[ 2022 ] Club Wyndham vs Hilton Grand Vacation Club vs Marriott Vacation Club (CW vs HGVC vs MVC)

[chapjim]

Yup, I agree and have a similar thinking. Just that when something is tagged luxurious you develop some fascination for it . Higher number of resorts with Wyndham is definitely a strong advantage they have over HGVC, at least for resale points because you do not have access to Diamond/HGVC MAX properties when you buy resale.
Other than the lobby, aren't the HGVC rooms and other resort amenities (whatever they are and folks typically use. I have not stayed at resorts a lot and am not so familiar, and mostly use the stay to visit attractions at the location rather than be in the resort, just like you) better than Wyndham that might make it attractive?

How much in advance do you (need to) end up booking with Wyndham in order to find decent availability beyond just 3 or 4 resorts? 6 months.

There's no pat answer to that! Here's what I mean:

Orlando/Kissimmee area: Wyndham has six resorts in the Greater Orlando area (Bonnet Creek, Cypress Palms, Star Island, Orlando International, Reunion, and Kingstown Reef). Typically, Bonnet Creek fills first but after that, it's hard to tell. You can still get 1BR units at Bonnet Creek and Cypress Palms starting July 9 and Bonnet Creek, Cypress Palms, and Reunion starting July 16 (3BR at Reunion). (I would say availability three and four weeks out mostly reflects how miserable Central Florida is in July, but last time I said anything like that, I got blasted by a bunch of teachers so I won't say anything about how miserable Central Florida is in July.) You can still book Thanksgiving Week at Cypress Palms, Star Island, and Orlando International. You can still book Christmas Week (12/23-12/30) at the same three resorts. Bonnet Creek, Cypress Palms, Star Island, Orlando International, and Reunion still have lots of units available for April 1-8 and April 8-15, 2023.

Pompano Beach: Four Wyndham resorts in the area: three (Royal Vista, Sea Gardens, and Santa Barbara are either beachfront or across SR A1A from the beach; one, Palm-Aire is fifteen minutes or so inland. No question which one is last to fill. Royal Vista, the only one that is totally beachfront, is next to impossible to book during winter months unless you are an owner. Also, Royal Vista is one of three Wyndham resorts restricted to owners only all year (Clearwater Beach and Sedona are the others). I own at Royal Vista and booked two January 2023 weeks in December 2021. Royal Vista has full weeks in late August and in late September (hurricane season). Then no full weeks until April 2023.

Daytona: Ocean Walk has been booked for months for Race Week and Bike Week but otherwise, availability is pretty good. You can usually find something.

Newport, RI: Unless you are an owner, it is almost impossible to book anything from May through September or later, even at ten months before check-in.

I am not familiar with Wyndham resorts west of the Mississippi nor resorts in midwest. Even when I was renting Wyndham reservations, I never booked those places because I didn't know anything about them.

 

[Arimaas]

Yup, I agree and have a similar thinking. Just that when something is tagged luxurious you develop some fascination for it . Higher number of resorts with Wyndham is definitely a strong advantage they have over HGVC, at least for resale points because you do not have access to Diamond/HGVC MAX properties when you buy resale.
Other than the lobby, aren't the HGVC rooms and other resort amenities (whatever they are and folks typically use. I have not stayed at resorts a lot and am not so familiar, and mostly use the stay to visit attractions at the location rather than be in the resort, just like you) better than Wyndham that might make it attractive?

How much in advance do you (need to) end up booking with Wyndham in order to find decent availability beyond just 3 or 4 resorts? 6 months?

There isn’t much different, in my opinion, to the Wyndham rooms versus the HGVC rooms. Maybe the screened in porches of HGVC Orlando is nicer than the Wyndham open air. That’s really the only difference I notice and/or care about. The Wyndham staff wherever I go is just as attentive as HGVC’s. And like I said, I’m not really impressed with HGVC’s Orlando properties. A lot of people that aren’t owners staying there, destroying the relaxing atmosphere anyhow (loud music until late at night, smoking weed stinking up the place, hogging the pools with beer cans in tow). I rather stay at bonnet creek versus hgvc any day. Also, I have used the gym in every Wyndham location I’ve stayed it - nice enough facilities. No issues.
I haven’t had too many problems getting into Wyndham at the ten month mark. Been lucky with Newport too, but I don’t try for Newport in the summer - maybe early June or late august, but I know better than to try to get in during the heat of the summer. Like I said, very happy with Wyndham. I bought both Wyndham and hgvc on the resale market and hgvc still cost me $4k versus a basically free Wyndham contract. More value and enjoyment out of Wyndham. I’d probably have a different opinion if I lived out west or went international. But east coast living and vacationing? Wyndham beets hgvc IMHO by a landslide.

 

[bnoble]

Just that when something is tagged luxurious you develop some fascination for it . Higher number of resorts with Wyndham is definitely a strong advantage they have over HGVC, at least for resale points because you do not have access to Diamond/HGVC MAX properties when you buy resale.

In my experience, the "better" Wyndham properties are at least arguably comparable to the Hilton locations. The difference for me is that Wyndham has a much broader variation in their resorts than Hilton does. That doesn't mean the "less luxurious" Wyndham resorts are bad, necessarily. They are usually clean and comfortable, and in good locations, but maybe without all the bells and whistles or the upscale finishings. Given that my kitchen counters at home are 20+ years old, with appliances that owe no one anything, I can live with that.

You probably won't know what you can (and cannot) live with until you try it out, because everyone's tastes are different.

 

[90_Min_Sales_Pitch]

If I had to pick one of my timeshares to keep, it would be Wyndham. We're getting max value out of our home resort, appreciate that Sunday is a weeknight, and the flexibility of partial week stays on advanced bookings.

Still, I have to give HGVC the nod on the accommodations. This is just one example, we've stayed at both properties. Wyndham was a great stay, HGVC was even nicer.

 

[bnoble]

IIRC, the Desert Rose is one of the Shell resorts they picked up when they acquired that system. Grand Desert and Desert Blue are both probably nicer, though I have yet to stay in any Vegas timeshare.

 

[dayooper]

Comparing, from what I understand, one of the best Wyndham resorts (Bonnet Creek) with some of the oldest and lowest quality resorts (HGVC Orlando resorts) isn’t a true measure of the accommodations. I really don’t know that much about Wyndham other than Bonnet Creek is great and they have many locations. They all could be that level. I do know that if you have only stayed at the HGVC Orlando resorts, your perception of HGVC wouldn’t be all that high.

I’m not saying Wyndham is low quality. I’m just saying there’s more to HGVC than the Orlando resorts.

 

[Arimaas]

Comparing, from what I understand, one of the best Wyndham resorts (Bonnet Creek) with some of the oldest and lowest quality resorts (HGVC Orlando resorts) isn’t a true measure of the accommodations. I really don’t know that much about Wyndham other than Bonnet Creek is great and they have many locations. They all could be that level. I do know that if you have only stayed at the HGVC Orlando resorts, your perception of HGVC wouldn’t be all that high.

I’m not saying Wyndham is low quality. I’m just saying there’s more to HGVC than the Orlando resorts.

I agree with you. Obviously which is better Is subjective. In 2020 I was supposed to stay at HGVC south beach but obviously never made it. Living in NY and trying to vacation without flying limits my ability to explore the system. That’s why I said if I was living out west or vacationed international my opinion of HGVC would likely change. Right now, all it is based on is their Orlando properties, which, IMHO, leave a lot to be desired. No HGVC In Orlando holds a candle close to Bonnet Creek.

Im staying at one of the HGVC properties in Myrtle beach in a few weeks, so hopefully I’ll enjoy it. But for me, to keep a deed for a nicer Myrtle property that I may or may not even want to go back to seems wasteful. How are Wyndhams Myrtle properties by the way?

I Rather up my Wyndham points and have access to properties in Virginia, the poconos (which I really wasn’t a fan of but great use of extra points for a weekend trip just to change scenery), Rhode Island, Florida, Myrtle and all the other locations here. I have even taken the Amtrak Crescent train form NY to NOLA to stay in a Wyndham. All of that not possible for me with HGVC. If I was traveling to their beautiful Hawaii and California properties, I’m sure I’d have a different opinion. I mean I don’t think they are charging guests for AC (which one of the Wyndham properties did when I put my sister up on one of the Hawaiian islands).

 

[Lisa P]

One amenity at the older, legacy Wyndham resorts that we've really appreciated is the indoor pools. Many have them and it's a fun off-season or rainy day diversion when traveling with kids. We've found relatively few other timeshares that have an indoor pool, especially outside of the overbuilt (Branson, Williamsburg, Orlando) areas.

 

[randyz]

IIRC, the Desert Rose is one of the Shell resorts they picked up when they acquired that system. Grand Desert and Desert Blue are both probably nicer, though I have yet to stay in any Vegas timeshare.

Quite accurate, the Desert Rose is not a good comparison since it is a Shell resort, not a core Wyndham Resort of which Grand Desert is something of a flagship like Bonnet Creek. The Elara and Grand Desert are very comparable. The major Elara advantage is it is one block closer to the strip. The Elara and Grand Desert are both on Harmon. Not sure of the cost differences. The rooms including the big soaker tub are all very similar. The Grand Desert has 3 pools, with the one of the main large pools designated adult only, which is a big plus for some. Wyndham units have laundry in the room which may be important to certain families.

 

[90_Min_Sales_Pitch]

Quite accurate, the Desert Rose is not a good comparison since it is a Shell resort, not a core Wyndham Resort of which Grand Desert is something of a flagship like Bonnet Creek. The Elara and Grand Desert are very comparable.

You are right, it is obvious that Grand Desert is nicer than Desert Rose.

 

[patriciotck]

We own WorldMark and some Independents that trade well. We have traded extensively, including to multiple Hiltons and to a couple of highly rated Marriott Resorts. We used to own Wyndham points but gave those back because our small ownership didn't yield good value. I agree with commenters who say that the Hilton's seem to be as good as the Marriotts.

I have long considered buying Marriott because it is harder to trade into than some other resorts if you don't own Marriott, but as exchangers we were given units overlooking the parking lot or another building. I knew someone who had a 2 bedroom Oceanfront at Marriott Maui Ocean Club, and when they traded through Interval they also got units with disappointing views. They sold their unit back to Marriott because of that. Since view is very important to us, that, along with the high maintenance fees, has discouraged me from buying Marriott.

I don't understand why developers would design resorts where some people get terrible views. By contrast with Marriott, when exchanging into Hiltons we have always gotten the building we requested, and a decent view.

Hello. Did you buy resale Worldmark or developer? I want to know because I'm on the fence between buying Club Wyndham or Worldmark resale and wanted to know if there are any cons to buying worldmark resale? For example with club wyndham resale you cannot book worldmark.

 

[Sandy VDH]

If I were buying resale only, I would look at what properties that either Worldmark or wyndham have where you want to go. Note some properties are co-branded, in that they have a set amount of inventory that is WM and a different set that is Wyn. Both rooms are usually similar, but there might be slight differences. The both have 1 check in desk.

Biggest differences is on a resale account Bonus Time (MM, IS, BT options) are generally cheaper than MF + HK if you go WM. There is no bonus option on Wyn that will offer you the same pricing level, IMHO.

I own (ordered by account size) Wyndham, Hilton, Holiday Inn, and Worldmark. I picked up a resale WM just to get access to BT options.

 

[Tahiya]

Hello. Did you buy resale Worldmark or developer? I want to know because I'm on the fence between buying Club Wyndham or Worldmark resale and wanted to know if there are any cons to buying worldmark resale? For example with club wyndham resale you cannot book worldmark.

We bought resale, but did so before Worldmark started keeping track, so we can book S Pacific and Wyndham resorts--although we never have. That's the main thing you lose when buying resale.

 

[geist1223]

Worldmark Credits acquired prior to November 20, 2006 from whatever source are WM+A and have full access to Club Pass and Wyndham South Pacific. Worldmark Credits acquired resell after November 20, 2006 are WM. They do not have access to Club Pass or Wyndham South Pacific. They do have full access to the 90+ Worldmark Resorts, Bonus Time, Inventory Specials, Monday Madness,and the Wait List.