Purchasing our first Wyndham Timeshare and have questions?

[Kensh1]

We're looking to purchase our first Wyndham timeshare and are wondering a few things...

A little about us. We travel about 3-4 months per year. Most on hotel points, some cash, and some timeshare rentals. We have been to Egypt, Peru, Greece, California about 6 times this year, Florida Keys, and Orlando and we are currently on the Big Island of Hawaii for a few more days before we go home to Utah. We've been gone for about the last 30 days straight currently. We would love to spend more time in Timeshare vs traditional hotel rooms so we have at least a small kitchen and possibly laundry as well as a bit more space.

1- What is the availability/inventory like? Is it easy to book your time? Is it easier to get bigger or smaller units with Wyndham? We typically only need a studio or one bed but would purchase more points if it's easier to get larger places.

2- What's the availability of using the RCI last-minute deals for the flat rate? Has anyone had much luck with that?

3- Does it really matter where your home property is located as far as being able to use your points? Someone told us if your deeded property is in Hawaii or Las Vegas your property is more valuable to trade in the RCI system?

4- Is the availability of units influenced by the number of points you have? Do we need more points in order to have a larger inventory visible?

5- Anything else you think we need to know about Wyndham?

 

[troy12n]

1- What is the availability/inventory like? Is it easy to book your time? Is it easier to get bigger or smaller units with Wyndham? We typically only need a studio or one bed but would purchase more points if it's easier to get larger places.

It's very easy to find inventory "somewhere", pretty much any time. But if you are looking at specific locations at specific times, you may have issues. Think: beach locations during the summer, ski locations in winter. Your question is kind of loaded. If you give specific locations/areas and times, we could probably be more helpful. Also keep in mind, depending on how/what you buy, you can book at (as early as) the 13 or 10 month mark (explained more later). Some locations/times you have to book right at that mark to be sure you get it. But most that is not the case. Orlando you can pretty much get year round without having to book way in advance.

2- What's the availability of using the RCI last-minute deals for the flat rate? Has anyone had much luck with that?

If you see it in RCI last calls, it's available. But by nature, the last calls is the absolute leftovers that nobody wants. So while they may be good deals, they probably are not going to be a prime locations, in season...

3- Does it really matter where your home property is located as far as being able to use your points? Someone told us if your deeded property is in Hawaii or Las Vegas your property is more valuable to trade in the RCI system?

Deeded vs non-deeded (Called Club Wyndham Access) is, in general as follows:
- Deeded, usually lower maintenance fees, you can book your home resort at 13 months, everywhere else at 10 months
- Access, usually higher maintenance fees, you can book anywhere that has Access inventory (most resorts, except Hawaii) at 13 months, all non-access resorts at 10 months
- All wyndham points do not have "trading power" in RCI, you can Wyndham deposit points into RCI and get RCI points, not TPU's. All points are equal in RCI from a Wyndham perspective

4- Is the availability of units influenced by the number of points you have? Do we need more points in order to have a larger inventory visible?

No. You see all inventory, regardless of how many points you have. You can see all inventory even if you don't have enough points to book something.

5- Anything else you think we need to know about Wyndham?

Not really, not that I can think of off the top of my head. Except my suggestion would be to buy resale instead of developer. They are the same points, with mostly the same rights/privileges. The only thing you don't get is the ability to use club pass (the ability to book Worldmark resorts).

We have been to Egypt, Peru, Greece, California about 6 times this year, Florida Keys, and Orlando and we are currently on the Big Island of Hawaii for a few more days before we go home to Utah. We've been gone for about the last 30 days straight currently. We would love to spend more time in Timeshare vs traditional hotel rooms so we have at least a small kitchen and possibly laundry as well as a bit more space.

Look real hard at the map of resorts, and also be sure you are looking at the Wyndham resorts, as if you buy resale you cannot book Worldmark resorts, and the map can be misleading if you don't know that.

Keep in mind also there are no Wyndham (or RCI) resorts in the Keys, or for all intents and purpose, outside the US, with a handful of exceptions. Definitely no Peru or Greece or Egypt.

Also, max stay is 2 weeks anywhere, but you can book an additional stay immediately on your check-in day and almost never have to change units if you want to stay somewhere longer.

 

[bnoble]

1: Most resorts at most times of year are bookable at the 10-month mark when points are points. There are a few resorts/seasons that have to be booked right at that moment. There are even fewer very high-demand weeks for which advanced booking rights are important, but most people can ignore them. If you have a specific place you really want to go year in and year out, let us know and we can tell you if it is one of these.

2: Mostly the last call stuff is in last call because it is stuff that no one wanted. That's not to say you can't find some nice vacations there, but IMO it is not a reason to buy a timeshare.

3: Does it matter? It can. What you own determines where you have advanced booking (in the 13-month to 10-month window). Most of the time that doesn't matter (see answer to #1). In RCI points are points, and it doesn't matter.

4: For most intents and purposes, no. There are a handful of exceptions (Presidential Reserve, Margaritaville) but those aren't just about how much you own, but also about what specifically you own. I think most people can safely ignore these corner cases.

5: You have asked a lot of questions about RCI. I would only consider buying if the system itself held enough interest for you, considering RCI as just a bonus.

 

[KimmieM]

We're looking to purchase our first Wyndham timeshare and are wondering a few things...

1- What is the availability/inventory like? Is it easy to book your time? Is it easier to get bigger or smaller units with Wyndham? We typically only need a studio or one bed but would purchase more points if it's easier to get larger places.

Smaller units are easier to book and keep in mind that House keeping costs are the same studio or 4 bedroom. For every 70k you own you recieve 1 free HK

2- What's the availability of using the RCI last-minute deals for the flat rate? Has anyone had much luck with that?

Last minute deals work if your flexible with the travel schedule or where you want to go. TUG last minute rentals may be a better option.

Timeshare Rentals Offered
Rentals of actual resort time (not points) with start dates 45 days or less into the future and Maximum rental rate $800/week or $115/day. Rentals more than 45 days out should be placed in the regular TUG Timeshare Marketplace.

tugbbs.com
5- Anything else you think we need to know about Wyndham?
Club rules can change without notice.

 

[Ty1on]

BNoble has made a great observation that you seem more interested in RCI than Wyndham itself, based on your questions.

You can find contracts registered in RCI points that give you a lot better bang for the buck than most wyndham contracts. For example, a prime week two bedroom at Grandview Las Vegas nets 122K RCI points for $8XX per year in Maintenance Fees. 122K RCI points can be made to go quite far, and you'll find more points cost reductions than you would through the Wyndham portal. 1 RCI point is more valuable than 1 Wyndham point, btw, as far as I have seen.

 

[troy12n]

122K RCI points can be made to go quite far, and you'll find more points cost reductions than you would through the Wyndham portal. 1 RCI point is more valuable than 1 Wyndham point, btw, as far as I have seen.

At some resorts, yes. At some resorts, no, very much not. Everyone likes to use the Vegas or Orlando examples. Those are two very overbuilt markets, and yes, you can usually find better deals there than Wyndham, but for a lot of Wyndham properties that isn't the case. Of course RCI opens a lot of locations you wouldn't have access to by just using Wyndham and not exchanging.

So it's really dependent on where the OP wants to vacation, that's why I suggested they look at the map. It very well may be that Wyndham is not a good fit for them. Just keep in mind RCI has no inventory in and of itself, so looking at a "resort map" of all possible RCI resorts is completely useless, because some of those resorts never get much inventory deposited into them, and pretty much all of them are very seasonal... OFF seasonal specifically. In the interest of transparency, this needed to be said. Without re-litigating the recent RCI thread we had.