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Wyndham TravelUp - a new benefit being touted at sales update meetings...

raygo123

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Read the fine print. This is like RCI Last Call, etc., inventory. Meaning it’s not top shelf lodging. It’s inventory most don’t want. In other words, it’s a new and improved bottle of snake oil.

“Destinations and travel times are subject to availability. Additional travel costs, mandatory all-inclusive fees, taxes, and other expenses are not included. Additional terms and conditions apply and will be provided at time of booking.

Travel services may be provided by a third party under contract with Resort Rental, LLC/RCI, LLC. The terms and conditions of Club Wyndham and any applicable third party providers will apply to your booking. RCI, LLC and Resort Rental, LLC, disclaim all responsibility in connection with any third-party services.

Hawaii TAT Broker ID #TA-023-193-6000-01 Resort Rental, LLC, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, FL 32821 2020 Resort Rental, LLC. All Rights Reserved.”​
If you read our contract Wyndham can take leftover units and do as they wish. This is another outlet.

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dgalati

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If you read our contract Wyndham can take leftover units and do as they wish. This is another outlet.

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Not a outlet, I would call it another revenue stream for the house.
 

Breezy52

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The Terms and Conditions includes identifying World Travel Holdings, Inc., as the cruise service provider.

ADDITIONAL CRUISE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

24.1.Cruise services are provided by a third party provider, World Travel Holdings, Inc., under contract with Club Wyndham. All terms and conditions of World Travel Holdings, Inc. related to the booking of any cruise product shall apply to You. Club Wyndham may change third party providers at any time, in its sole discretion and without notice to you. In addition to these terms and conditions, You must also comply with all applicable cruise line and hotel/resort terms and conditions and policies and procedures. Please contact Club Wyndham for additional information.

They are also the cruise service provider for RCI per their website. I wonder how many other service providers are also providers for RCI - it would make some sense. I question the value of paying $129 for a service I already have access to through RCI.

I got a sales call yesterday. One of the things she said was private yachts could be rented on RCI by searching Tradewinds under Cruises. Of course that doesn't seem to exist when searching. Sailing the San Juans (Washington) is a dream of mine so I was of course disappointed, silly me.
 

Eric B

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One of the things she said was private yachts could be rented on RCI by searching Tradewinds under Cruises.

There is a certain amount of truth to that, but you aren't really renting a private yacht when you exchange in RCI for a Tradewinds cruise. Instead, what you are getting is a single cabin on a scheduled week of cruising on one of their yachts going out of a specific harbor. There's a good thread on how Tradewinds works here:


Sales had been pushing Festiva as a catamaran cruise thing through RCI before. The flyer for that at least disclosed there were only 14 locations they sail out of and didn't give the impression they would take the boats anywhere.
 

Eric B

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dgalati

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paxsarah

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I wonder how much savings can be unlocked if the sunk cost of a "qualified purchase" is factored in?
It seems ridiculous to me (as an avowed non-VIP) that they don't throw this into an existing Founders-level (including PR) ownership without an additional purchase. Even the other levels, I mean, you can pretty much be sure retail owners have spent at least $10k with Wyndham already, which seems fair to get "up to" a modest percentage off some travel. But if I were a Founder or PR owner and they suggested I needed to make a new purchase to get this program, I'd laugh in their face.
 

raygo123

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The hit "PERKS"
TERRIFIED YOU


NOW IN THEATERS EVERYWHERE

SON OF PERKS!"

"TRAVEL UP!"

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CO skier

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The second one includes the need for a "qualified purchase" to unlock the savings.
The second link shows up to 20% discount for a "Standard" tier ownership. What does this mean? Does "Standard" mean every owner who is not some level of VIP, or something else?

I recently received yet another invitation for Sidekick (at least they dropped the ruse about my Sidekick membership "is about to expire.") It used to be $59/year; no idea what it costs now. As an example of the Sidekick "savings" Papa Murphy's offers $4 savings per Family size pizza. I recently received a mailer for $4 off a Family Size Pizza (promo code C3084, if you want savings anybody can get).

Maybe I am offered "20% off" Travel Up as a resale owner, or not. Does not matter to me because I am sure the same 20% (or more) discount could be found elsewhere at no additional cost and I would ignore the Travel Up offer just like I ignore the Sidekick offers.

If current VIPs are not automatically enrolled, or at least offered the opportunity to Travel Up for only $129 (or whatever) and no additional developer purchase, then that is just plain stupid on Wyndham's part.
 

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Eric B

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The second link shows up to 20% discount for a "Standard" tier ownership. What does this mean? Does "Standard" mean every owner who is not some level of VIP, or something else?

I would read "Standard" as being an owner that doesn't qualify for the VIP tiers or hasn't purchased subsequent to the TravelUp introduction to get it. That flyer is specifically about hotel discounts and Wyndham owners already get up to 20% off participating Wyndham Hotels.

Get 20% off the Best Available Rate

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is a hotel industry giant with approximately 8,000 hotels and in over 80 countries. Whether you’re looking for an upscale hotel, an all-inclusive resort or something more cost-effective, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has the right property for you.
As a Club Wyndham owner, you’ll receive up to 20% off the Best Available Rate* at approximately 8,000 participating hotels worldwide.
To take advantage of this valuable discount, go to wyndhamhotels.com/clubwyn, or call 800-364-6176 and mention that you’re a Club Wyndham owner. Save up to 20% no matter which way you decide to book your vacation.
cw-deals-owner-travel-cruising-deal411-1990x810.jpg


Terms and Conditions:
*Advanced reservations are required. Offer is subject to availability at participating hotels. Blackout dates and certain restrictions may apply. Stay must be booked as indicated above and proof of membership must be presented upon check-in. Offer cannot be combined with any other discounts, offers, group rates, or special promotions. Savings are discounted from property’s Best Available Rate excluding taxes, resorts/service fees, incidentals, gratuities, or additional per room, per night charges that may be imposed. Best Available Rate means best, non-qualified, unrestricted, publicly available rate on the internet for the hotel with equivalent terms, date and accommodations requested. Offer is subject to cancellation or change at any time and void where prohibited by law. ©2018 Wyndham Hotel Group, LLC. All rights reserved.


Maybe I am offered "20% off" Travel Up as a resale owner, or not. Does not matter to me because I am sure the same 20% (or more) discount could be found elsewhere at no additional cost

You are even without TravelUp, though that's limited to Wyndham Hotels & Resorts; whether you could get it elsewhere and how much the discount would be is the question. For example, the terms and conditions make the discount based on publicly available rates, which would exclude rates you could get through a travel club you paid elsewhere for or something otherwise membership-based (e.g., Costco Travel). The "up to" part is also a bit troublesome because a 1% discount would fit into "up to 20% off" (as well as it would fit into "up to 50% off"). The hotel discount part of it seems like you'd be getting a sieve full of water based on the terms and conditions for the existing one.

As an example of the Sidekick "savings" Papa Murphy's offers $4 savings per Family size pizza. I recently received a mailer for $4 off a Family Size Pizza (promo code C3084, if you want savings anybody can get).

That pretty much matches my experience with Sidekick. I have a continuing membership as VIPG, but haven't ever actually used any of the savings I could get through it as I get enough mailers, etc., with the same deals.

Overall, I don't get the impression that TravelUp benefits match the value of the unlimited housekeeping folks used to get with VIP status. I hope they aren't spending too much on it as I'd rather get things with real value out of spending any time at all in a sales presentation (i.e., the Wyndham Rewards or $200 debit cards) and there are limits to the sales budgets.
 

raygo123

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I would read "Standard" as being an owner that doesn't qualify for the VIP tiers or hasn't purchased subsequent to the TravelUp introduction to get it. That flyer is specifically about hotel discounts and Wyndham owners already get up to 20% off participating Wyndham Hotels.

Get 20% off the Best Available Rate

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is a hotel industry giant with approximately 8,000 hotels and in over 80 countries. Whether you’re looking for an upscale hotel, an all-inclusive resort or something more cost-effective, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has the right property for you.
As a Club Wyndham owner, you’ll receive up to 20% off the Best Available Rate* at approximately 8,000 participating hotels worldwide.
To take advantage of this valuable discount, go to wyn:20PercentoffBar:WVOOWNERBENEFIT:2018%7CProviderPage:NA:EN-US" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">wyndhamhotels.com/clubwyn, or call 800-364-6176 and mention that you’re a Club Wyndham owner. Save up to 20% no matter which way you decide to book your vacation.
cw-deals-owner-travel-cruising-deal411-1990x810.jpg


Terms and Conditions:
*Advanced reservations are required. Offer is subject to availability at participating hotels. Blackout dates and certain restrictions may apply. Stay must be booked as indicated above and proof of membership must be presented upon check-in. Offer cannot be combined with any other discounts, offers, group rates, or special promotions. Savings are discounted from property’s Best Available Rate excluding taxes, resorts/service fees, incidentals, gratuities, or additional per room, per night charges that may be imposed. Best Available Rate means best, non-qualified, unrestricted, publicly available rate on the internet for the hotel with equivalent terms, date and accommodations requested. Offer is subject to cancellation or change at any time and void where prohibited by law. 2018 Wyndham Hotel Group, LLC. All rights reserved.




You are even without TravelUp, though that's limited to Wyndham Hotels & Resorts; whether you could get it elsewhere and how much the discount would be is the question. For example, the terms and conditions make the discount based on publicly available rates, which would exclude rates you could get through a travel club you paid elsewhere for or something otherwise membership-based (e.g., Costco Travel). The "up to" part is also a bit troublesome because a 1% discount would fit into "up to 20% off" (as well as it would fit into "up to 50% off"). The hotel discount part of it seems like you'd be getting a sieve full of water based on the terms and conditions for the existing one.



That pretty much matches my experience with Sidekick. I have a continuing membership as VIPG, but haven't ever actually used any of the savings I could get through it as I get enough mailers, etc., with the same deals.

Overall, I don't get the impression that TravelUp benefits match the value of the unlimited housekeeping folks used to get with VIP status. I hope they aren't spending too much on it as I'd rather get things with real value out of spending any time at all in a sales presentation (i.e., the Wyndham Rewards or $200 debit cards) and there are limits to the sales budgets.
All they did was duplicate 7accross for owners. And 7accross is no more than trying to make DAE WORK. Which is a giant failure. And what a stupid name. Who associates 7accross with a glorified travel agency and timeshare exchange company.


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Breezy52

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There is a certain amount of truth to that, but you aren't really renting a private yacht when you exchange in RCI for a Tradewinds cruise. Instead, what you are getting is a single cabin on a scheduled week of cruising on one of their yachts going out of a specific harbor. There's a good thread on how Tradewinds works here:


Sales had been pushing Festiva as a catamaran cruise thing through RCI before. The flyer for that at least disclosed there were only 14 locations they sail out of and didn't give the impression they would take the boats anywhere.
Thank you ~ I’ll check out this link, very helpful ~ I love the phrase “certain amount of truth”
 

keno999

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We just went to an update at TOTG in North Myrtle Beach today under the guise of getting signed up to something (made it sound like TravelUp) for nothing but would cost $ after 1 August. The guy giving the "update" started going into really basic stuff like saying things like if you had CWS you could never book into CWA inventory since they changed it last November during the system update. I told him I didn't think that was true and he got a little snotty. He said he didn't know what the guy that signed us up for the update was talking about. He also asked about when we book reservations and said we shouldn't worry about trying to book anything very far in advance because there was plenty of availability at any time. I chudkled over that one and said that definitely wasn't true. So, he said we were free to go. They gave us a couple of RCI bonus weeks and a $100 tango card.
 

dgalati

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* Speculation: No supporting evidence, just perception of the trends

I do foresee CW seeking to further distinguish resale from developer. What leaves a bad taste is "new developer" purchase. Continue to treat developer like the hamster on a spinning wheel (- 50 respect points), whereas they should be honoring developer points with more value added features.

Data is data, they should be able to distinguish resale contract points from developer contract points. This could also potentially alter how VIP supplement discount power with resale contracts (Yet another arrow in the quiver I believe would be in the works as well)
This is a novel ideal. Elimination of this would free up much needed inventory for owners to book for personal use. Who would of guessed the elimination of GC's on busy holidays? Cancel and rebook was also considered and sold as a benefit and VIP owners believed it was untouchable also.
You were spot on with this assumption! Now that Wyndham has eliminated resale points with VIP benefits how do you think this distinguishes a VIP package from resale.
 
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dgalati

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... if that's something they really care about. Several folks here have discussed with CW VPs at the annual meetings over the years and they do not perceive it truly as being an issue, although there is a frequent poster on TUG that has been on that soap box for a while. My personal view on the matter is that this issue is just a tempest in a teapot for which the juice they could get out of squeezing it isn't worth the effort.

It might have made a difference in former iterations of their reservation system where people could book a desirable week at a desirable resort, then cancel and rebook the week in the discount/upgrade windows and recoup the points they had spent on the original booking at a low risk of losing the reservation, then turn around and rent it out. That isn't the case anymore and any benefits available at the discount/upgrade windows for VIP owners are somewhat limited as to what resorts and units are available for short term bookings - there's usually plenty to be had for a VIP that is interested in doing so in lower demand periods for smaller units, but the prime cheap bookings in the higher seasons aren't really there.

The result of all this is that the discounts and upgrades that VIPs get for whatever points they use serve their purpose of acting as incentives to travel (or gift/rent travel) more in the lower demand times when there is excess capacity in Club Wyndham. As you can see by looking at the deals for discounted points available to non-VIPs, there is still excess capacity in Club Wyndham that they want folks to use in the lower demand times. Often, those discounts will overlap, which is fine. It does seem like a win-win for Wyndham and the VIPs and other owners to have these incentives in place.

On the other hand, Wyndham did sell a lot of points to VIP owners under a program that granted them the additional privileges for use in booking and staying in the resorts on a personal basis rather than as a characteristic of or addendum to particular deeds/contracts that would vanish on resale. They do have the right to modify the terms of the program and have done so on several occasions, but never to the extent of breaking the tie between the VIP status and the owners to establish a limitation like you are suggesting. It would no doubt give them a fair degree of customer relations issues with the relatively few VIP owners of resale points - IMHO another effect could be raising the need for Wyndham to offer additional discount windows for the general owner population in order to incentivize booking the low demand capacity they are already incentivizing VIP resale point owners to use, which might be nice for non-VIP owners, but wouldn't be noticed by the majority and they would have upset a certain group of owners to no net gain for Wyndham.

It does remain possible that they could do what you (and he who will remain nameless) believe is something they should do in order to avoid having VIPs take advantage of low cost resale points. I just don't see the upside for them doing that, myself, and do believe that they would likely grandfather existing VIP owners with resale points if they were to make such a change. There could also be unintended consequences from doing something like that - currently Wyndham gets an extra 2 cents per 1,000 points for resale points in an account with developer points in it for participation in Plus Partners. This is because those resale points are made eligible for Plus Partners based on being in those accounts - I've never used any of the benefits of that program nor have I heard of anyone doing so, but do chip in my 2 cents even on my resale points. If they were to forbid me from using my resale points with VIP booking benefits, they would likely have to do the same for the Plus Partners benefits and that would cost them the skim for the unused benefits.
You were so off on your assumptions on what Wyndham felt the upside would be for eliminating the "LOOPHOLE"..
 

Ty1on

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You were so off on your assumptions on what Wyndham felt the upside would be for eliminating the "LOOPHOLE"..

You lasted a half day without trolling. Please don't get this and the other thread closed again.
 

Eric B

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You were so off on your assumptions on what Wyndham felt the upside would be for eliminating the "LOOPHOLE"..

Bless your heart, Dominic.
 

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As a long term traveler I have top tier status in Hilton, Marriot, Hyatt and IHG. I have lifetime top tier status in Hilton and Marriott. I also have millions of hotel points to use and can get much better deals than this CW program on my own. I have CW Gold, but will not be joining.
 
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