WorldMark - Wyndham Club Pass

[cotraveller]

Here's an update with some info from the minutes of the September 23, 2013 WorldMark Board of Directors meeting. The minutes finally showed up on the WorldMark web site today, 4 1/2 months after the meeting.

"Wyndham Club Pass will allow all WorldMark owners who purchased prior to November 5, 2006, or who purchased from the developer on or alter November 5, 2006, to use their Vacation Credits to book reservations at other Wyndham resorts beginning nine months before check-in.

Wyndham Club Pass will nearly double the number of resorts that WorldMark owners will be able to reserve using their Vacation Credits. There will be a $99 transaction fee to book reservations through Wyndham Club Pass. Reservation bookings are expected to begin mid-summer, 2014."

Based on that excerpt those WorldMark owners with accounts purchased before Travelshare (like our account) who were grandfathered in to with access to the Wyndham resorts under the TEN agreement will be grandfathered in to Wyndham Club pass. If the availability under Wyndham Club Pass is similar to what it was up until now for WorldMark owners to access the Wyndham resorts, I wouldn't count on being able to book much with the new system.

 

[presley]

Not sure how much will be available, but that $99. fee looks quite a bit better than the $209. RCI exchange fee. I'm not eligible, but I hope it works out for the owners that are.

 

[cotraveller]

Not sure how much will be available, but that $99. fee looks quite a bit better than the $209. RCI exchange fee. I'm not eligible, but I hope it works out for the owners that are.

From my standpoint, the $99 fee is a new fee that I did not have to pay before. Booking Wyndham resorts under the TEN agreement did not involve any additional fees over the normal WorldMark credits and HK fees. Of course since I have only booked on Wyndham resort since they became available to WorldMark owners in 2006 I doubt that the additional fee will be much of a financial hit on my budget.

 

[PassionForTravel]

I think the big difference between ten and club Wyndham pass is that you will have access to all Wyndham resorts and units that are available at 9 months rather than just a couple of units at a few select resorts. Same with club Wyndham, access to WM units.

Ian

 

[ronparise]

I think the big difference between ten and club Wyndham pass is that you will have access to all Wyndham resorts and units that are available at 9 months rather than just a couple of units at a few select resorts. Same with club Wyndham, access to WM units.

Ian

That was my question too. How much inventory was available under TEN.. and if its the same as the amount of Worldmark that we Wyndham owners used to see;....it aint much

So it didnt cost you anything... You got what you paid for...nothing

Club Pass at least promises some inventory

 

[cotraveller]

That was my question too. How much inventory was available under TEN.. and if its the same as the amount of Worldmark that we Wyndham owners used to see;....it aint much

So it didnt cost you anything... You got what you paid for...nothing

Club Pass at least promises some inventory

Under TEN, WorldMark owners typically had 15 to 20 Wyndham resorts available each year for direct booking with WorldMark credits. The list of actual resorts available changed from year to year. Reservations were made using normal WorldMark booking rules except that inventory didn't appear until 9 to 10 months before check-in dates. You could book the Wyndham affiliate resorts using Bonus Time if something became available in the 14 day BT booking window. There were no exchange fees involved.

Most of the Wyndham TEN resorts had 2 units available for WorldMark owners but there were exceptions. The one I remember for sure was when Wyndham Waikiki was available with 6 units. I booked Wyndham Nashville using WorldMark credits, so while there was limited inventory it was possible to get a reservation.

So now we (WorldMark) will have access to maybe 55 resorts with an unknown number of units in each. It will not operate like an exchange company, at least I don't think so. No rules have been published yet but nothing I have seen says you can deposit a week or that you can only reserve a week that an owner in the other system has deposited.

The inventory has to come from somewhere. Under TEN it was set each year, with a fixed number of resorts and units in each system available to the other system. How will Wyndham Club Pass set and maintain inventory? That's an unknown at the moment, at least to me.

 

[ronparise]

Under TEN, WorldMark owners typically had 15 to 20 Wyndham resorts available each year for direct booking with WorldMark credits. The list of actual resorts available changed from year to year. Reservations were made using normal WorldMark booking rules except that inventory didn't appear until 9 to 10 months before check-in dates. You could book the Wyndham affiliate resorts using Bonus Time if something became available in the 14 day BT booking window. There were no exchange fees involved.

Most of the Wyndham TEN resorts had 2 units available for WorldMark owners but there were exceptions. The one I remember for sure was when Wyndham Waikiki was available with 6 units. I booked Wyndham Nashville using WorldMark credits, so while there was limited inventory it was possible to get a reservation.

So now we (WorldMark) will have access to maybe 55 resorts with an unknown number of units in each. It will not operate like an exchange company, at least I don't think so. No rules have been published yet but nothing I have seen says you can deposit a week or that you can only reserve a week that an owner in the other system has deposited.

The inventory has to come from somewhere. Under TEN it was set each year, with a fixed number of resorts and units in each system available to the other system. How will Wyndham Club Pass set and maintain inventory? That's an unknown at the moment, at least to me.

My understanding is that it wont be a fixed number of units available, Rather all the Worldmark inventory available at 9 months (at 55 select resorts) will be available to Wyndham owners and vice versa.

The assumption is that the demand will be similar and that the number of reservations in Wyndham resorts made by Worldmark owners will be equal to the number of reservations made by Wyndham owners in Worldmark resorts. There are supposed to be audits. I assume if there is an imbalance inventory will be restricted untilthere is a return to balance

 

[cotraveller]

My understanding is that it wont be a fixed number of units available, Rather all the Worldmark inventory available at 9 months (at 55 select resorts) will be available to Wyndham owners and vice versa.

The assumption is that the demand will be similar and that the number of reservations in Wyndham resorts made by Worldmark owners will be equal to the number of reservations made by Wyndham owners in Worldmark resorts. There are supposed to be audits. I assume if there is an imbalance inventory will be restricted untilthere is a return to balance

If that is the way they do it I suspect it will cause some major heartburn for some owners. I can hear the WorldMark complaints already. WE'VE ALWAYS HAD A HARD TIME GETTING A RESERVATION AND NOW WE HAVE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF WYNDHAM OWNERS STEALING THEM AWAY FROM US. (Bold Caps intentional, those complaints will be shouted).

Never mind the fact that the 9 month inventory isn't the prime inventory and if you really wanted it as a WorldMark owner you could have booked it at 9 months and 1 day or sooner, before those Wyndham owners could beat you to it. One slightly valid complaint might be that in WorldMark you can't book short stays before 9 months and with Wyndham Club Pass you will have more competition for those short stays including weekend bookings.

For someone who books reservations like we do it could be a good deal. We tend to travel more in the "here's somewhere we can go" mode and if I see something that looks enticing I'll book it (with DW's concurrence of course). We seldom look for a specific week at a specific resort. An advantage of being retired and having a flexible schedule. With 55 more resorts to choose from we may find new places to visit, even if they are considered less desirable by other owners and don't book up fast.

 

[ladycody]

For every Wyn owner that books a WM resort...there will be a WM owner that leaves our system to book Wyn....so availability shouldn't change much provided they audit appropriately. I DO however have issues with the fact that they get access to our time at the exact same moment that our availability opens for short stays. There should be at least a day or two of advance access to our short stay availability.

 

[uscav8r]

For every Wyn owner that books a WM resort...there will be a WM owner that leaves our system to book Wyn....so availability shouldn't change much provided they audit appropriately. I DO however have issues with the fact that they get access to our time at the exact same moment that our availability opens for short stays. There should be at least a day or two of advance access to our short stay availability.

I'm an owner in both systems, but I agree... They should have gone with an 8-month time horizon to make things even for both sets of owners. Currently Wyndham opens up its resorts to non-priority booking at 10 months. WVO owners are still restricted to resort-specific stay lengths (usually 3, 4, or 7 days) and check-in/out days (FRI/SAT/SUN, though some are just SUN, while others are FRI/SUN, etc. for week-long stays) until the 90-day mark.

 

[cotraveller]

My understanding is that it wont be a fixed number of units available, Rather all the Worldmark inventory available at 9 months (at 55 select resorts) will be available to Wyndham owners and vice versa.

For every Wyn owner that books a WM resort...there will be a WM owner that leaves our system to book Wyn.

Those two quotes contradict each other. Ron says that the entire WorldMark inventory will be open to Wyn owners at 9 months. Ladycody says it is a 1 for 1 exchange. If Ron is right there is no build in reciprocity. A Wyn owner can book 1 WorldMark unit or 1,000 WorldMark units without any Wyn units being booked by WorldMark owners. And vice versa. In practice I'm sure there will be owners from both systems booking in the other system, but if Ron is right it is not a requirement.

 

[lcml11]

Those two quotes contradict each other. Ron says that the entire WorldMark inventory will be open to Wyn owners at 9 months. Ladycody says it is a 1 for 1 exchange. If Ron is right there is no build in reciprocity. A Wyn owner can book 1 WorldMark unit or 1,000 WorldMark units without any Wyn units being booked by WorldMark owners. And vice versa. In practice I'm sure there will be owners from both systems booking in the other system, but if Ron is right it is not a requirement.

I do not think it is going to be a free for all for anyone except maybe Wyndham on the exchange fees.

My guess this is a incremental something towards something.

As far as I can tell, there will be no radical changes up front. It will be a incremental thing with Wyndham making adjustments as they go.

 

[ronparise]

Those two quotes contradict each other. Ron says that the entire WorldMark inventory will be open to Wyn owners at 9 months. Ladycody says it is a 1 for 1 exchange. If Ron is right there is no build in reciprocity. A Wyn owner can book 1 WorldMark unit or 1,000 WorldMark units without any Wyn units being booked by WorldMark owners. And vice versa. In practice I'm sure there will be owners from both systems booking in the other system, but if Ron is right it is not a requirement.

I also said the entire Wyndham inventory (in 55 resorts) will be open to Worldmark owners, and that the expectation is that the demand one for the other will be equal...and that audits are planned to make sure things arent one sided.

I think Lady Cody and I are saying the same thing...she just used less words.

 

[lcml11]

I also said the entire Wyndham inventory (in 55 resorts) will be open to Worldmark owners, and that the expectation is that the demand one for the other will be equal...and that audits are planned to make sure things arent one sided.

I think Lady Cody and I are saying the same thing...she just used less words.

I think availability will go to where Wyndham gets the fee. If the West Coast is popular Wyndham Vacation Resorts owners win. If the East Coast is popular then Worldmark by Wyndham wins. Remember, the exchange currency is points. Points plus a fee go to Club Wyndham Pass. The points then presumably go to whichever resort(s) have the demand. Again, presumably, the high demand ones that could carry a premium of value to the exchanger that is worth the exchange fee.

If the Urban Resorts are the big hit in each other clubs, then maybe their could be a fall effect on more availability on the lower demand resorts. That would be a good thing for the VIP owners.

 

[ladycody]

My understanding is that it will require audits...much like exchange deposits. While we DO deposit exchanges into RCI and access to our systems is based on that...the number of such deposits are based on expected usage as determined by past usage patterns. I expect that, while the systems will be open to one another in club pass...if an audit shows an unbalanced pattern of usage, accessibility will be shut off in whichever system is being overutilized. We have no real info on how Club pass is being implemented...but that is the only thing that makes any sense to me based on what they HAVE released. It would require a good deal of auditing in the beginning and subsequent regular audits to ensure equilibrium after that.

 

[lcml11]

... While we DO deposit exchanges into RCI and access to our systems is based on that...the number of such deposits are based on expected usage as determined by past usage patterns. I expect that, while the systems will be open to one another in club pass...if an audit shows an unbalanced pattern of usage, accessibility will be shut off in whichever system is being overutilized ...

You could be right. If the system you describe is how Wyndham is putting a bunch of inventory into RCI, then the basic system would be tried and true and it would just be a matter of putting the inventory into the new Club Wyndham Pass program.

The core question in my mind is, in addition to Bulk Deposits into RCI (which requires a fee), is how much additional inventory is going to relocate into the Club Wyndham Pass system under a Bulk Deposit approach and/or under the system you described?

Maybe, if we are lucky, Wyndham will stop using RCI and put the bulk deposits in Wyndham Club Pass that formally went there. I know, I am not awake yet and am just dreaming.

For any regular RCI users that are out there, anyone notice any significant amount of delayed or non-existant bulk deposits? If so, at what resorts. If memory serves, someone mentioned National Harbor in one thread that may have had some delayed bulk deposits.

 

[ladycody]

Based on how they're describing it I would expect the systems to be wide open to one another with an ability to shut it down if the numbers become imbalanced....but dunno. Maybe someone can ask Bob Morrison to provide more details on the FB site...he doesn't respond to me.

 

[slabeaume]

I noticed on the Wyndham site, it showed WM Seaside and RunningY going to the new program this summer, but didn't mention the other Oregon WM resorts. Are they all going to be available to Wyndham?

 

[presley]

I noticed on the Wyndham site, it showed WM Seaside and RunningY going to the new program this summer, but didn't mention the other Oregon WM resorts. Are they all going to be available to Wyndham?

There won't be any Seaside units available at 9 months. I don't know about the other Oregon resorts. Seaside (summer months) is fully booked at my 13 month priority window.

 

[slabeaume]

There won't be any Seaside units available at 9 months. I don't know about the other Oregon resorts. Seaside (summer months) is fully booked at my 13 month priority window.

I'm a Worldmark owner, too, so I'm familiar with how they book up. Just curious why the Wyndham site only mentions those 2 ORegon resorts if all WM resorts will be available in the new program.

 

[lcml11]

There won't be any Seaside units available at 9 months. I don't know about the other Oregon resorts. Seaside (summer months) is fully booked at my 13 month priority window.

This will be a great resort to watch when Wyndham Club Pass roles out. If there is inventory available on day 1 of the Summer time frame window then that should tell the story.

I give up. Where on the Wyndham site was the info on the two Worldmark resorts found?

Here are some updates for Wyndham Club Plus losses for a direct scheduling capability by Resort name. Info from the Members Directory (click on the resort picture and the message will pop up).
______
UPDATE for WorldMark Running Y

This Resort is Moving to WYNDHAM Club PassSM!

The WorldMark® resort you selected was formerly an associate property, and is now moving to WYNDHAM Club Pass, Wyndham Vacation Resorts and WorldMark by Wyndham's new internal exchange program.

WYNDHAM Club Pass is a simple way to give our CLUB WYNDHAM® owners the freedom to move outside of the Club, expanding your access to unique destinations found across the country!

More information will be shared in coming months — stay tuned!
______

UPDATE for other resorts with the same or similar messages: WorldMark Red River, WorldMark Santa Fe, WorldMark San Diego Mission Valley, WorldMark Estes Park, WorldMark Braunfells, WorldMark Seaside, etc.

I wonder if resorts that have both Wyndham Club Pass/Access units and Worldmark by Wyndham units will loss availabily to each other as the Club Pass Resorts role out. Indio would be an example of this.

 

[slabeaume]

This will be a great resort to watch when Wyndham Club Pass roles out. If there is inventory available on day 1 of the Summer time frame window then that should tell the story.

I give up. Where on the Wyndham site was the info on the two Worldmark resorts found?

Here are some updates for Wyndham Club Plus losses for a direct scheduling capability by Resort name. Info from the Members Directory (click on the resort picture and the message will pop up).
______
UPDATE for WorldMark Running Y

This Resort is Moving to WYNDHAM Club PassSM!

The WorldMark® resort you selected was formerly an associate property, and is now moving to WYNDHAM Club Pass, Wyndham Vacation Resorts and WorldMark by Wyndham's new internal exchange program.

WYNDHAM Club Pass is a simple way to give our CLUB WYNDHAM® owners the freedom to move outside of the Club, expanding your access to unique destinations found across the country!

More information will be shared in coming months — stay tuned!
______

UPDATE for other resorts with the same or similar messages: WorldMark Red River, WorldMark Santa Fe, WorldMark San Diego Mission Valley, WorldMark Estes Park, WorldMark Braunfells, WorldMark Seaside, etc.

I wonder if resorts that have both Wyndham Club Pass/Access units and Worldmark by Wyndham units will loss availabily to each other as the Club Pass Resorts role out. Indio would be an example of this.

I went to the Wyndham site to check for reservations for something else and it showed Seaside. So I clicked on it and it said something about coming in the summer along with Running Y. Therefore I assumed it would be limiting Wyndham access to certain resorts. I'll have to check it out more thoroughly.

 

[lcml11]

I went to the Wyndham site to check for reservations for something else and it showed Seaside. So I clicked on it and it said something about coming in the summer along with Running Y. Therefore I assumed it would be limiting Wyndham access to certain resorts. I'll have to check it out more thoroughly.

Thanks for the info.

 

[markb53]

I'm a Worldmark owner, too, so I'm familiar with how they book up. Just curious why the Wyndham site only mentions those 2 ORegon resorts if all WM resorts will be available in the new program.

It's probably because those two were associate resorts in the Wyndham system. The others were never available at all in the Wyndham system.


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[lcml11]

It's probably because those two were associate resorts in the Wyndham system. The others were never available at all in the Wyndham system.


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I count 14 resorts under the WorldMark name marked on the Wyndham Club Plus map in the 2013-2014 Members Directory. From the looks if it, the 2014-2015 Members Directory is going to have a much less cluttered map for the Western part of the U.S. for Associate Resorts.

If one poster is right that the Club Wyndham Access resorts are joining up with the Club Wyndham Pass program, I would guess that the Club Wyndham Pass program would have a initial resort collection equal to or in excess of 63 resorts. If true, this would re-clutter up the map in the 2014-2015 directory under a color apparently to be determined for Club Wyndham Pass.