Updates and “gifts"

[Manzana]

I know this is not the norm, but my wife and I are very good at saying no and we like the Wyndham Reward points that are given at owner updates. I won’t go for less than 30k Reward Points. I am just curious is there a minimum amount of time that has to pass before we are allowed to go and be given another “gift”. Would we be able to go every time that we book a vacation. We are gold VIP and have about 11 vacations planned this year so far. We do shorter stays Sunday- Thursday and many trips we end up booking at less than 2 months so we are getting discounted Points use.

 

[OutSkiing]

We traveled quite often last year with rarely more than 2 month interval between trips and with some trips hitting several Wyndhams. They always invite us for owner updates .. never seems to matter that we've recently been.

Bob

 

[bestpal38]

I know this is not the norm, but my wife and I are very good at saying no and we like the Wyndham Reward points that are given at owner updates. I won’t go for less than 30k Reward Points. I am just curious is there a minimum amount of time that has to pass before we are allowed to go and be given another “gift”. Would we be able to go every time that we book a vacation. We are gold VIP and have about 11 vacations planned this year so far. We do shorter stays Sunday- Thursday and many trips we end up booking at less than 2 months so we are getting discounted Points use.

Well here is my story from today. Actually Thursday. I live 2 hours out of Las Vegas. I am there at least once a month. I actually went this weekend, and will be there again next weekend. After checking in Thursday, they asked when I wanted breakfast. I politely told them I was coming back next weekend, and I would just do an update then. They said, why not do both. I am well known, and not well liked by the sales weasels at Grand Desert, so I said, "If I come 2 weekends in a row, they will run me out of town. The supervisor at the parking pass desk said, you are within your rights to do it, as long as there is a break in the stay. So they went ahead, and signed me up for today, and for next Sunday. I don't do it for less than $150 gift card, so that's what I'm getting/got. So I walk in today (I'm well known, not well liked), and they try their damndest to get me not to do it today, but do it next week instead. I politely said, "No, I will do it both times". We sat through the group presentation, which was very short, and we were passed off to 2 different sales weasels. The second of which was a woman I had not seen before. Well she verbally abused me in a subtle way, but my wife and I kept smiling, and told her we are happy with what we have, and have no intention of buying anything. She proceeded to ask if we really needed the $100 that bad, and I told her yes, and besides, it's $150. She got up, and said we needed to sit there until 9, because wyndham was spending a lot of money on me, we needed to sit there until 9 (About 20 more minutes). About 5 minutes later, another gentleman said we could go get our gift. Strange thing was, they used to have orange juice, and mini muffins with breakfast, but they quit serving that. Just Eggs, sausage, and potatoes. Coffee, and water. So if they hate me already, they are going to really hate me when I show up again next week.

 

[Manzana]

I love it. I am kind of like you. I think once we get enough Reward points we may go for the Gift cards but for us, I see more value in the Reward points for now. I would love to be so close. I think for dollar value on MF 150 gift card and 30k Reward points work out to be about the same. I am about 3.5 from Vegas but there are a few resorts close to us that have a low cost in points so I look forward to more. short trips and collecting the “gifts"

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

I know this is not the norm, but my wife and I are very good at saying no and we like the Wyndham Reward points that are given at owner updates. I won’t go for less than 30k Reward Points. I am just curious is there a minimum amount of time..........so we are getting discounted Points use.

There is a TUG thread about fastest / shortest time & best level gift(s)

Lots of posts on it - so you may not be “the norm “- but you have lots of company .

I once read another post that basically said - “ I eat breakfast everyday ..... free is good / saves me $ 6.95.....

 

[OutSkiing]

Chicago update went way downhill in the food department this January. We just got a cup of coffee .. not even a plastic wrapped roll. We did get $125 card and some rewards points.

Bob

 

[Manzana]

There is a TUG thread about fastest / shortest time & best level gift(s)

Lots of posts on it - so you may not be “the norm “- but you have lots of company .

I once read another post that basically said - “ I eat breakfast everyday ..... free is good / saves me $ 6.95.....

I will look for that thread

 

[kaljor]

I refused to go for my first year of ownership, but since they kept asking, I relented. I've had one non pleasant experience, the rest were either neutral or pleasant. I know that I have exactly the amount of points I want, and frankly, I can't actually afford to spend $15k or more on what I consider to be a luxury purchase. So it's easy for me to say no politely. I think of the Gift Cards as defraying my annual maintenance costs. I've never been offered Rewards points, but I'd be open to that as well. 30k points would be a higher cash value than the Gift Card. In fact it could be a lot higher, depending on where you use them.

 

[Manzana]

I just tell them that I won’t come for less than 30k and if they balk then I say that is the only way I can get my wife to come so thank you but no thank you. They always come back and say they will do it for the 30k. Last trip we got 30k and $25 resort cash to spend while we were there.

 

[HitchHiker71]

I just tell them that I won’t come for less than 30k and if they balk then I say that is the only way I can get my wife to come so thank you but no thank you. They always come back and say they will do it for the 30k. Last trip we got 30k and $25 resort cash to spend while we were there.

This is pretty much what we usually do as well. Either 30k WR points or 15k plus some other local bennies dependent upon the specific resort. We were just in AC this weekend and took 15k WR points plus free parking and a GC. We feel the WR points are the best option as many of the hotel stays per night are around 300/night if not more during high season.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[spackler]

I'm willing to do updates, but my wife isn't. At check-in, when they're trying to rope us into an update, I always say "my wife isn't here; this is my girlfriend, can I just go alone?"

So far they haven't let me attend solo.

 

[Crafty71]

Last summer, I was declined an update because my previous update had been less than fourteen (14) days earlier. I was told a minimum of two (2) weeks between updates. This was at Smugglers Notch (VT).

My wife also hates the updates, but last summer, they let me attend solo twice (because she was not there both times...weekends with friends). I was also informed that a shorter stay is worth a higher reward (I guess because you are devoting a higher % of vacation time to attend an update).

Cheers!

 

[bestpal38]

I just tell them that I won’t come for less than 30k and if they balk then I say that is the only way I can get my wife to come so thank you but no thank you. They always come back and say they will do it for the 30k. Last trip we got 30k and $25 resort cash to spend while we were there.

 

[bestpal38]

I just tell them that I won’t come for less than 30k and if they balk then I say that is the only way I can get my wife to come so thank you but no thank you. They always come back and say they will do it for the 30k. Last trip we got 30k and $25 resort cash to spend while we were there.

I need to see if I can find a new ceiling. Maybe I'm selling myself short at $150

 

[Manzana]

I'm willing to do updates, but my wife isn't. At check-in, when they're trying to rope us into an update, I always say "my wife isn't here; this is my girlfriend, can I just go alone?"

So far they haven't let me attend solo.

I wonder if you had your wife in the car and said you were by yourself. I was told if my wife was on property we had to attend together. I wonder if She is not what would happen.

 

[Manzana]

I need to see if I can find a new ceiling. Maybe I'm selling myself short at $150

I think the $150 is the most given in cash however I know you can get them to add to it with other things. The points work out to be the best value since you can get such high value rooms at the Hotels worldwide

 

[markb53]

I know this is not the norm, but my wife and I are very good at saying no and we like the Wyndham Reward points that are given at owner updates. I won’t go for less than 30k Reward Points. I am just curious is there a minimum amount of time that has to pass before we are allowed to go and be given another “gift”. Would we be able to go every time that we book a vacation. We are gold VIP and have about 11 vacations planned this year so far. We do shorter stays Sunday- Thursday and many trips we end up booking at less than 2 months so we are getting discounted Points use.

A couple of years ago I did 3 updates in a week at 3 different Wyndham resorts. On the second one I told them I had just done an update a couple of days before and they didn’t care. On the third one I let them know I had done 2 others that same week and they upped the ante by added a free van tour for 4 of the area in addition to $100 gift card.

 

[Manzana]

Love it. We have 2 reservations this coming weekend in Anaheim. One at Dolphins Cove the other at Wyndham Anaheim. Hoping to do one each day wold be nice to walk away from the weekend up 60k in Reward points.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

The best deal we ever got was about 2000 pesos (a little under $US 1000 at the time) for the Grand Mayan in Puerto Vallarta. We were at a popular restaurant mid-afternoon (slow time, hardly anybody inside) and the hostess was also working as a OPC. Everytime she came by to see if we needed anything else, she upped the offer. When she go to $2000 we said OK.

It was the Grand Mayan. Most high pressure presentation we've ever done. Wasn't worth the money.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

The best deal we ever got was about 2000 pesos (a little under $US 1000 at the time) for the Grand Mayan in Puerto Vallarta. .....
It was the Grand Mayan. Most high pressure presentation we've ever done. Wasn't worth the money.

Vida Vacations - has that reputation. / glad I own the “ best “ .
LOL

FYI - Vidanta / Vida - does a lot less cash back these days / mostly resort credits etc . to exchangers
staying on property .

 

[bestpal38]

Love it. We have 2 reservations this coming weekend in Anaheim. One at Dolphins Cove the other at Wyndham Anaheim. Hoping to do one each day wold be nice to walk away from the weekend up 60k in Reward points.

A friend of mine who is a Wyndham owner is at the Grand Desert in Vegas this week. She told me she signed up for $100. She's behind on her payments however, and said nobody would even talk to her, so she sat at a table for an hour, then went and collected her $100. Such a strange company.

 

[easyrider]

We have attended Worldmark by Wyndham presentations in the past. They really are not worth the time, imo, so we rarely go to the "update". The last one we attended was ok. A quick warm up , a short film and a sales person. Very professional lasting about a hour. The only thing I learned is that we can donate points to the disabled Veterans. Wyndham then uses these points to have disabled Veterans enjoy a stay at the Worldmark resorts. I thought this was a very cool idea but then thought that the motivation is actually an attempt to sell memberships to Veterans.

Bill

 

[kaljor]

Hey does Wyndham offer Gift Cards to non owners to get them to attend a sales meeting? The reason I ask is that I booked a stay at Bonnet Creek later this year for my cousin and his wife and I was thinking over how to explain to him how to say no at the parking pass desk and how persistent they can be.

But then I thought what if he would like to pick up an easy $100? Maybe just let him know that he can try to negotiate a GC. And of course let him know of the high pressure sales techniques they use at the sales event. He's not stupid by any means, but any of us who are unprepared for what's coming can be vulnerable.

So can a non-owner get the same incentive that we owners get, namely an Amex Gift Card?

 

[montygz]

When you visit the parking pass desk, they will tell you what the incentive is in an effort to get you to come to the presentation, "owner update" or whatever they are calling the high-pressure sales pitch.

I've never done a pitch at Bonnet Creek because it just isn't worth it. Time is money on vacation and the usual incentive -- a $100 gift card --just doesn't make sense considering its cutting into the money my family has spent to visit Disney Parks.

Plus, I know I would never buy, so why take a seat away from someone who is truly interested?

I have done pitches elsewhere. We did one that saved us several hundred dollars on tickets. The pain was worth it for that one, but the incentives at Bonnet Creek seem pitiful. Perhaps if they offer half-off Disney tickets I may be swayed, but you'll never see that.

The best argument I can think of is, "look around at this beautiful, multimillion-dollar resort, built with money collected from people who "just wanted to get a free $100 AMEX card."

 

[talkamotta]

Yes Wyndham will give a gift card to non owners. I own at Pahio but they don't consider me an owner because I bought before wyndham acquire the Pahio resorts. I have gone to their sales meetings before and my husband just gets really mad. Last month we went to Vegas with my step son and his wife. My daughter in law and I went down as friends. Not married. She wanted to see what the program was like. We both had the choice of either $150 gc or a week vacation and $75. We took the latter but should have taken the $150. The sales presentation was not hard core at all. We did not buy but I came home and bought on ebay. .........why is it that when 2 women are traveling together they assume we are gay? I'm 65 and she's 40, am I like her sugar momma. That's what my husband calls me. Cougar sugar momma bcuz he's 6 weeks younger than me.