Wyndham Timeshare and maintenance fees

[BVdog]

Relatively new to timeshares. We did purchase a Discovery package and now are looking at places like Ebay etc to purchase. I have been calculating points vs maintenance fees to get the best bang for the buck. I have notice anywhere from $4.50 to $9 per 1000 pts. Any advantage to having a higher price maintenance fee when it comes to trading in your points for another location ? I really appreciate this site and have already read lots of great info . One of the big reasons for wanting to own is the RCI weeks etc thanks Bill

 

[scootr5]

Absolutely no reason to by one with high maintenance fees. The contracts with lower maintenance fees will cost more up front; your best bet is to look middle of the road or a Club Wyndham Access contract.

 

[BVdog]

Absolutely no reason to by one with high maintenance fees. The contracts with lower maintenance fees will cost more up front; your best bet is to look middle of the road or a Club Wyndham Access contract.

Can you tell me a little more about Club Wyndham Access ? I have been to 2 tours(wow no pressure) and we did buy 400,000 pts in Wyndham Discovery package. That’s about my newbie experience… I am watching some Ebay sales.
thanks for the quick response . Bill

 

[Kansascouple12]

Relatively new to timeshares. We did purchase a Discovery package and now are looking at places like Ebay etc to purchase. I have been calculating points vs maintenance fees to get the best bang for the buck. I have notice anywhere from $4.50 to $9 per 1000 pts. Any advantage to having a higher price maintenance fee when it comes to trading in your points for another location ? I really appreciate this site and have already read lots of great info . One of the big reasons for wanting to own is the RCI weeks etc thanks Bill

We are Wyndham resale owners. Wyndham does not operate like other companies, in that you do not trade within the system. I think there are a few fixed weeks contract still out there, but rare. If you are looking on eBay, and the contract is deeded somewhere, and there is a point value to the contract, then it works very much like a credit card rewards point system. You log in to the owners website, look for where you want to go, how long you want to be there, and it will tell you how many points you need to reserve that vacation. That being the case, get a contract with the lowest possible maintenance fees. San Francisco Canterbury is the lowest. Other low options are Waikiki beach walk, national harbor, maybe Bali hai- can’t remember on that one. And, if you can tolerate the WIDE variety of quality of inventory on RCI, it’s not a bad choice. Just know, if going to deposit your points to use it RCI, there is also an additional $250+ reservations fee , every time, plus, all inclusives charge for the all inclusive, a fee that is WAYYYYYY higher than if you were to book it on Costco travel, Expedia, etc.

 

[Kansascouple12]

We are Wyndham resale owners. Wyndham does not operate like other companies, in that you do not trade within the system. I think there are a few fixed weeks contract still out there, but rare. If you are looking on eBay, and the contract is deeded somewhere, and there is a point value to the contract, then it works very much like a credit card rewards point system. You log in to the owners website, look for where you want to go, how long you want to be there, and it will tell you how many points you need to reserve that vacation. That being the case, get a contract with the lowest possible maintenance fees. San Francisco Canterbury is the lowest. Other low options are Waikiki beach walk, national harbor, maybe Bali hai- can’t remember on that one. And, if you can tolerate the WIDE variety of quality of inventory on RCI, it’s not a bad choice. Just know, if going to deposit your points to use it RCI, there is also an additional $250+ reservations fee , every time, plus, all inclusives charge for the all inclusive, a fee that is WAYYYYYY higher than if you were to book it on Costco travel, Expedia, etc.

The difference in access and deeded is the advance reservation period. Wherever you have a contract you get 10-13 window to book a vacation at that location 10-13 months before everyone else in the Wyndham system. Access has over 70 locations that have a percentage of their inventory blocked off for access. So take bonnet creek, one of the most in demand locations. They have somewhere between 15-25% of their inventory allocated to access. So if your on the ball and book early you could get the larger rooms 3-4 bedroom. The ARP become really important if your wanting the larger units at a high demand resort. Other wise, get a deeded contract, and the lowest possible maintenance fee and go wherever you want to go, if you have enough points. In my opinion, when we were looking to by, I wanted to have at least enough points to go just about anywhere, any time of year and have a 2 bedroom. That put me in the search for a contract with at least 350,000 points. We have three contracts, 2 access, 1 Waikiki beach walk, total points 1,030,000. Maintenance fees $650 a month. Total purchase $2000.

 

[The Colorado Kid]

Somehow this got into the wrong forum
@DeniseM can you move it?

 

[lotus921v]

Relatively new to timeshares. We did purchase a Discovery package and now are looking at places like Ebay etc to purchase. I have been calculating points vs maintenance fees to get the best bang for the buck. I have notice anywhere from $4.50 to $9 per 1000 pts. Any advantage to having a higher price maintenance fee when it comes to trading in your points for another location ? I really appreciate this site and have already read lots of great info . One of the big reasons for wanting to own is the RCI weeks etc thanks Bill

If you plan on keeping it longer than 7 or 8 years it’s worth the premium to pay for the lowest MF contracts. They’ll have more residual value at the end of the day as well

 

[bnoble]

Folks have given you an excellent primer. Summarizing, there are two different components to the "value" on a particular Wyndham ownership. First (and most importantly): how much does are the maintenance fees on a $/K basis? Obviously, lower is better here. There are also reasons to own at least 250K give or take, because of the way part of the maintenance fees are structured.

Second (and much less important, IMO): what rights do you have to reserve inventory during the "Advanced" period? The reason I don't think this one matters is that you do not need to reserve during the Advanced period for the vast majority of Wyndham inventory. So, unless you have very particular and recurring needs at a very high-demand resort/time of year, there's not much advantage to owning anywhere in particular. And, if you aren't routinely planning your vacations more than ten months in advance, this "head start" doesn't matter at all.

 

[BVdog]

If you plan on keeping it longer than 7 or 8 years it’s worth the premium to pay for the lowest MF contracts. They’ll have more residual value at the end of the day as well

Thanks and that is what I think I am looking for . Pretty much why I asked and started this post. First one I might buy is 200,000 pts at $1200 yearly.,Right around $6 per 1,000 pts. We are retired and my son is also looking so we would group pts together and go on family vacations.. that’s we have done with our discovery packages we both bought.

 

[BVdog]

What an outstanding forum everyone has created thanks so much Bill

 

[BoomerKwanger]

A few other tips:
1) If you're curious about know what the maintenance fees are across all the Wyndham resorts, there's a helpful chart here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RUiHuxPdShXWp3OM2PiXf1_WDzHiv3Ickz1_o5ssiv4/edit#gid=0
Something like a Canterbury deed will be rarer/more expensive, but will pay itself off over a few years, especially compared to a higher MF contract like CWA.
2) To get a sense of how much things should cost, you can do an Ebay advanced search for recently closed auctions: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=wyndham+points&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1
3) Keep an eye from time to time on this website: https://www.timesharenation.com/timeshares ...if you're patient, you can get an entirely free Wyndham points account (i.e. no closing fees or transfer fee)

 

[Family_travel]

Helpful video

 

[BVdog]

Great video . Another question that the video brings up ..The $165 fee for 258,000 pts and above or .64 per 1000….how does it work if you own 2 timeshare deeds with say 170,000 pts and 210,000 pts… do you pay $165 per each one or combine 380,000 pts x .64 each? thanks

 

[bnoble]

Deeds in the same ownership account combine for the purposes of the program fee. Note that the amounts are a little higher than they were when that video was made. You can find current numbers here:

Wyndham HOA Maint. Fees - History

Form Responses 1 Timestamp,Untitled Question

docs.google.com

 

[BVdog]

Great video . Another question that the video brings up ..The $165 fee for 258,000 pts and above or .64 per 1000….how does it work if you own 2 timeshare deeds with say 170,000 pts and 210,000 pts… do you pay $165 per each one or combine 380,000 pts x .64 each? thanks

 

[Family_travel]

Great video . Another question that the video brings up ..The $165 fee for 258,000 pts and above or .64 per 1000….how does it work if you own 2 timeshare deeds with say 170,000 pts and 210,000 pts… do you pay $165 per each one or combine 380,000 pts x .64 each? thanks

It is calculated on the total number of points.

 

[BVdog]

Any thoughts on Hawaii vs Nevada for keeping the MF low? Both around $5 per1k starting out ? Thanks and this forum has been great for bringing us up to speed. Thanks again Bill

 

[troy12n]

Any thoughts on Hawaii vs Nevada for keeping the MF low? Both around $5 per1k starting out ?

Be careful with that thought process...

Nevada: there are 2 resorts, Grand Desert and Desert Blue. Within that, Grand Desert has 2 different maintenance fees. Grand Desert tower 1-2 are lower than tower 3. Desert Blue is a are find on the resale market. Grand Desert 1/2 is around $5.40/1000, and tower 3 is $5.50/1000, so not significantly more, but it adds up. Desert Blue is $4.50 ish/1000

Hawaii: MF are ALL over the place. The only constant is Bali Hai Villas is the cheapest in the system. Some of the others are not deals AT ALL. And what might seem confusing is that Bali Hai, there are a bunch of converted fixed weeks that have different MF (but still good) than the typically advertised deeded points MF/1000 cost. There might be some other properties in Hawaii that are good value, check the spreadsheet. But again, some of these properties have some converted fixed weeks which muddies the waters.

My understanding is the best properties to own (in order from best, descending) at are:
Canterbury (under $4/1000)
Bali Hai
South Shore (Lake Tahoe)
Desert Blue
Panama City Beach
National Harbor
Midtown 45
Grand Desert

I'm sure someone will correct me this isn't accurate. I've been looking for a resale at any of these for about a year, with my (October) use year

 

[weems637]

You might want to consider setting up one account, your son included. The points on all acquired contracts can be combined for reserving larger units, etc.....

 

[amerikrainian]

Folks have given you an excellent primer. Summarizing, there are two different components to the "value" on a particular Wyndham ownership. First (and most importantly): how much does are the maintenance fees on a $/K basis? Obviously, lower is better here. There are also reasons to own at least 250K give or take, because of the way part of the maintenance fees are structured.

Second (and much less important, IMO): what rights do you have to reserve inventory during the "Advanced" period? The reason I don't think this one matters is that you do not need to reserve during the Advanced period for the vast majority of Wyndham inventory. So, unless you have very particular and recurring needs at a very high-demand resort/time of year, there's not much advantage to owning anywhere in particular. And, if you aren't routinely planning your vacations more than ten months in advance, this "head start" doesn't matter at all.

... Never Mind, saw the answer.