Wyndham points - pros and cons

[Jan5]

I am considering buying wyndham points and would appreciate your opinion of the pros and cons of buying a resale timeshare.

Pros

1) Low cost
2) Apply points and use at any wyndham resort
3) Trade points in RCI
4) Forces you to take vacation
5) High quality location at low cost
6) Does not matter where you buy points; points are points.


Cons

1) Need to plan 13 months in advance
2) Maintenance fees may increase
3) Wyndham corp does not support resale points
4) Could have assessment if home week facility requires renovations.
5) Difficult to sell
6) Lower cost to pay daily hotel rate

Anything to add or is not accurate?

Thanks!

 

[Cheryl20772]

Need to plan 13 months in advance

In my experience, you only need to plan that far in advance for high demand resorts during high demand times. If you can vacation in the off seasons, you can usually plan less than 90 days in advance.

 

[CruiseGuy]

I am considering buying wyndham points and would appreciate your opinion of the pros and cons of buying a resale timeshare.

Pros

1) Low cost - As long as you buy resale, do your homework, know what you're getting into, buy what you expect to need, and learn how to use it.
2) Apply points and use at any wyndham resort - yes, as long as you plan ahead and don't absolutely need a peak week at a resort other than your home resort
3) Trade points in RCI - It's there to use, but it will cost you extra to do. You can still find some reasonable deals.
4) Forces you to take vacation - Forces you to use or lose your points, but if you plan and use the credit pool, you get a lot more flexibility. You do lose your 13 month ARP at your home resort for points placed in the credit pool.
5) High quality location at low cost - Some resorts are better than others, but we've found a couple we really like and are willing to go back to. Plus there are many more that we haven't visited.
6) Does not matter where you buy points; points are points. - True, unless you want prime weeks at a specific resort. At certain resorts, spring break could be near impossible to get, at others, the holiday weeks will be near impossible to get, unless you own there and have 13 month ARP


Cons

1) Need to plan 13 months in advance - You will only be able to plan 10 months out, except at your home resort. But yes, if you cannot plan several months ahead, especially for peak times, then a timeshare is probably not for you, unless you have a lot of flexibility in where you are willing to go.
2) Maintenance fees may increase - Maintenance fees WILL increase
3) Wyndham corp does not support resale points - Given the price difference, so far this is not much of a con vs the benefits associated with retail
4) Could have assessment if home week facility requires renovations. - Mostly if home resort requires unanticipated repairs due to earthquakes, hurricanes and such.
5) Difficult to sell - If you buy at a low cost and consider that the price of ownership and are willing to give it away and pay the transfer fee, it will go fast.
6) Lower cost to pay daily hotel rate - I usually pay a lower rate than what it would cost me to stay at any mid-level hotel that I would be willing to stay at in the first place.

Anything to add or is not accurate?

Thanks!

It really depends on what you're looking for. But we tend to travel in off-peak times, so it's a good value for us so far. It's nice to have more than a hotel room, to have the additional living space to spread out and relax, a kitchen so we can eat a simple breakfast and lunch in, and the laundry especially if we spent a week before or after on a cruise or somewhere else. Others will have a different perspective than me. Whether it works for you depends on how you like to vacation, your ability to plan, and understanding the Wyndham system.

 

[uscav8r]

I am considering buying wyndham points and would appreciate your opinion of the pros and cons of buying a resale timeshare.

Pros

1) Low cost
2) Apply points and use at any wyndham resort
3) Trade points in RCI
4) Forces you to take vacation
5) High quality location at low cost
6) Does not matter where you buy points; points are points.


Cons

1) Need to plan 13 months in advance
2) Maintenance fees may increase
3) Wyndham corp does not support resale points
4) Could have assessment if home week facility requires renovations.
5) Difficult to sell
6) Lower cost to pay daily hotel rate

Anything to add or is not accurate?

Thanks!

It is not clear what your comparison is to.

Are you comparing to buying points resale vs. retail? Or are you comparing points ownership vs. fixed week ownership?

Most of your cons are not unique to (Wyndham) points ownership:
2) ANY timeshare maintenance fees are guaranteed to increase.
4) ANY timeshare can be subject to a special assessment.
5) Can be true of any timeshare. High MF resorts are more difficult to sell than low MF resorts
6) This is comparing apples to oranges. For the space you get at a timeshare, you pay a competitive (or even lesser) rate compared to a hotel. Try getting a hotel room for 6 people. You'll likely have to get at least 2 rooms.

As for Con #3, this is not really true, at least from a practical usage standpoint. Resale points are just as good as developer points in all regards with the exception of VIP eligibility. IF you buy enough points to qualify for certain VIP levels (400k/700k/1M+), you get certain booking discounts and upgrades (WHEN AVAILABLE). But to get VIP you shell out tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars more than you would for resale points. Think of it as "pre-paying" for all your future discounts and then some.

 

[persia]

You might want to buy Club Wyndham Access points rather than ones at a particular resort.

 

[Designerd]

1.5yrs in and still loving Resale - Wyndham!

Pros

1) Low cost
Buy what you can afford now and in the future. If the costs goes up to much. Have locations that are easy for resale has been my thought since 13month reservations are key for high frequency locations

2) Apply points and use at any wyndham resort
Loving this benefit!

3) Trade points in RCI
I am finding as Resales you have to transfer enough point for the entire week which could be very high points.

You also don't have the daily reservation option that "direct Wyndham purchasers get" (You get approx. 15-20% off Wyndham hotel location as a Wyndham owner benefit). So I am finding the value in using my points with Wyndham. Just make sure that Wyndham's locations work for you - key point. I am not looking to pay more expenses by transferring point to RCI and then paying $200 for the exchange fee. Probably better suited for Last minute deals if you have flexibility that you don't have to use exchange point for.

Outside the USA, many resorts have "ALL INCLUSIVE FEES" that can be so high that you wonder why they are even listed because you can find cheaper options in the same location through Costco travel or any other deal website that are better than the RCI. So you can see, I am having a hard time finding the value in the RCI right now.

4) Forces you to take vacation
I agree with this, I have averaged 5-6 vacations/year since buying when I use to end up with 3.5weeks in December that I had to use or lose.

5) High quality location at low cost
Totally agree. Now there are some Wyndham locations that are not on the level of Bonnet Creek, Greater Smokey Mountain Resort, etc.. so always check the reviews. Some are older like: Lake Lure, great reviews on being a great location and clean but pictures show old TVs and furniture.

6) Does not matter where you buy points; points are points.
Points are Points. Except you are not afforded the opportunity to get upgrades (book at 1 bed room and get an upgrade to a 2 bedroom. This membership level is based on your Wyndham "Direct purchase" points. So I do some basic math: If you purchased an extra contract for 308k pts (probably can buy on ebay or somewhere for <$2k with maintenance fees around $127/month, $1524/year)This means that I could pay for the extra point for 20 years before I could buy a direct contract for around $30k. So I just make sure that I have enough points to book what I want 1, 2, 3 bedroom. Because I don't know what I will be doing in 20years

Cons

1) Need to plan 13 months in advance
Speaking from the person that had not taken vacation before buying:ignore: I have found this really easy to book as soon as my daughter's school calendar comes out, especially spring break, labor day, and the beaches. I have had a hard time booking some locations so I book what I can and look back constantly to get the extra days. I use more RT/HK points, but if the resort consolidates and you don't have to move, Wyndham will credit you the HK fees back.

2) Maintenance fees may increase
Yes, I just look at this like the cost of living. If it gets to the point where it is too expensive, I purchased my resales at a price that I could walk away today (give them away) and still feel like it was still a great investment. I calculate each time how much I would have spent to stay in a hotel (uncomfortable and having to eat every meal at a restaurant) and my yearly investment is still a win!

3) Wyndham corp does not support resale points
I have yet not to be treated as a Wyndham owner. Only when dealing with a sales person that tells you, you need to "activate your acct with "direct points". I know I get the same rights as everyone else expect the upgrades and nightly bookings which isn't worth the investment for me yet.

4) Could have assessment if home week facility requires renovations.
I would think that this would happen if storm/hurricane damage. Haven't seen this happen yet so someone else may be able to share.

5) Difficult to sell
See previous comment. Give away - just make sure that you don't overspend on buying the resale. Write your amount down and don't over bid on ebay - I know it can get addicting to win a bid

6) Lower cost to pay daily hotel rate
Depends on what you are comparing to and what your expectations are. I probably could find a hotel cheaper than my maintenace fess, but not the experience and space. I have a daughter and the activites at the resort are enough to make my daughter not want to leave the resort. I had to promise to have her back by 3pm from Seaworld so that she could enjoy the slide before it closed at 6pm.

I hope this helps! Membership is what you make of it: Don't go over your budget when you buy resale; Plan & book early; Book multiple trips in one day to save your RT points; Look for discount periods at some of the resorts to save points!

 

[Jan5]

You might want to buy Club Wyndham Access points rather than ones at a particular resort.

What is the benefit?

 

[uscav8r]

What is the benefit?

Persia seems to be throwing CWA out there as the "easy" no-work-required option.

CWA ownership is in a trust, and the trust owns various deeds at 55+ resorts in Wyndham (NOT the entire system at this time).

You get ARP to the underlying points/fixed weeks that were traded in by previous owners to buy into CWA. You also pay a blended maintenance fee based on how much the trust owns of any given resort. At $5.56/1000 points, it isn't bad, but you can do MUCH better than that buying deeds at certain resorts such as Bali Hai, National Harbor, and Panama City.

There is a risk mitigation factor for special assessments, but this really depends on how you look at it. I would take a hit if my Bonnet Creek were to have a SA, but a CWA owner would pay a much smaller amount since Bonnet Creek makes up only xx% of the trust. On the other hand, I look at it like this: instead of banking on my one or two resorts avoiding a special assessment each year, I have to bank on every single resort out of the 55+ in the trust will not have a special assessment.

So you pay for risk mitigation and maybe some ARP with (possibly) higher maintenance fees. It's up to you to decide if the benefits outweigh the costs. For me they do not, not by a long shot. There are resorts that have higher maintenance fees, and IF I were to want ARP to any of those, then I would probably opt for CWA rather than buying a deed for that resort (again it depends on the circumstance).

Here are some threads to help you decide (or do your own forum search for 'CWA' or 'Club Wyndham Access'):

http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=184073&highlight=access
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207377&highlight=access
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169163&highlight=access
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182117&highlight=access

 

[Ron2]

I am considering buying wyndham points and would appreciate your opinion of the pros and cons of buying a resale timeshare.

Jan5 – You have received some great advise in this thread. The only thing I would add is to buy where you’re fairly sure the resort will continue to be in demand and be well maintained so as to be easier to unload if you need to in the future. In my opinion that resort is Bonnet Creek. It is Wyndham’s flagship resort and as long as Disney World is still in operation, I’m sure Bonnet Creek will be as well. MF’s at Bonnet Creek are less than CWA but higher than some of the previously mentioned low MF resorts.

 

[Jan5]

Great info. Thanks!