Wyndham Santa Barbara/Royal Vista very quiet. How come?

[michpich35]

Hi Everyone

Just a quick question....I am in Wyndham Santa Barbara right now - and it seems so quiet - I don't think most of the units are rented....how can this be if you can't get a unit for love nor money at this time....is it expected to get busy xmas week then? Seems strange, we walked over to Royal Palm and its the same over thier also.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Everything is quiet til the grandkids are OFF from school.

Each of those resorts have less than 95 units. Royal Vista has most of the 9the floor devoted to the Sales operation and 1 of the 12 VIP building units locked out for showing to prospects from the sales tours. 40% of the Santa Barbara units are studios - which greatly keeps the number of people walking around low.

Many of the fixed week owners of Santa Barbara did not pay to convert to Wyndham points and defaulted on the special assessments & MFs which followed after Hurricane Wilma. That is WHY there are 3 BIG empty lots next door and across the street from Santa Barbara - those were a resort and 2 motels that got razed. It is a major source of rentals to/from Extra Vacations and Hotwire/Expedia rentals. Can't be in the points reservation pool as they were never in that system; Wyndham is NOT selling fixed weeks; HOA has a contract to provide foreclosed deeds to Club Wyndham Access for $1 each when CLub Wyndham Access asks for units.

And, no, the current owners can't get that $1 deal --- was told us owners would CHERRY PICK the best weeks and units (like Access ain't?).

 

[ronparise]

Also consider that this is not Prime season..Its not summer (for kids and the beach) and its not winter (for the Snowbirds)

I suspect that the owners of the summer and winter weeks paid the special assessment and are paying their fees. Its probably these less than prime weeks that are in the hands of CWA or the POA

 

[vacationhopeful]

Ron,
The special assessments where in the $2500-4000+ range. The resort was closed for 3.5+ years; MFs were only partial reduced. If you had converted to points prior to Wilma, you could stay at other Wyndham resorts. F/W owners had no usage; HOA did not communicate anything; Wyndham just kept sending bills.

There were so many damaged buildings in the immediate area. Owners would drive by and see chain link fencing and NO activity for years. The resort came REAL close to be torned down.

I brought off of eBAY after all this but months before it reopened. I did get a private tour while staying at Royal Vista while some of the first furniture was being installed.

 

[Sandy VDH]

That was the major reason I chose to do an equity trade on my Santa Barbara week within 6 months of Wilma so I never paid any SA or MFs or unused weeks, I also PICed 2 other weeks and converted my Fairfield fixed weeks to points and purchased 160K NEW Wyndham points all in a single transaction, to get VIP Platinum.

Many owners are fixed week and never converted to points. If you look out on RCI there are lots of deposits out for the next year, but usually studio units.

I figured what I saved on my SA more than offset the purchase from Wyndham directly, so for the price I paid getting Platinum was a good benefit. I also had VIP Platinum actually written into the contract.

They likely won't offer that deal again. But it was the only time I purchased directly from Wyndham.

 

[michpich35]

ok....that kind of explains things.....I must say those not using this paticular resort are missing out bigtime (imo) its lovely.....moving on the Palm Aire after xmas I dare say that will be more busier.....

 

[vacationhopeful]

..I must say those not using this paticular resort are missing out bigtime (imo) its lovely...

Yes, it is lovely. It won the Wyndham President's Award in 2010 as best resort.

 

[bccash63]

Flying out tomorrow to check in on Sat and use our fixed week 52. Also, using pts for an additional studio for 5 of the nights for our two older sons. Hope the weather holds--looked like it was 82 today. Much warmer than WI.
dawn