New Wyndham Time Share owner.

[OldIrish]

So, my mom is 84 yrs old, in a wheelchair and blind now..... She owned a Silver VIP Timeshare at Canterbury San Francisco - 300K points....

First off, I don't know much if anything about how this all works, just trying to learn.

From the time we started the process in Jan 17, it took until September to complete the transfer of ownership to me. By that time, it was too late to use in 17, and we just moved our 2017 point to RCI.

So, last week we took our first trip to an actualy Wyndham resort at San Antonio Las Cascada I think it was called. I knew enough from my mom, that avoiding the sales presentation was something you should do..... They talked us into taking a 30 min survey for a $50 Amex gift card. At this "survey" the guy starts telling me our maintenance fees will go up about 75% for 2019..... I told him that was BS and that if that was the case, i'd just drop our timeshare... (didn't realize that is something you cannot do).

Anyway, I have been reading a lot of the posts on here, and it sounds like that is a common sales practice. I had suspected his talk was going to go something like... Your fees are going up, but this is how I can help you.... Get out your check book... He mentioned something about fairfield, which I didn't understand, and that we could never sell our timeshare, and even if we sold the "points" if the buyer didn't pay maintenance fees we would still be on the hook, and that when we died, our estate would go into probate until someone else in our family took over the timeshare, and paid the fees..... Sounds like a sweet deal for them, sell something you can never get rid of, and they can raise your fees just because they want to.

Couple of questions. I see people mentioning a couple different kind of points. CWA/CWS. I have no idea what that means. What is best way to come up to speed on how to use, and know what we have really got ourselves into. I thought I was doing mom a favor by taking this over as she had been paying for it for 3-4 years, and they were unable to use it..... Now, I am wondering what I got myself into.

At least we didn't pay any upfront fee, just the maint fees.

Thanks for any input, we really enjoyed our stay in San Antonio, and we have a 2 week trip to HI booked for Feb. I am cool with the current Maint Fee price, but if it goes up 75% at the drop of a hat..... Not sure bout that.

 

[jwalk03]

Join TUG and read here. You will learn the truth about everything you need to know and how to use your timeshare effectively.

There are many many benefits to timeshare ownership, particularly since you did not buy from the developer and pay the crazy markup! Canterbury is a very very good contract to own, because it has some of the lowest maintenance fees in the entire system. MF tend to rise each year, but certainly not by 75%, that is total BS. Average increase is about 3%-5% I would guess.

DON'T believe ANY of the BS the sales weasels try to feed you at an update. Everything they tell you has once purpose- to try and separate you from your money so they can make a commission. They are certainly not there to help you or teach you. Use TUG for that. There are many many very knowledgeable owners here, that are friendly and willing to help!

 

[OldIrish]

Well, I can tell you that as soon as the guy started going into that speech about how bad our existing contract was, that I was about to get a pitch on how he could save us by offering us a new one... that would separate me from some cash.

My wife and I love to travel, so for now.... We're going to just keep paying our annual maint fees, and using it as we see fit. I have zero plans to buy into anything more. We stayed at an RCI resort in AR last fall, and the gal there was even worse, trying to tell us how horrible our Wyndham deal was and that we should buy into RCI..... Her main pitch was, buy the RCI TS, and sell your wyndham for a profit. Win-Win. Of course, selling a TS seems like an almost impossible task.... She was telling us, worst case.... Wyndham would gladly buy back our TS for $.15 a point.... I didn't beleive that, and we told her we were not interested.... She went to being very friendly, to treating us as if we had leprosy....

Right now, our plan is use and enjoy it. I can say NO like the best of them, and have no plans to write out a check for anything additional.

Happy I found this board, hopin to learn a lot to help us get the most out of our TS.

thanks.

 

[Jan M.]

Relax you are fine; there wasn't a single word of truth that came out of that salesperson's mouth! Either one of them since you added another post while I was typing this reply to your first post. Particularly fine since Canterbury has low maintenance fees. Because of that you probably wouldn't have any problem finding someone to take it, even paying you for it, if you ever wanted to get rid of it.

CWS is Club Wyndham Select. It means you are deeded at that property and have UDI, Undivided Interest, there.

CWA is Club Wyndham Access. It means you have a contract for x number of points at the resorts in that program. Not all the resorts are in CWA but many are. CWA has much higher maintenance fees than you pay. So don't ever let a salesperson scare you into trading what you have in for CWA.

Have you looked at what your silver VIP benefits are so you know what they are and make sure to use them?

 

[OldIrish]

Have you looked at what your silver VIP benefits are so you know what they are and make sure to use them?

What is best way to do that?

All I see on their website is Tier: Silver owner - Grandfathered..... No idea what that even means.

 

[jwalk03]

You are grandfathered because the current requirement to be silver status is 400k points, but anyone that had it at the old level prior to the change gets to keep it. The grandfathered status would be lost if you sold the contract or transferred it to a non-eligible family member. Children are eligible, so you get to keep the status since your mom transferred it to you.

 

[Jan M.]

You might want to read the threads where PIC weeks were discussed. It sounds like you and your wife would be able to use more points and the gold or platinum VIP benefits you could get by adding a direct purchase through Wyndham corporate telesales and putting two weeks in three bedroom units at a resort in RCI into the PIC program. It isn't all that expensive to do for what you would get out of it. Richelle is quite knowledgeable about this as are a couple of other people here on TUG.

 

[Braindead]

All owner update sales weasels will come up with a reason that you need to buy more points and or trade for more points.
A couple of points for you:
1. Never let them trade you out of your Canterbury contracts. Canterbury has very low MFs
2. Canterbury contracts are valuable and easy to sell or give back to Wyndham through Ovations program.
3. If owners update sales weasels upset you or make you question or have doubts on what you own. Don’t go
4. CWS-Club Wyndham Select is a deeded ownership at an individual resort and that is what you own and will show on the “my ownership” tab online. CWA- Club Wyndham Access is a club that owns deeds at about 70 different resorts. Owners of CWA own points in the club not a deeded ownership.

Most here advise not going to Owner Updates as I would also if they upset you or even tempt you with the scare tactics!!
I go if we have time to kill as I have fun with the sale weasels. We give the gift cards to the grandkids to buy souvenirs with.

Never let them shuttle you offsite to an Owners Update !!

Wyndham has great resorts and you’ll enjoy your ownership making great memories along the way!!
Welcome to TUG!!

 

[breezez]

You have a very good MF/Point ratio keep it. It’s not worthless

 

[Jan M.]

What is best way to do that?

All I see on their website is Tier: Silver owner - Grandfathered..... No idea what that even means.

Go to the Wyndham website and click on Knowledge Base and VIP benefits. But here is what you will see.

Important Information about VIP Membership

• Your VIP benefits apply only when vacationing at one of our Wyndham-managed resorts.
• Guests traveling without a CLUB WYNDHAM® Plus VIP Owner present are not eligible to receive VIP benefits during their stay.
• VIP program benefits are offered to CLUB WYNDHAM® Plus Members allocated at least 400,000 CLUB WYNDHAM Plus points on an annual basis.
• For Members with Biennial Ownership your VIP membership eligibility is based on half of your biennial allotment of eligible point’s counts toward VIP status.

VIP Booking Benefits
Exclusive Vacation Planning Benefits CLUB WYNDHAM Silver Owner
400,000 - 699,999 Points CLUB WYNDHAM Gold Owner
700,000 - 999,999 Points CLUB WYNDHAM Platinum Owner
1,000,000 Points or More
Points Discounts within 2 Months of Check-in
• Receive discounts on NEW reservations only at CLUB WYNDHAM Plus and Affiliate locations 25%/35%/50% (Silver/Gold/Platinum)
VIP Upgrade Opt-In Feature Size Upgrades
• When you confirm a reservation, you may opt in to receive an automatic upgrade to the next largest unit if it becomes available during your upgrade window. Within 1 month of check-in date/Within 45 days of check-in date/Within 2 months of check-in date
Guest Confirmations
• Receive Guest Confirmations each calendar year to share with family and friends. 5/10/15 per 1,000,000 eligible points
Unlimited Housekeeping Credits
• No charge for Housekeeping Credits when making a reservation. Yes/Yes/Yes
Free Reservation Transactions
• Receive unlimited Reservation Transactions at no additional charge. No/Yes/Yes
Ability to Reserve Specific Units
• Request a specific unit number when making reservations. No/Yes/Yes
Worldwide External Exchange Deposit Unit Size Upgrades
• Upgrade to the next largest unit on all Value and Quiet season deposits. No/Yes/Yes
RCI® Instant Search and Book Feature
• Instantly search and book your desired vacation with the amount of points immediately available in your CLUB WYNDHAM Plus account. No/Yes/Yes
Reciprocal Advance Reservation Priority
• Confirm reservations outside your “home” resort at other CLUB WYNDHAM Plus locations up to 11 months in advance of check-in. None/2 times per year/3 times per year
Points Deposit Feature Extension
• Receive additional time after the start of your Use Year to deposit points into a future Use Year with CLUB WYNDHAM. Within the first 6 months of your Use Year/Within the first 9 months of your Use Year/Anytime within your Use Year
Extended PlusPartners® Travel Booking Window
• Receive an additional 15 days to book PlusPartners' travel reservations. None/None/10 months to 45 days in advance of travel date
Access to Margaritaville Vacation Club® by Wyndham Resort Inventory Beginning 6 months prior to check-in date (Value and High seasons only)/Beginning 8 months prior to check-in date/Beginning 10 months prior to check-in date
Adventures
• Enjoy Wyndham-hosted trips during the Standard Reservation window. Yes/Yes/Yes
Advance Reservation Priority – Select Associate Locations • Confirm reservations up to 13 months in advance of check-in at Select Associate Locations. 2 times per year/4 times per year/Unlimited

 

[OldIrish]

Thanks for all the input so far, sounds like... Even though we knew nothing going into it, the Canterbury contract is a "good" one to have..... And, it may be possible to actually sell it if we decide we no longer want to have it..... Looking forward to learning all I can about it so I can make intelligent decisions going forward.

thanks so far, keep em coming!