Buying Welk Resale & Availability

[sherakay]

If I was to acquire a Welk resale, and am looking at 240,000 EOY, how difficult would it be to make reservations for red season at Northstar, or getting Mountain Villas or Cabo in Aug/Sep? How far in advance can you make a reservation with resale points? We also would be mostly doing 5 night stays, not whole weeks.

Thanks!

 

[Shankilicious]

If I was to acquire a Welk resale, and am looking at 240,000 EOY, how difficult would it be to make reservations for red season at Northstar, or getting Mountain Villas or Cabo in Aug/Sep? How far in advance can you make a reservation with resale points? We also would be mostly doing 5 night stays, not whole weeks.

Thanks!

You will still have the 15 month booking window for your use year but you will have to pay your maintenance/vacation ownership fees in advance.
Northstar well be much more difficult to book but availability at Cabo and mountain villas in escondido won't be a problem as long you book more than 3 months out, especially in August/September.
I strongly recommend buying annual points even if it's a smaller package. The most frustrating thing about Welk is the very small, 60 day booking window for non-use year/rollover points.
"Use year" = the year that you get your points, ie. If you buy even year points ('20, '22, '24 etc) the even years are your use years.

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[sherakay]

Thank you for explaining. So with an odd use year, if I wanted to book Northstar for March 2023, I would have to book December 2021 for 15 months out?

And if so wanted August 2023 in Escondido. I would have to book in May 2022. And in both cases have paid my MF in advance since you normally don’t pay it until Dec of the year prior of your use year?

We are a family of four so we can do a 1 bedroom so I was thinking we’d need 120k minimum, but that only gets us 4-5 in some places.


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[Shankilicious]

Thank you for explaining. So with an odd use year, if I wanted to book Northstar for March 2023, I would have to book December 2021 for 15 months out?

And if so wanted August 2023 in Escondido. I would have to book in May 2022. And in both cases have paid my MF in advance since you normally don’t pay it until Dec of the year prior of your use year?

We are a family of four so we can do a 1 bedroom so I was thinking we’d need 120k minimum, but that only gets us 4-5 in some places.


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That's accurate. Have you seen my post on here explaining Welk in the other timeshare systems forum? That will explain quite a bit.
You don't have to worry about booking as far out as possible for Escondido or Cabo especially in those hotter months. Welk availability is very good everywhere but Breck and Northstar during ski season. Check out www.calresorts.com for some very well priced points packages. They also have a maintenance fee chart. It's a from 2019 but it'll get you a good idea of how much the annual maintenance fees will be.

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[Shankilicious]

There's short stay availability for a Sunday to Friday stay at mountain villas and Cabo in late August. I hope the image is clear enough.
That's another thing! Shoot, you only have 9 months to book during your use year if doing a short stay (less than a week). So you REALLY want annual points. Even if you drop down to 180k or 120k points per year.
Side note, in the attached image, where it shows a unit as "unavailable" that's because I don't have enough points left right now but the unit is available to book it I had the points at this moment, so it's a true look at availability.

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[sherakay]

Thank you SO much for all your help! The pic wasn’t very clear but I could make out the names. Hmm, I didn’t see Escondido and now I’m concerned. I was originally thinking about buying Welk points because we’re planning a cash trip there 8/16-8/20. We were going to be staying in a 2BD in Mountain Villas. Online cash price is $1234. But now it seems there is no availability there anyway plus we’d have to check in on a Sunday and couldn’t check in on that Monday.

And you say if we book less than a week we can only book 9 months out, not 15? My husband is an avid skier so I know we’d need Northstar. By nine months out will 1bd be gone for Dec-March months?


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[Shankilicious]

Thank you SO much for all your help! The pic wasn’t very clear but I could make out the names. Hmm, I didn’t see Escondido and now I’m concerned. I was originally thinking about buying Welk points because we’re planning a cash trip there 8/16-8/20. We were going to be staying in a 2BD in Mountain Villas. Online cash price is $1234. But now it seems there is no availability there anyway plus we’d have to check in on a Sunday and couldn’t check in on that Monday.

And you say if we book less than a week we can only book 9 months out, not 15? My husband is an avid skier so I know we’d need Northstar. By nine months out will 1bd be gone for Dec-March months?


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Yeah, not likely to get northstar 9 months out but it's possible. Escondido was available thr week you asked but you specifically names the Mountain villas, so that's what I screenshot.

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[sherakay]

Yeah, not likely to get northstar 9 months out but it's possible. Escondido was available thr week you asked but you specifically names the Mountain villas, so that's what I screenshot.

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Oh lol, forgot Mountain Villas IS Escondido for a second. So looks like anything less than owning 420k you can forget about Northstar cause every thing for ski season will be booked before nine months.
You’re a lifesaver!

 

[Shankilicious]

Money/frustration saver maybe lol

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[Guitarmom]

I was told by Owner's Services that I can book 15 months ahead without paying my Maintenance Fees out that far. The one restriction is that I have to pay my MFs by January of the year of the reservation itself. So in the March 2023 example you gave, you'd have to pay 2023's Maintenance Fees by January, 2023.

Caveat: sometimes even Owner's Services gets things wrong. If someone has experienced having to pay MFs fifteen months in advance in order to book, please do post your experience. I'm always happy to find out that I was given poor information from Welk.

By the way, the reservation system is not working well for Priority Owners, so I can't check. Will 240,000 points get a one-bedroom at Northstar during the Red season?

 

[Shankilicious]

That could be. I just know you won't be able to book online in those situations.
I've never had a problem booking through the online reservation system since I became annual

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[RunCat]

I was told by Owner's Services that I can book 15 months ahead without paying my Maintenance Fees out that far. The one restriction is that I have to pay my MFs by January of the year of the reservation itself. So in the March 2023 example you gave, you'd have to pay 2023's Maintenance Fees by January, 2023.

Caveat: sometimes even Owner's Services gets things wrong. If someone has experienced having to pay MFs fifteen months in advance in order to book, please do post your experience. I'm always happy to find out that I was given poor information from Welk.

By the way, the reservation system is not working well for Priority Owners, so I can't check. Will 240,000 points get a one-bedroom at Northstar during the Red season?

15Mos is standard for a full week reservation.
re: One-bed in Northstar, they don't have them; only a studio that sleeps 2. The studio is 120K for a week.

 

[Guitarmom]

OOPS. Typed this last night but didn't hit SEND. Thanks to RunCat and Shankilicious for filling in my knowledge holes.

So it could be that if you're EOY, you'll do better by booking through Owner's Services.

Right now, the following appears on the Owner sign-in screen: "PLATINUM PRIORITY PROGRAM OWNERS - While we work on enhancing your online experience, your previous “Platinum Rewards Program” benefits and extended booking windows are still in place. If you qualify for an additional booking window—and would like to take advantage of it—please call Owner Services." Quite frankly, I can't figure out what's going on. I'll see a week I want to book, and then it disappears when I search again. Then when I call Owner Services, it turns out to be available. I think they have a few bugs in the system.

In other words, if you can't find what you want online, don't give up without calling Owner Services. In fact, I recently mentioned that "I almost gave up," and the Welk rep said, "Oh, never give up. You should always try calling us!"

 

[RunCat]

OOPS. Typed this last night but didn't hit SEND. Thanks to RunCat and Shankilicious for filling in my knowledge holes.

So it could be that if you're EOY, you'll do better by booking through Owner's Services.

Right now, the following appears on the Owner sign-in screen: "PLATINUM PRIORITY PROGRAM OWNERS - While we work on enhancing your online experience, your previous “Platinum Rewards Program” benefits and extended booking windows are still in place. If you qualify for an additional booking window—and would like to take advantage of it—please call Owner Services." Quite frankly, I can't figure out what's going on. I'll see a week I want to book, and then it disappears when I search again. Then when I call Owner Services, it turns out to be available. I think they have a few bugs in the system.

In other words, if you can't find what you want online, don't give up without calling Owner Services. In fact, I recently mentioned that "I almost gave up," and the Welk rep said, "Oh, never give up. You should always try calling us!"

I've had he same problem. In many cases, I just call. A few weeks ago, I tried to book a reservation and there were no 2-bed L/Os available but there were each side available separately. I booked them separately and the resort connected the rooms at check-in.

Also, as the sign-in describes, I do not always see the level benefits if I try to book on-line. Again, I just call and have a pleasant conversation.