The best way to enter Club Wyndham as Platinum without paying $100K + and how to do it

[rickandcindy23]

No guarantees, of course, but Wyndham is always taking over new resorts, and that is a great "in" for people wanting to convert their current resorts to Club Wyndham. We did this years ago at the PAHIO resorts. I was buying units to use at Bali Hai and Shearwater, where we really enjoyed staying, and the salespeople tried to sell us on Wyndham early on. We stayed in our own unit at Bali Hai and went on a presentation and had some interest but didn't bite. Then when we talked to BocaBum99 (Jim), we thought maybe we should go for it and we did, and not once, but twice.

Wyndham just took over Plantation resort in Surfside, SC. We own weeks there and were approached by the parking pass people, part of the sales' team. But we chose not to go on a presentation because we know that they wouldn't let us "get by" with this conversion again. They would look up our name and tell us it was a no-go for a gift or for an offer of any kind.

Owning 3 bedrooms at the Presidential Villas at Plantation Resort could be a very lucrative Wyndham points deal because if you own a few units in the prime summer months, you could end up as platinum in Club Wyndham for a low cost of buying. The fees are also under $1,000 for a 3 bedroom unit. I don't know what that translates into for points, but if you look at a points' chart in the book or online, the point value would be obvious. They would probably only need you to buy around 168,000 points to convert your Presidential Villas to Club Wyndham. If you own 3 of those, that is a pretty good number to have to convert and can be had for about $2,000 each via resale.

Another good buy is Bali Hai, Ka eo Kai, and Shearwater, and there are some others, too, that are equally beneficial for converting to Wyndham. I am hoping people will add to this thread what they have done to get platinum benefits.

I am sure Wyndham salespeople are going to moan when they see my post. I keep seeing people talking about the benefits of platinum or gold and about how tempted they were to buy something at a sales' presentation, and so I am bringing this to anyone's attention who might be thinking of using Wyndham for retirement vacations. It's a great system, and discount (points) stays are favorable and somewhat available, if you watch often, and especially for off-season traveling.

Platinum owners get 50% discounts on stays with points < 60 days and 10 guest certificates per year, per million. It you own 1,000,001 points, you get 20 GC's per year, that is a savings of nearly $2,000 over paying $99 per GC.

What other resorts has Wyndham taken over that would work for a conversion such as the PAHIO (Kauai) properties and Plantation Resort? Those are the only ones I know of for sure.

 

[Richelle]

No guarantees, of course, but Wyndham is always taking over new resorts, and that is a great "in" for people wanting to convert their current resorts to Club Wyndham. We did this years ago at the PAHIO resorts. I was buying units to use at Bali Hai and Shearwater, where we really enjoyed staying, and the salespeople tried to sell us on Wyndham early on. We stayed in our own unit at Bali Hai and went on a presentation and had some interest but didn't bite. Then when we talked to BocaBum99 (Jim), we thought maybe we should go for it and we did, and not once, but twice.

Wyndham just took over Plantation resort in Surfside, SC. We own weeks there and were approached by the parking pass people, part of the sales' team. But we chose not to go on a presentation because we know that they wouldn't let us "get by" with this conversion again. They would look up our name and tell us it was a no-go for a gift or for an offer of any kind.

Owning 3 bedrooms at the Presidential Villas at Plantation Resort could be a very lucrative Wyndham points deal because if you own a few units in the prime summer months, you could end up as platinum in Club Wyndham for a low cost of buying. The fees are also under $1,000 for a 3 bedroom unit. I don't know what that translates into for points, but if you look at a points' chart in the book or online, the point value would be obvious. They would probably only need you to buy around 168,000 points to convert your Presidential Villas to Club Wyndham. If you own 3 of those, that is a pretty good number to have to convert and can be had for about $2,000 each via resale.

Another good buy is Bali Hai, Ka eo Kai, and Shearwater, and there are some others, too, that are equally beneficial for converting to Wyndham. I am hoping people will add to this thread what they have done to get platinum benefits.

I am sure Wyndham salespeople are going to moan when they see my post. I keep seeing people talking about the benefits of platinum or gold and about how tempted they were to buy something at a sales' presentation, and so I am bringing this to anyone's attention who might be thinking of using Wyndham for retirement vacations. It's a great system, and discount (points) stays are favorable and somewhat available, if you watch often, and especially for off-season traveling.

Platinum owners get 50% discounts on stays with points < 60 days and 10 guest certificates per year, per million. It you own 1,000,001 points, you get 20 GC's per year, that is a savings of nearly $2,000 over paying $99 per GC.

What other resorts has Wyndham taken over that would work for a conversion such as the PAHIO (Kauai) properties and Plantation Resort? Those are the only ones I know of for sure.

If you didn't buy the week direct from Wyndham or didn't buy it from the resort before Wyndham took over, it doesn't count towards VIP. I was looking to buy a couple of weeks direct from a resort that was an affiliate location but was told that even though they were eligible to be converted, they wouldn't count towards VIP because I didn't buy it from Wyndham. This was coming from a Senior manager at owner care who was referred to me by an executive.

 

[Richelle]

No guarantees, of course, but Wyndham is always taking over new resorts, and that is a great "in" for people wanting to convert their current resorts to Club Wyndham. We did this years ago at the PAHIO resorts. I was buying units to use at Bali Hai and Shearwater, where we really enjoyed staying, and the salespeople tried to sell us on Wyndham early on. We stayed in our own unit at Bali Hai and went on a presentation and had some interest but didn't bite. Then when we talked to BocaBum99 (Jim), we thought maybe we should go for it and we did, and not once, but twice.

Wyndham just took over Plantation resort in Surfside, SC. We own weeks there and were approached by the parking pass people, part of the sales' team. But we chose not to go on a presentation because we know that they wouldn't let us "get by" with this conversion again. They would look up our name and tell us it was a no-go for a gift or for an offer of any kind.

Owning 3 bedrooms at the Presidential Villas at Plantation Resort could be a very lucrative Wyndham points deal because if you own a few units in the prime summer months, you could end up as platinum in Club Wyndham for a low cost of buying. The fees are also under $1,000 for a 3 bedroom unit. I don't know what that translates into for points, but if you look at a points' chart in the book or online, the point value would be obvious. They would probably only need you to buy around 168,000 points to convert your Presidential Villas to Club Wyndham. If you own 3 of those, that is a pretty good number to have to convert and can be had for about $2,000 each via resale.

Another good buy is Bali Hai, Ka eo Kai, and Shearwater, and there are some others, too, that are equally beneficial for converting to Wyndham. I am hoping people will add to this thread what they have done to get platinum benefits.

I am sure Wyndham salespeople are going to moan when they see my post. I keep seeing people talking about the benefits of platinum or gold and about how tempted they were to buy something at a sales' presentation, and so I am bringing this to anyone's attention who might be thinking of using Wyndham for retirement vacations. It's a great system, and discount (points) stays are favorable and somewhat available, if you watch often, and especially for off-season traveling.

Platinum owners get 50% discounts on stays with points < 60 days and 10 guest certificates per year, per million. It you own 1,000,001 points, you get 20 GC's per year, that is a savings of nearly $2,000 over paying $99 per GC.

What other resorts has Wyndham taken over that would work for a conversion such as the PAHIO (Kauai) properties and Plantation Resort? Those are the only ones I know of for sure.

Also, it's 15 per 1 million. 30 is you have 1,001,000 points.

You can covert the weeks for a fee. You do not have to buy points. Also confirmed that with the same Senior manager at Owner Care.

 

[55plus]

Time travel back to the early ‘90s and buy a Platinum membership for about $30K from Fairfield, now known as Wyndham Vacation Resorts.

 

[rickandcindy23]

If you didn't buy the week direct from Wyndham or didn't buy it from the resort before Wyndham took over, it doesn't count towards VIP. I was looking to buy a couple of weeks direct from a resort that was an affiliate location but was told that even though they were eligible to be converted, they wouldn't count towards VIP because I didn't buy it from Wyndham. This was coming from a Senior manager at owner care who was referred to me by an executive.

When a resort was mostly sold out by the developer before Wyndham took over, they want the inventory in Wyndham and DO go out of their way to bring weeks into the Wyndham system. I think Plantation Resort, both the Presidential Villas and regular Plantation side are perfect for this conversion. Most of the resort was already sold out. I think there is a possibility of acquiring platinum this same way.

I believe they are still converting PAHIO owners to Wyndham as well, especially Bali Hai and Shearwater, but those are the only ones I know because that is what we did (not just once, but twice). If I hadn't been able to do it, I would not put it out there for others to take advantage of the opportunity.

 

[Richelle]

When a resort was mostly sold out by the developer before Wyndham took over, they want the inventory in Wyndham and DO go out of their way to bring weeks into the Wyndham system. I think Plantation Resort, both the Presidential Villas and regular Plantation side are perfect for this conversion. Most of the resort was already sold out. I think there is a possibility of acquiring platinum this same way.

I believe they are still converting PAHIO owners to Wyndham as well, especially Bali Hai and Shearwater, but those are the only ones I know because that is what we did (not just once, but twice). If I hadn't been able to do it, I would not put it out there for others to take advantage of the opportunity.

Again, straight from Wyndham, if you didn't buy it from them or the developer ( before Wyndham took over) it will not count towards VIP. If you bought it resale, you cannot go platinum this way. This was straight from a senior manager at owner care. I would not recommend someone acquire a week at Plantation resort or Pahio on the resale market if they think it will get them to Platnium. They will be very disappointed.

 

[tschwa2]

Again, straight from Wyndham, if you didn't buy it from them or the developer ( before Wyndham took over) it will not count towards VIP. If you bought it resale, you cannot go platinum this way. This was straight from a senior manager at owner care. I would not recommend someone acquire a week at Plantation resort or Pahio on the resale market if they think it will get them to Platnium. They will be very disappointed.

I think if you have owned for years, even resale, they may not be following the trail far enough to see if it was purchased from the developer; much like the Pahio resale ownerships that may have been coded as buying direct when they weren't (because for a long time the coding didn't mean anything) a current resale owner at Presidential villas/plantation has nothing to lose by trying to get in as VIP. I certainly don't think it is worth the risk with only a slim possibility of working to purchase multiple units at this time.

 

[schoolmarm]

Didn't that PAHIO loophole get closed a few years ago? I remember Ron posting about it.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Didn't that PAHIO loophole get closed a few years ago? I remember Ron posting about it.

It may have. I haven't been on a presentation in about 10 years. But I can tell you that it did work for PAHIO owners and would probably work at any of the resorts Wyndham has recently taken over, the newest being Plantation Resort and Presidential Villas at Plantation Resort.

I don't know why someone would doubt how Rick and I were able to get platinum, and not just once but twice. It was easily accomplished. But I am unsure if Plantation Resort would do the same. It would be interesting to know. The resort would never talk to me about it. I have burned my opportunity, unfortunately.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I think if you have owned for years, even resale, they may not be following the trail far enough to see if it was purchased from the developer; much like the Pahio resale ownerships that may have been coded as buying direct when they weren't (because for a long time the coding didn't mean anything) a current resale owner at Presidential villas/plantation has nothing to lose by trying to get in as VIP. I certainly don't think it is worth the risk with only a slim possibility of working to purchase multiple units at this time.

Yes, it might be risky to attempt it. Acquiring weeks for that purpose would be a mistake, unless the weeks were something you would use anyway. The trading power in TPU's for the weeks is high enough that some would take the risk. The 3 bedrooms generally get 59 TPU's for less than $1,000 in MF's.

The one thing that is good about Wyndham is they do not increase MF's as other resorts do. Our former PAHIO weeks in Wyndham points have had very modest increases over the years. I am glad Pres Villas has low fees and will continue to have low fees, considering they are 3 bed lockoff units.

There was a period of time when we thought our Pres Villas was going to go into the Vistana system. I received a newsletter (or something?) that said they were considering Vistana and Wyndham. I was okay with it, if they had to go somewhere, but Marriott is going to increase fees a lot, it's pretty obvious that is their way, and I am worried about my SBP, so I didn't need to worry about this resort, too.

 

[HitchHiker71]

It may have. I haven't been on a presentation in about 10 years. But I can tell you that it did work for PAHIO owners and would probably work at any of the resorts Wyndham has recently taken over, the newest being Plantation Resort and Presidential Villas at Plantation Resort.

I don't know why someone would doubt how Rick and I were able to get platinum, and not just once but twice. It was easily accomplished. But I am unsure if Plantation Resort would do the same. It would be interesting to know. The resort would never talk to me about it. I have burned my opportunity, unfortunately.

I don’t think anyone was doubting what you did, they were simply saying the loopholes within Wyndham have been removed - which is true. Trust me when I say I have spent the better part of the last year since becoming temp VIPP trying to find a loophole to get up to permanent VIPP, as I drop down to VIPG after 9-30 in just a few days.

I’ve spoken to so many different resorts and people both inside and outside of Wyndham. Quite frankly you get different stories depending on who you speak to. When you ultimately get down to brass tacks, you have to prove that you actually purchased the weeks from the developer and not via resale if you want the converted weeks to count toward VIP. The only instance I’m aware of where you can still acquire resale weeks and have them count toward VIP is via PIC.

I really wish this wasn’t the case, because I would have found some resale weeks and converted them over to Wyndham points and already be at permanent VIPP long ago.

Count yourself lucky that it worked when you did it - because for us newer owners - unless you happen to already own developer weeks at one of the resorts Wyndham is currently converting - what you are proposing won’t work with resale weeks since that loophole has been closed.

Specific to Plantation Resorts, if you do own developer weeks, Wyndham will convert them and they will definitively count toward VIP status. I have two friends that own developer weeks at Plantation Villas in MB and they have both turned down conversion offers from Wyndham within the last year.


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[spackler]

The trading power in TPU's for the weeks is high enough that some would take the risk. The 3 bedrooms generally get 59 TPU's for less than $1,000 in MF's.

Is this RCI #4220? I'm not seeing anything close to 59 TPUs for that. The best I see is 37 for a 3-bedroom in the summer. (Still not bad for the MFs, though)

 

[rickandcindy23]

Is this RCI #4220? I'm not seeing anything close to 59 TPUs for that. The best I see is 37 for a 3-bedroom in the summer. (Still not bad for the MFs, though)

You lock it off and deposit a hotel room and a 2 bedroom unit, separate deposits, and that gets the 59 TPU's. It used to be 101 for the same thing, but RCI of course didn't continue giving that much trading power for the units. All weeks 24-32 get the same number of points. Mine are in RCI Points and are a decent deal for me at about 1 cent per point in MF's. You can tell the hotel room deposit because it has an H next to it.

It used to be that 4th of July week got the most points for the entire summer but no more. Now all summer gets the 59 points. But I think they evened out the trading power to make it more equitable. Maybe.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I don’t think anyone was doubting what you did, they were simply saying the loopholes within Wyndham have been removed - which is true. Trust me when I say I have spent the better part of the last year since becoming temp VIPP trying to find a loophole to get up to permanent VIPP, as I drop down to VIPG after 9-30 in just a few days.

I’ve spoken to so many different resorts and people both inside and outside of Wyndham. Quite frankly you get different stories depending on who you speak to. When you ultimately get down to brass tacks, you have to prove that you actually purchased the weeks from the developer and not via resale if you want the converted weeks to count toward VIP. The only instance I’m aware of where you can still acquire resale weeks and have them count toward VIP is via PIC.

I really wish this wasn’t the case, because I would have found some resale weeks and converted them over to Wyndham points and already be at permanent VIPP long ago.

Count yourself lucky that it worked when you did it - because for us newer owners - unless you happen to already own developer weeks at one of the resorts Wyndham is currently converting - what you are proposing won’t work with resale weeks since that loophole has been closed.

Specific to Plantation Resorts, if you do own developer weeks, Wyndham will convert them and they will definitively count toward VIP status. I have two friends that own developer weeks at Plantation Villas in MB and they have both turned down conversion offers from Wyndham within the last year.


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So the loophole is over and done? That is really a shame. I would expect after Covid for them to maybe bring it back. It worked, it got more people into the sales' presentation.

I made the mistake of not listening to a Shell salesperson telling me that they would convert me to the highest status before Wyndham took over. I was offered a great deal. It would be a benefit to me today, had I done it. It was cheap. It was Shell's last ditch attempt to pull me into the high status (don't remember what it was called), and I blew it. They reduced the price, agreed to bring all of my points in as one bunch, and I said no. Rick left me in charge of it, and I assumed it was just another salesperson's lie. I keep telling myself it could still have been a lie, but I know someone who did it and they are happy campers. All of my Shell contracts are resale and received free use, so I am not complaining.

 

[ronparise]

Heres a little historical perspective.
Some years ago the OP told me how to get to Platinum cheaply by converting weeks at the Pahio resorts to points but you had to do it with a Pahio salesman. . Another tugger told me the same thing and that you could convert an unlimited number of Pahio weeks with one small purchase from Wyndham and gave me the name of a certain salesman that could make it happen. I contacted that salesman who told me that he expected the loophole would be closed and that only certain Pahio weeks would convert to vip eligible points , So I took the risk and bought eight Pahio weeks on ebay, got back to that salesman and was told that the loophole was being tightened and only 3 weeks could be converted with one purchase. I did it twice, and got two platinum accounts with two 126,000 point eoy contracts

Not long after I got a call from another tugger who was at one of the Pahio resorts asking me about the loophole and the salesman. I told him what I knew, and I believe he is a Platinum owner now

Sometime later I tried to do it again and was told that the loophole had been further tightened and now instead of a 126000 eoy contract to convert 3 weeks, I had to buy a 235000 point annual contract (Instead of $12000 it would cost me more like $35000)

Not long after that I learned that my guy had left Wyndham and you could no longer "convert" your way to VIP. But I found a better (cheaper) path to VIP. Working with another tugger I figured out that the Pahio weeks I had converted to VIP eligible points, could be transferred to someone else and retain their VIP eligibility. and that it wasnt just Pahio weeks. Any affiliate resort week that had been converted to points would count toward VIP. We pinned this down to any points contract number that began with 00080... would count toward VIP


Flash forward to the great suspension of August 2016.... there were three things I was doing that really upset Wyndham 1) the way I used the credit pool, 2) the way I used cancel, rebook, cancel, upgrade. 3) that I had 3 VIP accounts without buying anything from Wyndham ( and 2 more spending less than $25000) It is my understanding that they have closed all three loopholes, two by changing the rules, but Im not sure how they closed the third. I think it's possible that they didnt change the coding on all those affiliate contracts. Maybe they just added a manual check when affiliate contracts are transferred. And as turnover happens in the transfer dept they will forget to do that check.. By the way the wyndham attorney that I worked with was part of the transfer dept, and he is gone.

If I was still doing this wyndham thing, Id be buying affiliate contracts to test my theory

 

[rickandcindy23]

Nice to see you here, Ron.

 

[HitchHiker71]

So the loophole is over and done? That is really a shame. I would expect after Covid for them to maybe bring it back. It worked, it got more people into the sales' presentation.

I made the mistake of not listening to a Shell salesperson telling me that they would convert me to the highest status before Wyndham took over. I was offered a great deal. It would be a benefit to me today, had I done it. It was cheap. It was Shell's last ditch attempt to pull me into the high status (don't remember what it was called), and I blew it. They reduced the price, agreed to bring all of my points in as one bunch, and I said no. Rick left me in charge of it, and I assumed it was just another salesperson's lie. I keep telling myself it could still have been a lie, but I know someone who did it and they are happy campers. All of my Shell contracts are resale and received free use, so I am not complaining.

I would hesitate to say it’s 100% done - but I think we need to clearly state that it’s “at your own risk” for anyone to attempt to obtain a resale transfer week as chances are it will not be VIP eligible for conversion. I have not been able to find a way to get it to work in my travels. I will say that on multiple occasions I started out my due diligence processes being told it was possible - but then upon further research ultimately found it would not have actually worked.

I suspect that it may still be possible if Wyndham really wants the inventory at the resort in question - and if a developer purchase from Wyndham is baked into the deal. I also suspect something like this would have to occur locally at the resort sales center if it were possible - where you will typically pay a higher $/1000 for the developer points purchase.


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[bendadin]

So the loophole is over and done?

Yes. I purchased a Pahio and it took forever to process. Call after call, nobody had a reason as to why this couldn't transfer. Richelle mentioned something about them closing the loophole. So I continued to wait for that Bali Hai. When it did come in, it was named "converted odd fixed week" and not "AFFILIATE" as it had actually been coded on the estoppel. Salespeople will still look at that Bali Hai and argue that it will be developer. Not anymore.

 

[ronparise]

Yes. I purchased a Pahio and it took forever to process. Call after call, nobody had a reason as to why this couldn't transfer. Richelle mentioned something about them closing the loophole. So I continued to wait for that Bali Hai. When it did come in, it was named "converted odd fixed week" and not "AFFILIATE" as it had actually been coded on the estoppel. Salespeople will still look at that Bali Hai and argue that it will be developer. Not anymore.

Some Pahio converted weeks would count towards VIP and some wouldnt. The distinction had to do (i think) with when that week was originally sold. and whether wyndham converted it to points before they sold it In any case what I learned is that any converted week that carried a 00080... contract number would count toward VIP

So my question for you is... what are the first five digits of your Pahio converted week

 

[VAlegacy]

Some Pahio converted weeks would count towards VIP and some wouldnt. The distinction had to do (i think) with when that week was originally sold. and whether wyndham converted it to points before they sold it In any case what I learned is that any converted week that carried a 00080... contract number would count toward VIP

So my question for you is... what are the first five digits of your Pahio converted week

Just ask them if it counts towards VIP?

 

[ronparise]

View attachment 27016


Just ask them if it counts towards VIP?

Now buy a couple more of those 00080 contracts and see what happens

probably nothing but ......

 

[Richelle]

Some Pahio converted weeks would count towards VIP and some wouldnt. The distinction had to do (i think) with when that week was originally sold. and whether wyndham converted it to points before they sold it In any case what I learned is that any converted week that carried a 00080... contract number would count toward VIP

So my question for you is... what are the first five digits of your Pahio converted week

My affiliate contract for Bay Club starts 00080, and it is flagged as resale. I did confirm that with a telesales rep. I'm ok with it because the maintenance fees are in line with Canterbury.

 

[bendadin]

Now buy a couple more of those 00080 contracts and see what happens

probably nothing but ......

That was my long wait for transfer after Voyager, 00800. Coded as resale although sales seems to think that it is not. So if I bought on their assumptions, it wouldn't make it past corporate. Still Bali Hai so MF are pretty good.