Thanks Jan. A for instance would be this September, we are heading out with the trailer and going through Montana, up to Washington state, then down the coast as far as Napa. Then turning back east towards home. With the trailer we stop where we want and stay or leave whenever we want. Slow paced for sure. I just retired in Aug. We added CWA points and traded Durango (high MF) points. We bought a PIC from Timeshare Nation that got us to silver. I want to be able to head out on short notice for a week here or a few days there to escape winter cold or summer heat. (All while driving.) We have grandkids close, and a farm to take care of besides our home. I don’t see us using more than 3 or 4 weeks max. I think I’d be happy with gold, maybe even silver.
The more I think about it the more I think we will just sit tight, and rent if we need more weeks. The telesales rep has been pushing me to add the CWA points because I’ll be grandfathered into whatever gold is going to be. She was totally amazed I didn’t jump on the cyber Monday deal, which is still available I guess. lol
She did get me thinking though. Thanks for the advice.
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It's not like you have to decide anything right now. The new VIP levels don't happen until late 2020 and it will be some months yet before the final details on the level benefits are officially announced. We do know for sure that current owners will be be grandfathered into the new point levels and names when the changes become effective. This was all discussed at the owner's meeting in Austin at the beginning of November. Some of us had the opportunity to talk to the execs after the meeting. Unlike sales they are and have to be extremely careful about what they say.
One thing to take into consideration is that from what you said you have your kid or kids and grandkids who can also benefit from being able to stay at the timeshare resorts. Your ownership with the VIP benefits is something that can be passed down to them should they choose to accept it. You can leave your timeshare to someone in your will but that doesn't obligate them to accept it. So that isn't a concern.
The difference between silver and gold is significant. The discount at 60 days increases from 25% to 35% and the upgrade window goes from 30 days to 45 days. The extra 10% savings on the number of points needed can make a lot of difference in what a reservation costs you in the maintenance fees on the number of points you use for a reservation. What you see for upgrades is significantly better at 45 days than 30 days. And platinum gets a 50% discount with upgrades at 60 days.
Silver doesn't get unlimited transactions but gold does. Those transaction fees are $19 each after the couple of free ones you get with silver. When you are making reservations hoping to get a stay to come together having unlimited transaction fees is a big deal. At many resorts it can be fairly easy to get the Sunday through Thursday stays with the discount and upgrade too. You can book the Friday and Saturday at full points or book the larger unit you need in the discount window if a smaller unit isn't available for the discount and upgrade. Many people are very successful at making stays come together to use as few points as possible. People will build a stay in two to four day increments and that takes more transactions fees if you are having to pay for them on the chance you can make the stay come together. As long as all the pieces of the stay are in exactly the same unit size and type most resorts will do everything they can to keep you in the same unit to keep their housekeeping expenses down.
From silver to gold the number of free guest certificates increases from 5 to 10. At $99 each that is a savings of $495 a year if you are using guest certificates. Platinum gets 15 per million points.
Gold and platinum can also request specific units when they make a reservation. There are certain resorts we stay at that I want a unit that gives us a view of the ocean, lake, mountains, etc. If you aren't familiar with the unit numbers at a resort you can call the resort to ask them. It helps if you don't call at a time when they are busy checking people in, like don't call between 2pm-6pm.
When I talked about the disadvantages of having a motor home or travel trailer that is more of a concern if you would have a major health problem or be older which would make it difficult to do the driving or setting up at the campgrounds. Some older people transition from their motor homes and travel trailers to the timeshares when those things become too much for them.
We know and and in our stays have met people who travel with their motorhomes or travel trailers. They really like having the occasional stay at the timeshares during their travels. That gives them the best of both worlds. If you farm I'm guessing that you have down time in January and February. Before my husband retired his territory was all of Florida south of Sarasota and across to Fort Pierce. We also own at non Wyndham resorts that give us points through RCI. There are so many great resorts in Florida available through RCI. When I would find reservations at resorts that appealed to us if my husband had a few days work in that area I would confirm the reservation and off we went. During those stays we met a lot of people in our age group and older who farm and like to come to Florida in their winter down time. On our recent stay in Hawaii we met a couple from Canada who spend time in Arizona and Mexico during the winter months.
The people we've met during our travels have been a bad influence on us. Hearing them talk about some of the places they've been gives us more ideas.
You may find yourselves using your timeshare more than you think. I know our first year of retirement we were still kind of finding our feet. But like I said you have time to figure it out and think about it.
