Buying into wyndam

[talkamotta]

My timeshares are all weeks. I'm toying with the idea of buying wyndam. I of course would buy on the secondary market. Does Wyndam have rofr? Are you all happy with your purchase. I use the timeshares i have now and do pretty good at it. Would you trust ebay? I have in the past and it worked good for me. How many points would you buy? I s there any difference between buying from Wyndam or buy I g on a secondary market? I know it's hard to tell someone else what to do but I would like to hear your thoughts?

 

[klabat26]

I bought off of ebay, I like my points and use the jeepers out of them. Thoughts and pointers:

1. Watch the maintenance fees. Some resorts are high and will cost you more in the long run.
2. Check the sellers feedback or search the forum for names of good sellers. I bought mine from someone not as reputable and it was a bit of a fiasco.
3. You can always buy more points in the future so I started small to make sure I liked what wyndham offered. 105k annual I need more
4. Keep in mind that when you buy small you can get multiple vacations out of it though you will most likely have to "rent" extra housekeeping credits.
5. Yes technically Wyndham has FROR, I don't know of that happening since I have been on the boards.
6. There is a program fee for Wyndham so figure in that cost as well.
7. Check the "sticky" posts at the top of the board there is a WEALTH of info on how wyndham works, what resorts have lower MF, and other tips!
8. Happy timesharing!

 

[uscav8r]

I’ve never heard of Wyndham having ROFR. If they have that right, they’ve never exercised it. You see dog contracts going for $1 all the time. The contracts that have underlying value (either location, low MF, or both), do cost a reasonable amount to purchase.

I’ve bought 3 times off eBay and I enjoy the system.

If you have a bunch of weeks at RCI Weeks resorts that have decent MF, you might want to consider a couple of PICs (assigning the week to Club Wyndham in exchange for points) plus a developer purchase to get to VIP. But you’ll need to run the numbers to see if it is worth it.

IMO, the lowest VIP you should target is Gold (700k points).

The best PIC value is for 3BR units (254k per unit).

If you PIC two 3BRs for 508k, you’d need a developer purchase of at least 192k to hit Gold. That could cost you $30-40k.

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[HitchHiker71]

My timeshares are all weeks. I'm toying with the idea of buying wyndam. I of course would buy on the secondary market. Does Wyndam have rofr? Are you all happy with your purchase. I use the timeshares i have now and do pretty good at it. Would you trust ebay? I have in the past and it worked good for me. How many points would you buy? I s there any difference between buying from Wyndam or buy I g on a secondary market? I know it's hard to tell someone else what to do but I would like to hear your thoughts?

Curious what timeshares you already own? It's best to start by renting first from existing owners and trying out the Wyndham resorts before making a purchase, as a general rule. If you do decide to purchase first, resale is your cheapest option for sure, whether you buy Wyndham points or Wyndham weeks on the resale market.

I bought my two non-Wyndham timeshares on eBay through reputable vendors (SumdayVacations and J&JTimeshares IIRC) for $1.00 each with a $200 rebate after closing. Both went smooth as butter overall. The only benefit of purchasing Wyndham developer points, as opposed to resale points, is if the perceived benefits of becoming a VIP are important to you. This is ultimately what I decided to do, by utilizing the PIC program and getting "credit" for my non-Wyndham timeshares to get to VIP levels at a fraction of the cost when compared to purchasing a large chunk of developer points outright. I only purchased 210k of developer points, but have 718k of actual points for VIP purposes. I can also receive 508k points for usage every year that I submit my non-Wyndham timeshares into Wyndham in return for the points (after which you cannot use that non-Wyndham timeshare for the use year in question). I don't recommend going this route from the outset, but figured it would be worth mentioning since you are already a timeshare owner and may find this option worth considering especially if you find that you reallly like the Wyndham resorts and locations over time.

 

[talkamotta]

I've stayed at different wyndam resorts and all have been good. I'm staying at grand desert in Vegas right now. We went to the sales presentation and using my 2 bedroom Sands of Kahana in Maui i can get 154000 for the low cost of 40k. That's why I was asking if there was a difference between buying from direct or secondary. My other timeshares are Pahio KaEoKai, Sands of Kahana, Longboat Key and Westgate. I'm retired and we travel quite a bit but we want to start doing road trips and some places we visit aren't week stays.

 

[uscav8r]

I've stayed at different wyndam resorts and all have been good. I'm staying at grand desert in Vegas right now. We went to the sales presentation and using my 2 bedroom Sands of Kahana in Maui i can get 154000 for the low cost of 40k. That's why I was asking if there was a difference between buying from direct or secondary. My other timeshares are Pahio KaEoKai, Sands of Kahana, Longboat Key and Westgate. I'm retired and we travel quite a bit but we want to start doing road trips and some places we visit aren't week stays.

From what I have heard, if you do want to buy from Wyndham, never do it at a resort. The best prices can be negotiated directly with Corporate.

Your Pahio won’t qualify for PIC since Wyndham already manages that resort. You can convert it directly to Club Wyndham points but I cannot give you advice on the desirability of such a move.

If you don’t care about VIP status, you could find a 154k contract at a low MF resort for well under $1000 out the door.


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[HitchHiker71]

I've stayed at different wyndam resorts and all have been good. I'm staying at grand desert in Vegas right now. We went to the sales presentation and using my 2 bedroom Sands of Kahana in Maui i can get 154000 for the low cost of 40k. That's why I was asking if there was a difference between buying from direct or secondary. My other timeshares are Pahio KaEoKai, Sands of Kahana, Longboat Key and Westgate. I'm retired and we travel quite a bit but we want to start doing road trips and some places we visit aren't week stays.

As a point of reference, I purchased two CWA 105k/295k contracts through corporate telesales while adding two 254k PIC contracts to get permanent VIP gold for about 27k all in. I paid about $134/1000 points for the 210k CWA contracts.

For my current use year I converted both PIC contracts to points, which means I have 718k points to burn for vacations this year.

How many bedrooms are your existing non-Wyndham timeshares?


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[Richelle]

I've stayed at different wyndam resorts and all have been good. I'm staying at grand desert in Vegas right now. We went to the sales presentation and using my 2 bedroom Sands of Kahana in Maui i can get 1540ish00 for the low cost of 40k. That's why I was asking if there was a difference between buying from direct or secondary. My other timeshares are Pahio KaEoKai, Sands of Kahana, Longboat Key and Westgate. I'm retired and we travel quite a bit but we want to start doing road trips and some places we visit aren't week stays.

I’m sorry, did you say the “low” cost of $40,000? If that’s low to you, I’d be happy to be your chauffeur for the week, for the low price of $40,000. . Just so you know, the minimum buy in to enroll your week is 49,000 points which will run you about $12k-ish from telesales. Never buy at the resorts. Ever. It’s always more expensive at the resorts. If you must have VIP, telesales is always cheaper and you get bonus points, and sometimes cash rebates. Mine was $1,500. I received (2) $750 checks 83 days after closing. Beats a Kindle any day.

If you want to use your timeshare for Wyndham points, you have to buy retail to enroll it into PIC Plus. Do NOT do PIc Express. Express is only good for 5 years and you cannot use the points for bookings. PIC Plus is permanent as long as you own both the week and the points contract, assuming Wyndham doesn’t buy the resort, or the resort sells itself to an ineligible company like Blue Green or Diamond. Those are the only reasons that I’ve heard PIC status being pulled. That doesn’t include the people that ditched their weeks and didn’t tell Wyndham.

If you are ok with no VIP, and don’t want to spend $12k-ish to enroll your fixed week, buy resale. I’m Gold VIP and love it, but I also know it’s not for everyone. Make sure if you invest the money, you go into it well informed. Since you’ve already rented from owners, you already know you like the resorts. The question is, how do you like the program? You won’t know for sure until you’ve worked with it. Dealt with the frustration of not getting what you want, or the website acting up at the worst time. Nothing is perfect. You have to decide if you can deal with the flaws and the complex rules. It might be better to buy a popular contract like CWA or Bonnet on eBay for your test run. If you decide it’s not right for you, they are the easiest ones to get rid of, that don’t cost a lot upfront on the resale market. This will give you a cheap test run. You don’t want to spend thousands, only to find out it’s not for you. Some people prefer their fixed weeks over points because they are easier. It seems the more flexible things are, the more complex they get.

 

[Richelle]

As a point of reference, I purchased two CWA 105k/295k contracts through corporate telesales while adding two 254k PIC contracts to get permanent VIP gold for about 27k all in. I paid about $134/1000 points for the 210k CWA contracts.

For my current use year I converted both PIC contracts to points, which means I have 718k points to burn for vacations this year.

How many bedrooms are your existing non-Wyndham timeshares?


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Just to add to your comparison...

I chose National Harbor points because the MF are a lot lower. The gap got even bigger this year. The down side to doing what I did, is National Harbor points are more expensive in both retail and resale markets. I paid $190 per 1,000 points. I bought 110,000 and added a PiC. If I bought 110,000. CWA, it would have run me about $140 per 1,000. I would have saved $5,500 upfront if I would have chosen CWA. However, I will make up for that extra costs in the long run, in the form of maintence fee savings.

The other downside to choosing National Harbor, is I only have ARP at National Harbor. I’m ok with that because I’ve never used ARP in the almost 11 years of being an owner. I have no issues getting what I want at 10 months. Of course, I’ve never tried booking a four bedroom presidential at Bonnet Creek over Christmas at the 10 month mark either. Those are 424,000 points, so unless you are planning in buying a ton of points, you probably won’t be either.

 

[talkamotta]

Thanks for your replies. Keep them coming. I was being a smart butt about the low price. I was a single mother of five for many years....I am as cheap as they come. I bought all but my first on ebay. I know that the secret to good timesharing is knowing how to play the game and it always changes. So I pay attention to what you are saying. I looked on ebay and compared maintenance fees to points. It seems that different resorts had different price per point value. Is that true or is ebay just not reporting it correctly or how does that work. I know that to trade into each resort would be different depending on such factors as rating, availability, etc.

 

[Jan M.]

Thanks for your replies. Keep them coming. I was being a smart butt about the low price. I was a single mother of five for many years....I am as cheap as they come. I bought all but my first on ebay. I know that the secret to good timesharing is knowing how to play the game and it always changes. So I pay attention to what you are saying. I looked on ebay and compared maintenance fees to points. It seems that different resorts had different price per point value. Is that true or is ebay just not reporting it correctly or how does that work. I know that to trade into each resort would be different depending on such factors as rating, availability, etc.

Yes the different resorts have different maintenance fees. There are stickies at the top of the Wyndham forum about the maintenance fees. The one for 2017 has the most resorts listed but those maintenance fee figures are now 2 years old.

This is something I posted on an other thread that has figures for 2018 for some high maintenance fees resorts. The program fees went up for 2019 so are now a minimum of $135 or $0.58 per thousand if you own more than 233,000 points for resale. If you have a developer purchase in your account you would pay a minimum of $155 or $0.60 per thousand points. The figures below are without the program fees.

Club Wyndham Access is now $5.99 and Bonnet Creek is $6.16 for 2019

From the numbers posted for 2018 here are a few resorts you would pay more if you owned at.
Ocean Boulevard I - $6.03
Pagosa Teal Landing - $6.08
Royal Vista - $6.15
The Cottages - $6.53
Nashville - $6.87 up to $7.13 for 2019
I didn't see figures for 2018 but in 2017 some other high maintenance fee resorts are: Skyline Tower, Branson Falls, Meadows and Mountain Vista, Cypress Palms, Ocean Walk, Bay Club, Majestic Sun ($6.61 for 2019), Fairfield Glade, Glacier Canyon ($6.59 for 2019) , Westwinds, Palm-Aire, Governor's Green, Tamarack. There are likely some others with higher fees also but these are the ones I saw when I quickly scanned the sticky for 2017 maintenance fees. And some were even higher than Nashville.

Resorts with lowest maintenance fees are National Harbor ($4.24 for 2019), Panama City Beach ($4.50 for 2019 but that is for presidential reserve points. CWS would be lower than that). South Shore ($4.13 for 2019), Desert Blue ($4.28 in 2018), Bali Hai (there are many different ones but $3.66, $3.86 and $4.03 for 2019 were reported), Canterbury ($3.59 for 2019) and there are probably a few others too.

I saw that someone posted on the 2019 sticky that their maintenance fees at Kingsgate were $4.05 but several deeds that I looked at recently had maintenance fees that were much higher than that, like a little over $6 with the program fee. That is something to pay attention to. Many resorts have several different associations in them, different buildings, points, fixed weeks and converted fixed weeks. They all pay different amounts. It can be very confusing and hard to figure out.

For 2019 the maintenance fees at Grand Desert for Tower 3 -$4.82 and Tower 2 is $4.73. I didn't see anything for Tower 1 but it will be the same or close to the figure for Tower 2. You can frequently find deeds at Grand Desert at reasonable prices. The lower maintenance fee resort usually sell for more. Waikiki Beach Walk is another resort that is in that lower but not lowest category with $4.84 for 2019

 

[HitchHiker71]

Thanks for your replies. Keep them coming. I was being a smart butt about the low price. I was a single mother of five for many years....I am as cheap as they come. I bought all but my first on ebay. I know that the secret to good timesharing is knowing how to play the game and it always changes. So I pay attention to what you are saying. I looked on ebay and compared maintenance fees to points. It seems that different resorts had different price per point value. Is that true or is ebay just not reporting it correctly or how does that work. I know that to trade into each resort would be different depending on such factors as rating, availability, etc.

It depends on what you mean by trading into each resort. Points aren't like weeks, points are points at 10 months - in other words for the most part the rules are the same for everyone at 10 months or less for reservations. 13-10 months is when your points are applied differently to the system depending on what you own. If you purchase a CWS contract, you will have ARP reservation capability only at the resort tied to the CWS contract, unless that contract has RARP clauses included for another resort. A CWA contract has ARP at about 70 resorts, but only to the actual CWA inventory at those resorts to be clear.

 

[talkamotta]

Ok I'm understanding most of what you are saying but I don't know what pic, cwa, cws or rap are. I figure that is basic knowledge but that's what I don't have. I don't expect you all to do that even though I know some of you would sit down with me for a couple of hours and explain everything in detail just because you are sweethearts.

 

[HitchHiker71]

Ok I'm understanding most of what you are saying but I don't know what pic, cwa, cws or rap are. I figure that is basic knowledge but that's what I don't have. I don't expect you all to do that even though I know some of you would sit down with me for a couple of hours and explain everything in detail just because you are sweethearts.

PIC = Personal Interval Choice
CWA = Club Wyndham Access
CWS = Club Wyndham Select
ARP = Advance Reservation Priority

 

[Richelle]

PIC = Personal Interval Choice
CWA = Club Wyndham Access
CWS = Club Wyndham Select
ARP = Advance Reservation Priority

We should probably have a sticky thread just for the acronyms.


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[talkamotta]

Is there a place I can read more about ho w the program works.

 

[Richelle]

Is there a place I can read more about ho w the program works.

The directory.

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/wyndham/plus_membersdirectory1819/index.php#/0