How easy is it to use points at another fairfield resort?

Say I purchase fairfield points in Daytona Beach, etc. How hard is it to use those points to be used at Bonnet Creek in Orlando? How far ahead can I book it, etc? Is there a fee?

Hi-
There is no fee to book at a different resort through the FF/WYN system. Do note, however, that your account will have one free "transaction" per year for every 77k points you own.

So for instance if you purchase 154k points, and end up making 3 reservations on 3 different days, that third transaction will cost you a $25 fee. Reservations made on the same day only count as one transaction, so if you made all 3 transactions on one call (or even called back later that day), you would not pay the fee.

You can book other resorts at 10 months ahead, while you can book at your "home" resort 13 months ahead.

Good luck, and you do know to purchase resale, right?

Caius

I saw this in the Tug advice article and had a question about the 13 month rule
Reservations

(Some Reservation Fees May Apply) (Housekeeping Fees May Apply)
Up to 13 months ahead at your home resort and dedicated FairShare Plus System Resorts. (7 night stay Rqd)
Up to 10 months ahead at Associate Locations and less than 7 night stay at home and dedicated resorts

Does that mean anyone that owns a fairshare resort, can book at my home resort.. the same time as me? That puts a lot of competition for prime weeks. Is their any benefit of having a home resort?

Hi Dave-
I don't know the context of that snippet, I agree the top sentence is worded confusingly. At your home resort, you can book 13 months out. Owners at other resorts can book your resort at 10 months out. Some VIPs (I forget what level) have some resorts other than their home resort where they can book at 11 months.

Caius

It's usually pretty easy to book at other resorts. The exceptions are some beachfront resorts during the most popular prime times. And the largest and Presidential units within a resort may be hard to book during prime time too.

Wyn/FF Harbour in New Bern, NC is our home resort. We have a fixed week 33 (mid-Aug) that was converted to 154,000 pts. Between mid-July and mid-Oct (13-10 months ahead of travel) before a week 33 that we wanted to use at our home resort, we could call and reserve it. Our home resort's original fixed week is not available to anyone else to reserve until 10 months ahead of travel. Since we haven't reserved our home unit, we've always gotten the points each year instead.

If you owned 189,000 UDI points with Wyn Daytona for a home resort, then you would be able to make a reservation (worth up to 189,000 points) to stay at Wyn Daytona, by calling between 13-10 months before the check-in date. If you want to vacation during "prime" season, then you may reserve 3-nights, 4-nights or 7-nights only (not 1, 2, 5, 6 or 8+ nights) during this early booking ARP window, 13-10 months ahead of travel. ARP reservations for other seasons may be for any length of stay above 2-nights, up to 189,000 points (the number you own at your home resort).

During the ARP window, 13-11 months ahead of travel, only home resort owners may reserve at only their home resort(s). Then, at 11 months ahead of any given travel date, certain VIP levels may also reserve anywhere in the system, including your home resort, regardless of where they owned. Then, at just 10 months ahead of travel, during the "Standard" window, everyone (including you) may request reservations at all the resorts throughout the system.

So the advantage of a home resort, for most points owners (particularly UDI points), is that only you (and others who own at your home resort) are able to try to reserve vacations at your home resort first, for 2-3 months. Less competition for those prime, most popular times. However, unless a resort is particularly hard to get (i.e., Myrtle Beach July 4th week), you will likely have no trouble getting a reservation there at 10 months ahead of travel. So long as you are able to plan ahead ~8-13 months before traveling, you will probably enjoy having points and using them at a wide variety of resorts in the Wyndham/FF system. If you normally cannot plan earlier than 10 months ahead anyway, you would not use the home resort advantage, early booking ARP window. So it really would not matter which one is your home resort at all. In that case, buying the least expensive points at a home resort with low maint fees is the best idea.

We've used our New Bern points for reservations at Kingsgate, Alexandria, Smoky Mountains, Sapphire Valley, Mountains, Cypress Palms, Bonnet Creek, and probably more that I'm forgetting. In fact, while DH and I definitely want to visit our home resort, so far, we've never been there. The Wyn/FF points have been very good for our family's vacationing. It suits us very well.

It's usually quite easy

As Lisa noted it is very easy to get the resort/time you want in the Wyndham system. The other thing you will find is that points users tend to reserve later unless it's an extra special trip and they only reserve what they need - no grabbing a 3 BR if you really need a 1BR as that costs you too many points unlike weeks where they have to grab whatever may be out there as early as possible or they get squat. Points is a much better way to go and Wyndham is a great points system - at resale prices of course.

so, I see I can buy 77,000 on Ebay for annual usage for $1296 including closing and resort fee. Sounds good.

Once you are an owner, are you able to book additional stays at a resort inexpensively, like deals or something?

jdb0822 said:

so, I see I can buy 77,000 on Ebay for annual usage for $1296 including closing and resort fee. Sounds good.

Once you are an owner, are you able to book additional stays at a resort inexpensively, like deals or something?

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For most resorts, 77,000 points is a small amount of points, very limited on the seasons in which you can book a full week.

However, as an owner, you would be able to rent an unlimited amount of points from other FF/Wyn owners for use during the Standard reservation period (10 months to date of check-in). The current owner to owner rental market ranges from under $5/1000 points up to $7/1000 points.

Renting points from FF/Wyn would be limited to a total of 77,000 points per year. Depending on when you were trying to rent points from FF/Wyn will determine their price and how many you can rent. Outside 90 days to check in, points are $10/1000 points. However, you can only rent enough to complete the last day of your stay. 90 days to check in, points are $5/1000 points. You can rent up to the 77,000 points you would own.

If you think you would be renting more points every year, then consider buying a larger point package, preferably at a lower maintenance fee resort. You can find MF less than $4/1000 points but you need to become better informed about that.

Throughout the year, all owners are able to book FF/Wyn resorts that have excess availability at various discounts.

As a FF/Wyn owner you get access to other travel discounts that are sometimes offered.