Dolphin Cove - consider buying, new to Wyndham

[jmbarnes101]

Hi, I hope I’m writing in the right place. I’m looking at adding Wyndham resale to my current DVC portfolio to use in Anaheim and hopefully other locations. I found a contract for Wyndham Dolphin’s Cove with 115,000 points and a maintenance fee of $44.14 a month, annual usage. I’m in Minnesota, 2 teen daughters, and w one good sized trip a year, often to WDW. I also use last minute deals through RCI for places in Missouri and Wisconsin Dells when possible. Before I jump the gun I want to make sure I have all of the information clear in my head.

I’ve perused the point books and tried to read as much as possible, some as clear as mud. This certainly isn’t as easy and clear cut as DVC is.
What I would want to do is use these points every other year either in Anaheim to visit Disneyland or another Wyndham location.
- Is this doable and besides my maintainance points what are my ongoing costs?
- How hard is it to trade into other Wyndham locations?
- Is Dolphin Cove a good home?
- Is there anything else I should consider or I’m not taking into account?

Thank you for taking time out of your day to help me. If I’m in the wrong place please kindly direct me to where I should be.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I would purchase WorldMark points instead. You can get a pretty good deal on ebay. The requirement for a 2 bed, 2 bath is 10,000 points. 10,000 points gets one free housekeeping credit. You also get one guest certificate, so you can rent it out EOY. Competition is fierce for summer weeks in Anaheim. Just an FYI.

 

[bnoble]

The $/K ratio is pretty good but that's a small # of points for what you want to accomplish.

 

[jmbarnes101]

I would purchase WorldMark points instead. You can get a pretty good deal on ebay. The requirement for a 2 bed, 2 bath is 10,000 points. 10,000 points gets one free housekeeping credit. You also get one guest certificate, so you can rent it out EOY. Competition is fierce for summer weeks in Anaheim. Just an FYI.

Can you explain more please? Why purchase WorldMark vs Wyndham?
I know they are both technically Wyndham but can’t trade with each other via resale correct? If I own Dolphins Cove I’m in Anaheim so I can reserve prior to others but can trade out to Wyndham locations?

I should add I like traveling non-summer seasons, prefer winter, if possible and I want to pool my points together every other year like I will do with Disney.

 

[scootr5]

115,000 points will get you a 1 bedroom Deluxe in September through May at Anaheim. Yes, you would be able to book that at 13 months out. Here's the points chart for Anaheim:

 

[jmbarnes101]

From looking at the directory it appears 230,000 points EOY gets me into most places I want to go in Wyndham and gets me two weeks in Anaheim during the booking window? Unless Dolphin Cove wouldn’t let me trade into other Wyndham resorts?
We stay in studios at Disney so a 1-BR works for us.

 

[jmbarnes101]

115,000 points will get you a 1 bedroom Deluxe in September through May at Anaheim. Yes, you would be able to book that at 13 months out. Here's the points chart for Anaheim:

View attachment 25077

Thank you! Do you know what my trading abilities with this resort are via resale? Most importantly would I have access to the rest of Wyndham’s resorts? And is it possible to bank/borrow points?

 

[scootr5]

At 10 months you can book any other Wyndham subject to availability. You can view/download the directory at this link but I will echo the sentiment that I think that's too small of a contract. Most resorts will run you 189,000 to 231,000 for a 2 bedroom in prime season (and the newer resorts will be even more). You can only borrow within 90 days, and can bank up to two years out.

 

[jmbarnes101]

At 10 months you can book any other Wyndham subject to availability. You can view/download the directory at this link but I will echo the sentiment that I think that's too small of a contract. Most resorts will run you 189,000 to 231,000 for a 2 bedroom in prime season (and the newer resorts will be even more). You can only borrow within 60 days, and can bank up to two years out.

Thank you for the information. What would you advise for points and is acquiring a 1-bedroom difficult at 10 months out?

 

[scootr5]

Depending on the resort, I think a 1 bedroom would not be too difficult. The larger rooms usually go first at most resorts.

The Wyndham Program Fee for 2020 (which is what allows you to trade points to other resorts and pays for your RCI membership is .64 per thousand points with a minimum fee of $160. That means that a 115,000 point contract would still pay the same $160 per year as a 231,000 point one. If you plan on travelling in mostly 1 bedrooms and only 1 week a year you could probably get by with 154,000 (until the last few years most contracts were in multiples of 77,000, since that is what the reservation transactions and housekeeping points are based off of).

 

[bnoble]

If you only want to use a Wyndham in Orlando or Anaheim once every two years, you might be better off just finding an owner to rent from. However, if you are interested in using a Wyndham ownership annually, then things change a bit.

2 teen daughters

Given your travel party, my advice: think of 2BRs as the minimum size. Unlike DVC, this will not cost you an arm and a leg in Wyndham's system, and we've found our quality of life significantly better in a 2BR with two kids. That keeps the living room and kitchen available for night owls or early birds, allowing everyone else to sleep as they wish. We put the four of us in a 1BR once early in our timesharing career (at DVC's Old Key West, as it happens) and promised ourselves we'd never do that again.

What would you advise for points

If you are thinking of an annual trip in a 2BR throughout the Wyndham system: we have 189K (from a converted fixed week), and that's just a bit low given that we prefer to travel in peak seasons. It's more than enough for the Dells or the Smoky Mountains, but not quite enough for Hawaii, Old Town Alexandria, etc.--for those we had to bank/borrow. We are currently looking to extend our holdings. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably use 231K as the starting point.

 

[jmbarnes101]

You guys have definitely given me something to think about for points. I could use Wyndham annually which seems to be the best route since I lose transaction points and housekeeper credits either way only by banking I don’t get to actually use them for travel.

We usually do 1-bedrooms and since it’s three it works. I’ll look at the 2-bedrooms though and see if that makes sense. My oldest is a high school senior this year so I don’t know how much longer she’ll be accompanying me/us. Realities of life says we might get one more trip in January and then again in May or June (her grad trip).

What do you guys think of the Access program? Would that make more sense? I know maintenance is higher. Anaheim and the Dells are my major targets along with some of the SE beach resorts. I’d also like to go to Yellowstone but I think I would need to rent that one

 

[r4rab]

CWA vs Deeded really depends on how you are planning to travel. Aside from MFs, the big difference is where you have ARP (Advanced Reservation Priority); where you can make a reservation between 10-13 months out. WIth a deeded ownership, you have ARP at your home location; some deeds come with ARP at additional locations (typically 1 to a handful of others). With CWA, which is a trust holding multiple deeds, you have ARP at all of the locations in the trust. Note that availability still comes into play; CWA owns X out of Y rooms at various resorts for example, if all of those rooms are taken at month 13 no more will be available to CWA owners during the 10-13 month period. Same concept holds true for deeds. Note that I personally don't think this is an issue except at very high demand times (such as Mardi Gras, Daytona 500, etc.). At 10 months out points are points and are usable anywhere in the Wyndham system. (There are still caveats regarding some of the "special" clubs such as Margaritaville within the system which have their inventory open up to owners outside the "special" club based on VIP status.)

WorldMark was mentioned earlier. Their resorts tend to be more in the western half of the US while Wyndham resorts tend to be more in the eastern half. Newer clubs being built (as well as many existing clubs) may have inventory in both systems at the same resort. Wyndham Austin (opened within the last couple years) has both WorldMark & Wyndham units; Avenue (forgot full name) in New Orleans, which I believe is an older site, also has inventory in both. Yellowstone only has inventory in WorldMark and can be difficult to get into if you are not a WorldMark owner. Club Pass is the program that lets a Wyndham owner make reservations at WorldMark and vice versa (although it may be called something else in WorldMark). There is a fee involved to do this ($99) and you can only make these reservations on the phone and can only use points bought from a developer in this way (no resale points). That said, we own Wyndham & Margaritaville, live in NY and had a fantastic 2 week Pacific NW trip a couple years ago (1 week in Seattle, 5 nights at Whistler & a weekend in Vancouver) for about $300 + the required points.

So where you are interested in travelling does play somewhat into your decision.

IF (and only if) you can afford the additional points without financing and want to spend the money I would suggest getting enough points for a 2 BR. This will allow you more comfort for both you and your grown children when travelling together or the ability to book more rooms or the ability to bring another friend or relative along. We did a lot of travelling in 1 BRs with one of my sons who would sleep on the pull-out sofa. As we've gotten more points we have tended to get 2 BR when he is travelling with us. Lets him sleep in when he wants, gives all of us more privacy and is just a more luxurious vacation. The 1 BR vacations were fine and we will still do them when he comes with us at times but the 2BR are nicer.
Sorry this ran on so long. I'm still waking up.

 

[Richelle]

Can you explain more please? Why purchase WorldMark vs Wyndham?
I know they are both technically Wyndham but can’t trade with each other via resale correct? If I own Dolphins Cove I’m in Anaheim so I can reserve prior to others but can trade out to Wyndham locations?

I should add I like traveling non-summer seasons, prefer winter, if possible and I want to pool my points together every other year like I will do with Disney.

You cannot use Club Wyndham resale points to book WorldMark resorts with the exception of through RCI (where availability is scarce). You also cannot trade WorldMark resale points into the Club Wyndham System. WorldMark has a lot more locations in the Pacific northwest then Club Wyndham does. I would look at locations for both and decide which one would work better for you.

 

[jmbarnes101]

CWA vs Deeded really depends on how you are planning to travel. Aside from MFs, the big difference is where you have ARP (Advanced Reservation Priority); where you can make a reservation between 10-13 months out. WIth a deeded ownership, you have ARP at your home location; some deeds come with ARP at additional locations (typically 1 to a handful of others). With CWA, which is a trust holding multiple deeds, you have ARP at all of the locations in the trust. Note that availability still comes into play; CWA owns X out of Y rooms at various resorts for example, if all of those rooms are taken at month 13 no more will be available to CWA owners during the 10-13 month period. Same concept holds true for deeds. Note that I personally don't think this is an issue except at very high demand times (such as Mardi Gras, Daytona 500, etc.). At 10 months out points are points and are usable anywhere in the Wyndham system. (There are still caveats regarding some of the "special" clubs such as Margaritaville within the system which have their inventory open up to owners outside the "special" club based on VIP status.)

WorldMark was mentioned earlier. Their resorts tend to be more in the western half of the US while Wyndham resorts tend to be more in the eastern half. Newer clubs being built (as well as many existing clubs) may have inventory in both systems at the same resort. Wyndham Austin (opened within the last couple years) has both WorldMark & Wyndham units; Avenue (forgot full name) in New Orleans, which I believe is an older site, also has inventory in both. Yellowstone only has inventory in WorldMark and can be difficult to get into if you are not a WorldMark owner. Club Pass is the program that lets a Wyndham owner make reservations at WorldMark and vice versa (although it may be called something else in WorldMark). There is a fee involved to do this ($99) and you can only make these reservations on the phone and can only use points bought from a developer in this way (no resale points). That said, we own Wyndham & Margaritaville, live in NY and had a fantastic 2 week Pacific NW trip a couple years ago (1 week in Seattle, 5 nights at Whistler & a weekend in Vancouver) for about $300 + the required points.

So where you are interested in travelling does play somewhat into your decision.

IF (and only if) you can afford the additional points without financing and want to spend the money I would suggest getting enough points for a 2 BR. This will allow you more comfort for both you and your grown children when travelling together or the ability to book more rooms or the ability to bring another friend or relative along. We did a lot of travelling in 1 BRs with one of my sons who would sleep on the pull-out sofa. As we've gotten more points we have tended to get 2 BR when he is travelling with us. Lets him sleep in when he wants, gives all of us more privacy and is just a more luxurious vacation. The 1 BR vacations were fine and we will still do them when he comes with us at times but the 2BR are nicer.
Sorry this ran on so long. I'm still waking up.

Thank you for this very informative response. I think WorldMark doesn’t make much sense for us given the map and locations I want to visit and where I’ll be moving to in the future so I can rule that out. I’m definitely going to consider that 2BR as it would be nice for all of the reasons mentioned.

I’m still very undecided between having my home in Anaheim or at multiple locations though I do like a lower maintenance fee as well and easier access to Disneyland. Something I really need to look at a bit more.

 

[Richelle]

Thank you for this very informative response. I think WorldMark doesn’t make much sense for us given the map and locations I want to visit and where I’ll be moving to in the future so I can rule that out. I’m definitely going to consider that 2BR as it would be nice for all of the reasons mentioned.

I’m still very undecided between having my home in Anaheim or at multiple locations though I do like a lower maintenance fee as well and easier access to Disneyland. Something I really need to look at a bit more.

If you plan on booking more then 10 months out (ARP period), then CWA might work for you. If you won't be booking more then 10 months from checkin, there is no reason to choose either one. At 10 months, points are points. No one ownership gets priority over another in the standard booking window. So holding a deed at Dolphins Cove won't get you priority at Dolphin Cove after the 10-month mark. Dolphin's Cove is not a CWA participating resort. So if you want to book Dolphin's cove at the 13-month window, you'll have to own there. Club Wyndham Anaheim is in the Access trust but only a small portion of Club Wyndham Anaheim is in the trust. So if you want to go there, owning a deed there would give you a better chance of getting what you want at the 13-month window, then owning CWA.

 

[jmbarnes101]

If you plan on booking more then 10 months out (ARP period), then CWA might work for you. If you won't be booking more then 10 months from checkin, there is no reason to choose either one. At 10 months, points are points. No one ownership gets priority over another in the standard booking window. So holding a deed at Dolphins Cove won't get you priority at Dolphin Cove after the 10-month mark. Dolphin's Cove is not a CWA participating resort. So if you want to book Dolphin's cove at the 13-month window, you'll have to own there. Club Wyndham Anaheim is in the Access trust but only a small portion of Club Wyndham Anaheim is in the trust. So if you want to go there, owning a deed there would give you a better chance of getting what you want at the 13-month window, then owning CWA.

View attachment 25211

Thank you! That makes a ton of sense. I’d have higher maintenance fees with no apparent added value for what I would want. I found a Bali Hai, EOY-even, with 154k points and lower maintenance fees, at roughly the same price.

- How hard/easy is it to trade into Wyndham Dolphin Cove at the 10 month mark? Is it a resort I need to have a deed in to get a room at or can I find a 1-BR or 2-BR pretty easily throughout the year?

 

[bnoble]

Dolphin Cove inventory was originally sold as either floating (Fall-Winter-Spring) weeks, or fixed (summer) weeks. Some of those were later converted, and some that weren't sold originally were folded into the points program. Some prime summer weeks were never converted, and the ones that were have ARP rights to their specific week so others would not be able to book it from 13-10. monhts. So, it may depend on when you are thinking about going, but even having a (Wyndham Points) deed there may not always get you what you want if you are thinking about summer.

That said, as long as you are able to book right at 10 months, I think your odds will be very good.

 

[Richelle]

Thank you! That makes a ton of sense. I’d have higher maintenance fees with no apparent added value for what I would want. I found a Bali Hai, EOY-even, with 154k points and lower maintenance fees, at roughly the same price.

- How hard/easy is it to trade into Wyndham Dolphin Cove at the 10 month mark? Is it a resort I need to have a deed in to get a room at or can I find a 1-BR or 2-BR pretty easily throughout the year?

Right now I can book Jun 22th to 29th. I don't have booking privileges to go out further, but it looks like July and August are wide open. Spring break and memorial day are probably busy too. Spring break season (March to April) has one bedrooms available. Memorial day weekend has 1,2, and 3 bedroom units available. I don't see you having any major issues at the 10-month mark.

 

[jmbarnes101]

Right now I can book Jun 22th to 29th. I don't have booking privileges to go out further, but it looks like July and August are wide open. Spring break and memorial day are probably busy too. Spring break season (March to April) has one bedrooms available. Memorial day weekend has 1,2, and 3 bedroom units available. I don't see you having any major issues at the 10-month mark.

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That helps a ton, thank you. I think the path is clear. A 154,000 Bali Hai contract seems to be the wise choice. Not to mention based on what I’ve seen, if I need to get rid of it the low maintenance fees on this make it more desirable then the others.

 

[Richelle]

That helps a ton, thank you. I think the path is clear. A 154,000 Bali Hai contract seems to be the wise choice. Not to mention based on what I’ve seen, if I need to get rid of it the low maintenance fees on this make it more desirable then the others.

Ovation would likely take it in a heartbeat and are pretty fast. So either way you decide to dump it, it shouldn't be too hard to get rid of. Just don't spend a lot of money on it. EOY doesn't fetch as much money and there is a chance you might have to pay to get out of it if you don't use Ovation.

 

[jmbarnes101]

Ovation would likely take it in a heartbeat and are pretty fast. So either way you decide to dump it, it shouldn't be too hard to get rid of. Just don't spend a lot of money on it. EOY doesn't fetch as much money and there is a chance you might have to pay to get out of it if you don't use Ovation.

Where would you put the cap? Is $1,500 all-in too much?

 

[Richelle]

Where would you put the cap? Is $1,500 all-in too much?

For that EOY contract, I wouldn't spend more than $600 all in. I paid closing costs, transfer fees, and $99 for a 126k EOY Bali Hai.

 

[jmbarnes101]

For that EOY contract, I wouldn't spend more than $600 all in. I paid closing costs, transfer fees, and $99 for a 126k EOY Bali Hai.

Good to know, thank you.

 

[jmbarnes101]

Ok, that one was a bust. Besides Ebay where else can I find resale contracts for sale at a good price?