Paniolo Greens / Shell Vacations / Windham Hawaii - Questions

[DianeG]

I’m a deeded owner at PG - not Shell and not Wyndham.
A lot is changing with the Resort, fuelled very much by Wyndham’s overall agenda for their Hawaii properties, as far as I can tell.

Shell owners: is it true that by May 2019 at the latest, Wyndham will have completely dissolved “Shell Vacations”, and all of Shell memberships shall be converted to Wyndham? If so, what has been the points equivalency that is being offered?

Windham points owners: is it true that booking any resort in the Wyndham system in Hawaii costs a flat 11,000 pts/night? And that if your home resort is in Hawaii, you have a 13-month booking window? Is there a membership tier that trumps booking windows available to ordinary points holders, other than this 13-month window for owners in Hawaii?

Finally, deeded owners at PG, have you recently been having trouble booking your time?
Thanks!

 

[bizaro86]

None of those things are true, they are all lies. Shell continues to exist. Wyndham properties vary per night, and 11k/night is not that many. Owning one property in HI doesn't get you ARP everywhere in Hawaii.

 

[DianeG]

Thank you! Does the ARP only apply to your “home resort” then?
Wyndham sales people at the Preview center in Kailua-Kona are spreading deliberate misinformation then.

 

[flindberg]

13-month booking window? Is there a membership tier that trumps booking windows available to ordinary points holders, other than this 13-month window for owners in Hawaii?

Hi Diane, I'm no expert but have been involved with Wyndham ownership (my mother's for over 20 years) at Ka Eo Kai a Pahio resort that in the late 1990's was taken over (managed) by Wyndham and Bali Hai Villas - which I think is or was once Pahio and is now managed by Wyndham. I can say that when Wyndham comes in to 'manage' a resort - IT'S ALL WYNDHAM FROM THERE ON OUT. They may not change the resort name, but they will hound and pressure current owners to 'upgrade' to their 'superior products' and buy into a Wyndham contract. They pressured my 82 y/o mother who had dementia... she cried when she told me how they 'brow beat' her with all kinds of lies about how she would lose everything if she didn't pay up - it's just too heartbreaking to tell you how badly they ripped her off. It was all of it - TOTAL BS. Don't believe anything Wyndham tells you (unless you get it in a signed, notarized, LEGAL DOCUMENT). Otherwise, it's nothing but the Wynd blowing this way and that.

Wyndham owners with VIP status CAN book 13 months out at their home resort, or any resort, as long as there is availability. I do not believe this has anything to do with being an owner in a particular State (eg HI). It has everything to do with VIP status. Wyndham Presidential Reserve VIP's get more, maybe 14 months priority booking - not sure. This advance priority booking is not really THAT big of a deal. In fact I don't think we've ever needed to use it. I have to admit the other perk of VIP, automatic upgrades are very nice. But it's the priority reservations that are their 'big sell'. They fool you into thinking you can't do anything without VIP status, and while the status is a plus, it's in no way worth getting in deeper with Wyndham.

I have never heard 11,000pts/night but that is just the kind of bald faced lie you'll find swirling around any Wyndham pitch like a trace of blood in the water. It's a signal for the feeding frenzy to begin. They spread less-than-half-truths around like the gospel. Having attended plenty of these, I can venture a guess. There is probably some contingent (buried in the small print) that IF one buys enough points to earn Presidential Reserve Status (may as well be called "Unlimited Disposable Income" Status) THEN MAYBE there is some sort of limited time (3-12 months?) perk where 'every room in HI is 11000pts'.

My 2 cents - If you are with Wyndham, Get out while you can! And if you are thinking about becoming a Wyndham owner, don't do it!

Best of luck,
Francine

 

[DianeG]

Thank you, Francine.
Apart from being pressured into converting our deeded weeks to points, deeded owners are beginning to be squeezed out of available inventory in our own property.
Since approx. last Fall, Wyndham (who has complete control over the booking process for our reservations) has now set aside a limited number of weeks to be made available for deeded owners to book for their stays. If at any given time, this ‘allotment’ is used up - even if units are still available - deeded owners will not be able reserve the time they want if this ‘allotment’ is used up.
We can already say goodbye to the extra days that we were able to add to the beginning or end of our stay, because by the time our ‘booking window’ opens, some Wyndham members will have already had access to this “bonus” inventory (for a cheaper price than even our own maintenance fees cover!)
Plus, the Wyndham reservations dept. now has complete control in deciding to limit said extra days, and the number of consecutive weeks that can be booked with our own deeded weeks.
Wyndham is doing everything under the sun to drive deeded week owners to convert or turn over their deeds. Frankly, only my deeds still give me some measure of access for spending an extended winter stay here... and now this is not even guaranteed anymore.

 

[debraxh]

We own at Kona Coast Resort, now a Shell property, and we were there last week. At check-in my husband was intrigued by a $100 golf credit if we attended an "owner's update". It was no update, and staff didn't really know anything about what was changing for Shell or weeks owners. They just tried to sell Wyndam points, didn't even try to get us to convert. At one point he mentioned that Wyndam owners would get priority reservations over others, but when we called him on it he backpeddled and said nothing would change for us. I really dislike Wyndam now and hope that we will maintain the benefits of week ownership at our resort that we have owned for almost 20 yrs.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Wyndham owners with VIP status......
.... but that is just the kind of bald faced lie you'll find swirling around any Wyndham pitch like a trace of blood in the water. It's a signal for ....... IF one buys enough points to earn Presidential Reserve Status .....
(may as well be called "Unlimited Disposable Income" Status)

Best of luck,
Francine

Good quote
- Unlimited Disposable Income Status

Thanks -

 

[WinniWoman]

This is why I do not like Wyndham or any points systems and why I like having fixed deeded weeks in the same unit we just show up for every year. Have owned for 20 years there. And have exchanged our float weeks to go to lots of places around the country as well, though we now tend to use them at the home resort now for the most part.

If I couldn't use the weeks some years (which thankfully has never happened) I would not care. I would just exchange them through Trading Places or one of the other small independents (all free memberships), or maybe our adult son would use them. Plus, I take out cancellation insurance on them through Generali so I would be reimbursed the maintenance fees if we can't go for a covered reason(like illness or a death). So no worries there either.

If we want extra time there or elsewhere we rent from another owner or directly from a resort. Or sometimes we use Home Away. Easy Peasy.

Where I own in Vermont, Wyndham has been involved for several years now and I hear things like this going on there all the time as well. I fight them off at check in- makes for a really unpleasant check in experience- but I am loud and rude and will not stand for it. Give me my keys and get out of my way! LOL!

I am not a Wyndham owner or a RCI points owner. I hear other people complaining all the time about these issues while I just happily come into the resort and use my same week and unit year after year- no worries about trying to book what I own or something else there or keeping track of points or any of that.

Don't belong to RCI either.

Believe me, I understand the pros of the points systems and I know many owners love them, but I don't think they are worth the hassle and expense.

Yeah- they keep trying to get us original owners to convert to Wyndham and the whole vibe of the resort has changed since they went to RCI points ownerships and now to Wyndham. Ummm- no thank you.

I try to ignore it all and use the condo and the clubhouse and pool and go on my merry way around the area.

This said, at some point we will divest ourselves of the ownership unless our son can somehow afford it one day. And the deed back program there takes the inventory from that and turns it over to Wyndham. I would first try to give it away so Wyndham does not get their dirty hands on it.

 

[jkbrand]

Does Wyndam have anything to do with an owner of Kona Coast selling his deeded property? I have
an interested party who wants to know if the management (Wyndam or Shell) has a right of first
refusal.

 

[rickandcindy23]

They do not have ROFR.

But Shell is blocking me from logging into my account by saying I owe money, so I am not amused with Shell at this moment. I was trying to see if I could get a couple of nights in Whistler.

 

[Rjbeach2003]

I just tried to sign on and was blocked with same message. I have just spent 30+minutes on hold, for a rep to tell me that they are migrating to a new computer system and our information, payments aren't showing up. I am on automatic withdrawal for maintenance fees, checked and they took money on August 1. She doesn't have any idea how long they are going to take to finish their migration. Fortunately I wasn't needing to book anything today. I am on hold now as she is trying to figure out why the temporary password she sent isn't working. I will follow with any further information.