New to club Wyndham

[ShawnH]

The so called "owner updates" are not required and we quit doing them years ago since they're only trying to up sell you, etc. and I definitely would have gone with DVC if I were currently in the purchasing a timeshare market. DVC was definitely the "best kept secret" at the time we purchased our timeshare in the year 2000 because we didn't know anything about it. Wish I had at that time.

Well I certainly was ready to buy DVC but my wife wasn’t as she’s not overly thrilled at the idea of constant Disney vacations. It didn’t matter that we could trade points into something else, or there were the couple of other Disney properties not at the theme parks. In her mind DVC meant constant theme park vacations. I think that’s why she jumped at club Wyndham because it was a chain of resorts not affiliated with a theme park. I suspect had it been Hilton she’d have been interested in that as well.

All that said I still like several aspects of the DVC but am considering if we add on another timeshare seriously considering Hilton. Hilton. Appears to have some nice club hotels and currently they trade into DVC. And due to my wife’s aversion to constant theme park vacations, or the idea of it, might be an easier sell.

 

[Kiml]

We own two dvc resale contracts and are really happy with them. We previously stayed value and moderate, but now enjoy the location on the deluxe Disney resorts. We have never gotten a car and use only Disney transportation.

We have done park heavy trips, trips with a couple of park days and recently a resort only split stay between Polynesian and Riviera. We hope to try Aulani and eventually Vero Beach.
We have 4 kids so we hope to get good use and have the ability to sell down the line of it no longer suits our needs.

I have limited knowledge of other timeshares, but we are also interested in trying another brand for more options. It sounds like what you bought will meet your needs for now.

 

[ShawnH]

We own two dvc resale contracts and are really happy with them. We previously stayed value and moderate, but now enjoy the location on the deluxe Disney resorts. We have never gotten a car and use only Disney transportation.

We have done park heavy trips, trips with a couple of park days and recently a resort only split stay between Polynesian and Riviera. We hope to try Aulani and eventually Vero Beach.
We have 4 kids so we hope to get good use and have the ability to sell down the line of it no longer suits our needs.

I have limited knowledge of other timeshares, but we are also interested in trying another brand for more options. It sounds like what you bought will meet your needs for now.

Good to hear your experience with dvc. The only reason I considered dvc direct was the perks of being a dvc member such as discounts and the dvc Lounge at Epcot. I looked at resale and to be fair the price savings are significant. Also seems like the dvc contracts kinda hold their value resale and the sunset date are attractive as well. But even though you can trade into II my wife couldn’t get the idea that it’s always a Disney vacation out of her head.

That being said even the resorts at Disney world have a lot to do even if you didn’t go to the park. I’ve only stayed at Caribbean beach but the few others I visited seemed like there was quite a bit to do. Never went to one of the value resorts.

We are thinking of trying out club Wyndham bonnet creek after the first of the year. It seems like there is quite a bit to do there as well and by the photos both from club Wyndham and other visitors photos looks pretty nice. We stayed at club Wyndham San Antonio and will be headed to club Wyndham Branson at the meadows in a few weeks for a long weekend. So far we’ve enjoyed the 2 bedroom suites. We’ve spotted a couple of other club Wyndham resorts we want to try as well.

The big question is where we want to stay when we go to Hawaii.

 

[cbyrne1174]

Good to hear your experience with dvc. The only reason I considered dvc direct was the perks of being a dvc member such as discounts and the dvc Lounge at Epcot. I looked at resale and to be fair the price savings are significant. Also seems like the dvc contracts kinda hold their value resale and the sunset date are attractive as well. But even though you can trade into II my wife couldn’t get the idea that it’s always a Disney vacation out of her head.

That being said even the resorts at Disney world have a lot to do even if you didn’t go to the park. I’ve only stayed at Caribbean beach but the few others I visited seemed like there was quite a bit to do. Never went to one of the value resorts.

We are thinking of trying out club Wyndham bonnet creek after the first of the year. It seems like there is quite a bit to do there as well and by the photos both from club Wyndham and other visitors photos looks pretty nice. We stayed at club Wyndham San Antonio and will be headed to club Wyndham Branson at the meadows in a few weeks for a long weekend. So far we’ve enjoyed the 2 bedroom suites. We’ve spotted a couple of other club Wyndham resorts we want to try as well.

The big question is where we want to stay when we go to Hawaii.

If you can plan Hawaii a year out, the best use of points is to exchange into Hilton Kingsland or one the the Hiltons in Oahu via RCI. The amenities at the Wyndham Hawaii locations don't compare to other brands. They are all mediocre at best.

 

[ShawnH]

If you can plan Hawaii a year out, the best use of points is to exchange into Hilton Kingsland or one the the Hiltons in Oahu via RCI. The amenities at the Wyndham Hawaii locations don't compare to other brands. They are all mediocre at best.

Is it possible to trade into a whole week via RCI?

 

[cbyrne1174]

Is it possible to trade into a whole week via RCI?

Yea I have a week at Hilton's Kingsland on the big island and a week at Hilton's Grand Waikikian in Oahu back to back for next summer. I'm also adding 3 nights at Aulani after the Waikiki week.

I have 50 DVC points to stay in locations not offered on interval international. Lately Interval has been depositing AKV, BRV and BWV, so I'm trying to use my points mainly at Aulani, Poly, GF, BLT and BCV.

 

[littlestar]

We liked Wyndham Waikiki Beachwalk. You can book that direct within Wyndham’s system without exchanging. We have stayed there twice. Easy walk to the beach and I loved the location. Had a blast visiting all the beautiful Waikiki hotels and shops nearby.

 

[ShawnH]

We liked Wyndham Waikiki Beachwalk. You can book that direct within Wyndham’s system without exchanging. We have stayed there twice. Easy walk to the beach and I loved the location. Had a blast visiting all the beautiful Waikiki hotels and shops nearby.

Well until I figure out RCI, this might be my choice, unless I go ahead and buy something else direct. We kinda wanted to stay at Alulani. I have a little bit to decide though so it’s good to start figuring out what I might want.

 

[Arimaas]

Well I certainly was ready to buy DVC but my wife wasn’t as she’s not overly thrilled at the idea of constant Disney vacations. It didn’t matter that we could trade points into something else, or there were the couple of other Disney properties not at the theme parks. In her mind DVC meant constant theme park vacations. I think that’s why she jumped at club Wyndham because it was a chain of resorts not affiliated with a theme park. I suspect had it been Hilton she’d have been interested in that as well.

All that said I still like several aspects of the DVC but am considering if we add on another timeshare seriously considering Hilton. Hilton. Appears to have some nice club hotels and currently they trade into DVC. And due to my wife’s aversion to constant theme park vacations, or the idea of it, might be an easier sell.

I had a Hilton property that I gave away on TUG at the end of last year to pick up more Wyndham points. I'm based in NY so Hilton just didn't work for me. The Orlando properties stink, and I wasn't impressed with Myrtle either. Hilton Head was probably nice, but we never made it there, and COVID canceled my Miami Beach vacation which I was excited to see, but we never made it down. That being said, Hilton properties on the West Coat/Hawaii do have great reputations.

I've never traded into RCI/II with any of my Timeshares, so I can't speak to that, but if you are looking just for Disney to get to Orlando, Bonnet Creek is a great resort and I see you are going to try it out. I promise you, you will be very happy at Bonnet. Honestly, probably nicer than some of the DVC properties in Orlando.

If you have any questions about HGVC, feel free to reach out.

 

[cbyrne1174]

Well until I figure out RCI, this might be my choice, unless I go ahead and buy something else direct. We kinda wanted to stay at Alulani. I have a little bit to decide though so it’s good to start figuring out what I might want.

Watch a few videos about Mariott's Ko Olina resort. It's in the same location as Aulani, but it's better for adults (still has 3 themed pools and 7 hot tubs, and a good bar and restaurant). If I return to Aulani after my first visit, my plan is to get a week at the Marriott, then bank and borrow DVC to get a few nights at Aulani. I just personally don't think DVC is worth the resale price difference. A lot of people know about DVC resale and it helps retain the value, but most who know of DVC resale are ignorant about the other systems resale, which is where the best values lie. There isn't a single way to buy retail and come out ahead as much as a 100% resale ownership. Wyndham closed all loopholes recently. My week in a 1 bedroom at the Marriott will still come out cheaper per night than in an Aulani studio with both being aquired resale. I'm not saying to forego DVC altogether because it barely costs anything more per point to have a small ownership, but personally I don't see myself needing over 50 points because of how much of a bad use of money it is. A studio in Aulani is $90 more for me to book per night than a 1 bedroom at the Marriott next door. I can stick with 3 nights at Aulani and 7 at Marriott.

 

[DouginSC]

Well I certainly was ready to buy DVC but my wife wasn’t as she’s not overly thrilled at the idea of constant Disney vacations. It didn’t matter that we could trade points into something else, or there were the couple of other Disney properties not at the theme parks. In her mind DVC meant constant theme park vacations. I think that’s why she jumped at club Wyndham because it was a chain of resorts not affiliated with a theme park. I suspect had it been Hilton she’d have been interested in that as well.

All that said I still like several aspects of the DVC but am considering if we add on another timeshare seriously considering Hilton. Hilton. Appears to have some nice club hotels and currently they trade into DVC. And due to my wife’s aversion to constant theme park vacations, or the idea of it, might be an easier sell.

You gotta get your wife over to Old Key West! We did a weeks stay in July 2020 during the pandemic when trading in RCI was ridiculous. We were able to get a 1 bedroom at OKW for 18 trading power for a week! We absolutely jumped on that but didn't buy any park tickets. We left open the idea to purchase tickets "day of" if we decided to go to a park but we ended up not going to any parks the entire week and instead spent time at the resort and Disney Springs. That resort is fantastic and absolutely a place to consider staying without even going to any parks.....but the option is still there in case you need to go over to World Showcase and have dinner and ride Soarin'

 

[cbyrne1174]

You gotta get your wife over to Old Key West! We did a weeks stay in July 2020 during the pandemic when trading in RCI was ridiculous. We were able to get a 1 bedroom at OKW for 18 trading power for a week! We absolutely jumped on that but didn't buy any park tickets. We left open the idea to purchase tickets "day of" if we decided to go to a park but we ended up not going to any parks the entire week and instead spent time at the resort and Disney Springs. That resort is fantastic and absolutely a place to consider staying without even going to any parks.....but the option is still there in case you need to go over to World Showcase and have dinner and ride Soarin'

OKW is still really easy to get into if you have an II week. This time you can actually get a 2 bedroom, which was almost impossible with RCI.

 

[ShawnH]

Well right now my wife is having some serious buyers remorse after talking to some of her friends that had bad sales experiences. So I’m trying to ease her mind a bit. I think there are 2 key factors that are bothering her is 1 limited to no trading power into Disney resorts with RCI and 2 the in perpetuity clause. On the first issue I’ve kinda come around to the idea that club Wyndham is probably better in the fact that there are several places in the states we can stay that we might have otherwise overlooked, and second that assuming the certified exit program works and we “give” them back the timeshare at some point down the road it’s not any different them dvc’s sunset date.

She also expressed concerns about maintainance fees, to which I showed her that was always a part of the deal even with dvc. I think that the people she’s been talking to have her pretty spooked. My hope is that here in a few weeks when we visit Branson she likes it.

My contention on owning and using a timeshare is how much we were having to spend on rooms due to the size of our family. There are 6 of us total, and using our Orlando trip as an example last year we spent over 10k just in rooms at both universal and Disney. And while the room we had at Caribbean beach was nice it was small. The room at universal was actually much nicer in terms of space.

These timeshare rooms are very nice so far, and there is a washer and dryer plus the kitchen. And sure 3 of the kids will be moving on after graduation in 2 and 3 years but we were spending quite a bit on rooms when we did go someplace. And it will be nice to have when it’s just the wife, the little one and I after that. By my napkin math what we paid for the timeshare and maintenance fees over the next 10 years will be at least break even and likely money ahead. I figure we will keep it for 15 years or so and with that in mind likely will have saved money based on the room types we typically got.

I know now I probably should have looked at resale, but even doing the math what we actually paid isn’t as bad as what I’ve heard some paid so I can accept the amount we paid. It was exactly what I planned to pay dvc so I actually spent what I assumed I would have spent.

But I’ve taken to the thought of just not telling anyone we own a timeshare, it’s not worth upsetting my wife over their horror stories, and some of them are pretty bad assuming they are 100%. The good news is her sister had a timeshare that they loved but had to get out of it thru a hardship exclusion due to some issues her and her husband had. Fit kinda helped that she told my wife she wished they still had it and they enjoyed it. I guess I need to find more people we know with positive experiences to ease her mind.

 

[HitchHiker71]

Well right now my wife is having some serious buyers remorse after talking to some of her friends that had bad sales experiences. So I’m trying to ease her mind a bit. I think there are 2 key factors that are bothering her is 1 limited to no trading power into Disney resorts with RCI and 2 the in perpetuity clause. On the first issue I’ve kinda come around to the idea that club Wyndham is probably better in the fact that there are several places in the states we can stay that we might have otherwise overlooked, and second that assuming the certified exit program works and we “give” them back the timeshare at some point down the road it’s not any different them dvc’s sunset date.

She also expressed concerns about maintainance fees, to which I showed her that was always a part of the deal even with dvc. I think that the people she’s been talking to have her pretty spooked. My hope is that here in a few weeks when we visit Branson she likes it.

Timeshares enjoy a predominantly negative reputation online because the the sales model used to sell timeshares makes used car salespeople look good in comparison. With this in mind, I'm not at all surprised that your wife is hearing horror stories. Perhaps she could start by reading this article:

Did I Do the Right Thing?

Q: I just bought Wyndham points at the resort. Did I do the right thing? A: This is a question that has been asked, ever since they started selling timeshares in the ’60s. It’s a reasonable questio…

wyndhamexperts.org

There are several other good articles on that same site to quell concerns and to help people best understand how to use the Wyndham timeshare system best.

My contention on owning and using a timeshare is how much we were having to spend on rooms due to the size of our family. There are 6 of us total, and using our Orlando trip as an example last year we spent over 10k just in rooms at both universal and Disney. And while the room we had at Caribbean beach was nice it was small. The room at universal was actually much nicer in terms of space.

These timeshare rooms are very nice so far, and there is a washer and dryer plus the kitchen. And sure 3 of the kids will be moving on after graduation in 2 and 3 years but we were spending quite a bit on rooms when we did go someplace. And it will be nice to have when it’s just the wife, the little one and I after that. By my napkin math what we paid for the timeshare and maintenance fees over the next 10 years will be at least break even and likely money ahead. I figure we will keep it for 15 years or so and with that in mind likely will have saved money based on the room types we typically got.

I know now I probably should have looked at resale, but even doing the math what we actually paid isn’t as bad as what I’ve heard some paid so I can accept the amount we paid. It was exactly what I planned to pay dvc so I actually spent what I assumed I would have spent.

The vast majority of buyers are in your boat. While TUG universally recommends buying resale- oftentimes retail buyers don't find us until the rescission period has expired - so they are stuck with the retail purchase. Many of us on this site fall into that same bucket. Resale timeshares, as you surmise, are generally a decent deal especially for those who prefer condo style living while on vacation, with full kitchens and living areas, and separate bedrooms. Once your kids are gone and you two are empty nesters - you'll find new ways to use your timeshare to facilitate family vacations and couples trips or just getaways for the two of you. We started out with VIPG with 718k points and then bought a large resale contract and own a little over 1.4mm points annually and we use all of our points every year with rare exceptions (like during the pandemic). There are spreadsheets out there that you can use to track your expenditures and show your total investment and how your average costs for rooms falls every year over time. Timeshare utility is a long term thing - the longer you own and use it - the more your "per use" cost falls in comparison to equivalent expenditures when using AirBnB or other vacation alternatives.

But I’ve taken to the thought of just not telling anyone we own a timeshare, it’s not worth upsetting my wife over their horror stories, and some of them are pretty bad assuming they are 100%. The good news is her sister had a timeshare that they loved but had to get out of it thru a hardship exclusion due to some issues her and her husband had. Fit kinda helped that she told my wife she wished they still had it and they enjoyed it. I guess I need to find more people we know with positive experiences to ease her mind.

My recommendation is if you're not comfortable telling anyone - just use it silently. What we've come to find out since 2018 is people are asking us how we go away all of the time since it's so expensive to do so these days. That's when we tell them we are VIP Wyndham owners and love it. They get this look on their face half the time still, but the other half of the time they start asking questions about how we use it and are genuinely interested in learning more. We vacation on average once a month for a weekend getaway (we use our VIP discount window to book these getaways almost 100% of the time), and then we schedule 2-3 family or couples getaways each year for a week or two at a time. This year, on top of our weekend getaways, we've been to Rio Mar in PR for a week and Towers on the Grove for 10 days, and are heading to Bentley Brook for almost a week surrounding Labor Day, another week in PR in November, and then a week in Old Town Alexandria over Christmas. The more you use your timeshare and learn how to best use it, the happier you will be especially over the long term.

 

[Arimaas]

Well right now my wife is having some serious buyers remorse after talking to some of her friends that had bad sales experiences. So I’m trying to ease her mind a bit. I think there are 2 key factors that are bothering her is 1 limited to no trading power into Disney resorts with RCI and 2 the in perpetuity clause. On the first issue I’ve kinda come around to the idea that club Wyndham is probably better in the fact that there are several places in the states we can stay that we might have otherwise overlooked, and second that assuming the certified exit program works and we “give” them back the timeshare at some point down the road it’s not any different them dvc’s sunset date.

She also expressed concerns about maintainance fees, to which I showed her that was always a part of the deal even with dvc. I think that the people she’s been talking to have her pretty spooked. My hope is that here in a few weeks when we visit Branson she likes it.

My contention on owning and using a timeshare is how much we were having to spend on rooms due to the size of our family. There are 6 of us total, and using our Orlando trip as an example last year we spent over 10k just in rooms at both universal and Disney. And while the room we had at Caribbean beach was nice it was small. The room at universal was actually much nicer in terms of space.

These timeshare rooms are very nice so far, and there is a washer and dryer plus the kitchen. And sure 3 of the kids will be moving on after graduation in 2 and 3 years but we were spending quite a bit on rooms when we did go someplace. And it will be nice to have when it’s just the wife, the little one and I after that. By my napkin math what we paid for the timeshare and maintenance fees over the next 10 years will be at least break even and likely money ahead. I figure we will keep it for 15 years or so and with that in mind likely will have saved money based on the room types we typically got.

I know now I probably should have looked at resale, but even doing the math what we actually paid isn’t as bad as what I’ve heard some paid so I can accept the amount we paid. It was exactly what I planned to pay dvc so I actually spent what I assumed I would have spent.

But I’ve taken to the thought of just not telling anyone we own a timeshare, it’s not worth upsetting my wife over their horror stories, and some of them are pretty bad assuming they are 100%. The good news is her sister had a timeshare that they loved but had to get out of it thru a hardship exclusion due to some issues her and her husband had. Fit kinda helped that she told my wife she wished they still had it and they enjoyed it. I guess I need to find more people we know with positive experiences to ease her mind.

I don’t know if you posted how many points you purchased, but you want to make sure you have enough points (after whatever bonus they gave you) to get your two bedroom room a year. If not, you can always supplement your retail points with a resale purchase/give away. There were three on TUG just last week.

I’m not sure what your initial cost was, but I’ve been a Wyndham owner since 2018, and even without traveling for two years due to Covid, I’m ahead $5k from what I can find as rack rate at a similar property (although many times I estimate. I use the bonnet creek hotel for rack rate vs a two bedroom suite I get - so truth is I’m more ahead). Granted my buy in was small because I got one eBay contract and two TUG give aways, but my point is, eventually you’ll come out ahead. Albeit just slower than me. So don’t kick yourself.

Just figure out how to use it, and enjoy it. I love owning Wyndham timeshares. We go on more vacations a year to great places and have have our regular favorites that we likely never would have went to without Wyndham (bonnet creek, Newport, Myrtle beach). Don’t have buyers remorse - just get smart on your purchase, use it and enjoy it, and next purchase just make a decision that is better financially for your situation.

 

[bnoble]

So I’m trying to ease her mind a bit. I think there are 2 key factors that are bothering her is 1 limited to no trading power into Disney resorts with RCI and 2 the in perpetuity clause

I will start with the second issue first. As you’ve already mentioned, you know about Certified Exit. I suspect that program will continue indefinitely because it is a cheap source of inventory for Wyndham. I see you own Access points, which are unlikely to be excluded as they would not suffer from either of the two issues that would cause Wyndham to balk at taking it. Those two are a large special assessment or unusually high maintenance fees. Access is a blended trust product and so any individual resort assessments are spread across all Access owners, and the fees are by definition about average. It has ARP in most resorts in the system and so you should be able to give them away if you have to.

Finally, Access is not a deeded ownership and while in some ways that could be a negative for this purpose it is a positive as Wyndham can very quickly cancel it if you stop paying; there is no lengthy foreclosure process. That might incur a slight credit hit but it won’t be huge.

As for the first issue: it is rarely a good idea to buy in System X with the expectation of routinely exchanging into a specific Resort or System Y. That’s because the rules of the exchange game are always changing. In the fifteen or so years I’ve owned timeshares there have been about five different sea changes that completely upended the way I might exchange into DVC. Heck for all we know DVC will move back to RCI in several years—it would not be the first time!

Once you have a little more experience you might decide to acquire a unit primarily for trading. That’s graduate-level timesharing and I don’t recommend it to newbies, but by then you won’t be!

Buyers remorse is always a part of a large purchase. But there is no going back so it’s time to start using it! A lot of those horror stories are told by people who don’t put in the necessary time to figure out how to use what they own. You aren’t one of those people.

 

[ShawnH]

Timeshares enjoy a predominantly negative reputation online because the the sales model used to sell timeshares makes used car salespeople look good in comparison. With this in mind, I'm not at all surprised that your wife is hearing horror stories. Perhaps she could start by reading this article:

Did I Do the Right Thing?

Q: I just bought Wyndham points at the resort. Did I do the right thing? A: This is a question that has been asked, ever since they started selling timeshares in the ’60s. It’s a reasonable questio…

wyndhamexperts.org

There are several other good articles on that same site to quell concerns and to help people best understand how to use the Wyndham timeshare system best.

The vast majority of buyers are in your boat. While TUG universally recommend buying resale- oftentimes retail buyers don't find us until the rescission period has expired - so they are stuck with the retail purchase. Many of us on this site fall into that same bucket. Timeshares, as you surmise, are generally a decent deal especially for those who prefer condo style living while on vacation, with full kitchens and living areas, and separate bedrooms. Once your kids are gone and you two are empty nesters - you'll find new ways to use your timeshare to facilitate family vacations and couples trips or just getaways for the two of you. We started out with VIPG with 718k points and then bought a large resale contract and own a little over 1.4mm points annually and we use all of our points every year with rare exceptions (like during the pandemic). There are spreadsheets out there that you can use to track your expenditures and show your total investment and how your average costs for rooms falls every year over time. Timeshare utility is a long term thing - the longer you own and use it - the more your "per use" cost falls in comparison to equivalent expenditures when using AirBnB or other vacation alternatives.

My recommendation is if you're not comfortable telling anyone - just use it silently. What we've come to find out since 2018 is people are asking us how we go away all of the time since it's so expensive to do so these days. That's when we tell them we are VIP Wyndham owners and love it. They get this look on their face half the time still, but the other half of the time they start asking questions about how we use it and are genuinely interested in learning more. We vacation on average once a month for a weekend getaway (we use our VIP discount window to book these getaways almost 100% of the time), and then we schedule 2-3 family or couples getaways very year for a week or two at a time. This year, on top of our weekend getaways, we've been to Rio Mar in PR for a week and Towers on the Grove for 10 days, and are heading to Bentley Brook for almost a week surrounding Labor Day, another week in PR in November, and then a week in Old Town Alexandria over Christmas. The more you use your timeshare and learn how to best use it, the happier you will be especially over the long term.

I think it boils down to my wife hates making big purchases, because it’s money out the door. I go thru this every time we have to buy a vehicle, buy equipment for my business, replace the roof, basically anything that costs more than typical monthly expenses. It wouldn’t matter if we had 10 million in the bank she would still worry, and frankly while it sometimes is difficult to get her to come around it’s a good thing she worry’s about the financials or we probably wouldn’t be where we are today.

I pretty much figured out last year that a small timeshare would probably be a good deal for us. I say small because I can’t see us ever using a million points, but the 200k we bought seems quite useable and I can see maybe adding another 100k or so later but will work with what we have for now to get her used to the idea and for me to figure out how it works for us.

So full disclosure we paid basically exactly what dvc was offering 150 points at the riviera last month for 200k points in club Wyndham. I kinda wonder if they did that because I was up front and told them I was comparing them to dvc. The prices was cut exactly in half of what they initially had on the iPad, they started to show us the price and said wait that’s not right and changed it. So in my mind even though I know now I could have saved a ton I paid what I was initially going to pay so I’m not upset about that.

 

[Arimaas]

I think it boils down to my wife hates making big purchases, because it’s money out the door. I go thru this every time we have to buy a vehicle, buy equipment for my business, replace the roof, basically anything that costs more than typical monthly expenses. It wouldn’t matter if we had 10 million in the bank she would still worry, and frankly while it sometimes is difficult to get her to come around it’s a good thing she worry’s about the financials or we probably wouldn’t be where we are today.

I pretty much figured out last year that a small timeshare would probably be a good deal for us. I say small because I can’t see us ever using a million points, but the 200k we bought seems quite useable and I can see maybe adding another 100k or so later but will work with what we have for now to get her used to the idea and for me to figure out how it works for us.

So full disclosure we paid basically exactly what dvc was offering 150 points at the riviera last month for 200k points in club Wyndham. I kinda wonder if they did that because I was up front and told them I was comparing them to dvc. The prices was cut exactly in half of what they initially had on the iPad, they started to show us the price and said wait that’s not right and changed it. So in my mind even though I know now I could have saved a ton I paid what I was initially going to pay so I’m not upset about that.

Far from me to give marriage advice but if she’s always worried about it the I think you’d be in this boat no matter what you bought (at retail).

200k points should get you a week in a two bedroom somewhere in most places.

I’m not a DVC fan and not that knowledgeable, but like I said earlier I’m on the east coast. I like Wyndham because they have awesome locations drivable to me. My 7 year old likes universal much better than Disney so I don’t need to be locked in to Disney anyway. I looked at their location list. Nothing spoke to me.

I’ve stayed in some great places. New Orleans, Myrtle, Orlando, Newport and even Shawnee. My brother used Vegas, sister used Hawaii, Nashville and Shawnee. There’s a lot more choices here in Wyndham. Yes it’s worthless on the resale market, and DVC may have some value. And when you’re looking to get rid of it you’ll likely end up giving it away. Sucks when you paid something for it upfront, but you know what? My wife spends a lot on clothing, electronics and other things and I end up giving that away to the Vietnam vets every month. Is what it is.

I think you’ll enjoy your purchase and eventually, break even and even come out ahead. Let’s talk after your week in bonnet creek. I promise you your wife will change her tune. Especially when compared to a budget Disney hotel with a Murphy bed that my best friend stayed in for his $13k Disney vacation with a family of five.

 

[ShawnH]

I don’t know if you posted how many points you purchased, but you want to make sure you have enough points (after whatever bonus they gave you) to get your two bedroom room a year. If not, you can always supplement your retail points with a resale purchase/give away. There were three on TUG just last week.

I’m not sure what your initial cost was, but I’ve been a Wyndham owner since 2018, and even without traveling for two years due to Covid, I’m ahead $5k from what I can find as rack rate at a similar property (although many times I estimate. I use the bonnet creek hotel for rack rate vs a two bedroom suite I get - so truth is I’m more ahead). Granted my buy in was small because I got one eBay contract and two TUG give aways, but my point is, eventually you’ll come out ahead. Albeit just slower than me. So don’t kick yourself.

Just figure out how to use it, and enjoy it. I love owning Wyndham timeshares. We go on more vacations a year to great places

I will start with the second issue first. As you’ve already mentioned, you know about Certified Exit. I suspect that program will continue indefinitely because it is a cheap source of inventory for Wyndham. I see you own Access points, which are unlikely to be excluded as they would not suffer from either of the two issues that would cause Wyndham to balk at taking it. Those two are a large special assessment or unusually high maintenance fees. Access is a blended trust product and so any individual resort assessments are spread across all Access owners, and the fees are by definition about average. It has ARP in most resorts in the system and so you should be able to give them away if you have to.

Finally, Access is not a deeded ownership and while in some ways that could be a negative for this purpose it is a positive as Wyndham can very quickly cancel it if you stop paying; there is no lengthy foreclosure process. That might incur a slight credit hit but it won’t be huge.

As for the first issue: it is rarely a good idea to buy in System X with the expectation of routinely exchanging into a specific Resort or System Y. That’s because the rules of the exchange game are always changing. In the fifteen or so years I’ve owned timeshares there have been about five different sea changes that completely upended the way I might exchange into DVC. Heck for all we know DVC will move back to RCI in several years—it would not be the first time!

Once you have a little more experience you might decide to acquire a unit primarily for trading. That’s graduate-level timesharing and I don’t recommend it to newbies, but by then you won’t be!

Buyers remorse is always a part of a large purchase. But there is no going back so it’s time to start using it! A lot of those horror stories are told by people who don’t put in the necessary time to figure out how to use what they own. You aren’t one of those people.

I will start with the second issue first. As you’ve already mentioned, you know about Certified Exit. I suspect that program will continue indefinitely because it is a cheap source of inventory for Wyndham. I see you own Access points, which are unlikely to be excluded as they would not suffer from either of the two issues that would cause Wyndham to balk at taking it. Those two are a large special assessment or unusually high maintenance fees. Access is a blended trust product and so any individual resort assessments are spread across all Access owners, and the fees are by definition about average. It has ARP in most resorts in the system and so you should be able to give them away if you have to.

Finally, Access is not a deeded ownership and while in some ways that could be a negative for this purpose it is a positive as Wyndham can very quickly cancel it if you stop paying; there is no lengthy foreclosure process. That might incur a slight credit hit but it won’t be huge.

As for the first issue: it is rarely a good idea to buy in System X with the expectation of routinely exchanging into a specific Resort or System Y. That’s because the rules of the exchange game are always changing. In the fifteen or so years I’ve owned timeshares there have been about five different sea changes that completely upended the way I might exchange into DVC. Heck for all we know DVC will move back to RCI in several years—it would not be the first time!

Once you have a little more experience you might decide to acquire a unit primarily for trading. That’s graduate-level timesharing and I don’t recommend it to newbies, but by then you won’t be!

Buyers remorse is always a part of a large purchase. But there is no going back so it’s time to start using it! A lot of those horror stories are told by people who don’t put in the necessary time to figure out how to use what they own. You aren’t one of those people.

I was aware that trading into something else was kinda a gamble and never as good as direct use, but it does stretch those points to other places that I wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s too bad there isn’t something that reliably offered everything but that will never happen because everyone would have to play nice with each other……

As far as having an exit plan, that was one thing I always make sure I do on everything, know my exit strategy.

I don’t have much buyers remorse as much as I’m a bit upset with a few of the “sales” talk they gave me. I actually went to the timeshare meeting to learn about the timeshare not get a free gift. Though it’s funny that I got a phone call this after noon that they apparently gave me a “free” 3 day 2 night stay when we bought our timeshare and I hadn’t set it up yet. Ironically it has a mandatory 90 minute update attached to it. I’m not sure I’ll be taking them up on it since I have to use it by December 19 and the only place I’m kinda interested in is Orlando, but it’s not bonnet creek and we wernt doing that one until next year anyways.

I’m confident I’ll get my value out of the time share, and honestly it’s also incentive to stop and take a break every so often and it’s something we need to do like we used to do. As far as getting 2 bed room suites that’s only something I have to worry about for the next couple of years, then one bed rooms are all we need, which is why we thought 200k points was a good start, though I can see the value in having 300k points.

Again thanks for all the information, advice and incentive from everyone.

 

[TheHolleys87]

Though it’s funny that I got a phone call this after noon that they apparently gave me a “free” 3 day 2 night stay when we bought our timeshare and I hadn’t set it up yet. Ironically it has a mandatory 90 minute update attached to it. I’m not sure I’ll be taking them up on it

Yeah, I’d turn this offer down. The “90 minute update” will be another high pressure sales meeting, full of lies trying to get you to buy more retail points to achieve some VIP level. You won’t be able to evade it because if you don’t attend you’ll be charged some huge rack rate for the stay. The only way to get it to end at 90 minutes instead of 3 hours would be to print out some completed sales on eBay to prove you don’t need to pay their price for the points and to keep expressing disinterest in the CIP “benefits.” Not worth it.

 

[DouginSC]

OKW is still really easy to get into if you have an II week. This time you can actually get a 2 bedroom, which was almost impossible with RCI.

Really?? Dang it! Unfortunately we can only trade through RCI. And I LOVE OKW!!

 

[DouginSC]

Well right now my wife is having some serious buyers remorse after talking to some of her friends that had bad sales experiences. So I’m trying to ease her mind a bit. I think there are 2 key factors that are bothering her is 1 limited to no trading power into Disney resorts with RCI and 2 the in perpetuity clause. On the first issue I’ve kinda come around to the idea that club Wyndham is probably better in the fact that there are several places in the states we can stay that we might have otherwise overlooked, and second that assuming the certified exit program works and we “give” them back the timeshare at some point down the road it’s not any different them dvc’s sunset date.

She also expressed concerns about maintainance fees, to which I showed her that was always a part of the deal even with dvc. I think that the people she’s been talking to have her pretty spooked. My hope is that here in a few weeks when we visit Branson she likes it.

My contention on owning and using a timeshare is how much we were having to spend on rooms due to the size of our family. There are 6 of us total, and using our Orlando trip as an example last year we spent over 10k just in rooms at both universal and Disney. And while the room we had at Caribbean beach was nice it was small. The room at universal was actually much nicer in terms of space.

These timeshare rooms are very nice so far, and there is a washer and dryer plus the kitchen. And sure 3 of the kids will be moving on after graduation in 2 and 3 years but we were spending quite a bit on rooms when we did go someplace. And it will be nice to have when it’s just the wife, the little one and I after that. By my napkin math what we paid for the timeshare and maintenance fees over the next 10 years will be at least break even and likely money ahead. I figure we will keep it for 15 years or so and with that in mind likely will have saved money based on the room types we typically got.

I know now I probably should have looked at resale, but even doing the math what we actually paid isn’t as bad as what I’ve heard some paid so I can accept the amount we paid. It was exactly what I planned to pay dvc so I actually spent what I assumed I would have spent.

But I’ve taken to the thought of just not telling anyone we own a timeshare, it’s not worth upsetting my wife over their horror stories, and some of them are pretty bad assuming they are 100%. The good news is her sister had a timeshare that they loved but had to get out of it thru a hardship exclusion due to some issues her and her husband had. Fit kinda helped that she told my wife she wished they still had it and they enjoyed it. I guess I need to find more people we know with positive experiences to ease her mind.

We have nothing but good stories about using our timeshare, except when they used to try and upsell us all the time at the "owners update". We just don't attend those anymore. We are also owners that are content with staying at our home resort and aren't much into trading except occasionally. I think that makes a big difference. I think we've gotten more than our moneys worth considering what it would cost to rent something where we own. I don't think I'd ever consider buying into any time unless it was a place that I would intend on visiting for years to come. But that's just me...

 

[HitchHiker71]

I was aware that trading into something else was kinda a gamble and never as good as direct use, but it does stretch those points to other places that I wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s too bad there isn’t something that reliably offered everything but that will never happen because everyone would have to play nice with each other……

Fun fact - did you know that II/RCI only exist as two separate entities because the couple that originally started the one exchange company got divorced many moons ago? That's when the second company was born!

As far as having an exit plan, that was one thing I always make sure I do on everything, know my exit strategy.

Always good to have an exit strategy. No one can say for sure that Certified Exit will exist in 20-30 years - as no one here or anywhere else can predict the future - but all things being equal - as long as there's a retail timeshare sales market - then most of the larger timeshare companies will have a deedback program of some kind - as they get something for nothing - and can then resell that something for tens of thousands of dollars to another unsuspecting retail buyer. It's a good gig if you can get it without a doubt.

I don’t have much buyers remorse as much as I’m a bit upset with a few of the “sales” talk they gave me. I actually went to the timeshare meeting to learn about the timeshare not get a free gift. Though it’s funny that I got a phone call this after noon that they apparently gave me a “free” 3 day 2 night stay when we bought our timeshare and I hadn’t set it up yet. Ironically it has a mandatory 90 minute update attached to it. I’m not sure I’ll be taking them up on it since I have to use it by December 19 and the only place I’m kinda interested in is Orlando, but it’s not bonnet creek and we wernt doing that one until next year anyways.

Get used to the sleazy sales tactics. Our general best practice recommendation to anyone who comes to TUG is - don't ever attend the sales updates - and for good reason - especially if you're not very knowledgeable about how the systems actually work. We still attend the sales updates occasionally - partly so I can keep tabs on the sales tactics for advisories here on TUG and on the Wyndham FB groups that I moderate - and partly because we don't mind spending 60 minutes for 30-60k WR points or $175-250 gift cards that we use to fund fine dining experiences, or funding theme park tickets/parking if we go to Williamsburg for example. The last time we went to Williamsburg and stayed at GG - we did an update and took four free Busch Gardens tickets with free priority parking - that's well over $200 in freebies we didn't have to pay for out of pocket. But again, it's not for everyone - which is why our recommendation is always to simply avoid the sales updates.

I’m confident I’ll get my value out of the time share, and honestly it’s also incentive to stop and take a break every so often and it’s something we need to do like we used to do. As far as getting 2 bed room suites that’s only something I have to worry about for the next couple of years, then one bed rooms are all we need, which is why we thought 200k points was a good start, though I can see the value in having 300k points.

Again thanks for all the information, advice and incentive from everyone.

Nothing wrong with "forced vacations" so to speak. This is a big part of why I bought into timesharing for my part. I suck at planning vacations overall - and we'd too often go 2-3 years between family vacations and then I'd end up blowing 5-10k on a single vacation. I like figuring out complex systems, so timesharing interests me with this in mind, and I hate paying for something I don't use - so I use it all of the time since I pay the MFs every single month. Feel free to post your timeshare experiences here on TUG. If your wifey has any questions - tell her to create her own TUG account and we can help her out as well - or just use your account and tell us that it's her posting - whatever works for you both. We can likely dispel a lot of the timeshare myths that are so prevalent on the interweb and we can help quell her concerns in the process.

 

[ShawnH]

Fun fact - did you know that II/RCI only exist as two separate entities because the couple that originally started the one exchange company got divorced many moons ago? That's when the second company was born!

Always good to have an exit strategy. No one can say for sure that Certified Exit will exist in 20-30 years - as no one here or anywhere else can predict the future - but all things being equal - as long as there's a retail timeshare sales market - then most of the larger timeshare companies will have a deedback program of some kind - as they get something for nothing - and can then resell that something for tens of thousands of dollars to another unsuspecting retail buyer. It's a good gig if you can get it without a doubt.

Get used to the sleazy sales tactics. Our general best practice recommendation to anyone who comes to TUG is - don't ever attend the sales updates - and for good reason - especially if you're not very knowledgeable about how the systems actually work. We still attend the sales updates occasionally - partly so I can keep tabs on the sales tactics for advisories here on TUG and on the Wyndham FB groups that I moderate - and partly because we don't mind spending 60 minutes for 30-60k WR points or $175-250 gift cards that we use to fund fine dining experiences, or funding theme park tickets/parking if we go to Williamsburg for example. The last time we went to Williamsburg and stayed at GG - we did an update and took four free Busch Gardens tickets with free priority parking - that's well over $200 in freebies we didn't have to pay for out of pocket. But again, it's not for everyone - which is why our recommendation is always to simply avoid the sales updates.

Nothing wrong with "forced vacations" so to speak. This is a big part of why I bought into timesharing for my part. I suck at planning vacations overall - and we'd too often go 2-3 years between family vacations and then I'd end up blowing 5-10k on a single vacation. I like figuring out complex systems, so timesharing interests me with this in mind, and I hate paying for something I don't use - so I use it all of the time since I pay the MFs every single month. Feel free to post your timeshare experiences here on TUG. If your wifey has any questions - tell her to create her own TUG account and we can help her out as well - or just use your account and tell us that it's her posting - whatever works for you both. We can likely dispel a lot of the timeshare myths that are so prevalent on the interweb and we can help quell her concerns in the process.

Thanks for your reply, and I did not know that II and RCI are the result of a divorce, but it stands to reason that there would be more than one trading program. It also makes sense that the major timeshares change exchange programs from time to time.

I learned a long time ago you need to figure out an exit strategy, as well as how anything you do works.

As far as sales tactics, I’ve had prior experience with time share sales tactics in Vegas years ago, it was pretty miserable and not worth the show tickets we received. But I will say the first sales lady was pretty honest and straight forward. I have zero issues with my interactions with her. It was the second sales guy who gave me less than honest information. And honestly it’s my fault for not double checking and making sure what he told me was true. I didn’t give a rip about all the renting bs he gave me, I wanted to purchase an amount of points I thought I’d use. And I knew enough about time shares that they didn’t try to bs me on that just the amount of points I’d need for VIP status. I also didn’t like how he insinuated we were wealthy enough to buy more points based solely on our credit report, but I deal with that almost daily with people in my real life that don’t have even that much information.

As far as the timeshare meetings go, the “free” gifts rarely compensate me for my time as I know what my potential earning power is for that same time I’m taking off, and luckily I’ve avoided any sales pitches save that very first one that have tried to entice me with “free” gifts. The only reason I asked about required updates is a guy I know that has Hilton said they told him they were required. Granted club Wyndham isn’t the Hilton timeshare and I wasn’t informed enough to know so I figured I’d ask here to be sure. Now I know. I also know to read all the fine print on every document or offer club Wyndham gives me.

As far as forced vacations, I think it’s kinda normal for people to get hyper focused on any number of things and neglect down time. I know personally I’ve missed a lot of time while building and maintaining my business with my family, and there is plenty still out there to experience. One thing I’ve noticed while browsing various club Wyndham resorts is things to see and do in their various locations that I might have otherwise not known about of over looked. As far as my wife and dealing with her anxiety on spending, well I’ve become somewhat of a grand master at dealing with those issues over the years. And I try to look at it as a positive because it makes me consider larger purchases more closely, except this time she made this decision much to my surprise. I was going to take the information we got in the presentation and compare it directly with dvc. It never occurred to me that there were other timeshares I might be interested in either but the core idea was kinda built in vacations so we will get that with this and likely like it more.

 

[r4rab]

Thanks for your reply, and I did not know that II and RCI are the result of a divorce, but it stands to reason that there would be more than one trading program. It also makes sense that the major timeshares change exchange programs from time to time.

I learned a long time ago you need to figure out an exit strategy, as well as how anything you do works.

As far as sales tactics, I’ve had prior experience with time share sales tactics in Vegas years ago, it was pretty miserable and not worth the show tickets we received. But I will say the first sales lady was pretty honest and straight forward. I have zero issues with my interactions with her. It was the second sales guy who gave me less than honest information. And honestly it’s my fault for not double checking and making sure what he told me was true. I didn’t give a rip about all the renting bs he gave me, I wanted to purchase an amount of points I thought I’d use. And I knew enough about time shares that they didn’t try to bs me on that just the amount of points I’d need for VIP status. I also didn’t like how he insinuated we were wealthy enough to buy more points based solely on our credit report, but I deal with that almost daily with people in my real life that don’t have even that much information.

As far as the timeshare meetings go, the “free” gifts rarely compensate me for my time as I know what my potential earning power is for that same time I’m taking off, and luckily I’ve avoided any sales pitches save that very first one that have tried to entice me with “free” gifts. The only reason I asked about required updates is a guy I know that has Hilton said they told him they were required. Granted club Wyndham isn’t the Hilton timeshare and I wasn’t informed enough to know so I figured I’d ask here to be sure. Now I know. I also know to read all the fine print on every document or offer club Wyndham gives me.

As far as forced vacations, I think it’s kinda normal for people to get hyper focused on any number of things and neglect down time. I know personally I’ve missed a lot of time while building and maintaining my business with my family, and there is plenty still out there to experience. One thing I’ve noticed while browsing various club Wyndham resorts is things to see and do in their various locations that I might have otherwise not known about of over looked. As far as my wife and dealing with her anxiety on spending, well I’ve become somewhat of a grand master at dealing with those issues over the years. And I try to look at it as a positive because it makes me consider larger purchases more closely, except this time she made this decision much to my surprise. I was going to take the information we got in the presentation and compare it directly with dvc. It never occurred to me that there were other timeshares I might be interested in either but the core idea was kinda built in vacations so we will get that with this and likely like it more.

Ultimately, I think you will enjoy your purchase. My wife & I bought about 7 years ago and worked our way up to VIPG. I shudder whenever I think of how much we've spent but we did it with open eyes (although didn't know about resale until we were very close to VIPG). Like you, the motivation behind purchasing was to force us to plan vacations. We've gone many places we would not have otherwise thought of visiting. We're able to let our kids use it (they're older) and typically host an extended family vacation over Thanksgiving week.

Those who seem most bitter tend to have common attributes:
1) They cannot afford the purchase. We always took the 0% for 6 months and then either transferred to another 0% cc (with no transfer fee) or paid it off immediately. Do not put yourself into debt for this.
2) They don't want to learn how the system works. This does not seem to be an issue for you but I would suggest reading the 10 pages (or so) in the directory about the workings of the system a few times.
3) They don't realize that MFs will typically increase year after year. Salaries increase, prices of cleaning products increase, etc. MFs should typically go up at a rate fairly similar to inflation. This should not be a surprise.

Another location to look at, especially with a little one - Glacier Canyon in Wisconsin Dells (6 water parks, 3 inside & 3 outside on site; very large lazy river and a large toddlers play area/splash pad plus much more).
Also, take a look at Last Calls in RCI - cash only, typically out of season locations but can be great values. We went to Massannutten (VA); booked for a week for something like $300 but only stayed for a long weekend (as we had planned). It was still much less than a decent hotel would have been.