My Survey

[Marooned]

I used to have DVC about 350 points which was nice, could travel several times for just a few days and home resort didn’t matter. I’m looking for something similar but with more options on the east coast.

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?
Primarily southeast coast in US. Outer Banks, Hilton Head, Savannah, Florida.

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time?
Not a requirement but not sure how they differ from DVC.

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
Not sure

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself?
3-5. 2 adults, 3 kids but not always all traveling at the same time.

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
School schedules but also flexible for long weekends.

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?
Not preferably

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?
Sometimes but not very often.

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
3-5

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
$8,000

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year?
$5000

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
Mostly but also will do something last minute.

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do?
Yes

 

[jp10558]

So, I'm doing a lot of what you're talking about, and I'm doing a mix of Wyndham and HGVC. I used RCI to get HHI, but in season I think it'd be pretty expensive via RCI, like $2,000 or so as an extra vacation. But Wyndham has a lot of east coast properties up and down, from Smugglers Notch in VT to National harbor in DC, to a few in Myrtle Beach, Daytona, Orlando, and the gulf coast of Florida. HGVC is pretty much Myrtle Beach and Orlando, but likely fancier properties. I actually think as far as it goes, Wyndham has so far been easier by far for availability, and cheaper by far to get in to, and has a lot of HGVC via RCI too.

Long and short of it is for sub $2,000 to get in - depending on your patience you could get in free... Many locations have 2BR and that works pretty well. Downsides are going to be I think it's primarily Marriott or independent for HHI, and IDK about Outer Banks, I think those are also mostly independent. The upshot is - if you're going to a lot of different places around the east coast and into the south, Wyndham just has the locations IME. If you really just want to go every year during a school break to HHI or the Outer Banks, I think you might want to try and get fixed weeks from the independents there and then trade if you're not going there one year.

You also want to look at the time you get generally - with HGVC and MFs in the not amazing but easy to get range of $1,600 on 11,200pts that's one week in a 2BR. If you get the really good MFs you might drop that to $1,000 on a 2BR at a higher purchase price. In Wyndham, same, kind of ok but not great MFs I have 405,000 at $2,800 a year. This is fuzzier as it's not a specific week like HGVC, but this year I already booked 1 week in a 2BR, and 5 days in a 2BR and have a lot of points left over, but this was also in shoulder season. If I was to stay in Atlanta 1 week would use all the points and maybe then some I think.

So, HGVC doesn't have last minute availability that I've seen, maybe 2 or 3 days here and there. Which may be what you want IDK. Wyndham does sometimes have some last minute availability if you mean low season somewhere in Florida. I think the thing to do for last minute availability is really going to be here on TUG last minute rentals or RCI last calls when they pop up. But you have to go where's available. I think either system will work best if you can book 9 or 10 months out, so not quite a year, but not a lot less...

 

[Marooned]

So, I'm doing a lot of what you're talking about, and I'm doing a mix of Wyndham and HGVC. I used RCI to get HHI, but in season I think it'd be pretty expensive via RCI, like $2,000 or so as an extra vacation. But Wyndham has a lot of east coast properties up and down, from Smugglers Notch in VT to National harbor in DC, to a few in Myrtle Beach, Daytona, Orlando, and the gulf coast of Florida. HGVC is pretty much Myrtle Beach and Orlando, but likely fancier properties. I actually think as far as it goes, Wyndham has so far been easier by far for availability, and cheaper by far to get in to, and has a lot of HGVC via RCI too.

Long and short of it is for sub $2,000 to get in - depending on your patience you could get in free... Many locations have 2BR and that works pretty well. Downsides are going to be I think it's primarily Marriott or independent for HHI, and IDK about Outer Banks, I think those are also mostly independent. The upshot is - if you're going to a lot of different places around the east coast and into the south, Wyndham just has the locations IME. If you really just want to go every year during a school break to HHI or the Outer Banks, I think you might want to try and get fixed weeks from the independents there and then trade if you're not going there one year.

You also want to look at the time you get generally - with HGVC and MFs in the not amazing but easy to get range of $1,600 on 11,200pts that's one week in a 2BR. If you get the really good MFs you might drop that to $1,000 on a 2BR at a higher purchase price. In Wyndham, same, kind of ok but not great MFs I have 405,000 at $2,800 a year. This is fuzzier as it's not a specific week like HGVC, but this year I already booked 1 week in a 2BR, and 5 days in a 2BR and have a lot of points left over, but this was also in shoulder season. If I was to stay in Atlanta 1 week would use all the points and maybe then some I think.

So, HGVC doesn't have last minute availability that I've seen, maybe 2 or 3 days here and there. Which may be what you want IDK. Wyndham does sometimes have some last minute availability if you mean low season somewhere in Florida. I think the thing to do for last minute availability is really going to be here on TUG last minute rentals or RCI last calls when they pop up. But you have to go where's available. I think either system will work best if you can book 9 or 10 months out, so not quite a year, but not a lot less...

Thank you so much for the detailed reply! My problem is we’d like to travel at least 6 times a year but only for long weekends, taking a week is tougher, doable but tougher. While I’d like to be able to plan 9-10 months it’s probably not possible or that often.

Would you still recommend Wyndham? Based on the amount of travel we’d like to do, is there a number of points I should try to get?

Thanks again!

 

[dioxide45]

Wyndham will eat you alive with housekeeping fees if you do a lot of short trips. You get one free housekeeping credit for every 70,000 points. So when looking at Wyndham, take that in to consideration.

 

[Marooned]

I’ve looked through the classifieds and found several free club Wyndham points around 154.000-182,000 and they’re sub $2k MFs. Are they good deals? Wondering how many points I’d need for 6 or more vacations and if I should try other vendors. I saw several Hyatt points but not sure if they compare to Wyndham.

 

[kanerf]

It depends on the resort, but most of these Wyndham point contracts you see for sale are for about a week. To have 6 week long vacations you will need 600-700K points. I was able to buy a 640K point contract in Hawaii for $450 last year, so they can be found. I currently have 1.9 million points.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Hyatt doesn't have locations on the East Coast other than Key West AFAIK.

 

[Marooned]

It depends on the resort, but most of these Wyndham point contracts you see for sale are for about a week. To have 6 week long vacations you will need 600-700K points. I was able to buy a 640K point contract in Hawaii for $450 last year, so they can be found. I currently have 1.9 million points.

Holy cow! 1.9m what do you pay in maint fees? You mention the contract is in Hawaii but can you go other places?
Are you able to use as you want? See my issue is that taking a week isn’t that easy but then again if I book it for a week and only stay as long as I need that could work. That may be wasting points but it might be my only option. With DVC I’d just book what I needed and the bucket of points was all I’d use and I could pick any of their resorts, didn’t matter what my home resort was. So if I wanted a weekend and it was 29 points a night, that’s what it’s cost. It seems like most other timeshares are a bit different.
I’m basically at the point of either renting an apartment for a year and going as needed or trying to find timeshares that would give me more freedom.

I greatly appreciate all of the input and feedback so thank you all!

 

[kanerf]

Holy cow! 1.9m what do you pay in maint fees? You mention the contract is in Hawaii but can you go other places?
Are you able to use as you want? See my issue is that taking a week isn’t that easy but then again if I book it for a week and only stay as long as I need that could work. That may be wasting points but it might be my only option. With DVC I’d just book what I needed and the bucket of points was all I’d use and I could pick any of their resorts, didn’t matter what my home resort was. So if I wanted a weekend and it was 29 points a night, that’s what it’s cost. It seems like most other timeshares are a bit different.
I’m basically at the point of either renting an apartment for a year and going as needed or trying to find timeshares that would give me more freedom.

I greatly appreciate all of the input and feedback so thank you all!

Points are points and can be used anywhere in the system. Yes, my MFs are high, but I use these points to stay in the D.C. area where I work and so don't pay for an apartment.

 

[ScoopKona]

Hyatt doesn't have locations on the East Coast other than Key West AFAIK.

Bonita Springs and (technically) Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is an easy trip from points east. Before the renovation at least, that resort had enormous repeat visitors from the tri-state area.

But I agree, Hyatt is not the vehicle to take people to Hilton Head and similar.

 

[Marooned]

Points are points and can be used anywhere in the system. Yes, my MFs are high, but I use these points to stay in the D.C. area where I work and so don't pay for an apartment.

Thank you for the clarification on the points, that’s good to hear. I’ve seen one for 308,000 bi-annual even years. So is that stating I’d get 308k points every other year and can only use them on even years? Should I look for annual instead? Seems like a lot of bi-annual points so just trying to understand.

 

[ScoopKona]

Thank you for the clarification on the points, that’s good to hear. I’ve seen one for 308,000 bi-annual even years. So is that stating I’d get 308k points every other year and can only use them on even years? Should I look for annual instead? Seems like a lot of bi-annual points so just trying to understand.

I recommend you narrow it down to a system -- and then head to that system's subforum after doing a deep dive into the inner workings of that system.

Each system uses a wildly different number of points and have wildly different point (and cash) costs. A system which gives you five points each year, each of which may be redeemed for a full week's vacation is a great system. A system which gives you a billion points each year, and requires 1 billion and one points to do anything is not.

Decide which system has the most resorts which work for you; and then learn how it overlaps with its external exchange partner(s) -- RCI and II, typically.

There's no substitute for doing this book work on your own. If there was a system which was great for everyone, we'd all own it.

 

[kanerf]

Thank you for the clarification on the points, that’s good to hear. I’ve seen one for 308,000 bi-annual even years. So is that stating I’d get 308k points every other year and can only use them on even years? Should I look for annual instead? Seems like a lot of bi-annual points so just trying to understand.

I prefer the annual contracts and that is all I own. You have to assume you will be using the points every year or you will still be paying MFs for years that you do not travel. You can deposit points to the following year, but there is usually a cost involved in doing so.

 

[jp10558]

Holy cow! 1.9m what do you pay in maint fees? You mention the contract is in Hawaii but can you go other places?
Are you able to use as you want? See my issue is that taking a week isn’t that easy but then again if I book it for a week and only stay as long as I need that could work. That may be wasting points but it might be my only option. With DVC I’d just book what I needed and the bucket of points was all I’d use and I could pick any of their resorts, didn’t matter what my home resort was. So if I wanted a weekend and it was 29 points a night, that’s what it’s cost. It seems like most other timeshares are a bit different.
I’m basically at the point of either renting an apartment for a year and going as needed or trying to find timeshares that would give me more freedom.

I greatly appreciate all of the input and feedback so thank you all!

Wyndham lets you stay for 2-3 day stays, but like others said, you use a housekeeping credit for each stay, and you get one per 70,000 pts you own. So you do the math. You'll need 420,000 to have 6 HK credits for the year. That is similar to the points I have (a little more) and if you're doing long weekends you would still have a bunch of points you lose if you don't throw in a week long stay or go somewhere (except for very high MF locations, maybe a reason to stay at the Emerald Grande in Destin, FL lol). I think anyway. That said, it would probably ensure you have enough points for the more expensive weekends almost no matter where you go. The other alternative would be to have about how many points you intend to use (usually the best plan lol) and then for the extra HK credits you can pay the $175 or whatever. That said, on a 2 day stay, that's not cheap to add on either.

I'm just assuming here you have done the math on trying to rent 2-3 day stays from owners (I bet many aren't that interested now that commercial renters have kind of been squashed, because of HK fees, and just less work and such to rent entire weeks) or renting from the Wyndham website or whoever, or just booking a couple hotel rooms for 2 nights here and there and it's worth dealing with the timeshare. Because I think if I'm going somewhere for 2 days, I'm doing a hotel with points or my credit card night rewards if I can to save hassles.

 

[Marooned]

Wyndham lets you stay for 2-3 day stays, but like others said, you use a housekeeping credit for each stay, and you get one per 70,000 pts you own. So you do the math. You'll need 420,000 to have 6 HK credits for the year. That is similar to the points I have (a little more) and if you're doing long weekends you would still have a bunch of points you lose if you don't throw in a week long stay or go somewhere (except for very high MF locations, maybe a reason to stay at the Emerald Grande in Destin, FL lol). I think anyway. That said, it would probably ensure you have enough points for the more expensive weekends almost no matter where you go. The other alternative would be to have about how many points you intend to use (usually the best plan lol) and then for the extra HK credits you can pay the $175 or whatever. That said, on a 2 day stay, that's not cheap to add on either.

I'm just assuming here you have done the math on trying to rent 2-3 day stays from owners (I bet many aren't that interested now that commercial renters have kind of been squashed, because of HK fees, and just less work and such to rent entire weeks) or renting from the Wyndham website or whoever, or just booking a couple hotel rooms for 2 nights here and there and it's worth dealing with the timeshare. Because I think if I'm going somewhere for 2 days, I'm doing a hotel with points or my credit card night rewards if I can to save hassles.

Thank you again for the response. I do get what you and others are saying about the HK fees and based on what people have replied with here and the subforums I'd try to get at least 420,000 points, more around the 600,000 mark I think. Based on that, it should cover HK fees for 6 vacations.
I have considered the traditional route of hotels, Air BnB, etc.. I haven't looked into last minute deals here which could be an option. There will be times where we do stay more than 2-3 nights but due to work, kids school, kids programs, etc.. it makes it more difficult. I'd like to force my family (and myself) to have an ownership (points or whatever) to plan vacations. Currently we'll say that we'll go somewhere next month but then December comes and we've only been 1 place that year.
I don't think Fixed Weeks would be the best with an exception of dedicated birthday weeks/weekends and finding a location/resort we'd want to visit each year. I know there's trading if we wanted to change it up so I'm leaning toward getting 2 fixed week properties and the rest in points. As you've all mentioned, there isn't a "one size fits all" and finding the right combination is tricky.

Other than the TUG classifieds, are there any known ebay sellers that are honest? I've seen many sellers but they only have around 100 reviews which seems low to me.

 

[jp10558]

Thank you again for the response. I do get what you and others are saying about the HK fees and based on what people have replied with here and the subforums I'd try to get at least 420,000 points, more around the 600,000 mark I think. Based on that, it should cover HK fees for 6 vacations.
I have considered the traditional route of hotels, Air BnB, etc.. I haven't looked into last minute deals here which could be an option. There will be times where we do stay more than 2-3 nights but due to work, kids school, kids programs, etc.. it makes it more difficult. I'd like to force my family (and myself) to have an ownership (points or whatever) to plan vacations. Currently we'll say that we'll go somewhere next month but then December comes and we've only been 1 place that year.
I don't think Fixed Weeks would be the best with an exception of dedicated birthday weeks/weekends and finding a location/resort we'd want to visit each year. I know there's trading if we wanted to change it up so I'm leaning toward getting 2 fixed week properties and the rest in points. As you've all mentioned, there isn't a "one size fits all" and finding the right combination is tricky.

Other than the TUG classifieds, are there any known ebay sellers that are honest? I've seen many sellers but they only have around 100 reviews which seems low to me.

I bought my Wyndham resale from

timeshareconsultants_1

on e-bay. No issues.