Buying question for Wyndham

[leonpwhirl]

My wife and I recently attended a presentation in which we did NOT buy. However, the contract was for 6000 points for 16k. It is hard to judge value in what they are selling. Looking at the resell market there are a lot of options out there. It appears this was kind of a ripoff? Also trying to find good experiences with a point type system time share. Any help appreciated. Not sure if we should run away or if we should run towards on the resell system.

 

[WyndhamBarter]

the contract was for 6000 points for 16k.

Please tell us you made a decimal point error in your post, or maybe a timeshare system name error.

In Wyndham Vacation Ownership, 6 thousand points for 16 thousand dollars would be a COMPLETE ripoff.
Even direct-from-Wyndham (developer) pricing is usually a factor of 10 or so better than this. And by
reading this forum, you can see that buying your points on the resale market could save you *another*
factor of ten or twenty in purchase price.

Alternatively, perhaps you attended a Worldmark presentation? (WM is owned by WVO.) In the WM
system, the currency is "credits" rather than points, and 6,000 for $16,000 is much closer to 'reasonable'
as far a retail (direct from developer) pricing is concerned.

Just check the price in points for an average week at a WVO resort - 6,000 points will get you *nothing*.
Even 60,000 points will only get you a week in one of the less expensive resorts.

 

[leonpwhirl]

It might of possibly been a worldmark presentation. It was rather confusing. There was a worldmark and wyndham at the same place and the sales person was using both interchangeably and was rather confusing as to what was being presented. Is there a better system to purchase?

 

[ecwinch]

The pricing definitely sounds like Worldmark. Which is the better system has a lot of caveats. Generally speaking if you live on the West Coast then Worldmark is definitely the best system - they more resorts and they are harder to get into if you dont own there. And they have a number of cash booking options so you are not strictly limited by how many credits you own.

 

[leonpwhirl]

The pricing definitely sounds like Worldmark. Which is the better system has a lot of caveats. Generally speaking if you live on the West Coast then Worldmark is definitely the best system - they more resorts and they are harder to get into if you dont own there. And they have a number of cash booking options so you are not strictly limited by how many credits you own.

I was on the west coastish the presentation was in Park City. When you say caveats what are some of the caveats? The sales person did not bring any up (not surprised).

 

[bbodb1]

Check out the following page: https://www.clubwyndham.com/cw/resorts.page

It lists the Wyndham and WorldMark resort locations. In our travels, we have been many places east of the Mississippi and in the course of those vacations, have stayed at a good number of Wyndham resorts (I should note we are Wyndham owners). As our travel goals turned west, we realized the number of Wyndham resorts in the west was far fewer compared to WorldMark. For us, we can use our Wyndham points to travel in WorldMark system (as long as we pay a $99 fee) and that has opened up a lot more potential destinations in the west. It was not necessary for us to purchase WorldMark BUT we would have some advantages if we did (earlier access to reservations being the main one).

I slightly disagree with ecwinch's point above about where you live as being a determining factor in deciding whether to purchase in the Wyndham or WorldMark systems - in my opinion, it is more about where you want to travel. I definitely agree with the remainder of his point.

If I had it to do all over again, I would still purchase Wyndham (resale of course) and I would have some WorldMark in my portfolio too (resale too)... as that would give me the best of both worlds. For a first (initial) purchase, I would suggest considering purchasing WorldMark if the majority of your travel destinations have more WorldMark presence. If there is more of a Wyndham presence in the areas you want to travel to, consider purchasing Wyndham.

 

[ecwinch]

I was on the west coastish the presentation was in Park City. When you say caveats what are some of the caveats? The sales person did not bring any up (not surprised).

By caveats, I really mean there are a lot of variables that might make one system better over another for your personal situation. For instance - where you like to vacation, how often you like to vacation, your ability to take last minute trips, and other factors.

The two systems are completely different, and as bbodb1 mentions, Club Wyndham has a bigger presence in the eastern US, and Worldmark has a bigger presence in the western US.

bbodb1 misstates my point however on where you live being the determining factor. What I said is that it is a no-brainer if you live on the west coast. That is because WM has a variety of cash booking options that it would foolish to not have available to you if you lived within driving distance of their CA/WA/OR/UT resorts. I am not saying that someone in the midwest or east coast should not buy Worldmark, only that it is the superior choice if you live in the west. A similar cash-booking option is not available in Club Wyndham, so perhaps bbodb1 is not aware of how much more value it adds to a WM membership.

I would also disagree with bbodb1 on that if you buy Club Wyndham you can still book WM resorts. This is possible, but is very difficult in peak season - if not impossible at the best resorts (ie. West Yellowstone or Depoe Bay in summer). And this benefit (called Club Pass) is only possible with a developer purchase - which is not worth the cost IMHO.

Bottom line - WM is far more flexible, and has cash booking options (Bonus Time, FAX, Inventory Specials) that do not exist with Club Wyndham. Also with WM you have the ability to exchange with both RCI and II, where as with Club Wyndham you are basically limited to only RCI (unless you own at a few select resorts). Club Wyndham is less flexible, but has more options on the east coast.

 

[bbodb1]

Having now read Eric's additional info above, I do agree with his point about the potential of WorldMark usage and that makes perfectly good sense to consider that if your vacationing / travel needs fit. I wanted to point out there are scenarios where such a consideration might not make sense - or as much sense - (which is the case for us) due to the distance we live from WorldMark resorts in areas we want to visit. Obviously for you Leon, your experience (and needs) may vary.

On the other rebuttal point Eric makes above - I am not suggesting Club Wyndham Access specifically, rather my point is to consider Wyndham if their resorts align with a good number of your future travel destinations. FWIW from our travels, we have typically found Wyndham and WorldMark resorts are more consistent and satisfy our travel needs more frequently than RCI does.

I would certainly read the posts of the moderators (and many other long time folks who post here) and give them more weight as opposed to someone with my limited experience. All of us here are merely trying to provide food for thought.

 

[Dionarya]

My wife and I recently attended a presentation in which we did NOT buy. However, the contract was for 6000 points for 16k. It is hard to judge value in what they are selling. Looking at the resell market there are a lot of options out there. It appears this was kind of a ripoff? Also trying to find good experiences with a point type system time share. Any help appreciated. Not sure if we should run away or if we should run towards on the resell system.

Oh yes I would definitely say rip off. They sold us 105K points for $15K. What they offered me is still a rip off since I found resale for like free to 2K. I'm still researching of course but I've already sent my rescind letter. Yay me

 

[ronparise]

Oh yes I would definitely say rip off. They sold us 105K points for $15K. What they offered me is still a rip off since I found resale for like free to 2K. I'm still researching of course but I've already sent my rescind letter. Yay me

You were offered club Wyndham. The op was offered Worldmark. They are different clubs that happen to have the same manager and developer