Worldmark Question

[ampaholic]

I am in a position of wanting to purchase some Worldmark Credits resale, the purchase prices I see are doable, It's the MF's that limit my involvement . My wallet's nose doesn't start to bleed until I see MF's over $2500. ish per year. So I know the maximum account I want to purchase is 22,000 to 25,000 credits.

This being said - I have heard there are ways to "amplify" the impact of smaller point total accounts using Bonus time etc.

This gets me thinking I might be happier with a 10,000 or 12,000 credit account - I don't want to "overbuy" but we are retired now so we could never really have "TOO MUCH" vacation/resort time.

My brain is short circuiting trying to decide which way to go MIN or MAX. Perhaps the fine folks of T.U.G. will help me with their experiences and opinions

T.I.A.

 

[easyrider]

I am in a position of wanting to purchase some Worldmark Credits resale, the purchase prices I see are doable, It's the MF's that limit my involvement . My wallet's nose doesn't start to bleed until I see MF's over $2500. ish per year. So I know the maximum account I want to purchase is 22,000 to 25,000 credits.

This being said - I have heard there are ways to "amplify" the impact of smaller point total accounts using Bonus time etc.

This gets me thinking I might be happier with a 10,000 or 12,000 credit account - I don't want to "overbuy" but we are retired now so we could never really have "TOO MUCH" vacation/resort time.

My brain is short circuiting trying to decide which way to go MIN or MAX. Perhaps the fine folks of T.U.G. will help me with their experiences and opinions

T.I.A.

How's it going ampaholic ?

We purchased another WM membership a couple of weeks ago. We want to use these mostly to escape winter to warmer destinations. We did start small decades ago and then added other accounts to our accounts which did work well. Now I just want to pick a couple of destinations and stay so we recently added more. It's kind of like having a second home.

The price point is pretty good and the units are for the most part nice.

When we started out we used one 6000 credit memberships. We added a membership and used two of these 6000 credit memberships for years. The reason we had two memberships is because bonus time is only good for four nights. With two memberships we could do a week of bonus time. So the two small accounts can work out but it takes a bit of work and luck.

We then added other memberships to the existing to get us to where we are. Now we just reserve what we want at 13 months out. We use bonus time for road trips. It's a lot easier this way.

Bill

 

[Tacoma]

I started with a 10000 point account in 2008 and added another 10000 around 2013 or so. Twenty thousand gets me 2 HK tokens which I like and 2 guest certificates (friends and family often have me book for them). You are correct that there are lots of opportunities to book and pay cash which also means you avoid the HK fees. You can also rent in 2X your account every year so I can rent in 40000 points if I need them annually. These rental points are often cheaper than the fees on smaller accounts. As mentioned by easy rider you can only have 4 days of bonus time and I think only one bonus time reservation at a time (I may be wrong) so if you want to do a road trip with several last minute reservations 2 accounts do have their advantages. I am currently waiting on a 5000 point that I picked up for free from timeshare nation. One of the reasons is for the use of bonus time and also to have my daughter's name on the account since she is the one I book for the most.
I believe I met you years ago at Pend O'Reille in Idaho. I haven't noticed you around for a while. Nice to see you back.
Joan

 

[CO skier]

This gets me thinking I might be happier with a 10,000 or 12,000 credit account - I don't want to "overbuy"

As always, look at the credit charts for the resorts you want to visit and when.

I would recommend buying in 10k increments, as that is how housekeeping credits are awarded.

20,000 credits (2025 dues = $2,088) would get you 5 weeks every 2 years in a 1 bedroom during Red Season ($835/week). If you plan to stay on the Oregon or Washington coast during the summer, you would need to own the credits to book at 13 months.

Bonus time is limited to 4 nights max. within 14 days. Inventory Specials are the same rate as BT ($0.089/credit), 30-days max. booked up to 90 days in advance. Housekeeping is included in the rate, minimum $100/night charged. An 8,000 credit week would cost $758.

There is currently a wide selection of Oregon and Washington resorts available using Inventory Specials. WM Seaside is ostensibly one of the more difficult resorts to book, but there is a lot of availability in March and April. It is also currently featured on Monday Madness, $752/8,000 credit week booked up to 11 months in advance. Note that weekend nights are twice as expensive as weekday nights -- Sunday to Friday reservations are a real bargain.

Recommendation: If some of your travel will be "off-season", buy a 10k ownership and see if Inventory Specials and/or Monday Madness will get you where you want to go using 10k-15k more credits worth of reservations. It is easier to buy and combine another 10k than it would be to downsize from 20k to 10k.

 

[ampaholic]

I started with a 10000 point account in 2008 and added another 10000 around 2013 or so. Twenty thousand gets me 2 HK tokens which I like and 2 guest certificates (friends and family often have me book for them). You are correct that there are lots of opportunities to book and pay cash which also means you avoid the HK fees. You can also rent in 2X your account every year so I can rent in 40000 points if I need them annually. These rental points are often cheaper than the fees on smaller accounts. As mentioned by easy rider you can only have 4 days of bonus time and I think only one bonus time reservation at a time (I may be wrong) so if you want to do a road trip with several last minute reservations 2 accounts do have their advantages. I am currently waiting on a 5000 point that I picked up for free from timeshare nation. One of the reasons is for the use of bonus time and also to have my daughter's name on the account since she is the one I book for the most.
I believe I met you years ago at Pend O'Reille in Idaho. I haven't noticed you around for a while. Nice to see you back.
Joan

yes I remember you from Pend Oreille, I was off the site for several years - as we went RVing instead of Timeshares. Then I had a two year tussle with cancer (i'm OK now).
Our RV is as nice a suite as most timeshares, but it is getting older now as am I and the drives are getting harder.

I want to blend some nice timeshare weeks into out lives, cause why not?

Is it hard to add smaller accounts together, do they need to be in the same or different names with WM?

 

[geist1223]

Checkout www.wmowners.com/forum for resell Credits. They are averaging 10-15 cents per Credit. If you want to combine into one account they need to be in the same name(s). Because of Wyndumb it can take months to combine.

 

[VacationForever]

We bought a 10K resale contract around 2014 and sold in 2017. When we bought it was fully loaded and it was also fully loaded when we sold. 10K was plenty for our needs and we had seen everywhere that we wanted to see during those short few years. In 2022 we decided to spend a month by the coast of California in the summer every year and bought a 35K contract. It was also fully loaded when we bought it and 35K is plenty for our needs. We still have a fully loaded account and that is having spent 4 weeks in S. California for the past 2 summers. We do own a boatload with Marriott and it's our preferred system. We use WM to supplement areas where Marriott Vacation Club does not have a presence.

The short answer is how much travel do you want to do. We have never used bonus time, FAX time and had used Monday Madness for a couple of short trips to Windsor CA back in 2014/2015 when we were living in N. California.

 

[easyrider]

Is it hard to add smaller accounts together, do they need to be in the same or different names with WM?

I thought it pretty easy to join accounts. It did change the credit renewal date to WM's favor.

Bill

 

[ampaholic]

How's it going ampaholic ?

We purchased another WM membership a couple of weeks ago. We want to use these mostly to escape winter to warmer destinations. We did start small decades ago and then added other accounts to our accounts which did work well. Now I just want to pick a couple of destinations and stay so we recently added more. It's kind of like having a second home.

The price point is pretty good and the units are for the most part nice.

When we started out we used one 6000 credit memberships. We added a membership and used two of these 6000 credit memberships for years. The reason we had two memberships is because bonus time is only good for four nights. With two memberships we could do a week of bonus time. So the two small accounts can work out but it takes a bit of work and luck.

We then added other memberships to the existing to get us to where we are. Now we just reserve what we want at 13 months out. We use bonus time for road trips. It's a lot easier this way.

Bill

hey Bill thanks for the info.

To clarify:

Did you have the two 6000 credit memberships in the same name (perhaps with different account numbers) or did you keep them in different names?

I guess what I am really asking is: does WM see you as one owner no matter how many accounts you have - or - does WM see account numbers only?

I suspect the later because of being able to buy, sell & trade(?) accounts

Can a wife be on the account, or is each account a personal property item?

 

[easyrider]

I started using two different accounts around 2004 and had to log on to the WM website with each account. Then we added another membership and it didn't really make sense to have three accounts so we combined two of the accounts into one. The the website changed and we can now log into either account with a switch account option on the WM website. The advantage of have a large account is the mf goes down in price as the credits increase.

All of our memberships are in my wife and my name. This gives us the ability to check into two units on the same date without having to use a guest certificate.

All of the account numbers are separate. You can transfer credits into other accounts which is what I use to do by renting credits from others.

Bill

 

[Tacoma]

One thing that easyrider said that isn't totally clear is even having one account in 2 names gives you the right to check into 2 rooms without a guest certificate. This is very handy if you are travelling with friends and want 2 separate rooms. Since he has 2 accounts in 2 names he could likely check in to 4 rooms-_I will admit to not being exactly sure. Two names on the accounts allow you to also book more than one potential holiday so long as both are in separate names, as WM cancels any reservations that overlap if they aren't in different names. So if you are trying to pick up several rooms at the same time (even if they are for different resorts) you must use a guest certificate (within 48 hours?) in order to not risk one of your reservations being cancelled. Why does this matter? Here is an example, my brother says he wants to meet in Victoria this summer so I have a reservation there. Since I'm not positive he'll follow through and since I've been to Victoria many times I have also booked the resort on Orcas Island. The second reservation is in my husband's name. Always put ownerships in 2 names for this reason. If you don't it will cost another $399 to change it later. Since more than one membership are supposed to be totally separate I am assuming that when I get my second account I could actually have 4 reservations for the same dates. Sometimes I'm just not sure where I want to go and WM's great cancellation policy and waitlist means I can book a room type and waitlist for something better. Hope this all makes sense.

 

[easyrider]

Since he has 2 accounts in 2 names he could likely check in to 4 rooms-

Yes, we have two names, my wife's and mine, on three memberships. While I haven't even thought of this until reading your post does this mean we could reserve two units with each account for the same dates ? What I usually do is reserve two units, reserving one unit on different accounts with my name on one and hers on the other. If I make more than two reservations for the same week I use guest certificates.

Bill

 

[CO skier]

While I haven't even thought of this until reading your post does this mean we could reserve two units with each account for the same dates ?

You may hold 4 overlapping reservations with two owners on two ownerships, but the resorts are supposed to enforce the overlapping guest reservation rules at check-in, at which point two of the four overlapping reservations would need guest certificates. As with many guidelines, some resorts are more diligent about enforcement than others.

 

[CO skier]

One thing that easyrider said that isn't totally clear is even having one account in 2 names gives you the right to check into 2 rooms without a guest certificate.

To clarify, this is true only if both owners on the account are present to check into each room.

 

[CO skier]

Since more than one membership are supposed to be totally separate I am assuming that when I get my second account I could actually have 4 reservations for the same dates.

The "extras" available with additional, separate ownerships come at a current $300 more in dues per year per ownership versus having only a single ownership. For some people, the "extras" may be worth the additional cost, but it definitely requires some thought about ownership usage.

 

[easyrider]

The "extras" available with additional, separate ownerships come at a current $300 more in dues per year per ownership versus having only a single ownership. For some people, the "extras" may be worth the additional cost, but it definitely requires some thought about ownership usage.

Yup. That's why we are in the process of taking over a large account and will be giving back our smaller accounts. We are to that point in life where just making a reservation 13 months out is better than guessing about bonus time, inventory specials, fax time or looking for exchanges.

Bill