"Free" Switch from Float Week to Wyndham Points

[dennisv]

We own a Float week 2 Bedroom at Dolphins Cove in Anaheim, CA. We have owned it since 1998. The 2012 maintenance fee was $874.97.

We just received a call from Wyndham Vacations giving us a chance to convert this week to 154,000 Wyndham points at NO COST.

He says within the next few years some major remodel ( Special assessments) will be started. He claims by us doing this switch we will not be deeded owners hence not liable for any special assessments at this property.

Please advise. I would appreciate all your input- positive and negative. He claims they are making this offer to only 150 Dolphin's Cove weeks owners.

Since this resort backs up to Disney property, I wonder if Disney has shown an interest in buying the land. Has anyone heard of any rumors?

We have never stayed at this resort. We use it to trade thru RCI. For our 2012 week, we reserved Christmas week 2012, banked it in RCI and got 42 of their Deposit Trading Points. Of course, we will have to pay an exchange fee to RCI when we use those 42 Deposit Trading Points but I figure we can get 2 or 3 weeks stay with this 1 Christmas week.

Please, point out what I am missing and what questions we should ask this Wyndham guy when he calls back on Monday.

TUG is the best!

 

[carl2591]

sounds fishy to me... you sure that was wyndham... I would be very careful if you decide to go this route..

still sounds real fishy to me. maybe other have gotten the call as well and its on the up and up but you know the old saying... if it sounds to good to be true....

 

[vacationhopeful]

Questions to ask your new found friendly timeshare sales person:
Where are these points deeded IF they are Club Wyndham Plus points ---- or are they Club Wyndham Access Vacation Club Points?

Are they any transfer fees? Like the newly increased resort transfer fee of $299. per deed. They charge this on all developer purchases along with the title & transfer fees of $495.

CWP have a $.53 per 1K of points as a Club Fee (another $81.62 per year) in fees (oh, that is right - as a points owner, you will get a Free $89 membership in RCI :ignore: ). Or will it be $.65 per 1K as you will have under 300K points?

Will you have Plus Partners?

 

[paxsarah]

It sounds like you have a good trader in your float week. If I were you and interested in Wyndham points, I would buy points for cheap/free, and decide to keep or sell your float week based on your vacation needs.

 

[bnoble]

I would not convert.

If I recall correctly, Dolphin's has fixed summer weeks, and floating spring/summer/fall, correct? So, you float across mostly low-demand time, except around the winter holidays and Easter. As I understand it, President's Week is less of a big deal in the West Coast than Florida. But, if you can reliably book Christmas week, that's going to generate much better trade value than 154K.

At 154K for that MF figure, you'd be paying $5.6/K, and that's *before* the Program Fee which adds another $90 or so to your total. That pushes you north of $6/K, and that's too high. If you want Wyndham points, you'd be better off selling what you have and buying a deed with a lower MF/K ratio.

Finally, I'm always skeptical about the "Special Assessments are Coming" sales pitch. Wyndham generally is not out to save you money as a first priority.

 

[ronparise]

Converting a fixed week to points has always been an option, but it costs $2000+ for the first deed, and something less for others you might do at the same time....Geting it for free might make sense...lets see

1) They say you wont get hit with a special assessment if you do this, which must mean that you are being given Club Wyndham access points (a non deeded form of ownership) Otherwise you would still have your deed and still be subject to any special assessments. With club wyndham access you have a blended ownership in many resorts. The mf is blended as are special assessments. You mf here ought to be about $5.40/1000 points....not really a change from where you are now. Whats confusing me is that there is at present no Dolphin Cove inventory in Club Wyndham Access.....Im guessing that Wydham wants to change this and thats why you are being offered this "opportunity" for free

2) if you own points you will have a free membership in RCI ($89/ year savings) but you will be stuck with the exchange chart when you make exchanges, you wont get TPU. Your 154000 points will exchange for 2 1 bedrooms or studios in the off season or a one bedroom any time, or a 2 bedroom in the off season..It seems to me your week is more valuble the way it is when it comes to exchanges. in spite of the $89 savings

So the way you use your week now...(for several exchanges) will be lost if you take this deal.... but Club Wyndham access does offer advanced reservation priority at a number of resorts...if thats important, or if you like the idea of using your points in the Wyndham system (no exchange fees if you stay with Wyndham, than you might want to consider this offer

I would want to know if this is a conversion into the Club Wyndham Access and I dont believe the salesman knows for sure about a special assessment. I would review your budget and see if you can find any clues.

 

[ronparise]

By the way

I have several float weeks at another Wyndham resort that I would like to convert to Club Wyndham Access.......ask your salesman to give me a call

Ill figure out whats going on and post it here

 

[rrlongwell]

By the way

I have several float weeks at another Wyndham resort that I would like to convert to Club Wyndham Access.......ask your salesman to give me a call

Ill figure out whats going on and post it here

I think you should do as Ron suggests. The sales pitch implies Club Wyndham Access. However, after you get the name and phone number and give it to Ron to look into, you may want to call Wyndham Vacation Resorts and see if that person actually works for Wyndham. That offer is just enough different from the normal sales pitches that a "just checking" attitude would be appropriate.

Update:

Just found the following on the Internet, it does not sound like Wyndham Vacation Resorts nor do the descriptions sound like Wyndham Skyline Tower. The only fixed place active sales Office I am aware of is co-located in Skyline Tower. One of the resorts has a semi-fixed location booth in one of the Casinos. The description does not sound like either location. Also, take note of the site address that the reservation was made through.

... "BE CAREFUL!!! We just had an AWFUL experience with reservevacations.com and wyndham vacations. We made a reservation for a weekend in Atlantic City and were going to listen to the 2 hr talk on time share and may be buy one.
Everything was ok till we tried to arrive at the location. It took me 5-10 minutes to find a door in the building that had a sign on it saying that Wyndham vacations were there, then I drove around for 20 min looking for parking. This part of Atlantic City is not very nice and I did not feel comfortable leaving my car on the street. On the info provided by the companies, we were supposed to have "free valet parking the day of the tour". Not only was there no parking, there was a crapy little lot to the side of the building on a little street (none of this was mentioned in the info provided to us) ..."

2nd Update: Found a phone number for Wyndham Vacations in Atlantic City. The phone answers with an answering machine that you leave a message for because the office is closed. They say on their message that they are the Atlantic City Hotel Experts that use Certified Vacation Experts. They say thier website is: achotelexperts.com.

Just called:

Pacific Coast
Dolphin's Cove Resort
465 W. Orangewood Avenue
Anaheim, CA 92802
Phone: 714-980-0830

This is a Club Wynham Plus Resort and the name address etc. was taken from the Wyndham Vacation Resorts web site. They indicated that reservations for the resort need to be made through the normal Wyndham scheduling system. They would neither confirm nor deny that they of heard of Wyndham Vacations. or the non-Wyndham site that is made reference to above.

 

[joestein]

I have stayed at Dolphins Cove. It does not border Disney Property.

It is about a mile down the main strip. I believe it is the last stop on the trolley that takes people to Disney.

It is the worst Wyndham property (or any timeshare) I have ever stayed at.

No central air - 1 window unit in the bedroom. Ant infestations. Dirty Property. Abused looking unit. Pool had so many leaves floating in it, it looked like a swamp. Would never go back.


Joe

 

[rhonda]

I have stayed at Dolphins Cove. It does not border Disney Property.

It is about a mile down the main strip. I believe it is the last stop on the trolley that takes people to Disney.

Have you been in the past few years? The strawberry fields are no longer there having been replaced by Disney's Toy Story Parking lot. So it seems Dolphins Cove does border Disney property (a parking lot, not amusement park).

 

[rrlongwell]

I have stayed at Dolphins Cove. It does not border Disney Property.

It is about a mile down the main strip. I believe it is the last stop on the trolley that takes people to Disney.

It is the worst Wyndham property (or any timeshare) I have ever stayed at.

No central air - 1 window unit in the bedroom. Ant infestations. Dirty Property. Abused looking unit. Pool had so many leaves floating in it, it looked like a swamp. Would never go back.


Joe

Any sales staff?

 

[ronparise]

I just spoke to my contact in the Wyndham Corporate Sales Dept...These folks are commissioned sales people, just like the folks at the resorts, but they seem to be a lot less high pressure (at least my gal is)

She confirmed that yes, there is a promotion going on at Dolphins Cove.....She wouldn't say what the changes are (I pressed). Neither would she say that the purpose of this promotion is to bring Dolphin Cove inventory into Club Wyndham Access...She did say that she made a few of these calls herself yesterday.

She also said changes are in the works and they want to hold Dolphin Cove owners within the Wyndhan system...... She also said that no one knows about Special Assessments. This would seem to be a little sales pressure.

The deal is as the op stated...exchange (not convert) your week at Dolphins Cove for an ownership in Wyndham Club Access; in the ops case 154000 points...no cost...The question for the op is; Am I better off with a floating week , or Wyndham points.....

Those of us that own more than just a few weeks are always ready to dump weeks that we dont like for one reason or another in exchange for weeks that better fit our timeshare strategy...What works best for the op is up to the op to decide, but he does have a decision to make....

I wish I knew what the changes are, that my contact alluded to....Does Disney have an eye on this property?...(and will Wyndham make a killing on the weeks that they own) Or is as simple as Wyndham losing their management contract? (to Disney?) This will be fun to watch

 

[tschwa2]

Maybe they are using the DRI/ Festiva method to gain a stranglehold on the HOA. Maybe there are too many deeded owners who still maintain control and who keep Maintenance fees down and delay refurbs and since Wyndham and Worldmark both have a presence they now want to lure more deeded owners- hence the "free" offer to get the votes and to get the seats on the board. The threat of the upcoming SA might be very real and would certainly become a reality if Wyndham gets to do the voting instead of the owners.

I know nothing about this resort and of who manages the resort, or controls the board. I have just seen it listed as both Wyndham and Worldmark inventory and know it also has deeded owners. I am just speculating but it seems like developers/managers are doing everything to squeeze more out of current owners without risking or spending their own money and "free" can become very costly. The problem is even if you don't take the offer and enough other owners do it is a lose/lose proposition for the owners.

 

[rrlongwell]

Great job Ron. I like the concept of trading a deeded week for just points, no cost. I hope they expand this to other deeded Resorts. If I were in a purchase mode, I would look around for fixed weeks on E-Bay or elsewhere for cheap and take them up on their offer. From what I have seen, overall, Wynhdam does do a good job at maintaining their Resorts. If I owned there, I would support the Wyndham effort for upgrades from looking at their pictures.

 

[ronparise]

Great job Ron. I like the concept of trading a deeded week for just points, no cost. I hope they expand this to other deeded Resorts. If I were in a purchase mode, I would look around for fixed weeks on E-Bay or elsewhere for cheap and take them up on their offer. From what I have seen, overall, Wynhdam does do a good job at maintaining their Resorts. If I owned there, I would support the Wyndham effort for upgrades from looking at their pictures.

Thanks for noticing

 

[sandkastle4966]

a) I have been to Dolphins cove twice in the last 2 years and found it perfectly acceptable

b) I think its a reasonable deal ($/pt) for RCI. you have already invested in it - getting another trader at for that number of points will cost you more that getting 154k Wyn points ($1)

c) since you've never been - you are a trading and are far more accessable to you than you will get for 154k points.

just my 2 cents - I am a trader, and have wyn points - I would keep it....as someone said - what is your TS strategy

 

[rrlongwell]

Great job Ron. I like the concept of trading a deeded week for just points, no cost. I hope they expand this to other deeded Resorts. If I were in a purchase mode, I would look around for fixed weeks on E-Bay or elsewhere for cheap and take them up on their offer. From what I have seen, overall, Wynhdam does do a good job at maintaining their Resorts. If I owned there, I would support the Wyndham effort for upgrades from looking at their pictures.

In light of Ron's input, this is probably not relevant anymore. But, an update to my earlier post: Sorry, I am at Wyndham Skyline Towers now (Atlantic City). The Sales staff does have another location than the two already mentioned. It is also located in Skylilne Tower. You go in the front door and before you get to the check in desk, turn right and go back the hallway. There is a small reception area on the left, an office when the hallway ends, and then turn left. It goes to a conference room where there are circular tables and the staff makes their pitches there, It was crowed. The other sales area is better. This does not meet the discription that appeared earlier of the location in question.