Pairing Wyndham with DVC when you're a Floridian (Thoughts?)

[cbyrne1174]

Wyndham is just finishing up processing my first two contracts. I've been lurking on these forums for months researching the system and I'm 99% sure I made a smart buy. Both contracts were essentially free and at low MF RCI Gold resorts. Smoky Mountains = $5.32 per 1k; Royal Garden = 4.92 per 1k

I currently live in Tampa and love doing Saturday1-night stays in Orlando on top of 7 night vacations once a year. Wyndham doesn't fully meet that lifestyle, so I was thinking of pairing my points with a 100 point Saratoga Springs contract. I've only ever been to 1 club resort, Bonnet Creek, on a promo deal. I was testing the waters to see if Wyndham was a good fit, before I signed a resale purchase agreement. I pissed off the salespeople at the presentation and they gave up after like 10 mins when I kept correcting them about the difference between resale and developer.

I'm a very frugal person, which is why I researched the ins and outs of the Wyndham system before signing. Now I've been doing the same thing with DVC resale. After doing weeks of research, I have concluded that DVC isn't a very cost effective system when you need 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom accommodations because Bonnet Creek has no buy in cost and is half the price of a DVC 1-2 bedroom in any given season and has better amenities than DVC.

Also, when you get tired of Bonnet Creek, there's still 4 more Wyndhams that you can book with your membership as well as and 4 more Hiltons and 1 Holiday inn that you can exchange into for 7 days, all of which are still about half the price of DVC after exchange fees.

My thought process is that DVC seems like it might be a good fit for 1-2 night getaways in a studio only. They don't have housekeeping fees, and have studios at every resort. The maintenance fee cost of a DVC studio is the same as a bonnet creek 1-bedroom, but without having to pay out the a** for someone to clean it when you check out if you like having short stays.

I have a 3-year old and plan on having another child when my husband settles into his career more, so Disney would be a really good fit for family weekends, but that $11,000 price tag is like 1/4 of my crappy teacher salary lol.

Thoughts?

 

[Richelle]

How many 1-2 night stays would you have a year? When might you be doing those? Price out the cash cost of condos for that time of year. You might find that it does not add up to the MF cost of the DVC, or if the MF cost is cheaper, you still have that upfront $11,000 cost to make up for to make it worth it.

Disney is great if you have young kids because they can enjoy it for years to come. As far as the amenities, I think DVC owners get extra Disney perks, but not sure if they are worth the extra cost. Some say the accommodations are nicer at Disney. I have not stayed at one, so i cannot say if it is or is not.

My step sister is a teacher, and she sometimes has trouble making her Wyndham MF payments. I think adding Disney might be too costly. I think one or the other, but not both. I toyed with Disney but like that Wyndham gives you more options inside the network. Exchanges are great, but you have to pay an exchange fee. You're right, that short stays with Wyndham are not a great value. So I say look into AirBnB for those short stays.

 

[vacationhopeful]

I own DVC and Wyndham.

DVC had reduced some of the benefits if you buy resale now ... I brought my DVC "before" DVC reduced benefits on MANY good ownership benefits. CHECK the difference between resale and direct buyer's benefits for DVC.

As for Wyndham, RENT. Unless you buy a ton of points direct from Wyndham ... you will find too many DOLLAR on top of MORE DOLLAR fees to use your 'points'. I have been a member for YEARS with a GOLD ownership ... and will likely give it TOTALLY back to Wyndham soon.

I have fixed deeded weeks in Ft Laudardale with some units in RCI Points. Plus my same DVC contract. My main goal was winter vacation stays in Ft Lauderdale. CHECK as the FLBR mets that goal.

 

[bnoble]

I am not a fan of studios for even two people, let alone a family of four. You might do just as well to get a (non-Disney) hotel suite for your one-night Orlando stays.

 

[cbyrne1174]

I usually use priceline unpublished rates for 1-night stays. I've been able to stay at Rosen shingle creek, World Center, Omni etc for pretty cheap, but I want to stay where it would be more enjoyable for kids. All the fore mentioned are better for adults. The only DVC benefits that you can't get with resale that's worth anything are discounted AP's, but I live in Florida so the Weekday and Silver pass make more sense than a full AP. Honestly, what Floridian in there right mind would walk WANT to go the insanely humid summer months or xmas week. I prefer to go the first two weeks of December to see all the xmas decorations. There's virtually no difference in theming during that time. DVC collection isn't worth the price difference (direct vs resale) and you can rent out your DVC points at David's to finance a Disney Cruise. It's actually more bank for your buck using David's vs DVC.

After the initial $11,000 buy in, I can rent my points out for up to $1350 and use that money to pay my $586 maintenance fees if circumstances change. I was thinking of buying it in full when my husband's career takes off (he's a sys admin), and using half the points to stay at Disney, rent the other half out, so my maintenance fees are nothing, making my stays 100% free after the $11,000 buy in.

Thoughts?

 

[cbyrne1174]

I own DVC and Wyndham.

DVC had reduced some of the benefits if you buy resale now ... I brought my DVC "before" DVC reduced benefits on MANY good ownership benefits. CHECK the difference between resale and direct buyer's benefits for DVC.

As for Wyndham, RENT. Unless you buy a ton of points direct from Wyndham ... you will find too many DOLLAR on top of MORE DOLLAR fees to use your 'points'. I have been a member for YEARS with a GOLD ownership ... and will likely give it TOTALLY back to Wyndham soon.

I have fixed deeded weeks in Ft Laudardale with some units in RCI Points. Plus my same DVC contract. My main goal was winter vacation stays in Ft Lauderdale. CHECK as the FLBR mets that goal.

All of the Ft. Lauderdale resorts have above average maintenance fees. Is it a fixed prime week?

 

[vacationhopeful]

Winter fixed weeks ... yes, Snowbird weeks. 2/2 lockoffs are under $900 yearly.

 

[bnoble]

I was thinking of buying it in full when my husband's career takes off (he's a sys admin), and using half the points to stay at Disney, rent the other half out, so my maintenance fees are nothing, making my stays 100% free after the $11,000 buy in.

Look carefully at ROI. Every time I do, I find that a more standard investment pays better. I know that a standard investment is a lot less work.

 

[bendadin]

I own both. Wyndham for 1 night stays will eat your housekeeping credits. We used to hop around and do split stays in DVC studios. The kids no longer want to do that. Now they want to stay in 2 bedroom units (4 of us.) So now I just rent out my points (and do Disney cruises.) Lol I might use some of my own points next month. We are going to Oahu (Wyndham) so I will do a few nights at Aulani.

I do use my membership benefits. I needed the access to Gold passes. We very often go to the member parties. We are doing a DCL cruise soon and we've already been invited to the member's party.

After our last cruise I received a call about buying into DVC. I said that we already owned and she apologized for the call. She said that it wasn't noted properly and now we would not receive any more solicitations. I wish that Wyndham would take a lesson from them

 

[chriskre]

I live in Miami and own both Wyndham and DVC.
I own most of my points at SSR but bought 14 years ago when DVC was cheaper.
If you can plan ahead you'll be happy with DVC, if not then you will be stuck with
mostly SSR studios. Most of the other resorts, the studios go first.
Even SSR studios get picked up before the bigger units do.

Disney is not considering resale points owners as DVC club members for
parking fee and other perks now so you may be facing another $25 a night in
parking fees for those DVC stays. I read that FL law forbids this so I expect
that DVC will just start calling it a resort fee to get around the parking fee wording.
Hilton is already doing it as are a few other Orlando resorts. Latest scam.

I mostly use my Wyndham points for longer Bonnet Creek stays or to pair it
with a short DVC stay and finish out at BC. The Presidential units are the
reason I wanted Wyn points as you rarely if ever see them in RCI and it's
easier to book BC thru the Wyn portal and get exactly what you want.
Since I travel off season I never have a problem getting what I want.
I also use my points at Royal Vista in the summer as this too is a resort
that is more difficult to get thru II and RCI but easy thru the club.

You might want to just rent points from one of the points brokers instead of
buying into DVC at the high costs now unless you just want to own DVC and
don't mind that it's not the most economical way to get in. If you are just
doing a night or two a year it's not worth owning IMO. Yeah you can rent
the rest of your points to subsidize those vacations but not sure that's a
strategy to want to do going in. I do it because I already own and it's not
worth me selling at this point since I still do Disney trips but I am not sure
I'd buy to rent in this climate.

 

[cbyrne1174]

Parking is included in club dues, so Disney can't charge it for resale owners. The main downside I am seeing is that it's a pain to get into GF/BLT/BC/BW studios at 7 months regardless of the time of year. That's another thing holding me back.

 

[chriskre]

Parking is included in club dues, so Disney can't charge it for resale owners. The main downside I am seeing is that it's a pain to get into GF/BLT/BC/BW studios at 7 months regardless of the time of year. That's another thing holding me back.

DVC has a waitlist.
I've had success with it.
I've pretty much gotten anything I wanted with DVC but then again I'm an off-peak traveler.

I own at Poly & SSR and with Poly I thought you had to own there to get a good reservation there but not so.
After using this points broker it has opened my eyes that many people are using SSR points to get Poly, GF & BLT
ressies. What are these points brokers doing that I and others am not? I don't know. Maybe they stalk
the system 24/7 with some software, not sure, but my renters got those ressies with a few months lead time.
Definitely not 7 months for all of them. Most of them were 5 months or less booked in Feb. of this year.


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[Lisa P]

...contracts were essentially free and at low MF RCI Gold resorts. Smoky Mountains = $5.32 per 1k; Royal Garden = 4.92 per 1k

I currently live in Tampa and love doing ... Orlando ... 7 night vacations once a year.

Good contracts for your plan. Wyn Bonnet Creek is easy with 10 month planning. If you get a Florida Resident Gold annual pass for at least one family member, it will include free parking at the theme parks and the option to purchase Tables in Wonderland if you eat a lot of Disney restaurants while you're there. Also, it's currently possible to exchange into a 1BR week at Saratoga Springs during slower periods via RCI. Most often, they "cost" 105K Wyndham points, occasionally 126K, plus exchange fee and Disney's $190 resort fee (per unit week).

I was thinking of pairing my points with a 100 point Saratoga Springs contract....

...My thought process is that DVC seems like it might be a good fit for 1-2 night getaways in a studio only....

...Disney would be a really good fit for family weekends, but that $11,000 price tag is like 1/4 of my crappy teacher salary lol.

Since you'd be driving anyway (won't need Magical Express bus shuttle from the airport), have you looked into teacher discounts at the Swan or Dolphin hotels? These two hotels are not themed but they are deluxe properties within boat/walking distance of both Epcot & Disney Studios. They share a very, very nice pool area and offer a couple restaurants at each. They have regular bus service to the other Disney parks and Extra Magic Hours benefits. Just cannot charge food and other purchases to your room account by using your Magic Band. But still very conveniently located.

What about the Disney Springs area hotels, since WDW recently announced that they are extending certain onsite perks through 2019 to guests at these hotels, including Extra Magic Hours and 60-day advance planning for Fastpass+. Note that Wyndham owners who book affiliated hotels through the Wyn Vac Club website are able to get get up to 20% discount off the affiliated hotels. Wyndham has a hotel on Hotel Plaza Blvd which participates in this program. Again, unable to use your Magic Band for charging purchases. Short drives to the parks (similar to WBC) are key here too.

Consider what you'd pay in a year's maintenance fees with DVC and how many weekend nights (higher points) it would get you in a studio at SSR.
Consider what discounted prices are available to you as a teacher, as a Wyndham owner, as a Florida Resident, and/or as an Annual Passholder for the same number of nights.
How much would the DVC points really save you?
Is it enough to offset that $11K pricetag, making it worthwhile to tie up $11K in another committed purchase?
Consider other factors affecting your decision for your family... there are intangibles for some. HTH.

 

[famy27]

I'm not a FL resident, but I own both Wyndham and DVC. I have owned resale Wyndham points since 2008 and I bought 270 resale points at BLT in 2015. It's been such a shock to the system owning DVC (in a good way). There are no fees for anything. You can change your resort, do 30 one-night stays, add nights, remove nights, and send guests for no charge. The system is so flexible and easy to use. And nobody harasses you to attend "updates." We debated buying about three years before we did, and now we only kick ourselves that we didn't do it sooner. At current resale prices, if we sold our points tomorrow, all of the vacations we've taken in the past three years would be free, and we'd even pocket some cash.

We bought to use half and rent half to cover the MFs. And we stuck with that plan for the first year. Then we realized that with the Gold AP, it was really cheap to keep going to WDW, especially when we could get cheap airfare. The end result is that I have six trips set for the next 10 months:

Sept 25-27--Beach Club 2 bedroom (was booked at seven months)
Oct 25-27--SSR studio (just booked this two weeks ago. And it includes a Friday night for F&W)
Jan 18-21--SSR studio (booked at six months)
Feb 8-10--AKV savanna view studio (booked at seven months)
Feb 28-Mar 3--BLT standard view studio (booked at eight months)
Jul 2-6--BLT standard view studio (booked at 11 months exactly)

In May, I booked a Poly studio the day before for one night for Mother's Day

In June, I got a match to my waitlist request for a studio at GCV one week before check-in (felt like I won the lottery)

In addition to the above, we've stayed at BWV, Poly, BLT, SSR, AKV, and BRV in the past. Some of these were booked at seven months out, but many were booked in the 3-4 month range. We have stayed in studios almost every single time.

I also use my Wyndham points to exchange into Disney if I am going for five nights or more. For shorter stays, I use my DVC points.

I actually love my DVC points so much that I am thinking about deeding my Wyndham points back (either one or both contracts) through Ovations and buying more DVC points. I'm just not sure I'm 100% sold on CCV. If Riviera were available now, I'd already have purchased that.

 

[jberndt10]

After our last cruise I received a call about buying into DVC. I said that we already owned and she apologized for the call. She said that it wasn't noted properly and now we would not receive any more solicitations. I wish that Wyndham would take a lesson from them[/QUOTE]

Amen to that!