What to do, what to do, points are building up in RCI and Wyndham and no one using them

[HitchHiker71]

The issue I could see with F&F is with owners just setting up fake F&F accounts in the names of their renters then just logging in as the F&F and making the necessary reservation. For every change Wyndham makes, there is an intuitive owner out there finding ways around it.

If you have to prove identity this very difficult to do. Identity via MFA is the easiest way. If you attempt to use any mobile phone number or MFA app using an identity that already in use within the system - it would kick it back and deny the add for example.

 

[Jan M.]

If you have to prove identity this very difficult to do. Identity via MFA is the easiest way. If you attempt to use any mobile phone number or MFA app using an identity that already in use within the system - it would kick it back and deny the add for example.

The potential for abuse was why I said I didn't put being able to change the names on my list of questions Wyndham should ask in a new survey.

The only way I can see to prevent abuse is to not allow a change once a name has been added. Each of the permitted number of names would be good for a year. Owners would be able to choose a different name or names the next year.

The intent of a F&F list is for those people owners send on stays ideally more than once a year. Family and friends we wouldn't add as owners on our accounts or who wouldn't want to be added.

 

[Floridaman76]

Good idea, changing friends and family being permissible only once per year seems completely reasonable and fair. After all, how often do real family change? How often do you all use GC's for friends? Like real friends, not people you are trying to rent to that you don't know. Asking legitimately because i've only ever used GC's for real family.

 

[HitchHiker71]

The potential for abuse was why I said I didn't put being able to change the names on my list of questions Wyndham should ask in a new survey.

The only way I can see to prevent abuse is to not allow a change once a name has been added. Each of the permitted number of names would be good for a year. Owners would be able to choose a different name or names the next year.

The intent of a F&F list is for those people owners send on stays ideally more than once a year. Family and friends we wouldn't add as owners on our accounts or who wouldn't want to be added.

Agreed - once a year for a change - or perhaps only allowing one add and/or remove per year from the list - something along this line. Wyndham would have to define the parameters for change with the F&F system to be fair and yet prevent abuse for the most part.

 

[Jan M.]

There's a detail about the RCI Weeks F&F option I forgot to mention and didn't take into account when I made my list of survey questions.

You would have to send the person you put on your F&F list at least twice in that year, however the year ran, to make worth paying the F&F fee. So in my list of suggested survey questions for Wyndham, using the amounts of $49 and $69 wasn't at all realistic based on the $99 cost of a Wyndham guest confirmation.

This leads to why I think Wyndham abandoned the idea of offering a F&F option.
1. Gold, Platinum, and Founder's owners get enough free guest confirmations that if they're not renting, many wouldn't be paying for guest confirmations anyhow. In the case of large families, some owners might only have to pay for a few over their free allotment. So their objection is why should I have to pay to put my family and friends on a list when I have the free guest confirmations just so I'm not giving the appearance of renting? Good point.
2. Owners who don't have a larger amount of points likely aren't sending or bringing family and friends enough to make use of the option to have a F&F list.
3. Who would really benefit the most from being able to have a F&F list? Resale owners with a significant number of points. Most of us are aware that number of resale owners with a significant number of points is really growing.

Wyndham is a business and as a business they are sales driven. Where's the benefit to Wyndham to do something that mostly benefits resale owners?

Here's my thinking. The program/Trust is to be run/managed to the benefit of owners. All owners, not just the ones Wyndham favors because we spent the big bucks to by developer from them. A F&F option would benefit enough owners to justify doing it. The owners who want to see a F&F option need to make their wants and needs known. Stand up and be heard.

As a VIP owner for 21 of the 23 years we've owned, I've seen a lot taken away to control renting. Owners complained about not being able to get reservations because of all the renting and the response was to make changes that impacted all owners not just the few. Renting is once again on the rise, big surprise there. A F&F list would certainly help Owner Stategies in identifying and eliminating who's renting and who isn't.

 

[bnoble]

I recall someone (@HitchHiker71 maybe?) with data about how many resale owners there were in the system, around the time of the developer/resale benefits split. I think it was much smaller than most TUGgers expected.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Getting this screen, when I try to book something this morning:

 

[Jan M.]

I recall someone (@HitchHiker71 maybe?) with data about how many resale owners there were in the system, around the time of the developer/resale benefits split. I think it was much smaller than most TUGgers expected.

I took that into consideration but also that it in just a few months it will be four years. From what I'm seeing in the Facebook groups, moreso than on TUG, I suspect the percentage of resale owners has increased significantly. Thanks to social media and Wyndham's preditory sales practices causing more people to want to expose those practices, it will continue to grow.

As we all know, many owners first became owners with a developer purchase but went on to only buy resale. I'd like to see a break down that takes that into account. Also, because I like numbers, for those mixed accounts the total percentages of developer and resale points. As someone who's good with using numbers, I have a need to have them show the true and accurate picture because I know they can be manipulated to show a picture that is neither.

 

[bnoble]

From what I'm seeing in the Facebook groups, moreso than on TUG, I suspect the percentage of resale owners has increased significantly.

I don't have a sense that resale owner traffic on TUG is that much larger than it was five years ago. I also note that Wyndham continues to sell developer points, and some of those are presumably new buyers. There are ones and twos of people who come here to ask if they should rescind. Not very many.

In other words, I don't personally see any evidence that the fraction of resale owners is substantially higher now than it was five years go. But I could well be wrong.

 

[paxsarah]

So their objection is why should I have to pay to put my family and friends on a list when I have the free guest confirmations just so I'm not giving the appearance of renting?

This analysis is kind of why I asked the question I did above about what the purpose of F&F would be. When it first came under discussion it was mainly about guest certificates with maybe a dash of avoiding commercial suspicion. But it seems that now if F&F was revisited the main purpose could be guest allowances, which can't be purchased and even from my perch as an all-resale owner, seem to negatively impact high-level owners disproportionately. I see a lot, a lot of complaining from VIPs on Facebook about only having two guest allowances per year, and I can't say it's not justified. It seems that a F&F list of people that wouldn't consume owner priority guest allowances would be far more valuable than guest certificates.