Cancel and Rebook - How prevalent?

[ronparise]

That statement is grossly overstated. You cannot possibly presume to know all the various motivations people have had to purchase VIP or what pressures were brought to bear at the time of the sale on the owners. MANY VIP owners purchased simply to get a better "stretch" on the points to maximize the number of holidays they could take with and for their families. The stretch included both discount AND upgrade, always based on availability. Status has nothing to do with those criteria.



Big difference in how Worldmark The Club grew their ownership base vs how Wyndham has grown theirs. Also huge volume differences in the ownership base and number of properties. Location of WM product also influences the sale. Worldmark built a tiered benefits system into their program a long time ago and it is a completely different structure. Comparing the two systems is apples and oranges. The commonality is " Wyndham Managed."



Wyndham has been saving on the COG long before Ovation came into play. When CWA was introduced it was on the back of the R.E. downturn where a good portion of the defaulted deeds were taken back by the resorts, "sold" to the CWA trust for $1/ea so that sales could then recycle the unattached points as CWA contracts. It cost the resorts and owners of those resorts so that WYN could report a low COG on their FS's.

and dont forget WAAM, now known as "just in time inventory delivery" or some such thing. Bonnet Creek was the last resort built from the ground up. The new model is Clearwater where they get someone else to do the development and then buy condos one at a time "just in time" as they are sold by the sales force.


what you say makes a lot of sense, and is completely logical but who ever said the decisions that come out of Wyndhams executive ranks are always sensible or even logical. Another thread here introduced the concept of 'silos" to me (in business A mind-set present in some companies when certain departments or sectors do not wish to share information with others in the same company.

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/silo-mentality.htm

I always knew it as "the right hand doesnt know what the left hand is doing" and the fact is the executives that have called for the end of cancel and rebook have no idea of how sales uses it and sales have no idea about whats going to hit them... When I was at National Harbor recently I talked to the sales manager (outside on the street. Im not allowed in the sales room) and he didnt know about all of us that had been suspended



You have the benefit of good sense and logic when you say what you say. I I can tell you for a fact (whether it makes sense or not... Im not guessing) that they really dont like cancel/rebook, and they blame that loophole for the rise of the mega renters and they really dont like us. (strangely they seem to have less problems with the points managers than the guys that do it themselves) I believe that they are seriously going to go after large scale commercial renting and will cite the disclosures (page 394 of the directory) specifically the clause that says " The program is for a Members own personal use and enjoyment and not for any commercial use" and " WVR ....reserves the right to restrict services to members who engage in....manipulation of the program rules to gain unfair advantage..."

Somebody said (I think it was you) that i have done pretty well as a mega renter by trusting my gut. My biggest "gut" decision was the one where I decided to "go big or go home" with no exit plan... My gut is telling me now that its time to get out while the getting is good.

So you can trust your good sense and logic.. Im going to continue to trust my gut and look for something else to keep me busy as I enter my 8th decade

 

[BellaWyn]

To state that people will spend hundreds of thousands for 'status' is wrong and there is absolutely no proof of this in any other model. In every VIP instance, there are significant benefits that can be applied to the value. That might well apply to reserve where the units are better but in EVERY sales pitch I have been to, every video, every update VIP and discounts has been the leading push. All those 250,000 contracts are simply the price of admission on the way to a life time of upgrade pitches about how much better life is as a vip with point discounts.

Does not apply to Reserve owners either.

 

[Roger830]

If they change it I am gone. It will make my resale worth more since no one will care about VIP status any longer and resales will be the way of the future. I will become a full time customer to many of my friends on here and rent through ebay at already discounted pricing as a result of inventory movements.

If cancel and rebook is curtailed, it might be better to keep your points.

Every Wyndham unit that I rented on ebay for less than $100/day was booked at a 50% discount in points. Each time I received a guest certificate from Wyndham which showed the number of points used and the member's name. They were all different member's names each time even though the ebay seller was the same.

Without cancel-rebook, there won't be those low cost bargains.

 

[BellaWyn]

So you can trust your good sense and logic.. Im going to continue to trust my gut and look for something else to keep me busy as I enter my 8th decade

Still applaud the successes you have made from going with your gut (yep, me that said it, still believe it.) Nor do I question that the under-informed WYN corporate SILO executives are wanting to put a kibosh on the C&B.

It's the overstated sweeping generalizations, lopsided comparisons, and somewhat misleading analysis that prompt clarification. There are a lot of new owners that read these forums that perceive, that by the sheer volume of your participation, your voice is near gospel accurate. To date, the bulk of this rhetoric is all still speculation and not yet gospel.

Also, it makes no sense why WYN would perceive point managers as any less threatening. Still a type of mega-renter, except using VIP owner contracts to facilitate their business model.

 

[vacationhopeful]

....
Also, it makes no sense why WYN would perceive point managers as any less threatening. Still a type of mega-renter, except using VIP owner contracts to facilitate their business model.

Points managers will not go to resorts to talk to fellow guests or start a class action law suit or tell the guests to "take the cash and not buy" via owner's updates. Those (point manager) guests rent on price via web sites. Direct owner rentals might be more personal and hence, might be more bias ... 'buy resale only' ... or more educated in the Wyndham product and resale pricing.

 

[ronparise]

Two contrarian points to your statements which I am not sure I understand. First worldmark does not do as well as Wyndham in sales according to the few sales reps I have spoken with. I would not compare the bulky Wyndham product to worldmark in a different tier. Second you didn't offer what would be Wyndham's pitch to VIP upgrade sales if they took away point discounts. VIP is their poster. They tell every owner 'this is where you want to be'. It is the fully loaded lexus, though most buy the lower model - it is the one that catches every eye and for which they base all comparisons to. I do not think anyone cares enough about status to spend 100k with a timeshare company and without the VIP point discounts they have nothing of value in VIP and I simply do not see another upside. Look - no one strives to be a million miler just for the cool colored card. They want the ability to get on the plane first, get discount booking points and free upgrades. Sound familiar? Heck I would just rent the points AND it would send aftermarket points prices WAY UP as the only downside is no VIP. Who would ever again buy developer points?



Ron you're a great guy and I might agree with your inclination that Wyndham could void themselves of the c/b issue if someone could point out to me a benefit that would be used as the replacement lead selling point to upgrades. To state that people will spend hundreds of thousands for 'status' is wrong and there is absolutely no proof of this in any other model. In every VIP instance, there are significant benefits that can be applied to the value. That might well apply to reserve where the units are better but in EVERY sales pitch I have been to, every video, every update VIP and discounts has been the leading push. All those 250,000 contracts are simply the price of admission on the way to a life time of upgrade pitches about how much better life is as a vip with point discounts.

Also, let us all not forget the impact of removing or changing the VIP program rules. Wyndham has the ability to change anything in VIP at any time with no remuneration. This we can agree on but I also hope that we can agree that for every action comes an equal and opposite reaction. So Wyndham has to calculate that cost against the other. Do they lose mega renters? Do they lose potential sales to new owners from said mega renters who send in fresh meat? Can they quickly resale 1 billion points if they make the market untenable for businesses? Are those points held in names or llc's (Wyndham allowed this several years back. I know mine are how many others are? Are they paid for free and clear? Who's going to replace the MF on 1 billion or more points?

Many have stated that Wyndham will just expand into the rental market while I agree, I think they want both. Wyndham wants 100% occupancy at every resort all the time. It is the mechanism which feeds leads into the sales system. What they don't want is the overhead attached to that. Mega-Owners in the rental market are providing Wyndham a very valuable service - putting sales leads in the system while also paying MF on their product. IF Wyndham takes this over they may well see an increase in revenue - but an increase in their inventory on their rental channels might also churn prices in those segments. As a corporation they will not engage the Ebay/craigslist/homeaway market as individual sellers do (tell me who is and why they would take on that liability).

Since I have been an owner people have complained about CB - honestly since before I was an owner from my days reading here. CB wasn't removed when folks first started complaining about it and the volume isn't any louder today than it was 4 years ago or longer. The new reservation system that was going to 'put an end to CB' has come and gone and come in many fashions but they larger premise has been to better track points.

Without the 'total overhaul' (which is rumored to have been a failure) they have implemented many changes on the booking system. They have changed the return of points to contracts as opposed to cancelled points. They have been able to alter the return of cancelled units to the system. They have been able to alter inventory and options on a per user basis. They have been able to collect meta-data on owner bookings to feed the aforementioned algorithms.

Wyndham according to the stock price and latest update is doing just fine. There are lots of complaints in their world but I hear nothing about CB being one they want to get into and while it might seem like a simple fix to many - it has serious consequences I cannot imaging Wyndham will ever move into. Ultimately it will come to this for any major corporation - is the risk worth the reward. This would be a VERY risky venture and Wyndham has always played the risk averse angle.

Think about this -- does Delta airlines care that paying passengers are pissed off that they can't get free upgrades, or flight availability because VIP travelers took up inventory with free miles or got to pick the best seats at no additional cost? No they don't but you can bet your bottom dollar that Delta customers get pissed about it. I listened to a guy at the airport waylay a check-in associate about luggage fees after watching two people skip the line of 70 people, to drop off three bags each at no charge after he waiting an hour to pay $200 for his bags. What we are witnessing here is just the cost of doing business.IMHO

If they change it I am gone. It will make my resale worth more since no one will care about VIP status any longer and resales will be the way of the future. I will become a full time customer to many of my friends on here and rent through ebay at already discounted pricing as a result of inventory movements. Everyone likes their timeshare for different reasons. I like mine because I get discounts with 2 million points I give them away to folks to use and bank the rest. I'm not a mega renter, though I have rented.

As I said in another post, you may be right, and as a salesman for the last 60 years Im sure you are, but I also know it doesnt make any difference. The way I see it is that certain of us owners (those of us that have been suspended) have embarrassed Wyndham, and they are going to get their revenge.. That may be petty and vindictive and have consequences that they havent thought of, but Im convinced that its happening. It makes no sense to me either and I hope Im wrong, Im just telling you what i see.

Even now the VIP program is sold by appealing to the prospects emotions, not their intelligence or logic. Even with the discounts buying VIP does not logically make any sense. Its so much cheaper to buy twice as many points on the secondary market. That information and advice is easy to find on the internet. So how do I explain the success of Wyndham sales in the face of that fact?.. They lie and cheat and omit certain important facts in their presentations. and thats going to continue with or without cancel and rebook. Discounts and upgrades will still exist, and the sales force will always be able to uses them to appeal to the prospects greed, and I think hunger for status.

You may be right that Sales needs some tangible benefit to get someone to upgrade to VIP, but I dont think so, Remember the folks that upgrade to vip are the same folks that bought developer points to begin with. And that makes no sense either. I mean why would someone spend $20000 to buy 105000 points when they can buy the same thing on the secondary market for next to nothing, I dont know whats in the kool-aid, but these folks drink it. and Im convinced that they will continue to buy

and dont bet against Voyager. Geoff Richards promised it would be ready by May.. Some owners are already using it, looking for bugs

By the way Im not suggesting that Wyndham will do away with Cancel and rebook, I mean it will always be possible to cancel, and it will always be possible to book available inventory. I relly dont think they will attack it directly, rather they will make it so we cant count on it every time, by introducing a wait list, or some random delay between canceling a reservation and seeing it in inventory

heres what I think is a more likely scenario . Enforce the rule that says vip benefits apply only to vip eligible points ie points bought from the developer. That would kill me. I have 1,000,000 vip eligible points but in the same account over 10 million points bought on the secondary market. Now VIP benefits extend to all my points, Change that and im in trouble.
Do this and sales can still tout the cancel and rebook strategy, and points managers can still do their thing with multiple small accounts, but guys like me that wholesale points to the points managers will be brought to our knees (and so will the points managers that depend on our vip eligible points)

You are absolutely right that folks have been complaining about cancel and rebook for a long time, and they havent done anything.. But the recent suspensions mess has brought it front and center> and Wyndham sees it as a problem that they have to fix...(at least thats what I see ) and as you say Wyndhams stock price is doing just fine, I know Club Wyndham is a big part of that, but its just one part of the Wyndham organization. If sales drop a little in Club Wyndham, maybe they can franchise a couple of new Ramada inns to make up the difference. or more likely roll out the 5 year timeshare lease program that I keep hearing about

 

[bogey21]

Ron, I applaud your dispassionate analysis of this. As a non Wyndham owner I think you are right on.

George

 

[Sandi Bo]

Heres what I think is a more likely scenario . Enforce the rule that says vip benefits apply only to vip eligible points ie points bought from the developer. That would kill me. I have 1,000,000 vip eligible points but in the same account over 10 million points bought on the secondary market. Now VIP benefits extend to all my points, Change that and im in trouble.
Do this and sales can still tout the cancel and rebook strategy, and points managers can still do their thing with multiple small accounts, but guys like me that wholesale points to the points managers will be brought to our knees (and so will the points managers that depend on our vip eligible points) re lease program that I keep hearing about

If I were Wyndham that would be my #1 objective. "Fix" this and I think everything else takes care of itself. Cancel/rebook would go WAY down, rental prices would go up, etc, etc.

It has always amazed me that this is how things work today. How could anyone complain if WYN figured out a way to stop it? Many of us would have to re-strategize how we do business. And with the attitude 'it was good while it lasted but we knew it would end some day'.

 

[ronparise]

Still applaud the successes you have made from going with your gut (yep, me that said it, still believe it.) Nor do I question that the under-informed WYN corporate SILO executives are wanting to put a kibosh on the C&B.

It's the overstated sweeping generalizations, lopsided comparisons, and somewhat misleading analysis that prompt clarification. There are a lot of new owners that read these forums that perceive, that by the sheer volume of your participation, your voice is near gospel accurate. To date, the bulk of this rhetoric is all still speculation and not yet gospel.

Also, it makes no sense why WYN would perceive point managers as any less threatening. Still a type of mega-renter, except using VIP owner contracts to facilitate their business model.

All the overstated sweeping generalizations, lopsided comparisons, and somewhat misleading analysis, came after the fact and is my attempt to justify my gut reaction and what Im about to do (execute my exit strategy)

Im a little overwhelmed by your statement, "There are a lot of new owners that read these forums that perceive, that by the sheer volume of your participation, your voice is near gospel accurate". It is important to note however, that I have been almost always gospel accurate


look back on my history here and you will see, I think, that almost all the time Im just reciting facts easily verified by reading the "book" and when I hazard a guess about what coming. I make a logical argument to get me there based on the facts. I dont think I have ever advised that anyone take any action based on what I say or guesses I make, and I have never suggested that anyone do what I do. and Im not suggesting that now. Im just sharing what I see coming. I may be wrong, but I dont think so

All Im trying to say is that I have consulted my crystal ball and have embarked on a course change for myself... I am in no way suggesting anyone follow me into the abyss.


You will notice that my crystal ball has turned red and angry. It seems to demand action

 

[henley1]

If I were Wyndham that would be my #1 objective. "Fix" this and I think everything else takes care of itself. Cancel/rebook would go WAY down, rental prices would go up, etc, etc.


I've heard it said here and elsewhere that rental prices would go up if cancel/rebook were eliminated. But wouldn't wyndham rentals have to be the only game in town or at least a significant portion of the vacation market for this to be true? If prices for wyndham rentals go up, won't people just move to the next-best-priced comparable vacation available?

I think the economic term is price elacticity of demand due to the availability of substitutes.

 

[BellaWyn]

heres what I think is a more likely scenario . Enforce the rule that says vip benefits apply only to vip eligible points ie points bought from the developer. That would kill me. I have 1,000,000 vip eligible points but in the same account over 10 million points bought on the secondary market. Now VIP benefits extend to all my points, Change that and im in trouble.
Do this and sales can still tout the cancel and rebook strategy, and points managers can still do their thing with multiple small accounts, but guys like me that wholesale points to the points managers will be brought to our knees (and so will the points managers that depend on our vip eligible points)

Not a wholly unreasonable fix and apparently would solve the most critical conflict for WYN. Good for you to be pro-active enough to help WYN out by explaining to them on the internet the most expeditious way to undermine guys in your situation.

If this happened, then the KoolAid drinkers could go back to living in their necessary bubble and the non-KoolAid drinkers can get back to only complaining about not getting KoolAid for free with the aftermarket ownership.

Problem solved.

-----
J832

 

[frankf3]

Cancel & Rebook, VIP discounts: Wyndham's intent?

I considered writing a post like this in the long thread about frozen accounts. I didn't because doing so felt to me like it could come across as insensitive. I get it that a lot of posters on TUG have built businesses based on owning Wyndham points and renting timeshare stays out. To open this post I want to be clear that I have nothing against that (in fact on the contrary, I have a huge amount of respect for anyone who goes into business for themselves, has a vision, takes the risks and works hard to make it successful). It seems the frozen accounts are due to problems in Wyndham's systems (IT) rather than being due to use or abuse of cancel and rebook. I also understand that Wyndham sales positions cancel and rebook as a benefit for VIP ownership. But anyone on TUG knows that timeshare sales people are often misleading if not outright lying. So, what is Wyndham's true intent around granting of certain VIP benefits, particularly points discounts and upgrades within 60 days of reservation and can use of these benefits ever be abusive?

Clearly Wyndham intended to offer VIP owners the valuable benefit of being able to reserve inventory that is still available within 60 days (or 45 / 30) days of check-in at significant points discounts.

Is creation of that available inventory abuse of the system? Cancel and rebook makes units unavailable to any owner who actually wants to use that stay (since it inherently requires reservations of at least 2 units and probably often 3, where the owner intends to use only 1).

Despite the fact sales teach new VIP owners how to game the system, that's not a published benefit. The discounts are, but holding multiple reservations so that you can cancel one for a larger unit and upgrade from a studio to that unit at a discount from 50% of the studio points value is not the intention of the benefit because it is not documented that way. It's an abusive trick (again, fully acknowledging that sales people, who are recognized for misleading and even lying to get the sale have touted this).

There is an example that illustrates this from a different but related industry. The airlines. Airlines (at least in the US, including American, Delta and United) offer free first class upgrades to their highest VIP customers on a space available basis. This is a great benefit, however it's only intended a a perk offered free when the airline doesn't sell all first class seats for a given flight. Creation of "available first class inventory" would not be acceptable to the airlines and would result in punishment. Many frequent flyers have heard of such a case (you can google this for the details). American airlines once had a customer who routinely reserved multiple first class, fully refundable seats and an economy ticket. He cancelled the first class reservations hours before the flight and upgraded from economy to first, thus often only paying for an economy seat and flying in first. That is a benefit the airline offered him. But he put his thumb too hard on the scales, intentionally preventing American from selling the first class seats to a customer who wanted them and was willing to pay the normal price. American rescinded his membership in their frequent flyer program and cancelled all of the points he accumulated.

Holding a unit an owner has no intention to use at the price it's reserved at is inherently abuse. That owner is preventing other owners who are willing to pay full price from using their points for that unit. Then creating discount eligible and upgradeable inventory furthers the abuse.

It's one thing to say Wyndham offers generous discounts to VIPs on available units close to check in. That's a nice benefit. It's a completely different story if that inventory is created by holding those units at full price just to cancel and create available inventory to game the system and get a discount plus an upgrade.

I really appreciate how many VIP owners post here, especially Ron and a few others who share their extensive knowledge. I've had offline contact with a couple of owners who were in all cases very nice. I hope this isn't offensive as I believe everyone here has just done what Wyndham sales showed them (or what at least figured out the loophole on their own and exploited it, but not with any intent to harm anyone else). My view is this is on Wyndham. But cancel and rebook can easily be curtailed with some policy clarification and system changes. And it should be limited so that VIP owners can still avail their discounts and upgrades when available as intended. They just should not be able to manufacture the available inventory.

 

[BellaWyn]

Ron, I applaud your dispassionate analysis of this. As a non Wyndham owner I think you are right on.
George

The crystal ball is red. Not that dispassionate.

 

[OutSkiing]

heres what I think is a more likely scenario . Enforce the rule that says vip benefits apply only to vip eligible points ie points bought from the developer. That would kill me. I have 1,000,000 vip eligible points but in the same account over 10 million points bought on the secondary market. Now VIP benefits extend to all my points, Change that and im in trouble.
Do this and sales can still tout the cancel and rebook strategy, and points managers can still do their thing with multiple small accounts, but guys like me that wholesale points to the points managers will be brought to our knees (and so will the points managers that depend on our vip eligible points)

This makes the most sense. Allowing resale points in an account to 'piggyback' on the account's VIP status has just been a convenience to Wyndham IT not having to implement a more difficult algorithm IMO.

And there is one benefit to the 'Wyndham ecosystem' that points managers provide. They provide a way for VIP platinum owners to break even or make a little profit on all those direct purchase points they own in years when they can't travel that much. As well as bringing in more 'red meat' for Wyndham sales. If Wyndham isn't as annoyed at points managers this might be why.

Sounds like it might cut back on points manager business if their accounts are bloated with resale points.

Bob

 

[ronparise]

This makes the most sense. Allowing resale points in an account to 'piggyback' on the account's VIP status has just been a convenience to Wyndham IT not having to implement a more difficult algorithm IMO.

And there is one benefit to the 'Wyndham ecosystem' that points managers provide. They provide a way for VIP platinum owners to break even or make a little profit on all those direct purchase points they own in years when they can't travel that much. As well as bringing in more 'red meat' for Wyndham sales. If Wyndham isn't as annoyed at points managers this might be why.

Sounds like it might cut back on points manager business if their accounts are bloated with resale points.

Bob

Again, trusting my gut, I think, at least for now, Wyndham will be concentrating their efforts working to end large scale commercial renting and there is no question that those of us that fall into this category have as few VIP eligible points as possible and as you say piggy back millions of points on top of them

The small operators that that have only VIP eligible points will, I think be tolerated. and points managers that serve this group will probably be ok too

This has happened before (before my time) The story was related here on tug about one mega renter that was put out of business with the new rules that prevented owner to owner transfer of points, guest fees, and transaction fees A buy named Bill Spearman wrote about it in Timesharing Today

 

[am1]

I do not have faith in their ability to be able to separate the 2. Even if they could it would be at least a 3 year lag time before they can enforce it.

 

[Happy Hopian]

My gut is telling me now that its time to get out while the getting is good.

So you can trust your good sense and logic.. Im going to continue to trust my gut and look for something else to keep me busy as I enter my 8th decade

Ron I wish you well in your future. Will you be listing your holdings here or on ebay. I might be interested in buying some of your assets. Do you have a timeline?

 

[ronparise]

Ron I wish you well in your future. Will you be listing your holdings here or on ebay. I might be interested in buying some of your assets. Do you have a timeline?

Thank you

no


sorry no


yes

 

[Happy Hopian]

Thank you

no


sorry no


yes

If you are exiting then how might one who is interested in your assets make an offer on some of them or is this something you are contemplating and we should stay tuned?

 

[Sandi Bo]

I do not have faith in their ability to be able to separate the 2. Even if they could it would be at least a 3 year lag time before they can enforce it.

I don't disagree - however.... they've got to be able to manage points correctly if they are ever going to fix this system.

 

[tschwa2]

The low tech way would be to require non vip eligible points to be in a separate account from VIP eligible points and possibly to waive the minimum program fee (or not) if one or both of the accounts don't meet the requirement separately.

Perhaps manually (call in) they could allow a one way transfer from VIP eligible to non VIP eligible account if additional points were needed for a single reservation.

While they're at it they could require that all the deeds be titled the same to be in one account or have those separated or require the $299 per deed to make them the same.

 

[vacationhopeful]

I don't disagree - however.... they've got to be able to manage points correctly if they are ever going to fix this system.

Wyndham's management comes out of the marketing/sales groups. Computer systems would be low on the budget "totem pole" ... and might be a very hard sell if it effects the budgets of more (politically connected) important departments.

The outside auditors is who ALL effected owners should be contacting with complaints. After all, Wyndham points are the internal monetary-like unit for using the resorts ... and maybe how money to fund the bills at the resorts?

 

[ronparise]

The low tech way would be to require non vip eligible points to be in a separate account from VIP eligible points and possibly to waive the minimum program fee (or not) if one or both of the accounts don't meet the requirement separately.

Perhaps manually (call in) they could allow a one way transfer from VIP eligible to non VIP eligible account if additional points were needed for a single reservation.

While they're at it they could require that all the deeds be titled the same to be in one account or have those separated or require the $299 per deed to make them the same.

they already have a limit of 40 contracts per account

 

[ronparise]

If you are exiting then how might one who is interested in your assets make an offer on some of them or is this something you are contemplating and we should stay tuned?

I wont say any more at this point, except to say you can buy the same stuff I have in the same way I did it... on ebay

 

[ronparise]

Wyndham's management comes out of the marketing/sales groups. Computer systems would be low on the budget "totem pole" ... and might be a very hard sell if it effects the budgets of more (politically connected) important departments.

The outside auditors is who ALL effected owners should be contacting with complaints. After all, Wyndham points are the internal monetary-like unit for using the resorts ... and maybe how money to fund the bills at the resorts?

not entirely true. Marc Johnson came out of Finance, and at least one other guy I know came out of resort management

I think Wyndham thinks Voyager will be what solves all their problems. And since Geoff Richards (never trust anyone with two first names) COO and President of the fairshare trust, promised Voyager would be up and running by May 2017. I think computer "solutions" to the cancel and rebook trick, and VIP discounts going to resale points are already backed into the cake, and will happen then

I asked Geoff at the last annual meeting if a wait list was in voyager... he said "not this year", which i thought was telling