Myrtle Beach update

[steve_solo]

I did my usual $200 update today at Seawatch.
No purchase, of course.
It took a full hour because I was trying to understand the sales angle.
The pitch was I could get CWA to go along with my Select ownership and somehow I would pay no more than what I am currently paying in MF.
Well I finally gave up trying to understand how that could possibly work and told them to give me a take home offer.
Came back with 300K added CWA points for $103,000. MF $225/month. Monthly payments $1942
All that in addition to my present MFs.
I can't follow their logic at all.
Second or third time hearing this pitch.

 

[HitchHiker71]

That's because they are lying through their teeth. If their lips are moving...

 

[Floridaman76]

I did one last week at Cypress Palms and honestly the sales guy was pretty laid back, but when he finally got to the pitch it just wasn't making any sense so I asked him the same thing, just show me the offer.

This was after we had discussed AT LENGTH that my entire ownership is sitting in Deeded National Harbor at low MF. He presents me with an offer of something around $90,000 for the ~235k points which would get me to gold. In ACCESS. Which is probably rack price. Politely declined and that was that. We both knew it was just a formality and going through the motions.

The mental math they try to use is just mystifying and honestly I think the entire thing is just to confuse people into giving up and handing them a credit card for a down payment to end it.

 

[dioxide45]

They way they try to say you can pay the same with more points is to somehow get the Wyndham Rewards credit card and earn a bunch of WR points, convert your points to WR points and then use the WR points for maintenance fee credit. The problem is, the math still doesn't work. Sure you get more Club Wyndham points, but you have to convert those to WR and use other points you get for credit card spend. How does that help? You are just a hamster on a wheel.

 

[steve_solo]

One item we agreed to disagree on - The sales guys agreed at 10months, points are points.
But both the sales guy and manager claimed it helped to have both select and access because if a resort is all booked up in either one, I could not get a reservation using that one (access or select). Is inventory really controlled to that degree?

 

[Floridaman76]

Converting club wyndham points to WR points never works because the conversion rate sucks, and even using WR points for maintenance fees that conversion rate sucks too.

The only way this could possibly work is if you do updates all the time, and get a ton of free WR points. But you can do that NOW, without having to buy more.

 

[bnoble]

I think that, during ARP, CWA inventory is separate from owned weeks/UDI points. Otherwise, CWA owners could acquire inventory that was not part of the Trust during ARP, shutting out those who own at that resort.

It's academic, though---there aren't many things that book up so quickly that a motivated owner can't book it.

 

[Arimaas]

I'm just jealous you got $200.

 

[steve_solo]

I'm just jealous you got $200.

I had to hold out a while since I had just done another update at Myrtle Beach a month before.
When I told the wristband lady there was no chance I would every but anything retail she said no problem, the rate of people that buy is a bit less than 20%.

 

[HitchHiker71]

I had to hold out a while since I had just done another update at Myrtle Beach a month before.
When I told the wristband lady there was no chance I would every but anything retail she said no problem, the rate of people that buy is a bit less than 20%.

Pretty sure the conversation rate is a good bit south of 20%.


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[amycurl]

Really? I thought the coversion rate was closer to 25%. But, still, sematics, since I won't ever be part of either percentage. But it also then makes me mad when salesfolx treat you so disrepectfully when you decline to buy; it's not like we're not in the vast majority, LOL!

And the fact that they are trying to get people to pay $100K+ at a presentation without research is just insane, IMHO. Who does that?!? Forget the "$100 threshold" conversation; the $100,000 threshold might be more germane to TUG these days!

 

[HitchHiker71]

I'm just jealous you got $200.

Pretty sure the conversation rate is a good bit south of 20%.


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I always hold out for $250-300 total value most times. Sometimes if the weather is bad and we're not particularly motivated we'll take $175 but that's the floor for us these days. Most times if you hold out and walk away they will call you or text you a bit later offering what you want, and if they don't, who cares really.

 

[Floridaman76]

I had been holding out for $200+ and been getting it, but a while back I changed up my strategy and started taking the 125 Amex + 15,000 WR points because they would always do that without too much haggling.

I'm probably going to change this up because with the change in room costs devalue WR points by 50% making them less useful. Going to go back to holding out for max cash. Or they can go pound sand.

 

[dioxide45]

Normal close conversions are 1 in 7 to 1 in 10.

 

[dioxide45]

I had been holding out for $200+ and been getting it, but a while back I changed up my strategy and started taking the 125 Amex + 15,000 WR points because they would always do that without too much haggling.

I'm probably going to change this up because with the change in room costs devalue WR points by 50% making them less useful. Going to go back to holding out for max cash. Or they can go pound sand.

I have learned that I need to ask for more than I am willing to settle for. They often offer us 25K WR. I say I want 45K. They usually meet me at that. I need to start asking for 60K. There is certainly truth to the fact that if you walk someone will call the next day asking again and offering more than the front line folks could offer.

The expected change in valuation of WR points will certainly change what we ask for. We have used the points for 30K /night stays so far. I fully expect our stays going forward will cost 45K/night. I want to be able to at least get one night per presentation. We usually go to several every year and so far we've been able to use points for 12 nights. I just wish WR did the fifth night free like Marriott and Hilton Hotels.

 

[Floridaman76]

I have learned that I need to ask for more than I am willing to settle for. They often offer us 25K WR. I say I want 45K. They usually meet me at that. I need to start asking for 60K. There is certainly truth to the fact that if you walk someone will call the next day asking again and offering more than the front line folks could offer.

The expected change in valuation of WR points will certainly change what we ask for. We have used the points for 30K /night stays so far. I fully expect our stays going forward will cost 45K/night. I want to be able to at least get one night per presentation. We usually go to several every year and so far we've been able to use points for 12 nights. I just wish WR did the fifth night free like Marriott and Hilton Hotels.

Because of knowing about this now, I booked two stays at Cypress Palms in a 1BR Suite (which usually gets upgraded to a 1BR Std or 1BR DLX) for 7500/night, for conferences in February and July. I'm down to about 23,000 WR points and expect to have them all burned in bookings before the mid-September change.

Once we have real knowledge of the impact of this change, I will determine whether or not to completely abandon Wyndham Rewards. I currently get a 4x multiplier on my MF, but I can do better elsewhere in terms of rewards.

 

[HitchHiker71]

I had been holding out for $200+ and been getting it, but a while back I changed up my strategy and started taking the 125 Amex + 15,000 WR points because they would always do that without too much haggling.

I'm probably going to change this up because with the change in room costs devalue WR points by 50% making them less useful. Going to go back to holding out for max cash. Or they can go pound sand.

We often do the same thing - combine together gifts like a Tango card plus WR points for example - I can convert the Tango card to an Amazon gift card - which is always useful for us. I want to see how this upcoming WR points change actually impacts us - but it very well may lead to me asking for a much higher amount of WR points on the increasingly rare occasions that we decide to attend an update.

 

[HitchHiker71]

I have learned that I need to ask for more than I am willing to settle for. They often offer us 25K WR. I say I want 45K. They usually meet me at that. I need to start asking for 60K. There is certainly truth to the fact that if you walk someone will call the next day asking again and offering more than the front line folks could offer.

The expected change in valuation of WR points will certainly change what we ask for. We have used the points for 30K /night stays so far. I fully expect our stays going forward will cost 45K/night. I want to be able to at least get one night per presentation. We usually go to several every year and so far we've been able to use points for 12 nights. I just wish WR did the fifth night free like Marriott and Hilton Hotels.

60k WR points is the most I've gotten in a single sitting - that's what we've gotten when attending TOTG updates for the past few years. Ask for a high amount regardless, the worst they can say is no, and if they don't ever call back with a better offer - oh well - it's not like we're losing out on anything but not having to attend a sales update.