Thank you TUG!!

[gch02]

First of all, I want to say THANK YOU for this forum!!!
At a Wyndham presentation in Pigeon Forge, TN, we were offered 104,000 points every other year for $14,000 with maintenance fees of 35.00 per month (I thought those would go up eventually due to the water park). The sales pitch was slick, watching the video and hearing the sales person say how this was for our health and our family. While it sounded tempting, I just didn’t feel comfortable going into debt to pay for future vacations so we told the sales person we needed to think about it prior to committing and agreed to come in the next morning with our decision. That night, we researched and found TUG on the internet (Thank God!) and saw prices for resells. When we returned the next day and informed the sales person that we weren’t t interested, she was very ugly to us. She tossed the tea she just made into the trashcan, saying she could’ve slept another 5 minutes if she knew this would happen. She said we were throwing our money away and was disrespectful. We felt really good about our decision….Now after researching, I’d like to purchase resell with Wyndham. We live in NC and would love to be able to travel more with our children.
Questions I have:
1. My understanding is that when I purchase Wyndham timeshare, I can deed this property to my children. Just want to make sure that this is correct.
2. On Wyndham site, it lists Wyndham Plus resorts, affiliate resorts, associate resort, etc. Would I have access to all resorts with Wyndham Plus points? What is the difference between Wyndham access vs. Wyndham plus points?
3. I see posts about housekeeping credits. Do I have pay additional for housekeeping fees when I stay at a resort or does that come out of my points or something different?
4. My friends purchased retail ($14,000 for 164,000 points w/MF of around 78.00) and they are able to upgrade to presidential suite within a certain time frame if available. If I buy resell, has anyone had any luck in upgrading w/o using extra points?
5. Are you able to rent out your points to someone? I was thinking that would help recoup some of the MF cost if I was not going to use all of my points for the year.
6. There is a resort in Pigeon Forge, TN that has a water park (fabulous!!) If we have a family come along with us and get a 3 bedroom, would everyone get a pass to the water park or do they have to pay?
7. From what I read, the only benefit I would lose by purchasing resell is Plus Partners and VIP status if I were to have over 300,000 points. It doesn’t sound like those would really be a benefit for us anyway from what I hear about the exchange rate for what you get. Just checking? What about RCI exchange though? The resort was going to give us membership with RCI and reduce fee for exchange overseas. We will mainly use the points in on Eastern side of US, but I was thinking it may be nice to exchange for RCI if a timeshare isn’t located where we wanted to go.

 

[ronandjoan]

Welcome to TUG! and yes, I have learned So MUCh too from this forum.

many people will write to help you, so I won;t duplicate what they will say. or just read some of the other Newbies or Wyndham threads and begin to learn....some of them had your same questions.

I would like to add something I usually don't see talked about regarding deeding to children and that is, I have begun to put our son;s name on the original deed and then there will be no questions later...no transfer fees, etc. So we have 3 names on the deed. That would also let him use the points as an owner, even now.

Join TUG ASAP and start reading the reviews, etc!

All the best,

 

[theo]

I hope that this "gift" is NOT a "surprise" to the recipient...

.... I have begun to put our son's name on the original deed and then there will be no questions later... So we have 3 names on the deed.....

Presumably your son knows about and has agreed to your actions?

If not, despite obviously good and generous intentions, you may well be "gifting" an unwelcome and unwanted future financial burden upon your son...

 

[Cheryl20772]

We felt really good about our decision….Now after researching, I’d like to purchase resell with Wyndham. We live in NC and would love to be able to travel more with our children.

I'll try to answer some of your questions from what I've learned by using our Wyndham account and by being a member of this forum

Questions I have:
1. My understanding is that when I purchase Wyndham timeshare, I can deed this property to my children. Just want to make sure that this is correct.

First you need to realize that a deed or contract for Wyndham is really only an obligation to pay the resort fees (maintenance, real estate tax, and potential special assessments) and the Club Wyndham Plus membership fee (which is what lets you trade your points in the Wyndham system to all the other resorts and includes your RCI fee). After you realize this, you know that what you plan to do is offer your kids this obligation along with their future vacations. My kids are struggling to buy food and pay the mortgage. They can't handle that obligation and if I died tomorrow, they most likely would decide that fee obligation is the last thing they wanted to accept. All that considered, a Wyndham contract is like a house contract. It can have a mortgage, and can be inherited as part of an estate when you die. You can include as many other people's names on that deed as you want, but they are then assuming their part of your ongoing obligation to pay the fees and tax.

2. On Wyndham site, it lists Wyndham Plus resorts, affiliate resorts, associate resort, etc. Would I have access to all resorts with Wyndham Plus points? What is the difference between Wyndham access vs. Wyndham plus points?

You would have access if there were any units available at the time you wanted to go. As an example, New Braunfels, Texas is a Worldmark resort that is associated with Wyndham. They have put some of their units in the Wyndham system and in exchange have allowed a few of their units to be used by Wyndham owners. We were able to get in there one year, but availability is generally very limited and hard to get.

Another example is the Coconut Malorie in Ocean City, MD. We did stay there one year some time ago, but have never again been able to find any units available. That's an affiliate resort. It's a long story how it became an affiliate, but years ago, it was in the Fairfield system and some people own contracts there that are in the Wyndham system. Units only become available for us to use if those owners don't stay in their home resort.

So, you see, we can stay in those places, but it's not necessarily easy to plan on doing it.

Oh, Wyndham Access refers to a different kind of ownership where you get points to use for Advance Priority Reservation at a pool of resorts rather than at one home resort. The maintenance and other fees are pooled; so you pay an average of them all rather than at one resort. Those are the main differences. After that, Access members are the same as Club Wyndham Plus members. You can use the points at all the rest of the resorts just the same.

3. I see posts about housekeeping credits. Do I have pay additional for housekeeping fees when I stay at a resort or does that come out of my points or something different?

Housekeeping credits are given 1 per 1K points you own. How many you need depends on how you use your points. If you only use weekly stays, then you should not have to buy any. If you do lots of 2 or 3 night stays, you might have to buy more and they cost $2.25 per credit. They are used to clean up the room and get it ready for the next guest and the size of the unit determines how many your stay requires. See page 278 of the 2012 Member Directory to see how many a stay requires.

4. My friends purchased retail ($14,000 for 164,000 points w/MF of around 78.00) and they are able to upgrade to presidential suite within a certain time frame if available. If I buy resell, has anyone had any luck in upgrading w/o using extra points?

I don't think that will be easy to do with resale points, but I wouldn't say it's impossible.

5. Are you able to rent out your points to someone? I was thinking that would help recoup some of the MF cost if I was not going to use all of my points for the year.

Yes, you will see many people in the forum in the rental section offering their reservations or points to rent. You might like renting some points to vacation instead of owning a contract. Many VIP owners will let you take advantage of their discounts and upgrades for renting a vacation.

6. There is a resort in Pigeon Forge, TN that has a water park (fabulous!!) If we have a family come along with us and get a 3 bedroom, would everyone get a pass to the water park or do they have to pay?

I'm not sure about this. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they give you enough passes up to the published room capacity for your unit.

7. From what I read, the only benefit I would lose by purchasing resell is Plus Partners and VIP status if I were to have over 300,000 points. It doesn’t sound like those would really be a benefit for us anyway from what I hear about the exchange rate for what you get. Just checking? What about RCI exchange though? The resort was going to give us membership with RCI and reduce fee for exchange overseas. We will mainly use the points in on Eastern side of US, but I was thinking it may be nice to exchange for RCI if a timeshare isn’t located where we wanted to go.

You would not miss much at all by not having Plus Partners. The most economical way to use Wyndham points is for staying in the Wyndham resorts. If you consider what your points are worth after just paying all the fees, all other uses cost way too much money. If you ever decided you did want Plus Partners, you can buy that upgrade to your membership. It coses a couple thousand dollars, but not worth it really.

You RCI membership is part of your Club Wyndham Plus membership fee. There is no discount for exchanging overseas. That must have been salesman lip flapping.

That's the best I can do Taking a break here from housecleaning and getting ready for Thanksgiving company. Hope you have a nice Holiday too.

Oh, and ask away... if you have more questions.

 

[amycurl]

I would echo Joan's comments about including your heirs on the deed. My mother purchased our timeshare while I was still in college and put it in both of our names. Once I began to work, we began splitting the MF. This gives us both access to II and to Getaways, and we work cooperatively to plan vacations. It also means less messing-about with guest certificates, since both of our names will be on every II reservation, even if just one of us is using the week.

Of course, YMMV.

 

[ronandjoan]

Presumably your son knows about and has agreed to your actions?

If not, despite obviously good and generous intentions, you may well be "gifting" an unwelcome and unwanted future financial burden upon your son...

Well, maybe some parents do that, but I don't!

Our son was so interested in timeshares that he went to presentations, even before we were involved. Then, one day about 5 years ago, we got a call - he was at a Worldmark presentation (they live in Seattle, thus, prevelant Worldmark) and he was ACTUALLY IN the presentation AT THAT TIME, and was calling me for advice what to do...they were about to buy, ...I said, DO NOT BUY ANYTHING - we have PLENTY for you!! .

the OP asked about passing them on to their children, so I thought my comment was appropriate...saves a lot of headaches afterwards.....

 

[theo]

Yessa!

...the OP asked about passing them on to their children, so I thought my comment was appropriate...saves a lot of headaches afterwards.....

Your comment was indeed entirely appropriate --- and very helpful as well. My objective in replying was certainly not intended to in any way criticize your input, but to instead "flesh out" and discuss a very directly related issue.

I saw first hand, within my own family, a real-life situation which prompted my input. Specifically, some years back my parents very nearly "deeded" a timeshare week to a sister as a "surprise gift". Fortunately, the intended "surprise gift" was revealed before any deed changes were actually conducted. While my sister appreciated the thoughtfulness behind the idea, she was actually a bit horrified by the prospective "surprise" ownership. The week location (and time of year) were a place and time in which my sister had absolutely no interest whatsoever. Moreover, she actually wanted (then and now) nothing to do with any timeshare obligations of any kind (nor with "exchanging"). Parents instead sold the week to another owner they knew at the resort and everyone was happy.

In short summary, "gifts" of timeshare ownership deeds should clearly never be given as a "surprise" (despite the best of generous and benevolent intentions). They should only be "gifted" with the advance full knowledge and overtly expressed consent of everyone involved --- prospective recipient(s) included.