What is the most efficient amount of points?

[bendadin]

I want to pick up a WM resale contract. So if I wanted only one contract (and maybe deposit to II) what size contract should I get?

 

[Eric B]

There are a number of different schools of thought on this. From the perspective of just getting access to the ability to book bonus time, Monday Madness, etc., as cash stays without needing the housekeeping (HK) tokens, a 5K WM account would get you that at the lowest annual cost. It does have about the highest cost per credit as a result of the formula used to set the dues, but you can alleviate that by using a low MF non-WM TS through the Exchange Plus program (similar to the Club Wyndham PIC program, but available to resale owners); for a 2 BR Red week deposited into RCI plus a $129 fee you can get 8K WM credits plus one HK and one guest certificate. You can do that with four weeks per year; my experience is that I can get credits, HK, and GC for less than my WM account's native ones through the judicious use of other TS.

Other considerations would be multiples of 10K to maximize your HK and GC allotment. Overall, it really depends on how you plan to use the account. You will also hear some recommendations for owning more than one account in order to have more access to waitlists, etc.

 

[K2Quick]

It kind of depends on how much you plan on using it. 10K will get you a week in a 2BR in red season at most resorts. That same 10K will allow you to trade into a 2BR high season week in either RCI or II. You can rent in or out up to twice the number of credits in your account (so for example, a 10K account could have up to 20K credits transferred from another WM owner) and lately the credits have been obtainable for quite a bit less than maintenance fees. Given that, I'd probably buy no larger than a 10K account unless you plan to use more than 3 high season weeks per year.

 

[DaveNV]

To tag on to the above posts, you may want to look at the credits required to stay at the resorts you expect you'll want to visit, and buy accordingly. For me, a 12K account worked best. But with the options to borrow credits ahead and renting credits from others, you can book into just about anything available to you, if you don't need to do the same thing the following year. If you do, you can get yourself into a perpetual "borrowing ahead" situation, which can be a challenge if you want a second vacation in the same use year.

Also, it goes without saying, to do your research on where you expect you'll want to vacation. Looking at a WorldMark resort map, they're located all over the world, but resale buyers aren't generally able to book the South Pacific or Australian resorts. Some WM The Club options won't be available to you unless you buy from the Developer. Be sure to do your due diligence. Buyer beware.

Dave

 

[bendadin]

There are a number of different schools of thought on this. From the perspective of just getting access to the ability to book bonus time, Monday Madness, etc., as cash stays without needing the housekeeping (HK) tokens, a 5K WM account would get you that at the lowest annual cost. It does have about the highest cost per credit as a result of the formula used to set the dues, but you can alleviate that by using a low MF non-WM TS through the Exchange Plus program (similar to the Club Wyndham PIC program, but available to resale owners); for a 2 BR Red week deposited into RCI plus a $129 fee you can get 8K WM credits plus one HK and one guest certificate. You can do that with four weeks per year; my experience is that I can get credits, HK, and GC for less than my WM account's native ones through the judicious use of other TS.

Other considerations would be multiples of 10K to maximize your HK and GC allotment. Overall, it really depends on how you plan to use the account. You will also hear some recommendations for owning more than one account in order to have more access to waitlists, etc.

I've not heard of this. Do I have to have a WM account to begin with? And can I then trade into II or just use in WM? I've got a Wyndham account and an RCI account so I have no lack of travel options. I just want MORE travel options.

 

[geist1223]

Remember that in addition to Booking with Points Worldmark has 3 cash options. They are Inventory Specials, Bonus Time, and Monday Madness. So named because the list of available Resorts normally changes on Mondays. Inventory Specials change periodically. They are mainly midweek but some places will include weekends. Bonus Time is for short fuzed stays.

You get 1 Housekeeping Credit for 5,000 to 19,999 Points. At 20,000 you get a 2nd Housekkeping Credit and then an additional one for every 10,000 Points. You get 1 Guest Certificate for every 10,000 Points or part thereof. So an Account with 10,000 Points gets 1 Guest Certificate. An Account with 11,000 Points gets 2 Guest Certificates.

The Maintenance Fee schedule is set up in 2,500 Point Blocks. So a person with 9,000 Points would pay the same yearly gross Maintenance Fee as a person with 10,000 Points.

Also while your gross amount of Maintenance Fee will go up the more Points you own. The amount of Maintenance Fee per Point goes down as you own more Points.

Each Account is limited to the number of Wait Lists (4) per Account. There are also limitations on Bonus Time and Monday Madness per Account. So the there can be advantages to having multiple Accounts. But your Gross Maintenance Fees would be a bit larger.

To use the "PIC" like Program you have to have a Worldmark Account.

There are active sales of WM Accounts on EBay, TUG, and www.wmowners.com/forum. I have found the least cost is on EBAY. When I last looked at WM Accounts for sale on TUG all the WM owners appear to over value their accounts.There is also an active market for renting 1 time use Points on www.wmowners.com/forum. This is a site for Owners by Owners. There is no tie to Wyndham or Worldmark the Club. As someone else mentioned there is a 2X limitation on rental Points in/out.

 

[easyrider]

I think 7500 points is best on small accounts. The MF is the same for 6000 - 7500 points. Even so, I like multiple 10,000 point WM accounts the best.

Bill

 

[cbyrne1174]

I want to pick up a WM resale contract. So if I wanted only one contract (and maybe deposit to II) what size contract should I get?

Whenever you make your decision, make sure you weigh in getting a legacy Marriott week or DC trust points. The good Marriott weeks aren't on II to non Marriott owners because of Marriott priority. I want Worldmark more than Marriott for financial reasons, but if I could afford it, I would prefer to own Marriott over Worldmark to expand my options beyond just Club Wyndham. I probably will own all three once I'm more financially stable, but if I were in your situation, I'd want to expand to Marriott more because the resorts are exponentially nicer. Just look at Marriott Maui Ocean Club vs. Worldmark Kihei and you will see what I mean. Both are on Maui (which Club Wyndham doesn't have a property there).

If you just want to be able to book the Worldmark only prime locations (Fiji, Yellowstone, etc) a 5k account is your best bet because you can just rent credits on WMowners.com up to double your annual allotment, so in reality you can book up to 15,000 credits a year with a 5k account for the same costs as owning 15k credits. It just requires you to know how to rent credits from trusted members on WMowners.

 

[bendadin]

Whenever you make your decision, make sure you weigh in getting a legacy Marriott week or DC trust points. The good Marriott weeks aren't on II to non Marriott owners because of Marriott priority. I want Worldmark more than Marriott for financial reasons, but if I could afford it, I would prefer to own Marriott over Worldmark to expand my options beyond just Club Wyndham. I probably will own all three once I'm more financially stable, but if I were in your situation, I'd want to expand to Marriott more because the resorts are exponentially nicer. Just look at Marriott Maui Ocean Club vs. Worldmark Kihei and you will see what I mean. Both are on Maui (which Club Wyndham doesn't have a property there).

If you just want to be able to book the Worldmark only prime locations (Fiji, Yellowstone, etc) a 5k account is your best bet because you can just rent credits on WMowners.com up to double your annual allotment, so in reality you can book up to 15,000 credits a year with a 5k account for the same costs as owning 15k credits. It just requires you to know how to rent credits from trusted members on WMowners.

Learn yet another system? I think that I am too old. I just looked at one listing and that transfer fee for Marriott is big nut. Not only is it a big nut coming in, it will be a big nut to get it back out.

I am considering a WM because I bought a Ko Olina stay but we didn't dare make the jump to Hawaii with the restrictions. I even had the double negative Covid tests, too. And it was the only time I did a big rental like this. Normally I just have to clean up my own messes but now someone else has to do it for me.

I'm thinking to start with something small. It takes time and work to learn these systems and they are usually a moving target as well.

 

[Eric B]

I've not heard of this. Do I have to have a WM account to begin with? And can I then trade into II or just use in WM? I've got a Wyndham account and an RCI account so I have no lack of travel options. I just want MORE travel options.

You have to have a WM account to use Exchange Plus. Once you've converted the week to credits and tokens, you can use them any way that you use WM credits, which can make this a method of using an RCI-only TS for trades in II. You can also use them to book a WM week and deposit it in an independent exchange such as SFX or ThirdHome, which you could do with your Wyndham account already.

 

[cbyrne1174]

Learn yet another system? I think that I am too old. I just looked at one listing and that transfer fee for Marriott is big nut. Not only is it a big nut coming in, it will be a big nut to get it back out.

I am considering a WM because I bought a Ko Olina stay but we didn't dare make the jump to Hawaii with the restrictions. I even had the double negative Covid tests, too. And it was the only time I did a big rental like this. Normally I just have to clean up my own messes but now someone else has to do it for me.

I'm thinking to start with something small. It takes time and work to learn these systems and they are usually a moving target as well.

You can always just start with a 5k WM account and get an II membership, then evaluate if you also want to add an every other year legacy Marriott week for about $750/year in MF later. They both use the same II account. Legacy Marriott weeks don't have a minimum club fee, you just have to pay for an II ownership. Therefore, owning a week every other year costs the same per week as owning 5 weeks a year in Marriott. You just buy an every other year 2 bedroom lock-off at Grand Chateau or Grande Vista, split the lock off for $99 and deposit both into II and get 2 weeks worth of Marriott priority deposits. DC trust points are the expensive ones to buy resale.

Legacy Marriott weeks don't require much knowledge to use. I had a harder time understanding Wyndham's system than Marriott. There is almost no difference between a resale and retail owner in the Marriott system, only that resale owners have to use II to exchange their week and can't convert it to DC trust points. Taking a 2 bedroom lock off, splitting it and dumping it into II is about 30-50% cheaper than using DC trust points if you book a week with high trading power, like 4th of July at Grande Vista in Orlando. Last I checked, getting an every other year 2 bedroom lock off at either Grand Chateau or Grande Vista was only about $750-$1000 to buy in.

I'm just suggesting this because you are asking what size WM to buy. Once you have an II membership, you may see those beautiful Marriott properties that you can't access with WM and want to add on Marriott later, so that's another reason why I'm suggesting just to start with 5k and rent the additional credits you want off other owners. If you buy too many WM points and decide you want access to Hawaii Marriott locations, you will have to sell your WM points.

 

[geist1223]

Spend some time on www.wmowners.com/forum. It costs nothing to join. Go through the many threads and you can learn a lot. Also the Members are happy to help new folks.

 

[Eric B]

I've not heard of this. Do I have to have a WM account to begin with? And can I then trade into II or just use in WM? I've got a Wyndham account and an RCI account so I have no lack of travel options. I just want MORE travel options.

You have to have a WM account to use Exchange Plus. Once you've converted the week to credits and tokens, you can use them any way that you use WM credits, which can make this a method of using an RCI-only TS for trades in II. You can also use them to book a WM week and deposit it in an independent exchange such as SFX or ThirdHome, which you could do with your Wyndham account already.

It's also worth looking over the governing documents. In addition to the WorldMark Guidelines, there is a document called "the Exchange Network (TEN) Agreement" that covers how WorldMark interacts with RCI and II and how the Exchange Plus program agrees. You can find it on the owners' side of the WorldMark website; I've attached a copy of it to this post as well.

 

[Tacoma]

Although a 5000 point account would have the lowest maintenance fees they are hard to find and seem to cost more per point than larger accounts. Also you will be renting in points every year even to take one standard vacation week. Yes it's easy but still a bit of a hassle. I started with a 10,000 point account which was great but then bought and combined it with another 10,000 point account since I was always out of points. Except for this year I am still always out of points. When we can travel again if worldmark brings back the availability to book 1 night at a resort I would like to find a 5000-7000 point account to keep seperate to have double the waitlists, inventory specials, bonus time and Monday madness.

 

[dgalati]

Learn yet another system? I think that I am too old. I just looked at one listing and that transfer fee for Marriott is big nut. Not only is it a big nut coming in, it will be a big nut to get it back out.

I am considering a WM because I bought a Ko Olina stay but we didn't dare make the jump to Hawaii with the restrictions. I even had the double negative Covid tests, too. And it was the only time I did a big rental like this. Normally I just have to clean up my own messes but now someone else has to do it for me.

I'm thinking to start with something small. It takes time and work to learn these systems and they are usually a moving target as well.

FYI you can find some bargains on a Worldmark ownership. I started out picking up a free 5k with 9k available then added a 20k 11/2020 with 36k available for $675. Price included all closing and transfer fees. The 20k ended up having 46k available. The bonus time cash option is a great benefit IMHO. The wait list feature also helps eliminates the daily waste of time checking to see if a room or upgrade becomes available.

 

[dgalati]

Although a 5000 point account would have the lowest maintenance fees they are hard to find and seem to cost more per point than larger accounts. Also you will be renting in points every year even to take one standard vacation week. Yes it's easy but still a bit of a hassle. I started with a 10,000 point account which was great but then bought and combined it with another 10,000 point account since I was always out of points. Except for this year I am still always out of points. When we can travel again if worldmark brings back the availability to book 1 night at a resort I would like to find a 5000-7000 point account to keep seperate to have double the waitlists, inventory specials, bonus time and Monday madness.

Do you use one night stays often? I would think it would be cheaper to use bonus time then to pay the HK fee along with using your points.

 

[Sandy VDH]

I'm in the market for a Free 5K if anyone is unloading.

I want it primarily for MM and IS, as the Texas resorts I want to stay at are very frequently on this list. I have access to these via Wyndham Club Pass but without VIPP available for discounts, MM or IS is actually a cheaper path.

 

[dgalati]

I'm in the market for a Free 5K if anyone is unloading.

I want it primarily for MM and IS, as the Texas resorts I want to stay at are very frequently on this list. I have access to these via Wyndham Club Pass but without VIPP available for discounts, MM or IS is actually a cheaper path.

Bonus time is also a great bargain. I have one if you are interested. No points will be available until 8/1/2021. Buyer pays all closing and resort transfer fees. You can pick closing or transfer company. PM me if you are interested.

 

[Sandy VDH]

To use the "PIC" like Program you have to have a Worldmark Account.

Is there a restriction on the type of week it is or type of resort it is. I have a resort Loreley, that I have not divested yet, it has a cheap MF and I wonder if it would qualify for the WM version of PIC?

 

[geist1223]

I have no idea. Once you are a WM Member call OC.

 

[Eric B]

Is there a restriction on the type of week it is or type of resort it is. I have a resort Loreley, that I have not divested yet, it has a cheap MF and I wonder if it would qualify for the WM version of PIC?

I posted all of the rules that exist for the Exchange Plus program, which is th PIC-like program, in post #13. The only restriction seems to be that the resort has to exchange in RCI or II. I've used weeks at Massanutten. Credits earned for a week are based on the number of bedrooms and the season. Loreley appears to be RCI resort is #0367 and shows red season as the first couple of weeks in April and the second half of May through early November in 2020 - if your week is fixed in that range or floating and you can deposit one in that range it should workout. Not all owner care reps are knowledgeable on the program, so calling might not actually help.

 

[Sandy VDH]

I posted all of the rules that exist for the Exchange Plus program, which is th PIC-like program, in post #13. The only restriction seems to be that the resort has to exchange in RCI or II. I've used weeks at Massanutten. Credits earned for a week are based on the number of bedrooms and the season. Loreley appears to be RCI resort is #0367 and shows red season as the first couple of weeks in April and the second half of May through early November in 2020 - if your week is fixed in that range or floating and you can deposit one in that range it should workout. Not all owner care reps are knowledgeable on the program, so calling might not actually help.

I looked through that TEN agreement, but it doesn't give any info on what you get for points in exchange. It just lays out the $129 fee to do it.

So If I have a White season 2 BR that is worth 27 TPUs in RCI that I pay $450 in MF. What is that worth in WM Credits. Or does TEN only take red season weeks? Any Idea?

 

[Tacoma]

dgalati yes picking up one or two nights on bonus time is cheaper than points and HK fees. That's why for a few years I would like to have 2 memberships so I can pick up bonus time on both of them. With bonus time you can only have one reservation at a time (I think) and none can be longer than 4 nights. The earliest you can book your next bonus time is the day you check out of your bonus time reservation. So having 2 accounts would allow me to piece together either a few nights at different resorts while travelling or even 2 consecutive stays at one resort but perhaps in different room types where normally I would have to pay housekeeping. I could also put a different second name on the account to avoid guest certificate fees if I could figure out who is likely to use my account the most.

 

[Eric B]

I looked through that TEN agreement, but it doesn't give any info on what you get for points in exchange. It just lays out the $129 fee to do it.

So If I have a White season 2 BR that is worth 27 TPUs in RCI that I pay $450 in MF. What is that worth in WM Credits. Or does TEN only take red season weeks? Any Idea?

Here's the form for accomplishing the Exchange Plus process with WorldMark for RCI weeks. The grid for credits granted is included on the form; it's 6,000 credits for a White 2 BR plus one HK token and one GC. That would make credits for that one 9.65 cents each, disregarding the value of the HK token ($116 for a 2 BR in 2021). For a Red week it's 8,000 credits, which would be 7.2375 cents per credit, also discounting the value of the HK token. If you take into account the HK token value for a 2 BR it winds up being ~7.7 cents per credit White and ~5.8 cents per credit Red.

For comparison, a 5K account comes in at 11.8 cents per credit (discounting the HK value) or 9.5 cents per credit taking into account the HK value for a 2 BR. With a 10K account, the cost per credit is 9.5 cents or 8.4 cents and a 20K account (with 2 HKs) would be 8.4 cents or 7.2 cents. The value of an HK token varies depending on the room size, so YMMV. As a result, though, a White Exchange Plus week like yours comes in around the efficiency of having a 10K account while a Red one does better than a 20K account.

 

[Sandy VDH]

So Loreley resort does offer RCI Points, but mine ownership is NOT RCI points, as it is still in weeks only. Does that mean the week is eligible or not, do you know?