Wyndham availability in Beachwalk

[Tamaradarann]

I don't own Wyndham but I have been to a few Wyndham presentations at Beachwalk in Honolulu. I love Honolulu and stay at the HHV often.

I know that most TUG members feel that the timeshare sales people will say just about anything to get you to buy and, therefore, you can't listen or talk about what they say. However, I want to get some discussion on this not to beat up on the Wyndham sales people but to get real answers on how the system really works with respect to the Beachwalk property which I have never be able to book into with RCI.

Some Wyndham sales people say that if you buy anywhere in Hawaii you get preference at Beachwalk and you will be able to book there in the high demand winter months. Others say that owning in Hawaii gets you 9-12 month booking preference, which is better than other Wyndham owners, but only if you own Beachwalk do you get Beachwalk 13 month booking preference. Which is it?

In addition, with 52 weeks in the year and only about 13 winter weeks if everyone who owns Beachwalk wanted to book during the winter what would or does in really happen?

Another Wyndham sales pitch is that if you buy Beachwalk, you can trade it in for two weeks in any Wyndham resort. They say that they will rent out your week for a few thousand dollars to benefit them. They say then you can book Beachwalk for the two weeks that you got in return for trading yours in to them. That sounds to me like they sold one week at Beachwalk and are saying that there can be 3 weeks of booking at Beachwalk for the same week! What really happens?

Another Wyndham sales pitch is that once you become Platinum or Gold you get big point discounts. They say if you book a resort for 200,000 points you get back as much as 100,000 points. Again if we focus on owning at Beachwalk. If you own two weeks worth of points at Beachwalk and you book Beachwalk for say 400,000 points and get 200,000 points back can you book Beachwalk for another week. If you can do this then they sold 2 weeks at Beachwalk and there can 3 weeks of booking using those 2 weeks. What really happens?

I would appreciate the real scoop on this since I love the location of this resort and if I could, which I can't, believe the sales pitch I would buy some resale Wyndham to be guaranteed to able to go there in the winter when I want.

 

[ronparise]

I own Wyndham, but my points are not based in Hawaii, and I havent used my points to book a Hawaii stay, so I wont be able to answer all your questions, and the answers I do have might be a little vague...but here goes...my comments are in blue

I don't own Wyndham but I have been to a few Wyndham presentations at Beachwalk in Honolulu. I love Honolulu and stay at the HHV often.

I know that most TUG members feel that the timeshare sales people will say just about anything to get you to buy and, therefore, you can't listen or talk about what they say. However, I want to get some discussion on this not to beat up on the Wyndham sales people but to get real answers on how the system really works with respect to the Beachwalk property which I have never be able to book into with RCI.

Some Wyndham sales people say that if you buy anywhere in Hawaii you get preference at Beachwalk and you will be able to book there in the high demand winter months. Others say that owning in Hawaii gets you 9-12 month booking preference, which is better than other Wyndham owners, but only if you own Beachwalk do you get Beachwalk 13 month booking preference. Which is it?

Its both..You have 13 month ARP at your home resort...and a Wyndham Hawaii owner is a member of the "Outrigger Resort Club" which gives other benefits one of which is 12 month ARP at other Hawaii properties

In addition, with 52 weeks in the year and only about 13 winter weeks if everyone who owns Beachwalk wanted to book during the winter what would or does in really happen? This is no different than at any floating week or points based timeshare resort...first come first served

Another Wyndham sales pitch is that if you buy Beachwalk, you can trade it in for two weeks in any Wyndham resort. This is probably because the points requirements for a week in Hawaii is so high, if you own enough for a week there, you will have enough points for two weeks in other resorts They say that they will rent out your week for a few thousand dollars to benefit them. They say then you can book Beachwalk for the two weeks that you got in return for trading yours in to them. That sounds to me like they sold one week at Beachwalk and are saying that there can be 3 weeks of booking at Beachwalk for the same week! What really happens? I dont understand what they are saying here. But know they dont sell more points than they have backed up by a real deed Ie they cant oversell

Another Wyndham sales pitch is that once you become Platinum or Gold you get big point discounts. They say if you book a resort for 200,000 points you get back as much as 100,000 points. Understand you cant be a VIP with resale points....But yes Platinum VIP members get big discounts on reservations made within 60 days of check in Again if we focus on owning at Beachwalk. If you own two weeks worth of points at Beachwalk and you book Beachwalk for say 400,000 points and get 200,000 points back can you book Beachwalk for another week. If you are a Platimum VIP (and you wont be with resale points) Yes if you book within 60 days of check in If you can do this then they sold 2 weeks at Beachwalk and there can 3 weeks of booking using those 2 weeks. What really happens? someone that wants to book a week wont be able to. Its actually worse than you think.. I can use my points based in New Bern NC to book a week at Beachwalk as can every other Wyndham points owner..but we cant do it untill after the ARP window closes

I would appreciate the real scoop on this since I love the location of this resort and if I could, which I can't, believe the sales pitch I would buy some resale Wyndham to be guaranteed to able to go there in the winter when I want.Some of your questions assume VIP status, which you wont get buying resale. But resale is the way to go. There are no guarantees, but owning at Beachwalk will give you ARP, and if you call at the 13 month mark you will almost certainly get a winter week and probably your first choice

I think a big part of your confusion comes from a poor understanding of the Wyndham points system...keep reading here on TUG and read the Wyndham directory (click here) and sooner or later a light will come on and you will have it..The upside of a points system is the flexibility..the downside is no guarantees

 

[slabeaume]

To expand a bit more on what was already answered:

I don't own Wyndham but I have been to a few Wyndham presentations at Beachwalk in Honolulu. I love Honolulu and stay at the HHV often.

I know that most TUG members feel that the timeshare sales people will say just about anything to get you to buy and, therefore, you can't listen or talk about what they say. However, I want to get some discussion on this not to beat up on the Wyndham sales people but to get real answers on how the system really works with respect to the Beachwalk property which I have never be able to book into with RCI.

Some Wyndham sales people say that if you buy anywhere in Hawaii you get preference at Beachwalk and you will be able to book there in the high demand winter months. If it is an "affiliate" resort, then you can reciprocol book it if you have VIP membership. I own on Kauai and because Kauai Beach Villas isn't an affiliate, I can't book anything else with it in ARP timeframe---something they specifically told me I could when I bought and really irritated me a couple years later when they "realized" their mistake!Others say that owning in Hawaii gets you 9-12 month booking preference, which is better than other Wyndham owners, again, I believe they're referring to the reciprocol ARP advantage you get with VIP status---I don't recall hearing about that for just owning in Hawaii but only if you own Beachwalk do you get Beachwalk 13 month booking preference. Which is it?

In addition, with 52 weeks in the year and only about 13 winter weeks if everyone who owns Beachwalk wanted to book during the winter what would or does in really happen? at 10 months out it's opened up to anyone, but from what I've seen so far, it's pretty available that far out. Could be that there's still a lot of unsold weeks there.

Another Wyndham sales pitch is that if you buy Beachwalk, you can trade it in for two weeks in any Wyndham resort. They say that they will rent out your week for a few thousand dollars to benefit them. They say then you can book Beachwalk for the two weeks that you got in return for trading yours in to them. Sounds like they're talking abound trading into Trading Places exchange company. If you trade in a Hawaii week and you're a Premier Access member in Trading Places (if you buy into Wyndham from them you'll get 3 years Premier Access membership free) they give you 2 weeks for one. But to trade back into Beach Walk, others would have had to trade Beach WAlk weeks into them and I don't see much of that happening. That sounds to me like they sold one week at Beachwalk and are saying that there can be 3 weeks of booking at Beachwalk for the same week! What really happens?

Another Wyndham sales pitch is that once you become Platinum or Gold you get big point discounts. They say if you book a resort for 200,000 points you get back as much as 100,000 points. The 50% off points is for 1,000,000 point owners or Platinum owners, at 60 days out. Gold gets 35% off---but the week has to be available. At 60 days out, that's not too likely with winter Hawaii weeks except for the occassional last minute 14 day out cancellation (if you don't cancell more then 14 days out you loose all your points, so some who are trying to sell the weeks will hold them until 15 days out) Again if we focus on owning at Beachwalk. If you own two weeks worth of points at Beachwalk and you book Beachwalk for say 400,000 points and get 200,000 points back can you book Beachwalk for another week. If you only have 400,000 points, you'll be Gold (I think, but I know they raised the amount recently so I'm not sure if 400,000 is the minimum for Gold off hand now--that is a 35% discount if it's available 60 days out) If you can do this then they sold 2 weeks at Beachwalk and there can 3 weeks of booking using those 2 weeks. What really happens?Just means there was a lot of unbooked space within 60 days so they're giving VIPS a discount to fill up the resort

I would appreciate the real scoop on this since I love the location of this resort and if I could, which I can't, believe the sales pitch I would buy some resale Wyndham to be guaranteed to able to go there in the winter when I want.

Buy Beach Walk resale and book it at 13 months out and don't worry about exchanges and discounts. You could probably buy some cheaper other points, too, and book Beach Walk at 10 months out.

 

[Tamaradarann]

Buying Beachwalk

Thank you Ron and Slabeaume for your information which helps me understand quite a bit. I guess what my understanding is that if I buy resale, which I would, I wouldn't be VIP so the exchanging with the 60 day club and discounts wouldn't be available to me. Therefore, if I do choose to get into Wyndham I should buy resales at Beachwalk and book my winter in Waikiki.

I searched for Beachwalk resales earlier today and I saw some for around 10K for about 500,000 points which should give me about 2-3 weeks at Beachwalk if all the points were Beachwalk points. For the entire winter, starting right after New Years, I need about 2,000,000 Beachwalk points since weeks are about 150,000 in January and 200,000 in February and March. Maintenance for that many points seems to be in the 8K range. Does that sound about right?

We usually stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for much of the winter, however, the new "Revolution System" that Hilton has implemented has made booking weeks there a daily adventure and I am looking for other opportunities.

 

[ronparise]

Tamaradarann

You are looking at timeshares the same way I am, as a proxy for owning a winter home or condo. Although my plan is to make it a summer home and "resort hop" spending 2 or 3 weeks at one place and moving to another

I am a real estate salesman in SW Florida, and make my living selling whole ownership condos and homes to snowbirds...They buy a condo, pay taxes and condo fees for a whole year maintain it for a year , furnish it but use it for only three to six months..and of course tie up a significant amount of money with the purchase

You could do the same thing in Hawaii (buy a condo) but I suspect the cost to purchase would be a whole lot more than buying 2 or 3 months worth of Wyndham points on the secondary market and paying the maintenance fees.

There will be a management headache (calling every week to reserve a week the following year) and you probably should have a back up plan in case you dont get a week you need, but if you call every week 13 months in advance there shouldnt be a problem

I understand that there are folks that do this very thing at some of the Pompono Beach properties in South Florida. They have the same room for 3 months running

 

[rrlongwell]

... I understand that there are folks that do this very thing at some of the Pompono Beach properties in South Florida. They have the same room for 3 months running

I was staying at Seawatch Plantation is Myrtle Beach one time and they had a little sign up that said you could not stay in the timeshare year around. So I am assumming a number of people are looking at this as a cheap alternative to a second home. If you are from a cold area, Myrtle Beach can be real cheap with great facilities in the Winter months. May not be Flordia.

 

[ronparise]

I was staying at Seawatch Plantation is Myrtle Beach one time and they had a little sign up that said you could not stay in the timeshare year around. So I am assumming a number of people are looking at this as a cheap alternative to a second home. If you are from a cold area, Myrtle Beach can be real cheap with great facilities in the Winter months. May not be Flordia.

I wonder how they enforce that...

No problem for me however South Carolina is too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer...The worst of both worlds...

For me South Florida in the winter and New England or the Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina in the Summer make much more sense

 

[rrlongwell]

I wonder how they enforce that...

No problem for me however South Carolina is too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer...The worst of both worlds...

For me South Florida in the winter and New England or the Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina in the Summer make much more sense

I was wondering about that myself, I do not think they can. And, even if they did, just do 3 months at Seawatch Plantation, 3 Months at Westwinds, etc. etc. etc.

 

[Tamaradarann]

Tamaradarann

You are looking at timeshares the same way I am, as a proxy for owning a winter home or condo. Although my plan is to make it a summer home and "resort hop" spending 2 or 3 weeks at one place and moving to another

I am a real estate salesman in SW Florida, and make my living selling whole ownership condos and homes to snowbirds...They buy a condo, pay taxes and condo fees for a whole year maintain it for a year , furnish it but use it for only three to six months..and of course tie up a significant amount of money with the purchase

You could do the same thing in Hawaii (buy a condo) but I suspect the cost to purchase would be a whole lot more than buying 2 or 3 months worth of Wyndham points on the secondary market and paying the maintenance fees.


I understand that there are folks that do this very thing at some of the Pompono Beach properties in South Florida. They have the same room for 3 months running

Ron, we do the same thing with the Hilton Timeshares in Honolulu. Stay the winter. However, it is getting more difficult to do with their new Revolution Booking system. The real estate in Waikiki did not drop like Florida and other parts of the country. Maybe a few percent. The 2 BR condo that we want to buy starts at 700K.

 

[learnalot]

I wonder how they enforce that...

No problem for me however South Carolina is too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer...The worst of both worlds...

For me South Florida in the winter and New England or the Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina in the Summer make much more sense

I think perhaps they just mean that you can't just move in and stay in the same room for 3 months. If you have enough points, you should be able to stay as long as you want, but you might have to check in and check out every week.

 

[vacationhopeful]

South Carolina might have a residency statue and zoning of the timeshare to NOT be permanent housing. Plus, by having a short HIGH season, there might be a more people who move in for 8+ months verses the Hurricane season of South Florida.

I also have experienced Snowbirds who take up living for months in timeshares and refusing to move every week or two - sometimes because they are 90+ yo and sometimes because they get the BEST VIEW unit or BOTH. Either way, the nursing home smell can develop in the unit.

Changing units does allow housekeeping to maintain the condition of the unit or prevent excessive damage. It also maintains that this is transitant housing (like a hotel).

In NJ, it is after 90 days, a motel/hotel has to EVICT a tenant as that period of time establishes a permanent residency.

 

[rrlongwell]

... In NJ, it is after 90 days, a motel/hotel has to EVICT a tenant as that period of time establishes a permanent residency.

Good point, that is probably why the sign is there. Also, it may be very good advise unless one wants to give up their home state residency.

 

[littlestar]

I check Waikiki Beachwalk availability quite frequently on Wyndham's site. I really liked Beachwalk when we stayed there.

I think if you want the higher floor units you need to own there. But, if you don't mind the lower floors, I think you could book pretty easily when the window opens up for non Beachwalk owners through Wyndham. We're owners at Wyndham Smoky Mts in Sevierville.

 

[Tamaradarann]

I check Waikiki Beachwalk availability quite frequently on Wyndham's site. I really liked Beachwalk when we stayed there.

I think if you want the higher floor units you need to own there. But, if you don't mind the lower floors, I think you could book pretty easily when the window opens up for non Beachwalk owners through Wyndham. We're owners at Wyndham Smoky Mts in Sevierville.

We don't mind the lower floors but we must have winter and would want to book week after week in a row in the winter. Is that kind of availability there for Wyndham owners who don't own at Beachwalk?

 

[jjmanthei05]

We don't mind the lower floors but we must have winter and would want to book week after week in a row in the winter. Is that kind of availability there for Wyndham owners who don't own at Beachwalk?

Just as a heads up. I looked at 7 day availability for beach walk this November, December, January and through mid-February. It is showing units available for every week. There are still units available for thanksgiving (though not many) but as you can see it isn't a requirement you own there for you to be able to get into the winter. One advantage of owning there though is that access to Outrigger resorts which we non-Hawaii owners (or more accurately specific property Hawaii owners) don't have access to. So if you are looking to go to Hawaii every winter and want to expand your selection you may want to buy there. Also I looked at the points chart and to stay 3 months in a 2 bedroom lower in the winter you are going to need somewhere between 3 and 5 million points to do it depending on if you are staying over for Christmas and new years because those 2 weeks are between 900,000 and 1.025 million depending on if it is a lower or upper unit.

Jason

 

[Tamaradarann]

Outrigger Resorts?

Just as a heads up. I looked at 7 day availability for beach walk this November, December, January and through mid-February. It is showing units available for every week. There are still units available for thanksgiving (though not many) but as you can see it isn't a requirement you own there for you to be able to get into the winter. One advantage of owning there though is that access to Outrigger resorts which we non-Hawaii owners (or more accurately specific property Hawaii owners) don't have access to. So if you are looking to go to Hawaii every winter and want to expand your selection you may want to buy there. Also I looked at the points chart and to stay 3 months in a 2 bedroom lower in the winter you are going to need somewhere between 3 and 5 million points to do it depending on if you are staying over for Christmas and new years because those 2 weeks are between 900,000 and 1.025 million depending on if it is a lower or upper unit.

Jason

Thank you Jason for that heads up. We would only need a 1 Br for the winter, we don't mind a lower floor, and would be starting after the New Years week to save points as well as air fare hikes. By the way are 1 BR units available now for that period? How many points would you say for that period in a 1 BR? From my knowledge of the system I would say it would be about 600K for Jan, 800K for Feb, and 900K for March.

Also, how do the Outrigger Resorts work with Wyndham? Are they timeshares or do you need to access them through the Hotel system which usual is not a good value for the timeshare points.

 

[learnalot]

Thank you Jason for that heads up. We would only need a 1 Br for the winter, we don't mind a lower floor, and would be starting after the New Years week to save points as well as air fare hikes. By the way are 1 BR units available now for that period? How many points would you say for that period in a 1 BR? From my knowledge of the system I would say it would be about 600K for Jan, 800K for Feb, and 900K for March.

Also, how do the Outrigger Resorts work with Wyndham? Are they timeshares or do you need to access them through the Hotel system which usual is not a good value for the timeshare points.

Outrigger resort access through Wyndham timeshares is only available if one of your home resorts for Wyndham is in Hawaii. Honestly, though, the point costs for the Outriggers are SO high that you would overspend to stay there. I watched them pretty closely for quite some time to see if they ever show availability during the VIP discount period. I never saw availability inside the discount period, even if it was there the day before. I suspect they pull the inventory at the point it would be discounted.

 

[littlestar]

We don't mind the lower floors but we must have winter and would want to book week after week in a row in the winter. Is that kind of availability there for Wyndham owners who don't own at Beachwalk?

I checked the month of January 2013 and first week of February and there's 1 and 2 bedrooms on the lower floors available (I used a Saturday check-in date). Here's a link to the point charts:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/wyndham/memberdirectory0910/

The one bedroom suites are less points than the one bedroom deluxe units.

 

[littlestar]

By the way, I bought resale and I see point discounts (specials) online on Wyndham's site when I travel off season at some of their resorts, but I've never seen Wyndham Waikiki Beachwalk point stays discounted - must be considered "red" time all the time in Hawaii.