How to determine total annual cost of parents' points?

[bnoble]

For now, we have 4 kids with us

Given this, I would encourage you to think about these as straight-up "regular" points, for which you won't get that many short-notice discounts or upgrades. That's because travel with kids on short notice during low-demand times is not particularly easy.

There still could be a reason to take them, though. With kids, you probably have to travel during popular times, and the Club Wyndham Access points can be used at dozens of resorts during the home resort period. So, if you are able to plan more than 10 months ahead, this can have some value.

And in the years down the road, when you have more flexibility the Silver benefits will start to pay dividends.

The annual fees are high, but not ridiculous. If the $380/month figure is correct, you are paying a little less than $9/K. That's a little worse than average, but honestly not egregious. I personally think CWA is worth owning, though I'm not sure most others here agree with me.

Bottom line: If you can take on $4,500/year (and growing) in vacation lodging expenses, and can take two to three "serious" vacations each year as a family, I think this is worth taking.

 

[Floridaman76]

Given this, I would encourage you to think about these as straight-up "regular" points, for which you won't get that many short-notice discounts or upgrades. That's because travel with kids on short notice during low-demand times is not particularly easy.

There still could be a reason to take them, though. With kids, you probably have to travel during popular times, and the Club Wyndham Access points can be used at dozens of resorts during the home resort period. So, if you are able to plan more than 10 months ahead, this can have some value.

And in the years down the road, when you have more flexibility the Silver benefits will start to pay dividends.

Having been through this with 2 kids, there were 3 times of year we planned vacations around the kids: Christmas, Spring Break and Summer. Kids schedules and days off usually dictated our vacation plans and dates.

Depending on where the OP lives and what the kids may or may not be into, I agree with BNoble that you may not be able to make use of some of the VIP benefits like suite upgrades and points discounts because realistically you will be making the booking well outside the discount window, in most cases several months in advance. Because if you wait till 60 days or 30 days there's a high chance you will not get what you want.

But... there are definitely some places that you can book Christmas and get discounts and upgrades. Places that are "off season" during those times.

Myrtle Beach
Some of the Florida resorts
Sevierville/Pigeon Forge (Gatlinburg)
Branson
Williamsburg
Edisto
New Orleans
Vegas

Spring Break, I would say would be tough every year no matter where you try to book to get discounts or uprgades. So you are going to likely book in advance.

Summer, is kind of a mixed bag, you may or may not. But kids schedules were more flexible during summer than the strict Christmas and Spring Break dates. You have more likelihood to get discounts and upgrades and leverage quick or more feequent last minute getaways

This past Christmas, I took my whole family out to Steamboat Springs, and me and my wife drove out there, stopping at 3 resorts on the way out, got discounts and upgrades at 3 of them. Steamboat obviously was booked so far in advance no upgrade, then on the way back stopped at 2 more, got upgrades and discounts at 1 of the 2 on the way back. I was gone for 3 weeks straight. Had to spend a couple nights in a hotel on the way out for various reasons, mainly because there was a big gap between Branson and Colorado where there are no resorts. We also moved points to make this happen.

Kids wants and desires also change over time and they dont want to go to the same places every year, but I always found there were plenty of places we could go when they were in their late teens where they could engage with kids their age, or find girls, or whatever teens are into doing (besides sitting in their bedroom on their phones all day). More importantly after kids, you and your wife will definitely find ways to use the points to take trips together with your wife to decouple. Or gift vacations to your kids. That's my experience anyway.

But all of this is contingent on your ability to afford the fees year to year...

 

[Jan M.]

Yes, I don't even know why I mentioned buying them. They would just give them to me, but of course then I'm on the hook for MFs.

Okay, here's the info:

154,000 points
Contract Type: Club Wyndham Select
Home Resort: Club Wyndham Kingsgate
Contract Details: Converted Fixed Week

353,500
Contract Type: Club Wyndham Access
Home Resort: All Club Wyndham Access Resorts
Contract Details: UDI

I can help some. I don't know about the Kingsgate maintenance fees but the Club Wyndham Access maintenence fees for 2025 are $8.13 per thousand points.

The program fee is $0.75 on the total points in their account.

They most likely have the maintenance fees deducted from their checking account each month or automatically put on a credit card. Ask how they pay them and check that account to see how much they pay. Multiply that monthly amount by twelve then divide that amount by the total points to get how much it is per thousand points.

I'm guessing they've owned long enough to be grandfathered as Silver VIP and also grandfathered with unlimited housekeeping. You don't want to give either of those up! You might want to look into PIC Plus weeks if you want/need more points. There's several threads about the PIC program.

Don't wait until your parents pass to get this in your name! It's a headache no one wants or needs. It takes months during which time you'll be paying maintenance fees and unable to use the points. If it isn't completed by the end of the use year, you will lose all those points.

You, your wife/partner, children who are 18, can all be added. You can leave one of your parents on to avoid having the account tied up for months if you transfer the account. Make sure it's joint tenants with right of survivorship. As you learn more about using the account you will learn the advantages of having more names on the account.

If you need help learning to use what they/you have, message me and I'll give you my number. I've mentored other people. I'll log into our account, you'll log into yours, and I'll walk you through things that will be helpful to know.