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Why Buy Wyndham if I Own RCI?

owebeewan

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I just attended a Wyndham timeshare presentation. Why would an RCI owner want Wyndham ownership if I can trade into them with South Africa timeshares with a $250/ year MF? I also own a resort with 122k RCI points for $850 MF.

I'm thinking that it's a 2-part answer: 1) Easier to stay at Wyndham resorts with Wyndham ownership, but 2) more expensive to do so than with an RCI membership.

For instance, I can trade into Club Wyndham Santa Barbara in Pompano Beach (#3871 RCI) for 34,000 RCI points in April. This gives me almost a month for my $850 RCI MF (3 1/2 weeks). If I do a targeted search for specific Wyndham properties, I suspect availability will show up for other properties.

Can you help me better understand why I might want to sell my RCI points property and get a Wyndham resale property?

Thanks
 

Ty1on

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1. Add $1000 for four weeks of RCI Points exchange fees.
2. You're going to find better inventory availability via Club Wyndham than RCI, depending of course on when and where you go.
3. If you are flexible in your travel plans, you're good where you're at. I presume you have something like a Grandview 2 BR prime week in RCI Points. That's pretty close to unbeatable in terms of RCI bank for the buck. Given what you own (I have no idea what kind of trade value the RSA weeks get you), if it were me, and my RSA and RCI Points were getting me the vacations I wanted, I wouldn't fix what ain't broke.

Edit, I see in your profile, yeah, Grandview 2BR prime week. That's a great contract!
 

rickandcindy23

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Wyndham is just another system you learn to use and enjoy. What you have is perfectly fine. If you choose to double what you own, that might be the better thing to do.

If you buy a Wyndham resale with a rate of $6.00 per thousand in MF's, some Bonnet Creek 2 bedrooms are 112,000 X $6.00 for a full week. That is a good value, when you consider exchange fees. It depends where you want to go and when. You buy into a system (resale) to trade within the system for dates that might be tough to get elsewhere. If you love a particular resort and cannot get it via exchange, then by all means buy into the system with that resort, but don't overbuy.

So many good systems to own. I personally love Interval International for exchanging, and Wyndham won't do that for you.
 

raygo123

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Wyndham is just another system you learn to use and enjoy. What you have is perfectly fine. If you choose to double what you own, that might be the better thing to do.

If you buy a Wyndham resale with a rate of $6.00 per thousand in MF's, some Bonnet Creek 2 bedrooms are 112,000 X $6.00 for a full week. That is a good value, when you consider exchange fees. It depends where you want to go and when. You buy into a system (resale) to trade within the system for dates that might be tough to get elsewhere. If you love a particular resort and cannot get it via exchange, then by all means buy into the system with that resort, but don't overbuy.

So many good systems to own. I personally love Interval International for exchanging, and Wyndham won't do that for you.
There are some Wyndham resorts that trade through II. I owned a two bedroom at Fox Run converted to Wyndham points. Alexandria may be another. Those now are only available resale.

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Ty1on

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There are some Wyndham resorts that trade through II. I owned a two bedroom at Fox Run converted to Wyndham points. Alexandria may be another. Those now are only available resale.

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So many good II traders out there to be searching for a Wyndham unicorn.
 

paxsarah

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There are some Wyndham resorts that trade through II. I owned a two bedroom at Fox Run converted to Wyndham points. Alexandria may be another. Those now are only available resale.
Although there are a few II traders still out there among longtime owners who resisted Wyndham’s various attempts to convert them to RCI, any new resale owner will not be given an II account, only an RCI account, even if the resale they’re purchasing is at one of the original handful of II resorts.
 

bnoble

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Why would an RCI owner want Wyndham ownership
Three possible answers.

1: You do not want to be constrained to full-week stays and/or you want different check-in days than are deposited. Points ameliorates this somewhat, but only somewhat, because plenty of the Wyndham inventory sent to RCI uses the Weeks channel.

2: You do not want the hassle/uncertainty of dealing with exchange (which is supply-driven) vs. direct booking (which is demand-driven).

3: You want a stay that is rarely (or, in practical terms, never) deposited to RCI. Wyndham owners can book no later than 10 months prior to use*. Wyndham deposits to RCI no earlier than 7-8 months. Things that are in high demand internally** will not make their way to RCI.

Of course, none of those answers are "It's cheaper." RCI can be a great way to create arbitrage opportunities, and if dollar cost is your bottom-line metric, then none of those things matter. Lots of people on TUG get caught up in this idea, and I used to as well until I realized that there are no medals for "I stayed here the least expensively." At the end of the day, for me, I don't really care if I get the very best deal, I just want a good one.

------
*: Yes, there are exceptions (Margaritaville, PR, Outrigger, etc.) but they aren't that important for this discussion.

**: It's too soon to say, but it appears that Wyndham might be abiding by the owner-only restricted dates/resorts when choosing deposits to RCI. Edited to add: apparently, they are not.
 
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jwalk03

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There are many top tier Wyndham resorts that are rarely or never available through RCI. So if you want to stay at any of those you would need direct access to Wyndham. And ever more that are only available through RCI at off peak times.

Personally I have had far better luck using my Marriott trader in II than using RCI.
 

tschwa2

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Can you help me better understand why I might want to sell my RCI points property and get a Wyndham resale property?
Thanks
As long as you don't want those wyndham reservations that never are deposited into rci- Alexandria, Glacier Canyon or Smokey Lodge (waterparks) during summer school vacations, Myrtle Beach Ocean front in any of the Wyndhams during summer school vacations, and a handful of others during prime time; then no reason to buy into wyndham. Wyndham is also more flexible if you find yourself needing to cancel and rebook often. Other than the $19 transaction fee, if you are out, you can cancel up to 14 days before check in. If you do that with rci you will be out the exchange fee and some or all of the points depending on when you cancel (unless you put up another $89+ for points protection).
 

Ty1on

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Three possible answers.

At the end of the day, for me, I don't really care if I get the very best deal, I just want a good one.

**: It's too soon to say, but it appears that Wyndham might be abiding by the owner-only restricted dates/resorts when choosing deposits to RCI. Edited to add: apparently, they are not.

Firstly, brilliant point on the former line I left in the quote.

To the latter line, there are unconverted intervals in many Club Wyndham destinations that wouldn't be subject to the restriction. I say that to stress that just because someone may see a Wyndham on Easter weekend in RCI, that doesn't mean it was deposited by the Club.
 

snickers104

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I also own a 2 bdr prime week at Grandview (122000 point). I use this to get places I can't get with Wyndham. I am in the process of closing on 195000 Wyndham CWA points for the ARP in some of the harder to book Wyndham resorts.


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rickandcindy23

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As long as you don't want those wyndham reservations that never are deposited into rci- Alexandria, Glacier Canyon or Smokey Lodge (waterparks) during summer school vacations, Myrtle Beach Ocean front in any of the Wyndhams during summer school vacations, and a handful of others during prime time; then no reason to buy into wyndham. Wyndham is also more flexible if you find yourself needing to cancel and rebook often. Other than the $19 transaction fee, if you are out, you can cancel up to 14 days before check in. If you do that with rci you will be out the exchange fee and some or all of the points depending on when you cancel (unless you put up another $89+ for points protection).
There are some Glacier Canyon on RCI right now for full weeks, and it's cheap to get through weeks (TPU's). I am amazed, but the outdoor waterpark wouldn't be open in April, I wouldn't think.
 

Eric B

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A couple of things to add to the discussion - first, what you see in RCI right now is not very representative of what is typically in RCI. As others have mentioned, there are some Wyndham resorts that you don't even see in RCI right now and may never see; there are also specific unit types that will never get in there (i.e., most presidential units), but might get into the Registry Collection.

Another point is that owning both in the Club Wyndham Plus system and out of it allows me to compare the different costs to stay at the same resort and in the same unit type using the different access methods. Wyndham, and many of the other mini-systems at have corporate portals to RCI (e.g., Hilton), has a set exchange cost in RCI based on unit size and season that doesn't take into account the resort specific costs. This can be advantageous even when reserving a Wyndham resort through the Wyndham RCI portal - for example, a 2 BR week in at Wyndham Shearwater costs 400,000 Wyndham points (or more for an upper level or presidential unit), but occasionally is available in RCI at a cost of 205,000 Wyndham points deposited in RCI. The same week would be 121,000 RCI points if you use your Grandview points, for example. For me, using my Wyndham Bali Hai points ($4.50/K), it would cost me $1,800 to book the week through Wyndham, $922.50 for points plus $249 exchange fee = $1,171.50 going through the Wyndham RCI portal, and your Grandview points would be ~$968 for the RCI points (if I recall the cost right at ~$.008/RCI point) plus $249 exchange fee = $1,217. There can be a lot of other permutations to consider - YMMV.
 

troy12n

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RCI is "all other timeshare systems leftovers"... Wyndham is not. A lot of the properties in RCI which are high demand are about impossible to get into, even with the recurring search thing. That search functionality and pseudo waitlist leaves a lot to be desired. Even though Wyndham does not have one. My understanding is you have to commit to the purchase when you input the search, and if you set a date range, you may end up with a less than ideal date.


Don't get me wrong, RCI has it's place, but to me more of a supplemental system than a primary.
 

snickers104

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RCI is "all other timeshare systems leftovers"... Wyndham is not.
Not necessarily....I've booked Wyndham Grand Cayman Reef Resort with RCI account....not in the Wyndham club.

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troy12n

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Not necessarily....I've booked Wyndham Grand Cayman Reef Resort with RCI account....not in the Wyndham club.

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I understand, but all inventory RCI is basically unused/unwanted inventory people (or timeshare companies) deposit into it. It's stuff the TS systems can't move on their own, or that individual owners don't want or cant use.
 

Ty1on

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Not necessarily....I've booked Wyndham Grand Cayman Reef Resort with RCI account....not in the Wyndham club.

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Yeah, you will never find that in Club Wyndham because it isn't a Club Wyndham resort. :)
 

tschwa2

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Rci points resorts that auto deposit can result in good finds at exactly 10 months. Bulk deposits from developers can also result in good finds even if not the highest demand.

Wyndham does some decent deposits just not prime summer and prime ski but shoulder season even with the exchange fee can be a bargain through rci.
 

Ty1on

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Rci points resorts that auto deposit can result in good finds at exactly 10 months. Bulk deposits from developers can also result in good finds even if not the highest demand.

Wyndham does some decent deposits just not prime summer and prime ski but shoulder season even with the exchange fee can be a bargain through rci.

This is true of RCI Points side. On the Weeks side, with the exception of OGS and prayer for an Orlando DVC hit, Troy fairly nailed it. Pretty much stuff that no one really wants, and anything attractive goes fast.
 

snickers104

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This is true of RCI Points side. On the Weeks side, with the exception of OGS and prayer for an Orlando DVC hit, Troy fairly nailed it. Pretty much stuff that no one really wants, and anything attractive goes fast.
Kinda strange.....my OGS for Disney hasn't failed to ever hit. I see value in my RCI account for short stays on the points side. Wyndham helps with the weeks side searches.

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Ty1on

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Kinda strange.....my OGS for Disney hasn't failed to ever hit. I see value in my RCI account for short stays on the points side. Wyndham helps with the weeks side searches.

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To be clear, it seems like OGS works most of the time. I wrote that particularly because I'm sweating out an OGS for Easter Week next year.

Though looking at the cost of airfare, I'm on the verge of pivoting to my backup plan in Anaheim.
 

Italag5

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I just attended a Wyndham timeshare presentation. Why would an RCI owner want Wyndham ownership if I can trade into them with South Africa timeshares with a $250/ year MF? I also own a resort with 122k RCI points for $850 MF.

I'm thinking that it's a 2-part answer: 1) Easier to stay at Wyndham resorts with Wyndham ownership, but 2) more expensive to do so than with an RCI membership.

For instance, I can trade into Club Wyndham Santa Barbara in Pompano Beach (#3871 RCI) for 34,000 RCI points in April. This gives me almost a month for my $850 RCI MF (3 1/2 weeks). If I do a targeted search for specific Wyndham properties, I suspect availability will show up for other properties.

Can you help me better understand why I might want to sell my RCI points property and get a Wyndham resale property?

Thanks
Question is why buy Wyndham if you can rent from a VIP owner for less then the cost of maintenance fees? See link below for Last minute rentals at 1/2 the cost of owning and paying maintenance fees. I will also add no RCI reservation fee at $249.
 

rboesl

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I understand, but all inventory RCI is basically unused/unwanted inventory people (or timeshare companies) deposit into it. It's stuff the TS systems can't move on their own, or that individual owners don't want or cant use.
That's not necessarily true. There are some systems, Vacation Village for instance, that have contracts with RCI to manage their inventory for them. Divi also used to do that.
 

Ty1on

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That's not necessarily true. There are some systems, Vacation Village for instance, that have contracts with RCI to manage their inventory for them. Divi also used to do that.

Yes, they use RCI for their INTERNAL exchange. This doesn't make highly sought after reservations in those systems highly available to other RCI exchangers.
 

troy12n

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That's not necessarily true. There are some systems, Vacation Village for instance, that have contracts with RCI to manage their inventory for them. Divi also used to do that.

That's only sort of true, but anything available in RCI to non-VV owners is, indeed, leftovers or castoffs, just like everything else.
 
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