Have a set winter red week want points

[roset]

I bought week 2 on the S. CA coast over 10 years ago. It's red, but over the last several years, I have not had any success exchanging it for an equivalent (gold crown) 2 bdrm unit in the summer months in non-desert CA. We live in S. CA so we have no desire to go to the beach for a week in January and bought it only to exchange for our family vacations (when we were young and knew nothing about TS), but we're not finding what we want with this. We've gotten sold on the flexibility of the points system since we like to go different places. Staying at a Wyndham resort, they explained their point system which seemed good and stated they would PIC our Carlsbad resort to their points if we bought from them. Well they're incredibly expensive. I want to buy on the resale market but of course we wouldn't have the PIC option, so I'm wondering if we should pay to change our fixed week to RCI points. I've been researching this forum and can't really find what I want. Everyone says that if you own a fixed week you use, keep it. Well we never use our fixed week, so I don't know the best way to go. We usually vacation close to home in CA, so I really want a points program with lots of options in CA. Wyndham doesn't seem to be the best on the West coast, WorldMark seemed better, but I know many of their resorts are not right in the action (a mile from the beach rather than right on the beach), so I'd like some advice from some of you who are more familiar with the different point systems and what would be the best thing to do with my Carlsbad Seapointe fixed week 2.

 

[gorevs9]

...so I'm wondering if we should pay to change our fixed week to RCI points.

How much is your resort charging you to switch to points AND how many points are they offering (a week 2, 2 BR is 52,500 pts in the RCI directory while a summer week is 87,500 pts)?

I did a quick search of the RCI directory and there are approx 80 resorts in the So Cal area (Coast, inland, and Palm Springs). Of these there are less than 30 Points resorts with only 8 of these being Gold Crown. You can book a Points resort 10 months prior to checkin. Owners can book up to 13 months prior, so there is no guarantee that a particular resort will have the availability you seek. You also have the opportunity to reserve at 'weeks' resorts, but again, these weeks have to have been deposited in the system.

If you switch to RCI Points, you will have more flexibility, BUT if you are only looking at 2 BR Gold Crown resorts in your area, you might not have enough points to book an entire week (unless of course you want Palm Springs in the summer, which you can already get if you really want it). There are ways to obtain additional points for vacations.

Otherwise, if you plan on vacationing in the So Cal area you would probably have to shorten your vacation to less than 7 days, downsize to a 1 BR GC, book at a non-GC resort, or travel in the off-season.

You can access the RCI directory on their website and look at the Point levels for various resorts to determine how many points you might have to obtain for your needs.
While this is may not be the answer you were hoping for I hope it helps with your decision making.

 

[Bill4728]

The key part of your question should be " How best to get into a point system which has TS on the west coast?"

First: BUY RESALE!! You can buy wyndham points for $0.10/dollar so that Wndham TS you were looking at will sell for $1000- $2,000 resale instead of the >$15K that wyndham wanted.

But I agree for someone on the west coast Worldmark may be a better choice. ( you should be able to buy 10K pts for about $7,000) There are also several other TS systems which you could look at. Shell & Monarch Grand both have several resorts on the west coast. Westin & Hilton do too ( but more desert locations). Hyatt has several nice resorts but they are more pricey.

The key is to do your homework and find out what options you have. You'll save yourself about $10,000 - $20,000 if you do.

Good Luck and welcome to TUG!!

 

[e.bram]

You want beach in the summer, buy(or rent) beach in the summer. Very few beach in the summer owners will deposit their week or convert to points. So even with points you will probably not get a beach in the summer(unless you buy one)

 

[roset]

How much is your resort charging you to switch to points AND how many points are they offering (a week 2, 2 BR is 52,500 pts in the RCI directory while a summer week is 87,500 pts)?

I would have to purchase an additional unit from the developer for them to convert my orginal unit to points. The "best value" way of doing this is buying a 1 bdrm for $5900+$695 closing/escrow fees. That would convert my original 2BR week 2 to 67,500 (we get more points than it costs someone to come into our resort with the RCI points system, so we get more than the 52,500 points shown in the RCI book) points plus give me 46,500 points for the 1BR. My additional MF for the 1BR would be $658.40. My total points would be 114,000 with maintenance fees at about $1500.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Huh? Get more points than what is shown in the RCI directory for your winter week as a deposit vs to use that week?

I have a couple of RCI Points weeks and what I get matches what the directory charges for to use those weeks. Did you get this in writing or see it in writing in the RCI Points Directory?

 

[roset]

I didn't get it in writing. I was just asking over the phone. I would obviously get it in writing before I did anything. I don't know why the numbers are different. It might be some negotiation with our resort and RCI because beach resorts in S CA have some pull, but I really don't know.

 

[Egret1986]

I really believe you could do better than this even if what you're being told is true

How much is your resort charging you to switch to points AND how many points are they offering (a week 2, 2 BR is 52,500 pts in the RCI directory while a summer week is 87,500 pts)?

I would have to purchase an additional unit from the developer for them to convert my orginal unit to points. The "best value" way of doing this is buying a 1 bdrm for $5900+$695 closing/escrow fees. That would convert my original 2BR week 2 to 67,500 (we get more points than it costs someone to come into our resort with the RCI points system, so we get more than the 52,500 points shown in the RCI book) points plus give me 46,500 points for the 1BR. My additional MF for the 1BR would be $658.40. My total points would be 114,000 with maintenance fees at about $1500.

Salesmen for developers have been known to be less than honest in many cases. I bought an RCI Points resort last year and am currently closing on another Points resort for a total of 128,000 points with maintenance fees of about $1000. I paid $1800 for one and $482 for the other, plus closing costs. The closing/escrow fees you mention ($695) semm quite high also. RCI Points resorts can be had on eBay for minimal amounts. You could sell your week 2 (low demand I would think) for a $1, buy a resort or two with the number of points you're looking for and pay less in maintenance fees, and come out ahead of what the developer is offering. A search on TUG will indicate what the max is that you should pay per point and the max per point that you should pay in maintenance fees. I would do more research. Personally, I wouldn't even consider anything the developer was offering.

 

[roset]

I've been researching the different point based time shares, and Worldmark seems to have the most places in CA, but their owners website talk about the diluting their ownership ever since they were bought by Wyndham. It seems Wyndham employees have been put on the board of directors of Worldmark and are making decision to dilute the current owners value by having each new resort charge significantly higher points, so that owners would have to buy more points to get into the new resorts. This eliminates the marketed "price freeze" that timeshares are suppose to possess. "You buy now, and your investment is protected against inflation in the future." If the points necessary to get a unit increases, then your investment is not protected. You'll have to pay more and more in the future just like renting.

This worries me about buying Worldmark. I think their resorts "fit" my situation the most, but I don't want to get into a situation where I have to keep buying more points to get the resorts I want.

Any thoughts out there.

 

[CharlesS]

I'vedilute the current owners value by having each new resort charge significantly higher points, so that owners would have to buy more points to get into the new resorts. This eliminates the marketed "price freeze" that timeshares are suppose to possess. "You buy now, and your investment is protected against inflation in the future." If the points necessary to get a unit increases, then your investment is not protected. You'll have to pay more and more in the future just like renting.

Newer resorts cost more to build due to inflation and the need to put more amenities, etc., in to handle competition. Therefore, they will be valued at more points no matter what point system you buy into. But the points you buy today are not diluted in that the resorts that are available today will require the same number of points in 10 years and you will get the the same number of points for the unit you purchased. You just might not be able to get into a resort that is built in 9 years (and of course you can't get into it now either so nothing has changed).

Charles