Wyndham CWA purchase (again…) — rescind? + RCI Last Call / NYC question

[Bearaoao]

Hi all, looking for a gut check while we’re still within rescission window.

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Background:

- Second time buying from Wyndham Vacation Ownership during presentation
- First time: bought → researched → rescinded
- This time: thought we understood it better → bought again (bought the exact offer that we rescinded previously)
- Now having second thoughts again

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Details:
- 154,000 CWA points
- $24,874 paid in full
- ~$1,517/year maintenance
- 246,000 bonus points (2 years) → temporary VIP Bronze
- Includes unlimited RCI, Club Pass, etc.


Main thing we bought into: “Unlimited RCI Last Call”

Sales said:
- Normal owners are limited (like 2/year)
- Ours is unlimited

But from what I’m reading here and on Reddit, Last Call already seems unlimited for most RCI members? Also don’t see it written anywhere in our contract.

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Questions:


About RCI last call:
1. Is Last Call actually unlimited for everyone already? If so, is this basically not a real perk?
2. Has anyone ever actually seen limits on RCI Last Call?


RCI last call at NYC question - Our intended use: We were planning to use Last Call a lot for NYC trips — we’re nearby and can be flexible/off-season.
- Is NYC even realistic for Last Call?
- How often does NYC inventory actually show up?


Resale question:
If we rescind and go resale:
- Do we still get RCI / Last Call access?
- What do you actually lose going resale that matters in real usage?


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Bottom line:
Would you rescind this deal?



Appreciate any straight answers — trying not to make the same mistake twice.

 

[obiomach]

Rescind now!!!!
I just bought 1.105,000 for $400 from tug. Yes you do get RCI access. we all do

 

[obiomach]

About RCI last call:
1. Is Last Call actually unlimited for everyone already? If so, is this basically not a real perk?

It's available to all. It's not a special perk

2. Has anyone ever actually seen limits on RCI Last Call?
Last call only works 45 days or less out. So high demand locations are hard to book. It's not impossible,just hard. The lie is that is's easy to book. Nothing on last call is easy with RCI.

if we rescind and go resale:
- Do we still get RCI / Last Call access?

YES, YES, YES!!

- What do you actually lose going resale that matters in real usage?
you do. If the salesman said you don't they are lying.

Rescind now!!!!
I just bought 1,105,000 for $400 from tug. Yes you do get RCI access. we all do. You'll have way more points for a better price buying from here

 

[paxsarah]

2. Has anyone ever actually seen limits on RCI Last Call?
Last call only works 45 days or less out. So high demand locations are hard to book. It's not impossible,just hard. The lie is that is's easy to book. Nothing on last call is easy with RCI.

I’d disagree that it’s not easy to book - it’s easy to book what’s available. The lie is that you’ll see prime locations and prime seasons in Last Call, because you generally won’t. Expect the leftovers, which will be ample in the offseason and less so in prime seasons.

 

[Jan M.]

Unless you have plans to eventually buy enough points to reach Gold VIP, which would be a considerable amount if money, don't waste your money buying directly from Wyndham. Bronze and Silver VIP benefits aren't enough to be worth what you'd be spending.

CWA points have their uses. If you need that 13 month booking window it gives you at resorts that have a significant amount of inventory in CWA, not all resorts have a lot of inventory in CWA, and need the high demand times, owning CWA can be useful.

CWA 2026 maintenance fees are $8.47 per thosand points before the program fee. Take a good long look at the maintenance fee chart in the pink stickies at the top of the Wyndham forum page. There are a number of resorts with maintenance fees a little under $6 ptp to a little over $7 ptp. All those figures are before the program fee.

Your maintenance fees determine the cost of every reservation you will ever have for as long as you own. I like to use a 224k point prime week at Bonnet Creek in a two bedroom deluxe as a cost example. I'm adding the resale program fee of $0.75 ptp based on owning at least 258k points to be over the minimum program fee.

CWA - $2,065.28
Waikiki Beach Walk - $1,758.40
Grand Desert, Towers 1 & 2 - $1,592.64
Panama City Beach - $1,484.58
National Harbor - $1,348.48

I picked those resorts because I see people selling contacts at them frequently enough to use as my examples. There are resorts with even lower maintenance fees but you're not likely to find someone selling something free or cheap at them.

154k points isn't going to get you much. Almost everyone under estimates the amount of points they will want and need. Which means they're back buying more points. It's often possible to get great deals on larger point contracts at lower maintenance fee resorts because they scare many people off. Do you have family or very close friends who you would want on the account too? Sharing the purchase price, the points, and maintenance fees. That works great for many owners.

Look over the point charts for half a dozen or so resorts you'd like to stay at. Look at how many points the size unit you'll need is in the time of year you'd be going. That will give you a better idea of how many points you'll want and need. If you go to the Wyndham website look for Publications in dark blue at the bottom of the page. That will take you to the Directory and point charts. You don't have to sign in to view the Directory. Hopefully they gave you a hard copy of the Directory. If they did hang on to that. You don't have to give it back when you rescind.

With 154k points you'd be paying the higher minimum program fee. For developer $219 minimum instead of $0.77 ptp. Resale is less. Also housekeeping credits are awarded 1 per 70k points owned per use year. They don't carry over and can't be moved forward if you move points to a future use year. If you run out of free ones, they're $189 each. If you primarily book short stays, you can find yourself having to pay for them.

Every Wyndham owner, developer or resale gets the same RCI account. Some people are able to find places they want to stay within 45 days of check in to take advantage of Last Call Weeks. Other people have very specific wants about the areas they want to go to. They only want certain resorts and aren't willing to give other resorts a try. Also they want/need very specific times. They claim they never find anything and there's nothing but junk in LCW. The inventory in LCW is always changing so those who only check what's available once in a great while aren't as likely to find something. As are those who have narrow parameters. LCW are very much a user experience varies thing.

 

[Jan M.]

I forgot to add that Wyndham has owner deals for discounts at resorts. Resale owners get this too. The resorts and discounts change so that's something to keep an eye on. The discounts can be equal to or better than even the Silver discount and sometimes the Gold too.

Also forgot to say not to expect to find holiday weeks in RCI Last Call Weeks.

 

[Double U]

I am Grandfathered Founders and paid alot for it. I am making serious consideration of giving it up for resale only; something like Jan M. Is saying. It actually becomes cheaper. Seems crazy, but I've quit trying to make sense of it. For me, as a personal usage person, resale makes sense, over being Founders. Much, much, much less expensive. Trust your gut, like you would in any questionable situation.

What does Bronze get you anyway? You can rent bonus time at $5/K at that point anyway?!?!?!

 

[Bearaoao]

Thank you so much for the thorough and thoughtful replies @obiomach, @paxsarah, @Jan M. and @Double U !!

Working on rescinding now, definitely a lot to learn in the "game of timeshare"

 

[chapjim]

I am Grandfathered Founders and paid alot for it. I am making serious consideration of giving it up for resale only; something like Jan M. Is saying. It actually becomes cheaper. Seems crazy, but I've quit trying to make sense of it. For me, as a personal usage person, resale makes sense, over being Founders. Much, much, much less expensive. Trust your gut, like you would in any questionable situation.

What does Bronze get you anyway? You can rent bonus time at $5/K at that point anyway?!?!?!

I don't understand this. I am also VIP Founders and enjoy the discounts and upgrades that are not available to an owner who has only resale points.

I'd have to figure it out but I'm guessing that I get 40-50% additional usage from my 1,589,000 developer points.

I'm not advocating anyone going out and buying 1.4 million points from Wyndham. But, if you already have that many developer points, I don't see how giving them up is a good idea.

 

[bnoble]

Working on rescinding now, definitely a lot to learn in the "game of timeshare"

The first lesson might be: stop going to sales presentations!

 

[paxsarah]

I don't understand this. I am also VIP Founders and enjoy the discounts and upgrades that are not available to an owner who has only resale points.

I'd have to figure it out but I'm guessing that I get 40-50% additional usage from my 1,589,000 developer points.

I'm not advocating anyone going out and buying 1.4 million points from Wyndham. But, if you already have that many developer points, I don't see how giving them up is a good idea.

Unless they have truly horrendous maintenance fees, I agree. I'd rather own what I own than a Founders ownership at Nashville, for example. But if I were at CWA MF or below and actually using all/most of my points, I don't see why to downgrade.

 

[Bearaoao]

The first lesson might be: stop going to sales presentations!

true dat ‍