Wyndham Edition - TUG Virtual Meetup Livestream Event - Saturday April 10th, 2021 @ 4PM ET, 1 PM PT

[dioxide45]

I will be hosting a TUG Virtual Meetup Livestream on my YouTube channel this Saturday, see details below. We would love it if you could join!

WYNDHAM DESTINATIONS EDITION

We have an expert panel to discuss what is happening in the world of Wyndham. So be sure to tune in!

PANEL MEMBERS
@dioxide45
@Jan M.
@Sandy VDH
@cbyrne1174

TUG Virtual Meet Up Livestream Event - Saturday April 10th - 4:00pm Eastern, 1:00pm Pacific

Here is a link to access it directly on YouTube: https://bit.ly/2RbAfku
Go to the video page now and set a reminder so you don't miss it!

I don't suggest watching it directly through the player in this TUG thread, instead hover over and click on the title to go directly to YouTube or use the link above.

Be sure to have a Google account or set one up before the livestream so you can participate in the live chat and talk with the panel and anyone else that joins in.

​

 

[dioxide45]

Bumping to the top. Hope to see you there!

 

[Sandi Bo]

Thanks for doing this @dioxide45 (and thanks for being on the panel @Jan M. @cbyrne1174 and @Sandy VDH). I did a quick scan through and lots of good information, will be going back and watching it all when I have the time. Appreciate all the info!!!

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

it’s great that it is on YouTube.
I missed the original promo info thread for Saturday / Watched it Sunday morning

This is a good “college ” level course for someone who has developer bought Wyndham or experienced by renting via Extra Holidays etc. & wants to visually find out more use information.

Thanks @dioxide45 , @Jan M. @Sandy VDH @cbyrne1174

 

[HitchHiker71]

Hey gang, sorry I missed this shindig. If you are ever in the market for another panelist - I’m always happy to participate!

Wondering how we could promote this concept more widely going forward?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cbyrne1174]

We should collectively start recording our units every time we check in and see if @dioxide45 wants to throw the footage on his Youtube Channel. As discussed yesterday, Wyndham is terrible about having accurate pictures.

 

[Arb]

I hate it that I missed this!

 

[A.Win]

To my surprise, I actually watched the entire thing! So you all did well to keep me entertained. I learned a lot about other resorts.
I noticed that Courtney mentioned having a 2BR when you only need a 1BR. I agree that it seems wasteful. But think about all the empty nesters like me, that live in homes with 2 to 4 bedrooms that are empty almost all year round. Or all the vacant 2nd homes in all vacation areas. If people can be wasteful with their homes, why not at a timeshare?

 

[CPNY]

Wow! So much to know about Wyndham! Was so good to see everyone on the live stream. I’m confused as it is with my Lil ole RCI points account, Wyndham scares me, I’ll stick with my vistana haha.

 

[Jan M.]

Wow! So much to know about Wyndham! Was so good to see everyone on the live stream. I’m confused enough with my Lil ole RCI points account. Wyndham scares me, I’ll stick with my vistana haha

We use our RCI points account a lot. I'd be glad to help. Send me a message and I'll give you my number

 

[CPNY]

We use our RCI points account a lot. I'd be glad to help. Send me a message and I'll give you my number

Thank you Jan! It was great to hear from you on the video. I’m wondering if I should dump the RCI Points and get into Wyndham instead? You have always been a huge help on my RCI questions and I greatly appreciate that ! 2.5 hours and now I have a list of Wyndhams I want to check out. I’m with you, I’d go to star island if it’s quiet haha.

 

[Jan M.]

Thank you Jan! It was great to hear from you on the video. I’m wondering if I should dump the RCI Points and get into Wyndham instead? You have always been a huge help on my RCI questions and I greatly appreciate that ! 2.5 hours and now I have a list of Wyndhams I want to check out. I’m with you, I’d go to star island if it’s quiet haha.

You can book many of the Wyndham resorts using your RCI points account. It's usually cheaper too. With our RCI points account I've booked Bonnet Creek, Star Island, Reunion, Austin, Smoky Mountains and a few others I'm probably forgetting. I frequently see stays at Indio, Angel's Camp, Kingsgate, Desert Blue, Grand Desert, Tamarack, Ocean Walk and other Wyndham resorts too.

My husband really enjoyed Jeremy putting me on the spot and pushing me to name my top three favorite resorts. An impossible task! Since September 2019, we've stayed at 27 Wyndham resorts, not all of them were new to us and some several times. Plus at least another dozen if not more resorts through RCI. We did big cities, rural areas, Orlando, beaches, mountains, desert, Hawaii and St. Thomas.

What really made me hesitate was having it brought home to me that other people may only have the points, time or money to take one or two vacations a year. Also they could be 21-80 something in age, a single, a couple, a small family or a large one, have very young children to older teens. Wyndham gives us a lot of options but not all of them are going to appeal to everyone.

We're a good example. For years we didn't think we were Branson people. Other people we talked to just loved Branson but we weren't convinced it was for us. Then a few years ago at one of the annual owners meetings they had a table for the party weekends and were offering great prices on a limited number of packages. One of the best deals was for Branson and I bought it. We had a wonderful time. We'd planned to go back in 2020 for the Christmas shows but thanks to Covid it didn't happen.

 

[A.Win]

I wanted to add that you all discussed which resorts are the best. But the best ones are not always the best value. You talked about Marriott, DVC, Emerald Grande, presidential units, Hawaii, Margaritaville, etc. But you didn't emphasize that the "best" ones are often double or triple the cost of the less popular Wyndham resorts in NC or Williamsburg or Atlantic City. Many people are on a budget, so they are interested in the best value, and not just the better, more expensive options.

 

[Jan M.]

I wanted to add that you all discussed which resorts are the best. But the best ones are not always the best value. You talked about Marriott, DVC, Emerald Grande, presidential units, Hawaii, Margaritaville, etc. But you didn't emphasize that the "best" ones are often double or triple the cost of the less popular Wyndham resorts in NC or Williamsburg or Atlantic City. Many people are on a budget, so they are interested in the best value, and not just the better, more expensive options.

That's something we certainly could have addressed more. And should have made clearer when we talked about Star Island, Bonnet Creek and Reunion too.

I could see whole event solely about getting the most bang for your buck. In an area that has several resorts, which one. Resorts in areas some people might never even consider. Times of year that aren't prime weeks but still have good weather. For instance for a number of years we went to Myrtle Beach in the fall. From watching the weather we found that as long as we went before that last week of October the weather was beautiful. The last week seemed to consistently see a lot of rain and a drop to cooler temperatures.

I'm very conservative about how I use our Wyndham points. Staying at a high point resort is something we don't often do. Courtney pointed out that not staying Friday or Saturday night just Sunday-Thursday saves a lot of points. Many owners find it more cost-effective to rent the weekend part of their stay from a VIP owner who's gotten their discount and free upgrade and book the week nights with their own points.

On our 10 night stay last month at Reunion a week of it was booked with our RCI points account and the other 3 nights with our Wyndham points. We've stayed at Reunion probably half a dozen times and this was the first time I've used our Wyndham points to book it. It pained me big time to use that many of our points to book those 3 additional nights and they were week nights too! You can frequently find weeks at Reunion renting on eBay or other places for less than it would cost you to book with your Wyndham points.

Most but not all of the year Star Island is less points to stay at than Bonnet Creek. Cypress Palms is usually even a little less. The pool at Cypress Palms doesn't have anything for little ones who aren't swimming yet however the playground is good.

If it's a busier time of the year my husband prefers Star Island because it's less crowded than Bonnet Creek. He wears hearing aids but obviously not in the water. When he's at the pool with our granddaughters it's harder for him to hear them and keep track of them in the busy packed pools at Bonnet Creek. When we're looking to do something with the girls after dinner for an hour or so before getting the bedtime routine started it's very convenient to walk out of our building at Star Island and have the playground and mini golf close. At Bonnet Creek because we're PR they've always put us in building 5 or 6 which means to get to those things a walk around the lake for tired little ones and grandparents. The last time we stayed at Bonnet Creek with the granddaughters was with a week I booked through RCI before Covid. We didn't add any extra nights so I didn't have to call to make sure they had everything linked up to keep us in the same unit. That meant they didn't see that we're PR owners and they put us in building 3. We loved it! It was convenient to the playground, mini golf and a different pool than we usually go to. Best of all was that from our balcony we had one of the best views we've ever had of the fireworks.

Our perspective because we can and do travel a lot is different than others who take one or two vacations a year and want what they want. Anything else feels like they're settling for something not as good. We've found that some of the less popular or older resorts that are often less points to book have their own charms. They offer a quieter more relaxing vacation. To use the old rental car company slogan, they're not number one but they try harder. Some of those resorts do things you won't get at more popular or bigger resorts.

 

[cbyrne1174]

I wanted to add that you all discussed which resorts are the best. But the best ones are not always the best value. You talked about Marriott, DVC, Emerald Grande, presidential units, Hawaii, Margaritaville, etc. But you didn't emphasize that the "best" ones are often double or triple the cost of the less popular Wyndham resorts in NC or Williamsburg or Atlantic City. Many people are on a budget, so they are interested in the best value, and not just the better, more expensive options.

The Wyndhams are usually the best value when comparing them to Marriott and DVC. A week in a Marriott's Grande Vista is usually around $1500 for a 2 bedroom and as little as $1,000, where you can stay at Bonnet Creek in a 2 bedroom for as little as $600/week and as much as $1500 a week with the average being around $800-$1,000. Star Island is cheaper by a little bit, but the quality is lower by a lot.

 

[Sandy VDH]

While we did cover a lot of topics, everyone has a different take on what they are interested in: to purchase, to rent, to visit, etc.

This is why TSs are so many different things to so many different people. There is NOT a right timeshare for everyone to purchase, there are quality levels and costs that run the gammit.

If you don't want to spend cash, then renting is the best way to gain access, without the annual burden.

 

[Jan M.]

The Wyndhams are usually the best value when comparing them to Marriott and DVC. A week in a Marriott's Grande Vista is usually around $1500 for a 2 bedroom and as little as $1,000, where you can stay at Bonnet Creek in a 2 bedroom for as little as $600/week and as much as $1500 a week with the average being around $800-$1,000. Star Island is cheaper by a little bit, but the quality is lower by a lot.

This is where one person's experience with a resort can be very different from someone else's. Courtney sent me a picture of the view from their unit at Star Island. In the many times we've stayed there we've never been in that building/had that view I'm very happy to say! I've even booked Star Island through RCI and gotten the better buildings but again I usually have a few more nights booked with our Wyndham points so call to have them link the stays up and request to be in one of the several of our favorite buildings.

Courtney mentioned using Wyndham reward points to book Star Island. Do resorts tend to put you in the less desirable units and building when you book with reward points? When a resort is in a busy time I'm guessing they probably do.

I told Courtney that view still wasn't bad compared to what you often saw at Grand Desert before a really run down and sketchy apartment complex it over looked from one side of the buildings got torn down. Some of you who have owned for longer and stayed there may remember that.

 

[cbyrne1174]

This is where one person's experience with a resort can be very different from someone else's. Courtney sent me a picture of the view from their unit at Star Island. In the many times we've stayed there we've never been in that building/had that view I'm very happy to say! I've even booked Star Island through RCI and gotten the better buildings but again I usually have a few more nights booked with our Wyndham points so call to have them link the stays up and request to be in one of the several of our favorite buildings.

Courtney mentioned using Wyndham reward points to book Star Island. Do resorts tend to put you in the less desirable units and building when you book with reward points? When a resort is in a busy time I'm guessing they probably do.

I told Courtney that view still wasn't bad compared to what you often saw at Grand Desert before a really run down and sketchy apartment complex it over looked from one side of the buildings got torn down. Some of you who have owned for longer and stayed there may remember that.

It's the buildings in the back that have a bad view: