Star Island Follow Up and questions

[jpsmit]

Was at Star Island Feb 22-29 - started in building 28 which was a dump! old, shabby, broken appliances kitchen cupboard doors hanging at odd angles. Initially we thought all rooms were like this but a chance comment had us realize that it wasn't the 'Wyndham' portion of the facility - transferred to building 21 which was awesome!

Got stuck into the presentation which ended up as a gong show but.

1. The presenter said that each Wyndham property has two pools of points - Club access and the actual owner points (forget what that is called) which is why I rarely seen inventory when I search the site. Is this true? and of so would access points be worth seeking? And if I did, how would the site know which inventory to present.

2. They tried to sell us new points (Club access) (no surprise) BUT the sales pitch that if we turned in a contract (166k) and they sold us a new one (128k) that they would waive the 128 maintenance fees in perpetuity so, as we paid off the loan for 10 years it would not cost us any more than we were paying in maintenance and when it was paid off our costs would go down.

We have no plans to do this but, has anyone else had a similar offer? it does seem a tad confusing.

thanks all

 

[Jan M.]

What a complete load of b.s.!

Deeded points are called CWS, Club Wyndham Select, points.

Wyndham is never going to waive your maintenance fees. They only collect them on behalf of the resort your points are deeded at. If you have CWA, Club Wyndham Access, points then you have a contract with Wyndham for the use of x number of points annually and don't actually own anything as Wyndham retains ownership of all the deeds your points come from. Either way you will owe maintenance fees for as long as you own.

As to rarely seeing inventory I'm wondering if you're looking at resorts that are difficult for all of us to book no matter what or where we own. Maybe that's not it but you're waiting until the last minute to book or only trying to get 3 or 4 bedroom units? Most of us manage to get what we want whether we own deeded CWS or CWA points so I'm wondering why you aren't. There must be some reason or reasons. Hopefully we can help you with that.

When we stayed at Star Island a few months ago we were told building 28 units were under refurbishment. It's the building with no elevators, right?

 

[55plus]

It foolish to finance future vacations. A nice Wyndham points package can be purchased on the secondary market for less than a retail points purchase down payment costs.

 

[cbyrne1174]

CWA isn't good to have unless you need the ARP. There is a high % of CWA points that are in loan default because that's what they are currently selling high pressure. When people default, other owners have to compensate with paying higher MF. You're best off buying points at a low MF resort that has been sold out for at least 10 years like Grand Desert (Built in 2001). Less people are in default at those resorts.

 

[jpsmit]

Thanks for these replies - and again, we have no plans to buy more as we can barely use what we have.

What I am trying to get straight is whether there is CWA inventory at the resort (units) that is not available to Resort owners and vice versa. (do I make sense with that?)

thanks!

 

[r4rab]

I believe so as only a certain percentage of units are in CWA at a given resort. This should only matter during the ARP period though. CWA having ARP into CWA units at resorts. CWS owners having ARP into non-CWA units at their home resort. The Trust docs for CWA go into great detail on what is in the Trust.

 

[Braindead]

What I am trying to get straight is whether there is CWA inventory at the resort (units) that is not available to Resort owners and vice versa. (do I make sense with that?)

Yes there is supposed to be separate units during ARP. At 10 months no there isn’t separate units.
I said “supposed” because none of us can prove how CWA is allocated at the resorts during ARP.
Is CWA ARP spread evenly over the year or can CWA owners book anything until the CWA ARP allocation is gone?
There are a couple of CWA resorts that CWA ARP reservations can’t be made during certain timeframes.
Can CWA owners use up all CWA ARP points in the first 6 months of the year ? We don’t know.
My personal opinion for what it’s worth is that CWA owners probably don’t use up the CWA ARP allocation at the resort level.
So CWA ARP at the resort is not usually restricted in my opinion.

 

[Jan M.]

Thanks for these replies - and again, we have no plans to buy more as we can barely use what we have.

What I am trying to get straight is whether there is CWA inventory at the resort (units) that is not available to Resort owners and vice versa. (do I make sense with that?)

thanks!

Yes there are separate pools of inventory that are available to each before the 10 month mark. The booking period or window prior to the 10 month mark is called ARP, Advance Reservation Priority. From 10 months to 3 months is the Standard booking period/window and after 3 months the Express.

I'll use my own case as an example. Prior to 10 months I can book the available inventory at the resorts that are in CWA with the CWA points we have. I can also book any of my home resorts that I'm deeded at like Grand Desert, Waikiki Beach Walk and National Harbor but just with the points deeded at those resorts. In our case our National Harbor ownership came with a reciprocal resort, Old Town Alexandria, that we can also book. I don't know if this is the case with every deed at National Harbor or we just lucked out. There are some other resorts that you will sometimes get a reciprocal resort with and it will show on your ownership page if you have it.

After the 10 month mark points are points and I can book whatever is available at any of the resorts in the system. However I believe there are restrictions on booking some or all of the Margaritaville resorts prior to 6 months out if you don't own at them. Because we are Presidential Reserve owners there is the PR inventory that is set aside solely for PR owners and is held for them until 30 days before the check in date.

If you look in what we call the stickies at the top of the Wyndham forum you will see WYNDHAM INFORMATION and ADVISE ARTICLES. When you open it up in the first post you will find a link to the 2018-2019 Directory. This chart is on page 248. You should read over that entire section that starts on page 246 as there is a lot of information you will need to know. You can use the >>, double arrow, to get to that section faster than going page by page. You will find point charts for all the resorts too.

 

[Phunny64]

Was at Star Island Feb 22-29 - started in building 28 which was a dump! old, shabby, broken appliances kitchen cupboard doors hanging at odd angles. Initially we thought all rooms were like this but a chance comment had us realize that it wasn't the 'Wyndham' portion of the facility - transferred to building 21 which was awesome!

Got stuck into the presentation which ended up as a gong show but.

1. The presenter said that each Wyndham property has two pools of points - Club access and the actual owner points (forget what that is called) which is why I rarely seen inventory when I search the site. Is this true? and of so would access points be worth seeking? And if I did, how would the site know which inventory to present.

2. They tried to sell us new points (Club access) (no surprise) BUT the sales pitch that if we turned in a contract (166k) and they sold us a new one (128k) that they would waive the 128 maintenance fees in perpetuity so, as we paid off the loan for 10 years it would not cost us any more than we were paying in maintenance and when it was paid off our costs would go down.

We have no plans to do this but, has anyone else had a similar offer? it does seem a tad confusing.

thanks all

I agree with you!! ill never stay there again, we couldn't get into our home resort so booked it for my wife and I. We stayed in building 18, when we did our sit down with a video for owners we weren't impressed. We laughed when they said want to buy more points, we said if your trying to impress us start with the elevator not working (there are two) we were on the 6th floor. Room was worn out, many of the chairs around the pool were broken. The place isn't at 100%... or even equal to a motel 8. He asked how did we get stuck in 18 since its owned by Star and not Wyndham, I said we don't pick the buildings you did! We took our 125 buck AMEX card and walked out.

 

[Jan M.]

I agree with you!! ill never stay there again, we couldn't get into our home resort so booked it for my wife and I. We stayed in building 18, when we did our sit down with a video for owners we weren't impressed. We laughed when they said want to buy more points, we said if your trying to impress us start with the elevator not working (there are two) we were on the 6th floor. Room was worn out, many of the chairs around the pool were broken. The place isn't at 100%... or even equal to a motel 8. He asked how did we get stuck in 18 since its owned by Star and not Wyndham, I said we don't pick the buildings you did! We took our 125 buck AMEX card and walked out.

I don't know if you saw it on the Wyndham website but Star Island is currently hosting a tennis tournament. We too were recently put in building 18 which really surprised us because it's not a Wyndham building. We apparently we were luckier than you because the elevators worked and our unit was fine.

Our unit had arrangements on the dining table and in the bedroom. Also other decor touches that Wyndham has done away with. It led me to comment on how much I missed how the units were decorated when it was still Fairfield. When Wyndham took over and unit updates were done they did away with all the extra touches. Wyndham I hope you're reading this. Pillows on the sofa and beds are not a substitute for the nice decor we knew with Fairfield! If I wanted cold, sterile hotel decor I'd book a hotel not my timeshare.

 

[paxsarah]

We just stayed at Star Island in building 18 (I commented to my husband that it seemed like the unit you get when you show up at 11:55pm, which we did), and I thought the table centerpiece was so ridiculous I took a picture of it. I wouldn’t want to have to set out a meal for 6 around this monstrosity:

 

[Jan M.]

We just stayed at Star Island in building 18 (I commented to my husband that it seemed like the unit you get when you show up at 11:55pm, which we did), and I thought the table centerpiece was so ridiculous I took a picture of it. I wouldn’t want to have to set out a meal for 6 around this monstrosity:
View attachment 17826

Dang but that thing is ugly! We must have really lucked out on the unit we had in building 18. Our table centerpiece and the one in the master bedroom were both very nice.

 

[cbyrne1174]

How often do they put people in the non wyndham units?

 

[OutSkiing]

We just stayed at Star Island in building 18 (I commented to my husband that it seemed like the unit you get when you show up at 11:55pm, which we did), and I thought the table centerpiece was so ridiculous I took a picture of it. I wouldn’t want to have to set out a meal for 6 around this monstrosity:

It's a magnified view of cute little Coronavirus sprouts growing out of a mucus gland!

Very Seasonal.

Bob

 

[55plus]

How often do they put people in the non wyndham units?

We've been with Wyndham since the mid 90's when it was Fairfield and Wyndham never put us in a non-Wyndham unit.

 

[Jan M.]

How often do they put people in the non wyndham units?

We've stayed at Star Island a lot and have never been put in a non Wyndham building before. However this is what's posted right at the top of Star Island page on the Wyndham website "Starting February 22-March 31, 2020, we will have a number of college tennis teams staying with us." The Wyndham buildings are close to the tennis courts so I'm guessing that's why we're getting put in the non Wyndham buildings that are farther away from the tennis courts.

 

[dgalati]

It foolish to finance future vacations. A nice Wyndham points package can be purchased on the secondary market for less than a retail points purchase down payment costs.

Many can be purchased at less then $100 closing costs included

 

[dgalati]

I'll use my own case as an example. Prior to 10 months I can book the available inventory at the resorts that are in CWA with the CWA points we have. I can also book any of my home resorts that I'm deeded at like Grand Desert, Waikiki Beach Walk and National Harbor but just with the points deeded at those resorts. In our case our National Harbor ownership came with a reciprocal resort, Old Town Alexandria, that we can also book. I don't know if this is the case with every deed at National Harbor or we just lucked out. There are some other resorts that you will sometimes get a reciprocal resort with and it will show on your ownership page if you have it.

View attachment 17798

The National Harbor deed I owned had Ocean Blvd as a reciprocal resort.