DVC v Wyndham

[macman123]

Hello all

I have been to the DVC presentation.

I want 1.5 weeks a year (or 3 weeks every other year) at a Disney property.

500 points plus discount is $86,500. Annual dues around $4000.

Went to Wyndham presentation - 100k points is $25,000.

I need 63,000 points per year for a Disney property via RCI plus $125 per week.

Annual dues around $900

But I have read so many negative reviews of Wyndham.

I would only use for Walt Disney World properties. Generally no other on property non Disney hotels.

Wyndham seems far cheaper but too good to be true?

Thanks

 

[montygz]

You can get 100K Wyndham points for free or for very little -- like $1.

Before you make any moves, I suggest you spend a lot of time studying about timeshare systems. You can make an expensive mistake, like paying $25K for a timeshare worth $1.

If all you want are DVC properties, you will likely be disappointed in trying to find a cheaper way to get there. Through RCI, 99.9% of the availability at DVC is 1BR units at Saratoga Springs.

The negative reviews about the Wyndham generally are because of their sales tactics. Few people think positively about the experience of paying $25K for a resort they can buy on Ebay for $1.

As for staying in timeshares, Wyndham has some great properties, like Bonnet Creek. Overall, staying in timeshares is not the issue, it is how they are sold and the neverending costs of ownership.

As for DVC, that is an expensive way to go. In addition to the costs of ownership, you also have the costs of going to Disneyworld, which is also not cheap and goes up 8% a year. I hope your income goes up at the same rate as Disney tickets. Sadly, mine does not.

You can also buy DVC on the secondary market, but Disney has been working to make that less attractive by adding restrictions. As time goes on, restrictions usually result in a weak resale market, which means getting out of DVC could be costly.

Think long and hard and study up before you do anything. Timesharing can be rewarding, but there are many risks to avoid.

 

[bnoble]

It is not a good idea to buy System X in order to exclusively stay in System Y’s resorts via third party exchange. Buying Wyndham (or anything not named DVC) in order to stay at DVC resorts regularly is a recipe for disappointment. Exchange requires patience, flexibility, and nerves of steel. Much harder than booking directly.

 

[Jan M.]

Here on TUG we tell people if there is somewhere specific you want to go then you should buy there to get what you want. If you are only wanting to book the Disney World resorts that are actually on Disney property and get all the Disney benefits then you should buy DVC points not Wyndham points.

Yes you could buy Wyndham points that you would have to deposit into RCI to do an exchange into a Disney World resort. However finding what you want is very hit and miss. Probably more miss. Also I don't see availability for stays of less than a week at the Disney World resorts through RCI. So you can book one week or two weeks but not 1.5 weeks. And good luck getting two consecutive weeks. It can happen but not that often and if it did the only resort you would be likely to get two consecutive weeks at would be Saratoga Springs Resort.

 

[paxsarah]

I need 63,000 points per year for a Disney property via RCI plus $125 per week.

A correction here, it takes 105,000 Wyndham points for most weeks at DVC, occasionally 126,000. Exchange fee is $239 plus Disney’s $190 incoming exchanger fee.

The pitfalls are that you can’t depend on any particular week being available. Many weeks are, but some weeks aren’t. If you do make an exchange, it’s about 95% likely to be a 1BR at Saratoga Springs. You will only be exchanging 2-5 months in advance, so no 180+10 dining reservations. It’s pretty difficult to find thanksgiving, Easter, or New Years, or to a lesser extent food and wine season or Christmas. Flexibility and backup plans are key. And all of this is subject to change at any time. The whole exchange pattern could shift radically as we’ve seen in the past.

That said, Bonnet Creek is a good alternative. But if what you want is DVC, the only way to guarantee it is by buying DVC.

 

[Dean]

Hello all

I have been to the DVC presentation.

I want 1.5 weeks a year (or 3 weeks every other year) at a Disney property.

500 points plus discount is $86,500. Annual dues around $4000.

Went to Wyndham presentation - 100k points is $25,000.

I need 63,000 points per year for a Disney property via RCI plus $125 per week.

Annual dues around $900

But I have read so many negative reviews of Wyndham.

I would only use for Walt Disney World properties. Generally no other on property non Disney hotels.

Wyndham seems far cheaper but too good to be true?

Thanks

Don't buy something else to trade into Disney, too many variables and limitations. If you buy to trade in I can guarantee it won't work out well. If you want to stay at DVC, buy there but buy resale or if the pass discounts are a BIG benefit to you, buy the minimum retail to get that and resale buying the resale first. Don't buy DVC for other travel including cruises or other timeshare through RCI. IMO those are absolutes and it seems to fit in with your stated plans. You likely shouldn't buy this as one contract anyway so you may want to buy one midsized contract and give it a try then maybe a second at a different resort. Then IF you'd get a big actual benefit from the pass discounts, I'd buy the minimum currently 100 pts retail as the last step. Plan it out now but proceed in stages. If you proceed you need to learn about Use Year and decide if you want 1 or 2, usually 1 is better for most, esp if they are new to the system. I believe the choice of UY is extremely important. Take your time, don't rush to get that next trip on points as a "savings".

 

[bnoble]

buying the resale first.

Dean, can you elaborate on this a bit? I'm not sure I understand why the order matters...

 

[macman123]

I am not interested in the perks. But I would stay 3 consecutive weeks every 2 years.

Does that change the opinion?

 

[bnoble]

Does that change the opinion?

It strengthens mine. If you want to spend three consecutive weeks at a Disney resort every two years, you should buy DVC and completely forget the idea of trying to use RCI exchanges. Trying to line up consecutive weeks via exchange will be maddeningly difficult. You probably *do* want to at least consider the annual pass discount unless you do not plan to visit the theme parks more than ten days total per visit.

 

[presley]

You cannot every count on exchanging into DVC. You are much better off renting from Disney or another owner than buying a different timeshare and trying to exchange it for DVC.

As far as purchasing DVC - please read all the DVC forums and look at the many resale brokers before you buy anything. It's a very expensive thing to own and if it won't work for the way that you vacation, you'll be disappointed. If/when you decide to buy, you can save a significant amount of money buying resale and you can buy at the exact resort that you want vs. buying whatever Disney has available. You can find any size contract at any resort if you look for it. You have lots of time and lots of resources to look through and ponder before you make a purchase. If you are itching to use a DVC property right away, you can rent from another owner or a large broker.

 

[presley]

I am not interested in the perks. But I would stay 3 consecutive weeks every 2 years.

Does that change the opinion?

Wow, yes. There's no way you can do that via exchanging. I recommend buying resale. Choose your main resort - the one that you want to visit most often, pick your weeks (the points needed to stay are variable throughout the year) figure out how many you need for your stay, divide in half (you will bank/borrow for your stays) and start cruising the resale websites. I highly recommend the timeshare store and resalesdvc. I have positive experience with both.

 

[paxsarah]

I would generally be staying for 3 consecutive weeks, but every 2 years.

Does that change your view?

Thanks in advance

All of the pitfalls I mentioned above would still apply. In addition, is it three specific weeks (like, I need to arrive on April 17 and leave on May 8), or any three weeks (like, anytime in April-June will do, for instance)? Additional pitfalls would be it's pretty fiddly to try to get three consecutive weeks in RCI exchanges. You can't control what check-in day happens to be deposited for exchange - so for instance, for our Spring Break week, I may not know whether the DVC deposits in RCI are going to be Friday, Saturday, or Sunday check-in, or possible more than one of those available (or none at all, though we haven't run into that yet personally). So if you're trying to string three weeks together, you'd be hoping for all three check-ins on the same day of the week, but you might not get it. You might have overlapping nights or gaps where you need to book 1 night with cash.

 

[MaryBella7]

• There is an exchange fee of $239 required to book your reservation with RCI. This fee is subject to change. Also, I am pretty sure each week will be a separate booking, so that is $239 x 3 plus Disney's fees.
• Points may not be borrowed to complete an RCI exchange deposit.
• Points from different Use Years may not be combined to make an exchange deposit. You will need the full 3 weeks of points in the year you want to use them, so you would either need EOY points or be ready to use Wyndham on your non-disney years.
• I have never exchanged to Disney properties - do you still get the use of their transportation or other perks?

Very unlikely to get 3 consecutive weeks.

 

[littlestar]

The only thing that comes up in RCI for the most part is Saratoga 1 bedrooms. And it takes anywhere from 77,000 to 126,000 Wyndham points to exchange for it (depending on time of year). You would have a $239 RCI trade fee and $190 resort fee paid to Disney at the front desk. Wyndham resorts have various maintenance fees depending on where you own. Whatever you do, don’t buy Wyndham retail. We paid around $450 dollars all in for 105,000 points at Wyndham Grand Desert and $750 for 154,000 at Grand Desert. Wyndham Grand Desert has low fees.

I would never buy a timeshare specifically to trade into another system only. No way. Now if you told me you wanted Wyndham points to go to Wyndham Waikiki Beachwalk, Wyndham Great Smokies Lodge in Pigeon Forge, or for Wyndham Bonnet Creek in Orlando with an occasional trade into a 1 bedroom Disney Saratoga thru RCI my answer would be different. DVC used to be with Interval International as their exchange partner and they could switch back or go to something entirely different via their own Buena Vista Trading Company.

Lining up consecutive trades into SSR would be a headache, not to mention certain times of the year are not deposited into RCI.

I would look for some resale DVC points. Don’t buy all 500 points in one contract. Look for 150 to 200 or so in a first contract to get your feet wet and watch the expiration dates (some DVC’s expire in 2042). If you love DVC as much as it seems from your post, buy some DVC. That way you will have access to something else besides a possible trade into Saratoga (which would get pretty boring real quick and I own there - ha). DVC has an 11 month booking window for your home resort and 7 month window for the other resorts. If you buy resale at Disney’s newest resort Riviera you would be restricted to only staying there. If you buy resale at one of the original 14 DVC’s you can stay at any of the original 14 starting at the 7 month booking window.

 

[CPNY]

I would generally be staying for 3 consecutive weeks, but every 2 years.

Does that change your view?

Thanks in advance

Buy DVC. Playing the DVC availability game for three consecutive weeks would be difficult. Some DVC weeks on RCI priority go for 85K RCI points. That’s owning an RCI points contract somewhere. If you buy Wyndham you’ll be booking DVC Through the Wyndham portal and the point assignments are different. Don’t forget, three weeks times 3 exchange fees and 3 DVC fees. That alone is 1287 plus the annual fees needed for the amount of points for DVC exchanges we average at, 2-3K, and your annual fees are around that same as owning DVC. That makes owning DVC the better option. Let’s not forget you’ll actually be able to get your availability with owning DVC. you can buy resale and get the original 14 resorts. If you wanted one week a year or every other then I’d say buy an RCI Contract and play the OGS game. In your case, you need to own DVC.

 

[CPNY]

While I agree with everyone here saying buy DVC, I disagree on not buying X to trade into Y. While in the case of trading into DVC that may make sense depending on when you want to travel it will be extremely limited. In general, buying X to get Y could be beneficial. I own orlando properties and trade into every other resort and have never used my “home” resort. Buying to trade can be a good thing. Buying RCI to trade into DVC can be difficult. While I did just that, I’m not restricted to holiday/school schedules so as long as I see an open week I’ll book it. It all depends on your needs

based on your needs........ you need to own DVC

 

[paxsarah]

Points from different Use Years may not be combined to make an exchange deposit. You will need the full 3 weeks of points in the year you want to use them, so you would either need EOY points or be ready to use Wyndham on your non-disney years.

This actually is the most manageable part of the situation. Although points from different years can't be combined in the same deposit on the Wyndham side, they will all combine in RCI and they are good there for two years. That is, as of March 1 of a given year (or the first day of the third month if not a Jan UY), I can make two deposits from Wyndham consecutively - one with this year's points, and one with next year's points. It will take two reservation transactions, which is basically what Wyndham is saying when they say "may not be combined to make an exchange deposit." Then in RCI all of the points can be used together in one pool.

That said, I looked at the DVC spreadsheet in the sightings board, and without getting into specifics, the complexities of trying to get 3 consecutive weeks would really be too much to make this worthwhile. Many weeks of the year are represented, but the sighting dates of consecutive weeks were not necessarily at or around the same time - which means maybe you'd get week 1 and week 3, but week 2 doesn't show up for another month. Or maybe it doesn't show up at all. And the check-in days of the week were really erratic, such that in most months I didn't see three consecutive weeks that had the same check-in day. It would be a mess to try to coordinate, and you'd end up patching things together with single nights or overlaps.

If I didn't want to purchase DVC but I wanted a trip like this, I'd definitely rent from an owner.

 

[paxsarah]

plus the annual fees needed for the amount of points for DVC exchanges we average at, 2-3K

The Wyndham maintenance fees on the typical DVC exchange for, say, a CWA owner would be $725. Plus the $239 exchange fee and Disney's $190 fee, that's $1154.
The cheapest week in a SSR standard 1BR is 164 DVC points. SSR's per-point MFs are $6.765. That would cost that DVC owner $1109 - almost the same, really. And if we chose any other season, exchanging with Wyndham CWA ownership is cheaper. But exchanging is much, much, much more limited, as well as subject to change. That's fine if your need is, say, one week at SSR during the month of June, and if your attitude is that, well, if I can't get that, Bonnet Creek is an adequate substitute I'll be happy with. But the more requirements you load upon it, the less likely it is to work out. There are a lot of arguments against the OP's plan, but actually the cost via Wyndham isn't one of them (assuming it could be executed).

 

[raygo123]

What you want to do is impossible. B
Wyndham at bonnet creek is your best bet.

Sent from my LG-SP200 using Tapatalk

 

[CPNY]

The Wyndham maintenance fees on the typical DVC exchange for, say, a CWA owner would be $725. Plus the $239 exchange fee and Disney's $190 fee, that's $1154.
The cheapest week in a SSR standard 1BR is 164 DVC points. SSR's per-point MFs are $6.765. That would cost that DVC owner $1109 - almost the same, really. And if we chose any other season, exchanging with Wyndham CWA ownership is cheaper. But exchanging is much, much, much more limited, as well as subject to change. That's fine if your need is, say, one week at SSR during the month of June, and if your attitude is that, well, if I can't get that, Bonnet Creek is an adequate substitute I'll be happy with. But the more requirements you load upon it, the less likely it is to work out. There are a lot of arguments against the OP's plan, but actually the cost via Wyndham isn't one of them (assuming it could be executed).

Right, so 1109 DVC x 3 is $3327 and Wyndham with all the fees is 1154 x 3 = $3462, owning DVC is a better option. Like you said, loading more requirements for relatively the same annual fees doesn’t make it worth it. I only say annual fees because that’s what the OP listed in their annual dues Vs annual dues. 4000 to 900 as stated.

 

[CPNY]

Hello all

I have been to the DVC presentation.

I want 1.5 weeks a year (or 3 weeks every other year) at a Disney property.

500 points plus discount is $86,500. Annual dues around $4000.

Went to Wyndham presentation - 100k points is $25,000.

I need 63,000 points per year for a Disney property via RCI plus $125 per week.

Annual dues around $900

But I have read so many negative reviews of Wyndham.

I would only use for Walt Disney World properties. Generally no other on property non Disney hotels.

Wyndham seems far cheaper but too good to be true?

Thanks

Keep in mind if you own Wyndham in Orlando you won’t be able to book DVC

 

[wjappraise]

Keep in mind if you own Wyndham in Orlando you won’t be able to book DVC

Not true in my experience. I own bonnet creek and have booked at least 10 DVC weeks via RCI. My guess is the Wyndham points based ownership doesn’t flag the home resort.

Of course my smaller sample size might mean my success is just a coincidence. But I’m probably right.

Wes.

 

[CPNY]

Not true in my experience. I own bonnet creek and have booked at least 10 DVC weeks via RCI. My guess is the Wyndham points based ownership doesn’t flag the home resort.

Of course my smaller sample size might mean my success is just a coincidence. But I’m probably right.

Wes.

Well according to everyone here and supposed rules, if you own in Orlando you can’t use that ownership to book DVC. Maybe because Wyndham owns RCI, they don’t have to abide by their own or DVC rules. Maybe the rules just don’t apply to Wyndham owners then. But every piece of advice I’ve heard is if you own in Orlando you can’t use that ownership or points to book DVC.

 

[macman123]

Ok -lets compare what I would pay.

The three weeks every 2 years.

DVC would be 500 points at $8 annual dues x2 year (1.5 weeks a year) = $8000
Wyndham would be (i am going low season for 3 consec weeks) $900 per year dues approx = $1800.

Then the $125 a week RC fee, thats it.

The initial outlay of DVC if direct is $85k, resale would be around $60.

Wyndam outlay of $25k or resale less than $5k.

 

[rhonda]

Dean, can you elaborate on this a bit? I'm not sure I understand why the order matters...

My first impression: Because it is easier to match Use Year, thus have the multiple contracts align under the same Member Number.

Purchases direct from the Developer always attempt, unless the member argues against, to match the member's existing Use Year. However, trying to find a "perfect resale" (Resort, # of points, price and Use Year) can be a real struggle.