Timeshare Traveler Episode 112... Wyndham Worldmark Dec 22 Owner Update

[Clifbell]

With all the travel I am doing staying in timeshares full time, I get a lot of opportunities for Owner Updates. This is good especially with regards to Club Wyndham and Worldmark as they are having to compete with Marriott and Hilton which forces them to innovate. Today's video is from my December 2022 owner update.

The big news was that I got a call from Worldmark Corporate about a new Founders level. I will go through all that I learned about the new level. The founders level has existed in Club Wyndham and is finally being added.

I went to a Club Wyndham owner update hoping to learn about an option to upgrade to the Founder's level in Worldmark and compare that to adding Club Wyndham. I will discuss the tradeoff as I understand them in the video. Plus as a bonus I did a video demo on how to find inventory for Club Wyndham locations in the Worldmark site.... This saves lots of time when booking Club Wyndham locations.

Timeshare Traveler Episode 112... Wyndham Worldmark Dec 22 Owner Update

Map of all my timeshare reviews

 

[cbyrne1174]

With all the travel I am doing staying in timeshares full time, I get a lot of opportunities for Owner Updates. This is good especially with regards to Club Wyndham and Worldmark as they are having to compete with Marriott and Hilton which forces them to innovate. Today's video is from my December 2022 owner update.

The big news was that I got a call from Worldmark Corporate about a new Founders level. I will go through all that I learned about the new level. The founders level has existed in Club Wyndham and is finally being added.

I went to a Club Wyndham owner update hoping to learn about an option to upgrade to the Founder's level in Worldmark and compare that to adding Club Wyndham. I will discuss the tradeoff as I understand them in the video. Plus as a bonus I did a video demo on how to find inventory for Club Wyndham locations in the Worldmark site.... This saves lots of time when booking Club Wyndham locations.

Timeshare Traveler Episode 112... Wyndham Worldmark Dec 22 Owner Update

Map of all my timeshare reviews

BTW Club Pass is going up to $125 in 2023. I watched your video. If I were you I would just add Club Wyndham resale at one of the lowest MF resorts. Club Pass is too expensive for what it is. At $125 per reservation, you're better off just managing 2 accounts.

Worldmark 2023 Annual Budget

See the updated rates and fees plus more resort news from WorldMark by Wyndham.

worldmark.wyndhamdestinations.com

 

[Sandy VDH]

BTW Club Pass is going up to $125 in 2023. I watched your video. If I were you I would just add Club Wyndham resale at one of the lowest MF resorts. Club Pass is too expensive for what it is. At $125 per reservation, you're better off just managing 2 accounts.

That is the route that I took. I am a VIPP on Wyndham side, but live in TX where there are plenty of WMs available, even during bonus time. So I acquired the smallest WM account (5K) just to mainly use BT, IS, or MM programs. Saves me the $99 or soon to be $125 fee per booking.

 

[Clifbell]

BTW Club Pass is going up to $125 in 2023. I watched your video. If I were you I would just add Club Wyndham resale at one of the lowest MF resorts. Club Pass is too expensive for what it is. At $125 per reservation, you're better off just managing 2 accounts.

Worldmark 2023 Annual Budget

See the updated rates and fees plus more resort news from WorldMark by Wyndham.

worldmark.wyndhamdestinations.com

That was one of the options I was looking at... Thanks for the heads up on the $125

 

[Clifbell]

That is the route that I took. I am a VIPP on Wyndham side, but live in TX where there are plenty of WMs available, even during bonus time. So I acquired the smallest WM account (5K) just to mainly use BT, IS, or MM programs. Saves me the $99 or soon to be $125 fee per booking.

Excellent advice....

 

[lotus921v]

Excellent advice....

What is BT, IS, and MM?

 

[learnalot]

What is BT, IS, and MM?

Bonus Time, Inventory Specials and Monday Madness.

 

[HitchHiker71]

That is the route that I took. I am a VIPP on Wyndham side, but live in TX where there are plenty of WMs available, even during bonus time. So I acquired the smallest WM account (5K) just to mainly use BT, IS, or MM programs. Saves me the $99 or soon to be $125 fee per booking.

Just curious since I don't own Worldmark at present - how much are the MFs on that 5k WM contract? Just trying to find the breakeven point if we assume $125/Club Pass transaction - how many WM Club Pass reservations would I need to make before I surpass the annual MFs for the minimum WM contract? I realize there are other benefits to owning a WM contract (bonus time, etc.).

 

[CO skier]

Just curious since I don't own Worldmark at present - how much are the MFs on that 5k WM contract? Just trying to find the breakeven point if we assume $125/Club Pass transaction - how many WM Club Pass reservations would I need to make before I surpass the annual MFs for the minimum WM contract? I realize there are other benefits to owning a WM contract (bonus time, etc.).

2023 mf rates:

5,000 credits $666.94 ($0.133/credit) includes 1 complimentary housekeeping and 1 complimentary guest certificate

10,000 credits $1,072.42 ($0.107/credit) includes 1 complimentary HK and 1 complimentary gc

20,000 credits $1,883.38 ($0.094/credit) includes 2 complimentary HKs and 2 complimentary gc

As with Club Wyndham, there is a minimum program fee, plus mf/credit, which explains the wide disparity between 5k and 20k per credit cost.

It is not just the $125/exchange fee to consider. At most dual branded resorts, a WorldMark unit offers some noticeable cost savings versus the same size unit in Club Wyndham.

Introducing WYNDHAM Club Pass

In my view, they are taking something away from me. As a WM owner, I used to be able to book some affiliates the same as any other WM resort, without any $99 fee. The inventory and resorts were not guaranteed year to year. Some were added, some taken away. But I still had the choice to use...

tugbbs.com

 

[Sandy VDH]

@HitchHiker71

WM has regular points and Bonus opportunities. There are 3 different Type of bonus opportunities, Bonus Time (BT), Inventory Special (IS) and Monday Madness (MM). Bonus time is anything within 14 days from checkin for Driveable locations, and 30 days from checkin for Exotic Locations. Inventory Special is anything with 90 days of checkin, at various places on the list. (see https://worldmark.wyndhamdestinations.com/us/en/deals-and-offers/resort-deals/inventory-specials for the list). There is also Monday Madness list (see https://worldmark.wyndhamdestinations.com/us/en/deals-and-offers/resort-deals/monday-madness) which varies most Mondays, and is available for booking Anytime in the next 11 months at that resort, but only for that MM duration. It is a rotation list. This weeks list has TX, so I could book anytime in the next 11 months out. I likely will book something this week.

2022 MF is $0.1236 per point, so $618.06 for 5000 points per year. However so far I have only use some feature of Bonus Time (Regular BT and Inventory Specials) which are both only $0.078 per point and Bonus time includes a HK credits. There is a average minimum rate of $80 per night, but so far I have hit that on all of the bookings I did, mainly because I book larger units over the weekend.

I have yet to actually book something with my actual points. However my plan is to use those for harder to get locations that likely will not have MM or IS inventory available, or in situations where I am coming up short on the $80 minimum per night charge. But so far Bonus Opportunities are cheaper than my MF and also incude HK, which makes it cheaper than regular points for me and for the resorts that I find available during bonus. So far I am on owner since April 2022, all 5 reservations I have made this year have ended up being IS bookings. I often book during MM which is $0.09 per point and then rebook at the IS rate if the unit I want is still available, the 2 times I have booked MM it was still available when IS season opened up. In that case I booked IS rate unit and cancel and get a refund on my MM booking.

I just booked last weekend in new Braunfels in a 3 BR D unit, it costs $358.80 but TX has taxes, so $405 including taxes, for a booking that was 4600 Worldmark points. What would that same unit cost in Wyndham points? January is the same time period, so check with Wyndham as it is available. I didn't realize that the Club pass is only checking availability, you still have to call to book. That sucks.

So I look at it as access to points without the annual committment of more points ownership.