Shell Vacations Club Owners are being mislead by Club Wyndham opportunity

[Freedom-O-Speech]

I'm new to this forum and posting for the first time. With so many different stories and experiences, frustration and aggravation, I felt compelled to join and share the real facts and truth for all Shell Vacations Club owners. If you're an SVC Owner that is contemplating or has decided to move into Wyndham, here's what you should know...

1. If you were told that you could enroll/ migrate/ affiliate/move individual or specific contracts, that's INCORRECT. The correct answer is that you can choose which Clubs (Hawaii, West...), but that all contracts within that Club have to go.
2. If you were told that the only way to take advantage of this opportunity was to buy Club Wyndham points, that's not entirely accurate. If you made a purchase of SVC points anytime between October 1, 2018 and when they stopped selling, you're already qualified with a $189 processing fee. If you fall into this category and were still told you had to buy Wyndham, they LIED.
3. If you were told specifically, or it was implied, that Wyndham VIP benefits will work at Shell properties...INCORRECT. Wyndham VIP absolutely does not and will not work at Shell locations...no discounts, no upgrades, no requesting specific units...nothing. If you were told something to the contrary; they LIED.
4. If you're a Prestige owner or a grandfathered Elite owner did they inform you of the benefits you lose? Hope you aren't using The Registry Collection because that disappears. Your RCI Platinum membership and $99 exchange fee disappears too. Your ability to get amazing discounts on upscale places around the world disappears. If you have grandfathered status, that disappears too. If you knew what you were losing would your decision be different.
5. Did they tell you that only current use year points enroll/ migrate/ affiliate/move? Everything else like banked points, bonus points, weeks for deposit points, etc, are lost. That'd be nice to know.
6. Were you told that ALL Shell properties would still be accessible from Wyndham? That's not 100% true.
7. Did they tell you that you Shell points become just like the Wyndham points you bought? Not true. Your Shell points do NOT have reservation priority at any Wyndham locations, only the original SVC home club they came from. Your Shell points do NOT qualify to be used with specific Wyndham benefits like purchased Wyndham points do. For example, if I own 7000 Shell West club points that become 280,000 Wyndham points and bought 145,000 Wyndham points to do it, my account would total 425,000 and I'd be VIP Silver. I want to make a reservation at Vino Bello. I'd have 280,000 I could use 13-10 months in advance and 145,000 I could use at 10 months or less. I'd have NO VIP benefits at Vino. If I wanted to make a reservation at a Club Wyndham resort, the opposite would hold true and I'd have access to VIP benefits. If I wanted to make a reservation at a Shell Hawaii property in this example, as of today, I would only be able to use my 280,000 points...the 145,000 WON'T work until the Shell Hawaii properties become part of Club Wyndham. I'd have NO VIP benefits either. Without something in writing are you willing to gamble?

If you made a purchase because you were misled, lied to, or not fully informed I bet you're feeling angry right now.

My suggestion, fight back...get out of your purchase that was made under false pretenses. Tell your fellow owners to do the same. Warn others before they make the same mistake. Ask to see everything in writing.

Take a stand against dishonesty and deception by sharing this with everyone you know.

 

[WyndhamBarter]

Thanks for posting; it sounds like you got raked over the coals. Please
let us all here know if you find some resolution moving forward.

I do have a question about your point #3.

3. If you were told specifically, or it was implied, that Wyndham VIP benefits will work at Shell properties...INCORRECT. Wyndham VIP absolutely does not and will not work at Shell locations...no discounts, no upgrades, no requesting specific units...nothing. If you were told something to the contrary; they LIED.

I've been a Wyndham VIP owner for quite a while; never a Shell owner. I just
tried a 2-months-out reservation at Vino Bello, and got back the attached screenshot.

Weirdly, it both contains the text "VIP Benefits Do Not Apply" and also shows
the 50% discount I would expect with my Platinum ownership. I was gonna venture
a guess that it had something to do with prior Wyndham-owned inventory versus
recent acquired-from-Shell inventory (it's been possible on rare occasion for me to
use Vino Bello for years), but that would be guessing.

Hopefully one of the TUGgers more familiar with Shell will help clear up this mystery.

 

[bnoble]

Weirdly, it both contains the text "VIP Benefits Do Not Apply" and also shows
the 50% discount I would expect with my Platinum ownership.

I've understood the phrase "VIP Benefits Do Not Apply" to mean that the resort is managed by someone other than Wyndham. So, no VIP check-in line, no newspaper, etc. However, points-based booking is done by Wyndham no matter who the management company of the resort happens to be, so there is a way to provide the VIP discount bookings.

 

[Freedom-O-Speech]

There are currently 9 Shell properties that a Club Wyndham Owner can book. These properties are classified as Associate Resorts...refer to page 145 of the current CW catalog. First bullet point on that page is "VIP status and benefits are not recognized or available". If one looks further for example at the CW VIP brochure; the ability to get room upgrades is footnoted and states "available only at Club Wyndham Plus resorts" or the ability to request specific units is footnoted and states "available only at Wyndham managed locations". I guess at the end of the day if the online system is giving you a discount, take it...but everything in print says otherwise...especially the other perks of being VIP. Maybe you're lucky...go play the lottery...lol.

 

[comicbookman]

There are currently 9 Shell properties that a Club Wyndham Owner can book. These properties are classified as Associate Resorts...refer to page 145 of the current CW catalog. First bullet point on that page is "VIP status and benefits are not recognized or available". If one looks further for example at the CW VIP brochure; the ability to get room upgrades is footnoted and states "available only at Club Wyndham Plus resorts" or the ability to request specific units is footnoted and states "available only at Wyndham managed locations". I guess at the end of the day if the online system is giving you a discount, take it...but everything in print says otherwise...especially the other perks of being VIP. Maybe you're lucky...go play the lottery...lol.

Affiliate resorts have always been treated as part of the "Club Wyndham Plus resorts" system. That is how you can book them online. Thay are usually not managed by wyndham however.

 

[Freedom-O-Speech]

There are two distinctions; Affiliate Resorts are not developed or managed by Wyndham, Associate Resorts fall under the other brands like Shell, CW Asia Pacific, Wyndham hotels, etc.

As a side note, I just confirmed that a Shell owner who moves their points into Wyndham will only have access back to the home club the points came from. For example, if I owned Hawaii I would only be able to reserve back to Shell Hawaii...no Shell West/Americana locations. The opposite holds true of course...no Shell Hawaii locations for the West/Americana owners.

 

[goaliedave]

Shell was my first ts buy, i stayed at every resort then gave up my club membership and got better points for my deeds from the club at Diamond Resorts. In 2006 i traded 3 weeks straightup for 3 airfares to Europe, a great deal at the time, no bureaucracy.

Sad to hear ... likely it will be a similar story with the Sheraton-Westin transfer to Marriott.



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[Freedom-O-Speech]

Seems like there should be some type of recourse against these sales people and the organizations that either allow or perpetrate this behavior. I mean it's one thing to fight to get your money back, but that doesn't prevent the next person from getting burned by the same person or company. Are timeshare companies or sales people regulated by laws or standards that would provide a forum to report deceptive practices?

 

[goaliedave]

Seems like there should be some type of recourse against these sales people and the organizations that either allow or perpetrate this behavior. I mean it's one thing to fight to get your money back, but that doesn't prevent the next person from getting burned by the same person or company. Are timeshare companies or sales people regulated by laws or standards that would provide a forum to report deceptive practices?

Agree. Unfortunately each country and USA state has different laws regulating whether you can even record what they say. Someone posted the info here or on a fb group. Without audio or video, tough to do anything.

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[Freedom-O-Speech]

Thanks for the reply. I understand your point about having the necessary proof. After reading so many other posts it seems like there's a common theme that would lend itself to a class action suit or official complaint to an attorney general or regulated industries control office type of thing. Don't know if that would get any traction though.

 

[JohnPaul]

Any info on the truth of the statement that people who stick w Shell will have less and less available inventory available as people move to Wyndham? Personally I don’t think Shell’s structure (which they are stuck with) will allow that.

Even if true, I think it will take a long time to really impact me.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Our last presentation was a few years ago, and it was at Donatello while staying at Suites at Fisherman's Wharf. The pitch was a lot about the Wyndham credit card. He knew we owned a lot of Shell points, but he didn't really talk about anything Wyndham, except that stupid credit card. He kept saying we would get 10X points on everything we buy. I told him to prove it to me. He couldn't prove anything. I basically told him how dishonest it is to say something like that, when it absolutely isn't true. I told the closing person the same thing. No proof means it isn't true. That is such a big lie, and I will never go on a Wyndham/Shell presentation again.

So sorry, if you got sucked in. Sounds like you did. If there is time to rescind, please do. I would also write a letter to tell them how wicked that salesperson was.

 

[ecwinch]

Any info on the truth of the statement that people who stick w Shell will have less and less available inventory available as people move to Wyndham? Personally I don’t think Shell’s structure (which they are stuck with) will allow that.

Even if true, I think it will take a long time to really impact me.

This is one of the biggest fears that sales people like to foster.

Any type of these conversion programs only have a small impact on availability... mainly because the conversion is essentially just the same as the owner using their Shell points - which be definition reduces availability.

The governing documents of SVC still apply... and physical units are not transferred during a conversion (something only a BoD could authorize)... and owners are only assigning their usage rights in exchange.

I have heard this same line/lie about the Marriott Destinations points program for years...

 

[goaliedave]

This is one of the biggest fears that sales people like to foster.

Any type of these conversion programs only have a small impact on availability... mainly because the conversion is essentially just the same as the owner using their Shell points - which be definition reduces availability.

The governing documents of SVC still apply... and physical units are not transferred during a conversion (something only a BoD could authorize)... and owners are only assigning their usage rights in exchange.

I have heard this same line/lie about the Marriott Destinations points program for years...

Agree 100% last Sheraton presentation it was their main focus. They claimed i would lose rights to my current trading network, lose all points, and revert to deeded week only.

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[Raelie]

Our last presentation was a few years ago, and it was at Donatello while staying at Suites at Fisherman's Wharf. The pitch was a lot about the Wyndham credit card. He knew we owned a lot of Shell points, but he didn't really talk about anything Wyndham, except that stupid credit card. He kept saying we would get 10X points on everything we buy. I told him to prove it to me. He couldn't prove anything. I basically told him how dishonest it is to say something like that, when it absolutely isn't true. I told the closing person the same thing. No proof means it isn't true. That is such a big lie, and I will never go on a Wyndham/Shell presentation again.

So sorry, if you got sucked in. Sounds like you did. If there is time to rescind, please do. I would also write a letter to tell them how wicked that salesperson was.

Have you been able to stay a Shell owner? They've been trying to VERY hard to strong arm us into Wyndham, but we have resisted. Now our maintenance fees have been returned to our bank. We're guessing they are going to say we are a forfeit due to non payment of fees. The presentations by Wyndham have been excruciating. Everything that gives timeshare a hideous reputation. We don't want to become Wyndham and only want to stay at the handful of Shell resorts. I wish they would leave us alone.

 

[paxsarah]

Have you been able to stay a Shell owner? They've been trying to VERY hard to strong arm us into Wyndham, but we have resisted. Now our maintenance fees have been returned to our bank. We're guessing they are going to say we are a forfeit due to non payment of fees. The presentations by Wyndham have been excruciating. Everything that gives timeshare a hideous reputation. We don't want to become Wyndham and only want to stay at the handful of Shell resorts. I wish they would leave us alone.

Have they bothered you outside of the meetings? Don’t go to the meetings.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Have you been able to stay a Shell owner? They've been trying to VERY hard to strong arm us into Wyndham, but we have resisted. Now our maintenance fees have been returned to our bank. We're guessing they are going to say we are a forfeit due to non payment of fees. The presentations by Wyndham have been excruciating. Everything that gives timeshare a hideous reputation. We don't want to become Wyndham and only want to stay at the handful of Shell resorts. I wish they would leave us alone.

Yes, we have stayed as Shell members. No one can strongarm you into doing anything. The website's lack of functionality is frustrating, lAdding guest certificates can no longer be added online. I can make reservations and cancel them, but I cannot modify. I was told the new website is coming out March 1st. It's now 5/11 and no new website.

What are you saying about your MF's being returned to your bank? Did you sign something?