How many points to buy

[bnoble]

Ok, so here’s another question. Can my adult children use the points or RCI when we buy?

Yes, but you would probably have to obtain guest certificates for them unless they are co-owners. Even then, I think RCI has a limit of how many people they will let you list on the account.

 

[schoolmarm]

Since you are interested in staying at Bonnet Creek....here's a fun fact: Most years Thanksgiving week is at a lower season then Christmas! MUCH lower. They made a mistake when putting the points chart in the book and now they are stuck with it. Thanksgiving is a DEAL!

Another surprising low season is the first week or two in January at Old Town Alexandria. I'm in DC often to do research and LOVE that week in Old Town. And it's a bonus if school isn't in session at UMaryland College Park and there is free parking there as well as at the resort. If I'm there when UMaryland is in session, I often just hop the Metro (from the back door it is across the street) to work at the Smithsonian or the Library of Congress. EASY!!!
While VIP owners have a discount window, there are times of the year when ALL owners can get a discount on certain resorts. They are listed on the "Deals for Owners" page, Typically they might be for Sunday-Thursday only, or at a resort that has lots of vacancies, or just for certain sized rooms. Sometimes this is during a quiet or a low season and you can get 25-35% off making it a steal of a deal!

One tip for NYC is that JANUARY is their low inventory time. They deposit hotel, studios and 1 BRs into RCI where you get them for about 1/2 of the points as a direct booking (even with the RCI booking fee, its a GREAT deal). And don't take a car into NYC. Parking is expensive, public transportation is cheap.

 

[CO skier]

I own 5 Wyndham weeks and I would not buy Wyndham again: Wyndham is not owner friendly - read some of the posts in this forum and reconsider.

It is so satisfying to see RCAerobat ignoring the distorted advice from the very, VERY few negative Nellies in Club Wyndham and, instead, learning the "real story" on TUG and asking questions about the great vacations Club Wyndham can offer.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Since you are interested in staying at Bonnet Creek....here's a fun fact: Most years Thanksgiving week is at a lower season then Christmas!

And sometimes Easter week is low season as well! I’m going to try to get a 4 bedroom unit in Easter ‘25.

 

[paxsarah]

Most years Thanksgiving week is at a lower season then Christmas! MUCH lower.

And sometimes Easter week is low season as well!

And this is an example of a time when the season doesn't necessarily reflect demand. These low-points holidays are great for saving points, but the demand is very high for these flukey values and booking when your booking window opens is even more important.

 

[bnoble]

They made a mistake when putting the points chart in the book and now they are stuck with it.

As I recall my conversion contract, they are allowed to rebalance point costs to reflect changing demand, so long as the total number of points in a year do not change. So, if e.g. Thanksgiving goes up a season, some other week must go down. I don't see any reason why they would not have put the same clause in a UDI resort, but I don't own one so cannot confirm.

 

[RCAerobat]

It is so satisfying to see RCAerobat ignoring the distorted advice from the very, VERY few negative Nellies in Club Wyndham and, instead, learning the "real story" on TUG and asking questions about the great vacations Club Wyndham can offer.

There are always multiple sides to a story, so I don’t mind hearing the good and bad and weigh that for myself. I have never understood the “advantage” of buying a retail timeshare, but purchasing a resale to me looks like a good opportunity. These Wyndham resorts are a lot nicer than anything I’d be likely to pay for on my own as a hotel. Anyway, thanks for all of your advice!

 

[CO skier]

So, my family and I are big fans of going to Disney World and the possibility to stay on Disney property was a big draw for me when I first started to look at Wyndham. So my assumption that I would need 224 points was based on that fact that that’s what it would cost me to stay there during a popular time. That being said, we much prefer to go to Disney at a time that is less busy.

Have you looked at the Club Wyndham directory? You could have a 5-night stay (Sun.-Fri.) in Prime time each year for only 135,000 points. Look at the various resorts you might want to visit and when, then calculate how many points, on average, that works out to in a year. There is a minimum program fee ($175 in 2023) that is part of the maintenance fees, then an additional $0.70/thousand points beyond that. I would think 154,000 points would be an absolute minimum to start, but you would pay the same minimum program fee for that size as you would on a 210,000 points contract.

Club Wyndham Directory 2022

media.wyndhamvo.com

So, I might not want to purchase until May?

If you want your first vacation next spring, then purchasing in the May-July timeframe would get you into Club Wyndham by the end of the year to book a spring vacation, without paying much for 2024 points that you probably would not receive as part of the ownership transfer. Once you have decided on how many points per year you want, start watching for approximately that size contract and buy it when it appears. It would be more important, to me, to get what I want at a low maintenance fee resort when I find it, then trying to save a few hundred bucks one-way-or-another.

 

[RENTER]

There are always multiple sides to a story, so I don’t mind hearing the good and bad and weigh that for myself. I have never understood the “advantage” of buying a retail timeshare, but purchasing a resale to me looks like a good opportunity. These Wyndham resorts are a lot nicer than anything I’d be likely to pay for on my own as a hotel. Anyway, thanks for all of your advice!

PM sent

 

[schoolmarm]

As I recall my conversion contract, they are allowed to rebalance point costs to reflect changing demand, so long as the total number of points in a year do not change. So, if e.g. Thanksgiving goes up a season, some other week must go down. I don't see any reason why they would not have put the same clause in a UDI resort, but I don't own one so cannot confirm.

They would have to re-write and re-issue ALL UDI contracts. There are specific weeks listed and units listed in old contracts (with fractions of ownership).
Also, if you have looked at the CWA document, their ownership is listed by unit size and week, so THAT would have to be adjusted.
I think we would want them to use their time fixing the website instead of "rebalancing" the point charts.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

.

 

[CO skier]

They would have to re-write and re-issue ALL UDI contracts. There are specific weeks listed and units listed in old contracts (with fractions of ownership).
Also, if you have looked at the CWA document, their ownership is listed by unit size and week, so THAT would have to be adjusted.

No. This is a typical example of a UDI deed:

"A 210,000/17,743,000 undivided fee simple interest in Units 7829-7830 in Building 15 … (lengthy reference to county recording) …, which undivided interest has been assigned 210,000 Fairshare Plus Points symbolic of said property interest."

The units and building numbers are for inventory control purposes only. The points awarded for use are constant, but only "symbolic" of the property interest(s) in the vacation club.

The ownership listed for CWA would, likewise, be for inventory control purposes.

There is also language in the VOI Trust Agreement that allows Wyndham as manager to "“on behalf of the Trustee, may adjust the number of Points required to reserve an Accommodation available through a Property Interest in order to respond to actual use patterns and changes in use demand.”

I agree with the point above that as long as the total number of denominator points for all the UDI contracts at a resort remains the same, Wyndham can change the points per week allocations based on use demand.

 

[CO skier]

Since you are interested in staying at Bonnet Creek....here's a fun fact: Most years Thanksgiving week is at a lower season then Christmas! MUCH lower. They made a mistake when putting the points chart in the book and now they are stuck with it. Thanksgiving is a DEAL!

There are a few Florida resorts that are not Prime season for Thanksgiving week. Destin is Value season for Thanksgiving and weeks 51 & 52. "One resort" might be a mistake; a "collection of resorts" is just a benefit of owning in Club Wyndham.

 

[ridgerunner71]

There are a few Florida resorts that are not Prime season for Thanksgiving week. Destin is Value season for Thanksgiving and weeks 51 & 52. "One resort" might be a mistake; a "collection of resorts" is just a benefit of owning in Club Wyndham.

And then you have some resorts like Clearwater Beach that only have Prime and High seasons. It really is a nice resort, but pricey and hard to book in peak times.

 

[RCAerobat]

Ok, so another question. How does it work when you cannot use your points in a year?
1.Can they be saved in the Wyndham account for future use? If so, for how long?
2.I understand you can convert them to RCI, but then how long do those last?
Thanks again.

 

[ridgerunner71]

Ok, so another question. How does it work when you cannot use your points in a year?
1.Can they be saved in the Wyndham account for future use? If so, for how long?
2.I understand you can convert them to RCI, but then how long do those last?
Thanks again.

Your use year will start in either the first day of January, April, July or October.

In all likelihood you will get a January use year, they are by far the most common. If you want to move your points, you have 3 months from the start of your use year to do that. There's like a $40 fee to do this.

If, after 3 months you cant use your points you can move them into RCI. They are good for 2 years from the date of deposit in RCI. And you can pay to extend them.

VIP's have longer (Silver 6 months, Gold (9 months), Platinum and Founders can do it up till the last day of their use year. But it's not worth paying for VIP for this perk.

I always find a way to use the points. If you are thinking you will buy resale now, and get a January use year contract, no in all likelihood you wont be able to move points because you probably wont even get the contract transferred by June at this point. You can also borrow points from the next use year if the booking is in the next 90 days from today if you are short some points.

 

[RCAerobat]

So I read a suggestion somewhere else, but can’t find it. Other than TUG and EBay, what are some other good/reliable sites to buy Wyndham points?

 

[ridgerunner71]

Redweek, or you can google something like "timeshare resales". You will likely pay more, but there are legit companies, in some case real restate agents who sell these, as a side gig or to help out clients.

I dont have any examples, my resales I bought off ebay, was painless, albeit slow

 

[jp10558]

Yea, I got mine off ebay. It wasn't fast, but it was easy.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Yea, I got mine off ebay. It wasn't fast, but it was easy.

Wyndham resale contract transfers in general are painfully slow, that’s not an eBay thing, that’s a Wyndham thing.

 

[Ida Evans]

For a one-week, two-bedroom vacation at popular Wyndham locations like Daytona, Orlando, or Destin Beach, 160,000 points is generally a good starting point. However, the exact number of points needed can vary based on the time of year and specific resort. Having a home timeshare location is not necessary, as Club Wyndham points can typically be used at any resort within the network. If you purchase points that are available every other year, you can bank unused points into the following year, but this usually requires you to adhere to specific rules and deadlines set by Wyndham.

 

[90_Min_Sales_Pitch]

I have an odd year contract in Kona, and am thinking of pairing it with an even year in Waikiki. We currently only have 2 housekeeping credits in even years, so this would bump it up to 4+. We would also like access to Waikiki at Christmas, 13 months out. Is this a good strategy? Would an even year contract give us advanced booking options in the opposite year? Or would be be better off buying Bali Hai or Grand Desert, and trying to book Waikiki 10 months out?

 

[tschwa2]

I have an odd year contract in Kona, and am thinking of pairing it with an even year in Waikiki. We currently only have 2 housekeeping credits in even years, so this would bump it up to 4+. We would also like access to Waikiki at Christmas, 13 months out. Is this a good strategy? Would an even year contract give us advanced booking options in the opposite year? Or would be be better off buying Bali Hai or Grand Desert, and trying to book Waikiki 10 months out?

You only get arp during your use year. If you move the points forward, you no longer get ARP. How many points do you currently get in the odd years?

 

[Jan M.]

You only get arp during your use year. If you move the points forward, you no longer get ARP. How many points do you currently get in the odd years?

Also if you move points forward the housekeeping credits don't follow the points.

 

[90_Min_Sales_Pitch]

You only get arp during your use year. If you move the points forward, you no longer get ARP. How many points do you currently get in the odd years?

Good to know! I currently only get 154,000 in my odd year. I get 616,000 points in the even year, and move 100,000+ points forward. So either we load up on more even year points with another EOY even, or do annual, and stack those opposite year housekeeping credits.