford. Platinum units are much easier to get rid of if you need to and you get more bang for your MF buck. The gold and silver may cost less upfront, but you will pay the same MF as a platinum, but get less points.

The best MF’s per point are in Vegas, Sea World in Orlando and Myrtle Beach. In Vegas, I would avoid a 1 bedroom at The Flamingo as the MF’s are much higher there (2 bedrooms are great, though) and Trump Tower all together (very high MF’s). You may have a difficult time getting a good deal on Ocean 22 as they are aggressively exercising ROFR there, but Anderson has pretty good MF’s and they aren’t as aggressive with ROFR as they are at Ocean 22.

HGVC is a very flexible system that treats their owners, even resale, very well. In fact, the only rights that resale owners lose is resale purchases don’t count toward elite status. Most here on Tug would say it’s not that bid of a deal and it’s not even close to being worth it. You get the same booking window and points. You get access to the same resorts and rights.

If you want more info on HGVC, visit our HGVC specific forums. They have particulars on each resort and a detailed spreadsheet of the MF’s. Great people who will help you decide if HGVC is right for you.
 
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