End of Year Housekeeping

[Sandi Bo]

Sometimes at the end of year, people have posted nice reminders of things to do before we roll into the year (yikes decade)!

* 2019 Guest Confirmations will expire - put them on a 2020 reservation if you have no other use - even if unsure at this point. Use 'em or lose 'em.
* Point Deposits - last chance for VIP Platinum. (Are there things non-VIP's need to do before year end, when do others have to point deposit 2020 points)?
* Screen shots. We used to recommend them. Not all that sure the value/hassle anymore - hard to get a picture of what your account looks like. But I think still a good idea to grab some screenshots before year end maintenance, which, BTW, has not been announced. It was minimal last year, if I recall correctly. Certainly not the downtime we had pre-voyager.

Am I missing anything?

Happy New Year!

 

[SNA27]

When doing screen shots, do not use the prtscreen function of your PC. Use the browser's print capability.

First expand all the collapsed down-arrows in, say your Ownership Details page.
RightClick and print and direct the output to a .pdf file.
Repeat for every page you want to capture.

You could also CTRL-A and copy the entire page and paste to a Word document! I like this because I can create a single document containing everything!

In addition, I would recommend capturing all the reservations and transactions and inserting them into an excel spreadsheet.
I hope we can convince Wyndham to provide downloads in the future. I suggested it in a survey, I hope it makes it to WHOMEVER that can do something about it!

 

[SNA27]

Are you saying my GC will reset? If so, I don't even know how I still have 24 GC when I have used 18 GCs in 2019 and 6 GCs in 2018.

I assumed it rolled over since I got 15 GCs in 2018 and 30 in 2019 for a total of 45 minus 24 GCs used leaving a balance of 21? Fuzzy math? Anyway, the math doesn't add up!

 

[Braindead]

Are you saying my GC will reset? If so, I don't even know how I still have 24 GC when I have used 18 GCs in 2019 and 1 GC in 2018.

I assumed it rolled over since I got 15 GCs in 2018 and 30 in 2019 for a total of 45 minus 19 GCs used leaving a balance of 24!


View attachment 15858

Yes they reset.
No they don’t rollover & no way to save them.
Use them or lose them
If you get 30 a year. They’re deducted the year you use them not the year of the reservation. That could be why you have 24 left with using 18
If you have used a GC on a 2020 reservation, that was deducted from 2019 GCs. You haven’t received your 2020 allocation of GCs yet so you haven’t used any 2020 GCs.

 

[SNA27]

Sometimes at the end of year, people have posted nice reminders of things to do before we roll into the year (yikes decade)!

* 2019 Guest Confirmations will expire - put them on a 2020 reservation if you have no other use - even if unsure at this point. Use 'em or lose 'em.

Could you please elaborate? If I cancel the reservation later, do I not still lose the GC? I guess you're suggesting making reservations to be rented out? I just have to find out what to reserve!

 

[Braindead]

Could you please elaborate? If I cancel the reservation later, do I not still lose the GC? I guess you're suggesting making reservations to be rented out? I just have to find out what to reserve!

SandiBo advice is for a rented reservation or any reservation that is for someone else that is not an owner.
I say rented because it will not help to use a GC now if that’s not who is checking in.
You lose the 24—2019 GCs tomorrow night at midnight EST, you lose them if they’re not on a reservation whether you cancel later or not.
It doesn’t do any good put a phantom name on a reservation now because you’ll still use a 2020 GC later when you modify the name of the person checking in.

 

[Braindead]

If you have a reservation that a friend or family might use go ahead & use a 2019 GC putting them on the reservation now.
Yes if you cancel the reservation you lose the 2019 GC but you’re losing them any way

 

[SNA27]

SandiBo advice is for a rented reservation or any reservation that is for someone else that is not an owner.
I say rented because it will not help to use a GC now if that’s not who is checking in.
You lose the 24—2019 GCs tomorrow night at midnight EST, you lose them if they’re not on a reservation whether you cancel later or not.
It doesn’t do any good put a phantom name on a reservation now because you’ll still use a 2020 GC later when you modify the name of the person checking in.

I did this in March! Changed the check-in name of a 'gift' reservation for A&B from A to B when when A could not go and B still wanted to go! Are you saying it cost me 2 GCs to do that? Hmm! There's no way to check that now. Maybe that explains why math doesn't add up! Actually it makes it worse! I should have one less GC left!

 

[Braindead]

I did this in March! Changed the check-in name of a 'gift' reservation for A&B from A to B when when A could not go and B still wanted to go! Are you saying it cost me 2 GCs to do that? Hmm! There's no way to check that now. Maybe that explains why math doesn't add up! Actually it makes it worse! I should have one less GC left!

I believe it used a GC every time you changed the name. Someone will chime in if I’m wrong

 

[SNA27]

My gut tells me you're mistaken about this. Looking at the Glossary definition and how it would have been programmed into the system, one reservation would not take up more than one GC!
If you change it from Guest back to the owner or cancel the reservation, you will lose the GC because I vaguely remember a warning issued on the screen about GC's being non refunable!

 

[Sandi Bo]

I believe it used a GC every time you changed the name. Someone will chime in if I’m wrong

Yes, it uses a GC every time you change the name (unless it's an owner on the account - owner's are unlimited if you are VIP).

 

[SNA27]

Yes, it uses a GC every time you change the name (unless it's an owner on the account - owner's are unlimited if you are VIP).

Well, I have 24 GCs to burn! I can test this theory and prove/disprove it conclusively!

Do you any suggestions for which resorts I can book within next 60 days so I can profit from my GCs ? I cancelled my son's 1/8-13 at NY45 after listing it on AIrbnb and finding no takers! NY45 is dead in the winter, it seems!

 

[Braindead]

I did this in March! Changed the check-in name of a 'gift' reservation for A&B from A to B when when A could not go and B still wanted to go! Are you saying it cost me 2 GCs to do that? Hmm! There's no way to check that now. Maybe that explains why math doesn't add up! Actually it makes it worse! I should have one less GC left!

Yes, it uses a GC every time you change the name (unless it's an owner on the account - owner's are unlimited if you are VIP).

SandiBo, in this scenario it used a GC every time? I think it did
Changing owner to another owner doesn’t
Guest to owner doesn’t
Guest to another guest does
Are those correct?

 

[Sandi Bo]

SandiBo, in this scenario it used a GC every time? I think it did
Changing owner to another owner doesn’t
Guest to owner doesn’t
Guest to another guest does
Are those correct?

Yes, you are correct.

@SNA27, since you have GC's to burn, perhaps you could verify?

My understanding and experience is as Braindead indicated. If it's not working that way, they've changed something recently. Wyndham REALLY, REALLY, likes those guest fees. I can't imagine them purposely making that change.

 

[SNA27]

Is Orlando a good place in the next 60 days for rentals? Which resorts would find takers?

 

[cbyrne1174]

PCB, Bonnet Creek and Ft. Lauderdale are the most profitable. I do 100% of my rentals at Bonnet Creek through Redweek verified and protected. A two bedroom rents out for about $1300 a week. Cypress Palms and Star Island aren't popular and Reunion only has 3 bedrooms, so you can't get free upgrades. Nowadays Disney has no off-season, so you are best off trying to rent out the value season if you are trying to rent out Bonnet Creek.

 

[SNA27]

Thank you. I will go ahead and book the three you mentioned. Any particular week or weekend? Do I have to book Saturday check-in or Friday Check-in. So many variables?
I usually list on AIrbnb and wait for someone to make a request and then see if it's available. But, it's not working out well since I have to invariably decline the request! makes Airbnb unhappy!

WBC and PCB are wide open! FT. Laudredale is Worldmark and is not available for online booking!

 

[dgalati]

Thank you. I will go ahead and book the three you mentioned. Any particular week or weekend? Do I have to book Saturday check-in or Friday Check-in. So many variables?
I usually list on AIrbnb and wait for someone to make a request and then see if it's available. But, it's not working out well since I have to invariably decline the request! makes Airbnb unhappy!

WBC and PCB are wide open! FT. Laudredale is Worldmark and is not available for online booking!

Looks like you need some Worldmark points.

 

[SNA27]

No, Mr. Gadfly, stop rolling your eyes and bite your tongue!
I can book through Wyndham Club Pass and that requires calling a VC which I won't do! I don't have to swing at every ball!

Dude, you're like the fox which lost its tail and preaches to other foxes about the 'glorious freedom from tail' and tries to convince other foxes to cut off their tails! I don't even get your raison d'etre on this BBS!

If everybody bought ONLY resale, there will be no VIPs for you to rent cheaply from!

 

[cbyrne1174]

Palm Aire, Seas Gardens, Santa Barbara and and Royal Vista are the names of the Ft. Lauderdale resorts. All except Royal Vista are shared properties with WorldMark. If you just follow the Bonnet Creek points chart for the value weeks, you can make a good amount whenever you see both 1 and 2 bedrooms available 60 days out. Epcot Food and Wine and Holidays will rent higher, but you should be able to make at the very least $20/thousand if you upgrade a 1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom any time of the year in the value season.

 

[cbyrne1174]

Club Pass is absolute garbage. WM maintenance fees are much lower than CWA. If you want to stay at WM occasionally, you can buy a REALLY small WM resale contract and rent points from other owners on WMowners.com. You can transfer points between owners. The point rental price on there is currently lower than owning yourself unless you have a HUGE account (30,000+ credits). 10,000 credits equals 164,000 Club Wyndham points and you can rent 10,000 points off another owner for $650. If you divide $650 by 164, that's $3.96 per thousand (in Club Wyndham terms).

Note: I know MW and CW are two separate systems, but if you look at the Club Pass point cost on the Club Wyndham directory, then the WM credit cost on the Worldmark directory, you will see that they used this formula to make the charts: (WorldMark Credits x 16.4 = Club Wyndham Points).

 

[SNA27]

Ok. I am ready to announce the preliminary results of my GC experiment with help from @cbyrne1174.

I booked a reservation in my name.
I changed it to Mickey Mouse.
I changed it to cbyrne1174.

And I still have 24 GCs. I think that's because application messages are still in the queue and yet to be processed!

But I do remember making a mistake in the spelling of the name in a 'gift' reservation for a friend and I don't remember it taking additional GCs. Not that I paid attention but it seems like a terrible idea to penalize spelling errors!

 

[Jan M.]

Yes, it uses a GC every time you change the name (unless it's an owner on the account - owner's are unlimited if you are VIP).

Yes this is exactly how it works. If you change the guest name on a reservation to anyone who isn't an owner on the account then you will use a guest reservation each time you do it.

Trust the people who are paying $99 per guest reservation after having used all their free ones to know what they are talking about.

 

[SNA27]

Palm Aire, Seas Gardens, Santa Barbara and and Royal Vista are the names of the Ft. Lauderdale resorts. All except Royal Vista are shared properties with WorldMark. If you just follow the Bonnet Creek points chart for the value weeks, you can make a good amount whenever you see both 1 and 2 bedrooms available 60 days out. Epcot Food and Wine and Holidays will rent higher, but you should be able to make at the very least $20/thousand if you upgrade a 1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom any time of the year in the value season.

Oh, under CITY/AREA classification of Wyndham, they come under Pompano Beach! Thank you for your tips!

 

[SNA27]

Yes this is exactly how it works. If you change the guest name on a reservation to anyone who isn't an owner on the account then you will use a guest reservation each time you do it.

Apparently not! When you change from one guest name to another guest name or to correcting a spelling error, you don't get charged a GC. No more than 1 GC per guest reservation!

Looks like they have a bug! When you book under the owner's name and modify reservation to change the check-in name to a guest, it doesn't seem to subtract a GC. My GC balance is still 24. Wonder of wonders!